反射
Book 1.5: Reflections
Chapter 16: Fire and Ice
The Water Town slums were the scene of chaos. Steam hissed as blasts of fire were countered with tentacles of water, bent from the lake below the network of wooden walkways between the ramshackle huts.
Agni Kai and Red Monsoon benders battled with ferocity in kill-or-be-killed combat. Several buildings were already on fire, and shouts and yells filled the bleak afternoon air. Mothers, fathers and siblings held each other in protective embraces, huddled down terrified near fences or in worn huts, desperately hoping that the violence would not find them.
In one of the streets on the mainland near the lake, a sleek black Satomobile roared down the road, leaving bewildered bystanders staring after it. Korra kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the police force. Her efforts were rewarded when she saw a distant figure run across a rooftop, leap off and fire what looked like a thread from his wrist. Definitely a metalbender.
"Head that way!" she pointed to Asami.
Her friend responded by spinning the steering wheel sharply to the left, veering down a road lined with ramshackle shops, many of their windows boarded up. Before long, they came across a small blockade of police vans blocking the road, where Asami was forced to stop the Satomobile. She and Korra climbed out to see that a makeshift command centre had been established in one of the shops nearby, where several police officers pored over a map of the area.
"...We're setting up blockades on all roads into the area at these points," one of the metalbenders was saying. "There'll be no way for them to escape."
"Don't forget that the waterbenders can use the lake to escape," Korra announced her presence. Several pairs eyes widened in recognition, both of her and Asami Sato.
"Av-Avatar Korra," the senior-ranking officer stammered. "How did you know about – "
"Don't worry about that," she interrupted. "Have you made any move to arrest the gang members yet?"
"Our reinforcements are still arriving, but we're keeping the situation contained for the time being."
The young Avatar frowned. "What about the civilians trapped in the area? They're caught in the crossfire, and could be hurt if the triads are allowed to fight without any sort of intervention. We have to do something!"
"I'm not comfortable with putting my men at extra risk by not waiting for the proper backup," the officer replied, clearly put out by being told how to do his job, and by a seventeen year-old at that – Avatar or not. "And what is she doing here?" he asked, gesturing at Asami. "She's a civilian, and – "
"And a close friend of mine, and I can attest to her abilities to be able to handle herself," Korra shot back.
The man looked miffed, but chose not to say anything further on the subject. "As I was saying, police reinforcements will be arriving at this point soon."
The young Avatar nodded slowly, and then spoke up, "If that's the case, then, with your permission, I would like to go in with several officers stationed here and help to evacuate the civilians."
The senior officer's eyes hardened like steel. "And leave this blockade undermanned? Absolutely not – "
"You said it yourself; reinforcements from Police HQ will be arriving here. They'll be able to pick up the slack."
He opened his mouth to argue but, surprisingly, one of his subordinates spoke up. "She's right, sir. We can't just stand here and let the triads fight unobstructed. We need to act now, before they get away."
The two girls waited expectantly. Finally, the police officer sighed in defeat. "Fine. You take five officers with you and do what you can. Do not go too far in – stay within sight of this barricade at all times."
Korra nodded in determination. "Yes, sir."
It was after this exchange that she, Asami and five police officers found themselves rushing onto the wooden walkways suspended over the lake district. Blasts of fire, screams and shouts were all around them as they set to work helping stranded civilians to escape the conflict.
Korra thrust her arms forward, proceeded by a pulse of wind that cast a trio of Agni Kai firebenders over the walkways and into the murky drink. Her metalbending escorts made several arrests, while Asami ducked and weaved past fiery, watery and icy projectiles, shocking any gang member that she came into contact with her Equalist glove.
Despite the commanding officer's strict orders for them to stay together, the chaos of the situation, as well as fierce resistance from the fire and water triads, soon saw the six combatants engaged in their own separate battles.
Korra found herself staring down with three thugs sporting Water Tribe tattoos on their hands. She spun out of the way of a blast of water and entered what she had affectionately dubbed 'leaf mode' – expertly dodging every elemental and physical attack sent her way. She landed a roundhouse kick into the side of a thug's head, knocking him out cold. Her follow-up blast of wind sent the second goon flying back into the third, and both men tumbling haphazardly down the walkway.
The young woman smirked, but was given pause when she found herself face-to-face with a man in a bowler hat and dark glasses. Most of his form was shrouded in a long coat.
Korra immediately knew that this guy meant business, and fell back into a cautious fighting stance. Moments later, the pair were locked in a deadly dance, with a fierce exchange of shards of ice and funnels of air between the two. Korra rolled out of the way of a rain of icicles and looked back to see two tall and thick tentacles of water rising from the lake in response to the waterbender's raised hand.
She made to dash forward, but her eyes widened in shock when a long lance of ice shot out at her without warning. She managed to spin out of the way, but not completely. Korra yelled in pain as the lance grazed her, slicing open her shoulder. A little closer and she would have been dead.
Her world ceased to exist, instead replaced by a blinding white sheet of pain, when she caught the full force of one of the whipping tentacles of water. The force of the blow sent her flying backward through the air. The wooden planks of the walkway dug into her as she slid back several feet.
As she struggled to regain her footing, the triad bender widened his stance and drew the second thick watery tentacle to his hand, freezing it into a deadly volley of icy daggers. He channelled his chi in preparation for attack. For whatever reason, the Avatar was refusing to use waterbending and turn her opponent's ferocious energy against him.
That would be her undoing.
Unbeknown to him, a swift shadow dashed along the boardwalk from behind. She saw the missiles being readied, and realised that she would not be able to make it to the man in time. However, she took notice of the twisting pillar of water, drawn from the lake below and ending in the man's hand as he cultivated his weapons of ice.
Without hesitation, Asami charged the insulated gauntlet on her hand and thrust it into the tentacle next to her. Electricity surged through the water, straight through the man's hand and into his body.
He screamed in pain, losing control of his waterbending as his muscles convulsed in spasms that brought him to his knees. The twisting tendril of water splashed to the wooden planks harmlessly. He quickly recovered and took in his surroundings as he shot a calculating glance behind him. Although the Avatar was incapacitated, he took note of the one responsible for electrocuting him – the Sato woman, of all people. In addition to that, he could see two metalbenders of the police force rushing across the walkway to her aid.
The man in dark glasses knew that the odds were not in his favour.
Before the wretched enforcers could reach him, he brought his palms together. The surrounding lake exploded in a cloud of thick mist that cast the world in a hazy grey that obscured everyone's vision. The triad bender then threw himself over the edge and into the water. There was no splash; the energy instead being used to propel him through the depths.
Before anyone realised what was happening, he was gone.
When Korra came to, she found herself lying on a hard mattress in a spotless, white-tiled room. She groaned as an intense headache ravaged her consciousness.
"Suck it up, kid. You've taken harder knocks than that, I'm sure."
The familiar and slightly gravelly voice drew Korra's attention to her bedside, where an equally familiar middle-aged woman was sitting. "Ms Beifong... Where am I?"
"You're in the infirmary at Police HQ," she replied. "You took a nasty knock from a man we've identified as Todo, a high-ranking member of the Red Monsoons. He fled the area when the police backup arrived, and the turf war was quickly subdued after that."
"What about Asami?" the Water Tribe girl asked, doing her best to ignore the throbbing in her head as she sat up in bed. "Is she alright?"
"She's fine. We've asked her to give us an account of what happened at the Water Town slums. I imagine that report will take a few hours." The former Chief of Police turned to leave. "Well, I just came to make sure you're alright. If you'll excuse me, I have a briefing to attend..."
"Can I sit in on this too?" Korra blurted out. Seeing the older woman's perturbed expression, she continued, "From what you've told me about the triads, it sounds like they're becoming a serious problem. I'd like to know what we're dealing with here."
Lin frowned. "You just woke up in an infirmary, and you want to jump straight out into a briefing...?"
The girl smirked in response. "You said it yourself: I've taken harder knocks than that."
The Beifong heiress stared at her for a moment, before giving her a thin smile.
Korra took a quick glance around the lecture hall full of police officers as Lin Beifong debriefed them on the current situation in the police force's war against the triads. She was glad that the former Chief of Police still held such an important role, even as a non-bender.
Especially as a non-bender. She found herself wondering if one of the reasons Lin still held such a high position was part of an effort to discredit the Equalists' arguments.
After all, the best way to win a war of ideals was to discredit the arguments and ideals of the opposition.
Despite all this, Korra could tell that Toph's daughter was still having trouble coping with the loss of her earthbending, despite her valiant effort to hide it. The woman seemed to carry herself with less authority and confidence than before.
Regardless, Lin held the undivided attention of everyone in the room.
Ignoring the looks that were sent her way, Korra listened with rapt attention, and learned that the Triple Threat triad, while still fairly influential throughout Republic City, had fallen far since the humiliating defeat of their leader, Lightning Bolt Zolt, at the hands of Amon. What had once been the most powerful crime syndicate in the city had fallen to infighting, and had all but split up into several different factions, all calling themselves the Triple Threat triad.
During the Revolution, with their major underworld competitors dealt a crippling blow and the police otherwise occupied with the Equalists, the Agni Kais and Red Monsoons had seized the opportunity, extending their influence, taking territories, and bribing officials or threatening to leave them on the Equalists' doorstep.
"At present, these two are the main players in the triad wars," Lin said, gesturing to two grainy surveillance photographs tacked to the board, the first of which was of a large man with a shaved head and hardened look. The fuzzy outline of what looked to be a tattoo of a dragon could be seen on his forearm. "Ginseng controls the Agni Kai triad from a variety of safe-houses, making him extremely hard to track. This photograph was taken about six months ago."
Korra looked closely at the second photograph and was mildly surprised to see that it was a young woman, her long hair tied up into a high wolf-tail almost identical to hers.
"The leader of the Red Monsoons is a young woman by the name of Saiyu. She is known throughout the underworld as the 'Blood Queen'," Lin continued. "She is ruthless and cunning. All of our recent attempts to raid their headquarters have turned up empty." The hardened woman paused to look pointedly out into the lecture hall. "This implies two things. Firstly, the Red Monsoons will stop at nothing from keeping their base of operations. And this means that they are most likely gearing up for something big."
Murmurs erupted throughout the crowd. Unbeknown to them, Lin also knew that the waterbending triad's ability to stay one step ahead of them meant only one thing.
The police force had been compromised.
In an extravagant mansion on the edge of town was a darkened room, lit only by several candles lined side-by-side on a shelf, casting flickering light over the outlines of ornate wooden furniture. However, there was one piece of furniture that was not made of wood.
In the centre of the room stood a glistening sculpture of ice; a large and lovely flower, its cold petals unfurling into sharpened points that could pierce flesh. The flower was suspended in mid-air, as if by magic, and slowly revolved in a circle, as though its occupant wished for it to mirror her constantly-turning mind.
On this majestic throne of ice sat the leader of the Red Monsoon triad, her eyes closed in quiet reflection. She was a very beautiful young woman – a fact she was well aware of. At the moment, her glossy brown hair was down, allowing it to fall over her shoulders, and her slender body was sheathed in a dark-red dress, accentuating her curves.
A crystal glass filled with an expensive blood-red wine was held delicately in one hand. She did not open her eyes when there came a gentle knock on the door, nor did she open them when her right-hand man entered.
Todo bowed respectfully before speaking. "I apologise for disturbing you, Lady Saiyu, but our ambush on the Agni Kai strike force failed. We were unable to capture or kill any of them. Several of our top waterbenders were also arrested."
The icy flower presently stopped turning to face him, and the young woman opened her eyes, her stunning blue irises dancing in the candlelight as she gazed at her underling. When she spoke, her voice was soft and silky-smooth.
"Not only do you disrupt my meditation, but you do so to deliver news of your failure." She raised a hand and globules of water, pulled from her seat of ice, floated up into the air. Moments later, they froze into five needle-sharp points on the ends of her fingers.
Todo gulped, knowing he had to phrase his next words carefully or else run the risk of having a quintet of icy spikes lodged in his throat. "I'm very sorry, milady, but the police showed up faster than we anticipated. They must have had advance word – perhaps undercover agents on the scene, keeping surveillance." The expectant silence from his leader prompted him to continue. "Also, the Avatar was there."
This news caused Saiyu's cerulean eyes to widen slightly. "Really? With all the trouble that the Equalists are causing, I wasn't expecting for her to get caught up in our petty squabbles." She took a sip of wine from her crystal glass, savouring the texture. "Mmm, this is an unexpected complication. What does she want, I wonder?"
Todo had learned over the years that sometimes silence was the best answer.
"With the police keeping a close eye on us, and the Avatar herself getting involved as well, I wonder if perhaps we are drawing too much attention to ourselves?" the triad leader mused, more to herself than her subordinate.
The unseen war for control of Republic City was in the eye of the storm. All pieces were fully in the field, and the next move could very well decide the outcome.
Even with this new development, things could not be rushed. The Red Monsoon's moves would coincide with the phases of the moon. Saiyu was a patient woman. She could wait.
"Milady, I promise that you will rule this city," Todo said. "We've come too far to be stopped, least of all by the Avatar."
She closed her eyes, already feeling the flow of chi throughout her body strengthening as the quarter moon approached. "I agree."