Chapter 9 - The Scorpion's Sting Pt. 1

"So you're sure about this?"

"Unless you have a better idea."

Kunchen and Nerrivik gawked upwards at the skyscraper. Kunchen had made fun of Yuan for doing the same, but it hadn't been at a building quite this impressive. Far and away the tallest structure in Republic City, and possibly the world, Varrick Towers was an 70 story behemoth of concrete, steel, and glass. After a few moments of basking in the glory of this modern obelisk, the two returned their gaze to each other.

"My family and the Varricks have always been really close. I've even met Ahnah a few times, I'm sure she'll remember me," Kunchen said, trying to reassure both Nerrivik and himself.

"Ok," Nerrivik acquiesced as the two entered the building. The lobby was unbelievably big, with several benches and fountains strategically placed, while dozens of people in professional attire went about their business. The two walked towards the front desk, where a woman was talking on the phone while sorting through several stacks of paper.

After she finished on the phone Kunchen spoke up, "Hi there. My name is Kunchen Beifong, and I'd like a meeting with Ahnah Varrick, please."

The woman gave him an annoyed look, "A lot of people want to meet with Ms. Varrick. You're going to have to schedule an appointment like everyone else."

Kunchen remained unfazed by this, "Oh don't worry, Ahnah is a close family friend. I should be fine to meet her in her office."

"Sir, I don't care if you're her father come back from the grave, without an appointment you're not seeing her. The earliest I can pencil you in for is about a week from now," she responded before returning to her paper stacks.

"A week? Come on, there has to be an earlier time," the airbender pleaded with her.

"I'm afraid it's a week or nothing," she gave the ultimatum with almost a sick joy in her voice.

Kunchen heaved a defeated sigh, "Alright, let me write down my contact information." He was handed a form to fill out, which he completed quickly before turning towards the door in defeat.

As he and Nerrivik walked towards the exit, the waterbender looked up and stopped mid pace. She stared intently at a door on the far side of the lobby, nestled in corner. Waving for Kunchen to follow her, she walked over to the door and peered into the window. "Hey there's an elevator down this hallway."

"So?" asked a downtrodden Kunchen. "The door looks like it's locked, and I'm not about to…"

As he spoke Nerrivik drew a stream of water out of her pouch and forced it into the lock. Once she had completely filled the chamber she froze the water and, with a quick smack, shattered the lock. Slowly she opened the door and with a voice drenched in sarcasm said, "Oh no, it looks like the lock broke, somehow. We should probably tell someone about this. Maybe there's a locksmith on one of the upper levels. Let's go take a look."

Kunchen gulped as he followed her down the hallway and into the elevator. "This is all kinds of illegal," he said as they pressed the button labeled 'Executive Office'.

"We're about to ask one of the most powerful women in the world to help us track down and shelter a wanted terrorism suspect. We should probably get comfortable with the idea of doing illegal stuff," Nerrivik replied.

"Fair point, fair point," he conceded. "Still I wasn't quite expecting you to try something like this."

Nerrivik fidgeted uneasily. "Before I joined the Healing Corps. I had to do some pretty shady stuff to eat. Mostly pick pocketing type stuff, but I did break into a few shops to grab food."

"Oh," he said with some surprise, "I never even thought about that. You really went through a lot after you left home."

"Yeah," she responded with a small sigh. "That's not important right now. Let's just focus on talking to Ahnah." With that the two spent the rest of their several minute elevator ride concentrating in silence. Eventually they heard the satisfying ding, indicating they'd reached their destination. The scene outside the elevator was utter madness.

A mob of people was crowded in what looked like a small waiting room. They were all furiously shouting over each other, trying to get the attention of a woman at the epicenter. She was tall, with shoulder length brown hair neatly combed behind her head and into bangs. She wore circular glasses, which nicely accented her sharp face. As the mob began to press tighter, she threw her arms apart and managed to split the crowd.

As she patiently answered which ever question was just asked she looked up at her two new visitors and her face instantly lit up. "Kunchen! This concludes the meeting for today, we'll pick it up tomorrow. Go on now, scram you leeches, get out of my sight."

She began to shoo all of her associates into the open elevator, "Go on, get going you human filth." She turned to face the two benders and quickly added, "Great people, I love them like family," before picking Kunchen up in a bear hug.

Ahnah launched into a flurry of questions. "It's been so long since I've seen you. Seriously what's it been, 5 years? You've gotten so big. How's the family? Yin, Rabten, and Sonam are all well I hope. What about your grandpa Bolin, he doesn't come to visit nearly enough these days. Why aren't any of them here with you? Come to think of it, who's this young lady you're with?"

"4 years. They're fine. Long story. And Nerrivik," he answered all the questions with a casualness that shocked Nerrivik more than the abrasiveness of their host. "If we could talk somewhere a little more comfortable, I'd be glad to tell you everything."

"Of course, of course," she ushered them into her office and pressed a button on her desk, "Yuzu, cancel my appointments for the day, I'm meeting with an old friend. I've really got to thank you for sneaking in. It reminded me that I've got to hire some new security guards. I fired the last staff over a uniform dispute. Anyone that thought those blue button up's looked good is not someone I want to trust my life with. Anyway's what brings you here, you mentioned a long story?"

"Well, before I start, I have to make sure you're ready. Some of the stuff is a little unbelievable, and a lot of it is pretty illegal. Can you please keep this a secret?" he asked.

"Can I keep a secret? I've covered up years of questionable business practices. Half the things in our R & D labs would get me put on trial for crimes against humanity. You can trust me," she only sort of reassured.

"Well ok," Kunchen launched into an explanation of the past several weeks, describing everything from him first meeting Yuan to the Avatar's disappearance. He covered everything in between, from the terrorism accusations to the various kidnappings. He even got up and acted out a few of the fights they'd been in.

Ahnah absorbed all of the information in silence. After a few moments of quiet, she slowly began, "Wow ... ok. When you said unbelievable I thought you met someone famous or saw a really cool animal or something. This is a bit much."

"Do you believe me?" Kunchen asked, slightly unsure of himself.

She quickly nodded her head, "I do. You have no reason to lie, especially not about something like this. So you came to me to help track down the Avatar?"

"We're kind of out of options," he replied. "There's no way we can search the entire city by ourselves."

The business woman chewed it over a bit more in her head. "Alright, I know a few people I can have search the city discreetly. Don't worry kid's with we'll be able to find the Avatar in no time."

After three days they had not found the Avatar. Yuan spent this time underground preparing with The Iron Scorpion. The terrorist's main base of operation in Republic City was actually fairly impressive, considering how restricted he was in the creation of it. Hidden beneath the sewer and subway systems of the city, it required earthbending to open a hole to it's entrance. A series of small vents fed into the subway and kept the air breathable. The lair itself was 3 medium sized rooms centered around the large one Yuan had originally woken in. This main room served as the kitchen, weapon storage, and currently Yuan's quarters. The room to the left of this was an unadorned training room, where the two spent several hours sparring and running drills of their planned maneuvers. Another room to the back acted as The Iron Scorpion's quarters and main communication hub. Apparently he had hooked up an old radio with some wires that fed from one of the cities radio stations, allowing him to mask the signal. The final room was the bathroom.

The base wasn't the only impressive part of the Scorpion's operation in the city. In between all the murder and kidnapping he'd found time to collect dozens of various weapons and pieces of equipment, which he kept organized in several shelves and and cabinets in the main room. The vast majority were surplus from the former Earth Empire Army, although they were in remarkably good repair. This collection pailed in comparison to his assortment of poisons, tranquilizers, and antidotes. These were kept in a locked closet at the side of the room, to prevent any 'untrained hands' from accidentally touching them. These were the Scorpion's pride and joy, with him discussing them at length whenever he was given the opportunity.

It was in this environment and with this equipment that Yuan and the Scorpion spent three day's training and preparing. Their sparring matches were fast and ferocious, frequently ending with Yuan on his back. As the day's passed he grew more and more used to the ebb and flow of the Scorpion's fighting style, and soon he began landing some heavy hits of his own. It wasn't all fighting, however. The Scorpion spent several hours going over each of the vials he kept in his poison closet, carefully describing their effects and what situations they were used in. Randomly during the day, he would grill Yuan on this information, with the Avatar receiving a swift blow for wrong answers.

The worst of it came on the first day, when he realized the Scorpion's information on him wasn't as complete as he'd initially assumed. The terrorist had flown into a rage when Yuan explained he could only bend earth with any proficiency. And by earth he meant only earth, not even metal. The Scorpion attacked him in the hopes of provoking another element, but after a 5 minute beating it was clear the Yuan had nothing to offer. He took an hour to cool off, before approaching him with a new plan. He produced a sack full of clay which he explained would explode upon sudden impact. The two spent the next several hours moulding these into little balls, perfect for quickly firing off.

In between all of the preparation for the job, the two also took time to square away for after they were done. Yuan used his earth bending to carve out a small nook on in the corner of the main room. The Scorpion then took several metal plates and began covering the walls and floor of the nook and surrounding area in the steel. He then took about a dozen metal pipes and sealed off the nook into a cell. Yuan remembered hearing stories of how some boys would build sheds or tree forts with their dads, and he suddenly realized might be the closest he would ever get. "Wow that's messed up," he thought to himself.

This wasn't the sole thought he had that disturbed him. For all his doubts and apprehensions about what was happening, he couldn't help but start to feel a little bit of a bond forming between him and the psychopath. For every cheap blow or quick reprimand, there was always a moment of mercy and a chance at redemption. In many way's the Scorpion reminded him of Teng, the way he made everything a lesson and genuinely made him work for improvement. Teng might have been offended by the comparison, but Yuan had honestly missed this kind of tough love. Whether the feeling was mutual was another story entirely.

The only part of his life that seemed to hold over from the past were the dreams. He'd had another during his stay with the Scorpion. This one was just as painful as the previous, with him being beaten to a pulp in the snow, by a man he recognized as his uncle. Well not his uncle, but the one of the girl Yuan controlled in the dream. After he'd been defeated the man had made a motion and slowly drew a large glowing light out of Yuan's mouth. As the light was pulled from him, he felt an intense pain all over his body, almost like a mystical fifth limb was being severed. He'd dwelled on it for while, but quickly pushed it to the back of his mind as he continued his training.

It didn't matter now. None of these thoughts mattered now. All that mattered was Yuan, the Scorpion, and the airship slowly approaching from the distance. It was midday and the two were positioned atop of one of Republics City's tallest skyscrapers. The airship was just a black dot on the horizon, it would take it several minutes before it was within range. The two sorted through their equipment and began going over the final details of the plan.

"So you have your explosives ready?" the Scorpion reminded.

"Yeah, all prepped and ready to go," Yuan responded.

The terrorist nodded his head, "Excellent, remember to follow my lead. We don't know the specifics of the airship so stealth is essential if we want any advantage. We'll only have 5 minutes to get in and out before it lands."

"I know, I know. I've actually been experiencing a lot of deja vu today, maybe I'll somehow suddenly remember the ships layout," the Avatar joked.

"Let's not get our hopes up. The deja vu makes sense though. You're not the first Avatar to break into one of these ships mid-flight." Yuan raised his eyebrow at this, prompting further explanation. "Avatar Korra infiltrated an airship to take hostages during the Battle of Republic City. It's a pretty famous story, because Kuvira actually fired on the Avatar and almost killed the hostages. Didn't you learn this in school?"

"I never went to school. My mom mostly taught me stuff when I was kid, but kind of just stopped when I got older," said Yuan kind of surprised at how little he knew.

"Do you know anything about the previous Avatars?" an incredulous Scorpion asked.

Yuan simply shrugged. "Just the basic stuff. Openned the Spirit Portal, invaded the Earth States, all that stuff. Basically if you might hear it in a sermon, it's what I know."

The Scorpion seemed aghast at this, but before he could speak a shadow began to creep over the roof. The two looked up and saw the airship was upon them. Yuan instinctively wrapped his arms around the Scorpion's waist. The latter raised his hand and fired a cable upwards, latching onto one of the ships outer propellers. The two ascended into the air and Yuan felt a sudden prick of fear on the back of his neck, realizing the only thing keeping him from a deadly fall was his own grip. This became even worse as they reached the top and the Scorpion planted his feet on the ships hull, leaving Yuan dangling by himself. With a quick motion of his arms, the Scorpion tore a small hole in the hull and crawled in, dragging Yuan behind him.

They stood up and found themselves inside what appeared to be a cargo hold, judging from the various crates and bags. It was poorly lit, allowing their dark green clothes to blend in. Yuan wore a striped down version of the Scorpion's outfit, with less armor but keeping the mask. He also wore a hood over his head, to block as much of his face as possible. There was a staircase on the far side that lead to a door, and presumably to the rest of the ship. The two moved to either side of the door, and the Scorpion silently ripped open a peephole. He held up two fingers, and after receiving a confirmation nod from Yuan whipped open the door. Before the two guards on the outside could move or make a sound the Scorpion had already fired two needles into their necks, causing both to wobble and collapse. The two infiltrators slid underneath them and caught them before their bodies made a noise.

They quietly stored the two guards in the storage room before moving forward. They silently crept along the sides of the walls, moving through the corridors trying to find their target. Eventually they reached a hallway on the side of the ship, with a door at the end. The two approached and the Scorpion quickly peered inside the window. Before he could signal Yuan, the two heard a creak behind them. They turned and saw a guard, piping hot cup of tea in hand, staring at the two intruders bug-eyed. After a beat, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "INTRUDERS! GET THE VICE-"

His warning was cut short when Yuan launched an explosive ball of clay into his torso. It made a decent sized explosion and threw the man back into a wall, knocking him out. Loudly cursing, the Scorpion slammed his fist into the metal door. It flew off it's hinges and smashed into the poor guard behind it. Not waiting to assess the situation, Yuan burst into the room and launched four explosives in all directions. One connected with a man's abdomen, while the rest simply peppered the room in fire and smoke.

The Scorpion followed the Avatar, and assessed the situation as the smoke cleared. Four guards remained, one in front and three to the left. The guard in front stood protectively before a middle aged woman, whom seemed entirely frightened by the situation. The Scorpion launched four needles at the guards, with two landing in a guard's neck. The remaining two men brought their forearms forward, and expanded steel shields to block the needles. Yuan launched another explosive into the side guard's shield. He skidded backwards, but held his ground and retaliated with the whip crack of a metal cable at the Avatar.

As his protege engaged that guard, the Scorpion continued with a barrage of needles against the one in the front. To his credit the man stood firm, raising his own metallic armor to cover most of his body. Seeing they were having no effect the Scorpion briefly paused the onslaught. The guard reacted instantly, flinging two razor sharp metal bands at his opponent. The Scorpion dodged one, but the other managed to nick his forehead and dribble blood into his eyes. Taking advantage of this, the guard launched two more aimed at the terrorists now exposed neck. It was the Scorpion's turn to show off his reflexes, slapping both blades aside.

He swung his arm forward, flinging his metal cable at the guards feet. It was dodged with a quick leap, and countered with the guards own metal whip. The two swung their cables around haphazardly trying to slice the other. Eventually the two wires caught each other and wrapped themselves into a knot. The Scorpion pulled back while the guard released his, causing the terrorist to stumble backwards. Before the guard could press the attack, he saw his one remaining comrade be unceremoniously launched across the room from a point blank explosion.

He looked back in forth and saw that he was now outnumbered two to one. Reacting before truly thinking, he grabbed the woman behind him with a quick, "Sorry ma'am." He swung his arm back, punching a human sized hole in the wall. In one lightning fast motion, he took the woman underarm and threw himself through the hole. In mid-air he released both his hip cables, and latched on to the nearest building to swing away.

The Scorpion let fly a string of curses, before firing his own cable at Yuan, which instantly wrapped itself around the Avatar. "Wait, what are you…" was all he managed to say before he was dragged out of the airship behind the Scorpion. Yuan screamed as he fell through the air, before having the wind knocked out of him with a quick jolt. He looked up and saw they were now swinging after the guard and the target.

Taking no notice of his partners discomfort, the Scorpion continued his pursuit like a man possessed. They swung and flew between Republic Cities enormous skyscrapers and highrises, always just behind their prey. He tried to fire two more needles, but couldn't aim with both his hand's preoccupied. The guard swung quickly around the corner of one building, and the Scorpion deftly used his cable to launch himself upward around the building next to it. Now with the height advantage, he tried to steer them to land on top of their target. Seeing that they might fall short, he swung Yuan downward like a flail, trying to knock the other two out of the sky. The guard saw them approach, however, and shot his cables downwards, dragging himself out of the Avatar-flail's arc.

The guard and target landed gracefully atop a passing metro-train. Cursing further, the Scorpion awkwardly caught his free cable on the end of the train. He flung himself to the top of the train, while Yuan crashed into the back, falling on to the back platform. The Scorpion yelled a quick apology at him, before turning to face his opponent. What he saw instead was a tunnel quickly approaching.

He dropped to his stomach, and buried his head on the trains roof, praying he was thin enough. Soon all light disappeared from the world, and he looked up to see he had made it by a few feet. He also saw the guard hunkered down with the woman. Bringing his hands forward, he fired what remained of his needles at them. The guard saw as he did this, and swiftly ripped the roof of the train upwards, blocking all projectiles. Before the Scorpion could begin another barrage of curses, he suddenly felt the train slow and saw a light begin to shine ahead.

They came to a screeching halt at the station, with both the Scorpion and the targets rolling off the side. The guard attempted to flee with the woman huddling beneath him, but the Scorpion grabbed the metal armor around his legs and drew it back. He stumbled to the ground as the woman tried to keep running. The Scorpion drew up the earth underneath the exit, sealing it off. The woman, and most bystanders crowded around the sides of the station in fear. As the terrorist began to walk towards her, the guard managed to kick up a stone from the ground and launch it into his back. The Scorpion fell forward, and rolled on the ground to face his opponent. He countered with two rocks of his own, but the guard spun behind a pillar to avoid them. Slicing his hands along the pillar, the guard punched into it, sending a concrete disk hurdling forward. The Scorpion reacted quickly, however, and managed to knock the disk away with an armored fist.

He wasn't fast enough to react as the guard appeared behind the disc, charging him. The terrorist raised his arms in a protective position as he was tackled to the ground. Dazed as his head smacked against the ground, he fluttered his eyes and saw as the guard raised a fist high above him. Suddenly a blade shot out from behind the fist. The guard swung his arm down, aiming at the Scorpion's neck. In a bit of desperation, the terrorist shot a hand over his neck, and grabbed at the blade with his metalbending. The two became locked in a tug of war, with the blade only a few inches from the Scorpion's hand and throat. He struggled with all his might and concentration, but the blade slowly began to sink closer and closer to a final blow. The blade slowly began to rub against his palm, when suddenly the guard was launched off of him by a pillar of stone from the ground smashing into his ribcage.

The guard landed on the ground next to him, and was immediately knocked out by a second rock, this one crashing over his head. The Scorpion looked up and saw a panting and exhausted Yuan standing over him. "Come on, we gotta go!" the Avatar yelled at him. The terrorist sprang to his feet, and walked over to the woman who was now alone, cowering in a corner. She tried to hit the Scorpion with a punch, but he easily caught her arm and knocked her unconscious with a quick neck chop. Yuan, meanwhile, had opened a large hole in the wall and was waving his hand for them to join him inside. With the two men and the woman now inside the hole Yuan brought his arm up, perfectly sealing the exit behind them.

All told it took them about 20 minutes to tunnel back to the main base. As they entered, the Scorpion immediately moved to their makeshift prison, bending the bars so he could throw their captive in. As he moved the bars back into place Yuan decided to speak up, "That actually went pretty well. Aside from me puking out the back of a train, it could have been way worse."

The Scorpion gave a prideful smile, "I was actually worried for a few seconds. You really came through today, Yuan." The young bender beamed at the compliment. This might actually be the first time the man had used his actual name instead of calling him 'Avatar'.

"You go get yourself cleaned up," the Scorpion ordered. "I'm going to patch myself through and make the demands. The whole city should be in a panic by now." Yuan nodded in ascent and walked into one of the side rooms. They had a pipe feeding off the city's water main, allowing for quick showers. After he was done drying himself, he changed back into his regular clothes, happy with how comfortable they were in comparison to his other uniform. He walked back into the main room, and grabbed an apple from a cabinet.

As he sat down at the table, he saw the woman begin to rouse herself. He reached back and grabbed a second apple, before walking over. She was struggling to her feet as Yuan stood in front of her cell. "It's good to see you're awake, Madam Vice President."

She held her head, as if she had a splitting headache. "Huh, who are you? Where am I?"

"You know I asked those same questions when I wound up here," Yuan said with a small chuckle. "I'm not the important one though. I'm assuming you recognized my partner."

"The Iron Scorpion," she murmured "So, what's your plan, killing me to send a message?"

"What? No … no killing this time, that's the only reason I agreed to work with this guy. We're going to use you as a hostage. The Scorpions in the back room over there making demands as we speak," Yuan explained. He tossed her the second apple, which she caught out of instinct.

"You chose to work with this psychopath?" She asked incredulously, before taking a bite of the fruit.

"Well, it wasn't exactly 100% my choice, but I stand by our actions. The United Republic got a lot to answer for, and this is a first step towards that."

She gave a small snort at this, "And you think kidnapping me will do anything to stop my countries actions? President Goro might actually like if you kill me, it'll give him an excuse to get tough on terrorism."

Before Yuan could speak the Scorpion burst from the back room, slamming the door behind him. He kicked over one of the chairs and began to shake with rage.

"What happened?" Yuan asked, with genuine concern.

"They refuse to negotiate with anyone they deem as a 'terrorist' or 'insurgent'! I didn't get 5 words in before they cut off my broadcast!" he roared in response.

"Wait, they won't even hear our demands?" asked an incredulous Yuan.

The Scorpion smacked his fist into the table "No, they refuse to take us seriously!"

The Vice President chuckled as her previous statement was proven right almost immediately. The Scorpion reacted poorly, drawing a large blade from one of his gauntlets. He marched over to her cell, but Yuan stepped in the way, "Hold on. We agreed no killing before we started!"

The Avatar was roughly shoved aside by the larger man. "I'm not killing her. I'm just going to cut off a hand. I've done this before, people always cave when there's real violence." The Vice President immediately threw herself to the back of her cell, trying to get as far from the bar's as possible.

"What?" Yuan asked as he grabbed his partners shoulder. "There's got to be a better way of doing this."

The Scorpion shook off the hand and turned back, "Are you second guessing me?" The man's eyes were wide, with a dead look to them.

"No, but I'm not about to let you cut off this woman's hand's," Yuan responded, growing increasingly nervous.

The Scorpion stared at the ground for a while at this statement. Suddenly, without looking up, he shot his arm up at Yuan. Four metal bands fired at the Avatar's limbs, picking him up and splaying him against the wall. He struggled against the binding, but found himself just as stuck as he had been when he first woken up in the lair. In a quick flash, the Scorpion grabbed him by the neck and had the blade aimed at the bridge of his nose.

The two stared into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity. The Scorpion's glare was one of cold rage, composed on the brink of snapping. Yuan's was one of abject fear, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. This staring match lasted until Yuan's eyes began to water, and eventually he blinked. At this The Scorpion released his grip and retracted the blade back into his gauntlet.

"This isn't a partnership. You'd do well to remember that. I'll decide how to deal with the two of you in the morning," his voice had returned to a calmer tone. He walked back to the ajar door, and metalbent a cord behind him to turn off the lights. "Sleep well tonight, Avatar," he spoke before slamming the door behind him, leaving the now two captives in total darkness.

"..."

"..."

"Avatar?"

Coming Soon: Chapter 10 - The Scorpion's Sting Pt.2

This and the next chapter are going to be kind of a mid-book finale, so plenty of action. Thank's for reading and please leave some feedback, it really helps with the writing process.