Disclaimer: Nope. I own nothing.
This chapter wouldn't write itself so warning for the possible grammar mistakes and any mistakes.
And after I read this chapter on my phone, I had to go back and edit it, so this is a re-upload.
Lin really had hoped for better when they were called to a shop in the Dragon Flats District. She was expecting something on the grandiose scale, perhaps an attack from the Golden Trembler Triad, who had recently proved themselves resilient. Or perhaps a group of rogues, or at least a smaller gang. It wasn't that Lin liked conflict. It was that her expectations were greatly lowered.
The owner was cowering behind the counter, only a foot in what Lin could only describe as an atrocity, and half of his face, well-manicured face.
And the so called criminal was on the floor whimpering at the sight of nine fully equipped officers, the elite metalbenders of Republic City, most of which taught by the legendary Toph Bei Fong and the rest along with the infamous Lin Bei Fong.
A petty theft. His hands immediately spilled out their contents, yuans, Lin had to admit there was a lot of money in there.
"He called us in for a petty theft?" Saikhan whispered to Officer Song, behind Lin.
Lin signaled with her hands for the back three metalbenders, Sirah, Loa, and Quan.
"I miss sleeping," Song complained, rolling his eyes contemptuously.
Lin suppressed laughter, as she flicked her wrist bringing the dirty thief towards her and then she released the metal wire from its gauntlet with a small cut of her hand. The thief was poorly dressed, in rags, torn and dirty, but covering his nether regions. Lin arched an eyebrow at the cowering shop owner, than looked back at the thief, slowly bringing her eyebrow back down. Whatever he had stolen was big, or perhaps was in large quantities.
"I haven't slept since last Thursday," Saikhan yawned, Lin glanced back sharply and Saikhan glanced down peevishly.
"Does she know the meaning of fun?" a voice recognizable as Loa's piped up.
"Don't ask if you want to stay alive."
Lin sighed quietly, déjà vu striking its eerie mark.
I did. And then I joined the police. Lin vaguely remembered summers with Tenzin and Bumi and Kya and Ursa, laughing, glorifying herself in her utter richness and legacy, and the feeling of childhood that the world was perfect unless the adults didn't allow anything. Kya would prank the Air Acolytes, Bumi would build something with various machinery, and he would try to explain to Lin of how it worked, Lin simply nodded
"Song, Liang, take the petty thief to the station to face the required charges," Lin addressed her officers, without turning back, and two of the nine officers broke from the group and raised the thief on a chunk of rock and walked orderly to the door, holding their hands up to "escort" the "criminal" over.
Lin turned to the shop owner, and donned her best fear inspiring expression while maintaining a neutral voice, "Petty thefts warrant at most street cops, we are reserved for crimes of a… larger magnitude. Remember that in the future."
Lin turned on her metal heal and signaled with her ring finger and pinkie finger to leave and go back to the station when the shopkeeper piped up.
"I was just scared, after what happened to Kuang's Restaurant, down the street, I didn't want the same fate to befall my store."
Lin froze and turned around.
"Please come with us to the station," Lin stated without texture to her full voice. Kuang's Restaurant? They had not been notified of any reports. It was just a shopkeeper, probably superstitious, who was scared shitless. Or maybe he means something true...
"He gave in a report detailing of what he heard. We sent a unit of streeties to investigate," Lin nodded for Saikhan to continue. "Several other reports came in as well about this as well as the shopkeeper's report and we have apparently gotten several phone calls but they were rather… strange. And not in the normal way but the uh..."
Saikhan paused and stared apprehensively at her.
"Spill it out already," Lin exclaimed, face still rock hard, but her eyebrows both arched up and jaw tensed.
"Well the restaurant is empty," Saikhan breathed out.
Empty. "As in closed."
"No as in its empty. Also the Yum Soon Hans have been reported missing and one of the Pangs has said, from a follow up, that they were last said to go to Kuang's restaurant. Also," what now, "we have had many incidents of people coming in and reporting relatives missing. Also the owner, cook, and waiters, and cleaning staff of Kuang's Restaurant are reported missing, since they are not at home, none of them, and their relatives, have again reported them unseen for the past three days. And many kidnappings of very low government officials have occurred in the past month, that have been shoved aside due to insufficient evidence"
"That's at least over 50 people, with a restaurant of that size and popularity. They can't all be missing. It could all be one incident though, an attack on the restaurant, and everyone there captured, including the Yum Soon Hans and the other relatives. Has there been any sign of conflict?" Lin asked, furrowing her eyebrows. An occasional person reported missing was not uncommon, many turf Triads resorted to that to gain leverage, a plan that very rarely worked, other than the Agni Kai Triads.
"The streeties should report back soon. Are you worried?" Saikhan asked, he had never been able to maintain an air of formality, despite Lin's, and other officers', many prompts to do so, although the young man was able to hold his own when it came to speeches.
"This may be an isolated incident, or the attempted rising of a smaller Triad, in which case we have only a nuisance to worry about. The Agni Kais would leave scorch marks and the Tremblers would definitely leave signs of earthbending."
"And speaking of Agni Kai Triad, we had several Agni Kai Triad raids on the docks. They were stalled by a unit of streeties and patrolies."
"We are spread too thin," Lin sighed, and moved her hand to rub her forehead. "We don't know who is behind any of this, or if these are even connected, the restaurant incident and the kidnappings, and the Yum Soon Hans. The Yum Soon Hans are powerful Earth Kingdom families-"
"So holding them for ransom would be to the kidnappers' advantage," Saikhan finished, and Lin took no notice.
"Along with other government officials, although kidnapping several low ranking members of society, most nonbenders-"
"People that won't be missed," Saikhan thought aloud, Lin stared up at him, furrowing her eyebrows, and cocking "yes."
"I'll ask Tenzin what the Council can do and you can look into possible new recruits and typical Triad activity," Lin said and nodded, Saikhan left the room with a similar nod, and Lin smiled privately, Saikhan had trained under her, and as such they had grown accustomed to arguing on the same side, fighting together, and shouldering through the same problems together, Chief of Police and Police Captain.
The ride on the ferry was too slow for Lin's tastes, but Lin would not want her image of riding metal cables to her boyfriend's house to be the spectacle of the week, Lin gripped the railings tightly, and breathed deeply through her nose. When the boat reached land, she stumbled out and spent a few precious seconds feeling the vibrations that the earth sent her, welcoming steady heartbeats, with the consistency of a metronome.
Lin crossed her arms and headed towards the house, resisting the near-overwhelming urge to launch herself up, as she had when she was young, before Tenzin had complained about the shockwave, Ba Sing Se-like garden it created. And so Lin lost herself in the steady rhythm of walking, enjoying the few seconds of serenity that her job would never provide for her,
"Ah hello Lin," Tenzin bent down to kiss Lin swiftly on the lips and Lin kissed him back, before pulling away and staring up at him coldly.
"There has been rising conflict in what we believe to be part of the Triads. The Agni Kai Triads are attacking constantly and there is an unknown attack on restaurants, that resulted in either mass murder or mass kidnapping. My forces are spread too thin especially with the Agni Kai's increased activity and the Trembler's attacks on various parts of the city," Lin stated flatly, these are the facts, and they aren't changing, way.
Tenzin smiled and responded, grey eyes twinkling, "You are too serious."
"And you are when all things Council come up," Lin massaged her temples carefully, waiting for it to come.
"All right what do you want me to do?" Tenzin sighed and looked down reproachfully.
"We don't know with whom we are dealing with-"
"Dealing, you don't know who it is."
"Exactly. And we need more forces because mine are spread too thin, as a result of Triad attacks and these unknown attacks," Lin stated, her voice edging towards exasperation.
"So you want more forces," Tenzin answered with only the slightest hint of disapproval lacing the edges of his voice.
"And the council to pass laws," Lin was just barely able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
"No, we must prevent this violence from escalating into something we are not prepared nor should not deal with!" Tenzin's face turned red at the where his hair roots should be. Lin stared distractedly at his growing facial hair and reminded herself to shave it off while he was sleeping.
"It has already escalated and outside of our control! Now should we wait until the entire lower class and lower government officials have disappeared and another case like Kuang's happens, or will we bring in extra forces if needed, as a safety precaution and as an intelligence gatherer?" Lin shouted into the night, Tenzin's eyes narrowed, the moon glinted off of a small wetness on his cheekbones.
"A showing of forces could possibly ignite whoever we are up against!" Tenzin shouted back, then paused.
"Stop being such a typical airbender, the population is not like you, they are not pacifistic ninnies who's biggest daily concern," Lin parroted Tenzin's voice to a higher octave, "is whether or not this politician agrees with my all high and mighty ideals and how long should I grow my beard! There are people dying and being kidnapped and we don't know who is behind it and we won't know because of the aforementioned reasons and it's my job as Chief of Police and your job as the son of Avatar Aang to help them because we happen to have authority and authority that will help!" Lin stopped, staring coolly back despite her outburst, Lin was always able to quickly reign in her facial expressions.
Tenzin opened his mouth then closed it, and Lin glared madly at him, "Why do we always have to argue?" he remarked sadly and Lin felt something throb in her chest.
"Because…" Lin shrugged her shoulders and lips, "Because we don't agree."
I don't want it like this, and I can't do it like this.
They paused, allowing clean air to seep in between the silence, neither staring at each other. Lin heard rustling in the bushes, and sharply turned to her left, ready to unveil her ropes from her gauntlet. She relaxed when she saw orange and yellow, and a young woman stepped out. She was visibly shaking, and had probably been standing there since their argument.
"Master Tenzin? Miss Bei Fong?" she squeaked out and Lin searched furiously for her name, and resorted to nodding, same as Tenzin. "Dinner is ready."
"Thank you Pema," Tenzin addressed kindly. Tenzin reached for Lin's slender hand, and she neglected to withdraw it, forgetting for once the sight of moonlight glinting off of lovers' bodies.
Dinner was a quiet affair, save for Tenzin's brief comment that he would send a messenger hawk to FireLady Ursa, detailing the current rising conflict. When the dinner had reached the point of pushing dejected food around the fragile plates, Pema had entered and called Tenzin out, stuttering all the while, giving Lin her second internal laugh of the day, the first being the comment of sleeping.
When Tenzin hadn't returned in over half an hour, Lin began to quietly search for him, rummaging through nonpractical reasons until she gained the good sense to find him via foot. Outside the door, to which her foot had pointed to, Lin stood quietly listening to Pema, ear carefully pressed to the canvas door.
"I just don't think she is right for you, and I thought you would want to know of my feelings, Master Tenzin," Lin listened for a reply from Tenzin and one came, only seconds later, in his deep voice.
"Thank you for telling me Pema, I will think about it."
She isn't right for you... My feelings... Lin was clever enough to piece it together and refrained from bursting into the room screaming bloody murder.
If I'm right this should prove it.
Lin opened the door loudly and carefully surveyed the positions of the people in the room, Tenzin standing, holding himself stiffly, although something about his shoulders gave the sense of relaxation. Pema was standing with her cheeks quickly turning scarlet, the wide pupils giving away fear otherwise well covered.
"I'm leaving now, I have to do something down at headquarters," Lin stated flatly, glancing no times at Pema.
"You aren't staying for the night?" Tenzin asked, almost reproachfully, and Pema looked down to her own feet, closing her eyes.
"No. I'm sleeping in one of the bunks tonight with my other officers," Lin said, also flatly. She glanced at Pema and asked, although it was stated as a phrase, "Pema, is it?"
The look in Pema's eyes showed that she did in fact know that Lin knew her name beforehand but she nodded, blankly.
Now I won't be able to do this anymore.
Lin looked back at her icily, eyelids narrowed and eyebrows up and said, "I will remember that."
Lin turned back without her daily kiss on Tenzin's cheek, and walked as straightly and fluidly as she could, until the reached the metal linings from the island to the mainland. Lin hooked her metal rope onto the lining and rocketed across the bay, not looking back, and staring up at only the light of the moon.
At headquarters, she made a light joke- so unlike her!- about lacking sleep before she collapsed onto the metal bed near Saikhan, Song, Loa, and Sirah and fell into a dreamless sleep.
This chapter, except for the argument, couldn't write itself. Although a lot of the Fire Nation princess did, and I'm probably going to put her in earlier than I planned.
It took me 10 hours (well I was sleeping for most of that) to figure out how to update the chapter
So I was thinking, how much do the police do in Republic City? We see them arrest some TTT members after Korra dealt with them. The population is obviously terrified of the Triads and yet we haven't seen the police do anything against them. In episode 6, OK they got tricked, but it showed how much political authority they have. Episode 7, again tricked but in the last 10 minutes or so, it became survival of the fittest. And I'm sorry but Lin's quote on the avatar wiki: what just benders? Not nonbenders too? Only the bending population? Not people? I love Lin and her character but she is rather biased towards benders in this situation. In episode 8, they obviously have political authority, and they should have seen Tarrlok's political machinations. And then in episode 9, well they were tricked. Again. In episode 10, survival of the fittest, the Equalists adapted, they didn't, and the city fell to ruins. And ranting over. PS, I love Lin but this is the one part that I hope I can sort of solve/ address in this fanfic, of how much do the police do for the population? Hopefully we do find out in season 2.
Anyway, can anyone tell me what OTP and OOC means?