Chapter 4 - The Revelation: Part 1
"These are amazing, Korra." Thor said as he read through the pages of one of Korra's comic books. This comic was called Tales to Astonish and the main hero of the issue and several is The Captain, sentinel of freedom.
"I know right? This guy is my favorite, look how he hits Ozai in the jaw! POW!" Korra responded as she pointed to one of the panels of the comic book page. "Some of these are actually real which makes them even cooler."
"Impressive collection indeed." Thor remarked as he placed the comic on top of the box that he had taken it from. "I also collected several novels of great heroes back home."
"No kidding, you read?" Korra asked the young prince as he took seat next to her.
"I was educated in the highest of learning schools…only thing I learned was to read, write and tell stories. Nothing much except for number equations…I hate those." Thor replied as he counted numbers using his fingers.
"I can relate, I don't even want to remember the things they drilled into my brain when I was a kid." Korra said as she took a comic out of the box. "But every time I could, I would steal one these bad boys from the guards. These men basically taught me how to act if I ever entered a city."
"Heroes, real or not are great individuals to look up to." Thor said as he walked towards the window and looked out into the bay. "Hey want to grab something to eat?"
"Is that a date?" Korra teased him.
"Uh…ah…" Thor slipped on his words.
"Just teasing with you, sure let's go." Korra calmed his nerves.
As they walked by the streets of Republic City after finishing their dinner, Thor and Korra talked about pro-bending, combat, and other topics. Suddenly a worried Mako ran towards.
Mako, what's wrong?" Korra asked him.
"Korra…have you seen Bolin?"
"No, we haven't. Where has he been?" Korra asked.
"He wanted to raise money for the championship…we were going to tell you but I can't find him." Mako responded.
"Then we must look for him, the night is about to fall." Thor said as the other nodded and started their search.
After some hours of looking for Bolin, darkness had fallen over the city. They made their way to Central City Station, there the statue of former Fire Lord Zuko stood valiantly.
"You think that Bolin is around here?" Korra asked Mako.
"No, but I know someone who might." Mako replied as the trio walked towards one of the dirty kids playing dice beneath the statue.
"Hey Skoochy, you seen my brother around here?" Mako asked the small boy who had several yuan bills in his hand.
"I might have, you will have to help me remember." The boy said as he extended his hand and rubbed his index finger and his thumb together.
"What does that mean?" Thor silently asked Korra.
"It means that he wants money." Korra replied, this made Thor a little mad. Mako grunted and search inside his pocket for some cash.
But then suddenly…"Hey put me down!"
"You will tell us what we want to know." Thor demanded, some people walking in the plaza turned their heads to see what was going on.
"Thor! Are you crazy?" Mako asked as he grabbed Skoochy from Thor's grasp. Mako put the kid down on the ground. "Here, take the money. Just tell us were Bolin is."
"Fine, I saw him this morning doing some dumb tricks with his pet thingy. Then I saw Shady Shin pull over and talk with Bolin. Then they left."
The trio looked at each other, now Mako knew where to look for his missing brother.
After going back to Air Temple to get Naga, they once again went on their way to look for Bolin. It was getting late, at least 9:55 PM and they were heading towards the more questionable parts of the city.
Mako guided Korra towards what he said was the district headquarters of the Triple Threats. "It's here…weird there are no guards." Mako said as the trio hopped off Naga's back.
"Maybe they're out on break?" Korra proposed.
"Mako's right, it is out of character for an organization such as this one to not have proper security, especially at this hour." Thor said as Mako and he slowly walked towards the entrance. Thor peeked over the small opening in the door. "I can't see anything."
Then Korra kicked the doors open, surprising both Mako and Thor. "So much for stealth." Mako said as they both joined Korra inside.
"It's empty." Korra said, the room was derelict. It looked like they had been here but left in a hurry but why?
"I don't like this…" Mako said as he looked for any evidence of his brother's location. Then they heard the sound of bikes…motorcycles.
"What's that?" Thor asked.
"Outside! Come one!" Mako responded he ran towards the back door being followed by Thor and Korra.
When they came out into a wide alleyway, where trucks and cars for the triad parked in, they saw two masked motorcyclists and a metal van getting ready to leave. Mako saw Bolin being pushed inside the van's back. The mask men took notice of the trio, and quickly got on the move.
Korra whistled making Naga quickly arrive, the three of them hopped on to the polar bear dog and quickly went to the chase. Naga was able to reach them, but the two motorcyclists jumped out of their bikes throwing what seemed to be bombs towards them.
The bombs exploded making Naga fall on the ground, throwing her riders on the air. Korra and Mako landed flawlessly while Thor landed on his side. "Ouch! I'm fine!" he yelled as he quickly stood back up.
Korra went in for the attack, firebending against her combatants, Mako did the same while Thor took out his dagger and helped Korra against the mask man fighting her.
The masked man then punched Thor in the arm once and his arm went dead. "Agh!" Thor screamed as it was painful, feeling the nerves on his arm jumping inside his skin. He tried to use his left arm to punch the man but was struck on the stomach, making him fall on the ground.
Korra was struck all the way from her arm down her hip, making her too fall on the ground next Thor. Mako was thrown towards them, they tried to throw fireballs at their attackers but they couldn't. "I can't bend!" Korra yelled.
"Neither can I!" Mako added, the masked men were ready to finish their job when Naga attacked them. The sudden retaliation from the beast scared the masked men and forced them to retreat, leaving with their bikes.
After some minutes, the trio was able to regain their footing and stood back up. Korra made a little fire ball come out her palm, she sighed. "It's temporary." She said.
"That was…horrible, I've never experienced such helplessness before." Thor said as he rubbed his right arm.
"They were Chi-Blockers, they block the path of you chi making your muscles not work for a few moments." Mako explained to them. "Worse part of it is that they are Equalists, I could tell from the insignia on their chests."
"Equalists…I've heard of them before." Thor said.
"I wouldn't be surprised." Mako replied. "Now what do we do?"
"Now that I remember, there was one of those sympathizers in the park when I first arrived on the city. He must know where they took Bolin." Korra told them.
"Then we go to the park." Mako said.
They rode Naga to the park, it was pretty dark with a few street lights lighting the nightly city park. "He's not here!" Korra frustratingly said.
"Let's wait 'till morning, maybe he'll show up." Mako said, they walked towards some trees and took seat on Naga's warm fur. Mako quickly fell asleep with the worry and search for his younger brother taking a toll on him.
"Last time I went on a search like this one I was chased from the mountains all the way to my home. Heh." Thor remembered as he gaze upon the stars shining so brightly in the night sky.
"Thor…who are really?" Korra asked the golden prince next to her.
"I guess that my identity would be known…" Thor said as he looked at her eye to eye. "My name is Thor Odinson, son of Odin and heir to the throne of Asgard…my home."
"I knew that." Korra responded.
"Well you didn't know this; my fate is to be the God of Thunder, appointed protector of my kingdom and those beyond it." Thor revealed.
"You pulling my leg right?" Korra asked, not believing a single word.
"I have no reason to lie to you Korra, I have nothing left anyway. All was taken from me once I disobeyed my father and forced him to exile me. I lost my power, my rank, my family and friends…" Thor's voice cracked a little one he said those to last reasons."…lost it all thanks to one dumb mistake. I'm sorry…I don't normally tell anyone how I feel."
"I'm sorry…I wasn't trying to be rude." Korra said as she saw that Thor wasn't actually lying. "What did you do?"
"I was in a trial, it was to see if I was worthy in obtaining my father's most precious item: Mjolnir the Hammer of Asgard. Nobody can lift it unless they were worthy of it, as prince it was my honor and duty to prove myself to it." Thor answered. "I went to a neighboring kingdom called Vanaheim, there I found out that there several Jotun merchants making deals with the conspirators that planned to kill the Jarl of Vanaheim. My friends and I set out to see what they were doing but in doing so we alerted the Jotun, they chased us back to the city's gates. It wasn't pretty."
"Wow…what happened then?"
"The guards of the city attacked the giants, the city walls were destroyed when one of the Jotuns fell on it. Yeah…they're giants, big giants, not just average kind of giant. Anyway, the Jotuns and the Vanir have had a long standing feud ever since the Wars of Midgard, and the Jarl jumped into action in a moment's notice. I hadn't noticed it then but I had rekindled an ancient war." Thor responded now seeing his folly.
"Yeah…you are not lying at all." Korra realized hearing how detailed his story had been. "At least you are not alone anymore." She smiled.
"No, no I'm not. Thanks for bringing me in Korra."
It was daybreak, Mako yawned as he woke up. He scratched his cheek and fixed his hair, he turn to look to see if his friends were waiting there with him. Mako silenced his chuckle; Korra had fallen asleep on Thor's shoulder and Thor's head rested on her head. "Hey you two, wake up."
Korra opened her eyes at the sound of Mako's voice, she then looked up. "Ahh!" She yelled making Thor jump awake in the process.
"What…what?" Thor asked as he rubbed his right ear.
"That was cute; wake up that guy is here." Mako informed them. "I think we should ask him where his friends are."