The Marvelous Legends of Republic City

Legend of Korra and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon. All Marvel characters belong to Marvel Comics

Chapter 11: Iron

"Are you about done in there?" Korra called from outside Kuzon's door.

"I'll be done when I'm done." Was Kuzon's calm reply, though there was a hint of annoyance in his voice. After a few more moments the door opened and out stepped Kuzon. He wore a blue jumpsuit with an Earth Kingdom symbol in the front in green and a Water Tribe symbol in white on his back, pale yellow gloves, and yellow boots. He also wore a blue cowl, with a white airbender arrow on his forehead and had his shield on his arm.

"I still don't see why I have to wear this goofy getup, couldn't I just wear my old mask and some regular clothes?" Kuzon asked, not enjoying the idea of wearing something that looked like it belonged to a circus star.

"No you can't. Sorry Kuzon, but the world's changed recently. If you wanna fight crime now, you gotta wear a costume. Apparently it's an unspoken rule." Korra said, smiling in amusement the entire time as she began to walk down the hallway.

"Well, time to show Republic City it's newest, er, oldest hero!" Korra exclaimed excitedly as Kuzon slowly followed her.

"It's official. I hate the future." The man out of time said as walked down the hall.

Bolin walked up the steps to the apartment building where he and Mako lived. He hadn't told anyone about losing his bending and he was dreading the impending admission. He stopped at the door to his apartment and sighed as he tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

"Guess Mako went out." He thought aloud as he reached into his pocket, only to realize he had forgotten his key. He jiggled on the handle, and began trying to beat the door in with his shoulder. When that failed he stepped back and ran at it shoulder first, but wound up bouncing off it and ended up cutting his right hand on an old nail poking out of the floor. Normally Bolin was a relatively easy going person, but he had been liable to snap ever since he lost his bending and this was the last straw.

"AAAAAH!" Bolin roared as he began to pound on the door, trying his best to break it. After a minute he stopped, panting, his anger spent.

"If you're done I think you'll want to get that hand looked at." A calm, nearly monotonous, voice said from down the hall. Bolin turned and saw a man, looking to be in his early to mid thirties, with messy brown hair, a white t-shirt, and dark blue pants. As Bolin had never seen the man before, he assumed that the man was a new tenant.

"Oh, yeah." Bolin said as he looked down at his bleeding hand.

"Come on, I got some bandages." The man said, his voice still in the near monotone, as he beckoned Bolin into his apartment. The former earthbender followed him, holding his bleeding hand. Bolin entered the apartment. It had a table and two chairs with a small couch next to the window, and an old duffle-bag in the corner. The new tenant walked over to the bag and rummaged through it, grabbing a role of gauze and some ointment.

"Go ahead and rinse that hand off." The man said as Bolin then went over to the kitchen sink and did as he was told. After his hand dried, the man put the ointment on and wrapped it up.

"You better get a tetanus shot next chance you get." The man said curtly as Bolin shuddered a little at the thought of a shot. The man put the gauze and ointment back into his bag as Bolin still stood at his sink.

"So, um, you a doctor?" The ex-earthbender asked, feeling rather uncomfortable at the man's rather cold demeanor. The man stiffened a little as he stood up, but replied,

"I was. You could say I'm retired now." Bolin just nodded as he looked around the relatively empty apartment.

"So, you're new here? I don't remember seeing you around." Bolin said, as the man walked back over to him.

"Yeah, just moved in yesterday." The older man said.

"Um, well my name's Bolin. Bolin Gao." The former earthbender said, extending his left hand for the other man to shake.

"Shizuo Bana." The doctor said, still in the near emotionless voice he had been using. Bolin was about to leave, but stopped when Shizuo suddenly said,

"Those little outbursts of yours happen often?" Bolin was a little surprised at the question but answered,

"Not really. I've just been having a really bad week I guess you could say." Shizuo stayed silent for a minute, as if contemplating something. He at Bolin's face and for a split second saw an emotion coming from the younger male that he was all to familiar with: despair. Shizuo walked over to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Care to talk about it?" Bana said, motioning to the other chair. Bolin stood there for a moment, as if debating whether or not to tell his sad tale to the man, before deciding it would be good to get it off his chest before talking to Mako or Korra. And with that Bolin sat down.

"Well I used to be an earthbender..."

It was late afternoon as Tong Sato was sitting in his limo, driving along the country side with his girlfriend of the week.

"Tong stop it! If I didn't know better I'd say you're trying to take advantage of me." The girl said, slightly slurring as the young genius poured more wine into her empty glass. Tong simply laughed and replied,

"Nonsense! I just don't like drinking alone, um, whatever your name is." Tong slurred, completely drunk. As Tong moved in to kiss the girl, the limo was rocked by an explosion. The driver attempted to avoid the fire from the explosion, but swerved right into a tree. Tong slowly got out of the limo, not noticing that his date was dead, staggering around as he walked up to the driver's door.

"Happy, you gotta work on your parking." The young genius said as he then noticed his driver was covered in blood and his neck bent in a way it shouldn't go.

"Happy?" Tong asked, his inhibited state affecting his thinking. Suddenly an electrical blast came from the forest which barely missed Tong as he started to run in terror, Equalists now running after him. He ran up the road, accidentally tripping another small bomb the Equalists had placed. The explosion threw him backward as a piece of shrapnel entered the area near his heart. He laid on the ground, effectively having a heart attack, as he was surrounded by Equalists.

"And I just want to get my hands on Amon and clobber him for what he did to me!" Bolin ranted, now pacing Shizuo's apartment who watched him with a raised eyebrow.

"I've just been so angry since it happened! He had no right to do that to me or anyone else!" The young man continued to rant as he then let out a roar in rage. He stood there panting, his anger once again spent.

"Believe it or not, I understand what it's like to have something unfairly ripped away from you." Shizuo said as Bolin sat back down in his chair.

"I used to live in Omashu with my wife Biyu. As I said before I was a doctor and I was working on a way to help people with muscular dystrophy. I threw myself into my work trying to find a cure, barely had time for anyone or anything, except Biyu. One day we were the car, she talked me into taking a break from my work and go on a picnic." Shizuo started, his looking off as he became lost in his memories.

"The tire blew and we went off the road. We crashed into a ditch and a large rock fell onto the passenger side. It was slowly crushing her, so I tried to hold it up until she could get out. I wasn't strong enough and it slipped from my hands as she was reaching out to me." The older man said as Bolin sat in silence, his loss of bending feeling very minuscule when compared to what Shizuo had lost.

"After I lost Biyu, things started to fall apart so I left Omashu and I've been on the road ever since." Shizuo finished as Bolin sat, fighting back a couple of tears.

"You're more than justified in your anger Bolin. Just don't let it change you, because if you're not careful it can turn you into a monster." Shizuo said as if speaking from experience, looking the younger man square in the eye. Before Bolin could respond, he heard Mako and Asami enter his apartment.

"Well, looks like I can get into my apartment now." The former earthbender said as he got up.

"Thanks for the talk Doc." Bolin said as he shook the man's hand and left.

Tong Sato woke up with a massive migraine and his chest felt like it had been beaten with a sledgehammer.

"Ah, good to see you're awake Mr. Sato." Tong heard a dark voice say. He slowly turned his head to see none other than Amon standing over him.

"I apologize for the extreme methods it took for this meeting to happen, but a man with your lifestyle is very hard to get a hold of." The masked man said. Tong found himself being yanked up off the gurney he was on by two men in yellow versions of Equalist uniforms, feeling something pulling on his chest. He looked down to see a metal circle with a pair of wires going down into what looked like a small battery.

"You suffered a bit of a heart injury, shrapnel I'm afraid. That magnet on your chest is currently the only thing keeping you alive." Amon said as he then turned to leave the small room, Tong being dragged out by two men. Tong was taken to a balcony that was over a large lab with men in yellow coats worked on various machines.

"I have use of a man of your intelligence Mr. Sato. Welcome to Advanced Idea Mechanics."

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