A/N: This is an interlude chapter, taking place between Episodes 2 & 3 of Book 1.

Chapter VIII: Retribution

Despite being a wanted criminal and revolutionary leader, Amon was not stupid about current events. Being the leader of the Equalist uprising meant he needed to know what was going on around Republic City, even if he couldn't get that information himself. That meant that when he heard that one man had seemingly started a war against the Triads, and even more that he had no bending powers to speak of, he was intrigued.

Amon and some of his top officers were looking out at Republic City from their secret base while he was contemplating their next move.

"Lieutenant, I have a mission for you," the masked man said, turning to face the man on his right.

"Of course sir, what is it?" The lieutenant replied, looking back at him.

"Go to the headquarters of the Triads and ask them for as much information on their number one enemy as possible, we need to know more about this character, see if he can be an asset or not," Amon ordered.

The lieutenant bowed before hurrying off to fulfill his orders.

Amon was surprised to see what he had when he returned, it turns out their "number one enemy" was the same man the Equalists had been dealing with for over a year now. He waved his lieutenant off and looked out the window towards the city before looking down at the picture of Saltrall in his hand.

"Looks like our "asset" is in fact, a liability," he said quietly to himself, crumpling the picture up and dropping it while thinking about his next move following this turn of events.

Back in the TARDIS there was an explosion and Saltrall emerged from under the console with black soot covering his face. It had been about a week since his last trip to the police station, despite murdering several members of the Triad who attacked him, he either hadn't left enough evidence for the police to suspect him, or Lin was turning a blind eye on it. Regardless, he decided it was time to update his camouflage core drivers. This led to the aforementioned explosion.

"Right, don't connect the blue and red wires," he said with a cough, "causes minor explosion."

He stood up and shook his head before running a hand over his face, clearing away most of the dust and soot before walking into the bathroom to clean it properly. When he emerged he decided that he needed a break.

"Eh, the console can wait, I need some fresh air," he said to himself while going to his wardrobe to put on fresh, unsinged clothes. He grabbed his screwdriver and put it in his sweatshirt pocket as he walked outside into the crisp evening air. It was around five he assumed, and the sun was beginning to set. He took in a deep breath and sighed, taking in the mild temperatures and feeling the breeze on his face. He was looking towards the city when he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Going somewhere Mr. Time Traveller?" He heard the voice of the young Avatar behind him.

"Finally found me, eh Korra?" He said with a chuckle as he turned to face her. When he did she slapped him across the face, twice.

Saltrall shook his head again.

"Alright, I deserved that," he said, groaning and holding his cheek.

"Where the hell have you been?! It's been over a year!" She yelled at him, stepping closer and glaring at him.

"Look, I know I said that I would be back, but things out of my control happened and I never got a chance to come back, I'm so sorry," Saltrall explained, genuinely sorry for forgetting about his promise to get her. Korra frowned now and looked down at the grass.

"But, you promised," she replied, dejectedly before looking back at him, "and you're a time traveler! Couldn't you have just gone back to right after you left or something like that?"

"I could've, sure, but like I said, out of my control," he replied, leaning against his TARDIS. Korra sighed but nodded in understanding.

"I understand, I'm sorry for snapping at you," she said, leaning against the tree next to him, "so, where's the iceberg ship?"

"You're leaning against it," Saltrall replied, unable to hold back a laugh when he saw Korra's wide eyed expression as she looked at the tree and back at Saltrall.

"But, it- how?" She stammered.

"Time Lord technology, it's complicated," Saltrall replied, only a little smug, "We were the first ones to perfect the camouflage core for spaceships, I can make it change into whatever I want, or at least I would if the core worked, mine's on the fritz so I'm stuck as a tree for right now."

"I'll just nod and pretend I know what you're talking about," Korra replied, clearly confused.

Saltrall nodded and chuckled, he got that answer a lot in the past, and motioned with his head for her to walk with him, "come on, let's walk and talk."

They were walking through the park, and soon they were talking about the time that they had spent away from each other, catching up like old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

"So what about since you got here to Republic City? I saw you in the park when you got hassled by those protesters, anything else exciting happen?" Saltrall asked as they sat down on a bench, causing Korra to blush, embarassed by the memory.

"Shut up," she said before thinking about the first part of his sentence, "actually, hang on, that was you?" she asked, surprised. Saltrall smiled and nodded, "Wow, I didn't recognize you at all with that beard!"

"Good, I was going for the disguise look," Saltrall said, smiling, clearly proud of himself.

"Why were you disguised? Did something happen?" Korra asked, her tone turning concerned.

"Well, I've been here a bit longer than you and in that time I MAY have broken a law or two, also I may have gotten mugged a few times as well, became a police associate, you know, the usual," he said, rubbing his neck, trying to play it cool.

"Wait, what? Broken laws? Gotten mugged? Are you okay? What happened?" Korra asked, concerned.

"Well, the first time, I was in an alley, some people tried to mug me, excessive force was used, the details are kinda fuzzy, no one can say for sure who killed whom," he replied.

"Details are kind of fuzzy, you killed A PERSON!" She exclaimed before he put his hand over her mouth.

"Don't say it so loud," he whispered intensely before turning his head and mumbling, "and it was two people,"

"And you just walked into the police station willy-nilly?"

"Well, you see, it's complicated," He replied, exasperated

"Uh huh, I'm sure it is" Korra replied skeptically.

"I made a deal with Lin, the police chief, it happens," Saltrall responded before coming to a realization. "Hang on, why am I telling you all this?"

Korra just shrugged and said sarcastically, "I don't know, you just started talking,"

Saltrall stared at her with an unamused face before shaking his head.

"I need to learn to shut up sometimes. So anyway, what have you been up to?" He asked her.

"I joined a pro-bending team," She replied with a smile.

"I don't know what that is..." He said, confused.

She put her face into her hand and groaned, "you've been here over a year and yet you don't know what Pro-bending is?"

"I don't get out much!" Saltrall said, putting his hands up in defense, "and when I do people try to kill me."

Korra laughed and rolled her eyes at his response, "It's fine," she said, "I'll give you a ticket and you can come see the tournament I'm competing in in a couple of weeks,"

"Awesome, I'm looking forward to it," he said smiling.

"I'll get it for you tomorrow, meet me at the library, okay?"

"Sounds good," Saltrall said, "see you then,"

With that Korra got up and stretched before bidding Saltrall goodbye and heading back to the city.

Saltrall remained seated, watching her leave while taking in a deep breath of the crisp, summer air before standing up and walking back to his TARDIS. As he was walking back he heard rustling in the bushes next to the trail, and when he turned and looked he saw what appeared to be someone hurrying away from the edge.

He pulled out his Sonic and pointed where he heard the noise. He activated it and looked at the screen, but nothing of interest came up, so he shrugged and kept walking.

In reality the figure who narrowly avoided detection was an Equalist who reported what he saw back to Amon, giving him all the more reason to spy on Saltrall, after all, he was talking with the Avatar.

The sun had slipped below the treeline by the time Saltrall reached his TARDIS and he looked around one last time before deciding that there was no one else around.

"Well, time to get back to work," he said with a dejected sigh as he opened the door and stepped inside.