Finally, I finished this chapter. Sorry that I accidentally put the wrong chapter four. I laughed at myself when I read the reviews. I'm such a distracted fool. Good thing I caught it early on!

This is the chapter where things get heated. I hope you remember what happened last chapter, 'cause you'll need to read it to understand this chapter.

Just wanted to put this out there, apparently August 6-August 12 is Linzin week! Read it on tumblr.

Takes place the day after the Grand Ball, except for the first part. Enjoy.

Chapter 5: A Great Change

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Pema angrily whispered. The children were in bed and for once, Meelo was forced to sleep in his own bedroom. They knew something was wrong, but decided not to interfere. Tenzin hoped they weren't eavesdropping and for once, wished he had Lin's seismic sense.

He sighed. "Pema, I didn't how to tell you. I couldn't just mention it casually. I regret not telling you sooner. How many times do I have to say it? I really am sorry."

"Tenzin, I thought we were supposed to be honest with each other. That's what marriage is about."

"From now on, I will be honest with you." Unless there are secrets worth keeping.

Pema nodded, finally satisfied. "Alright." she said. "We should get some sleep."

They put on their pajamas and went to bed.

"Good night Tenzin." she murmured, kissing his cheek.

He felt oddly uncomfortable. "Good night."

Once he fell asleep, he dreamed of Lin.

Tenzin didn't know it, but Pema stayed up long enough to hear him whisper Lin's name.

_line break_

Bolin looked at his dark skinned friend and grinned. "Thanks for coming Korra. I need help deciding who's good enough to be on the team."

"No problem." she said and put her hand on his shoulder. "I hope we find good benders."

"Yeah." he agreed.

They walked to the Probending Arena gym, where many firebenders and waterbenders were lined up. They were chatting with each other, some boasting about their abilities while others were just talking in a friendly manner. Bolin led Korra to the table in front of the benders and looked at the first one in line, a girl with caramel skin, bright blue eyes, and brown hair.

"Okay, so um…Fang Yin. Show us your stuff." Bolin said.

She nodded and bended some water out of a barrel. Fang Yin moved the water around her and almost hit Korra in the face with it.

"Sorry!" she squeaked.

He looked at Korra and mouthed, not her.

Bolin turned back to Fang Yin. "Thanks for that demonstration. Next!"

Hour after hour, more benders arrived but none of them were good enough. They did not have the skill, accuracy, or spirit that Mako and Korra had while playing in the matches.

Korra shook her head. "None of these people are good."

"I know, but what choice do I have?" he said glumly. "I'll choose these two." He pointed to applications of a big waterbender girl and a bored, geeky firebender guy.

"Sorry it didn't turn out so well, Bolin." she said, and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

He shrugged. "It's okay."

"I know what will cheer you up." Korra said brightly. "How about…noodles?"

Bolin perked up. "Now you're talking! Noodles here we come!"

_line break_

Mako ran into the Police Headquarters, pushing past officers.

"Watch it, kid." an officer growled.

"Sorry." he said as he looked back and ran into Lin Beifong. They both fell on the floor.

She rubbed her head as she stood up and scowled at him. "What are you doing here, Mako?"

"Sorry about that, Chief." he said. "I was just wondering…did my writing test, the one that I had to do to become an officer…did you read it?"

"I don't remember every single test I see. You should go. I'm very busy at the moment." she snapped. "You will receive the results in a few days."

"Right. Thanks."

_line break_

Asami took Lian into her arms. There wasn't much to do at work, so she had taken Lian with her to personally take care of her. The butler sometimes did, but he made it very clear he did not like taking care of a baby.

"One of these days, Kuzon and I are going to adopt you." she whispered to the baby. "We might as well. You're practically our daughter."

Lian clapped her hands and attempted to chew on a pencil before Asami caught her.

She laughed. "Sorry, little girl. That's not for chewing."

The baby pouted and said, "Chew!"

"Well, you can chew on a cracker while I read these important papers." she said and handed Lian a cracker. The little girl happily ate it, thrilled to use her teeth.

_line break_

"Chief, Captain!" yelled a metalbender, holding papers in his hand.

Kuzon and Lin stopped walking and looked back. "Yes?" said Kuzon.

The metalbender handed Lin the papers. "We've had reports of a new triad that call themselves the Element Strikers. They've killed six people today when the firebender shot lightning at a house."

The papers had little information about the new triad and some pictures of them. There was a waterbender, earthbender, and a firebender.

"Keep an eye out for them. Send extra officers to the area where they killed the people." Lin instructed.

"Yes Chief!" the metalbender saluted and left.

Kuzon took the papers from his mother. "Look at this one."

"What does it say?"

"Those six people weren't benders." he said. "It seems like these guys are after…non-benders."

"We can't be sure." Lin said.

He put on his thinking face, which was exactly like his father's. "True. We'll have to consider it though. If they attack more non-benders then we'll know my theory is correct."

"But why would they do that?" she asked. "They barely took any money."

"Well, it could be because they were angry at non-benders for Amon's Revolution." Kuzon reasoned. "Maybe someone close to them lost their bending to Amon. They still blame Equalists for that, and are taking their anger out on all non-benders."

She nodded. "Although we still need more evidence for that."

"I'll lead some officers and try to find these Element Strikers." he said.

Lin bit her lip. She couldn't tell him not to go. He was an adult already, and her second-in-command. "Be careful." she warned. "They are very dangerous."

"I will." Kuzon said and went to get a team of metalbenders.

_line break_

Kuzon led his team to the destroyed home of the six dead non-benders. The roof was burnt and had holes in it from rocks. He saw patches of ice on the walls and blood on the floor. The eight metalbenders seemed a little nervous when they saw the bodies. Two adults, two grandparents, and four children. The oldest was Kuzon's age and the youngest about five years old. The little one had a hole in his chest made from a pointed rock tainted with blood. The other were killed with either fire, water, or in the same way as the little boy. They discovered the grandmother had died because the waterbender of the triad had put water in her lungs and frozen it.

He was disgusted. The waterbender had probably enjoyed watching the old woman die. And the firebender seemed to like using lightning because his victims were so bloodied. The metalbenders found many rocks thrown across the room. The earthbender probably didn't have good skill.

"Captain, look." one of the metalbenders said. He was pointing at a broken window. "There are footprints outside."

"Let's check it out. Good work, officer." he said and they went outside to check them out.

They followed the trail of footprints until there weren't anymore of them. It was as if they'd vanished into thin air.

"They're gone." one of the officers muttered.

Kuzon shook his head. "I don't think so." He retracted the sole of his right boot and pounded his foot on the ground, using his seismic sense to feel the vibrations. "There's a tunnel underground."

"Why are there always tunnels underground?" said a female metalbender.

He moved the earth and the officers saw the earthen tunnel. And the trail of footprints.

"After you." he said and when all the officers went underground, he followed them and put the covering of earth over the tunnel.

The metalbenders were led by Kuzon through the tunnel since he was the one with the seismic sense. However, he couldn't see with his eyes and his feet at the same time, so he had two officers at his side. The officers would see with their eyes while he saw with his feet.

"Stop!" Kuzon immediately barked and the metalbenders came to a sudden halt. "There was a trap." He kicked a piece of earth in front of them and it fell into a deep pit that had not bee there before. One of the metalbenders made a bridge of earth to get across the pit.

"We're getting somewhere." he told his team. "There's a large hideout coming soon."

He heard one of the new recruits whisper, "Wow. He can actually sense that?"

"Well, duh. Beifongs are the best earthbenders in the world." an officer said.

Kuzon heard one of the metalbenders gasp. "It's their hideout!"

He stopped using his seismic sense and looked with his eyes. There were luxurious chairs around a fireplace and an opened refrigerator with snacks. Bottles of wine were scattered on the floor. A poster of Amon hung on the wall with tiny earth darts on his mask and on his eyes. The rest of the space had crumpled up yuans and spit.

"Looks like no one's here." said a metalbender.

A blast of fire came directly towards the metal bender's face but Kuzon lifted a wall of earth to protect him. The firebender grinned, showing several missing teeth and the ones he had were gold.

"Why hello officers." he said in a falsely charming voice. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Chen, the leader of the Element Strikers triad. This is Hai," a waterbender dropped in from a hole above. He had long brown hair and dull blue eyes. "the waterbender and my good friend, Quan." Quan followed Hai, but made a better appearance by slowly making the earth pillar he was standing on go down. His dark green eyes gleamed.

"You're under arrest for killing those six non-benders." Kuzon announced. "If you don't come peacefully, we'll have to bring you in by force. But I'm guessing it's the second choice, since you criminals are idiotic enough to try to fight us."

Hai laughed. "I've heard many things about you, Captain. The son of the chief and, supposedly, a firebender. A metalbender who was just lucky enough to become Police Captain." he smirked. "Well, you'll have to report to your mommy that you had failed to capture us."

Quan grinned. "What do you have to say to that, little boy?"

He gritted his teeth. "Q's a stupid letter!"

Kuzon shot rocks at Quan, who dodged all but did not forsee Kuzon coming on head on. He shot the metal cables at him and threw Quan to the wall. The metalbenders joined in on the fight, shooting cables and bending the earth. Chen fired attacks at a female metalbender, who groaned when a shot hit her leg. Hai got water from his large waterskin and froze some of the officers to the ground. Quan lifted the earth and the frozen metalbenders hit the ceiling hard. The remaining officers who were ready to fight were Kuzon and three others. Kuzon swung the cables at Chen, who was preparing a fire blast at him when he was slammed into Quan. Chen accidentally shot the fire at Quan and he howled in pain. They both tumbled to the floor, trying to untangle themselves. The metalbenders captured Hai with their metal cables and took his waterskin.

"Good work, officers." Kuzon said. "One of you, get the chief and tell her to bring in some extra officers and an ambulance."

The new recruit who had commented on Kuzon's seismic sense nodded. "Yes sir!" he said, bowed, and then ran quickly.

Quan hissed at Hai. "Now!"

Kuzon cocked his head, but before he could do anything Chen blasted fire from his mouth at Hai's bonds. Hai was free and at his feet. The officers tried to capture him again but Hai raised his hands and the officers stopped.

He's a bloodbender. he thought. He attempted to use hit cables but Hai bloodbended him too.

The officers and Kuzon groaned from the excruciating pain. During that time, Quan and Chen freed themselves and smirked at their painful cries.

"Did I forget to mention Hai here is a bloodbender?" Chen asked with mock innocence. "You'll never catch us now."

"Ugh, mon-sters." Kuzon gasped.

Quan laughed. "I was expecting more from you, but I suppose that the officers weren't very well trained."

"We're going to leave right after we snap your necks and find us another hideot." Chen grinned evilly. "The chief will find your bodies and try to find us herself. We'll kill her the same way we're gonna kill you and take over Republic City. We'll punish all the non-benders who joined Amon, heck, why not all of them? Just in case."

Asami. Kuzon thought. I can't let them do that to her. Or anyone else.

The triad's laughter was interrupted by a huge boulder smashing into Hai. He slammed into the wall, unconscious. Kuzon and the officers were at the floor and stood up hastily. Chen and Quan looked fearfully at his attacker.

Lin Beifong stood at the entrance of the hideout with officers behind her. Some nurses put unconscious officers on gurneys and took them away. The recruit grinned at Kuzon and mouthed, Did I come in time?

Yup. Excellent work. Kuzon mouthed back and the recruit's grin became wider.

An officer trapped Chen in an earth shell and three officers shot metal cables at Quan, who struggled uselessly in the tight bonds. An officer approached Hai and put handcuffs around his wrists.

"Is everyone alright?" Lin asked but she was mostly looking at her son.

"Mostly." Kuzon said, rubbing his left arm. "We'll live. Thanks for coming in time. We would've been toast if it wasn't for you and the other officers."

She gave him a short hug. "I'm glad you're alright. You had me worried there. Don't scare me like that again."

He shrugged. "I might have to."

Lin punched him in the arm and smiled. "We'd better go. I think you should take the rest of the day off. You look tired."

"No, I'm not." Kuzon retorted but he knew she was right. "Fine. I'll be at home."

_line break_

Asami was listening to the news with Lian when she heard.

"Breaking news! The new triad called the Element Strikers have been brought to justice at last. The triad had killed a family of non-benders just hours ago. Our Police Captain, Kuzon Beifong, led a team of metalbenders underground and located them. He and his team were nearly killed by the waterbender, who turned out to be a bloodbender-"

She lifted Lian and took her purse. "We've got to see him." she said firmly.

"Ku!" Lian agreed and Asami ran to her satomobile.

"Ms. Sato!" yelled a worker.

"I have to see my boyfriend!" she yelled back. "It's an emergency!"

She drove quickly to his house worrying the whole way. How badly was he injured. Idiot, couldn't he had tried to make it without a scratch? Asami jumped out of the car with the baby in her arms, barely remembering to lock the car.

"Open up!" she said and the door flew open. Kuzon was standing there. There were bruises on his arms, a scrape on his knee, and a large gash on his right cheek. He looked tired, and surprised that she was there.

"Asami?" he asked, puzzled. "What are y-"

She ran into his arms and hugged his neck. "Are you okay?" Asami asked, kissing his neck.

Kuzon stroked her hair. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry. Just a little banged up."

"You had me worried!" she said, pulling away.

"Ku!" Lian piped up.

He smiled wearily and took Lian, rubbing her back as he looked at Asami. "I'm alright. I wasn't going to let them kill me."

Asami sighed. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I'd rather have you stay in a box where you can't get hurt, but of course you'd find away to get hurt inside a box."

He grinned. "Well, that's what Beifongs do. They get into trouble, but since we're so bada-"

"Don't swear in front of the baby!" she said and hit him lightly on the arm. He flinched.

"Sorry! Did I hit a bruise?" she said worriedly.

Kuzon nodded. "It's alright. Come in and sit down for awhile."

He gestured inside and she walked in, sitting on a couch. He set Lian down on a mat where she could play with some of her toys while they talked.

"I'm so sorry." Asami whispered.

Kuzon frowned. "For what?"

"For getting all worried and hitting your bruise."

He shrugged. "That's alright. Next time, I'll try not to get hurt as much."

She smiled. "I would like that very much."

He kissed her jaw and she melted under his light touch. Kuzon left butterfly kisses on her jaw line until he reached her lips. It was a passionate kiss, but more passionate than their first kiss. She cupped his face in her hands and his arms were around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"Ahem."

They both broke apart, Asami's cheeks were flushed. Lin was carrying Lian in her arms.

"Uh…" Kuzon stammered. "She had something on her lip."

"Apparently it was you." she said, raising an eyebrow.

Asami began to say and excuse but Lin held a finger up. "I don't even want to know. Just don't let me catch you again."

"What are you doing here anyway?" asked Kuzon.

"It's my lunch break and I wanted to check on you because of your condition." she explained. "But then I found…this."

"Right." Asami said awkwardly.

Lin muttered something unintelligible, handed Lian to Asami, and went to make lunch in the kitchen. Kuzon turned on the radio and they began to listen to the news.

"As I reported earlier today, the Element Strikers triad had been captured by the Police Force. However, I just received word that they had escaped just minutes ago!"

They all looked at each other with frightened eyes and Kuzon cranked up the volume.

"The metalbenders were bloodbended by Hai, the waterbender. The other two bended their way out of the officers' hands. The Captain was injured at the time and resting while our esteemed Chief of Police Lin Beifong was taking a lunch break. The officers are currently trying to track down the Element Strokers triad but they have seemed to disappear without a tr-"

A rock whizzed by Asami's face and hit the radio, breaking it into two clean pieces.

_line break_

"Hey Bo. Hi Korra. What's up?" Mako said.

They were at Air Temple Island, lounging and enjoying the day. But Bolin and Korra were frowning and talking in a gloomy manner.

"I had to hire some replacements for you and Korra. They were horrible." he said. "The Fire Ferrets won't be the same without you two. But I'm hoping that with some good training, they'll be good enough."

"That's cool."

Korra held out an envelope to him. "Here." she said. "It's for you."

"Who's it from?" he asked, taking it.

"Beifong asked me to give it to you. Something about…your results."

Mako gasped. "But she said in a couple of days!"

"She was just miffed 'cause you ran into her." said Bolin.

He opened the envelope and skimmed through the letter. Dear Mako, blah, blah, results: 87% blah, blah, Sincerely, Lin Beifong: Chief of Police. Woah, eighty-seven percent? He passed!

"I passed!" Mako yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

"Way to go big bro!" Bolin cheered and slapped him on the back.

Korra gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Congrats, Officer Mako."

He laughed and hugged his girlfriend and brother. Today was perfect.

_line break_

"Did you miss me, Captain? How are you, Chief? How's lunch? And who is this?" Chen purred, looking at Asami, who held Lian tightly in her arms. "Quite the catch, Captain."

Lin heard Kuzon growl. He stood in front of Asami protectively. "Don't you dare come near them."

Quan and Hai jumped through a hole in the roof, grinning like madmen. Hai looked dangerous as ever, but when he looked at Asami he looked quite confused.

"Hai, do me a favor." Chen said and whispered quietly in his ear. He shook his head and stopped staring. Hai's grin became even wider and his blue eyes gleamed.

Hai bloodbended Asami and made her drop the baby on the floor. He stopped Kuzon from coming forward. Hai took Asami and put her in front of Chen, who grabbed her tightly by the arms.

"You're much more beautiful up close." he murmured and pressed his lips against Asami's. She looked disgusted but couldn't move because of Hai's bloddbending. Kuzon roared in rage and attempted to break free.

Lin earthbended a rock to Hai's gut. He dropped Asami and Kuzon in surprise. Asami pulled back and punched Chen's jaw, breaking more of his teeth. Kuzon yelled a battle cry and shot metal cables at him and threw him hard against the wall. Lin trapped Hai in an earth shell. Before Quan could try to help Hai, Asami kicked him and evaded the rock he aimed at her. Hai was staring at Lian, who looked scared as she watched them fight.

She heard a cry and saw Kuzon get shocked by lightning. He was on the ground, his green shirt turning red quickly.

"Kuzon!" Lin yelled.

Chen was laughing at the fallen earthbender. "How do you like that, Captain?" he jeered. "Never send me to jail again!"

Chen looked at Lian, who started to cry. "Ku! Ku! Wake up!" she said, tears streaming down her face.

"She's…she can't be." Hai murmured. "My daughter?"

In response, Lin punched his head and he was knocked unconscious.

"I'll take someone you love." Chen said, smiled creepily at Lian.

"No!" screamed Asami, but she was too far away to help.

While Chen was generating lightning, Lin jumped in front of Lian and was hit by lightning. It felt like fire, burning every inch of her body. She fell unconscious quickly, but knowing Lian was safe.

_line break_

"The Chief of Police was rushed immediately to the hospital after saving a baby from the Element Striker triad, who were sent immediately back to jail successfully…Kuzon Beifong was also, but appears to be fine…the chief in critical condition…Asami Sato had called the police just in time…"

MY FEELS! It was kinda painful, writing this chap. Lin is in critical condition, and its only a matter of time that Tenzin finds out. Lian is safe and Asami is too. Kuzon will be alright, but will Lin? This will be answered…next chapter!