Mako jumped, and brought his right heel up to head height. He brought it down full force to the ground, and slashed a column of fire at Ru. He did the same with his left foot in the same movement. Ru jumped away from the both awkwardly, getting singed.

"Let me explain!" she urged.

"You had your chance!" Mako repeated, and crouched down. He dragged his toes along the ground in Ru's direction. A carpet of fire swept her off her feet, and she face-planted into the cold hard roof. She felt her nose crack on contact. Mako charged.

"Damn it!" Ru growled, and looked up. Mako was two steps away from her and about to body-slam her. She instantly knew that she wasn't talking her way out of this, so she extended her arm at Mako, palm open. A rocket of air smashed into him from close range and he went flying back. He didn't panic though, and blew fire against the direction he was going. He slowed down completely and landed his feet, not too far from the edge.

Mako steadied his breathing, then thrust his fist out at Ru. A flamethrower burst out of it, and Ru's eyes widened. She took a sharp, painful breath through her bloody nose, and stared at it head on. She traced her hands in a circle in front of her and then shoved her palm through it, a similar motion she'd done a few moments ago. A needle of air pierced through the heart of the flamethrower just as it threatened to wash over her. The flame spun out harmlessly and Mako was forced to dive to the side as it very nearly hit and blew him off the edge.

"Where'd you learn that?" he called out. The first time they'd met, her motions were all those of a firebender's, but now she was so much more elegant. It was like Korra used to airbend when she first unlocked it, before she learnt the proper forms.

Ru blinked. She certainly wasn't expecting any praise from this cop. Not even anyone in the Triple Threats had acknowledged it. "I've been studying," she replied. "You're pretty good at fighting me. No-one's been able to give me a proper run around ever since I realised I had airbending."

"I dated one in the past," Mako responded, and punched five huge fireballs at her, all too intense to spin out like she did before. She didn't need to, however. She danced out of the way of every one of them, and jumped calmly over the last one. They all blew up parts of the roof. Mako started breathing a bit harder by the last one, and Ru spotted her opportunity.

She brought her hands in to her chest, then traced them in a wide arc to her left. A curling torrent of wind slammed into Mako and he crashed into a thick four-foot high vine which was sprawling around the rooftop. He felt the spot where Hazukk had struck him earlier in his back flare up again. He groaned in pain.

Mako's vision swam as he saw Ru slice horizontally, vertically and then diagonally twice. Four slashes of air flew at him in one big attack and he forced himself onto one knee. He sent a powerful fire backhand at the air slashes. The flames and air met, and low boom was heard all around the block as they exploded on impact. It had been much closer to Mako, and the shockwave of it nearly sent him flying over the edge. His arm scraped painfully against the gravel.

Ru started running closer to Mako, intent on finishing the job. She vaulted fifteen foot into the air and brought her heels together. She arrowed down directly at him, and shot a tunnel of air straight at him from her feet.

I'm done for if that hits me, Mako thought. He rolled forward out of the way just in time as it bore down on him. His hair blew back in the resulting ripple, but that was the worst of the impact he suffered from that attack. Ru landed where his chest had been half a second earlier.

"How?!" she shouted as he spun on her heel and blasted another torrent of air in his direction. Mako was too clever for it though, and stayed down as it flew harmlessly over his head.

"Never get too cocky," Mako growled, and stood up to his full height. He sent a fire backhand at Ru, and followed it up with a fire uppercut. Ru swiped the backhand away, but her guard was drawn away and she caught the uppercut full on the chin. She stumbled away, wailing and clutching at her burnt chin, but Mako wasn't done yet. He curled a low fire-kick around to her thigh, and when it connected, her knees bent so bad that she crumbled onto the ground.

"I'm not done yet!" he yelled, and Ru looked up to see Mako blaze an inferno at her. She panicked, and unleashed whatever power she had left to counter it, but the result was her being blown off the roof as Mako calmly parted the flames from the explosion.

Ru's fight-or-flight instincts kicked in as she fell, and blew as hard as she could at the ground. It cushioned nearly her entire fall, but she landed on her hands. She felt her right shoulder pop as it dislocated and her wrist snap as it broke on impact. She cried out as she landed in a heap, and stayed there, straddling her injured shoulder. Mako slid down on the vines and arrived in front of her a minute later. She tried to send one last air palm at him, but it missed by a long shot.

Mako grabbed her by the collar and held her up to her full height. She was burnt a lot worse than Mako had intended, but it would hopefully all heal with time.

"Feeling like talking now?" he interrogated. "Or do you wanna go for round 2?"

"I've got nothing to tell you," she said defiantly, but let out a gasp when Mako kneed her in the stomach. He made a fire dagger and held it up to her eyes.

"Trust me, if you think I'm bad, you're sorely mistaken. We have people who will break you," he threatened. "We can and will make you go insane, and beg to tell us everything you know so we stop." Most of that was an exaggeration, but she didn't know that. "It'll be like nothing you've experienced before."

"I've never been arrested before," she jibed. "This is the first time."

"What do you mean?" Mako asked, not buying what she said. "You're running around with the Triple Threats, of course you've been arrested before at some point!"

"No, I only joined them a few months ago," she told him.

"How old are you then?" he asked.

"Nineteen," she answered, and Mako took in a sharp breath. He loosened his grip a little and she stood there awkwardly. She didn't try to run.

"What's a nineteen-year-old doing running around with the Triple Threats?" he demanded. He knew he was a hypocrite for saying that considering he and Bolin had done the same in the past, and at a much younger age, but he couldn't tell her that, at least not at the minute.

"It's not like I had any better alternatives!" she yelled suddenly, spitting in Mako's face. "I was homeless for a year and a half, if I didn't, I would've died sooner or later!"

Mako took a second to take this in. "Why were you homeless?" It struck a deep chord within him.

"My parents were pricks," she said bitterly. "They wanted to force me into an arranged marriage, but I refused, and they went berserk. All my arranged husband wanted me for was the land my family owned, and the dowry. I ran to Republic City when I was seventeen."

"What town or city are you from?" Mako asked, less aggressive now.

"We lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere," she told him. "It took me two weeks to reach the main city in the Ayo State. I got a train here, hoping to start a new life."

"But you sound like you're from Republic City. And why didn't you go to Air Temple Island when you arrived instead of living on the streets?" Mako asked. He let go completely, and gave her a yard of space. He had a pretty decent knack of telling when people were lying, and it sounded heartfelt. She wasn't in any condition to go running away, anyway.

"I hadn't discovered it by that point," Ru explained. "And the accent helps me fit in better. One day, this guy in a hood about five months ago said I should come with him if I wanted to get paid. I'd already gone into prostitution by this point."

"Spirits," Mako said quietly. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I doubt it," she sneered, but her voice started to crack up. Mako didn't mention it though. It sounded like something she needed to talk about. "I told him downright that I was only going if he gave me money first, but he said that he could sense the airbender in me. I didn't really care for my life at that point, so I just followed him.

"He showed me his real face when we got back to a hideout," she went on, and cracked a smile despite her eyes watering up. "You should've heard me scream. But he showed me how to unlock my airbending. His name was Tokuga."

"I thought so," Mako said. "I figured that he was the one who let you in. Have the woman jokes been going on long?"

"Yes," Ru admitted, now breathing heavily, struggling to contain herself. "But the pay has been really good. I had to shave my head though, to keep a lot of the guys away."

"I thought that was an airbender thing," Mako said.

"I used that excuse too, but…" she started crying and grabbed onto him tight with her one good arm and bawled into his chest. Mako stood there rigidly, not sure what to do. He was beating the living shit out of her a few minutes ago, and now she was crying into his chest. "They make me fun of me so much! It's been constant abuse since day one!"

"Look…" he started, after a little while, "my brother and I were involved in with the Triple Threats when I was a kid too, much younger than you are right now," he admitted. She looked up at him, but let him continue. "Our parents were killed when we were really young, and I went through a lot of the hardships that you just mentioned too. It's a shit life, I know, and every day I remind myself to be grateful for where I am now. Stand up straight." She wobbled away from him and stood to her full height, which was a head shorter than Mako.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked miserably. Mako rubbed his eyes and sighed. He wasn't great at therapy.

"Look," he said. "I don't have any reason to trust you right now other than out of the good of my own heart. So, I'm going to give you two options. One, you can tell me when and where the deal with your client is happening, and I let you walk away this one time. Your second option is that you stay quiet and let me take you to prison for numerous counts of assault, robbery and attempted murder. Your choice."

"I never meant to kill anyone," Ru protested.

"If you don't choose, I'll choose for you," Mako threatened. She stayed quiet for a good few seconds. "Three, two, one-"

"Wait, I'll talk," she said glumly. "The deal is happening at the docks at 3AM, in about an hour or so. The client will be there, in the Valentine district. None of us know who he is or what he looks like, only Tokuga knows."

"Thanks," he said, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to give you some advice now. You can take it or leave it, but it's from the bottom of my heart. Get your injuries looked at and go to Air Temple Island. We won't know each other after tonight, because we never met. This fight or conversation didn't happen. Understood?"

Ru nodded, and looked him in the eyes again. "What's your name, if you don't mind telling me?"

"My name doesn't matter," Mako replied. "Just listen to what I said. Sorry for what I did to you."

"It's fine," she said. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said. "Goodbye." He turned and started to walk away to the Valentine district, which was only fifteen minutes away at a quick pace. He heard her say 'goodbye' as well, and her steps echo further and further away from him as they walked in opposite directions. It went against everything he'd been taught as a policeman, but he saw a lot of Bolin in her. Afraid, confused, struggling to get by.

He rubbed his hands together, preparing himself for what would most likely be an ugly encounter.

Mako lay flat on the ground under an old jeep in a rusty rain shelter that threatened to collapse at any moment. He was cramped, trying his hardest not to close his eyes for too long, because there was a good chance he'd fall asleep if he did so. He kept on getting flashbacks to when he was waiting in the crate before they raided that cocaine shipment from the Agni Kai's and the Red Monsoon. The silence was deafening, and every time a bird or rat moved something, or anything made a sound, he tensed up.

After what felt like days, Mako heard a vehicle rolling into the small clearing. There was no patrol on tonight, conveniently enough. He watched it park in the middle of the yard, headlights off, and then the engine shut off. No-one came out for a minute or two, before two men got out slowly from the back. Mako assumed that the driver was staying put in case they needed a quick getaway. One had a briefcase in his hands, and Mako made an educated guess that that was the money. His body started to ache even more now that he couldn't budge. There were pebbles all around him, and the slightest noise would expose his hiding spot.

Finally, the mysterious client arrived, and on a speedboat no less. He carried a thick cylindrical tube as he made his way to the others. The driver of the car got out and met him angrily halfway. The other two caught up and gave out to the client for a minute for being at least half an hour later than them. Mako couldn't tell the time from his position, but their voices travelled all across the yard. The client, who was dressed entirely in black, had his face covered by a hood. He didn't raise his voice when making excuses for himself, so Mako couldn't hear what he sounded like. After soaking up the abuse, he said something different. The Triple Threats nodded and pointed to his arm. He pulled back his coat sleeve, revealing a red forearm in the process.

He must have got burnt somehow, Mako thought. He watched as the client pulled back his sleeve the entire way and gestured to a small mark just above his armpit, probably proving he was their man. He covered his arm back up and handed the Triple Threats his tube. It was the perfect kind of container for paper, or classified documents.

Blueprints, Mako realised. That was how they got into the bank so easily without a fuss. He's wearing gloves so that he can't get traced by his fingerprints.

His theory was confirmed a second later when one of the Triple Threats popped the tube open and took out a few sheets of thick blue paper. He looked over them and approved. He nodded to his friend with the briefcase and that was handed over. The client opened it up and flicked through the cash. He closed it, happy with what he saw, and started to walk back to his boat. The Triple Threats started to walk back to their car, the whole exchange only taking a few minutes.

Shit, Mako thought. I need to get those papers now, I can't possibly track them again in a car. I'll have fuck all to tell the rest of the board when I get back otherwise.

Mako scooted out from under his hiding position, trying his hardest not to alert them, but also knowing time was of the essence. It took nearly a minute, which by that point the Triple Threats were almost at their car. He bounded up, and shot a fireball at the client, who was facing the other way. It collided and he fell over in a heap. The gangsters were about to shout something, but Mako ignored it and touched all four of his index and middle fingers together. They started to crackle as electricity clustered, and then he pointed at the car.

The lightning sped forward and zapped the hood. The vehicle exploded on impact, and the shockwave of the explosion threw the Triad members back several metres. The tube rolled very nicely in Mako's direction and he sprinted towards it. He scooped it up off the ground and started to run away as fast as he could. But no longer had he taken five steps with the tube did a small rock pop up from the ground in front of him and trip him up. He landed heavily, and the tube split open, the blueprints rolling out. He noticed this and snatched them before they got away from him, shoving them in his waist.

The client got up and started to belt towards the speedboat. Mako saw this and pushed himself up. He started to gather electricity again, and the driver's eyes widened. He aborted ship just in time as Mako zapped and exploded the speedboat. The fumes of both wreckages' fires reached up into the air, and Mako now knew he just had to play for time long enough for the police to arrive.

The client watched in despair as his escape option was enveloped in flames. He turned around furiously to Mako, and dropped his case of money. He ran forward and got to within twelve metres of the detective. He bent the water out from a snakeskin hidden his coat and created a water whip. He snapped it at Mako, but Mako just countered it with a fire slash, and the water whip evaporated.

"Greasy rat!" the earthbender bellowed, and stomped on the ground. Two large rocks floated up, and he kicked them one after the other at Mako. Mako ducked under the first one and then met the second with a fire backhand. It smashed into pieces, and a small dust cloud appeared in front of Mako.

"Do something about it then!" he challenged, and the firebender of the group took his challenge up. He thrusts his fists towards Mako, and a full flamethrower blazed its way toward Mako. Mako didn't see it until very late, so he could only match it with his own. They lit up the entire yard as Mako struggled to keep his end up. He stopped and dived out of the way after buying himself a little bit of space by pushing the other guy's flamethrower back. It washed over the jeep not too far behind Mako, and he heard a third explosion in a minute. He tried to edge his way around a few crates, but the firebender cut that route off with a wall of fire.

The waterbender sent a volley of water aiming for Mako's head, and he fire jaw-kicked vertically to cancel it out. He got vibes of his old probending days, but this was life-or-death. The earthbender tried to send a ripple through the ground to erupt at Mako's feet, but Mako was prepared for that move and jumped just a spike rose out where his foot had been moments before.

The client was standing behind the trio and kept on lobbing long shots over the top, but none of them connected. He was more afraid of letting his identity get shown than fighting. Mako noticed this while dodging a fireball and block of earth at the same time. He timed his next attack carefully. He sidestepped until he had the Triple Threat waterbender and the client both lined up. He jumped over a water slice aiming for his heels, and roundhouse fire-kicked at them. The Triple Threat avoided it, but it kept on travelling and crackled into the client. He was thrown on his ass and his hood fell back, revealing his face. Mako's breath caught in his throat.

"No," he mumbled, and started to turn, to run away. Delaying the Triple Threats didn't matter now. He just needed to get back to headquarters. This was vital. This was-

He gasped as he felt the four chi points on his left side get jabbed. His left arm fell limp, and his gaze shot to where someone had been half a second ago, but that was stupid. The man danced around behind Mako to his right side as he looked to his left and blocked Mako's remaining four points. His right arm fell limp as well.

"Never count anyone out," the driver whispered in Mako's ear and placed a metal hand on his shoulder.

"AGH!" Mako cried as he was electrocuted. He slumped to the floor, but didn't black out. He saw the other Triple Threats walking up to him. He closed his eyes, and accepted his fate.

I wish I'd sorted things out with Bolin, he regretted mentally. And Asami too. I won't get the chance now.

"Let's make an example of this guy!" the earthbender demanded. "Let everyone know what happens when you mess with the Triple Threats!"

"Yeah!" one of his friends agreed. Mako couldn't tell which one. He just hoped they didn't take their time with it.

"Wait," the man who Mako had uncovered said, and walked forward in front of Mako's face. "I want to talk to him first. 10k to each of you directly after if you give me a couple minutes.

What? Why? Mako thought, opening his eyes.

"I didn't expect to see you, old friend," he patronised Mako, kneeling down.

"Hazukk!" Mako growled, his face mushed up against the ground, unable to move anything but his facial muscles. "What do you want with me?"

"Just a catch-up," he answered in his old accent, and grabbed the blueprints out of Mako's waist. He tossed them behind to the others without even looking. Mako tried to breath fire at Hazukk, but it barely got past his nose before it died out.

"Never one for throwing in the towel easily, were you?" he taunted.

"Why amn't I dead?" Mako demanded.

"I don't exactly plan on killing you," Hazukk said, raising an objection from the men behind him. "20k to each of you if you let me have my way with him completely!" His driver had collected the briefcase and held it open for the others to see. It silenced them, and they all grabbed their money greedily. "You three can leave now. The cops will be here soon and I don't think it suits any of us to be around when that happens." He turned his attention back to Mako as they scampered off.

"How long have you been with the Triple Threats?" Mako asked. He hated giving Hazukk the satisfaction of giving in but the question was begging to be answered in his head.

"Before we bumped into each other," Hazukk answered smugly. "You fell right into my trap." Mako's face dropped.

"Was that whole evening planned? And me getting followed as well by the Triple Threats as well before you 'rescued' me?!" Mako asked, horrified.

"A bit late to be figuring that one out now, don't you think?" Hazukk answered indirectly.

"Why would you send your own members to jail?" Mako questioned. "Where's the logic in that?!"

"We planned their escape beforehand, and then it coincided with breaking out all of the others because your friend Korra, the Avatar, imprisoned them," Hazukk answered simply.

"So your story about her bloodbending was FAKE!?" he nearly shouted, although it left him out of breath.

"No," Hazukk said truthfully. He sat down in the Lotus position. "The Triple Threats found out about the Red Monsoon and The Agni Kai's big operation, before we met, and asked me if knew anyone on the force. Anyone I could dupe into bringing a journalist on a drug raid. Surely there couldn't have anyone that stupid though. Or so they thought."

"Cunt," Mako insulted, grinding his teeth together.

"It was a long shot," Hazukk continued, "but it worked! I knew you would go after Shinoda, you were always cursing him under your breath back in our probending days, and Bolin told me why. You should've seen my face when I learnt that you killed him! I was certain it would be the other way around! How could a detective be so gullible, yet so skilled at firebending?"

"Why did you bring Korra to the Triple Threats?" Mako asked, his body still paralysed.

"Tokuga said that I'd get half the money of whatever drugs I could bring back to him, and if at all possible, bring the Avatar. He planned to kill her, but she had other ideas, as you already know. We never expected bloodbending from the Avatar, someone so noble, but I pounced on the opportunity. After we broke Tokuga and all the forty-odd other Triple Threats out of jail, I wrote the article and waited for the perfect opportunity, and it arose."

"That story about breaking your leg," Mako remembered. "Was that even true?"

"No," Hazukk laughed, rubbing salt into the wound. "And do you wanna know how I got the blueprints of so many different shops and banks?"

"How?" Mako played along. He was trying desperately to move, but hadn't even budged an inch.

"They called me in for newspaper reviews," Hazukk revealed, and burst out into even more laughter. His driver stood patiently behind him.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Mako questioned. "Where's the benefit for you in not killing me right now? You know I'll talk later."

"To be honest, I'm quite grateful of you," Hazukk confessed, but didn't start laughing again. He seemed to actually mean it, although Mako wasn't taking anything he said to heart anymore.

"How would you be grateful?" Mako asked.

"It's very logical," Hazukk told the helpless firebender. "Without you, none of this would have ever happened! I realistically wouldn't have hit it big with Tokuga, which means I never would've exposed the Avatar, which means I wouldn't be rolling in cash right this very minute. I was on my way to a new life in the Earth Kingdom just there, before you popped up!"

"Are you trying to blame it on me?" Mako asked, almost smiling at the sound of the question. Almost. "How am I responsible for everything you've done?"

"If you let a starving man into a room with your dinner, who's fault is it that your food gets eaten? Yours, or the man just trying to get by?"

"THAT'S NOT EVEN COMPARABLE!" Mako shouted.

"Sure it isn't," Hazukk teased, and moved his mouth just above Mako's ear. "But you should know this. It's all your fault. Everything. The crimes rampaging Republic City, the reason you and Bolin don't talk anymore, the Avatar being forced out. All because of you. Whenever a crisis next strikes Republic City and you need the Avatar, know that all the lives lost or displaced are on your hands. That's all."

He looked back at his man holding the case and stood up. "Zap him, Matt. Time to leave this shithole. I'll pay you as soon as we get to the next checkpoint. I've got a car just around the corner. It's not ideal, but it'll have to do."

"Suits me," the man called Matt said, and walked over to Mako. He placed the metal hand on Mako's arm and electrocuted him into a deep, deep sleep.