The interior of the house was vague as to be expected. It looked as though someone had not lived here for a long time. Nevertheless, the house was only partially cleaned up, such as the floor, the table to eat on and the chairs, and the couch that stood in front of the fireplace. Awkwardly, Korra took a seat at the table across from Tarlokk, accompanied by Noatak taking the chair in the middle of them. Crossing his arms, he leaned back. This was nothing like the Amon Korra had known in the past. This man was not nearly as stoic or formal. He seemed a bit more laid back and revealing in emotions. She assumed this was what true colors he held underneath the mask, the true expressions he felt but could not be seen by anyone. Everyone believed what they wanted to. The exposure of his face didn't seem to be any bit of a bother to him, even in someones presence other than his own brother. If anything, it was Korra who felt the most uncomfortable of the trio. The atmosphere proved to be silent and no one was quite sure what to say or if they should start first. Knowing Korra probably wasn't going to start in fear she might blurt out something improper, Tarlokk took the initiative and started up.
"I see you've returned home. How was your trip to the Fire Nation?"
Noatak was silent for a moment, thinking of a proper response that wouldn't exploit too much information to the Avatar beside him. The last thing he needed was some type of blackmail under her belt or any type of information she could use against him.
"The food is too spicy for my liking. Their arrogance still does not surprise me in the least."
Korra stiffled a laughter in remembrance of Tarlokk saying the same thing to her before when they had lunch a week back.
"What?" Noatak turned his head towards her. That stern voice of his still sent chills down her spine and those eyes were almost as fearsome as they were behind the mask, just much more emphasis this time of the emotion he chose to portray.
"N-Nothing-" Korra helped up her hands innocently to try to prove she held no meaning of mockery. "It's just something Tarlokk said earlier too. I guess you two are just alike, that's all."
"Yes well we are brothers." Noatak turned his head back, eyes half lidded. He almost looked more exhausted than he did cautious and on edge, ready to make a move if she tried anything.
Tarlokk figured it was easier to get to the point rather than dragging this out longer than need be.
"Noatak, we want to clarify a few things with you. I expect you to answer them with honesty. Will you grant us that? No strings attached."
"I suppose it will depend on what you ask. I do not feel it necessary to have her here, though."
"But she has to be. Listen, we just want to make sure you're not doing anything stupid. Being out here away from any kind of trouble is great. We need closure on that. No equalists, no rising Amon in the shadows, no bloodbending. If so, maybe we can come up with a compromise."
"You wish to send me to jail." He spoke blatantly. Noatak was no fool and he had half expected this was the reason for Korra being here, he just couldn't understand why Tarlokk was working with her too. Perhaps he was being a suck up, just like when they were kids. He always knew Tarlokk was his mothers child, never finding any form of comfort in their father. He wouldn't put it past him if his brother was using some form of sympathy out of the Avatar to get what he wanted.
"We don't want to, no. So you need to be honest with us, are you or are you not involved in any crimes?"
"No."
"No to the Equalists?"
Noatak stood.
"Listen," his voice rose with certainty. "When she and that boy exposed me, I knew Amon was over at that moment. There is and never will be another Amon rising to power, not again. I have long since moved on. While yes I still feel bending is the source of corruption in this world, I also realize there is no winning this kind of war. Oppression has failed and will continue to do so for whoever attempts to take after my actions and rise to power. Bending cannot be eradicated so easily, not by one soul alone. I wished to instill a meaning. To some, it carried out, while others it did not. I now realize that it is not just bending that corrupts us, but each other. Humans are quite a pitiful species, really." Just as he had done as Amon, Noatak placed his hands behind his back.
"It was futile. My message was to reveal the evil in benders. Perhaps they would change their wicked ways if they were taught a lesson but my plan backfired. It is quite the same concept as a child throwing a fit. Their parent must correct their ways, yet instead the child does not lesson, instead they will find tactics around it, continuing what they were doing. Benders will improvise, they always have."
"Just like you improvised? You used waterbending right after I exploited you. If it hadn't been for that you would have drowned."
"Correct." He nodded. "But I never claimed to be a saint. Amon was the statement, he was the paragon. Noatak is not."
She thought for a moment she saw the faintest bit of a smirk, disappearing just as quick as it came. Amon smiling was not something she was accustom to, nor was it something she was sure if she should be worried about or not.
"That's reassuring." Tarlokk sighed with ease and stood, looking directly to Korra who still seemed too baffled by that smirk of Noatak's who hadn't even noticed her starring.
"Now that that is settled, I will see to it we take our leave. Korra," he waves his hand to make for the door as she takes a stand and snaps back into reality.
This really didn't really didn't play out how she expected. A full out fight, maybe. Or even a full on interrogation. Not a, 'Oh yeah hey how you doin, great! No evil terrorist methods no more? Cool cool, well, bye then.' This went by so fast that they were now leaving by the time Korra was just beginning to get adjusted to the atmosphere and presence of Amon where he wasn't trying to destroy her.
"Did you come all this way just to ask me this?"
Tarlokk nods.
Seeing their bags, Noatak knew they had traveled a very far distance to get here. Knowing Tarlokk was residing in the Earth Kingdom, he figured that meant so too had been the Avatar if they had run into one another. Tarlokk was known to stay in one place when in hiding rather than travel unless circumstances forced his hand to.
"We will have to find an inn to stay in until we can return. I don't imagine you know when the next ferry will be departing?"
Blood splattered across the walls of the building, the once pure white walls now covered in a maroon shade only to stain in. The floor was in the same condition, dirtied with the liquid seeping deeper and soaking it up like a sponge. Bodies hit the floor with a thud, piling on top of one another. The bodies themselves were sheathed in metal armor, helmets proving to be useless in this situation. Their faces were already mangled making it near impossible to identify them. An ice shard formed into the shape of a sword was wielded, slashing through the skin and shredding apart the organs by shattering outward once inside the body. Retreating the blade and pulling it back, the body now fell backwards only to topple onto the rest of the pile.
The door to the building slammed open, more and more police officers bursting their way through at a chance to redeem their fallen comrades. Once more, the body count just kept growing every minute, more and more dead and murdered. Finally, one last man entered the room with no more men following behind. His body shivered from the horror of the attacker, not sure if he would stand any type of chance and be sent to the same fate as the others. His body reacted on instinct, shooting a metal rope hurling at the fiend, only to miss by mere centimeters, hardly even grazing the cheek. When staggering closer, the metalbender backed up in horror, using earthbending as a second resort. With a wave of his large arms, he brought them inward almost to clasp his hands together. Chunks of the wall on either side ripped to the center of the room to crush the cloaked figure. The man's shock sent ripples through his entire body, casting him in penetration of terror.
The figure stopped both rocks with their bare hands.
It was clear to see the arms trembling to stop them but the mere strength baffled the officer. How could someone be so strong to stop the impact if they were not an earthbender themselves? The sight was to behold. The officer knew not what to make of what his eyes beheld before him. Such a sight was hard to fathom.
With a flick of the wrists, the figure stooped, grounding their feet into the ground, only to pounce upwards, kicking their legs outward onto either boulder, sending them hurling the same direction they originally came. Gracefully landing, the attacker dusted off their cloak and drew closer.
"I'm getting tired of these games. Tell me where he is." It was more like a demand than a question that was spoken. Yet the man shook his head, having no idea what was being asked of him and remained in silence, gulping nervously. He refused to answer in fear of being accused of lying.
"I'll ask one more time. My patience is running thin and I don't have time for this." The figure smiled devilishly, letting the ice blade slide across the floor, making a screeching sound that would rack anyones nerves. "Where is he?"
The man made another attempt at retaliation, moving quickly and hurling multiple rocks from the rubble all around the room. Once more he was rewarded with a surprise, only to find that each and every single one of them was dodged until a large hand grasped around his neck, lifting him up into the air and throwing him into a stone statue, surely puncturing something in his body from the sharp impact. Patience was growing wearily thin.
Coughing out heaps of blood, the man lurched forward, holding his gut. "I...I don't know where he is!" He cried out, now doing whatever he could to crawl backwards until reaching the statue again and scrambling to his feet weakly. Now right in front of him, the man looked up to meet the eyes of the attacker underneath the hood. Cold and impatient blue eyes casting down upon him. "Please, please don't kill me! I have a wife and a son, I can't just abandon them!"
"You should have thought of that before joining the police then. Never commit to something you know you can't handle. It's trash like you that pisses me off in that aspect." Raising the ice blade, the figure jabbed it straight through the metalbenders under jaw, piercing far enough that it went through his mouth up into his brain, corrupting all nerves and signals to the body, blood oozing out profusely. Placing a foot on the chest, the blade came back out smoothly with a harsh tug, bits of flesh still dangling from the edge. Wiping the tip off on the mans clothing once it slid to the ground, the figure looked around at the mess before them.
The rest of the building was a mess, perhaps worse than the previous room. Organs spread out on the hallways with torn open bodies, broken limbs and blood spatters everywhere. It was truly a sight to behold. One could only think they were in a horror movie at this point.
It was uncertain how the Chief of Police herself was not here. Her men were being slaughtered left and right but yet she was nowhere to be found. She must have been away on some type of business. Nevertheless it did not matter much anyhow, she would be of no help. Lin Beifong was powerful, yes, but her chances at success would be slim if any.
Rounding the corner, leaning over a disemboweled carcass was the sight of another cloaked figure digging their fingers into the opened stomach, pulling out innards. The walls around them were scorched and burnt.
"You really need to stop doing that, it's kind of gross."
The figure hovering over the dead burnt man stood, dropping the intestine entangled in their fingers. "Kama," they greeted. "Did you find him?"
"No, none of them had the information. You'd think someone would know his whereabouts but this is getting us no where. And all those dead - will you stop that?" Kama reached over, taking the body part out of their hand and tossing it. The sight of watching body parts being eaten by another human was a little on the gross side.
Reaching to pull off the hood, Kama tousled his messy black hair that hung over his eyes then pushed his glasses back to stay on his nose properly. He looked young but not too young, mid twenties by the looks of it. "What do we do now? These guys don't know jack shit and killing them gets us no where. Well, except giving you a fed stomach."
"You act like I like doing this." The cloaked figure spat, wiping the blood on their clothing. "At least cooking their guts makes it less disgusting. Trust me, it's not something I enjoy any more than you when it comes to watching. But I guess it's a price I have to pay, just be lucky it's not you."
"Tch, yeah. Spirits forbid I have to deal with the shit you put up with." Kama searched around the room, wondering if there may have been something they were missing. Paperwork proved worthless and the men here knew nothing.
"I don't think he's here. He may not even be in this city. What are we not seeing here?"
Kama rubbed his chin and stuffed the other hand in his pocket. His teammate was notorious for being violent but also tactical. Surely he was not the one to be asked that question of when he was the more laid back get, get stuff done kind of guy.
"I don't know. All I do know is that this place was just a waste of time, he's probably not even in Republic City. I don't think he'd be clumsy enough to get himself caught though. My theory is that he's in hiding somewhere." Kama stepped out of the room into the hallway followed by his partner making his way for the exit. The night was still young, the street lights still provided light for their steps and the moon gave them guidance and a reminder that the sun would still come, even in the darkest crevices of their minds.
AN:
Yay for introducing new characters. We have yet to know who this cannibalistic cloaked figure is though and who it is their after. Whoop, don't we just love cliffhangers? On another note, I noticed I had a couple errors in my last few chapters. If I have any others, feel free to correct me. My laziness gets the best of me when it comes to proof reading. :P
Song is March of the Pigs by Nine Inch Nails.
