Hey, I'd just like to preface this by saying a massive thanks to Barbara BG, Calvin Fujii and Shiranai Atsune for favouriting the story! I know three sounds like nothing but it actually does mean a lot to have proof that people are reading. (If I've missed a fourth person I'm really sorry but I think that's automatically me).

Anyway, this is the first proper fighting chapter. Part of what makes LOK and ATLA so great are the fights, so I've tried my hardest to make up for that with words. If there's anything I can do to make it better, please tell me. Enjoy!

Mako made a beeline for Kenichi Shinoda. He was at the other side of the yard before he slipped away with only three bodyguards in between some crates. One of them was a waterbender, surprisingly, judging by his get-up and snakeskin on his waist, but it made no difference to Mako. He'd dealt with some of the best in the probending business and he hadn't doubted himself back then either. If he had to guess, it was probably so both bosses had a man close to the other if one tried to double-cross the other. That was something he had heard Zolt say when he was younger, but Zolt was long irrelevant by now.

Only two people tried to stop Mako out of the fifteen he brushed past. Most of them were too busy fighting off metalbenders, and the two that did barely slowed him down. He nearly fell over his own feet in his haste to pursue Shinoda. He rounded the corner and spotted the four men twenty or so metres away. Shinoda's old age was clearly catching up with him, capable of no more than a quick jog. Mako took a deep breath, then filled the narrow space in between the crates in front of him and his prey with a tunnel of fire. It rushed to meet them, but at the last moment Shinoda turned around, and pointed his index and middle finger at the fire about to consume him. Blue flames exploded from his fingertips and easily countered Mako's attack.

Perfect combustion, Mako noted, now knowing there was no doubt of the small man's identity. It was an extremely rare ability. It required perfect breathing technique, and something about a strong enough negative desire, without any self-doubt, as far as he knew. But all that mattered now was there was no way it could be anyone else, and that was all the justification Mako needed for the law.

"I'll take care of him," the waterbender vouched. "Don't worry about it, I've been itching to bend all night with the full moon."

"Don't let me down, 'Ruk," Shinoda threatened, and the waterbender turned and faced Mako. Shinoda and his two remaining bodyguards continued to flee. He pulled out the water from his snakeskin and stood square, a good distance away still. Waiting to see if Mako would make the first move.

"If you run now, you can still get away," Mako offered. It was pointless, but he was obligated by his oath to offer a chance to surrender. "I will detain you otherwise." That wasn't the proper line but his head was spinning to much from the alarming amount of blood he'd lost already.

"No," 'Ruk replied, and started running towards Mako.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Mako muttered to himself.

Mako threw a heavy fire backhand at 'Ruk, and a huge ball of fire was shot at the waterbender. 'Ruk looked both ways, then realised that he wouldn't be able to jump out of the way. He dove into the ground, small pebbles scratching his forearms and tearing up his suit, but the real danger passed overhead. He bounded up from his flat position and closed the gap to three metres. Mako shot a quick fire-jab at 'Ruk. 'Ruk swiped his hand upwards and a puddle on the ground met the fireball half a foot in front of 'Ruk's face. 'Ruk bent the water out of his snakeskin and hooked a volley of water in a vicious ark. Mako barely managed to raise his arms in time but managed to block the brunt of the attack with his forearms and hands. He was still knocked heavily onto the ground though, and landed with a grunt, his bleeding head spinning from all the movement.

"Retard," 'Ruk declared, grinning sadistically. "Why the fuck would a firebender dare challenge any decent waterbender during the full moon?" He laughed like a madman, and kicked Mako in the stomach. Mako grunted again, and curled up instinctively. "You're about to regret your call to heroism. Typical. Young fella gets all worked up about bringing down the triads, and he only ends up dying a lonely, painful death."

'Ruk formed a six-inch thick water whip and brought it crashing down on Mako's side. Mako whelped with the pain, and 'Ruk repeated the action several times without breaking a sweat, continuously inflicting his wrath on Mako for twelve reps straight. He stopped for a breath.

I'm not allowed to die like this, Mako thought as he protected himself the best he could against the whips. When 'Ruk stopped for a moment, Mako grabbed his chance without even thinking. He had been facing 'Ruk, but now he turned his body so that his heels were facing the waterbender, and kicked out as hard as he could at the man's chin. Flames bellowed at 'Ruk, who just managed to lean back in time. He stumbled a few steps back before regaining his balance. That just about bought Mako enough to get up.

"I didn't know that the notorious Red Monsoon were going soft," Mako taunted, then winced. Even though adrenaline was pumping through his veins and numbing the pain, blood was still flowing freely from the back of his head. If he planned to pursue Shinoda, this close combat fight couldn't go on for too long.

"I'll show you who's soft!" 'Ruk screamed. Mako got the impression that he was the typical madman every mob leader hired for a dangerous job, someone that was driven purely by money and their bloodlust.

'Ruk wildly slashed at Mako with his whip, but it was too high and impulsive, making it easy for Mako to duck under. Mako retaliated with a fire-jab, fire-backhand, followed by another quick jab, the barrage of fireballs coming thick and fast. The second jab caught 'Ruk clean on his left shoulder, and he yelped in pain. Mako wasn't finished there though. He crouched down, and swept his outstretched leg in the general direction of 'Ruk. A carpet of fire made for 'Ruk's feet, but he jumped, tucking his knees up to his chest. The flames licked his soles, and nearly set fire to the bottom of his trousers. 'Ruk landed on his heels, and flicked some water from a nearby puddle into his hand. It took a moment to find its shape, and then froze into ice. 'Ruk now had a five-inch knife.

"Shit," Mako cursed loudly. He couldn't run or else Shinoda would get away, and he had no melee weapons on his body. Fire daggers looked cool, but they were useless against a real knife, as the knife would just pass right through the fire.

"Shit indeed," 'Ruk agreed, and closed the small distance in between them. He poked and stabbed with his knife, but Mako backed away, shimmying from any attack. He couldn't get a good shot in due to 'Ruk not letting up like he had before with the whip. I've got to do something quickly, Mako thought to himself.

However, he didn't do anything quickly enough, as he backed into a crate. He met eyes with 'Ruk, a fly caught in the web. 'Ruk smiled viciously. The knife was just beside Mako's left hip, and 'Ruk didn't bother pulling it back for power this time. He brought the knife diagonally upwards to Mako's right shoulder, dragging the tip all along Mako's belly and chest.

"AAAAAAGGGGHHH!" Mako screamed in agony. This was excruciating. He'd only ever felt this much pain when he was bloodbent, not even when he got electrocuted by the spirit energy. He'd had just about every bone in his body broken at some point, whether it be with Korra on Avatar duty, probending or the force, but they all paled in comparison.

"Checkmate," 'Ruk stated, and pulled his knife back, now covered in blood, preparing for the final blow. Mako saw this and was suddenly at peace. He'd tried to live a good life, but life wasn't always fair. He would die a hero.

But then one image flashed in his mind. The permanent memory of seeing six-year-old Bolin weeping, just after witnessing their parents' murder. I won't let him go through that again, Mako thought, and brought his blurry vision back to reality. 'Ruk's knife was heading straight for his chest, and there wasn't enough time to dodge it.

'Ruk frowned as Mako grabbed his wrist, stopping the tip of the knife just as it touched the skin. He pushed harder, but then found his hand getting stupidly hot as Mako enveloped both their hands in a searing heat. 'Ruk dropped the knife instinctively as his flesh rapidly began to burn. Mako's was as well, but firebenders were naturally better at when faced with a hot temperature compared to other humans.

"Stop it, you retard! You'll burn both our hands off if you keep this up!" he demanded, but to no avail. Mako took his opening, and swiped 'Ruk's front leg inwards without any firebending, making him fall towards Mako.

Mako stopped the firebending, grabbed 'Ruk's head with both hands, and used his momentum to slam it to his right into the crate behind him. He didn't let go though, and repeated the action several times until 'Ruk was definitely unconscious. He'd be in bandages for a good while now. He dropped 'Ruk on the floor.

Mako put his hands on his knees and took a deep breath. His head cut had stopped bleeding as much as it had before, and the cut on his body wasn't as deep as Mako first feared. Still, he'd lost nearly a pint of blood by now, and was feeling weak, but he pushed the pain aside, remembering what he'd set out to do. He grabbed 'Ruk's second snakeskin which hadn't been used, and downed it in a few seconds. He dropped it on 'Ruk's head and continued the chase.

If there were any onlookers, they would describe him as half dead. A bloody face due wiping his mouth with his stained hands, his combed hair a dark red colour at the back of his head and a shirt that would look the part on a vampire. Behind him, the battle raged on between the police and the triads.

Mako rounded a corner and saw the trio climbing into a black car. Shinoda got in the back while his two bodyguards took the wheel and shotgun. Mako began to run, but the pain in his torso caused him to double over. He glanced up, and saw the headlights flicker on. They were in a narrow street, and the car was facing his direction 70 feet down the road. He cursed, not having his own motorbike handy.

The engine roared into life and began to rumble down the road before picking up speed. They'd be gone in a matter of seconds. Mako closed his eyes and slowly inhaled, calming himself. He knew that there could be some legal trouble in terms of what Mako was about to do, but this wasn't a matter of police work. This was vengeance, for his family. Besides, Shinoda wasn't exactly welcome in police stations.

Mako touched his all of his four index and middle fingers together, and started drawing electricity around him. It crackled, and at that point, the bodyguards began to see Mako. They didn't stop though, 60 feet now away now.

50 feet.

40 feet.

30 feet.

Mako extended his right arm fully at the car, his fingers pointed, unambiguous.

Lightning zapped the hood. The bodyguards' expression turned to one of unified fear as the electrical current connected. It took a moment to sink into the car, and then there was a loud bang as the oil inside exploded. A mushroom of smoke and fire billowed upwards, and the wreckage began to cartwheel towards Mako. It stopped just 18 feet away from him.

Mako exhaled deeply and turned away, coming to terms with what he had just done.

"If you want to do anything, you have to do it yourself."

Mako froze, then spun on his heels back to the car. A frail Kenichi Shinoda climbed out from the sideways vehicle and hopped onto the road, glaring at Mako. He was bruised, and had a tiny cut on his forehead, but other than that, he was fine. Not a single burn mark on his body, or for that matter, his clothes. He dusted himself off.

"That's impossible!" Mako stated. "There's no way anyone could have survived that."

"My boys Lee and Pang are dead, thanks very much," Shinoda said, his voice sounding like he needed a glass of water badly, yet he didn't seem sarcastic. "I'd assume that you killed 'Ruk as well?"

"He'll be on his way to prison right about now," Mako growled, his fists whitening from him clenching them together. He would avenge his parents' death, no matter what it took.

"I hoped you'd done me the favour of killing him," Shinoda said. "Probably had orders to stab me in my back.

"You bastard!" Mako shouted. Unbeknownst to the both of them, the street had started wondering what the commotion was with that explosion and now there were many people peeking through the curtains.

"They'd have stabbed me in the back sooner or later," Shinoda said, thinking that Mako was somehow offended by him not caring for his bodyguards. "And wouldn't hesitate to kill each other either."

"I'll kill you," Mako said quietly, then shouted; "YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY PARENTS' MURDER!"

"I would ask about it, but to be honest I don't think it's worth my time," Shinoda declared, twisting the screw in Mako's self-control.

"My mother and my father," Mako repeated, his eyes bearing holes into Shinoda. Yet the small man calmly returned his gaze, projecting a sense of boredom.

"Shiver me timbers," Shinoda taunted, smirking. That did it for Mako, and he put all his weight in his punch, an inferno appearing out of his knuckles destined to swallow Shinoda whole. But Shinoda casually raised his only hand in the heart of the fire as in approached him, and closed his fingers. The fire parted right before it would've hit Shinoda and only blackened the road.

"You probably think you're a top firebender, don't you?" Shinoda asked rhetorically. "Well let me tell you, I will kill myself before any colony elephant-rat can truly claim to be a master of combustion!"

Shinoda waved his hand broadly, and a wall of blue fire sped towards Mako. Mako didn't have enough time to properly part the fire, so he blasted his a flamethrower at Shinoda's wall. His power wasn't enough though, and the wall exploded on impact with Mako. He was thrown back and hit a letter box, a sharp edge meeting the spot where he had been hit before by a rock in between the shoulder blades. He landed on his ass and struggled to get up. He was badly beaten up from the fight before with the waterbender.

Kenichi Shinoda strolled through the smoke, gathering some of it at his fingertips. "I spent years dedicating my life to learn perfect combustion! It's easy to get the breathing down, but I had to shut out all my friends for it!" Shinoda pointed his two fingers at Mako again, but this time smoke followed, and engulfed Mako. He started coughing violently, blood coming out as well. He dived out of the smoke and stood on his two feet, fists up.

"I was never 'spiritual' enough to become a real combustion bender," Shinoda continued, and Mako suddenly realised that this feared man was venting his life problems to him, in a strange sort of way. "I was nearly as powerful as Princess Azula herself!"

Mako lobbed a fireball at Shinoda, but it was blocked by a wall of blue fire, standing 7 metres in front of Shinoda. His eyes widened, astounded at the fact that this man could summon fire as far as 7 metres away from his body. The wall lowered itself and Shinoda kept on walking towards Mako. Mako subconsciously felt himself taking a step back.

"I think I've done alright, haven't I?" Shinoda asked, but didn't wait for an answer, firing his own flamethrower at Mako. Mako jumped out of the way. He was infuriated by the man for the effect he had on his life, but his training kicked in. He had just potentially gotten himself into trouble just a minute ago by murdering two gangsters in cold blood under the name of the law, but he'd think of a way out of it later. There was no comparison in terms of brute strength between him and Shinoda, evidently, and Mako needed all his wits about him to survive this battle.

Mako unleashed a barrage of fire-punches at Shinoda. Each and every one would've been enough to knock out a probender, but the Red Monsoon leader shot his own fireballs from his finger gun. Mako started dragging his fingers around the air, electricity trailing after them. He straightened his arms and a bolt of lightning zapped towards Shinoda. Shinoda smiled cunningly, and held out his fingers. The lightning travelled through his arm and around his body, but he wasn't in pain. He pulled his arm back and then released the full extent of Mako's attack back at him one second after receiving it.

Mako would've been helpless to do anything about it, but fortunately for him, Shinoda missed in his haste to counter. Mako covered his face as shrapnel from the road shot in every direction. He grunted, frustrated. He couldn't land one single shot on Shinoda, who was just playing. He grinned in stark contrast to Mako's grimace.

"Is that the best you can do, boy?" Shinoda called out, his dry voice hard to listen to without cringing. "I honestly don't know why I was even worried about 'Ruk, if he was beaten by you during the full moon, what would I have to worry about? Maybe I'll outright murder them all when I get back."

Shinoda brought his foot up in a long, vertical kick, extremely flexible considering his age. A column of blue flame whizzed at Mako, but he evaded it. The heat off it was nearly enough to make Mako faint as it crashed into a car, resulting in another explosion. Mako realised that he wasn't going to beat Kenichi Shinoda at long distance fighting, so he started charging at the triad boss.

Shinoda's smile grew all the larger, like a maniac, and he got into a crouching position. He swept his foot across the tarmac and a thick carpet of fire followed. Mako jumped over it, but at the last moment, in his weakened state, he lazily didn't bring his left knee all the way up to his chest, and his left foot was lower than his right. The blue fire just caught his toe, and made him tip forward. He landed heavily on his front.

"Give up, and I won't torture you too much before I kill you," Shinoda offered sarcastically.

"Over my dead body!" Mako shouted, and found more energy to get back up and keep up his charge.

"As you wish," Shinoda replied.

Mako was doing his best not to stop to rest, because he knew as soon as he stopped for a rest, all of his exhaustion would catch up with him. Shinoda was very elegant, surprisingly, with his firebending. He had once been in line to become an Imperial Sage in the Fire Nation, but he wasn't disciplined enough, according to the rumours. Whatever about him not sticking to rules, he certainly had a very old-fashioned way of firebending. His style was similar to that of how he was told firebenders fought during the 100 Year War. The stances were much more structured, compared to modern style stay-light-on-your-feet, and firebending with your fingers was no easy feat.

Shinoda unleashed another flamethrower, and Mako jumped out of the way, making sure he put plenty of space between him and Shinoda's attack this time. He closed the gap to just a few yards, all the time running diagonally. The flamethrower washed over the houses as it trailed after Mako, and he heard screams, but Mako didn't dare turn his attention away for one moment.

Mako got to five yards away from Shinoda and kicked a small but powerful fire at Shinoda's legs. It was enough to throw Shinoda off balance even though it didn't connect, making him stumble back. Mako put all his weight into his good hand and torched a huge fireball, similar to what he had thrown at the waterbender, at his opponent. Shinoda tipped his body heavily to his right, now wobbling on one foot. Mako threw a left fire-hook, and for the first time, his fire connected. Shinoda cried out in surprise more than pain. Mako had been stepping towards Shinoda with every attack, and now he could touch him. Mako lit his right foot on fire and went for a head kick on Shinoda's armless side, intending to connect with both fire and foot.

Mako blinked, seeing his foot stopped just a few inches from Shinoda's temple. He tried to follow through with the kick, but all his momentum was stopped by Shinoda's hand. Shinoda stared at him gravely, no longer in the mood for joking. Mako started to fall forward into Shinoda, and without any words, the criminal mastermind sent a blast of fire into Mako's gut. Mako whelped from the pain as he was hurled up into the air, his shirt burned away to reveal red skin underneath, a combination of dried blood and burnt flesh. Shinoda wasn't done there though, and he arched a shot that hit Mako horizontally while he was still suspended. Mako crashed into one of the houses and moaned in pain before he was brought back down by gravity. Yellow dots were flying everywhere, and he couldn't hear anyone coming to rescue him. He nearly blacked out, but forced his eyelids to stay open.

"I'm not in the mood to play games," Shinoda's voice rang out, and Mako recognised him as the blurry figure standing not too far away. "You have injured me and my operation. You'll be the first of many to pay for this!" He raised his fingers to exterminate Mako.

At that moment, Mako's vision snapped back into focus. He had broken a good few bones, and was on the verge of bleeding out. But then he caught a flash of light reflected off of Shinoda's fire. It was a young boy peaking through the curtains across the street, and that look told a thousand words. Petrified. Helpless. Innocence being ripped away. Mako looked at his surroundings. The street had been badly ripped up and scorched from the fight. There were two burning wreckages not too far from him. The road was torn up from that lightning attack. A house was on fire. Mako couldn't let this fight continue on here any longer.

Shinoda attempted to incinerate him with yet another flamethrower, but Mako met it with some of little energy he had left. He stood with his broken ribs and hobbled over to where he had come out onto the street from. He stopped and looked back at Shinoda, who seemed amused.

"What's the issue?" he challenged. "Finally shown your true colours?"

"You're a pathetic excuse for a firebender," Mako spat out, putting his neck on the line. Any previous look of amusement disappeared from Shinoda's face, replaced by pure rage. "Lightning Bolt Zolt was ten times the firebender you'll ever be!"

"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO THAT SORRY EXCUSE OF A BENDER?!" Shinoda shouted. "I WASN'T TOO BOTHERED A MINUTE AGO, BUT NOW I'M GOING TO ENJOY YOUR DEATH!" He followed this up with a fireball pelted at Mako. Mako hobbled out of the way and started jogging as fast as his legs would allow him back to the dock, or just away from the infuriated firebender.

Kenichi Shinoda followed, albeit not too quickly given his old age, and proceeded to belt out blue fire as he gave chase. This fire only damaged the crates though, and Mako countered any blasts that threatened him.

After a few minutes of scurrying around, Mako finally recognised the turn to where the police were. But when he was about to burst out into the welcome arms of reinforcements, he just hit a dead end. A huge fireball was racing towards him and raced into the dead end to avoid being burnt alive. Shinoda round the corner and had a crazy look on his face, full of murderous intent.

"This is where you die!" he screamed, and started drawing electricity from the air. Mako prepared himself to redirect it, but they were way too close for him to be able to react in time. Only a few metres separated them. Mako looked around. The amount that was being drawn meant it was impossible for him to dodge it, and he was in no condition to climb onto a crate out of the way, which would just make him a sitting duck anyway. Then, a suicidal idea popped into his head.

That's stupid, he thought. But what are my other options? With that thought, Mako's mind was decided. He only had a few seconds until he was exterminated, so there was no time for second-guessing himself.

Shinoda was taken aback when he found the officer who had just been running away from him now coming straight at him. He quickly extended his arm and exhaled.

Mako lunged and grabbed Shinoda's wrist just in time. He nearly blacked out for the second time in a few minutes as electricity coursed through his body. He grinded his teeth together and stared Shinoda dead in the eyes.

"You'll never hurt anyone ever again!" he yelled, and summoned the last dregs of his energy to add to the power that was roaming around his body. He got down on one knee, and pointed his fingers at Shinoda's heart.

Kenichi Shinoda was blasted into the crate behind him, and screamed his last breath as Mako bore a hole through his chest with lightning. Mako kept going until he couldn't hold it anymore. As he fell, and Shinoda's body was released from the rod that had been holding it, the last flash of lightning lit up the sky as Mako's fingers pointed upwards. He fell, face first, and lay on the ground, limp. He saw Shinoda's lifeless body across him with a large hole in his chest, and sighed a breath of relief, knowing his job was done. He closed his eyes and let the darkness wash over him.

So what did you think about that? Was the fighting detailed enough, or nah? Please RR if you enjoyed. Also, I've finally figured out how many chapters I'll be doing, which while be 40-45. Thanks for reading!