Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
CHAPTER SIX: RASH DECISIONS
"Korra!" Beifong snarled. "Get up off the floor!"
Korra blinked. The last thing she remembered was Raava's confession. She quickly sat up and scanned the room, but nothing seemed destroyed and Beifong, apart from the burns and bruises probably resulting from last night's ordeal, seemed unharmed. Well, at least she hadn't tried to attack anyone.
"I don't know how you went from standing to sitting so quickly, but get up!"
Korra got to her feet. She wasn't sure what to do, tell Beifong about Raava or not. While it was the spirit's fault, Raava had done many more good things for her. But she wasn't going to just sit around and be punished for something she didn't do.
She leaned on the table. "Look, I'm saying this for the last time. I didn't do it."
Beifong scowled. "We've already had this discussion, Korra! Unless you will really tell me who did it?"
Korra bit her lip. She quickly made her decision. "It—it was Raava."
"I didn't see Raava attacking me last night; I could clearly tell it was you!" Beifong snarled.
"She was...using me," Korra responded.
"Stop blaming others, Korra!" Beifong shouted. "This is childish! Are you really this afraid of being punished?"
"No," Korra growled, "I'm just not going to take the blame for what I didn't do!"
"Enough!" Beifong straightened up. She turned on her heel and marched out the door, leaving Korra alone.
One of the guards overlooking the interrogation through a small window turned to her and asked, "Did she say anything useful?"
Beifong shook her head. "Just some crap about Raava."
Another guard said, "You know, she saved the world—twice. Why can't we just, you know, let her off the hook for this one?"
"Because," Beifong said slowly, "what she did in the past is past. This is a completely new situation. Did we not already award her enough, anyway?"
The guard shrugged and turned back to the window.
"We need something to make her talk," Beifong announced.
The first guard laughed. "She's the Avatar. Not much can do that."
"Do we still have that, ah...artifact from Ba Sing Se?" the second guard asked, a sinister look on his face.
"No," Beifong growled. "Raiko said it was unlawful."
"Well, that's a shame," said the guard. "Dunno what else we got, though."
"We'll have to come up with something—quickly." Beifong looked through the window. Korra was sitting, glaring at her. "We should take her back to her cell."
The two guards stood up. "Yes, ma'am," they said, and went into the room.
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"What?"
Mako, ignoring the pain, sat up, startled. "I thought she was in jail!"
Asami smiled grimly. "She was."
"Then how did she do it?"
Asami opened her mouth, but Bolin interrupted her. "Mako, she's the Avatar. She can do pretty much anything."
"She can't walk through walls." He looked to Asami. "She can't, right?"
Asami shrugged. "That's what they're saying she did. Apparently her guards saw her use her giant blue form to get out. It's what Beifong says she saw attack the factory, too, not to mention the dozens of eyewitnesses saying they saw it."
"But...why would she do that?" Mako asked, not really expecting an answer.
"I don't—"
"What's that?" Bolin said, pointing out the window.
In the light of sunset, it looked as if a brawl had started out in the streets, except it was a dozen to one—literally.
"That's not who I think it is, is it?" Bolin continued.
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"Korra, stand down!" Beifong screeched as she shot a metal coil at the girl.
Korra melted the wire with a well-timed blast of flame, and shot another one at the officer. Beifong swiftly dodged.
"You're just proving us right, Korra! You're a beast that needs to be contained!"
That last remark made Korra hesitate, and a guard's chord lashed at her face. She staggered back, temporarily blinded, and a pillar of the asphalt rose up into her stomach, sending her flying.
She hit the ground hard. She tried to call upon the Avatar State, but too late she remembered that Raava had left her. Nothing came.
She shakily rose to her feet and sent a wave of fire at her adversaries. It only hit a few, but it delayed the others enough so that she could regain some of her energy and run the other way.
More wires flew about her as she ran, but she dodged the ones that came too close. She turned her head and saw a pier, only a couple of people milling about on it. She turned, jumped out of the way of a massive wall of earth a guard had summoned, and ran onto it. She reached the edge and jumped, at the same time creating a wave to carry her off.
The guards shot more wires, but Korra was already far out of reach. They raised their arms, and large rocks rose out of the water. They jumped on, but Beifong shouted, "Stop!"
They turned to face their superior officer.
"There's no need," Beifong continued. "She won't be coming back."