Chapter 5: The Harrier
The mayor of Isesaki had been waiting for the military to arrive for quite some time. Her town had no real prison; there was no way they could keep Ronan and his bandits trapped for long. Hopefully the military vehicle pulling into their streets had come to take the dangerous bandits away.
The people who stepped out were some kind of military, but certainly not Fire Nation. Their uniforms were plain, almost like monks robes, except for a few strange decorations. One of them, a sleazy looking man in yellow robes, had a string of beads wrapped around his forearm. The other was taller, more clean handsome, wearing deep blue robes and a chain that seemed to be strung with the skulls of birds. He had a very intense look in his eyes, like a storm cloud just about to burst forth with thunder.
The sleazy man spotted the mayor and slithered over to the waiting old woman. He cracked a grin that was probably supposed to seem friendly, but failed quite spectacularly.
"Hey Ma'am, we heard you had a few kids pass through here recently. Little girl playing with swords, two earthbenders, does that ring a bell?"
"Yes. Very helpful young people." The Mayor took a few steps away from the sleazy man. "They left about two weeks ago."
"Oh, yes, that's great," The man said. "Tell us more, please, we're on a bit of a deadline here."
"Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Oh well, you see," The sleazy man began. He looked far too amused. "We're going to have to kill all of you, so-"
A flying object interrupted the threatening man by striking him forcefully in the throat. The sleazy man fell to the ground and gasped for air. The blue robed one approached the mayor. He had, apparently, been the one to throw whatever it was that had hit the sleazy man.
"Ignore him," he commanded. "Please tell us more about what these children did."
The mayor backed away and pressed herself against a wall. The people of Isesaki were starting to gather and observe the spectacle. The man with the bird skulls around his neck looked furiously at his choking companion.
"Now look what you did," He said disdainfully. The other man choked out an insult, and said nothing else.
"Cooperate now and I can guarantee your safety," The Harrier said to the townspeople. "Any resistance will have to be punished."
A few people ran from the prospect of violence. A few stayed behind, the ones who seemed more capable in a fight. The Harrier ignored their attempts to provoke him. He didn't want to have to hurt anyone today. If they had to fight everyone the Avatar tried to help they'd end up burning the whole world.
"All I want to know is where they went," The Harrier continued. "Just tell me that and I'll leave peacefully."
One of the local firebenders didn't get the message. The Harrier dodged his amateurish attack and rolled his eyes. If there had to be a fight, he would make it a quick one. He took a deep breath and pointed his right hand at the attacker.
He rapidly ran the outstretched fingers of his left hand against his right arm as if he were striking a match against his arm. As the motion completed, a bolt of blue lightning surged from the fingertips of his right hand, instantly striking the attacking firebender in the chest. Electric sparks incinerated the attacker's shirt and blackened the skin of his chest. The impact blasted the firebender to the ground, and he laid there motionless as all his allies panicked and retreated.
Harrier had not earned his rank in the Energybender's forces from intelligence alone. His ability to rapidly generate lightning gave him a lethal first strike in any battle. There were few with the reflexes and skill to dodge lightning created with such speed.
The Harrier turned back to the mayor. His companion began to pull himself off the floor, just in time to continue the interrogation. The Harrier pointed his arm at the Mayor, and she began to tremble visibly.
"You're lucky you've got that superpower or I'd knock your block off, ya jerk," The other man said.
"Be quiet, Duga," Harrier commanded. "You've done enough today. Now, you. Tell us where the children went."
"I don't know," The old woman wailed. She began to weep, and the Harrier lowered his arms. He pulled Duga away from the weeping old woman and past the motionless body of the firebender he had struck.
"And now I had to do all that for nothing," Harrier chastised. He forcibly pushed Duga back into the armored transport. Just like there was a reason he was called the Harrier, there was a reason Duga and his friends were called The Imperfects. Harrier had earned his name by being able to generate lightning fast enough to strike down falcons in mid-air; Duga and the Imperfects had gotten theirs by being imbeciles. Harrier was glad he only had to deal with one of the four Imperfects directly; the other three had spread out across the Fire Nation to search for the Avatar.
"Stay in the vehicle and watch the radio," He commanded. Duga grudgingly obliged. "I'm going to interrogate the bandits. Maybe they know something the villagers don't."
The Harrier headed for the makeshift prison. There had not been enough room in the local jail to store all the bandits that the Avatar had helped capture, so Ronan and the waterbender were being kept in locked rooms in town hall. The town was effectively deserted know. The Harrier could feel the eyes of innocent people staring at him from hidden places, but no one caused any trouble. He was glad; he had no desire to hurt more people than necessary to achieve his goals.
He had to spend quite some time looking for the holding cells. Their intelligence on this town had been rather limited. They had gotten too used to operating in the United Earth Kingdom; their intelligence networks in the Fire Nation were deeply lacking. Little inconveniences like this might cost them the Avatar.
The lock on the door gave way to a strong kick. If Ronan wasn't chained to the wall, he would have escaped long ago. The bandit seemed quite surprised to see anyone visiting him.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Someone who can kill you if you don't answer my questions," Harrier declared forcefully. Ronan cowered under the Harrier's imposing gaze. Unlike innocent civilians, the Harrier had no reservations about using his talents on criminals. He'd be glad to give Ronan a taste of lightning if he made it necessary.
"Ask whatever you like," Ronan said. He faked a friendly smile through his sheer terror.
"The children who defeated you," Harrier asked. "Tell me everything you know about them."
Ronan spilled the story of his embarrassing defeat at the hands of a sixteen year old earthbender. He didn't know anything about their destinations, or reasons for being there in the first place, but he did have one interesting tidbit; the earthbender who had fought him had been burning up inside. The Harrier recognized the symptoms.
"Sozin Syndrome," He mumbled to himself. "Makes sense. We did just take his best friend away."
"Sozin Syndrome? Nah only firebenders get that, this kid was an earthbender."
A look of shock and surprise spread across the bandits face. The Harrier shook his head. Now they had loose ends. Many people thought the Avatar was dead; if word spread that that wasn't the case, a lot of their secrecy could be compromised.
"Was that kid the Avatar? But that would mean you're with-"
The Harrier placed the fingertips of his right hand on Ronan's forehead and struck his left hand across his arm. A small spark turned the room a shade of bright blue before fading rapidly. At least Harrier wouldn't regret that one tomorrow. He would come to regret it much, much later. Despite Ronan's unassuming position, he actually held a crucial piece of information that would later prove very important to the Harrier.
For procedure's sake, Harrier headed to the next room. The waterbender seemed to be waiting for him. She had a very resigned look in her eyes.
"Promise not to kill me and I can tell you something he didn't," She said flatly.
"You have a deal," Harrier said. The elderly waterbender let out a small sigh of relief.
"They left me lying around while they talked about their plans," She said. "Said something about going to see 'Sorikami". Hopefully that means more to you than it does to me."
It did. Sorikami had been one of their targets for observation when they were first moving into the Fire Nation. She had a connection to the Avatar that could not be ignored. Unfortunately, the city around her was unpopulated, so it had been impossible to station an agent there to observe her without the swordswomen noticing. She was intensely paranoid and reclusive, actively chasing away anyone who tried to get close to her. The Harrier often wondered what a woman of Sorikami's talents was so afraid of.
"That's very helpful," The Harrier assured her. He turned to leave.
"Don't suppose an old lady could bother you for a favor," She said. She rattled the chains on her hands.
"I don't make a habit of freeing convicted criminals."
"Yeah, like you're so upstanding," She coughed. The Harrier glared at her. "No offense. Just leave me here to die, if that's what you want."
"Your crimes won't get you that kind of sentence," The Harrier said. She was a common bandit, the worst sentence she'd face was hard labor.
"It isn't these stupid villagers I'm worried about," The waterbender said. "I got one of those Water Tribe vigilantes after me. The kind that only give one sentence. I don't get out of here soon, he'll catch up."
The Harrier had heard of them, a group calling themselves the Coast Watch or some nonsense. He didn't know much about the Water Tribes, though. They would be one of the last places the Avatar would possibly visit, so very little attention had been paid to them. The Energybender was only interested in them because it was easier to enter the Spirit World through the Northern and Southern portals than through Korra's Portal.
The Harrier left the waterbender behind. Whatever fate befell her was her own fault, not his. He returned to his vehicle, finding that Duga had managed not to screw anything up, much to his surprise, and they continued on their hunt for the Avatar. He spread the word that Sorikami was their next target as they headed for the master's castle.