A/N: Please review. Thanks, friends.

A Terrible Synergy

Chapter 10

Korra hadn't really talked to Amon in five days or so she believed. Being locked in a cell didn't assist her ability to keep track of time; however, the daily routine had helped in making a rudimentary clock system. In the morning, a guard would slide a basin of plain, white rice through the food flap adorning the bottom of her cell door along with a container of water. Her afternoons consisted of fruitless attempts to meditate and practice of airbending forms. Ever since her attempt to escape, her guards have been taking extra precautions in handling her and she almost always had her bending blocked. Not being able to bend for long stretch of time was driving her crazy. Every other day they would allow her to exercise in the main training area if she assented to them blocking her bending and binding her hands with restraints. More times than she would like to confess, she had consented to her guards' uncompromising conditions. Her usual cheeky defiance began to waver and soften because her desire to leave her cell and stretch her limbs had grown so enormous it hurt.

Walking in the lively hallways of the compound every other day, the Avatar secretly hoped he would walk by. She wanted to look him in the eyes. She wanted to show him that he could not break her, that she was unbreakable. Those thoughts of strength and resilience empowered her but she could still feel her heart wince in pain because he never came to walk by her.

Korra only saw the masked man in the gymnasium, but he was never at her level. He always stood in the same spot on the elevated jogging track above. It wrapped around the whole length of the gym covering the area below in a dim shade. All he would do was stand there and watch. He was so still it was easy to confuse him for a statue. His mask made it seem like he had an everlasting wakefulness, hands always placed in a neutral position behind his back. He would stand in the shadow of the metal crossbeams but Korra knew that he wanted her to see him. His efforts to conceal himself were halfhearted; he was never that careless. His engagements always had a motive to them, so when her time ran out in the gym she always left him with a rebellious, little glare. Even sitting here now she could still feel his heavy, steely eyes boring into her as if to remind her that she was in his territory, that she was his. Prepared for his appearance during her third time in the gym, she was surprised to find that Amon wasn't in his usual spot. This instantly disturbed her. Every time she was present in the gym, her guards would always lead her to a fenced in area on the side where there were old weights and medicine balls she could use to her pleasing. It was a nice area and setup but they only did this for prisoners in order to confine them to a smaller area rather than the entire gymnasium which would be a large enough space for them to lose her in the multiple exits to choose from. Her space was confined by barriers with only one exit on the side. One needed to walk through the open gym in order to get to it. That day he wasn't there to watch her, he was in the gym instead. She was walking by when she noticed him, her bound hands tipping together quietly in their metal chains. He was dressed in a sleeveless undershirt shirt and black pants to work out in. It was very reminiscent of the outfit he wore when she first met him. She wished to see his face but all her eyes saw was the lifeless gleam of white porcelain.

He was sitting there on the bench lifting weights and much to her surprise he was picking up fairly heavy things; she caught herself laughing at the spectacle. It was strange to watch him deliberately exert himself by the means of physical activity, but her mind couldn't help in thinking that he had fixed this whole situation to get her to see him in a somewhat impressive display. As she looked back on it now, in a sense it had worked. She was captivated for the most part because she didn't think he would lift weights since he was a man of grace and the prospect of grunting, sweating, and lifting things off the ground didn't seem to fit his character. A loud crack echoed through the large room as his weights hit the floor, but the Avatar wouldn't just easily expose her wonder to him. As the dumbbells were released, his eyes immediately come across the mirror to fall into hers as they cut through the slits of his mask. She grinned self-righteously and shouted across the room, "I have seen men lift heavier weights than that little boy," the mask hid any of his reaction and he remained motionless looking straight ahead at his reflection.

Again to her astonishment she found him chuckling lightly, "If that's your attempt at an insult, Avatar, if you would so kindly pardon my choice of language, I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and shit out a better statement than that." She could remember her mouth open and close in inability to respond making rage well up inside her from just thinking about it. He had said that to her two days ago and anger still boiled her blood from it. That comment only validated her fears, that he used her. Every syllable gave off the repugnantly pretentious impression that he was superior to her in every way; she bet that all the males in the room swooned from his audacity at addressing the Avatar like that while the women tried to hide their apparent orgasms that they received from his rusty voice. Like she, they all fell for his pretenses; they didn't know that he was just using them, which made her feel horrible on the inside. Telling his followers that he was a fake would only result in failure. What she didn't know was how deeply in love Amon was in with her. Both remained there in a thick tension trying to look strong and unfazed until the Avatar's guards pushed her to move forward. She couldn't see how much it hurt his heart to see her like that, how much it killed him to conduct himself that way when he spoke her. She knew his eyes followed her until she was out of view because she could just feel his presence wash over her like a wave.

That was the only time Korra really held any conversation with him for the stretch of those five days. The mark of the end of the day would finish with her returning to her room- if she had left in the first place- and the arrival of another plate of white rice with a serving of protein, which generally was komodo chicken. During her many hours of solitude, her mind would wander aimlessly into daydreams and minor hallucinations as a consequence of her loneness. She would dream of things that could never be: she would dream of her love fixing him. Many times she had a vision of Noatak in the form of broken glass. He was filled with a glowing substance but it never remained inside him for long. All his watery matter was eaten up by the large cracks that marred his skin. The cracks took everything replacing it with darkness, literally making him hollow on the inside. She saw herself standing there wading in the dangerous waters of his soul as they pushed her away. The water wanted her to run but she couldn't. The current pressed harder but the warning didn't register in her mind. It was everywhere consuming her body, her limbs, but she wasn't afraid. She knew what to do and her fingers reached out to touch the glass of his heart. He was cold, then, suddenly, there was no more water to fight against, and nothing was left to steal his substance but her. Every time that daydream would make chills run down her spine and her skin perspire in a thin sheen of sweat. The visions just felt so real as if she actually felt the surface of his skin cutting through her fingertips. Ideal thoughts like those were nothing but a figment of the imagination. He wasn't the type of man to succumb to a weakness like love was. The word meant nothing to him anyway, and he said it himself that he held many relations to other women, she was no different.

The waterbender didn't know the reason for her transfer into the new cell, but she quickly discerned that its location was in closer proximity to Amon's office by collecting various tidbits of information from her excursions outside her cell. The holding room was only slightly larger than the last; the singular difference was that it had a fully functional shower and toilet. Her bed was actually a mattress instead of a mat on the floor, which was nice change. The cut on the bottom of her foot had fully healed and the fighting that had occurred a few days ago, during her escape attempt, did not reopen the wound. What remained of gush was a crescent-shaped scar at the base of her heel almost in the shape of the moon.

Her ears picked up on the soft patter of tin hitting the floor as a small tray slipped under the square flap at the foot of her door. This indicated that it was indeed the start of the six day in her new cell. She sighed, wondering if this was what the remainder of her life would entail. The Avatar was growing a bit restless, not only from the limited exercise and absence of bending but from the lack of normal human interaction as well. She struggled many times to converse with her guards about trivialities such as the weather or the time but they only responded with passivity and silence. Her fingers reached for the bowl of steaming rice and she dined eagerly on the tasteless food. She absolutely loathed the fact that she was forced to stay inactive, waiting by as the world continued on spinning. She desired to return to the temple grounds to see her friends, bending master, as well as Naga. She missed her intrepid steed. Finished with her food, she placed the tray next to the door and leaned back against the wall. Her mind thought about nothing in particular. She certainly didn't want to think about her abysmal situation; it only ended with fits of anger and frustration.

Korra tilted her head back and examined the ceiling out of lack of anything better to do. It was a glaringly white color which contrasted considerably to the murky, lackluster metal walls of the enclosure. The snowy white plaster was uneven in parts but only by a small fraction. She was just so bored that she noticed. Who really cared if a jail cell had been unevenly plastered anyway? She closed her eyes in boredom. She probably had looked at that ceiling a million times before. She held her head within her palms laughing quietly to herself; for all she knew Amon probably captured the city by now snarky comments and all.

Out of the usual routine, the door snapped opened, "Amon has requested your presence."

"Well tell him I've been waiting."

"Come with me now, that's an order," his hands were holding a pair of handcuffs.

Korra looked up, "No, if he wants to see me he has to come to me. I'm done with this shit."

The guard stepped into the cell and the waterbender promptly rose to her feet, "Watch it," her hands remained in front of her, "Don't remember how long ago you chi-blocked me? Hmm?"

The equalist halted, as he placed the restraints on his belt to free his hands, "Need back up in here," three other guards filed into the room; there were always more guards since her escape mishap. The Avatar listened to their conversation.

"What's going on?"

"She is threatening to attack, how long ago did one of you chi block her?"

"Think it was like eight hours ago. It's possible for her to have her bending."

"Well, let's not risk it. I'll go inform Amon that the Avatar isn't being as compliant as she was before. Stay here and keep an eye on her. We don't want any trouble."

-0-

He walked in the room alone only to be followed.

"Sir, would you like-" the male guard that had informed attempted to speak but was cut off.

"Leave us," his voice was low and biting, "My brother," he quickly continued in a warmer tone, "there are more productive things you should be undertaking other than watching the Avatar. I give you the option to take your leave elsewhere with your fellow comrades. Your services are no longer needed here. Half of you report to the lieutenant for trafficking operations and the others for weapon proliferation with Sato." It was the only busy work he could think of at the moment.

"Yes, as you wish, sir," the equalist bowed his head in respect and closed the door behind him leaving them alone.

The Avatar sat there patiently as the hooded man turned her way. He looked down saying nothing.

"What do you want?"

"A word, maybe by some fortuitous chance it will turn into a conversation. I'm not asking for much," replied evenly.

"You're asking me to talk?" she sounded shocked, "You haven't even seen me in five days and now you want to talk to me?"

"You asked for space. I'm only honoring your request, Avatar."

She knew she wasn't making sense but she didn't care, "Is this what it's going to be like?"

"And what is it you are referring to?"

"This," her finger pointed to him and then to her, "you're just going to show up randomly in my cell or ask for my presence to office when you get horny. So you can fuck me again because you have the liberty too."

His response only enraged her because he laughed, "My, my, Avatar, I didn't think you had such a dirty mind. You certainly do entertain me, but I didn't come here for that at all," Korra stared at him waiting for his explanation, he spoke of her as if she were something expendable, "How much do your friends value you?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"It doesn't matter; a question is a question so answer it."

She rolled her eyes at him, "A lot."

He stepped closer to her, "So you would say that they would die for you?"

"Yes."

"Would you die for them?"

"Yes," her answer was unwavering as before.

"Hmm, very interesting. You appear so resolute with your answers but there's no way to be certain," he turned around and paced away from her, his voice remained irritably insouciant, "For what is a man who won't die for anything? Perhaps, he's just a useless waste of space."

Her eyebrows furrowed, "Get to the point. What do you want from me?" It felt like that was the only question she ever asked him.

He turned once more to face her, "Your friends seem to miss you quite a lot. The police have entreated for your release in terms of a deal. I need to gage your worth to them so I can receive an equal tradeoff," he stepped to her again, "So I ask you, how much do they value you?"

"A lot."

Now his mask was inches from her face, his large frame crouched beside her body, "No," he spoke firmly, "I asked, how much do they value you, answer it," his hot breath rolled off her neck, "Could they live without you?"

"I don't understand the purpose of your question."

"Could they live without you?" he repeated.

"No."

"Are you sure?" he whispered, "I can see how it's difficult not to."

Her eyes looked down as the close proximity was making her self-conscious; her body was reacting in ways she wished it didn't. There was a brief silence as her eyes found his again.

An instant of courage surged through her, "Could you live without me?" Korra asked quietly. She scoured his eyes for a sign of weakness and they softened.

"No," his eyes were still. She didn't understand him.

"What am I worth to you, Amon?"

His fingers brushed against her smooth skin holding her cheek, "More than anything the police could ever give me."

"How can I trust you when you say that?"

"Because I'm not lying when I say that, Korra."

"Then tell me who you truly are, Noa."

His hand withdrew from the grace of her attractive face, as her eyes burned in a color of brilliance he would never quite find the right words to describe.

He sighed, "I can't."

She grabbed his hand, "Tell me something. Anything, please."

There was a long silence as he stood there, "I had a family once, a life before all of this happened, but I can never go back to them now and I can never go back to the person I was. I forced all those memories, all those people that I loved, so deep inside myself that I forgot. I convinced myself that the person I was wasn't real, and soon the only thing I saw was this," he pointed at his mask, "Then I met you and you stirred something inside me, and suddenly I was so aware of who I was. You told me once that I was too drunk on my own power to see. At that time, I didn't want to agree with you because I knew it was true. I knew the monster I had become. This mask was all I could see, but now it's different. Now I see the truth and I'm forever indebted to you for that." He wanted to say that all he saw was her, but he didn't want to scare her.

"What does this mean?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that you cannot stay here. I'm releasing you to Chief Bei Fong in return for all equalist POWs held in the Republic City prison tomorrow night."

"What? Really? You're letting me go?" He didn't want her to go.

He stood up, "It's my final apology. Once you are out we are enemies once more. I have found that it is for the best and you must pardon my uncalled for greed in regarding you. It was never my choice to make in the first place."

"And you're just going to be Amon again?" anger moved in her chest. This wasn't the Noatak that she knew, "You're a goddamn coward!"

"I'm a very self-controlled man, Avatar," his hand was resting on the door handle.

"No Amon is. Noatak, what do you want?"

"I'm awfully certain that you know the answer to that question."

"Then kiss me already," it looked as if he didn't even think about it as he walked to her carefully taking her hand in his. He pulled his mask upward only to expose his mouth. It was strange how overwhelmingly romantic the moment was as he pressed her lips on hers in a sound kiss. The embrace cancelled all the dwelling and dwindling reservations about him from her mind. She just had to take a leap of faith.