A/N: Welcome back! JSYK, Korra's portion of this episode goes pretty much the same so it will be touched on very little.
Also, I don't know the timeline for this shit, so just let me do what I want. I'm saying it's been three weeks since Hiroshi was revealed as an Equalist.
More inconsequential people get names! Sorry, Lin will be addressing some of the Elite in this chapter and I had to call them something. And yes, technically, they're OCs, but I kind of need them. They will remain background characters, worry not! Like, metalbending police officers background, not Pema background or anything like that.
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What was she thinking? Seriously, Mako wanted to know. She knew Tarrlok was dangerous, she knew they were going to plot to get him out of the way, and she decided to confront him – alone! – anyway. And now she was captured.
They should've chi blocked her and locked her up until they needed her to punch things.
"We need to question Tarrlok ourselves," Mom insisted. "I may not be an officer anymore, but I still know how to get the best information from witnesses."
"Tarrlok gave an official statement to the police," Tenzin said. "He says all the information he has is in the report and he refuses to rehash the details when he and his task force can be searching for Korra."
Yeah, because that wasn't suspicious.
Mom looked to Mako and Bolin from the corner of zir eye.
It was nice to see they were in agreement.
"Then we need to raid an Equalist base," Mom continued. "We can flush out any higher ups who might have information on where Avatar Korra is."
"I don't suppose you know where one is?" Tenzin asked.
Mom smirked. What exactly did Tenzin think the Elite were doing this whole time? Sight seeing?
"As a matter a fact, I do."
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It was a lot easier than it should have been to sneak in. Like, ridiculously easier. That was Bolin's first hint that this may have been a trap.
His second hint was the alarm system going off.
"Everyone, fall back to the cart!" Mom ordered while Bolin scanned the area to find the path of least resistance. "Badgermole, which way?"
Bolin could feel the Equalists getting closer, their light chi blocker footsteps still heavy enough for him to feel.
"I–"
They went up and left and left and right–
"Badgermole."
–forward, forward, down–
"Kid!"
Mom stomped and scanned and saw what Bolin saw.
The Equalists weren't coming for them.
"What?" Tenzin asked as they stood silently, eyes closed and bodies crouched down. He looked helplessly to Mako and the two Elite who had come with them. The Elite stood stoically. Mako shrugged.
"They're not headed our way," Mom finally said.
"So why is the alarm going off?"
"Spiderfly, Wolfbat." Mom snapped her fingers and the Elite disappeared, off to eavesdrop or steal files or whatever secondary mission Mom had given them before they left for the raid. "Airhead, with me. Shirshu, Badgermole, go left. We're gonna flank this disturbance and see what the fuss is."
The group split up.
"What's the disturbance?" Mako whispered.
"A prisoner is causing trouble," Bolin answered absently, mostly focused on his seismic sense.
"You said there weren't any prisoners!" Mako whisper-yelled.
"No, I said Korra's not here. And there's only one prisoner," Bolin replied. He held up a hand and Mako stopped. The two watched warily as a guard passed by them. Apparently, the situation was already well in hand if they were sending help away.
Bolin was glad for the interruption; he didn't want to risk Mako asking who the prisoner was.
The two continued on.
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A little less than a month ago – Had it really not even been a month? – Mako spent four hours on a boat, wishing he were literally anywhere else.
That paled in comparison to how little Mako wanted to raid an Equalist base.
He could have declined, of course – Mom would never make his do something he was uncomfortable with – but what else would he do? Sands and Tides were trailing Tarrlok, the council had no reason to reconvene so soon, and he was so sick of networking. Oma and Shu was he sick of networking. So it was either; go on the raid or lounge around the house and risk unplanned human contact.
At least this way, he could brace himself without feeling paranoid.
"Almost there," Bolin whispered and Mako wished not for the first time that he had his brother's gift. What he wouldn't give to feel the earth, to feel the life on it, to feel the reassuring pulses he knew Mom sent Bolin every once in a while in situations like these.
To know beforehand that the prisoner they were flanking was Asami Sato.
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Korra had stopped screaming. It was no use – she knew it even as she had done it – Tarrlok wasn't stupid enough to lock her up where someone could hear her scream.
She shuddered to think of the things he could do for those screams.
Korra had tried everything; she'd felt desperately for the earth in the metal box as Bolin had taught her, but it was made from platinum. She'd tried using her sweat to waterbend and saw through the bars as Master Katara had once done, but they were too sturdy. She'd thrown herself against the door so often and with such force she was surprised she hadn't broken something. Fire would be a fool's gamble, and she wasn't that desperate yet.
Korra breathed deeply. Calm. She needed to remain calm. She couldn't think of a way to escape if she couldn't even control her own body.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't. Breathe. Fire.
An image flashed behind her eyes, there and gone too quick for her to make out any details. Korra's breathing picked up again, but she forced it to slow once more.
Don't panic. Don't scream. Deep breaths.
The images appeared again, feeling familiar this time. She vaguely remembered similar scenes flashing through her mind as Tarrlok had stolen her away. Disturbing, painful scenes she did not recall ever having experienced before and did not want to experience then.
Stop it! She pressed her palms against her temples and felt the visions slip away. Stop it stop it stop it! Focus! Calm! Think of a plan to get out of this stupid box!
There has to be a way.
Get out. Get out soon. Get out now. Get out before Tarrlok comes back and–
And what? And what would he do? Korra didn't know. Korra didn't want to know.
Korra focused on her breathing.
The images came again.
Korra roared and punched the walls around her. Why – why why why why WHY – were these hallucinations coming to her? Why now when she had much more important things to worry about? Did Tarrlok drug her? Was this some side effect to being bloodbent? Master Katara never mentioned anything like it, and she'd fought the original bloodbender! She couldn't deal with this too! She needed to keep her head about her! She needed to think logically about this! She needed to Remain CALM!
Korra let out one last scream before sliding down to sit and curling up, her face buried in her knees.
A single image appeared – a single, legible image, held in her mind's eye for the length of a single heartbeat.
Aang.
…Was that what those visions were about? Was Aang trying to communicate with her? Or was that theory just a desperate wish in a hopeless situation?
Either way, what did she have to lose?
For the first time in her life – of her own free will, at least – Korra settled down to meditate.
In. Out. Breathe in the tranquillity, breathe out the frustration. Feel the universe move around you.
Talk to me, Aang.
"What are you doing here? I told you, I have this under control."
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She almost looked like shit; her hair was in tangles, her clothes were ripped and stained, and Mako finally had proof that her make up was not tattooed on. Even still, she had a sort of messy allure to her. Clearly, it took a lot more than bad lodgings, no showers, and three Equalist guards to keep Asami Sato down.
(It took five Equalist guards.)
(Mako wasn't sure how he felt about that.)
She struggled against her captors, wiggling and cursing all the way and obviously chi blocked by the lack of punches being thrown. Mako and Bolin – and Mom and Tenzin, he assumed – watched as Asami was forced back into her cell, locked in shackles, and kicked in the stomach. In that order.
She coughed harshly, speckles of blood flying from her mouth to the concrete floor.
Mako shook his head. Asami was fine. Pissed, but fine.
As one guard locked the cell again, the other guards seemed to be hassling one of their group.
"We warned you not to fall for that shit!" a feminine voice said, their companions agreeing around them. "Do you know how many guards she'd pulled that on already?"
"I couldn't help it!" the hassled guard defended. "She looked so sad and pretty."
"Did she look as pretty when she kicked you in the face?"
"Kinda, yeah."
"Ok, you're not being put on prisoner duty anymore."
The group disappeared around the corner as Asami slowly pulled herself up. She tested the strength of her chains as best she could, muttering "damn it" under her breath as each section was shown to be quite sturdy.
Mako looked to Bolin, his eyebrow raised.
What do we do?
Bolin closed his eyes for a minute, presumably communicating with Mom, before looking to Mako and making a hand sign.
Mako nodded.
Shirshu darts flew and Asami collapsed. The group gathered her up and left.
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Lin didn't know what to do. It was not a feeling ze was familiar or comfortable with, and thus not one ze would let zirself acknowledge.
Spiderfly and Wolfbat had searched the base, confirming what the group had already suspected; Avatar Korra hadn't been captured by Equalists. As Mako had pointed out – Amon was one dramatic son of a bitch. If he had Korra, he wouldn've made some big production out of it. He'd have equalized her in front of an audience of thousands, or live on the radio. Her body would've been dropped off at city hall already, or strung up on Uncle Aang's statue, emptied and broken.
Tarrlok had captured Avatar Korra. Lin wasn't sure how – from what ze'd heard of the Avatar's fighting ability, she should have been more than a match for Tarrlok, close as the duel may have gotten – but he had her, ze could feel it.
Sands and Tides were tailing Tarrlok – one a South Pole native and accomplished acrobat with no pain receptors, the other a powerful earthbender with impossible to predict stances from the katas she'd created to compensate for her missing leg – so there wasn't much to do on that front until their report. Which left zir with only one thing to worry about;
What would they do with Asami?
Lin wanted to question her – and by "question", ze meant "interrogate" and by "interrogate", ze meant "hurt" – but Tenzin wouldn't have it. Him and his damned pacifist ways. What had Lin ever seen in him?
Nothing, technically.
And ze was getting off topic.
The point was, the priss had hurt zir sons. Zir. Sons. There had to be recompense for that, recompense taken out of the heiress's pretty little face.
No, not face. She didn't deserve injuries like ze had, like Uncle Zuko had. She didn't deserve to have people make that association.
Hands? Hands could work. Ze'd like to see her make weapons with no fingers.
"Mom?"
Lin snapped out of her increasingly vindictive thoughts and focused on zir eldest.
"Yeah?"
"Asami's awake."
Time for some answers.
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Deep beneath the Beifong estate – so deep only Grammy's earthbending had a chance of feeling it from the surface – there was a bunker. Bolin had been in it once before, back when Mom had felt a powerful intruder on the grounds and hidden he and Mako away until ze'd taken care of it. Bolin had told the story to Asami, who'd asked if she would ever be allowed to see it, should any Beifong return to Republic City. Mom had said maybe; Mako had said "that means no"; Bolin had said of course she could.
This was not the situation he'd had in mind.
Tenzin had carefully moved Shirshu toxin antidote through a vent until Asami began to stir. They watched from behind a two-way mirror as the heiress blinked and sat up, slowly taking in her new surrroundings.
Bolin smoothed over the vent and locked the dormant chains around Asami, binding her flush against the wall.
He saw her taking deep breaths and muttering something to herself.
He wanted to go inside, wanted to assure her she hadn't been captured by enemies, wanted her to know she didn't have to be afraid of him, but he didn't. He couldn't. It wasn't true.
Mom and Mako entered the room, staring emotionlessly at the woman on the wall.
"Are you two sure you can do this?"
"We have to."
The adults stood in silence as the brothers entered the room.
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"Please be Bolin, please be Bolin, please– Bolin!" Asami brightened at the sight of the earthbender, only to be reminded of his current feelings towards her when her chains tightened.
She felt her pulse increase as she looked at her friends.
(Former friends? Acquaintances? Would they ever forgive her? Would she ever forgive herself?)
Mako's poker face was as perfect as ever, clear and straight like sculpted porcelain. Bolin didn't look at her, the brim of his hat pulled low to conceal whatever lurked in his eyes, but she saw the marking of a single dried tear track on his chin. She wondered why he didn't wipe that away before seeing her.
("Why don't you go to the bathroom and wash that off?" "Why would I erase evidence that a pretty lady loves me?")
Their reunion dinner felt so long ago.
Would he believe she still loved him? Loved them both? Loved them all?
("Get out ALL OF YOU GET OUT!")
"We have some questions, Miss Sato," Mako said, ignoring her flinch at the formal address. "It would be in your best interest to answer truthfully. We have ways of knowing when one lies."
"I know, Mako!" Asami said, hoping to dig some emotion out of his cold facade. "Bolin once used it on a merchant to see if his food was fresh, remember?"
"We ask the questions here, Miss Sato." Her attempt didn't work. "Question one: why did you break your father out of prison?"
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She was out of things to throw, but it didn't matter; her friends had already left. She was alone.
This couldn't be real.
Clearly, she had crashed her satomobile at the racetrack and this was all a coma dream. Clearly, someone had put drugs in the sauna water at the spa she went to yesterday and it had finally seeped into her skin. Clearly, she'd fallen off the boat and sunk sunk sunk and this was the nightmare her dying body decided to torture her with.
Because this couldn't be real.
Her father was not a terrorist.
This was a frame up. This workshop was fake. Earthbenders planted it here so the police could make it look like they were doing something. Anything. This room – these things – just couldn't be Hiroshi Sato's.
She needed to speak with him.
Now.
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"Why did you have to free your father to speak with him?"
"The police wouldn't let me near him! Everyone I spoke to turned me away; I tried everything! I said I needed to bring him medication, I told them Master Tenzin sent me to see if he was being treated humanely, I tried claiming I was his lawyer – nothing! They wouldn't let me through! I had to fight them."
"But did you have to free him?"
"Reinforcements were coming. We were running out of time."
"And then what happened?"
"…He confessed."
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"Asami." He smiled and she fell into his arms. He looked so happy to see her, so thankful she was ok. "Asami, my brave little girl." His arms tightened around her. "I am so proud of you. I knew you would see the truth."
Of course she did. Of course she saw he was innocent. This was her father. He'd chased monsters away, he'd gotten her the best self-defense tutors in the city, he'd taught her to build an engine and manipulate a contract and help those less fortunate than they. He couldn't be the monster Tarrlok claimed he was.
She closed her eyes, soaking in his warmth. She was safe here. Nothing could hurt her here.
"Come," her father said, finally pulling away. "I know a base nearby. There is a workshop there. We can rest up and begin fixing this city."
Wait, what?
"We will soon be free of this bender plague."
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"He didn't even see…. He didn't even notice when I stopped smiling, he didn't care. He just thought I was an Equalist like him and he was so proud. I didn't know what to do, so I followed him."
"You couldn't think of anything else to do?"
"I was in shock! I'd built this idea in my head that somehow everything could be explained away if I just spoke to him. I clung to that idea! And even if I hadn't been in shock, what was I supposed to do? Go back to the cops and say 'sorry I beat you up, I know better now'? They labelled me as an Equalist before I ever fought them, before I even stepped foot into that precinct, I would never have been allowed to go back and claim a misunderstanding."
"You could've come to us!"
"I… I didn't think you'd have me."
"…Why were you imprisoned when we found you?"
"My father got me working with him, mass producing and improving the abominations he'd designed. Originally, I was just supposed to be on an engineering team – making cart systems and transmission interceptors, but I asked to be moved to the weapons division."
"Why?"
"So I could sabotage them. As you can guess, I got caught."
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"Please," Hiroshi begged, "she just does not understand what we are trying to accomplish! I blame myself. I should have spoken to her more openly about this, but I can change her mind, I am sure of it! Just give me some time."
"You want to imprison and kill my friends! How could you think I would be ok with that!" Asami yelled back, furious at her father, furious at her situation, furious at herself. The bastards didn't even ship out the faulty equipment she'd made before they found out the casings were fragile. If the clumsy oafs hadn't dropped the damn box, none of this would have happened.
"Our aim is not to imprison or kill, merely to… heal." She was most furious at him – the thing who'd done this to her father. The person, the monster, who'd taken his grief and twisted it twisted it twisted it into a hatred she was beginning to fear overrode his love for her. "Surely you have noticed we have done no permanent damage to any bender we have faced?"
"HOW IS RIPPING THEIR SPIRIT APART NOT PERMANENT DAMAGE?" Asami had visited, Asami had listened to the words of the ones who had been robbed; waterbenders who screamed in the rain as if being touched by acid, firebenders who climbed into industrial furnaces and ovens trying to get warm, earthbenders who clawed desperately at the dirt, ripping nails from fingers and breaking bone after bone, in hopes the rocks would respond to them again.
There had been a wave of suicides throughout the city the likes of which had never been seen before.
"HOW CAN YOU HEAL CORPSE?"
"Asami, please–"
"You're a monster. You're all monsters." She turned to glare coldly at her father, so very much unlike the man who had taught her right from wrong. She wanted to hurt him, make him see, make him understand. "Mom would hate you for what you've become."
For a second, he seemed to shatter. For a second, Asami felt hope. Then his eyes hardened.
"I am avenging her death!" he roared. He turned to Amon. "I spologize for bringing her here."
He never looked back as she was dragged away.
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"I don't know why they didn't just kill me. I kept trying to escape, I hurt a lot of the guards, I managed to damage some equipment. I became a lot more trouble than I was worth."
"Perhaps you're worth more than you think."
"Perhaps."
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Mako and Bolin returned to the observation room.
"Was she lying?" Mako asked.
"Not that I could tell. Mom?"
"No."
"What do we do now?"
"We'll have to deal with that later," Mom said. "I got a message from Tides earlier. They found Avatar Korra. Sands is watching the safehouse Tarrlok has her locked up at, waiting for my orders. Tides followed Tarrlok back into the city. We need to move. Now."
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"Chief."
"Lin."
Ze had thought that would be the most annoying part of the confrontation, but ze was wrong.
"He's a bloodbender! He bloodbent Avatar Korra!"
One of them should have noticed, should have remembered that there was no full moon the night before, but no. Bloodbenders with that level of skill just didn't exist anymore – shouldn't have existed in the first place. Yakone was a freak happenstance, one in a billion. What reason did any of them have to fear another bender with that type of power living in Republic City?
The feeling of having zir own body turn against zir, the terror, the rage, the pain…. It was indescribable. Ze wondered how any had survived it – how any of them would survive. It would be easy, so frighteningly easy, for Tarrlok to just finish them off right there, stop their blood flow completely, keep their heart from beating. He just had to will it, and their lives would be gone.
Why had ze let zir sons go to this Koh-forsaken place? Why didn't ze just grab them and leave once ze'd brought the Elite over?
The edges of zir sight blurred as the world around zir grew darker.
Darker….
Darker….
Black.
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Korra heard someone enter the basement, their footsteps too light to be Tarrlok.
Tarrlok, Yakone's son.
Korra held her breath, wary of whoever managed to find her. There was no way to see them, to know if they wanted to help her or take her hostage themselves. What if they were Equalists? What if they tried to electrocute her?
What if they electrocute the cage?
Korra silently took off an armband and looped it over the bars. If they tried to knock her out, she'd be safe. If they opened the door, she could firebend from her feet. She would not be going down without a fight.
She heard them place a hand on her prison. She braced herself as the box opened. She sent out a ball of fire, redirecting it at the last moment as she saw who'd freed her: one of King Lin's Elite.
"Come, Avatar. We must leave before Tarrlok returns."
"Thanks."
Korra quickly climbed out, pulling her armband back on as she moved to the stairs. The Elite held a hand up and Korra froze. Nothing happened.
"Wh–"
Another person dropped down from the doorway.
"Tarrlok is on his way, and just behind him is Amon."
Korra's eyes widened. She was in no state to fight Amon. She hadn't had food or water in eighteen hours and she was still mentally and emotionally exhausted from finally connecting with Aang. She had to get out of there.
One of the Elite bent a hole in the ground and the three of them dropped down. Korra made a torch and they snuck away.
"What do you think will happen to Tarrlok?" Korra asked quietly. She shouldn't care – he was a horrible person – but she didn't think she could wish Amon on anyone.
"I'll stay and see," one of the Elite said.
"What? No!"
"You don't make my decisions, Avatar," they said firmly. "I'm not a bender. I'll be fine. Tides?" They turned to the earthbender – Tides, apparently.
"Be safe," Tides said before making an exit for their partner to climb out of. They jumped up, threw down a stick, and dashed away as Tides closed the hole.
"Why'd they give us a stick?"
"Light it, then close the way behind us."
Yeah, ok, that made sense.
"Let's go. I think I feel your pet around here somewhere."
"Naga?"
"How would I know?"
That made sense, too.
Korra turned to the path behind her and pulled.
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limbs twisting breaking BURNING BURNING BURNING
"Are you satisfied now?"
he screams and screams and no one helps him
"Your justice is complete."
you did this you did this you did this you did this you
"My power is realized."
TWISTINGBREAKINGBURNINGSCREAMING
"Are you ready?"
ready to be fixed ready to be freed ready to move past ready to move on
move on move on move
"MOVE! RUN! HIDE! Don't worry about us!"
it's dark and loud and bright and louder and quiet and quiet and quiet
alone
all alone
"Are you ready?"
was he ready
"You do anything out of line and I will skin you."
was he ready
"Please! PLEASE!"
was he ready
"This may hurt."
was he ready
"I am sorry."
his spine bent back and curved
a touch
he screamed
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A/N: Aren't y'all glad this isn't an interlude? You're welcome.
On Asami: In the show, she literally caught him taking out benders to send to Amon. Like, he was right in the middle of attacking her friends. There's absolutely no way to rationalize that into something that doesn't make him a terrorist. Even in the show, when they found a hidden tunnel beneath her house with its entrance in her father's workshop, she didn't immediately jump to "my father's an Equalist". Even then. So I feel her being in denial until she can hear for herself from her father, is fairly in character.
Also, Asami always looks good let's be real here.
On Korra: She's done a lot of fucking up til now – as also in canon, don't pretend she wasn't a brat in book one sometimes – but the armband thing showed how clever she is, even though her preferred method of dealing with something is beating it up. So, even though she only thought of it after Amon ordered the Lieutenant to elextrocute the box, I wanted to keep it in. I believe that scene, along with her handling of Hiroshi, marked a turning point where she started taking things more seriously and learning to think through her fear and natural aggressive response, so I wanted to keep it as close as I could with this world's canon.
Events skipped over this chapter:
Lin ordered Tides to follow Tarrlok should he escape from the Town Hall.
Tides relays a message ahead to Sands to free Korra.
Tides realizes Amon is following Tarrlok and goes to help Sands and Korra before Tarrlok & Amon can get there.
I don't want to focus on OCs at any point in time ever, so yeah. Just sos y'all know, that's what happened off-screen.
Events skipped over next chapter shall be:
Tides and Korra return to Republic City. At one point during their return, Korra passes out.
Story Recommendation:
The Bender Suicides by Aiffe on FFN