Eighteen months ago
"Alright," said Riko. "Start from the top." She wrapped bandages around the long gash in Hyuuga's arm, glaring impartially around the room. They'd patched themselves up, but badly, avoiding going to a healer which would have immediately raised flags for fighting during the season, and get the Bears noticed by the wrong kind of people. Their ramshackle little team was disliked enough as it was.
They were in Riko's apartment, which was not in anywhere near as nice or as fashionable a part of town as the house she'd grown up in- in fact, Hyuuga thought the whole place could fit into one of the Aida Mansion's bathrooms- but it was hers, a place free from the father who had stamped the Aida name all over Republic City. It had been a while since the last time they'd- alright, just Hyuuga, since Kiyoshi had never even met her- talked to Riko, but she had seen them in the street, limping along, and made up them come up with her, demanding to know what had happened to them. Riko usually got what she wanted. Right now she'd gotten them all to take off their shirts and show her their bruises, built up over four tournament fights. Their actual wounds paled next to this carnage.
It was Hyuuga who finally said, "Kazuya- one of the Reds- He came up to us after practice today and offered us fifty thousand yuan to throw the next tournament match."
"Then what did you tell him?" said Riko.
"I told him for fifty thousand yuan we could just pay the other teams to jump off the platform during the match and if he wanted to waste his money like that he could just shove it up his ass."
"I don't think he liked that," said Izuki. "Or his six other Red Monsoon friends."
"And then what?" said Riko, taking a steaming kettle off Hyuuga's other hand; he'd heated the water for her, much faster than her stove could.
Hyuuga shrugged a shoulder in the direction of a grinning Kiyoshi. "Twinkle-toes over here curbstomped them."
Riko turned her head and stared at Kiyoshi, whose grin dimmed slightly. Her eyes took in his stats now, where they'd been hidden by his clothes before.
"Say," said Hyuuga conversationally. "Riko, did you know that Kiyoshi is a famous earthbender in the Earth Kingdom known as Iron Heart? And that some people say he's one of the best Earthbenders in the world? Did you know that, Riko? Because we sure as fuck did not."
"No," said Riko, "but if he didn't tell you, I'm sure he must have had a good reason for keeping it to himself, and we don't want to intrude on his privacy now do we, Hyuuga-kun."
"I knew," said Izuki, refreezing his ice pack and trading with Kiyoshi. "But he didn't seem to want to talk about it."
"There's nothing to talk about," said Kiyoshi, sounded pained. "You guys are making a big deal over nothing."
Master, thought Riko, and knew that Kiyoshi was a world away from Izuki and Hyuuga and Mitobe and Tsuchi, who'd learnt what bending they did know from watching pro-bending matches, from watching free demonstrations by masters keen to attract paying students, every bit of knowledge they could scrape with their bare hands. Riko had visited the Fire Nation and been astonished by the polished students of the great bending schools, disciplined by years of study. Hyuuga had eaten up every word of description she'd written down or could recall from that visit, trying out firebending kata and forms from Riko's faithful memory that he would never have even heard about otherwise, half a world away from Republic City.
Even Riko had heard of Iron Heart: an earthbending prodigy arrayed among the best benders in the world.
"You should report them," said Riko. "I know the police force is useless but they're not that useless. If the Red Monsoons are gathering muscle, they're going to have to do something about it."
"And say what?" said Hyuuga. "Pro-benders are being bribed to fix matches by this large and powerful blood bending gang, here's all the money we didn't get from them for telling them to piss off. That'll go over well."
"You have to do something," said Riko, and hesitated. "I thought," she murmured to Hyuuga. "You said, last year. You didn't want it any more. You were going to give it up."
Hyuuga ducked his head, blushing. Riko's hand tightened on his for a second. "What's your team? How are you doing in the tournament?" she said.
"We're the Bears!" said Kiyoshi.
"Just...Bears?" said Riko, after waiting for a moment.
"Just... Bears," said Hyuuga, and shrugged.
Izuki smiled at Riko from across the room, a little helplessly. It felt like years since they'd all been close like this.
"Semis are a lock," said Hyuuga. He wondered if Riko had been listening to their matches. "Horse-Flies looking to blow past the Water Weasels and land their way into the finals with us."
"We beat Koala-Sloths," volunteered Izuki. "Seto was hanging around with them after the match, didn't look too happy."
"I'll bet he didn't look happy," said Hyuuga. "Word is the leader of the Reds lost almost a hundred thousand yuans betting on the Koalas this season."
Kiyoshi whistled.
Riko blinked. "That much?" she said. "They must have thought it was a sure bet."
"Well, anything's a sure bet when you send some in-sure-rance beforehand to make sure that the opposing team isn't going to make it in," said Izuki. "Kiyoshi took care of them before the match."
Kiysohi looked abashed. "Aw," he said. "Was that what those guys were there for? I thought maybe they just didn't like my face."
Hyuuga rolled his eyes and said to Riko, "He didn't tell us. He just turned up to the match like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth and when we won, Reds sent out some less-useless flunkies to see who beat up their boys. They jumped us leaving practice."
"They must have recognised Kiyoshi," said Izuki. "They did try to bribe us first. If yu-want something, you gotta be prepared to ante up the yuans!"
Beat.
"Izuki, jump off the bridge," said Hyuuga.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything," said Kiyoshi, the very picture of dejected manhood. "But I just really thought they didn't like me!"
"We don't like you either," said Hyuuga, "so I guess that's a reasonable assumption." He sighed. "Anyway, if the Reds are gunning for us they must have had a vested interest in having the Koalas place. Horses have Imayoshi for their earth- Gaku's Triple Threat territory, but he hustles there half the time. I'll bet it was supposed to be the Triple Threats vs the Red Monsoons, and our wins are messing up their plans." He subsided against a bright couch as Riko handed him some seeped willow tea. He was upset, Riko noted. Usually Hyuuga didn't like talking about these things in front of her, as though she was the prissy daddy's girl the press liked to make her out to be.
Izuki left, since his family lived close by. Hyuuga and Kiyoshi, with all of Dragonflats to trudge through until they got home, stayed at Riko's insistence. Full moon was dangerous to be out with waterbenders on the prowl.
"No buts," said Riko. "I'll make you guys some supper, and then you can tell me- fully this time- all about how you got mixed up in this. You said you'd never pro-bend again."
Hyuuga immediately choked on his tea. "That's not- you don't have to- we can go back ourselves and-"
Riko fixed him with a stare. "With mobs of vicious gangsters hunting your tail?" she said.
"We can't stay overnight in your place," said Hyuuga. "Your dad will go crazy."
"You two can toss over the couch," she said. "You know where the extra linens are."
.0.
The Pro-Bending Arena, giant and golden, sat on the edge of the waterfront like a girl gone past her prime. Once, it had been the only and greatest Arena in the world; now, as other leagues had sprung up in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, spectators sometimes preferred to save their money on the tickets and stay home to listen to match broadcasts. And the reputation of Pro-Bending had gotten a little more... tarnished, since Avatar Korra's time. The Arena had never quite recovered from the Equalist terrorist attack.
Everyone knew that old Takeda, though nominal owner of the Arena, was being edged out by the gangs. They charged exorbitant fees to hold matches that were little more than gladiatorial combat, charged even more exorbitant fees for the tickets, and all the while the benders kept at it only because trying to win the lottery was more depressing. At sixteen, Hyuuga and Izuki had tried to make their start as the Cat-Voles; now at eighteen Hyuuga and Izuki had managed to scrape up the dough for one last fight, and scraped up Mitobe for their Earthbender, Koganei for their cheering squad, and Tsuchida for their manager. This was it. This was their last shot. They'd dreamed of being able to make it big as benders, to become great benders, to become great as benders.
"No," said Hyuuga.
Izuki turned to him, surprised. "Hyuuga-"
"I can't," said Hyuuga. "I can't- Izuki, that's your savings. Mitobe, you have a family to feed. We can't afford this. We shouldn't-" he hesitated. "We shouldn't do this after all."
Hyuuga looked down at his feet to contain the words trying to spill out of his throat. He could feel Izuki, Koga and Mitobe exchanging looks over his head. It was time to put away childish dreams; they couldn't work at Mitobe's family's paper forever, they couldn't justify all that time taken out of their lives for a chance that would crash at the first qualifier. He'd told his boss that he was going to go in for the tournament again and the guy had shaken his head and told him he was a waste of a good employee. Thirty thousand yuans. A fortune.
"Hyuuga-" Izuki started to say, but then Flower-Cats poured out of the Arena and, sniggering, surrounded them.
"Yo," said one of them, a sneery little earthbender who'd just been kicked from the Snail-Ducks- figured that only the Flower-Cats would take a petty thug like him. And he had a slow right cross.
"We couldn't help but overhear," said Kazuya. "You know, Jun, you're probably right not to try it again this year. You're really not cut out for it." Narumi, the firebender kid Kazuya had picked up this season- Hyuuga didn't know any other team that practically had to regrow itself every year- said nothing, but cracked his fists.
Hyuuga glared at them. His lip curled. Fucking lowlifes.
"That's really none of your fucking business," said Hyuuga. "Keep walking."
Kazuya walked forward instead. They ended up standing back-to-back while Koga held onto their moneybag and Mitobe tensed up. The Flower-Cats stalked around them in response, forming a larger, loose circle. Koga squeaked.
"Well," said Kazuya. He spread his hands. "We just paid in a lot to get our slots... but if you don't want to go for it, you don't have anything to do with that money, right? Wanna hand it over? Sounds like a win-win to me."
"Fucking try it," Hyuuga spat.
Kazuya sighed, turning his back on them. "Jun, Jun," he said. "Always wanting to make things difficult." He turned again, floating a ball of water between his hands. "You sure you don't want to just hand over that money? Or are we going to have to show you just how much of a good thing it is you're not going to be in the tournament anyway?"
Hyuuga answered with fire. Narumi had been moving out of the corner of his eye, and struck now at Mitobe, intercepted by Izuki pulling water from the street. Izuki, not used to street brawling, didn't carry his own water like Kazuya had. Kazuya, whip-quick, dodged Hyuuga's fire ball, throwing ice-shards at Hyuuga's face. One slit his cheek uncomfortably close to his eye, and several peppered his clothing, thrown at too-close proximity to slice through. Hyuuga growled and went for Kazuya's smug face.
Mitobe tore chunks from the road and used them to send Narumi away from Izuki, but Koga, unable to bend, yelled and ducked as Narumi's flashy but weak fire gout went wild. The other team's earthbender flung a slab right at him. Mitobe flung himself backwards, crashing Koga out of the way out of the attack, taking it right on the shoulder.
Mitobe dropped to his knees, face white. "MITOBE!" yelled Koga, distracting Izuki and Hyuuga both. Kazuya got Hyuuga then, again, pummeling him with waterboxing one-two in the stomach, jumping back quickly from Hyuuga's kick trailing fire behind it. Hyuuga over-balanced and went to his knees, gasping for breath. He had to get up- Izuki couldn't handle Narumi without a water source, and Kazuya was going for the easier prey-
Suddenly, the ground shook, throwing them all off balance. Someone very definitely not them yelled "OFFICER! OVER HERE! OFFICER!" which was dumb because no one ever alerted the police to street brawls, why would they? What the hell could the cops do besides turn everything into a massive fuckup? But a frantic whistle sounded, and the Flower-Cats cursed and ran off before whistles could become sirens and one policeman turned into the full metalbending corps, ready to dispense police brutality.
The person who had shouted reached them first, and then after him the officer, her gloved hand sparking and crackling. It took them a long time to convince the policewoman that they weren't the criminals, they hadn't stolen this massive amount of money, and when the policewoman left them, she was shaking her head over the youth of today, wasting good money on nothing but pure hooliganism.
Hyuuga made a rude gesture at her back.
Mitobe and Koga and Izuki, with better manners, turned to thank their helper. He was enormously tall, listening to the goings-on with a raised eyebrow. He had to have been new around here- no true Republic citizen would have bothered interfering in a fight. At best, it was amusing street theatre. At worst it was best to clear out before you were taken out of there in a body bag. His hazel eyes hinted at Earth Kingdom origins.
"Kiyoshi Teppei," said the stranger cheerily. "Earthbender."
They introduced themselves and, in a spirit of mutual exhaustion, gratitude and hunger, took Kiyoshi with them when they went off to eat.
"We'll register tomorrow," said Izuki, when they thought that Hyuuga had been lulled into docility by rice wine and chicken-frog skewers.
"Mitobe's hurt now," pointed out Hyuuga. "He can't bend, and we need three people." He flushed. "You. You need three people."
Mitobe indicated he might not be in tip-top shape, but he was certainly not incapable of fighting.
"That's right!" said Koga. "Though, Mitobe, you might want to take it easy for a while until we can get you to the free clinic."
"He's not going to be well in time to fight in the qualifiers," said Hyuuga. "They're in two days."
"Alright then," said Kiyoshi, who'd been appraised of their plight through dinner. "I'll be your substitute earthbender." He beamed at Mitobe. "Just until he gets better."
Mitobe agreed.
"What a great idea!" said Izuki. It didn't hurt that Kiyoshi had thought Izuki's 'Stick up for your sticks' joke was hilarious. "But do you have anything else to do?"
"Absolutely nothing!" said Kiyoshi, smiling at them. "I've got absolutely nothing. And I'd be glad to do it, though I may not be very good at it."
Mitobe thought this solved all their problems.
"No it doesn't what if he's not good?" demanded Hyuuga.
He couldn't be worse than a guy with a busted shoulder, indicated Mitobe.
"Exactly!" said Koga. "So this guy can be a substitute earthbender, and now you can totally go through with the registration. Right now. Before Hyuuga can change his mind again."
"I'm not changing my mind," sputtered Hyuuga. "We barely know this guy, and you just want us to go into a team with him?"
"Yes," said Izuki. "I think we'd do well with him."
.0.
And then Hyuuga put down his cup and said, "Fucking hell, Izuki knew."
"Knew what?" said Kiyoshi, still manfully struggling with his curry.
"He knew it was you!" said Hyuuga. "You're the one who broke up the fight. That cop wasn't a bender."
Riko rolled her eyes.
"I thought he was a little too eager to add you to the team," said Hyuuga. "He knew you were strong from the start."
Kiyoshi stuffed his mouth full of more curry and looked innocent and bewildered, which fooled Hyuuga and Riko both exactly none.
"Well that was fascinating," said Riko. She looked at Hyuuga, still gulping down tea like air. "You're not going to drop out," she said.
"Like fuck we are," said Hyuuga. "We'll just watch our backs a little more now that we know they're gunning for us, that's all. We're not giving up for those fuckers now."
Even as he said this- and Riko turned away with that small secret smile on her face, and Kiyoshi beamed at him through heavy sweat- Hyuuga felt an unmistakable qualm. The Red Monsoons hadn't sent errand boys to come get them this Ryou had grown up two floors up from Hyuuga and he was a good bender, objectively a better waterbender than Izuki. Fourteen and already a bruiser for the Red Monsoons. Hyuuga hoped his mother was proud.
Riko checked Kiyoshi again for a concussion, shining a little torch into his eyes. It was good to see Riko again, even if things had been awkward after- well. But Hyuuga couldn't stand Kiyoshi. He had lied to them after turning up out of nowhere and practically forcing his way into their pro-bending team, and he wore that dumb look on his face constantly and he sometimes went around telling people he had been raised by badger-moles.
("Grandma really found them helpful in digging up her garden," Kiyoshi said to Riko. "We had amazing vegetables back there. I really miss them!")
But Hyuuga couldn't get rid of him now. He just wouldn't go.
In the small hours of the morning, before the sun had properly risen, Hyuuga was up already and chivvying Kiyoshi out with him, eager to get back to their home sweet hovel before Hyuuga had to go into work.
"Watch yourselves," said Riko. She leaned against the lamppost outside her house and sipped the tea that Hyuuga had made in apology for inflicting Kiyoshi on her in the early hours. "Don't let Hyuuga overthink himself, Teppei."
"We promise," said Kiyoshi sweetly. Hyuuga glared at Kiyoshi, then offered Riko his exhausted, appreciative smile.
Riko waved them off, then turned to go back inside after checking her mail.
A hand closed on her mouth. Riko immediately threw back her elbow, but the hand didn't move, and as she struggled- and tried to scream, tried to open her mouth enough to bite the hand away, this couldn't happen, how was it happening here, it was early morning and surely someone would see, if she could only scream-
Something happened, a dizzying rush of blood and panic and darkness, a vise closing on her throat and lungs. Riko passed out.
. 0.
"Bears," said Imayoshi, waylaying them on their way to the docks. "Heard y'all been looking for me?"
The Red Monsoons had gone to ground after taking Riko, abandoning all their usual hangouts, and it was slipping past evening into night. When the moon rose, the Reds would be twice, thrice as dangerous. They didn't have time. Hyuuga slammed the earthbender up against the wall before Imayoshi could blink, could move. He was considerably heavier than he should have been. Imayoshi was in deep with the Triple Threats, Imayoshi captained the Horse-Flies, Imayoshi acted all pally with high-ranking members of the Red Monsoons.
Red Monsoons had left their mark on Riko's open door, the spray-painted scarlet wave. Hyuuga had seen that mark more than once, growing up in Dragonflats. It meant that they wanted you to be afraid someone was gone.
"Bears," said Imayoshi. To do him credit, he never lost that notorious slow drawl. "Ain't this a pleasure."
Hyuuga breathed in. He needed to phrase this just right. Imayoshi was a canny bastard and Hyuuga had no doubt the earthbender would find some way to turn this situation to his advantage. He had to tread carefully.
"Who took Aida Riko, you scum-sucking smirking bastard, who took her?"
"Don't you want Hanamiya fer that?" said Imayoshi after an instant of icy-cold calculation, and then for some reason he looked up at the slowly rising moon, round and full for the second day.
No. Hyuuga knew the reason. They'd attacked the Bears last night because the waterbenders could be assured of being at full strength while the moon was full, and they'd still be strong now, under that merciless white glare. "Did you help him," said Hyuuga, and he was so angry he thought he'd burst with it, the fire crawling under his skin, boiling, and his hand in Imayoshi's stupid damn swishy black coat collar started to scorch the cloth. "Did you help him take her?"
"Ah didn't," said Imayoshi. "Spirits witness, ah didn't. I didn't even know anyone was planning anything of the sort. I swear by the swamp tree."
"Yesterday, today," said Hyuuga. "He was up to something. He didn't take her without help. He had to hole up somewhere. Someone talked. Someone always talks."
"When was she taken?" said Imayoshi, as though the matter was of purely intellectual interest. "Have any of y'all told anyone else about this?"
"No-" said Izuki, trying to pull Hyuuga back. "Hyuuga, we should do that! We should tell the-"
"We can't tell the police, he'll hurt her," said Hyuuga, shrugging off his hand. "That's how they work, that's how these things always work."
"You'd know," said Imayoshi snidely. Hyuuga buried his flaming fist next to Imayoshi's ear. Imayoshi's eyes slit against the heat of it, but he didn't flinch.
"What do you want, Imayoshi?" said Izuki.
"Ah've got something you might be interested in," said Imayoshi. "Sakurai Ryou. Nice kid. Works at Gaku as a dishwasher."
"He's a Red," said Hyuuga automatically. "You know where he is?"
"Better," said Imayoshi. "Since it ain't exactly moral to let a kid take a fistful of fire to the face. He doesn't know anythin' about the Aida girl, but he did cough up to me where the Reds have been headquartering for the last two moons."
"Why should we trust you?" said Izuki. "What's in it for you to tell us this?"
Imayoshi looked at them. And then he said, "Ah'm a cop."
"Bullshit," said Hyuuga.
"Ah'm an undercover metalbender investigating the illegal activity that goes on in collusion with ta pro-bending tournament," said Imayoshi. "Ya know these things have always gone hand-in-hand with the gangs. I just made it further in the tournament than anyone expected, tha's all."
"You'd be a better bender if you were a cop," said Izuki.
Imayoshi sighed. "Ah'd be a shit-poor undercover agent, then," he pointed out. He pulled back his sleeve, showing them the distinctive mechanism used by the metalbending cops to fire and winch back flexible metal cables that were weapon, defense and transportation for Republic City's elite.
"Okay," said Kiyoshi, and put his hand on Hyuuga's shoulder. Wincing, he snatched it back. Hyuuga was hot to the touch. "Hyuuga, he must be telling the truth."
"You're a cop," said Hyuuga, infusing the word with oceans of loathing.
"Guilty," said Imayoshi, letting the sleeve fall back down. "Or naht guilty, as the case may be. They thought what with me being not from around here, Ah'd fit in better."
"You?" said Hyuuga, still stuck on this one point. "And you've just been letting all this happen, huh? The bribes and the match-fixing?"
"Tha's right," said Imayoshi. "They're taking jus about anyone these days. It's downright shameful."
"Why do you care so much that we're going after the Red Monsoons?" said Kiyoshi.
"Ah hail out of Foggy Swamp," said Imayoshi, his accent suddenly much slower and thicker. "So does Hanamiya Makoto. We're cousins, somewhere up that line. But Mako doesn't trust me the way family should. Shame, ain't it?"
"No one would fucking trust you," said Hyuuga with conviction. "No wonder you got picked for that job. You look dirtier than he does."
"Look, what's it going ta take to convince ya," said Imayoshi. "A signed affidavit from the Avatar himself? Ah don't know where he took Aida. Sakurai was ta only lead I could get. But Mako's not- safe. He's higher up in the Reds than he lets on. He was probably behind ta attempts on y'all, and if they did something like take Aida Riko he's got his hands in it somewhere."
"We have to get her back," said Hyuuga. "Look, cop or not, what did Sakurai say? Where are the Reds now?"
"Sewers," said Imayoshi. "The Red Monsoons like sewers."
.0.
Kiyoshi closed his eyes. Opened them. And then he stomped.
Riko woke with a jerk. Around her the ground quivered, like trucks the size of battleships were pounding by. She couldn't see anything, and her mouth was dry and her arms were tied behind her back. She could hear shouting and cursing, water splashing as feet pounded through them in all directions. She tasted blood, and as she moved her lip she felt the dried blood crack. She must have had a nosebleed at some point.
Her head hurt. She could feel thin cloth beneath her covering what she assumed to be rock, still shaking, and as she reached out with her legs, carefully, she encountered walls, a corner. She was lying in the corner on something made of cloth somewhere near pools of water, and the earth was coming apart.
.0.
"What's wrong with you fucking morons," said Hanamiya, staring around the circle of waterbenders, all the up and comers of the Red Monsoons, the ones who had maybe five brains between the eight of them. "You didn't think to check who she was first? You've screwed up bad now. Councilman Kagetora would set fire to all of Dragonflats District for his daughter, and you brought her to HQ? I thought I told you to grab Iron Heart."
"Look, we reported back about the girl, they said grab the girl. We grabbed the girl. But now we're being raided and everything's going to go to shit. We can't keep her on knockout drops forever and we can't survive being burned out of here."
"Yeah?" said Hanamiya, grinding his teeth. He could guess who had circumvented his orders. "Then maybe it's time for some damn leadership around here."
He didn't have to ask if they were with him. They always were.
.0.
"I really, really hate you right now," said Hyuuga to Kiyoshi. "Riko?"
"She's in there," said Kiyoshi, opening his eyes. "I felt her heartbeat. She's okay, I think. A little scared. No one's with her."
"Mmm," said Imayoshi, whom they hadn't been able to stop from following them. "Ah do hate you. How far down? How many people in there?"
"Not that far," said Kiyoshi. "A lot of people are underground but- they're not all Reds, I think. They just live there. They have mud houses. There are kids. Riko's further down than they are."
"The squatters. Ah'm calling it in," said Imayoshi, reaching back inside his clothes. Kiyoshi reached out and, without turning, caught his elbow and held it.
"You're not calling anything in until we have Riko," said Hyuuga. "I'm going in."
"You're crazy," said Imayoshi. "Hyuuga, yer going to get killed."
"We're going in with him," said Izuki. Kiyoshi nodded.
"Ah stand corrected," said Imayoshi. "Yer all going to get killed."
The Bears went in before Imayoshi could delay them any further, following Kiyoshi through identical tunnels and down damp ladders, the underground expanse of the infrastructure that drained Republic City. They passed knots of people trying to get out of there before the earthquake hit again, and none of them had time to explain to them that it was Kiyoshi, just Kiyoshi, if you could use that to explain away an earthquake in human form.
The first Red Monsoon flunkies were quickly dispatched, Izuki and Kiyoshi securing them to the walls with ice and mud mixed inexorably together. Izuki stayed to mop them up while Kiyoshi and Hyuuga ran ahead, intent on Riko. The gangsters cursed the Bears, but Kiyoshi didn't speak, straining desperately to keep the image of Riko's position in his head, and Hyuuga kept up only by familiarity, by experience, moving as the team they had become. He lit Kiyoshi's way with gouts of fire.
Their second meeting was full of familiar faces: the Red Monsoon waterbenders who had tried to take the Bears down last night, and at their head, Hanamiya Makoto, who bared his teeth at them while they stood ankle-deep in sewer water.
"Hyuuga," said Kiyoshi. "It's full moon." He locked eyes with Hyuuga. "Get Riko first. I'll hold him."
Hyuuga hesitated, a bare moment, looking at Kiyoshi standing there-
"GO," roared Kiyoshi, sinking into his stance.
Hyuuga went. Two waterbenders made to snap water whips after his unprotected back, but they smashed on the wall Kiyoshi raised after him, keeping any of the waterbenders from following Hyuuga.
"You're a fool, Iron Heart," called one of them. "It's full moon."
"We're underground," responded Kiyoshi, a quiet statement just on the edge of threat, and began. Stone that had lain cut and shaped and dry for centuries groaned. Their metal bones screamed, forced to snap. The small orange emergency lights along the walls flickered madly and abruptly went out, plunging them into darkness.
.0.
When the lights ran out Hyuuga cursed and flared a flame out into the circle of his fingers, keeping it low and steady, breathing in and out until he could at least use it to see where he was going, though this was down a long curving tunnel anyway, no way to turn right or left. The water around his ankles continued to splash and lap and quiver, in response not to waterbending but to the shocks of earthbending. Unlike Kiyoshi, however, these did not tear at the sewer walls, and they held steady.
He gritted his teeth and started going again, splashing noisily forward. He had to find Riko and get her out of there before-
"You!" he heard a voice. "Are you a firebender? I- help, please help me-"
"Riko!" he cried, surging towards that voice.
"Hyuuga," she said, then "Ahh the light."
Hyuuga immediately covered the flame with his other hand, moving towards Riko slumped against the sewer wall, retching, though there was nothing more to come up. Her hands were still bound behind her back, and Hyuuga burned through them, pulling them off, pulling her against him in relief.
"It's alright," she said. Her arms went around him. "Just let me get used to- I don't know what they used to knock me out. It made me sick, so I was using the wall to get out- they've cleared out of there, whatever it was. Then the lights went out, so I kept following the wall. Hyuuga, what happened?"
"Iron Heart happened," said Hyuuga. "Come on, I left him fighting a whole group of them up the tunnel, and I think the cops are on their way. Who knows what he's doing by now."
Riko sagged against him gratefully. "So hard on Teppei," she murmured.
"Because he's an idiot who tries to do everything by himself," said Hyuuga.
Riko laughed, a watery little half-cough, and rested her head on his shoulder.
Hyuuga couldn't believe he'd let this happen to her. They walked up the tunnel, back to the Red Monsoons, to where he'd left Kiyoshi.
Where they had left Kiyoshi, his knee shattered, his face a white ruin of pain and half the tunnel caved in and carved out by bending. The cops were beginning to pour into the sewers by then, too late to do anything.
And that had been it, really. They'd ended their probending career there and then, and Hanamiya had vanished into the sewers, with the cream of the Red Monsoons. Kiyoshi's leg was shattered so badly the best healers in Republic City couldn't fully mend the damage.
Riko hadn't seen anyone, and probably couldn't have identified them if she had. Without warrants, and because Imayoshi hadn't waited, the cops lost the chance to take them out root and branch, and wasted over a year of undercover work. Instead, in the intervening months a new Red Monsoons arose, shorn of deadwood and with young men at its helm, a vital and dangerous force in the Republic City underground. It was going to be impossible to put in new people for a bit, too, Imayoshi told them, resignedly. The gangs would be on high alert, having taken advantage of the crackdown to install new leadership and reshuffle their ranks.
Imayoshi managed to come out of this smelling like roses, Aida Kagetora kicking him a nice big promotion for rescuing his precious baby girl, the new council golden boy. Riko wasn't ever going to forgive him for that, or, when she confronted him with his knowledge that the gangs had been closing in on the Bears, for his flat statement that taking Hanamiya Makoto down would have been worth crushing the dreams of a two-bit pro-bending team.
The pro-bending tournament had been cancelled abruptly while the police swarmed over it. There were rumors that Takeda was giving it up entirely, that all the money that was supposed to be in the pot was gone and everyone involved in it was under the cloud of suspicion that resulted in the brutal gang crackdown.
Izuki and Mitobe and Hyuuga had come out without any injuries more terrible than fractures, and Riko was largely unharmed, but Kiyoshi was the one they were worried about, when they dragged him back to the surface, and when Kiyoshi heard the healer's verdict- that he would need at least a year to heal before bending again, that he might never be as strong again, that he might never heal fully- Riko caught him in her arms, all the massive strength of him, and felt him shudder into her shoulder as she stroked his hair.
"Sorry, Hyuuga," Kiyoshi said, when they left him. "Sorry."
.0.
Riko had ponied up for Kiyoshi to stay under observation for as long as it was physically possible to tie him to the bed, and when they finally kicked Kiyoshi out of there the ex-Bears and entourage sprang for a cab to carry to Kiyoshi back. They got out, however, not at Hyuuga's place, but at the Arena. They had one of the office rooms set up for a mini-party, with food and drinks. Koganei and Izuki went to help Mitobe bring out some more food, while Riko and Hyuuga fussed over settling Kiyoshi into a chair.
"What're we doing here?" said Kiyoshi, taking a drink and looking around curiously. Riko and Hyuuga looked at each other. She took a deep breath.
"I bought out Old Man Takeda," said Riko. "I talked it over with Hyuuga-kun and the guys- we're going to set up a new league. A better league. Keep pro-bending going in the city. Keep it clean for once."
Kiyoshi gaped. "You can't-" he said. "Riko, it's still dangerous, they didn't catch Hanamiya, they-"
"I thought you were the one," said Hyuuga, looking out the window, looking out over Republic City, "You were the one, who said we shouldn't give up on our dreams."
After the party (and the tears, which everyone pretended not to see and were wept freely into the punch bowl), Hyuuga started trundling Kiyoshi back home in a wheelbarrow before he thought to say, "Riko, I'll walk you back after this."
"No need," said Riko. "I don't live there anymore. I think they're glad to see the back of me- Dad's been Dad, you know, and they still haven't scraped the gang sign off. Makes them nervous."
"What do you mean," said Hyuuga, dumping Kiyoshi into the bed and ignoring his laughing protests that he was perfectly fine with lumpy carpet, "you don't live there anymore? You love that apartment."
"I sold it," said Riko. "We needed the seed money. I guess I'll move back in with my dad, if I have to."
"You could stay with us," Kiyoshi called.
"What, in here?" said Riko, and she meant for it to come out crushing but instead it came out considering, and she looked around with a new light.
"Wait," said Hyuuga, sticking his head in from the closet he called his bedroom. "Wait, what?"