Chapter IV: Truth

Saltrall had been in the library for several hours, and by the time he left it was early evening and he just learned a whole lot about his current situation, when he was, where he was, what Korra was, and how, despite a long-lasting peace, everything seemed to be starting to fall apart around him.

He learned that the year was 169 AG, or After Genocide, referencing the Air Nomad Genocide. He learned of the Hundred Year War, the war between the Fire Nation and the world. He learned about the Avatar, the master of all four major elements, air, water, fire, and earth. He learned of Aang, the previous Avatar, and the current Avatar, Korra.

He growled softly when he first read about the events surrounding the start of that war, ignoring the confused looks he got from the people looking at books next to him. He had always tried to be a man of peace, even if that meant killing a few people to save many, and he had flashbacks to fighting the Daleks and trying to stop them from killing everything in the universe. Eventually he stopped reading and put the book back with a sigh because he knew that he couldn't go back to kill Sozin or to do anything to prevent the Air Nomad Genocide, it was a fixed point in history, he could destroy the entire modern timeline if he tried.

That was always the problem with time travel, some events are so momentous that they can't, under any circumstances, be changed. He had dealt with it before, but it never stopped frustrating him that the biggest events were atrocities that couldn't be changed.

He stood at the top of the stairs leading to the library and took in a deep breath and smiled as he looked around, that's when he saw a shady character walk by quickly, and he decided to follow to see what he was planning on doing.

He followed at a distance until he saw him turn into an alley, then he jumped on some boxes, and made his way to a nearby roof and watched him intently and he realized that this was a drug deal when another man walked into the alley and they began talking quietly to each other.

He kept watching and sighed, trying to decide whether or not to intervene. He had always despised drugs and alcohol after a couple of incidents where his younger brother overdosed on Gallifrey and another during his travels where one of his former companions was killed in a drunk driving incident.

He shook his head, trying to get the thoughts out of his head and he sighed. Finally he decided to make a move and hopped off the roof and used his Sonic to paralyze the mens legs.

"Hey, what's going on with my legs?" One of them asked as Saltrall walked up to them.

"Hey, who are you?" The other one asked, looking at Saltrall with fear in his eyes, "Are you a cop?"

Saltrall shook his head, "No, I'm not, don't worry," He took the drugs, "And don't worry, your legs are okay."

The guy who was holding the drugs tried to take them back. "Hey! I need those!"

"No you don't," Saltrall said, "all this'll do is get you in trouble, trust me, I've seen it far too many times."

The man still looked at him with fear in his eyes and Saltrall sighed and reached into his pocket and pulled out some coins that he had found around the city while looking for the library.

"Here, it's not much, but I hope this helps," he said, putting them in the man's pocket.

He fixed both of the men's legs and they stumbled out of the alley. Saltrall looked at the bag in his hand and sighed, putting it on the ground he activated his Sonic and destroyed it.

As he left the alley he turned to his right and saw Asami leaving the restaurant that made up the side of the alley he was in and she turned towards him, making eye contact. He smiled softly and waved at her. She waved back and smiled before heading in the other direction.

He looked around and decided to walk in the other direction of her, he hadn't planned on doing anything else that evening but he didn't want to return to the TARDIS yet. He had walked around for about 20 minutes when he saw another disturbance, this one much more serious looking. He saw two masked men turning down into an alley, carrying what appeared to be weapons of some kind. He didn't waste any time and ran after them.

"Hey!" He shouted as he turned down the alley behind them. They whipped around at his voice and jumped up some crates onto the rooftop and Saltrall quickly followed.

As a part of his training on Gallifrey he had taken thirty years of gymnastics and yoga to ensure that he was strong and flexible enough to handle any situation. Even after he started travelling on his own he had kept up that routine and now was convinced he could go toe to toe with anyone his size or slightly larger in a hand to hand fight.

He jumped up onto the rooftop and was charged by one of the men. They were too close for him to use his Sonic so he prepared to attack them with his hands. He blocked the punch from the first one and grabbed his arm. As he was moving his arm he saw the glove on his opponent's hand spark to life with electricity.

"What the hell?" Saltrall thought to himself as he punched him in the jaw. He turned as his foe collapsed and was met by the other attacker who grabbed his shoulder and sent a sharp electric shock through his body.

"GAAH!" he exclaimed as he fell to one knee, holding his shoulder, pain coursing through his whole body. The man who shocked him then kicked him in the chest and he fell backwards down into the alley, through the crates he had used to get on the roof, and was knocked unconscious.