Cadence Chapter Thirteen: Verdict
They were sighted around here," Lin said as the rescue party came to a halt.
She glanced around at their surroundings, but there were no overt signs of enemy presence; she hadn't really expected there to be.
At least it had stopped raining.
"We'll make this our starting point," she went on. "And we'll fan out in all directions to search the surrounding five kilometers. Our wireless communication won't reach that far, so for this mission, Jinora, we'll be counting on you at all times."
Jinora nodded in understanding. Her Spiritual project would be vital if they were to have any hope in heaven of finding Korra. Alive.
With that, Lin bent down and stuffed the map of the United Nations into her pouch.
"Alright, we split up in teams of two in search of Mako and Korra, but should they ever divide, your first priority is to track Korra. And if any of you encounter the Triple Threat Triad, flee on sight and return here."
She gestured that they were dismissed, and the party dispersed.
Korra watched Ghazan and Zaheer jump off into the trees around them with a sigh. There went her conversation-buddies. Mako had apparently deemed it prudent for them to split up, and while Korra had a half-hearted hope she would be allowed to go off on her own and thus escape, she wasn't putting a lot of stock in it.
"Mako..." Korra's attention was drawn by Ming Hua cuddling up to Mako's side, her voice taking on a distinctly flirtatious tone. "I've wanted to be alone with you for a while; just send the little girl along now..."
"You have to go too," Mako stated dryly.
"What about her?" Ming Hua huffed, pointing at Korra. "Is she going?"
"No. She stays with me."
Korra sighed. No opportunity to escape here.
After all, even if Mako had been unusually clear about his motives in taking her along, that didn't mean she still wasn't going to jump at any chance she was given to get back home.
"Why? What makes her so special?"
"I'm the only one who can keep her from escaping," Mako said curtly.
He knew it was true. Ming Hua resented Korra so much so that she would probably just let her go. Ghazan liked her too much to really try to stop her; he might protest, but Mako doubted he'd actually fight to stop her leaving. And Zaheer…
Mako had detected a touch of resentment from the large man since his conversation with Korra last night. If Korra told him she was trying to escape, Zaheer was so devoted to her he'd probably her help in doing so.
Ming Hua walked off in a huff, and Korra tried not to feel pleased by Mako's obvious disdain for the woman. If anything, she should be feeling rather sorry for Ming Hua. She had yet to learn that her behaviour got nowhere with Mako. Korra knew firsthand that gaining such knowledge was painful.
Rejection always was.
They'd made their way to the end of the trail when Mako suddenly stopped, so suddenly that Korra nearly ran into him. She was about to ask him what was wrong when she saw the set expression on his face, the way his head was slightly turned to stare at the trees behind them and guessed that someone was on their tail.
She was proven correct when Mako slowly turned to face the forest, his arm sweeping out to urge her to stand behind him. Korra considered holding her ground stubbornly, but decided it was better to see exactly what was stalking them before she tried to act the part of the valiant heroine.
"Who's there?"
A figure stepped out from behind the trees, his face painted with a smirk.
"You're a Triple Threat," Mako said bluntly, tensing automatically. No one gained entrance to the Triple Threat without being extraordinarily strong, and he couldn't afford to be drawn into a possibly life-threatening battle while Korra was with him.
"So you're Mako, huh?" the man remarked, sounding unusually bright and cheery for someone who was a member of a group of murderers, thieves and squanderers. "You look a lot like Zolt!"
Korra could practically see Mako's spine straighten an extra inch as every muscle in his body snapped tight
'He just had to mention Zolt, didn't he?' she thought darkly.
She half-expected Mako to lunge at the man but he didn't move, apparently settling for an intimidating glare.
"Damn, you're scary!" the man yelped, skittering back into the trees.
Korra blinked, her brow furrowing; she'd never seen a member of the Triple Threat act like this. She wondered if he'd suffered brain damage somehow as she started to roll her eyes at the thought...
She was however brought up short when she spotted a flicker of shadow at the edge of her peripheral vision. She tilted her head to the side and saw a Sato Mobile heading down the trail her and Mako had just come down. A very familiar man behind the wheel.
"Viper!" she yelled, causing Mako to jerk his his head at her shout.
A grenade was making its wait straight for them.
Mako reacted quickly. He pulled Korra towards him, throwing part of his cloak over her as he blew fire from his fists. The flames coiled around them, creating a thick wall of smoke to shield their whereabouts from the grenade. He gripped Korra tightly and braced himself as the earth shook under their feet, reverberating with the impact of the explosion.
He released Korra as soon as the earth stopped shifting, banishing the smoke to see the two Triad members on the ground, facing them.
The water bender, Viper, Korra had called him, suddenly scowled. "You again?"
For a moment, Mako was confused until he realised Viper's ice blue eyes were on Korra.
"Hey, isn't that the girl who killed your other partner, Viper?" the man who'd initially confronted them commented. "Avatar Korra?"
"Yeah, that's me," Korra seethed.
To say Mako was startled was an understatement. He knew that being the Avatar meant Korra was requested to take part in unpleasant activities, but to have killed a member of the Triple Threat Triad…
Viper grinned. "Well, won't this be interesting..."
"Korra, hide," Mako ordered, drawing his kali sticks from his pouch.
Korra's first impulse was to tell him where he could shove that suggestion, but her common sense won out. There were two Triple Threat members in front of her, and with the collar currently around her neck, she'd be lucky to get in even one blow. Exiting the battlefield definitely sounded better.
So she just nodded and promptly took off in the opposite direction, darting across the ground as she tried to put as much distance between her and the oncoming fight as possible.
Viper smirked. "You do realise we can just catch up with her after-"
But it was then that Mako charged forward.
He swung his kali sticks straight into the younger man, feeling a little surprised that it was so easy, as Viper leapt into the branches of a tree above his head.
"You seem to like the sound of your own voice," the fire bender commented, ignoring the body that dropped to the ground behind him. "So I'll ask you a few things about Zolt."
Movement behind him caught his eye, and he felt a small burst of astonishment as he watched the man he thought he'd killed rise to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing, Ping?" Viper yelled, and Mako mentally filed the name away for future reference. "He may be just a kid, but don't let your guard down!"
The water bender plunged his hands into two thick pouches at his side, grinning maniacally as he drew out a small collection of grenades. "Ping, get back!"
And then he unleashed them in a hail of destruction.
Mako grasped his collection of small melee weapons, using his lightning bending to charge them with electricity before he sent them sailing through the air to impact the grenades with uncanny accuracy and drive them off course. Several were pinned to the trees around them, but more landed beside the man called Ping.
"Don't detonate them!" Ping yelped.
Viper automatically turned towards his partner, and Mako took advantage of his distraction to position himself behind his opponent, his kali sticks poised for the killing blow. Ping shouted a warning and the water bender spun, throwing out one of his grenades in Mako's face, forcing the fire bender to call on every ounce of his speed to evade the resulting explosion.
Mako noted that the bombs pierced by his melee weapons didn't detonate, and wondered if the attack had been countered by his lightning bending or if Viper had simply chosen not to detonate them.
There was no way to know, so Mako watched closely for his next opportunity. Viper clenched his hands, almost as though he were going to pull out something nasty from his pouch. Mako had guessed right.
Within another stand of trees, Korra slowed her pace to a more moderate run, a pace she could maintain for quite some time.
It had occurred to her that if she just kept running, there wasn't much Mako could do to stop her. She could probably run all the way back to Republic City. He would be too busy with the Triad members at first, and then hopefully too exhausted from the fight to pursue her.
Assuming he survives...
Korra shook her head, telling herself that such thoughts were ridiculous. Mako had beaten Amon with barely a single injury so surely he could certainly take on a member of the Triple Threat…
But two?
'This is my one chance to escape,' she told herself firmly. 'I will not give it up, I will not go back for him, I will not go back for him...'
And yet, the memory of Mako's words to her just that morning haunted her. He had brought her along out of concern for her, misguided and unnecessary, perhaps, but genuine concern. He had tried to care for her welfare, in his own way.
Shouldn't she at least try to do the same?
'No, I shouldn't,' she insisted. 'I need to return to Republic City. Spirits only know what stare the world is in.'
She chanted it over and over in her mind, like a mantra, hoping it would dampen the growing flicker of guilt and longing that urged her to turn around and run back to Mako.
Mako eyed the gigantic bomb that Viper had procured from his pouch, wondering where this was going. Did he plan to use the bomb as a way of deterring Mako from a further fight? Or was it part of their plan to follow after Korra?
Mako had the feeling the man would soon be doing something with the bombs, so he lunged forward, intent on incapacitating the bomb-maker before either option could come to fruition.
Viper tossed a smaller bomb he happened to have handy in the direction of Mako. Mako leapt to the side, away from the immediate path of the bomb, but to his astonishment the bomb swerved as well, as though it were being guided somehow. He only just managed to dodge the immediate impact, however the force of the explosion slammed into him like a platinum wall, making him slide backwards several feet in a cloud of dust.
From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Viper preparing another attack but Ping was nowhere to be seen.
Mako had no idea what Ping could be doing with a slew of bombs that were not his own, but he knew it wouldn't benefit him in any way. He had to take Viper down first, then, hopefully, the bombs would be nothing but useless.
So he summoned the element of lightning to his hand, manipulating it to extend in a long, thin blade of pure electricity. He directed it towards Viper to no avail as it stopped just a few inches short of the target. Knowing that was the limit of his range, Mako discharged the lightning, trying to calculate Viper's next move. The man was obviously a long-range fighter, and if he remained as such, this battle was going to be difficult.
Nothing Mako couldn't handle of course, but difficult nevertheless.
Viper aimed another onslaught of mini bombs, and Mako only just managed to get out of the way in time. But when he left the dust cloud, his foot had barely touched the ground before it detonated below him, as though he'd stepped on a bomb instead of earth.
There was no time to get out of the way. It was all Mako could do to flip himself backwards, using the strength in his legs in an attempt to minimise the damage.
In the end, he lost one of his boots and ended up with a lot of scrapes and bruises. But there was no critical damage.
Mako's head jerked to the side as movement caught his eye. Ping appeared, one hand waving enthusiastically.
"I'm done laying the mines!" he called, and Mako knew what had happened. The ground was riddled with Viper's land mines, and that he'd had the misfortune of stepping on one.
He barely heard Viper's warning to his partner to get away from the battlefield; he was too busy seeking out Korra's presence, trying to determine if she was far away enough…
She was. And only getting further away, he realised rather grimly, but at least she was out of the minefield and the immediate range of the explosions.
Some part of Mako could admire Viper's strategy. Not using his element of water against Mako's opposing element of fire and instead choosing to utilise land mines in the ground and guided bombs from any given direction? He didn't imagine many opponents lasted long beneath such a well thought out onslaught.
"You might want to be careful," Viper called down mockingly. "One wrong step and you'll go 'boom!'"
Mako made careful note of the fact that it seemed that Viper couldn't detonate the bombs at will. Did that mean the bombs pierced by his earlier melee weapons hadn't exploded because his lightning had somehow canceled out their explosive powers?
A plan was beginning to unfold in Mako's mind. His heightened senses allowed him to sense energy, and he could tell that he was completely surrounded by the land mines. But if electricity really worked to nullify them...
A moment later another bomb was making its way towards him and Mako let it come, flinging his charged kali sticks, to the side. The bomb landed straight on his left shoulder, and the resulting explosion knocked him down and caused severe burns to his upper arm.
He groaned, trying to push the pain to the back of his mind.
Korra could probably heal it later, but he couldn't dwell on that possibility right now.
He could see his kali sticks had come to a halt several meters from him. They had embedded deeply into the ground, blade first, straight into a mine and there had been no resulting explosion.
It seemed his suspicion that electricity could counter the bombs had become fact. Now all he needed to do was coax Viper into position near his blades.
Sheltered by the dust cloud, he unleashed two daggers, throwing them high into the air, gripping the wires attached to them firmly in his hand. Just a little more...
The dust cleared in a sudden gust of wind to reveal Viper preparing to deploy another bomb. Mako tugged on the wires, causing the daggers to reverse their trajectories, doubling back on their path and aiming perfectly for Viper.
Viper moved out of the way of the oncoming attack, letting the daggers fly harmlessly past and placing itself directly in front of the kali sticks.
Mako barely heard Viper's taunting laughter or saw him unleashing another bomb, he was so focused on his objective. As the bomb descended, he leapt to the side, landing as nimbly as a cat on the hilt of his kali sticks and using them to launch himself forward.
When he deemed he was close enough, he unleashed his lightning blade and this time, it found its mark, neatly cleaving one of Viper's arms from his body.
The man fell to his knees, unable to stay standing due to the sudden onslaught of agony ripping through his body. Mako tugged on the wires in his hand again, twisting the daggers through the air until they slammed into Viper's shoulder, pinning him to the ground, ensuring he would feel every bit of impact when he eventually fell onto the mines he had made.
He hit the ground, and the resulting explosion felled several trees and kicked up a screen of dust so thick Mako could barely see through it.
The ground suddenly rumbled dangerously under Korra's feet as an explosion lit up the forest behind her.
She paused, biting her lip as she glanced over her shoulder. A lot of weight had just been added to the argument for going back.
She told herself not to worry; she'd seen firsthand how powerful Mako was.
But still, what if he was hurt?
In that split-second, Korra knew she couldn't deny that Mako still had a place in her heart.
"Darn it!" she yelled, stomping her foot like an intractable child. But at the moment, Korra felt like having a bit of a temper tantrum. It wasn't fair! How could she still feel something for a man who had defected from his hometown, tried to kill his own brother and herself, abandoned her and essentially kidnapped her? It just wasn't fair!
Korra knew she should just keep running. Looking at it logically, Mako was her captor; she owed him nothing.
But at the same time, she couldn't forget that his reason for kidnapping her had very little to do with malice and a lot to do with genuine regard for her safety. And Mako had been almost nice in the past few days, as though now that he was out of the Equalists grasp he was free to unwind a little. If nothing else, he was certainly a lot more willing to chat.
But it all came down to the fact that she was just trying to justify what she was considering. Trying to justify that she knew she'd never forgive herself if she didn't turn around. No one would blame her for abandoning him. No one except herself. She might be able to slip away in the dead of night without a flicker of guilt but she couldn't bring herself to run out on Mako in the middle of a brawl.
So, with a final sigh at her idiotic heart, Korra turned and ran back the way she'd come.
Mako weakening arms to wrap around a tree trunk and pull him into the forest, stopping in a place where he knew he was safe from the land mines. He wiped some sweat from his brow as he gazed into the billowing smoke, trying to determine if he'd succeeded.
Apparently not, because Viper rose from the dust of the explosion. But the explosion had done some damage; the man's clothes were streaked with his own blood.
Viper's face was twisted in a mix of agony and fury, and this time when he drew grenades from his pouches, he didn't utilise them straight away.
He set them.
Mako stared, wondering what kind of technique this was meant to be until he heard the distinctive ticking of a bomb. And if it was a timed bomb...
Mako turned and ran through the trees, desperately trying to put enough distance between himself and the bomb so that he wouldn't be blown to pieces when it detonated. So afraid that the bomb would blow up at any given moment.
But it didn't blow up. Instead, it crumbled.
For a moment, Mako thought it might have been a dud. Perhaps Viper didn't have enough gumption left to make the explosive effective?
But then his senses picked up the cloud of energy that was swirling towards him.
It wasn't a dud. It had just disintegrated into bombs too tiny for him to see. Tiny enough for him to inhale. And once he did...
Mako didn't need to be a genius to know what would happen if those bombs detonated while in his body.
Viper was hovering just outside the cloud of bombs. If he could get to him...
He launched himself into the forest, making his way towards Viper.
Viper however wasn't one to be caught off guard, noticing that Mako was coming up behind him. He half-turned towards the attack but had reacted too late, as Mako drove his lightning-infused fist straight through Viper's chest.
"I missed your heart on purpose," Mako hissed. "Now tell me where Zolt is."
He thought he heard an explosion from a distance, but disregarded it; it was probably some unwitting animal that had stepped on one of the land mines.
Viper smirked and grabbed onto Mako with his only good arm.
In desperation to escape, Mako charged up more lightning and tore his way free of the man's vice grip. But he knew he didn't stand a chance of escaping the final slew of bombs he knew were coming his way.
So as he fell towards the ground, Mako turned his lightning on himself, hoping the electricity would nullify the explosives before they could detonate. And as he did, Mako could have sworn he'd heard more bombs go off in the distance, but told himself it wasn't his concern.
"Yikes..." Korra whispered, gazing at the innocuous-looking expanse of dirt in front of her.
But appearances were deceiving. She'd just seen a lizard wander over the ground and get blown sky-high as though it had stepped on a land mine.
Which wasn't completely out of the realm of probability, she admitted. She knew that Viper had a soft spot for pyrotechnics; maybe he'd planted them there during his fight with Mako.
'Okay,' she told herself. 'Think this through. You'll just have to detonate the bombs before you step on the ground.'
She stood her ground, lifting up several clods of dirt, and flung one down to the ground right in front of her.
Nothing happened. She figured she was probably still a little way out of the range of the minefield, so Korra flung the other clump of rock she'd bent from the Earth and tossed it a little further that the one prior.
The ensuing explosion showered her with dust and set her coughing, but at least she knew she'd detonated a mine.
So Korra leapt neatly into the center of the crater, poised on one foot, not daring to set the other down in case she set off another mine. She flung another clod of dirt, detonated another mine in front of her, and leapt to the middle of the crater again.
It was like a very deadly variation of hopscotch.
Mako lay heavily on the ground, every cell in his body screaming, but seeing as he hadn't been blown to microscopic particles of dust, he assumed his trick with the lightning had worked, even if it left every part of him aching with the aftershocks of the electricity he had run through himself.
He could tell by Viper's laughter that the man thought him dead. It was a simple matter for Mako to sweep out of the trees behind the man and plant his fist in the man's face, sending him rolling across the ground.
"Where is Zolt?" Mako asked grimly, advancing slowly on the Triad lackey.
Viper snarled, sending solidified water shooting from his hands to pierce Mako's chest. The fire bender let the electricity of his lightning bending crackle across his skin, lacing down the floor, traveling along the ground.
Viper hastened to break contact with the ice before he could be shocked.
Mako tried to continue his advance, but his legs folded beneath him, sending him lurching to the ground on his knees.
The two men faced each other across a distance of a few meters, both of them bruised, bloodied, and almost out of energy.
"Geez, you guys don't look so good," came a voice from the trees.
Mako turned, surprised to see Korra standing at the edge of the clearing, her clothes streaked with dust and sweat. He had been so exhausted he hadn't sensed her approach.
"What are you doing here?" Mako snarled.
"And the man half-dead on his knees yells at the healer who came to save his sorry ass," she muttered, shaking her head.
Viper gave a very nasty grin. "You picked a bad time to come back."
He shed the tattered remnants of his shirt, revealing a line of TNT placed across his chest.
"What's with you Triad lackeys?" she blurted. "First twelve toe-boy and now you; it's like someone picked you up at a freak show!"
"Shut up!" he shrieked, "I'm going to blow myself up!"
'A suicide attack,' Korra thought numbly.
Mako lurched backwards, attempting to make a run for it, though he was so battered he knew he wasn't going to get far. But then Korra was suddenly beside him, one small hand on his shoulder.
"Give me your daggers," she ordered, her hand plunging into one of the pouches at his waist and withdrawing the last of his daggers.
She had never done anything like this before. She didn't want to actually touch Viper in case the contact set off the explosion, but the daggers were small, and there should be no pause between initial contact and death.
If she got this right.
She'd seen people killed with just a few needles in the right places before; she knew it was possible. She knew all the spots, all the multitude of tiny targets she needed to hit and how many, she just needed to be very accurate. Her retinas burned from exhaustion but Korra didn't dare shield her eyes, already taking aim...
'Come on, Korra, channel your inner Lin!'
And then she let fly.
But she had no chance to see if she'd succeeded, because Mako's arm closed around her waist, yanking her almost painfully against him before she felt the sudden lurching sensation of a being swept off her feet.
"What the hell just happened?" Bolin asked, staring at the horizon where a flash of light had grown and then suddenly died, all within the space of a few moments.
"Let's find out," Tenzin commented, and he, Bolin and Jinora sprang into action, running for where they'd seen the flare.
"Where are we?" Korra whispered.
She didn't know where Mako had taken them, only that it was pitch black and that it smelled rather unappetizing. Spots of light were fading in and out of her vision, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness after such intense light.
She couldn't see Mako, but she could feel that both his arms were still tightly locked around her and her hands were resting against his bare chest, which seemed to be barely an inch in front of her face.
"We needed to seek shelter from the blast," came Mako's voice, sounding strained and weary. "I remember seeing a cave on the way."
"You really have a sick sense of fondness for dark, dank spaces Mako."
No response.
Korra thought that over for a moment. "Are you…hurt?"
Mako reflected that was typical Korra. They were inside an underground cave, the least favourite space for her to be in and she was worried more over him than herself.
"No," he said. "A few minor scratches but nothing major."
Korra could hear Mako's uneven breathing in the darkness, and she could feel each painful hitch through her hands. He was clearly badly injured and deeply exhausted; she was surprised he was still on his feet.
And even though it must have cost him a lot to do so, he had done his best to save her life.
Without really thinking about it, she began to channel her energy into Mako's body, trying to heal the worst of his injuries. She felt him twitch in surprise, before he relaxed under her ministrations.
It was the first time she'd healed him.
She didn't know why she'd chosen now to help Mako. Maybe because he needed it, maybe because she'd finally admitted to herself that she hadn't been able to cast him from her heart, maybe it was because he'd finally shown that there might be more of her old friend and teammate left than he would admit...
Whatever the reason, Korra had made her choice.
Mako stared down at Korra's face, lit by the soft glow of her energy, her features set in concentration. He could feel her energy flowing into his body, renewing him, soothing away the tingling aches and sharp pains gained in his battle with the Triad member.
He had never liked being healed by The Lieutenant. The Lieutenant's healing had always felt invasive and uncomfortable, like having a parasite worming it's way through his body, making his skin crawl even as it was repaired. But this was different. Korra's healing felt more akin to a warm hug on a winter's day; comforting and calming, a sensation he wanted to prolong rather than one he wanted to end.
Korra slowly decreased the amount of energy she was pouring into Mako's body. Most of his exhaustion was a result of energy depletion as opposed to actual injury, and there was nothing she could do to alleviate that. It only took her a few moments and a surprisingly small amount of energy to deal with the worst of his wounds. She was feeling rather tired, but she wasn't so much as dizzy, let alone feeling faint.
A lock of hair slid in front of her eyes, and Korra was about to blow it out of her face when Mako's slender fingers snagged the chocolate strands, tucking them behind her ear with a surprisingly gentle touch.
Her turquoise eyes flew to his face in shock, the dim glow of her energy making his features darkly shadowed and practically unreadable. She had almost convinced herself that Mako didn't mean anything by it, that the touch was completely innocent, when his hand drifted down her cheek, the pads of his calloused fingers stroking the curve of her jaw as the tip of his thumb just barely brushed the edge of her lower lip.
She didn't care how lacking in social skills Mako was, even he had to know that this was not an innocent touch.
The hand resting on the small of her back was exerting a slight pressure, just enough to urge her closer but not enough so that she couldn't have resisted. But Korra didn't; all higher brain function seemed to have been placed on a temporary halt, and she found herself closing the minuscule distance between them. The position of her hands on Mako's chest became uncomfortable, so she automatically slid them to his shoulders, resting almost against the nape of his neck, her energy still flickering between her fingers.
The hand on her face didn't move away, and didn't cease its slow exploration of the curve of her lip.
Mako had no concrete idea of what he was doing. He knew he was playing with fire, but he couldn't seem to help himself. Maybe it was his exhaustion, maybe it was the strange sensations her healing had produced in him...
Whatever the reason, Mako had made his choice.
He was about to dip his head and find out whether her lips were as soft as her skin when everything lurched unpleasantly around him and he collapsed to the ground.
Ghazan swore when he saw the flash of light at the rendezvous point. He ran as fast as he could to where Mako had told them to meet should anything go amiss.
At first, he wondered why Mako had chosen that particular spot as a rendezvous point; how was this meant to help? Before he could contemplate the answer to his own question, Korra emerged from within an underground lair, dragging a semi-conscious Mako with her.
Mako and Korra landed heavily on their knees, and Ghazan's sharp eyes didn't miss Mako's hand on Korra's lower back, clenched in the fabric of her shirt, nor Korra's grip on Mako's shoulders.
They struggled to their feet, Mako taking far longer than Korra, all the while pointedly avoiding each other's eyes.
And Ghazan knew something had happened between the pair. If nothing else, the sexual tension was so tangible that Ghazan got the feeling that if he tried to step between them he'd break his nose against it.
"You look pretty beat," Ghazan commented, noting the smears of dirt and blood decorating Mako's body and the dust caked into Korra's clothes. "Fight someone?"
Mako didn't answer, but rather made a vague gesture that neither confirmed nor denied Ghazan's question, before collapsing to his knees again.
Korra automatically clutched at his shoulders to steady him, and Ghazan noted that he made no move to shrug her off. In fact, the fire bender seemed almost disappointed when she withdrew her hands.
"Was there an explosion?" Mako asked.
Ghazan shook his head. "No, no explosion; there was just this really bright light that suddenly disappeared."
"But no explosion?"
"No explosion."
Korra laughed, a triumphant grin on her face. "See, I told you!"
Mako snorted, unwilling to admit he was rather impressed that Korra's trick with the daggers had worked.
And Ping and Viper had mentioned that she'd killed another Triple Threat Triad member. It seemed bewildering to think of Korra as being powerful enough to fell one of those gang members. He'd nearly died trying to defeat Viper.
"What'd you tell him, Princess?" Ghazan asked, breaking into Mako's train of thought.
Korra opened her mouth, but was cut off by shouts from behind them. All three turned to find Ming Hua and Zaheer coming towards at top speed.
"Hey," Korra said, giving them a wave.
Zaheer smiled at her, and Ming Hua ignored her.
"I fought a member of the Triple Threat," Mako said bluntly, cutting off any questions they might have. "He was stronger than I had anticipated."
"This is the man who beat Amon?" Ming Hua quipped.
Korra grinned a little, unable to help herself. It seemed Ming Hua wasn't as blinded by Mako as she'd originally thought.
"Amon was already weakened," Mako explained curtly.
"Well, as a healer, I can tell you you're not going anywhere fast for a while," Korra informed him. "If we want to find somewhere to rest up, I guarantee you'll feel better for it."
Korra leaned wearily against the wall of the small inn. While she wasn't totally drained, her healing of Mako, her desperate run, in both directions, and the long and slow trek to the inn meant that a nap certainly wouldn't go unappreciated.
It wouldn't go unappreciated for Mako, either, but he was apparently deciding to be stubborn. While he was in a futon, he was sitting up and quite wide awake, currently interrogating the other members of the group.
At least she'd been able to change out of her dusty, sweaty clothes.
"Did anyone get any leads on Zolt?"
"You've got to be kidding!" Ming Hua scoffed. "You're half-dead and still trying to be a tough guy?"
"Korra healed me," Mako countered.
Korra rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I healed most of your physical injuries. I can't do anything about energy depletion, and that's what's got you so messed up. So take my advice and get some rest."
"I'd take your advice, Princess," Ghazan purred. "You can play doctor with me anytime..."
Korra snorted out a half-laugh, but Mako's gaze narrowed and sharpened, un-amused by Ghazan's flirtatious tone.
"I heard plenty about the Triple Threats," Ghazan said, hastily getting back to the topic. There seemed to be an extra edge to Mako's glare this time, further cementing Ghazan's suspicion that something had happened between the fire bender and Korra. "But nothing about Zolt, specifically."
Mako's eyes flickered to Ming Hua, who shrugged passively.
"They're after people with special kinds of energy, from what I've heard," Ghazan continued.
"They're after Raava," Korra said bluntly. "You know, the Avatar spirit? So their hunting the people who serve as potential vessels for the Avatar spirit."
She bit back the rest of her sentence, 'That's why you have to let me go back to Republic City', knowing it probably wouldn't do anything to sway Mako's mind. He seemed adamant about keeping her with the rest of them, and now that she knew why, she was finding it very difficult to be angry with him.
"How do you know this?" Ming Hua asked, obviously suspicious.
Korra shrugged, "Just a hunch."
"From what the animals tell me, the Triple Threat have several bases that they operate out of," Zaheer commented, glancing at the bird perched on his shoulder. "They say that they feel strange, unpleasant chakra radiating from those places."
"Never would've guessed animals could sense energy," Ghazan snickered. "Although...'animal' describes Ming Hua pretty well, so I guess it makes sense..."
"Excuse me?!" Ming Hua screeched, delivering a sharp roundhouse kick to Ghazan's head, which he easily dodged.
Korra sighed, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes in an effort to block out the argument. The rustle of wings made her open her eyes again to find that the birds were flittering away from Zaheer, who had become strangely tense.
'Not good…' she thought.
She wasn't the only one to notice. Mako watched Zaheer's expression become dark, knowing that the man was about to snap. He wasn't entirely sure if he could subdue him in his weakened state but Korra was far too close to the man, so his first priority was to get her out of the way...
"Kill!" came Zaheer's sudden bellow as he rose and lunged for the closest person to him; Korra.
Korra darted backwards, narrowly avoiding a blow that would have crushed her skull like a hollow eggshell. "Enough!" Mako shouted as the room sizzled. Mako locked eyes with Zaheer, the lightning at his fingertips crackling. He sent the jolt of electricity into Zaheer's pressure point with pin-point accuracy, rendering Zaheer paralyzed. The lightning receded, and Zaheer slumped to the floor with a stream of apologies. Korra glanced at Mako to find his eyes were closed, and his chin had dropped forward to rest on his chest. In fact, he even appeared to be snoring ever so slightly.
He was fast asleep.
"He's asleep?" Ming Hua asked, sounding incredulous.
"I knew that energy exertion would catch up with him," Korra muttered, shaking her head in exasperation.
Maybe that would teach him to listen to her next time.
FINALLY! A new chapter for all you followers and faves out there. I can not stress to you how much much I've been wanting to update this story and some of my other stores. Oh man. I have been so insanely busy with university work and assessments and just life in general that I simply haven't had the time required to produce a worthy chapter (this in itself took about 5 hours and I'm still not too happy with it...). Anyway, I am alive and hope to be back for more regular updates soon. Review!