Wow, over two thousand words! I didn't think I could write a chapter that long! Anyways, I know the last chapter was very short, and didn't make a lot of sense, and I'm sorry. But this one should explain a little bit more. : )
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. : (
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Korra made her way through the dwindling crowd, watching the waterbenders and firebenders that made up the Republic City Fire Department put out the fire. She saw many families embrace their loved ones, no doubt having been caught in the fire too. She smiled, happy to see that everyone was safe and sound, save for a few burns and bruises.
"Korra!" She heard her name a split-second before she was engulfed in a bear hug, grinning when she realized who it was.
"Why City Boy, did I scare you?" She laughed, wrapping her arms around Mako.
" . . . Yes." came his muffled admittance, as he buried his face in her neck. She started, surprised to hear the vulnerable tone. Before it could sink in, however, Mako suddenly pushed away from her. "What were you thinking!? You could have died!"
"Um, I was thinking there was a little boy trapped inside a burning building, and I needed to save him!"
"But you could have died!"
"Mako, in case you haven't noticed, I'm the Avatar! It's an occupational hazard!"
Mako sighed, once again enveloping her in a hug. "I know." He groaned, "I'm sorry. I was just so worried."
Korra quelled her temper, and snaked her arms around him. "Mako, I'm sorry, but if you're gonna date the Avatar, you've gotta let me go save people. Its what I do. Ask Katara." She finished with a small laugh.
"Yeah yeah, yeah. I'm just happy you're safe." He kissed her temple, making her blush slightly.
"I'm happy too." Korra murmured, leaning in for a real kiss.
"Sorry to break up this sappy moment, but I have a healer here to make sure Korra's okay." Lin Beifong's voice sliced through them, causing them to pull apart and blush.
"I'm fine Lin. Really. And even if I was hurt, I can heal myself." Korra replied with a roll of her eyes.
The chief humphed. "I'll be the judge of that."
Realizing there was no point in arguing, Korra pulled Mako, and grudgingly followed the healer to the ambulance, but not before she stuck her tongue out at Lin. The chief shrugged, trailing behind them.
"KORRA!" Bolin yelled as he tackled her in a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
She laughed. "I'm fine Bo. No need to worry."
"Korra! Thank goodness you're alright!" exclaimed Tenzin.
"I'm fine everyone. It was just a fire." Korra said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, but it was a really big fire!" Bolin replied, demonstrating how big the initial explosion was by opening his arms as wide as he could. Korra chuckled.
"Come on Korra. Healer. Now." Lin broke in.
Korra groaned. "I'm a healer, I can heal myself." she muttered to herself.
'What was that?" Lin asked.
"Nothing." The Avatar replied.
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"See? I'm fine." Korra said as the healer waterbent his healing water back into a container in the ambulance.
"Uh-huh." Tenzin crossed his arms and glared at her. "One third-degree burn, two second-degree burns, a bad cut on your head, and multiple bruises does not make you 'fine' Korra. "
She shrugged. "Well, I'm fine now." the teen said cheekily.
Her mentor shook his head and climbed out of the ambulance.
Korra rolled her eyes and hopped out after him, Mako and Bolin following. "Well, I'm just glad everyone got out alright." She froze. "Everyone did get out, right?"
"Yes Korra, everyone is fine." Tenzin assured her.
"Then my work here is done." The Avatar replied, brushing her hands off.
"Not quite." Lin announced, striding up to them. "We still need to figure out what caused the fire. But you go home and rest while my officers investigate the scene. Come to the police station tomorrow and we should have more information."
"Chief, do you think the fire was an accident?" Mako asked.
Lin looked at him."I don't know kid. From what little I've seen, it doesn't look that way. We should have more evidence as to what happened tomorrow."
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"Lin thinks it wasn't an accident?" The Avatar said incredulously.
"That's what she said, Korra." Mako replied, making himself comfortable on the couch in the main living room of the Air Temple. It was late, and he was tired, but his girlfriend wouldn't let him go to bed until she had said all she wanted to. And she was far from finished.
"But how would she know that? It was most likely a stove fire that got out of hand."
Korra continued pacing, brow furrowed in deep thought.
"Korra, it's really late, why don't we just go to bed and-"
"But if it was a simple stove fire, how in the world did it get that big? I mean the entire building was in flames!"
Mako groaned. "Korra-"
"Maybe someone dropped a match into the carpet and it spread. Maybe they didn't call the fire department in time. Maybe-"
"Korra!" Her boyfriend exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders and lightly shaking her. She blinked and looked up at him. "Korra, there's no use in wondering about it right now. You'll drive yourself crazy. Let's just go to bed and we'll find out what happened in the morning. Alright?"
She sighed, dropping her head. "Fine. Goodnight."
"Goodnight. I love you." He said as he bent down and tried to catch her eye. She refused him, shrugging out of his hold and turning around. Mako rolled his eyes and circled his arms around her waist from behind. He felt her stiffen, her resolve still strong. He dropped a kiss to her shoulder, then moved to the juncture between her neck and shoulder, slowly climbing up until he had found her mouth. As he kissed her, he sensed her loosening, leaning into the kiss. Mako internally smirked. He was winning. He tightened his hold around her, and moved to kiss both her cheeks, her temple, forehead, and her eyelids. He saw the beginning of a smile tug at the corners of her mouth and decided it was time for the big finale.
Korra's eyes grew wide as she realized what he was about to do. "Mako don't-"
"I'm sorry Korra. But you leave me no choice."
His hands went to her sides and he started tickling her. She gasped, and went as stiff as a board, determined not to let him have this victory. Mako grinned evilly, just getting started. He went to her stomach, knowing it was her one weakness. Korra choked, and started laughing, giving in.
"Mako p-please, s-s-stop-"
"Not until you tell me you love me." He said as he gently pushed her onto the floor. He straddled her, preventing her from getting the upper hand, and proceeded to blow a raspberry onto her neck. She squealed, to which he covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhh. You don't want to wake everyone up, do you?" Mako continued the assault on her stomach, watching her squirm with suppressed laughter.
Korra, tears streaming down her face, her sides aching, finally blurted, "O-Okay, Mako. I l-l-love you! Now get off of m-me!"
Mako chuckled, obeying and holding out a hand to help her up. She took it, and he hauled his girlfriend to her feet, pulling her in for a kiss. They broke apart moments later, as Korra was still out of breath from laughing. The firebender wrapped his arms around Korra's waist and pressed his lips to her forehead.
"I love you, Avatar Korra."
"I love you too, Jerk."
He smiled. "Goodnight, Korra." He kissed her forehead, and dropped his arms, allowing her to move towards the girls' dormitory.
She grinned back. "'Night Mako."
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Bolin shoved the doors to the Republic City Police Department open wide, shouting, "Team Avatar has arrived!"
"Bolin, do you have to be so loud?" Mako groaned.
The earthbender stuck his tongue out at his brother, at which Mako returned with a glare.
"Alright. No arguing please. We're just here to find out the cause of the fire." Tenzin intervened, stepping between them.
A secretary walked up to the group, introducing herself as Lai and asking them to take a seat in the waiting area while she went to notify Chief Beifong that they had arrived.
"So Korra, what do you think started that fire?" Asami asked curiously.
Korra glanced over at Mako, remembering their conversation the night before. He raised his eyebrows. "Um, I really don't know Asami. It could be anything, really."
Mako smirked and Korra scowled at him. Before Mako could start teasing his girlfriend, the secretary came up to them. They followed her past multiple offices, and even a few interrogation rooms, some of which were holding suspects and police officers, the cops heavily questioning the law-breakers. Finally, after many winding hallways, they saw a sign that said: Chief Beifong. Korra brushed past Lai, not caring to knock, and pushed the double doors wide open.
"Lin, why did you say you thought the fire wasn't an accident?" The girl asked quickly, foregoing formalities.
The chief rolled her eyes. "Right to the point, as usual." she muttered, dismissing the secretary.
"Sit down, we have a lot to discuss." She said, and gestured to the seats in front of her desk. They obeyed, and waited for Lin to retrieve some papers from her filing cabinet. Korra fidgeted, her impatience from the night before getting the best of her. Mako grabbed her hand, squeezing it to remind her to be patient. Korra glanced at Mako out of the corner of her eye, and took a deep breath, squeezing back to let him know she was trying. Finally Lin seemed to have gathered all the papers she needed and sat down. She spread them out on her desk and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms.
"What are these?" Tenzin asked.
"This is all the evidence that the detectives found in and around the building."
Leaning forward, Korra could see that they weren't just papers, but pictures too. Pictures of the building, after it was put out by the fire department. The papers were notes from the detectives, their deductions about what started the fire.
"Did you know that the building right beside it, a bank, was on fire too? That was actually the cause of the apartment building catching fire." The chief stated.
"What? How did the bank catch on fire? Did someone start it? Or was it an accident?"
"Easy Korra. Let Lin talk." Tenzin admonished her lightly.
"Sorry."
"As I was saying, the bank caught on fire, which caused the apartment building to catch too. After we investigated the bank scene, and interviewed some bystanders, we found the reason for the fire. Before the initial explosion, there was a robbery taking place. The thieves were in one of the vaults, when the bank security showed up and tried to subdue them. The criminals fought back, and one of them, a firebender, let loose an uncontrolled fire blast, hitting the explosives they had brought with them, making the entire bank go up in flames. The tellers in the front were able to make it out with just a few burns, but unfortunately the security guards died, having been too close to the explosion. The thieves somehow survived though, and escaped before we could get in there."
Everyone was silent, processing this new information. Korra sat back in her chair, feeling guilty for not saving those poor security guards.
"But if this was just a routine robbery, why did you think that the fire wasn't an accident?" Mako asked, puzzled.
"Because we know exactly who did it." Lin stated. "The Triple Threat Triad."
"Wait, how do you know it was them?" questioned Asami.
The chief gathered some papers from her desk, and handed them to Asami. "I'm sure you all know about the chain of bank robberies that have been happening over the past two months. We know it's the Triple Threats because at every robbery, there has been an explosion and fire, and a message."
"Message?" This time Bolin asked.
"Yes, a message. It's always on the wall closest to the explosion, and they write it in the soot on the wall."
"Here it is!" Asami held out the picture she had found, and they all saw it. Letters had been written in the soot and dust, forming four barley readable words.
We will find it.
"Find what?" murmered Tenzin.
"That's what we don't know, and what we have to find out. Because it's the Triple Threats we have to assume it's something dangerous. And we need to find it before they do." Lin said grimly.
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Dun dun dun! A cliffhanger!
By the way, I'm not a fan of Asami, so if she doesn't have a very big part in this fic, I'm sorry. I'll try my best to include her, but sometimes my bias gets the better of me.
kataang1-makorra2-otp out! ; )