A Voice in the Night!
After a long day of patrols, interrogations, and taking suspects in, Haru was exhausted, Toothless too. Fortunately the Air temple has very comfortable beds. Unfortunately a scream from the room across from him awoke him.
"Whaa? KORRA!" Haru thought, springing out of bed, he nearly tore open the door getting to her room, opening the door, gauntlets ready, he pushed the door open to see...nothing?
Korra was shocked to see him but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.
"Haru! What are you doing in here?" Korra asked, covering herself, even though she had clothes on.
Haru blushed, "I...well...I heard a scream and I thought you were in trouble?" he said, although the way he said it made it more like a question. Korra looked down.
"Sorry, had a bad dream." she said quietly.
"You want to talk? It might help." He suggested. Korra shook her head.
"It's about Amon, right?" Haru asked knowingly.
Korra looked at him in shock.
"You know, it's ok to be afraid. Hell I'm somewhat scared. If I had lost our fight, I would have lost my bending to him." Haru sympathized.
"Wh-Who says I'm afraid?" Korra argued back weakly.
Haru shook his head and shrugged.
"Well, when you want to talk, I'm always here. But if you want me to protect you, I could always be your rock to lean."
"Thanks Haru, but I'll be fine, night." she said laying her head back down. Haru nodded and closed the door behind him.
Later that afternoon
"So…Tarrlok is putting together a task force? Is this another one of his ploys to get more power?" Haru asked Tenzin as they fed the flying bison colony on the island.
"You and I both know the answer to that Haru." Tenzin said as he air-bent a pile of hay to some baby bison.
"But can you believe that man had the audacity to compare himself to my father!" Tenzin said in anger.
Haru sighed as he petted a baby bison and giving it some hay. Toothless was currently being chased by some of the baby bison.
"The man has always been messed up Tenzin. You do know he'll try to get Korra's support, right?" Haru said as he turned to the air master.
"Knowing him he will try, but hopefully Korra won't be reckless enough to join." Tenzin said with a sliver of hope.
"He'll also try and get me too. I'm known to have fought Amon evenly; if I join that's a major morale booster for this task force of his. If somehow he gets Korra, I'll have to join too. She is strong, but she isn't ready for Amon." Haru said.
"I agree with you on that. How has she been?" Tenzin asked with curiosity.
"…Amon's got her spook Tenzin, badly. She had a nightmare this morning and I tried to talk to her about it, but she didn't want to."Haru mentioned with a bit of sadness.
"I see. Give her time Haru; I'm sure she will talk to one of us eventually about it." Tenzin said with a sigh.
"I think it's time we get something to eat." Haru recommended as he saw the sun setting.
"Agreed, I hope Pema has dinner ready, I'm starving." Tenzin said as his stomach growled somewhat.
Haru smiled at him, "Well we best go feed the monster you call a stomach then." He quipped, earning him and air blast to the face. Toothless garbled a laugh at his rider.
"Oh ha ha" Haru said dryly.
Evening at Air Temple Island
Everyone was seated around the table for dinner.
"We are grateful for this delicious food, for happiness, for compassion, and-" Tenzin spoke as he prayed before the meal.
Till a voice interrupted him.
"I'm not interrupting, am I?" spoke an obnoxious voice.
Everyone at the table turned to see councilman Tarrlok.
"This is my home Tarrlok. We're about to eat dinner." Tenzin said with a hinge of anger.
Tarrlok feinted ignorance, "Good, because I am absolutely famished." The councilman said.
Tenzin narrowed his eyes at the man.
Tarrlok saw this and smiled. "Air-benders never turn away a hungry guest, am I right?" he asked in a taunting tone.
"I suppose so."Tenzin sighed.
Tarrlok sat down and Pema glared at Tenzin with crossed arms. Tenzin just shrugged at his wife.
"Ah, you must be the famous Avatar Korra. It is truly an honor." Tarrlok said with a bow, "I councilman Tarrlok, representative from the Northern Water Tribe." He said.
Korra stood up and bowed to him, "Nice to meet you." She said.
"Ah Lieutenant Beifong, it is always a pleasure to see one of Republic City's best and brightest." Tarrlok said in a pleasant tone.
"It's a pleasure as always Councilman Tarrlok." Haru said in a neutral tone.
As Tarrlok sat down on by Korra's left side, Ikki got close to him.
"Why do you have three ponytails and how come you smell like a lady? Your weird." she interrogated.
Haru tried hard not to laugh.
Tarrlok looked at the girl, "Well are you…precocious." He said he then turned to Korra.
"So, I've been reading about all your adventures in the papers, infiltrating Amon's rally, now that took some real initiative."
"Oh, thanks. I think you're the first authority figure in the city that's happy I'm here." Korra said honestly.
"Ouch Korra, that was a cheap shot. I'm happy you're here and I'm an authority figure." Haru said with a pout.
Korra turned to Haru with a smile, "Easy there Haru. I meant an old authority figure, not a teenager like you. And it's fun having you around." She said
"Aw, Korra likes me around. I can sleep soundly at night." He said with a sigh of relief.
Korra just rolled her eyes at him and his dramatics.
Tarrlok gained a cunning smile seeing this.
"Of course reading Lieutenant Beifong's report of the rally was very insightful as well." Tarrlok said as he complimented the young lieutenant.
"Thank you, councilman Tarrlok." Haru said in a neutral tone once again.
"Republic City is much better off now that you've arrived." Tarrlok said
"Enough with the flattering Tarrlok, what do you want from Korra?" Tenzin asked frustrated.
"Patience Tenzin, I'm getting to that. As you may have heard-" Tarrlok said
"You want Korra to join your task force I take it." Haru said, interrupting the man.
Tarrlok's smile faltered somewhat, but returned to normal as he continued.
"Indeed Lieutenant Beifong, as intelligent as ever. I need someone who will help me attack Amon directly, someone who is fearless in the face of danger. And that someone is you Avatar Korra." He said to the girl.
"Join your task force?" she questioned and then turned to Haru. "You knew he would ask me?" she asked the earth-bender.
"It was only a matter of time. Having the Avatar join his task force would get more supporters and volunteers to join. He would then most likely ask me to join as well to give his task force a major morale boost due to my prowess at facing Amon on my own, and it would also get him volunteers from the police department who are loyal to me and would wish to help me." Haru stated analytically.
Tarrlok's smile turned into a thin line, showing that was what he was thinking.
Korra turned to food and said, "I can't."
Both Tarrlok and Tenzin looked surprised, but Haru stayed calm.
"I…must admit I'm…rather surprised. I thought you'd jump at the chance to help me lead the charge against Amon." Tarrlok said honestly.
"Me too." Tenzin muttered.
"I came to Republic City to finish my Avatar training with Tenzin. Right now I just need to focus on that." Korra answered.
"Which is why this opportunity is perfect. You would get on the job experience while performing your Avatar duties for the city." Tarrlok said in a somewhat desperate tone.
"Korra has given you your answer Councilman Tarrlok. Please leave." Haru said in a dismissing tone.
"Indeed Tarrlok." Tenzin said agreeing with Haru.
"Very well, but I not giving up on you just yet. You'll be hearing from me soon, you as well Lieutenant Beifong. It has been a pleasure Avatar Korra." Tarrlok said as he walked out the door.
"Bye bye ponytail man!" Ikki said as she waved at Tarrlok.
The next day
Korra was petting Naga while Haru sat close by reading with Toothless behind him.
"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Haru asked
Korra sighed, "No Haru. What I told Tarrlok, is the reason I don't want to join." Korra said. Haru rolled his eyes.
"I don't even need to read the vibrations to tell that's a lie." Haru argued.
"I don't want to talk about it Haru. Please respect that." She asked pleadingly.
Haru sighed and shook his head, "Fine. But when you want to talk, I'm here." He said with his usual grin.
Korra gave a small smile, "Thanks."
"Hello fellow teammate and other non-teammate!" said a voice in the distance.
They turned to see Bolin with his arms behind his back and Pabu on his shoulder.
"Hey Bolin." Korra said as she rubbed Naga's belly.
"Been a while Bolin."Haru said.
"Missed you at practice this week." Bolin said.
"Yeah sorry about that." Korra said.
"Aw it's alright. We're probably out of the tournament anyway, unless some money miraculously drops from the sky by tomorrow." Bolin said in an annoyed tone.
"Such negativity Bolin. I thought you were the sunshine one between you and your brother." Haru joked.
"This is true." Bolin said nodding.
"Any way reason I came by was to give you this, tada!" he said as he handed Korra a rose and a wrapped up cupcake.
Korra took them, "Wow, thanks. But what this for?" she asked
Bolin got into a thinking position, "Ah, I can't remember now. Oh yeah, now I remember! You saved me from Amon!"
"Oh that. It was no big deal." Korra said trying to wave off the magnitude of the event.
"No big deal! Are you serious? I was totally freaking out when he was coming at me with his creepy mask, all 'I will take away your bending forever'. I mean that is scary stuff. I still can't sleep well." Bolin honestly said.
Haru seeing Korra's face decided to intervene, "Hey Bolin, I was the mastermind behind your breakout! Where are my gifts?"
Bolin turned to Haru and smiled, "Ah, my favorite non-teammate. I have a once in a lifetime gift for you." He said as he pulled out an autograph piece of paper with his signature on it, "When we make it big that will be worth a fortune." He said handing it to Haru.
"Let me see if I got this straight. Korra gets a cupcake and I get a piece of paper with your name on it? I would rather get a cupcake because I'm hungry." Haru said with a frown, that cupcake looked good too.
"There was only one cupcake." Bolin said with a deadpanned expression.
"Darnn." Haru muttered as Toothless licked his face to console him.
"Thanks Toothless at least some one here appreciates me."
"Delivery for Avatar Korra and Lieutenant Haru Beifong." Said the voice of an elderly woman.
They turned to see an old woman carrying a large basket of goodies.
"Tarrlok sends his compliments and urges you reconsider his offer." The old woman said with a bow.
"Tell him I haven't changed my mind." Korra said dismissively.
"Same here." Haru replied not even looking at her.
The old woman nodded and left.
"Who's this Tarrlok guy? Is he bothering you? Huh, cause I could have a word with him." Bolin said as he punched his palm in a threatening manner.
"Not the brightest idea Bolin." Haru said.
"Why's that? If this guy is bothering Korra why aren't you stopping him Haru?" Bolin questioned.
"Heh, no, it's not like that. He's just some old guy who works with Tenzin on the council." Korra said
"Now you see why I said not the brightest idea Bolin. Attack someone from the council and Mako's going to working even further in overtime to bail you out." Haru joked.
"Oh, good, that's a good point." Bolin said as he paled a bit.
Later that night
"Avatar Korra." Said the voice of the old woman again.
Haru turned to face her in annoyance and as did Korra.
"I have something for you and Lieutenant Beifong." She said
Korra got angry and jumped of the balcony she was sitting on.
"It doesn't matter how many gifts Tarrlok gives me and Haru." she said as she stomped the earth and spun the messenger around and kicked her in the back, "I'm not joining his task force and Haru doesn't want to either!" She said in anger.
"It's not a gift." The woman said urgently, "It's an invitation." She said as she held up a letter.
"To what?" Korra questioned as she walked over and took the letter.
"Tarrlok is throwing a gala in your honor. All of Republic City's movers and shakers will be there. The councilman humbly requests both your and Lieutenant Beifong's attendance." She said
At the Gala
"I seriously hate Tarrlock." Haru said as he refashioned his tie, both he and his mother had been invited to Korra's banquet and it was 'tie and suit' only. Leaving Toothless at home he had gone with his mother and was currently in the bathroom fixing his tie.
DAMIT why won't you work with me! After a few minutes he said to hell with it and threw the thing away.
I like clip-ons better anyway. Haru thought as he returned to the party.
As he walked around, he spotted Asami, Hiroshi and...Mako?! "Hey guys." he said approaching the two.
Haru!" Asami said with surprise and walked up and gave the earth-bender a big hug.
Something that did not settle well with Korra.
"Asami! Look at you! Did you do something different with your hair?" he asked in a teasing way.
Asami lightly swatted his arm, "Haha Haru."
"You guys know each other?" Mako asked, surprised. "Lin and my dad are good friends." Asami explained.
"So Asami, how did you meet our favorite stoic fire-bender here?" Haru asked.
Mako just shot him a glare for that remark.
"Asami crashed into him on her moped." Bolin said as he entered the conversation.
"What? Are you ok?" Korra asked with concern.
"I'm fine. More than fine, Mr. Sato agreed to sponsor our team. We're back in the tournament." Mako said in happiness.
"Isn't that great!" Bolin said.
"Yeah." Korra said with excitement.
"Wait, when did she hit him?" Haru asked.
"When I was leaving the power plant." Mako answered.
Haru palmed his face, "When I got you that job Mako, I thought you would be working, not being hit by pretty girls." Haru said in a teasing tone and Mako blushed in embarrassment.
"Ah, Chief Beifong. I believe you and Avatar Korra have already met." Tarrlok said calling Haru's mother over.
She walked over and got in Korra's face.
"Just because the city is throwing you this big party, don't think your something special. You've done absolutely nothing to deserve this." Lin said aggressively.
Haru just groaned at his mother.
"Hiroshi, Asami, pleasure." Lin said in a kinder tone as she turned to the two.
"Greetings Lin, It's been years since these two were playing together as kids." Hiroshi said with a smile.
"Yeah time flies. They were so cute together, like two peas in a pod." Lin said with a faint smile, remembering the past.
"Mooom." Haru said embarrassed. Asami blushed too.
"And as they grew up, we thought they would be a good fit together and arranged a date between them." Hiroshi continued.
"But we didn't want to since we were only friends." Asami said with a giggle.
"And they wouldn't stop asking." Haru said with a light chuckle.
(same time)
"So I finally gave in to get him off my back."
"So I finally gave in to get her off my back."
Both Haru and Asami said at the same time and laughed as they pointed at their respected parent.
"What happened?" Korra asked.
"Well we decided to stay friends, plus I was on and off with someone at the time." Haru explained. Asami rolled her eyes at this and turned to Lin.
"Please tell me he's not still with her?" Asami asked. Lin crossed her arms.
"Believe me I was gonna throw her in jail if she stayed." Lin grumbled.
"Who are they talking about?" Korra asked.
"Uh my ex-girlfriend." Haru said scratching his head.
Suddenly Tarrlok came over to lead Korra to the podium. She was a bit unnerved by what just happened.
"Haru already had a girlfriend?" she thought. She pushed the thought away and went to talk to the reporters.
"Avatar Korra! You witnessed Amon take away people's bending first hand, how serious of a threat does he pose to the innocent citizens of Republic city?"
Korra cleared her throat, "I think he presents a real problem."
Haru saw Tarrlok look at a reporter and growled.
The slimy bastards setting her up! He thought
"Then why have you refused to join Tarrlok's task force? As the Avatar, shouldn't you be going after Amon?"
"Well…I-"
"Why are you backing away from this fight?"
"What? No, I've never backed away from anything in my life!" Korra stated.
"You promised to serve this city, are you going back on that promise now?"
"Do you think pro-bending is more important than fighting the revolution?"
"How do you think Avatar Aang would have handled this?"
"Are you afraid of Amon?"
"I'm not AFRAID of anybody! If the city needs me then I'll join Tarrlok's task force and help fight Amon." Korra said.
"There's your headline folks!" Tarrlok said as he looped an arm around Korra's shoulder.
"The bastard played her." Haru said harshly to Tenzin.
Tenzin nodded and looked down in sadness.
"I can't believe that...that...that..." Haru said. After Korra said she was going to join the task force Haru immediately volunteered to join. When he, Korra and Tenzin got back to the island, he felt like he was going to explode. Korra placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I think you might have to take a seat." she said calmly.
"Seriously! That asshole is just doing this so he can get what he wants! It's not right!" he said flailing his arms.
"This is just him trying to get more power under his belt, but we can't do anything about it." Tenzin said.
Korra looked at the two of them; "Look, we need to take these guys out, sooner the better." before they could comment she had walked off towards her room.
Haru rode with Korra to the station, he couldn't bring Toothless along since he wasn't considered a 'Tactical animal' and might screw the whole thing up. He and Korra both entered the board room.
"My fellow task force deputies." Tarrlok said as he entered the room, "Tonight we will execute a raid on an underground chi blocker training camp located in the dragon flats district. According to my sources-"
"You mean my sources." Haru interrupted him with a smirk.
Tarrlok had a scowl on his face for a second and continued, "Yes…Lieutenant Beifong's sources. There is a cellar underneath this bookstore." he said pointing that the map in the room, "Where Equalists train chi blocking in secret."
They later quietly drove to the side of the building with a water pump on the truck they drove for water-bending.
Both Korra and Haru looked inside and saw chi blocker training.
Each water-bender held a large amount of water till Tarrlok gave the word and they unleashed the torrent and froze most of the chi blocker trainees near the bottom windows.
Haru and the other earth-benders smashed the wall jumping in and capturing some more with earth-bending.
Two got away while one threw two smoke bombs, but Korra caught it in water and froze it so the smoke couldn't escape.
"I'm going after those two!" Korra said as she ran forward and Haru stayed by her side.
They both ran down the hallway and Korra was leading the way and she tripped on a line of rope.
Korra rolled on the ground and a chi blocker hiding in the ceiling jumped down on top of her, but she rolled away and kicked her foot upwards and a large rock and knocked out the chi blocker.
Another one jumped behind her with a lasso but two columns of earth crushed him from the sides and then released as another earth column rose from the ground and smashed him into the ceiling, knocking him out.
"Really need to take it easy Korra." Haru said in an authority tone.
Korra nodded as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to his chest. The closeness of the two caused her to blush as they stared into each others eyes. Tarrlok entered a second later and the two separated themselves.
"Good work you two." He said with a smile.
There was a photo op. when they started to cart all the chi blockers to jail.
The rest of the week was like this. Find where the bad guys hide, take them out and get a photo in the paper the next day. Haru was currently working on Toothless' saddle, he figured if he was able to make him fly again that he might be able to make him fly without a rider. He still had to get the design drawn out and find the right materials so he had to see what it would take to make him fly.
"Alright, so I can't take the pedal off without compromising the gears, so what if I just lock the tail in place? That could work but how?" Haru mumbled to himself, Toothless was currently in his bed, which was a large stone, in the corner of his workshop.
"You realize that all that talking disturbs his sleep right?" Lin said from the doorway.
"Yea that and all the not work he's been doing lately has really been doing wonders for him." he said sarcastically.
"How is the task force going anyway? Has the girl been doing what she's supposed to?" Lin asked seriously
Haru sighed, "Yeah and more thanks to your little 'pep talk ' to her." he said, with some frustration in his voice.
"I said what I believed, you of all people should know that." she replied.
"Look, I know you have your reasons for not liking her and all, buts she's a good person, and she's been working herself to death trying stop Amon, that has to count for something." he said grabbing the saddle from the table.
"Haru-" Lin said softly. "I'm just worried that she'll do something stupid and you'll get hurt trying to help her."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Haru said blushing.
"I can tell your lying." Lin smirked.
"Damn lie detector." He thought. "Fine you caught me; I like her, a lot. Sue me."
Lin smirked; she went to one of his shelves and turned on the radio, looking for something to listen to.
"-And for the record, she hasn't done anything stupid." Hiccup said with confidence.
As Lin went through the stations she stopped when she heard Korra's voice.
"and I challenge Amon to meet me at the Avatar Aang memorial tonight!"
Lin turned to Haru; all she saw was the tail of Toothless go out the door.
Speeding towards the clock tower he cursed himself for having to re-strap the saddle on to Toothless and up into the air. He now had the island in his sight, dive bombing to the outer rim; he jumped off onto the cobblestones of the island. Stomping his foot down he 'saw' that Korra was surrounded and she was kneeling.
NO! Haru thought as he ran into the monument. He saw that there was twenty chi-blockers plus Amon. Haru immediately broke down the door and threw rocks at the nearest chi-blockers.
"LET HER GO AMON!" Haru said getting into a stance.
"Haru, how nice of you to join us, the Avatar and I were having a little chat." Amon said deeply.
"I swear if you took her bending-"
"You'll do what exactly? You are clearly outnumbered." Amon chuckled.
"No you're clearly out matched."
"That's what's wrong with benders; you think you own the world, because you can move rocks. Well your time on this world ends tonight. KILL HIM!" Amon yelled.
"No!" Korra screamed.
All twenty chi blockers charged at Haru and dodged to the left and earth column and hit one right in the face.
"One down, nineteen more to go." Haru said grinning with his eyes closed as he dropped something in his hand.
A second later there was a blinding light that caused the chi blockers to stagger a bit.
Haru made a quick earth line and knocked three more out.
"Four down, sixteen to go."
Haru dragged his hand on the ground and made a large club of earth and hit a chi bender in the ribs as he swung it. You could just hear the crunch when the hit connected. While still in his swing, Haru punched the club and it shattered forward and pelted two more Equalists.
"Seven down! Man you guys drop like bumble flies!" he said
Haru felt two chi blockers in throwing position and stomped his foot and raised his hands and made two large earth walls on his sides and stomped his other foot and punched the walls, sending them flying into the chi blockers who were about to throw some rope at him and crushed them into the wall.
"Now it's nine and I'm feelin' alive!" he shouted.
The auburn boy was surrounded again and he grinned viciously. He jumped ten feet in the air, "Take this!" he shouted as he hit the ground causing a large ripple effect with the ground and sending most of the Equalists in to the air.
He opened his eyes as they had gotten used to the dark and raised multiple rocks and shot them at his air-born targets and hit them in the head.
"Eighteen, man you guys just plain suck at your job, don't you?" he taunted.
The last two charged at him and he flung them into the air with an earth column launch pad and sent two metal cables from the metal spool on his back and caught them in mid-air and started to swing. As he reached an appropriate level of rotation, he cut the cables and they flew into the walls with a crunch.
Haru slapped his hands together to get the dusk off. He looked at Amon.
"Let's end this Amon. You and me." Haru said seriously.
"You seem to be as delusional as always Haru." He said in a plain tone, "But the Avatar and myself will do battle.. It will be after everyone has lost their bending and then we will have our grand battle. But of course you will fall by my hand before that Haru." Amon said.
Haru could feel the smile under the mask. With that Amon disappeared.
Haru then sprinted over to Korra, but she seemed out of it, big time.
"Korra? Korra!?" he said to the girl, slowly she began to wake.
"Wha...Haru? Where's Amon?" she asked, still in a daze, he shook his head.
"Forget about that, did he take your bending?" he asked, Korra looked down at her hand and made a small flame.
"No, no he didn't." they both let out a sigh of relief. Haru sits besides her, reeling in what had just happened. He then heard a sniffle; he turned to see one of the most heartbreaking sights. Korra was trying her damnedest not to cry and failing, water was in her eyes, her lip was quivering and she was scared.
He placed a hand on her shoulder; she looked at him and broke down. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sobbed like no tomorrow.
"I (sob) was so (sob) scared." She said choking the words out. Haru wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, rubbing her back and rocking her.
"Korra, from now on whatever scares you, you need to tell me or Tenzin about. Okay?" he asked, she nodded. After minutes of this she began to calm down but didn't break the hold she had on him.
"Same goes for you okay?" she said.
"Promise." Haru smiled.
Tenzin arrived later, telling him of the ordeal and arresting the chi blockers Haru sat on Toothless, watching Korra and Tenzin talk.
Haru could only think "Mom is never going to let me live this down."