A/N: I just deleted that really long author's note from before; sorry I must have been annoying… I was high on my pain meds.
A Terrible Synergy
Chapter 7
She was running down the street after him. She thought this was her only chance because she never knew when she would see him next.
"Noatak!"
His reaction was the exact opposite of what he did the last time she had called after him. He turned and smiled. It was the kind of smile that would make any person swoon, a look of pure happiness. Reaching him, she jumped up wrapping her arms securely around his strong neck as his slipped around her waist.
"I want to play. I want to play so badly," she laughed with pain all the while smiling wide; tears were freely streaming down her face. She was clutching him so unwaveringly, she didn't want him to leave, and she didn't want him to disappear again. She wanted him to stay this way.
He pondered her words for a moment. She wanted to take the risk with him. "Hey," he muttered whipping the falling tears from her face; he always hated to see girls cry this way and wanted desperately to change that and make her cry in pleasure not sadness. She was adorable to say the least and he could feel this delicate moment tugging at the rigidity of his heart, "Don't cry," he soothed softly, "There's no need to cry," he hummed. At that moment he realized how much he loved her.
It was strange to see her so weak at his hands, so at his mercy, and silently wished he could be too. They held each other closer. It killed her every time he went away, not knowing when she would see him again. The tears stopped as she regained her composure staring up at him with anticipation of his answer.
"I meant what I said in there when I asked you, so the offer still stands. Would you like to have dinner with me?"
"I would like that," her face was slightly flushed from crying, but it didn't matter, he could've look at it all day.
"Good," was his simple reply. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "Does eight tomorrow night work for you?"
She nodded still tucked into his chest, "That's fine." He smiled that smile again and he kissed her chastely as if it were there normal custom of parting. "Prefect," he didn't give a damn at this point, he wanted to make love to this woman not just have sex with her, "I'll see you at eight tomorrow night," he paused and kissed her again but more forcibly this time. He pushed her against the brick wall that stood behind her and moved from her lips to her neck biting it, sucking the sensitive flesh, leaving his own mark against the dark background of her skin as if to tell all bystanders that she belonged to someone. He was in love with this woman and he didn't have the faintest idea what to do. She felt his muscles tense as he withdrew away from the grace of her body. His strong hands held her shoulders, "I'll be Noatak," he whispered as he slipped his hands away. It was their deal, their little secret.
She watched him down the block, suddenly, realizing that he never gave her a place to meet him, "Hey, where should I meet you?"
Without turning, he shouted, "Don't worry, I'll find you. I'm bringing you back to my apartment, after all, to cook you dinner, and I don't want to give that information away to the Avatar."
I must've made him happy she thought as she laughed at his playfulness, thoroughly enjoying this unseen side of him, "I didn't know you could cook!" It was strange that he would cook for her, usually it was the other way around; this man was so intriguing, but Korra was never one for clean-cut gender roles. The South Pole was lenient with them but the North was not; her uncle was especially an extremist when it came to tradition and maintaining the practices.
She could hear his low chuckle as he turned the corner, "Rest easy, I promise not to poison you. My mother taught me how to act and cook better than that," and with that the mysterious man was gone.
Korra sighed and pulled her parka hood taut around her neck in order to conceal the new mark he had so graciously bestowed her. She was tired and her feet ached horribly for some odd reason; she called the nearest cab and hopped in it. The ride was relatively calm, but her mind was running back and forth a million times a minute. He worked her up like no other man she had ever met in her life, and prayed that her heart won't led her astray.
-0-
"Korra, you made it!" Bolin yelled across the pool, the air was thick with the pungent smell of chlorine while the walls were slick with steam, "I was afraid you got kidnapped again," Bolin shouted; Mako promptly dunked his head in the water.
"Sorry, Korra, my brother is kind of an idiot at times," Mako stated since it had not even been a full day after her release.
"You know Amon is a scary dude," the earthbender comically imitated a hulking monster stalking it's pray, "I mean I don't even sleep well after that incident with him," the Firebender dunked his brother again, praying that he'll get the message to shut his mouth the next time he gets the urge to open it and spew something insensitive.
"I'm happy you made it, Korra!" Asami greeted politely, she was sitting at the edge of her pool allowing her legs to hang over the side into the warm pool water below. The girl kicked her feet back and forth.
The Avatar took a seat on a vacant lounge chair watching the three take delight in the indoor pool; she had to acknowledge the fact that it looked pretty enjoyable but her mind was off in other places thinking about other things.
"Korra, you ok?" Mako asked with unease. He hoped that his brother's comments hadn't brought up unpleasant memories. He knew that she loved to swim and seeing her sit quietly as they bumbled around in the water disconcerted him, "Would you like to swim?"
"If you need to borrow a suit, Korra, I have one for you," Asami offered.
"No, I'm fine here. I'm plenty exhausted," she lied, her heart was actually still racing, "You guys have settled right in haven't you?" the Avatar teased the brothers.
"You got that right," Bolin agreed, he floated with his belly to the surface of the water and rested his hands in a relaxing position behind his head, "It's heaven on earth here."
The waterbender beamed from Bolin's cheerfulness happy he was recovering from losing their home in the arena's attic. The probending arena had been shut down by the police department for further investigations the day after the attack. It was unknown when it would be reopened again. Hopefully before the next season started because many of the administrators and fighters, including the two bending brothers, were put out of work. She turned her attention toward Asami, "It's funny, I've never worn a bathing suit in my life."
"You've never worn a bathing suit?" Asami asked raptly.
"Yeah, we just swim in our bindings in the South Pole or in nothing at all; we're pretty traditional I guess," they mostly swam in the nude since the water was so cold and getting ones clothing wet resulted in a higher chance of hypothermia.
"Must be annoying to wrap yourself up every day," Asami commented.
"You get pretty used to it," Korra leaned back on her forearms, "So, what do you have planned for today? Make-overs? Shopping?" Mako and Bolin groaned over the girl talk tiling their heads back into the hot surface of the water.
"No, I have something more exciting in mind," Asami admitted playfully.
All four exited the pool and entered into a lavishly decorated changing room, which divided into a men's and women's sides. Done changing from their wet suits, Bolin and Asami left go tell the mechanics in the garage to get the cars ready and started, which left Mako and Korra alone in the combined dressing room for a bit of time.
Mako opened a large chest and tossed the waterbender a racing suit that was roughly her size, and grabbed one for himself, "Here put this on, you'll go faster," he suggested as he took the seat beside her.
"What are we doing exactly?"
"Racing cars of course."
"Woah, this is going to be cool!" She moved her arms around attempting to take off her parka but it got caught on her elbow.
"Here let me help you," with the aid of a small upward pull from the Firebender the parka came off cleanly, unfortunately, without the parka her purple prize on her neck was left in plain sight. Mako knew a hickey when he saw one, he wasn't a dimwit.
"Where'd you get that that?" he asked causally fingering the love mark. He couldn't recall if it was there last night, she had been wearing her parka then.
"I got it at the equalist compound," she explained quickly making an effort to avoid undesirable questions.
"But you told us that Amon didn't hurt you."
"He didn't," she defended.
"Then why the hell do you have a hickey on your neck?" he inquired sharply.
"Why does it even matter?" she covered her mark with her hand and slapped his away, "You give plenty of them to Asami. Why should you care at all about what I do with my life?" He thought that she was acting reckless because she was still angry about how he told her down a couple of weeks ago. He still had the firm belief that she was interested in him, but they never did anything. Not even shared a kiss; she didn't understand why he was acting so overprotective. He didn't even have to right to dote over her like this anyway.
"Because you're my friend and I do care about you, Korra," she couldn't take his two-sidedness anymore because it was unfair to both her and Asami. His actions and show of affection turned her off, and she could see that he was trying to make a move on her. Perhaps, he was afraid of losing her.
"Look, Mako," the Avatar declared softly, "I know we've have had the issue of complicated feelings toward each other in the past," she rested her hand on top his, "But I want you to be fair to Asami, okay, and you don't have to worry about me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Who is it? It's not that shady guy, Noatak?"
She was trying to be the bigger person, but he was making it almost impossible to keep her temper in check. "What possibly do you have against him?" she spat with indigence. He had only met him once.
"So it is him!" he determined by weighing her reaction, "That guy didn't give out good vibes. Stay away from him, Korra," he warned.
"And when did you become my father?" she questioned bitterly, "And when do I have to listen to you? Remember we are not seeing each other, so stop getting so jealous," the firebender was clearly rattled by her remark.
"I'm not jealous! I know bad people when I see them; I just know, okay! I've worked with thugs since I was eight, don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about," he shouted furiously. He released a tense breath trying to calm himself, "Sorry, it's hard not to worry when one of your best friends is captured by the most notorious criminals since the Fire Lord Ozai," he joked awkwardly endeavoring to lighten the mood, but the whole exchange had caused much guilt and unnecessary tension, "I know I'm not good with this stuff, Korra, and I want you to know that always be here for you."
"I'm happy you are," she finally ended not wanting to endure the painful conversation any longer; she tugged the racing suit behind her, "Is there a bathroom anywhere?"
"Yeah, upstairs. I think it's the first door to your right."
Her strides were efficient and powerful; she was trying to get as far away from him as fast as possible. The Avatar walked by Mr. Sato's office door picking up on his exuberantly loud conversation he was having on the phone with someone who sounded important. At first, she thought it was a client but her understanding of the phone call changed as she connected the dots together, "No, no, no, I assure you, everything is going exactly as planned. Uh-um, yes... Luckily, the Cabbage Corp investigation has bought us enough time," out of curiosity she lowered her eye looking through the tiny slit of the key hole, so this is the restricted vision Amon has to deal with, what a bitch,she thought, How the hell do you even see anything? She couldn't make out much, only the moving blurb that she labeled as Asami's father assuming that there wouldn't be anyone else in the room during a private conversation like this. The Avatar briefly thought about the likelihood of Asami's Father being involved with the equalist cause; it was feasible. Anything seemed more likely as the prospect of Noatak being the masked man became more and more believable. Sato did have the means to back up the equalist cause too. Perhaps, the whole Cabbage Crop scandal was a set-up contrived by Future Industries in order to gain more influence over the markets. The move would give FI more power and resources to use, but Mr. Sato already had a tremendous amount of power in the markets, both locally and internationally, to support his company for years, since he was the first and only manufacture in the world to produce satomobile cars as cheaply and efficiently as he did. Cabbage Corp was his only real competition until they were knocked off the market by Chief Bei Fong and her cronies. From her obstructed vision, Korra could make out the entrepreneur's worked up demeanor as he continued to converse with the man on the other line; his ambition to gain more influence and territory made her duly mistrustful. She just felt that the man was coordinating something nefarious and she couldn't take her mind off the fact that she had always pictured Mr. Sato as a mad scientist, which didn't help him much in keeping him on the good side in her mind. She persisted on listening to the conversation until the close of it, "Trust me, by the end of the week we'll be ready to strike!" He plopped the phone down against its holder with so much force it sounded like he broke it.
He started to walk towards the door and Korra had a sudden panic attack. She stalked away from his office door as quietly and inconspicuously as possible, which didn't end well. She was never really lauded for her discreetness and clumsily ran into the wall next to the powder room. It wasn't her fault that she had overheard his conversation; the guy talked like he had hearing problems. She was kind of inured to hearing defects since Katara had issues with her ears too. Her waterbending master always denied it though, stating that her hearing ability was a hundred percent but the young waterbender knew that it wasn't normal to listen to the radio on the loudest volume. She turned the corner quickly dropping the all-leather racing suit to the red velvet-covered floor.
All she could think at the moment as she pacing down to the lavish front stairs, which flittered into a large and ostentatious welcoming rotunda, was how Noatak had known her presence would be at the Estate. The Sato Mansion was a safe house for Equalists. There were probably equalists walking around unnoticed throughout the entire mansion, and probably made faces at her when she wasn't looking. She could picture them wearing their normal day clothes instead of their equalist garb; no one would ever suspect them. It was a genius idea. Once she made it to the ground floor, nausea manifested in the pit of her stomach followed by an aching desire to leave.
She made a beeline to the door only to be stopped by Asami. A racing helmet was situated in her hand, "You're leaving? But you just got here, I-I thought..."
The waterbender stopped her short, "I'm sorry Asami," everyone eyed her with new found suspicion, even the Butler. Maybe he was in with the Equalist. She shuffled backward in awkwardness. Her hands extended out behind her searching for the doorknob, "Uh, sorry! I forgot, I'm supposed to airsit, I mean babybend, I-I mean babysit the airbender kids. See you later!" She slammed the door behind her, happy to be free from their heavy stares.
-0-
A small scale investigation followed the next day, and the sleepless night before didn't aid the waterbender at all when her friends snapped at her for forthrightly accusing Asami's Father of conspiring with the infamous terrorist group. Mako was the most vexed by it. The city was basically at war, if she had a lead into an essentially unknown organization with seemingly limitless resources then why wouldn't she seize the opportunity and investigate it? It was just unfortunate that the alleged accomplice was Asami's Father. The possibility of Hiroshi Sato having a hand involved in the impending Equalist coup over the city wasn't the sudden cause of her paucity of sleep: it was both Noatak and Amon.
The next day happened faster than she would have liked to believe. A tip was given to her the night before and a worker spilled his guts in front of Tenzin, Lin, and her. Hiroshi, currently, was on thin ice and the Avatar was waiting patiently in the cargo hold with two dozen other policemen in the Police Infiltration Blimp. Mako and Bolin were already at the mansion relaxing with Asami. They thought the investigation had been closed but they had been misinformed.
The group of policemen paraded determinedly behind their chief as they penetrated the mansion doors. Korra and Tenzin followed closely behind. Asami busted into the room with a rage that was hardly ever associated with her, "What are you doing here?"
"We have reason to believe that there's a factory hidden below the mansion," Lin explained bluntly.
Asami only narrowed her eyes in skepticism and disgust, and the Avatar made a conscious effort to not make eye contact, "I think I would've noticed if there was a factory underneath my own house. The lies you people come up with just to persecute my father," Korra could believe Asami's steadfast denial because it was a difficult notion to believe about the man who had raised her. Destroying an image of someone, especially one that is held so highly and respectively, is tough to do for both the person receiving the truth and the one unraveling it.
"Where is your father?" Tenzin sounded friendly compared to Lin's cold, informal tone.
"In his workshop, behind the house."
The girl was shocked as she ran into Father's workshop to find him nowhere. Korra hid behind the metalbenders. "Dad, Hello?" Asami pointlessly called out as if he would respond. The officers circled the entire enclosure approaching Lin only when they were certain no one else was in the room, "Chief, the estate's been secured. No one has left the workshop since we arrived."
"Perhaps we just couldn't see him leaving," Lin stated. She wasn't going to give up that quickly because her job as well as the future of Republic City was on the line. Korra recognized the seismic sense technique that Lin was using; her mother was made famous by it. The technique was the way Toph overcame her blindness, and was one of the most efficient ways to search a large building. It would be a useful skill, but Korra never had much success with it as a result the lack of refinement in her earthbending.
"There's a tunnel beneath the workshop running deep into the mountainside," Lin earthbent the metal sole of her shoe back in place. She lifted her arms to exposing a hidden shaft and elevator; it was foreboding sight, the platform simply sitting there daring them to see what was going on below the surface.
Korra's heart fell for Asami, "What? There's no tunnel," she murmured despite the fact that Lin had uncovered it seconds earlier.
Bolin- being his normal, unsubtle self- asked, "Do you think your dad knows about this tunnel?"
The girl stumbled backward, and Mako caught her shoulders to steady her, "I don't understand. There must be an explanation," her friends were stunned that the Avatar's intuition was correct. Korra reached out for Asami making an effort to assuage her discomfort, "Maybe you don't know everything about your father, I'm sorry."
The Chief disrupted the quiet movement between them as she commanded her officers to their positions; she wanted no causalities today, "Officers," she extended her finger toward the stairs, "into the tunnel. Be cautious." The officers obeyed with no doubt of her judgment, but as Mako, Bolin, and Asami commenced down the tunnel behind her valued officers Lin stopped them short. She jabbed her finger menacingly toward the trio, and the Avatar felt the culpability poring over her, "Uh-uh, you three stay up here," and designated an officer to oversee their stay, "Officer Song, keep an eye on them." Same as the others, the man humbly saluted his chief and pulled back from the group. Lin was already ten steps in front of Tenzin and Korra as she descended the stairs to the elevator. What really killed her was looking back at her friends, their faces defined by a somber melancholy that she was guilty of being the instigator of. The firebender was especially dejected; she could see his self-loathing in his sad, burnt eyes.
The platform moved down rather quickly for how large it was. Yellow sodium lights illuminated the dark pathway down into an open area which spanned larger than Republic City's bending arena itself. Korra thought she was in more of a surprise than Asami was upstairs looking at the sheer immensity of the compound; there was Amon paraphernalia nailed and hung everywhere. Hiroshi wasn't just a sympathizer and advocate to the Equalist cause but a full blown co-conspirator.
"Not your average backyard workshop," Lin stated anxiously looking around, most likely the biggest understatement of the night.
The waterbender felt herself take a few steps forward discovering large metal contraptions modeled crudely in the form of a human beings, "And I'm guessing those are the new weapons."
The capacious room was eerily serene, forcing the unshakable police officers to stand on end. Korra swore that she could hear their armor rattling, "Hiroshi is lying alright," Tenzin concluded firmly, "But where is he?"
Suddenly, in an eruption of lurid noises, huge metal-like walls ascended into the air leaving the group without any proper escape route. The policemen immediately attempted to bend it to no avail. Mr. Sato's voice boomed on overhead speakers. They had known that they were coming all along, "I'm afraid you won't be able to metalbend that wall, Chief Beifong," unnatural green lights were turned on around them, encompassing them in a strange sea of green. Their hands rose to their faces in order to shield their eyes from the offensive glare, "It's solid platinum," Hiroshi boasted arrogantly. The machines Korra had revealed earlier were now alive and moving. The robotic machines approached the group with expectation, "My mecha tanks are platinum as well," the center mega suit continued. Hiroshi was inside controlling the gadget, "Not even your renowned mother could bend a metal so pure." Korra's stomach quivered in nervousness, she didn't know if there was any possibility of making it out alive. She glanced over at Tenzin, he had children to raise and educate and then at Lin, who had so much good left in her life. Her hands tensed into fists intent on winning the fight. It was almost nine at night now and her wrath seemed to have no end in sight, "Hiroshi, I knew you were a lying, you no good Equalist! Come out here and-"
"And do what, young Avatar? Face the wrath of your bending? No. I think I'll fight from inside here where my odds are a little more... equal."
"That source was a set-up! You lured us down here!" Lin accused fiercely.
"Guilty as charged," Mr. Sato returned with a sinister smile as his tanks advanced forward planking them on all sides. The battle only lasted a total of five minutes. Everyone fought valiantly, but they were outnumbered and outgunned. The new weapons were just too much to handle. The Avatar, the airbender, and the chief all laid unresponsive on the ground. Korra's vision was spotty as she attempted to look around; desperation started to seep into her mind as she stretched her arms vainly toward her mentors. Amon was there, walking toward her; his cocksure nature shown through his posture. Korra couldn't see Amon's disgruntled look beneath the mask as he gazed down at her weakened body, his hands were behind his back. Hiroshi walked up beside him, "Well, I'd say that was a near flawless test run."
"Yes, it was," Amon agreed, his lieutenant stood at his other side.
"What do you want us to do with the Avatar and her friends?" Amon looked out onto the field of unconscious bodies, "I'll take care of the Avatar. Take the rest under custody and put them in central holding. I will deal with them, later, when I have more time to spare."
"Yes, right away, sir".
Amon's large frame bent down towards her body. All she could see was the blur of his mask as he picked her body up in his arms. He carried her bridal style toward the nearest transport car and placed her down in the back of it. Unbeknownst to him, the bending brothers had just miraculously infiltrated the secret factory from below acquiring both the councilmen and the Chief of Police. He could hear the commotion from the front seat of the car.
He was already irritated enough. Now all he wanted to do was scare the Firebender senseless; he ducked out of the car setting his sights on the two brothers. The earthbender instantly reacted to his presence shuttering next to his older brother. He walked closer reveling in the boy's absolute fear. Despite his arrival, the Firebender didn't cease his banter at Hiroshi, "Sponsoring our team, supporting the Avatar. It was all just a big cover!" the tall boy turned his attention toward Amon, "And you! You monster! Where is she! You can't take her away again!" he shouted.
Amon only laughed, "I can do whatever I please with her," he walked even closer, the brothers both stepped back. There was a hole in the ground, that's how they were able to enter, "I'm afraid that you are in no position to make allegations," he paced closer to brothers, "Look at the sight you," he eyed the firebender, "Tomorrow the headlines will say: The great probender saves the city, but all you are is weak, pathetic. I'll make sure to take your bending first when I have the chance." The masked continued to step closer with every word. Mako was losing ground rapidly. Fire burned inside him. He wanted to rip the man to shreds, but he knew that he was baiting him.
Hiroshi added angrily, "You know, the most difficult part was watching my daughter traipse around with a firebending, street rat like you!" he zapped his glove aggressively stepping in front of the hooded man.
"Control yourself," Amon commanded firmly, pushing him aside. He had no patience for Sato today.
"Dad stop!" it was his daughter, "Why are you doing this?" The masked man stood with his back to both the father and daughter as he circled again wanting to watch the bending brothers; the firebender wouldn't leave without his girlfriend.
"Sweetie," Mr. Sato started off, all his fatherly tone had been coarsened, "I wanted to keep you out of this as long as I could. But now you know the truth, please, forgive me. These people," he extended his hand toward the brothers, "these benders. They took away your mother, the love of my life. They've ruined the world, but with Amon we can fix it and build a perfect world together. We can help people like us, everywhere!" Amon was so unnaturally still it unsettled almost everyone in the room, Hiroshi took off one of his gloves and offered it to his distressed daughter. A chance the hooded man would never give to the presently unstable girl, "Join me, Asami."
By now Korra, had regained consciousness. She rolled around in the back of the van; she tried to unlock the door but Amon had locked it. That was certainly nice of him. She peeked through the back window watching the showdown unfold in front of her. Amon was in the middle of it all, amazingly with his back turned toward most of the action. It was as if he didn't have the slightest care about Hiroshi or anyone else in the room. He seemed like he was only using Sato for his capitol and weapons. The Avatar released a gasp as Asami accepted the glove from her father to only stab him in the back with it. Asami charged toward the lieutenant quickly trouncing him with an impressive display of self-defense. Korra found a new level of respect for the girl as she moved to Amon wasting no time. The Equalist leader still had his back turned away from her, which placed the odds in the inventor daughter's favor. Korra was expecting at least some bit of a struggle, but in a blink of an eye the masked man sideswiped the Sato heiress with his foot forcing to her knees. With the girl momentarily disabled, Amon effortlessly confiscated the glove from her hand to break it beneath the weight of his foot. His attack was so flawless and fluid Korra barely had a second to see it all.
"Do you know how much those cost?" Mr. Sato yelled angrily as he stood to his feet.
"I'm sure you can make another one, Sato," the Equalist leader spoke in a furiously sardonic tone. He pushed the girl with his foot to the bending brothers ordering, "Go back to the city and tell what had conspired here. Then I will hunt the rest of your putrid kind down. Tell every one of the desolation and hopelessness that is left for the future of benders until it becomes commonplace," the boys remained still. The words of the masked man were starkly terrifying. The leader spoke with so much surged confidence it seemed to leak through the slits of his mask like serpents of bad fortune. The masked man pushed forward his vision of ultimate equality in front of their noses whether they liked it or not announcing its imminence. The earthbender had already experienced Amon's practically unbeatable prowess. Bolin grasped Asami's arm while his brother gripped onto the other pulling her back into the trench.
"Why are you giving them my daughter?"
"An uncommitted imp has no place in the revolution. You will get your daughter back soon enough," he confided as he stalked past the portly inventor. Amon raised his hands to address his troops, paying no more attention to the bending brothers, "Get the rest of the officers to the transport. We leave immediately."
"We had a deal!" Hiroshi shouted.
Amon turned and faced the enraged man, "I suggest for your own good, Mr. Sato, that you keep your mouth shut before I do it for you," Sato glanced at the man somberly, his eye glasses were broken; he looked like a disheveled old man lost in the lust of war and revenge.
"Mako! Bolin!" Korra shouted slamming against the back window pane of the van. She rammed her body violently against the van door in attempt to open it. Unsuccessful, the Avatar attempted once more with the aid of a fire blast. Her foot broke through the window. A shard of glass sliced through her foot, she lurched backward in pain. The blood began to trickle through her boot staining it red. Shooting her arm through the broken window, she opened the door from the outside and freed herself. Her heel was damaged badly, but the adrenaline rush masked all of the excruciating pain.
"Korra!" the Firebender shouted back feverishly. He dropped Lin and Asami in the makeshift escape tunnel, which his brother was already making progress through. Mako jumped up to the ledge but Bolin had already earthbent the hole closed; they had been in there too long. They had to get Korra at another more opportune time.
"We have to get her!" he yelled shaking his brother in the darkness.
Bolin's eyes were big with fear, "We can't there's too many of them, bro, it is impossible! I'm sorry, but we have to get these people out first."
"Bolin! They already had Korra once and released her, what are they going to do now? I wouldn't let them have her again!" the firebender started to claw at the packed dirt above his head, his brother wasn't going to open it. Above, Korra staggered around, her path marked by blood. The tunnel was her only chance; she was caught with nowhere to run.
"Now what was the point of that, Avatar?" he sounded offended, "I locked you in that van for a reason, now you have gone off and hurt yourself." The equalists were confounded by their leader's leniency with the Avatar. It was as if he were playing a game.
"Stay away from me!" she hissed from the corner of the room, her hands prepared to fight. He was tired looking at her through his mask.
"Detain her!" he ordered evenly. His men overpowered her wrists and limps restraining her in their ropes. She was thrown into a different van, "Meet me back at headquarters. Bring the others to central holding and process them there. I'll handle the Avatar."