Story: The Truths We Fake

Genre: Drama/Romance/Mystery

Chapter 2: Questions

She steps inside the building, averting her gaze away from the officers and Asami. Korra didn't even know that much about her, yet her heart felt shattered like glass. She wants answers. No, scratch that, she needs answers.

The wallet incident infuriates her to no end. If Korra had been verified early this morning, when she assumes Mako got assigned to this case, she could have been more perceptive. For all she knew, Asami used her looks as a way of deceiving those around her, fooling them into thinking she was your average everyday citizen when, in reality, she had just about as many flaws as anyone else.

Korra loses herself in her thoughts, blocking the sounds she hears there and closes her eyes. Without looking, she could feel the commotion and craziness normally accompanied by officers and other workers scrambling to get their tasks done for the day.

Which reminded her of her least favorite person.

Her eyes snapped open and she was instantly met with an enraged Chief Beifong storming towards her. Korra wasn't the least bit surprised because this was Lin Beifong; she had always been like that and her irritation with Korra was (somewhat) understood. Tenzin, her Godfather, had explained his past relationship with Lin and told Korra the two had lots in common. One afternoon spent together on the weekend and they managed to have three conversations before Korra bolted straight out of her office. Whatever Tenzin saw in her, she didn't see in Lin. Ever since then, Lin has disliked Korra and Korra has disliked Lin. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don't.

Why Lin immediately began berating her was something she'd have to find out herself.

She opened her mouth to ask Lin a question while Lin grabbed her wrist and whisked her away. Korra didn't protest until they reached a door that Korra recognized.

During her short time under arrest, when she was on her way to an interrogation room, Korra noticed the door was left ajar and she watched as people sat on the chairs or stood around the long tables inside. Security wasn't there; the officer who was supposed to watch her went on inside. She couldn't pry her eyes away from the one person visible from where she was standing.

A painful smile laced her features as the officer read off a report filed about her and her eyes glanced down at her folded hands on the table. She seemed apathetic right now, waiting patiently until they allowed her to leave. She felt someone staring in her direction and looked up, staring back at Korra. Green burned through blue and a few seconds later, Asami goes back to glaring at her folded pale hands. Korra gets shoved past the room by another officer, leaving green eyes to endure a lecture that she wouldn't care about later.

"Why'd you bring me here?" Korra says staring at the door cautiously.

"The girl we just bought in told us she knew you," Lin said,"and she won't tell us anything so—"

"So you thought I could try to talk some information out of her?"

Lin nodded and Korra realized why she was in a hurry a few seconds ago. Korra willingly obliged. Although she might quite never understand Lin, Korra still accepts the assignment given because it would be wrong not to. She used to do things for the rewards she'd receive from it, but she doesn't care much for heroics. After all, what would that prove?

Korra grasped the door knob tentatively. She looked over her shoulder at Lin who stood stiff behind her then she breathed out a shaky breath and pushed open the door.

'''

Asami's smooth black hair was disheveled and sloppier than Korra remembered. She fiddled with the ends of her hair and briefly glanced up at the clock on the wall impatiently. When she saw Korra, her lipstick stained lips smirked smugly. It looked unnatural to Korra as she hadn't seen a face so...strange.

"I knew you'd come and bail me out!" She said happily, the smug expression still glued on her face.

Korra leaned her elbows on the metal table, head hanging down so Asami couldn't see her face. She spoke solemnly, short brown hair tickling the side of her neck slightly. "You know why I'm here."

Asami sat back in her chair perplexed by Korra's statement. "What?"

And Korra hates how this is going. Was Asami really playing that game with her?

"Asami," she said carefully,"I have a few things I'd like to ask you."

The smugness left Asami's face and she frowned. Her shoulders pulled back and she avoided looking at the woman in front of her. She sighed.

"Ask whatever you want." Asami said. "It's not like I have much of a life anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Asami says, "You really don't know, do you?"

Hiroshi Sato wrapped his daughter in a tight hug. She didn't hug him back. Her view focused on the package sitting on the top of his expensive car. He told her before how much he hated buying stuff like that. He's changed since the last time she saw him.

"What's with the package?" Asami said pointing at it. She hadn't planned on making any deliveries today.

Hiroshi lets go of her, hands holding her arms. Asami keeps her focus on the package. She isn't dropping the subject and he knows it.

"I can't tell you, Asami." He says apologetic. "I wish I could, but—"

"But what?" She boldly asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "You can trust me."

"I was told by them that I couldn't disclose this information to you or anyone else."

Asami pushed him off her, fixing the sleeves of her burgundy sweater. She flipped her curled black hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms.

"I thought you said you were done working for the Triads?"

Hiroshi said quietly,"Some habits are hard to break."

"Can you believe that only happened this morning?"

Korra shakes her head. "That's not the rest of the story is it?"

'''

Mako had found it peculiar how Korra hadn't arrived for lunch yet. Most days, he could rely on her when his day was falling apart. He stared at his watch, his patience dwindling as seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours.

He briefly wondered where she could be and decided calling her. Mako hesitated doing so when his office door opened and he quickly gaze up from almost hitting the green telephone button on his cellphone.

Lin Beifong strolled in, shutting the door closed behind her. She sounded serious.

"Korra's interrogating Asami Sato and I need someone else helping her. That someone's you and it isn't optional."

Mako's dark eyebrows furrowed. "She doesn't work here, Chief."

"You don't think I know that? The only reason Korra's doing this is because Asami refused to share any info with us unless Korra herself did the job." Lin says annoyed. She doesn't usually go against protocol lest the situation called for it and more often than not it did. If Korra was the key to unlocking the mystery that was Asami Sato then she'd let Korra do it. Though the two didn't get along, Lin was grateful Korra accepted her offer. Of course, when ever she asked someone a favor, their opinion didn't matter due to how mandatory the issue was.

Mako nodded obediently. "Yes, Ma'am. I mean, Sir." He stood up and saluted her awkwardly.

She opened the door and held a hand out, motioning for Mako to follow her and he walked around his office desk and followed suit.

'''

"So that package you mentioned? What happened to it?" Korra asked curiously.

Asami smiled deviously. "I stole it from my father. It wasn't exactly easy, but I did it."

"How?"

She moved to her bike and retrieved her messenger bag, taking out a stack of letters that were inside it. Asami contemplated giving them to her father. Why would he send them knowing the bad blood between them was still evident? She read a few letters he sent her, but hadn't bothered reading all of what he had to say. What was the point? Asami stopped her communication with him (wanted, she wanted to end their communication). Asami handed her father the letters and he took them without hesitation though the sad look in his eyes made her wince.

"I meant to return these to you a few months ago." She frowned deeply. "I really hoped that wouldn't upset you too much."

Hiroshi gulped and his posture tightened. "You don't want to be bothered anymore, correct?"

She frightfully nodded. Asami was tired of putting up with him and she wanted their connection erased. She thought she would be happy, delighted even, if she broke off her ties with him. What worried her, though, was the voice in the back of her head. Don't give him up, it said. Forgive and forget, it said. Except, Asami pondered the same thoughts before and came to the conclusion that her relationed with her father was too tainted, too broken. She was done leaning on him for support. She was done making and breaking deals. She was done helping him run his "errands". The man her father had become frightened her. He could always trust her, but she could never fully trust him. They weren't on the same page anymore.

He sighed, stepping closer, and brushed a stray piece of raven hair behind her ear.

His voice cracked a bit. "You'll always be my daughter, Asami. Don't forget that."

She mustered up the best smile she could give. "I won't."

He got in his car, grabbing boxes from the backseat. Asami noticed the package still laid on the roof of her dad's expensive car. What was inside? Did she really need to know?

Her father continued the process of removing junk from his car. She took the opportunity of taking the package. This is the last time, she told herself, that I'll see him. So what if Asami took that package? There was probably a dangerous weapon he planned on giving the Triads. She wouldn't stand by and let her father provide threatening inventions and weapons and machines to the Triads. She knew he owed them and if he didn't repay them, well...he would die.

And what she was doing now guaranteed that fact.

Asami quickly grabbed the package and ran towards her bike. She stuffed the item in her messenger bag then hopped on her bike. Hiroshi's figure was all Asami could see as she took off down the road and looked back. The sun was beginning to rise so instead of going to her apartment, she decided Republic City Park was the best choice if she planned on running away from her past because she realized now, more than ever, that it would chain her down.

Was taking the package worth it? She doesn't want him dead or killed by those thugs. She'll just open it at home, report what she found and only then will she give it back to her father.

She hopes she did the right thing.

Asami wiped her eyes using the back of her hand. She glanced up at Korra. "I think me meeting you again was a coincidence."

Korra blinked in fascination. "You remember me?"

Asami nodded. "Though I did want a better chance of introducing myself."

"No problem." Korra went around the table and bent down near Asami's chair, speaking softly. "They arrested you and said you'd only speak with me. Why me? Why not them?"

"I'll answer that question when the time comes." She replied.

Korra sighed. "Alright."

'''

"You told me to help her, but she seems to have figured this one out all on her own." Mako says proudly, almost as if he caused such a miracle. He continued watching from behind the glass. Him and Lin hid in the secret compartment for watching instigation's. There was another way to view their conversation, but it was far too complicated. Besides, Lin preferred using this passage better.

"I'm impressed. Questioning's a bit shabby, though I'm sure it will be improved next time—"

Mako stared at his boss in disbelief. "Next time? I thought you said it was a one time thing?"

"Don't interrupt me!" Lin scowled. "And yes, I did say on our way here that it was a one time thing." She wasn't explaining herself because she knew what she was doing. The consequences of her actions would cost her her job, but (despite her initial dislike of Korra) the girl was actually very good at questioning. She'd speak to Saikhan about it later, thinking Korra would prove herself even more in the long run.

"So what happens now?" Mako asks. "We keep Ms. Sato in the jail cell overnight?"

"House arrest," she says, gaze still on the monitor. "She'll also be facing drug charges."

"How do you know its drugs?"

"Had a few men collect her bike and bag. Same contents as the usual Triad packages we normally find at their hideouts."

"Why would Hiroshi get involved with them?"

Lin didn't answer and Mako knew what that meant.

And sometimes he wishes he didn't.

A/N- Thank you to those of you that favorite and followed this story so far. Thanks for the reviews! Also, Happy post Thanksgiving!

Until next time,

~nerd