Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Legend of Korra or anything pertaining to it.
Threads of Fate
Chapter 2: Quid Pro Quo
"I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be." - Douglas Adams
No sooner had she agreed to the deal, the young man grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the main street. He looked both ways at the exit of the alley. A large van was headed their way and he ran out to the road.
"Get ready to jump," he said.
Korra sped up, trying to keep up with his pace. After a few seconds he jumped forward and grabbed onto the top of the van, standing on the back edge. She mimicked his action, her hands slipping initially, but he grabbed her arm to steady her.
"Got it?"
"Yeah, thanks," she said.
He nodded at her, then shrugged. "Don't mention it."
"I didn't catch your name," she shouted over the roar of the engine.
"Mako," he replied, turning to see if anyone was in pursuit.
"Nice to meet you, Mako. I'm Korra," she said, gripping tightly onto the side and top of the van. "I'd shake, but I kinda need my hands right now with this bumpy road."
He gave a nod, then peeked around the edge of the van. "So where are you from, Korra?"
"Southern Water Tribe. Why?" the blue eyed woman asked.
He snorted a bit and looked at her. "Because you can't be from Republic City if you agreed to help me without making sure it's legitimate. For all you know, it was illegal."
"Is it?" her eyes grew wide with panic.
He shook his head. "No, no, I'm looking for my brother. Bolin. He's... missing."
"Missing?" Korra asked, frowning at the dark haired man.
"Yeah. I haven't seen him all day and it's just not like him. I'm worried," he admitted. "Bolin has a knack for getting into trouble, and we just can't afford that. Not with the way the economy is right now."
He seemed nice enough, and his brother was missing. It could be worth helping. She hoped that would be enough to quell the nagging feeling in the back of her mind, but her instincts still told her something was off about this man.
"Well, let's find him," she smiled. "Where are we going?"
"His usual hangout spot. He and Pabu like to go to Fire Lord Zuko's memorial statute at the Central Station."
"Fire Lord Zuko? Pabu?" Korra asked, raising her eyebrows. "Alright, I guess."
After a few minutes, Mako loosened his grip on the edge of the van and dropped down to the ground. Korra followed suit, landing roughly on the paved road, then rose and began dusting her knees off. No sooner had they hit the ground when she heard a click at her ear.
"Hands up," someone said, pressing something hard against Korra's temple.
She raised her hands and Mako looked at the figure.
"Shady Shin," he sighed, lowering his hands a bit.
"Mako. My favorite little half-breed mutt," the man said, still holding the revolver at Korra's temple. "Been looking all over for you. Should've known you'd be with a cute girl, but then again, cute girls is usually your brother's style, right? I've never seen you with a girl."
Korra's new "friend" rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever, Shin. What's with the hold up?"
"Oh, you know. You guys are in our turf, she's dressed like one of those damned Red Monsoons," the blue eyed man shrugged. "It's just business, pal."
Mako inhaled, "Well, she's with me. So back off." He pushed the gun away from Korra.
"Back off? Me, back off?" the gun turned on Mako. "You better watch yourself, sport. Getting a little too big for your britches. I think I ought to teach you some-"
"Shin, that's enough." a voice said.
Korra turned around to see two men walking up, the one in front wearing a big trenchcoat. His hands were folded in his pockets and his hair was grey. She saw a wave of panic wash over Mako's eyes when she looked at him.
"Yes sir," Shin said, putting the gun down quickly and stepping aside.
"Oh, for the spirits' sake, son, put your hands down," the older man - the leader, Korra assumed - said to Mako. His eyes turned to her and ran over her. "You, too, doll. No need for things to get unsavory - we are in public."
"Right," Mako replied dryly, putting his hands down.
The man ran a hand over his square jaw for a moment, then clapped Mako on the arm. "So what brings you to our little neck of the woods, son?"
Son? Why was Mako talking to these criminals - these people who held them up like he knew them? Korra held her hood up as a gust of wind blew by. She doubted some street gangs would recognize a delegate to the United Republic but better safe than sorry. Not to mention the trouble Tenzin - oh, fuck, Tenzin! He was undoubtedly going to annihilate her when she got home.
"I'm looking for Bolin. Your boy here wouldn't happen to have done anything about that-" Mako interrupted her train of thoughts and was staring accusingly at Shady Shin.
"Why you son of a-" the blue eyed man moved to lift his gun but the older man grabbed him firmly on the forearm.
"Take a break, or cool your jets, Shin. Mako's an old friend - we don't shoot our friends."
Old friends? The hell? Just who had she made a deal with? She completely went on pure instinct to decide whether or not she could trust him. He wasn't a self-made millionaire philanthropist or male version of Asami Sato by any means, but she didn't think he was the sort to run with street thugs and gangsters.
Shady Shin lowered his gun after a moment and began pacing about, grumbling under his breath.
"I might be inclined to assist you, but as is the way of life-" the older man continued.
"-nothing is free. Tit for tat, I know the drill," Mako cut in. "Where is he, Lightning Bolt Zolt?"
Lightning Bolt Zolt? What an, er, imaginative name. Korra looked at the grey haired man and watched as his eyes flickered to her for a moment. A jolt of electricity went through her body, and not in a warm, gooey way. He made her nervous. While he seemed cooler headed than Shady Shin, he was still not one to be trifled with.
Zolt put his hands in his pockets and gave a greasy smile. "Oh, you know how Bolin tends to get into gambling debts-"
"You promised me you wouldn't take any more bets from him!" Mako nearly shouted. Korra could see a vein throbbing on Zolt's temple when Mako raised his voice.
He thrusted a stubby finger in the young man's face and said, "Bolin is capable of making his own choices, son. If he makes some lousy bets on emu horse races, then I can't help it. I'm a business man. I've been nothing but polite to you and your evening entertainment over here," he motioned to Korra with a jerk of the head and she flushed, "while you've been rude. Now is that any way to treat your old friend, son? I certainly wasn't raised that way, and if you remember, you weren't either."
"I-I- I'm sorry. What can I do?" Mako backed down, his eyes to the ground. The South Pole native almost had to put her hand under her jaw to keep it from dropping to the ground. He backed down so quickly. But why?
"Now, there's the Mako I know. Well, my last accountant has been out of the office, and I find myself in need of another," Zolt shrugged. "You're familiar with this job."
Mako nodded, his eyes flickering over to Shin then the other man behind Zolt. Korra reached out to touch Mako's shoulder, but lowered her hand.
"I knew you'd be reasonable, son," he smiled and clapped Mako on the arm again. "Bolin's at the noodle shack with Two Toed. Quite a ravenous appetite that one. Now, can I hear a word of appreciation?"
The young man closed his eyes and bit his upper lip. He inhaled then said, "Thank you, Zolt, sir."
"Atta boy," Zolt smirked walking back towards his satomobile. "Don't keep this one up too late, doll! I'm expecting him in the office bright and early tomorrow."
Shady Shin shot a dirty look at the pair standing in the street before hopping in the front of Zolt's satomobile and starting the engine. He held his hand out at Mako and gave an obscene gesture with his finger before speeding down the street and leaving Korra and her new "friend" alone in the dark.
"Mako, what just-"
"I don't want to talk about it. Let's just go get you home," he snapped. "I'll get you a cab and pay for your fair, and we'll call it square."
She blinked for a minute, standing as she watched him walk along the pathway. "What about your bro-"
"Are you coming or not?" he asked a bit loudly. "They'll be back soon." Korra ran over to catch up, hearing the chimes of a bell tower. She looked up and saw the clock informing her it was well past midnight. Tenzin really was going to kill her.
Korra was leaning forward, covering her eyes with her hands as she dozed off during the General Assembly meeting the next morning. It had been nearly one-thirty when she got home, and Tenzin was waiting at the gated entrance to the Air Nomad Consulate, arms folded. He fussed about how she had been irresponsible, put herself in danger, he and Pema had been worried, she had betrayed his trust... the list went on.
When she finally went to sleep around two, it felt like her eyes had barely closed when Meelo was bouncing at the foot of her bed to wake her up for breakfast before the meeting. (Didn't their kids have school or something?)
She mustered up all the energy she had to get to the committee meeting, but today they were talking about how to combat drug trafficking in Omashu...
"Representative Korra?" she heard a voice and snapped to full attention.
"Yes, Mr. Chair! I'm ready to present," Korra answered, blinking her eyes.
She heard a laugh and looked to see Asami with a pleasant smile on her face. "The meeting is over, Korra."
"Oh, I-" she flushed, feeling embarrassed.
Asami placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You look positively exhausted. Let's go grab some coffee," she started walking to the hallway. "So I was disappointed I didn't get to see you come out last night."
"I'm sorry. I was on my way there and I just got-" her thoughts flickered to Mako for a moment, "-caught up."
"You seem like you did have a late night though. Didn't meet any cute boys by any chance?" she teased.
"Oh, uh, no. Ha," Korra fumbled with her words, blushing a bit.
Asami laughed again. "I'm just kidding, Korra. Actually, I was wondering if you took a look at my proposal."
"I'm actually reading up on the stock market thing now, to be honest. We don't have things like that in the South Pole. It's more community oriented. We've grown a lot so things like stocks and trade and stuff aren't very big in the South Pole. We have men who go out and hunt together and everyone eats together so no one goes hungry," she explained.
"Oh, that's beautiful," she smiled, taking a few coins out of her purse and ordering two cups of coffee from a cart. "I wish something like that would work here."
"Why wouldn't it?" Korra asked, taking one of the cups and sipping from it. It was scalding hot and bitter, unlike the tea she drank with Tenzin, and she wanted to spit it out immediately. Her eyes flickered to Asami who was smiling as she added some white powder and milk to the cup. Oh.
"Well, Republic City is just too big and too polarized in social status. We've got nearly two million people living here. You can't feed, clothe, and shelter everyone without money. The South Pole has a huge population, yes, but it's not nearly this big, and your economic system is completely different." she said, taking a sip of her light brown liquid. "Anyway, if we try and set up a system like that, the rich will pull their money from the economy out of fear of 'losing' it since we're a capitalist economy. Things have been like this for so long, no one else wants to try the other way."
She scratched her chin. "I never thought if it that way before."
"Sure, I mean, try applying some of our principles to the South Pole. Manufacturing, some people having a lot while others don't? It'd be weird and not everyone would like it," Asami said.
"I guess so. How do you know so much about this?" Korra asked.
"I studied economics, actually. Law, too," she smiled. "Dad's been- hey, do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" she looked at the green eyed woman and raised her eyebrows. Asami pressed her index finger to her lips and moved to the window.
A group of people were standing outside holding signs and shouting at the building.
"What is that?" Korra asked, furrowing her brow.
Asami moved to walk down the stairs towards the door. "It's a riot. I've never seen- oh, that's right! The chancellor was visiting the Security Council, of course. That explains it!"
"Explains what?"
"Chancellor's not popular. Remember the posters? He pulled funding on the housing restoration movement, and there's this illness that's sweeping through the lower districts, and he's not putting any money into providing healthcare. So since he's here, they're coming to protest against his reelection," Asami said.
"Save our children! Save our homes! Amon is the answer!" the rioters were crying in unison.
Korra had never seen anything like it before. It was terrifying... and sad. Small children with red splotchy rashes plaguing their skin were clinging to their parents. The crowd was rattling the wrought iron fence surrounding the building, screaming, and flinging curses at the guards and politicians walking by.
"Watch out!" Asami shouted, ducking as someone threw a bottle towards them.
As soon as it hit the ground, it ignited in a flash of blue and Korra stumbled backwards to avoid the resulting flames. She was frozen in place, watching the fire shift from blue to orange in hue as the heat rolled towards her. Her eyes stung with the heat and she heard someone shrieking but couldn't place who it was coming from. Her trance was broken when someone grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to her feet.
"Let's get out of here!"
Posted: 07/02/2012
A/N: I have a slight anachronism since Molotov cocktails weren't seen until the 1930's but it adds dramatic ~flair~ to the story. Things are heating up in Republic City, guys. :)
I'm Nobody's Girlfriend: I have never heard of it, so any similarities are purely coincidental! Sorry!
BitterSweetNitemare: Same time frame as the original series, so around 1920's our time; I don't like to dedicate a lot of time to describing clothes unless it's for a special occasion, so you can let your head canon imagine whatever she's wearing, but for my purposes she's wearing her canon attire. ;)
crash and burnn: You will just have to see who the son of a queen is.