Chapter 7 – Betrayal
Sato Mansion
Mako and Bolin had been asked by Asami to stay in her mansion until the arena has been repaired; they accepted the offer over Korra's offer on staying in the island. Asami invited both Thor and Korra to go to her mansion and see how their friends are residing.
"This is where thou live?" Thor asked while he looked around the indoor pool room area.
"Yeah, you like it?" Asami asked while she sat at the edge of the pool. Mako and Bolin were swimming in the pool.
"It is very big." Thor responded.
"Thanks for the invitation Asami, but neither Thor nor I have a swimming suit." Korra said.
"Don't worry we can do other things." Asami said.
"Thanks but I am not into make-up or any of that girly stuff." Korra said.
"I am in to it!" Bolin yelled as he was sea-horsing around with his brother in the pool.
"I was thinking of a different thing." Asami said.
Race Way
"What are those?" Thor asked, he pointed towards the cars.
"Those are Satomobiles, my father made them." Asami responded.
"They're like horseless chariots." Thor said.
"What's a horse? It sounds like one of the animals we have here." Bolin asked.
"It is an animal in Asgard, it has four legs and it is long." Thor responded.
"Hey Korra, want to ride in one the satomobiles?" Asami asked Korra.
"The only thing I know how to drive is a polat bear-dog." Korra responded as she still looked at the speed racers.
"Don't worry about driving; I'll take care of that." Asami said.
Asami took Korra to one of the satomobile racers to race another driver on the track.
"I do not think this is safe." Thor said with concern.
"Don't worry; Asami is the best driver out of us, and the only one." Mako said.
That statement did not calm Thor's uneasiness of watching Korra getting inside one of those moving machines.
Sato Mansion
After racing, the group went back inside because Bolin needed to go to the bathroom, urgently.
"Moving through!" Bolin said as he ran towards the bathroom.
"He is quite fast, for a mortal." Thor noted.
"Can I use the bathroom too?" Korra asked.
"Of course, the ladies' powder room is upstairs." Asami responded.
"Thanks." Korra said with gratitude as she went up the stairs.
"How can this produce light without fire?" Thor asked as he took one of the lamps and began shaking it to check for fire.
"Thor, don't shake that! That's not a toy!" Mako said, not wanting anyone to break anything in his girlfriend's house.
"My apologies." Thor said as he put back the lamp on the side desk.
Korra finished cleaning up and was heading back downstairs when she heard Hiroshi Sato, Asami's father, talking on the phone with someone.
"Indeed. Yes, phase two is ready for use. Don't worry, within a week we will be ready to strike." Hiroshi said with enthusiasm. "They won't find out about anything, partner."
Korra was surprised and ran back downstairs to where the rest where, Thor was confused with Bolin explaining him what was an outlet and Mako was smooching with Asami.
"Thor we need to go, now!" Korra exclaimed once she got downstairs.
"Why?" Thor asked as he was grabbed by the arm by Korra.
"I'll explain on the way." Korra responded.
"Korra, what's going on?" Asami asked.
"Uhh…Thor and I have to…uhh…airsit no babybend no babysit the airbending kids, see ya!" Korra weirdly answered as she left with Thor.
"I think that she is up with Thor." Asami said.
"What makes you think so?" Mako asked.
"A couple of reasons." Asami responded.
Air Temple Island
"Art thou sure, Korra?" Thor asked.
Tenzin, Lin, Thor and Korra assembled after Korra and Thor arrived at the temple. Korra explained to them what she heard that morning.
"What you are saying has no proof to fall back unto." Lin said.
"Indeed, what if you are wrong, Korra?" Tenzin said.
"I know I'm right, we have to go and confront Hiroshi about it." Korra said surely.
"What do we know about Hiroshi?" Thor asked.
"Well, he would have a reason to ally himself with Amon." Tenzin said.
"There is?" Korra asked.
"Yes, years ago his wife was murdered by a firebender. He probably blames all benders for it." Tenzin informed them.
"Then we go to confront him tomorrow." Lin said, giving clearance to Korra's gut.
Sato Mansion
The front door of the mansion knocked, the butler opened it and outside was Korra, Tenzin, Lin and Thor. They entered the mansion, Lin leading them.
"What's going on?" Asami asked Lin.
"We are just going to ask your father some follow-up questions." Lin said as she went to Hiroshi's office with Tenzin.
"Korra, why are they asking Hiroshi more questions?" Mako asked Korra.
"Well, you guys won't want to hear this but…Asami I think your dad is an Equalists." Korra frankly said.
"What?! I can't believe this!" Asami angrily said as he went to her father's office.
"Korra what's wrong with you? Hiroshi has only been helping us, how dare you?!" Mako as he followed Asami. Bolin followed suit.
Korra was beginning to doubt was she had done, she didn't want to make her friends mad but now she did, but she knew she was right.
"Korra, don't worry. I'm sure you are right." Thor said as he put his hand on her shoulder. Korra smiled, and went with the once mighty God of Thunder to Hiroshi's office.
Asami went inside the office, completely furious on what she had just heard. Mako and Bolin followed behind her, following them was Thor and Korra.
"I can't believe you are doing this, just because we are not benders doesn't mean that we are equalists!" Asami yelled.
"Is this what it's about? You think I am an Equalist?" Hiroshi calmly said.
"Admit it, you are an equalist!" Korra yelled from the way back.
"Korra…!" Mako was about to yell.
Hiroshi raised his hand in order to calm everybody down.
"I can assure you that I am not one of those revolutionaries. You can check all of Future Industries warehouses if you need to, I am sure that this all a big misunderstanding." Hiroshi said.
"But you said that phase two was complete and that you were ready to strike by next week." Korra stated.
"Phase two is the finishing touches on a line of new satomobiles that will be ready to strike the market next week, just business. Nothing nefarious is going on." Hirsoshi assured.
"Very well, but we will be investigating all of your warehouses." Lin said.
"Do as you wish, Chief. I am sure that nothing out of the ordinary will be found." Hiroshi proudly said.
Outside a Future Industries warehouse
Metalbenders checked all of the warehouses around the city that belong to Future Industries. They searched for days but nothing was ever found, not even a propaganda poster.
"That was the last warehouse in the city, nothing is in there either." Lin informed the ones assembled.
"I hope you are happy now." Asami grimly said.
Korra felt bad for doing this to her, but she had a feeling that Hiroshi was lying. Big time.
"Korra, can I talk to you?" Mako asked her.
"Sure." Korra responded and followed him.
Thor watch as they went further away, he saw them discuss fiercely. He did not like the way Mako yelled at Korra all the time, and this time he did not like it at all. Korra walked back to where she was standing before Mako had called her, next to Thor. She looked frustrated.
"Thy are okay?" Thor asked her compassionately.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just Mako is such a jerk." Kora said.
Thor put his arm around Korra's smaller frame. He noticed that she was more sad than angry.
Korra then flinched and took out a piece of paper from her hand; she looked around to see who put it in her hand. She saw no one that could've done so.
"What is it?" Thor asked when he saw her move her head around.
"Look, someone placed this in my open hand." Korra said showing him the note.
"What does it say?" Thor asked as he tried to read the note, he did not understand the written language.
"Hold on, guys you look at this." Korra said as she called Tenzin and Lin.
"What is it, Korra." Tenzin asked. Korra gave him the piece of paper.
"The Silk Road Bridge tonight, Korra are you sure?" Tenzin said.
"We should go; it's our only clue to solve Hiroshi's lies." Korra said.
Below the Silk Road Bridge, 9:00 pm
The assembled went to the bridge, following Korra's gut once again. Thor himself felt reluctant about this because he saw that Hiroshi didn't seem to be lying, but he believed Korra even more. They saw a man standing behind a pillar of the bridge's base.
"Are you our contact?" Lin asked.
"Yes." The man responded. "Hey I know that you have been saying that Hiroshi is an equalist and its true."
"How do you know this?" Korra asked the mysterious man.
"I used to be an Equalist but I left, I believed in Amon's message of equality and all but I didn't sign for this war." The man responded. "You haven't found any equalist equipment in any of the warehouses because Hiroshi doesn't keep them in his company's warehouses."
"Where does he keep them?" Thor asked with authority.
"Hiroshi keeps them in a warehouse but none in visible sight, but in his mansion, underneath it." The man revealed. Everyone was surprised at this, now they had to go and find this secret warehouse.
Sato Mansion, 10:30 pm
Asami, Mako and Bolin were relaxing on a living room close to the main entrance; they were listening to radio and eating fruit when the Metalbenders suddenly broke in through the front doors.
Led by Lin, the Metalbenders covered all quickly took defensive stands around her. Thor entered behind them; he was wearing a metalbender's metal armor without the helmet. He wielded a steel mace that resembled his divine hammer but its handle was longer. Korra and Tenzin came inside after them.
"What are you guys doing here!?" Asami asked Korra.
"Where is your father?" Lin asked Asami.
"In his workshop, he felt agitated after you searched his warehouses." Asami responded.
Thor pointed with his free hand towards the backyard exit, the Metalbenders ran towards it. Thor carried his massive steel war hammer following them.
"Korra you don't know when to give up do you?" Mako said.
"I'm sorry but Hiroshi is lying, and we are here to prove it." Korra said as she went with Thor towards the mansion's backyard. Lin, Tenzin and the others followed her.
Thor opened the workshop's metal door revealing a small yet spacious room full of tools, tables and metal pieces that were unfinished. They stepped in, the metalbenders checking every corner of the room.
"Dad?" Asami tried to call her father, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"The mansion has been scouted; there are no signs of Sato anywhere." A Metalbender officer informed Lin.
"Maybe he is not on here, but below." Lin said. She walked to the center of the room and placed her sole on the ground, sensing the vibrations of the earth inside the metal.
"There is a secret door in the floor." She informed everyone.
"What?! That can't be true; if there was a gate on the floor I would know that."Asami said agitatedly.
Chief Bei Fong quickly metalbended the ground and a metallic gate was pulled out revealing a secret pathway.
"Errr…Asami, does your dad know that there's a secret door in his workshop?" Bolin asked.
"This can't be…" Asami said with disbelief, she could believe that her father was an equalist.
"I'm sorry Asami, I don't think Hiroshi is everything that we believe he was." Korra said.
"Everyone inside, except for you three, you stay here. Officer Lanski, make damn sure that they don't get inside." Lin said.
"Aye aye." The officer said with a salute.
Mako, Bolin and Asami stayed on the outside looking at the secret entrance. Everyone else went inside to seek for Hiroshi Sato.
They all arrived inside a gigantic warehouse full of Equalist propaganda posters and equipment.
"It seems that Hiroshi does have a lot of time in his hands." Thor said as he looked around.
"What are these?" Korra asked as she pointed at a metal human looking thing, there were about ten of those things in a row.
Then suddenly walls came up from the ground, trapping them with no way of escaping. Lin tried to bend the metal walls but it didn't work.
"How…?" Lin said with surprise.
"It's pure platinum, unbendable even for your great mother, Lin." A voice came from one of the machines. Everyone turned around to see who said that.
"Hiroshi!" Tenzin said once he recognizes the voice.
"Yes, Tenzin, it is time for us non-benders to equalize you bending scum!" Hiroshi yelled as he moved the machine, the other nine also moved. Thor couldn't believe what he was looking at, but he tightly held onto his steel war hammer.
"Officers attack!" Lin yelled, the metalbending police officers attacked the mecha tanks. But they were easily dispatched of since their metal cables couldn't hold the massive moving machines.
Thor leaped and concentrated his fire control into the hammer, turning it into lightning striking one of the machines easily smashing the frontal part of the machine, squishing the driver inside.
The others defended themselves against the mecha tanks, but Tenzin was knocked out when he was surrounded, Lin took one out but was electrocuted. Korra held her ground using the elements at her hand but she was push into the wall by one of the tank's cable arms and knocked out. Thor was the only one standing.
"Thor!" Hiroshi yelled through the speakers of his metallic behemoth. "You call yourself a god, but you ally yourself with these scum, tell me, how it feels being defeated!" Hiroshi taunted.
"Thou dare on taunting the Son of Odin, mad one!" Thor screamed as he defended himself from the combine attacks of the tanks. He swung his steel mace and took out another tank but he caught by one of the tank's cables, then by two, then three.
He was electrocuted; his mortal body couldn't take the shock and passed out. He fell onto the ground, unconscious.
"And the mighty thunder god falls." Hiroshi said as he stepped out of his machine. "Take them to Amon." He said to the other equalists.
Mako and Bolin had sneaked away from the officer and entered the secret warehouse through another way, but the metal walls had been lowered. They saw that everyone had been knocked out and that the metalbending officers were being put inside a truck. They came out of their hiding spot and went to grab Tenzin, Korra, Lin and Thor. Mako was carrying Korra on his back while Bolin carried Tenzin on his back and was pulling Thor with his right arm and Lin with his left.
"Where are you going, boys?" Hiroshi spotted them.
"Ah, Mr. Sato, you know we were just admiring your craftsmanship. Eh?" Bolin said with nervousness.
"The sponsoring of our team, you helping the Avatar, it was all a set up!" Mako furiously said.
"Yes, it was." Hiroshi said calmly.
"But what about Asami, don't you care what she thinks!?" Mako fiercely said.
"I do, I just can't stand seeing her going out with a street rat like you who bends the element that took her mother away!" Hiroshi said, now losing his cool. "But it all ends tonight."
The Lieutenant came out off one of the tanks and stood beside Hiroshi as he wielded his shock glove. Flickering electricity began to pop out of the glove. Mako knew that he was defenseless and surrounded.
"Dad?" A voice came behind Hiroshi, in the entrance.
"Asami?" Hiroshi said as he turned around and saw his daughter looking at him with disbelief.
"Dad…how could you?" Asami said, with a sad tone in her voice.
" Asami, listen I only did this for you. These benders took your mother away from us, please do it…for her." Hiroshi said as he held the glove for Asami to grab.
She looked at the glove, thinking on what she should do. She took the glove, her father smiling.
"No…" Mako murmured sadly, he was seeing his girlfriend betraying him.
"I love you, daddy." Asami said before she electrocuted her father and the Lieutenant at the same time. Mako was relived and followed Asami towards the air ship; Bolin struggled a bit from the extra weight he had to carry.
They had made it back into the police air ship, the rest regained consciousness in the ship.
"Ugh…what had happened?" Thor said as he scratched his head.
"We were knocked out, are you okay?" Korra worrying asked Thor.
"I'll be fine." Thor said as he looked towards the lone Asami. "But I don't think she will be."
Korra stood up and walked towards Mako. "You should go to her."
Mako responded with a nod and walked to Asami, hugging her. Korra felt happy that she had come over her crush of Mako and had acted maturely.
"She will need him." Thor said as he walked to stand besides Korra. She looked up towards him, and smiled.
"My officers…" Lin said she was on a metal bench; she was wounded from the attack.
"They were…they were taken." Tenzin said, he couldn't lie to her. "We will get them back."
"No… you can't. The law wouldn't let you." Lin said.
"It wouldn't let you too." Tenzin said.
"I know, that's…that's why from now on…I will act outside the law." Lin said.
The air ship glided back to the city today had been an exhausting day. But it was the beginning of something bigger, and it would determine the fate of two worlds. For now though, they will heal their wounds.