Chapter 7: 'Alone'
"I don't know what's worse, having to endure a tea drinking session with the royal creepy ice twins or searching these even creepier halls for some information," Mako muttered quietly as he and the Zaofu Captain wandered cautiously through a near deserted section of the grand but stupidly cold Northern Water Tribe Palace. And he'd thought Korra's home town was bad. This place was something else. Ancient, so ancient, bitter and inhospitable. The opposite of the South.
Kuvira nodded slowly as she peered round a corner. "I'd never met them before, I though Suyin might've been exaggerating how in sync those two are, but no. I don't think creepy even begins to cover it. And the people of the Northern Water Tribe are stuck with them for the foreseeable future, blood rights and all that garbage. Just like the damn Earth Queen. It's just – it's wrong." The braided woman then waved her hand at her back, an indication that the next hallway was clear. They were on the hunt for documents, old archived papers hidden away since the early days of Unalaq's reign. Anything that could link back to the Red Lotus. They'd bumped the tea drinking when Mako got them excused because they were both feeling under the weather. Thankfully no guards had thought to follow, at least not yet.
"So wait a minute...Was Su elected into the leadership of Zaofu? Do you guys hold elections like in the United Republic?"
Kuvira curled her lip and avoided his gaze. "Well – I – we do – sort of – I mean..." She pointed an accusing finger at her amber eyed companion who was blazing a small flame in his hand for light. "What business is it of yours anyway?! How we run Zaofu has nothing to do with you. Besides, Suyin built that place from scratch with her own hands, of course she deserves to be its leader."
Mako narrowed his distinctive brows into a frown, his flame growing a little larger. "Starting something and then running it on a day to day basis are two very different things. You can't criticize the Earth Queen or Eska and Desna for not giving their people a choice when Su does the exact same in her city. Builder or not, it sounds like she's treating that place as her own personal project, not for the good of the people who live there."
A piece of the floor jotted up behind his foot as Mako found himself being shoved over with some real power, he was on his back with a crunch a second later, arms hanging awkwardly in the air as Kuvira stood over him. "Don't you dare compare them. Zaofu is a haven. It's a technological marvel. It takes in the human garbage the rest of the world tossed away and makes them into something better, something more." There were tears in her dark green eyes despite the sharp expression on her face.
"Alright...I won't bad mouth Zaofu..." Mako grumbled as Kuvira offered a hand stubbornly, pulling him back to his feet. "You're just as bad as Korra, reacting to things so personally. I'm not on the Earth Queen's side, just pointing out – pointing out...things. Maybe now that you're finally out of that metal city you'll start to think differently, see things from an outside perspective."
Kuvira simply scowled at him before they made their way down another empty hallway, seemingly getting darker with every step. They were bound to run into some guards soon enough, being so deep into the labyrinth of the palace. Eventually after walking for several seconds in heated dullness Kuvira halted them at a seriously battered looking door, a storage cupboard of sorts. "Why are we stopping here?"
"Appearances can be deceiving. Surely you know that detective?" Kuvira mocked as she pressed an armour clad hand against the door. "If I was trying to hide all my secret files in a palace like this i'd put that incriminating stuff as faraway from my personal quarters as possible, and to be double sure, I'd put it in the most inconspicuous place possible. A door that is so grim and ordinary in appearance that everyone just walks past it." The Captain closed her eyes tightly, thoughts racing as she exhaled heavily.
"Everything okay?" Mako asked softly, cautiously placing a gloved hand on her shoulder and holding it there when it wasn't barged away. "You seem a bit tense, even for you."
"I'm good," Kuvira replied quickly as she straightened herself up again. "Thank you." The Captain lowered her foot to the ground and slammed it downwards, eyes tight with concentration as she clenched her fists, much in the same style as Chief Beifong, though the sensory technique was not quite as refined as his boss. The fire bender put that down to Suyin's training style.
A moment later and a smug grin spread across Kuvira's face. "Looks are very deceiving it seems. The other side of this room is huge. Definitely not just some storage cupboard." Before Mako even got a chance to reply Kuvira had kicked the door off of its hinges with scary precision. It clattered to the ground a second later. The Captain briefly peered around for a sign of any guards before she waved her hand, a signal to follow.
"You're just like Korra," Mako grumbled as he followed her in, glancing around anxiously as he did so. "She has no time for doors either."
Once they were both inside Kuvira turned around, raising a dark eyebrow in suspicion as she narrowed her gaze, pupils boring into her companion. "I know we're looking for Korra and stuff, but it seems we can't get through one conversation without you mentioning her. You're in love with her aren't you?"
Not this question. Anything but this question. Mako tried so hard not to think about it, even willing to stay in Republic City instead of following Team Avatar, anything to help quell his feelings for the Avatar, but then Korra had convinced him otherwise, like she always managed. He didn't regret it either, helping the air benders, that was much more fulfilling than signing of parking tickets back home. Still, it hadn't been easy, to cast off his attraction to Korra like it hadn't existed. Thankfully, Korra herself had made the transition slightly easier by spending most of her time in Asami's company rather than his. That had at least given him a chance to clear his head.
Mako scratched his head as he searched around the room which was filled with dust coated shelves, strangely enough, there were no books on said shelves. What kind of archive was this? There was definitely even more to this room than met the eye. "I was...past tense. We broke up on a mutual agreement that our relationship didn't work, and I can't deny that for one second. We fought so much over the smallest thing. I guess our personalities just didn't gel when we got closer the way both of us had hoped."
Kuvira's expression was almost sympathetic. "But you're still caught up in her, you don't just drop feelings like that in a few weeks." The captain moved to a large metallic shelf at the back of the room, swatting away dust as she moved.
"No...you don't. Getting over Korra was – it will be hard. I know that. I still care about her..." Mako sighed as he glanced back to the door again. Still nobody. "But I'll get there eventually. It'll just take time. Luckily I'm young, got plenty of that on my side."
The Captain laughed lightly as she pressed a hand against the metal unit. "Wanna bet this thing's hiding even more?"
Mako nodded confidently as he conjured a small flame in his hand, casting their shadows high up a nearby wall. "If Unalaq was anything like Aiwei then it seriously won't surprise me. Maybe the Red Lotus aren't as creative as we think." That was a hope Mako would cling to for dear life. Zaheer was just human. His comrades, his organisation, they were all just people under the surface, and people always made mistakes. People were predictable, even zealous maniacs like Zaheer.
Kuvira shifted the unit away rapidly with some strangely delicate metal bending, dropping the heavy shelf down a meter or so away. Sure enough, they'd both been right in this case. Another small room, hidden in this already supposedly secret room. This time the book shelves inside weren't empty, they were full. Full of dust covered books and folders that Kuvira passed gently over to him with a smile. "Alright detective, this is your domain. Get stuck into these pieces of toilet paper, find the lead we need. I'll go and stand watch at the door, make sure no guards come our way. Hopefully Chief Tonraq can keep his creepy relatives occupied a little longer."
Mako returned the smile before he promptly opened the first folder, one amongst dozens. This would take time that he really didn't have.
20 minutes of searching later and Mako was running out of steam and brain power as the cold started to seep into his bones, making his fingers tremble on each page. Everything in here was full of old treasury files, financial documents of government spending in the Southern Water Tribe, for maintenance, public health, security. Everything. But not one mention of the Red Lotus.
"Damn it..." Mako hissed softly as he scanned. The one piece of information he'd gained in all this searching was the name of Unalaq's financial advisor around the time the Red Lotus had been in operation, before they'd attempted to kidnap a young Korra. "Kuro Shin...why do you disappear from the records so quickly...did your boss kill you or did you just retire...?" The detective reached up for another file, a folder labelled staff. And there was that name again 'Kuro Shin', the head of the Northern Water Tribe Treasury, whose name disappeared from the records not long after Zaheer's arrest all those years ago. "Why did you leave...why didn't anyone ask any questions? Are you even alive now?" The guy had to be about 70 years old by now. "Maybe there was an accident. Maybe you got injured, maybe you died."
He pulled down another folder after further searching, marked 'staff medical records/expenses'. Thankfully in alphabetical order, Mako quickly found another entry on Kuro Shin, a rather sparse record of the financial advisories medical history whilst under Unalaq's employment. It seemed that old Kuro had suffered from a bad hip, visiting the palace healer on a regular basis for treatment that didn't seem to make the blindest bit of difference. The final paragraph of the entry was dated just a year after Zaheer's arrest. Please be what we need. Anything.
Kuro Shin – Finicial Advisor to Chief Unalaq, taken ill, moved into the care of the palace healer.
Taken ill with what? A cold? The flu? Polar bear dog attack?
[UPDATE] Patient's condition has worsened over the last few days, has been transferred to city institution for the mentally ill on a permanent basis.
"Jeez...didn't give you much of a chance to recover did they? They left you to the wolves..." Mako muttered as he put the folder away, back where it belonged. "Now why would they do that? The Red Lotus? Did you know something? Were you going to sell them out?"
"Is this how you deal with all investigations? Talking to yourself? You must drive your police buddies insane," Kuvira commented suddenly at she leaned against the door frame with folded arms. "Find anything, detective?"
"How would you like to take a trip to the nut house?" Mako asked as his green eyed companion lifted the shelving unit back in place, concealing the secret room inside a secret room once more. "Seems like something bad happened to Unalaq's old financial advisor. I bet the Red Lotus had something to do with it, and if Unalaq was actively helping to fund the Red Lotus all those years ago..."
Kuvira grinned widely. "Then that guy probably helped him do it. Maybe he'll even know where the Red Lotus's old base of operation was. All we know is that it's likely to be in the Earth Kingdom. It'd be nice to pin it down some. Now c'mon, we can't stay here much longer, the creepy highnesses will start to wonder where the hell we got to."
"Right...I wonder how long it'll take them to notice someone battered down this door..." Mako grumbled as he lifted the piece of wood upwards and placed it against the frame until it looked fully functional once more. Almost like some hot headed idiot handed smashed it open. "Maybe you belong in the nut house as well."
Kuvira punched him lightly on the shoulder as she marched on past, smirking all the while. "If I do then you definitely belong there, talking to yourself all the time. Even in your damn sleep. I could cuff you over the head with a metal cable for all that noise at night keeping me awake, but I guess I'm just too nice."
Mako smiled awkwardly as he forced his hands into his jacket pockets. He was insanely glad the Zaofu Captain wasn't a mind reader as well. The dreams he experienced on a regular basis were horrible, reminders of the ones he'd lost and exactly how he'd lost them in intricate detail. Then there were the ones that had plagued his sleep more recently. The ones featuring the people he had now, the one's he'd hold onto until his last breath.
In those dreams he was powerless. He'd loose his remaining love ones every time, in different ways from dream to dream. The outcome never changed though. They would all die over and over again. Bolin, Asami, Korra, and not even by Zaheer's hand. By that of some random stranger, some demon in black. The old nightmares of the death of his parents were easier to endure in comparison, at least those terrible events had already happened, he had no power in changing them. The future. That was another story.
"How are those glider repairs going?" Ghazan asked as he leaned against a stone pillar with folded arms, any remainder of the nasty bite Naga gave him had disappeared from his skin, as though the battle had never happened. The longer this imprisonment went on the more Asami started to feel the same. That felt like so, so long ago. The last time she'd really been able to fight for herself, or for her friends. Now her fate was in someone else's hands for the most part. Stuck in a cage with stone walls.
Asami lifted the glider up carefully by its staff, checking the thin pieces of wood that crossed under the bottom of the device's wings and attached them to the main body of the glider, able to be folded away before and after flight with ease. "It's getting there. The Zaofu guards really did a number on this when they pulled it down. This glider would've been a death trap for even an experienced air bending master to fly before I made these repairs." She'd replaced the wood that connected the wings which was splintered and cracked in places. The material for the wings was thankfully in good condition because getting a hold of that stuff was near impossible. This is a glider straight off of Air Temple Island. The only place where functioning gliders would've been of any practical use until Harmonic Convergence came along. Now every new air bender will need a glider of their own. Meaning more repairs. There must be a better way...
"Good. Take it down to Zaheer when you're done. He's in the training area," Ghazan commanded as he straightened himself. "I'm gonna go have some drinks with Ming-Hua. She's been a real bitch to be around recently. Think i'll need to try and smooth things over. Whatever 'things' are bothering here. Hell if I know, or even wanna."
Asami raised her brows suspiciously. "Wait...you're just going to leave me here? All alone to work?" That would be a first. Ghazan had been by her side all of this time, stalking her everywhere she went, listening in on every short and painful conversation with Korra. The only time she truly had with her own thoughts was at night when she returned to her cell, her bedroom, and her escape.
"Yeh, it's not like you have anywhere to go. Besides there's two sentries standing just outside of this room, you'll find that my brothers and sisters are all over this place," Ghazan chuckled sarcastically before scratching at his bearded chin. "About your bedding Sato...it looks like it's in a bit of state. I don't think you've had fresh stuff since you've been here, and I'm anything but unreasonable. I was gonna get one of the boys to bring you some clean stuff. Well, adequately clean. Nothing like the white sheets you'll be used to back in the city."
Asami nearly tossed the glider to the ground as she jumped upwards, sprinting across the room to block Ghazan's exit just slightly. The lava bender narrowed his eyes in annoyance and confusion. That was when the engineer wrenched her arms to her side, trying to look as innocent and calm as possible despite the way her blood had just turned icy cold. There was so much hidden in that cell, and so much at stake. If they moved the bedding it was all over.
"I – I don't need fresh bedding," Asami spoke as softly as possible. "Honestly, I've gotten used to what I have, it's pretty comfy."
Ghazan didn't look at all convinced, his normally laid back demure switching to something a little more tense. Damn it! Think Sato! Think! You need a better reason than that. You know Ghazan. You know the Red Lotus pretty well. Think or you're dead!
"Remember I'm your prisoner. I'm a Red Lotus prisoner, you can't exactly go around wasting supplies on me," Asami reasoned, trying to sound at least a little convincing. "I don't think your brothers and sisters would approve of you giving me some luxuries, and neither would Rei. She'd start to question if I was really a prisoner at all, why I was being treated so well. Now I'm pretty certain Zaheer wouldn't like that."
At that Ghazan faltered, the suspicion in his dark eyes replaced with mild concern. "Fine. Have it your way. I was just looking out for you." With that the lava bender exited in silence.
Asami had plenty of time to reply, to say how much she appreciated his concern, but she would give him no such comfort. He was a monster underneath it all. One who had hurt her over and over again, he'd been the start of all of this in the Misty Palms Oasis. If she was so eager to block our her father, the man who had raised her, and leave him to rot in prison, then there was no way in hell she'd start to show any empathy and gratefulness to Ghazan. Only if it prolonged her life, prolonged Korra's life. Just as a simple common curtsey? It was never going to happen.
Once the huge lava bender was out of sight Asami shifted back to the glider, picking it up carefully and doing some last minute checks on the webbing that made up the gliders wings. It would be nice to see Zaheer crashing out of the sky like a plane with a broken engine, smashing into the ground, but the Red Lotus leader was too lucky for that to happen, to cunning. He'd know if the glider was faulty. On top of that, Asami and Korra would be on the receiving end of that monk's rage. Ghazan won't have her back in that instance.
After exiting Zaheer's chambers Asami made her way to the training area of the Red Lotus lair, one of the largest openings in this labyrinth with plenty of room for sparring and setting up some rather shoddy looking training dummies of metal and wood. Those had definitely borne the brunt of some pretty intense elemental bending. In fact, they'd probably been there since the very beginning of this hellish place.
Before Asami had even entered the cave she could hear the rush of wind cutting and swiping in every direction along with the occasional command from Zaheer, the words muffled by the sound of some powerful air bending. The engineer peered her head around the entrance, glider staff firmly in hand as she stayed out of Zaheer's line of sight, standing and watching in silence. Two Red Lotus sentries stood nearby, just down the carved out hallway, observing her movements but not directly interfering. After all she wasn't exactly doing anything wrong.
Inside the sparring area was quite the spectacle. Zaheer was dancing back and forth, dodging swipe after swipe of air like a leaf in the wind and landing gracefully every time he had to take to the sky. Korra was facing him from the other end of the room in just a black vest top and even darker, baggy pants. The Avatar's muscles were on full show, and seemed to have returned to their original state before they were captured, rippling with strength. The sight of it turned Asami's throat a little dry and she felt her cheeks heating up. She'd almost forgot how much her face had started doing that around Korra.
No Sato! No!
Asami slapped the back of her hand sharply, chastising herself for having such thoughts about her best friend, especially when the Avatar wasn't the same person any more. A tortured soul. Not her best friend anymore and certainly not the woman she'd unexpectedly fallen in love with. Still, the way Korra moved, flitting and weaving around all of Zaheer's attacks as though spinning through Tenzin's old air bending gates, it was hard to see her as anyone else, except for the lack of wolf-tails. For a moment the Red Lotus leader found himself on the back foot and unsteady such was the relentless nature of the water tribe girl's attacks.
Korra took full advantage of his vulnerability, a confident grin spreading across her features as she shifted forward at speed, with clenched fists. Zaheer hadn't noticed the change in his student's elemental stance, expecting her to fire another another wave of air. Asami had to hold in her cheers and her growing excitement, suddenly transported to the grand pro-bending arena watching the Future Industries Fire Ferrets in fine form.
A second later and the water tribe girl flitted her hands up, tripping her master over when she bent a piece of earth to jut up behind him, knocking the man flat on his back with a thud. Asami couldn't help but smile with glee at that sight, even though it was only a bit of training. Korra's victorious expression actually extended from her dry lips right to her beaming blue eyes. Normally Rei's expression never reached that place, the Avatar's eyes. It was a place that Zaheer hadn't managed to taint completely, there was still a brightness there, a glimmer of hope that Asami could eventually restore her friend.
Not only that but the fact that Zaheer had underestimated his brainwashed apprentice's fighting skills in his heavy handed attacking style was another source of hope. Korra had read his moves easily and Zaheer had paid the price, now being pulled back up to his feet by the Avatar.
"Sorry," Korra spoke sincerely as she released Zaheer's hand. "I got a bit carried away there..."
Zaheer brushed her doubts a way with a simple shake of his head and an assuring smile. "No, Rei. You did well. There's nothing more satisfying for a master than his student surpassing him." Yeh right. Let's see how long that feeling lasts. "Perhaps the earth bending was a slightly cheap move in an air bending only spar, but you are the Avatar. It's your divine right to use all four elements."
Divine right? Zaheer seemed to spit out more nonsense by the second. It didn't matter if Korra was divine or not. She was only Zaheer's tool, a Red Lotus weapon, not a bringer of balance and keeper of the peace.
"I promise I won't cheat next time," Korra smiled with a childish warmth, it was almost enough to make the scars on the Avatar's face disappear, to fade away the tortured blackness under her eyes. Asami felt her heart swell at the sight. Maybe Zaheer's could destroy Korra's memories, everything the Avatar knew, but he couldn't eradicate her personality, her soul, her enthusiasm for the smallest things. "Anything else to teach me today?"
Zaheer nodded slowly as he moved towards a bag he'd left at the edge of the room. "Of all the different elements, air bending is viewed to be the most peaceful and sometimes weakest of the four core elements. After all in battle air bender fighting style for the most part involves avoiding and evading an opponents attacks, to strike when they see an opening but never commit fully to an attack in fear of leaving themselves open to powerful retaliation from their opponent." The robed criminal pulled a large glass jar from the bag and placed it gently against the ground. "Air Nomadic culture doesn't teach a fatal bending attack or any skill that would end an opponents life." The jar itself looked to contain two deflated balloons dangling from the top, this was further covered by a thin layer of rubber which sealed off the jar.
Korra stood with folded arms and a stern expression. All the warmth in her eyes from earlier had dissipated. "Maybe that's why they were all wiped out by the Firelord, no way to really defend themselves against the raw power of fire bending."
"Perhaps," Zaheer began as he created a small indentation in the dirt below the jar before showing the glass object inside, making it secure and stable. "For the fire benders, lightning bending is deadly on most occasions, as well as most fire bending attacks generally. It's quite likely they'll severely injure their opponents. For the earth benders the use of metal and rock can crush an enemy in just a few seconds. For the water benders, the use of ice and blood bending gives them considerable control over life and death. But for the air benders, no such lethal technique is taught, however I can assure you one exists. A human body relies on oxygen to survive and air benders have complete mastery over it. You could, in theory, simply pull air from an opponent's lungs until they ceased to exist. It's a clean and simple technique I've been refining."
Then the Red Lotus leader pointed to the jar at the centre of the room. "Imagine those two balloons are your opponent's lungs, the rubber covering at the top is their closed mouth. What I want you to do is push air into the balloons until they inflate and pull it out again, just like you would with an opponent."
Korra nodded firmly as she stepped forward into an air bending stance, moving her arms in back and forth motions. It didn't take long for the balloons across the room to inflate in the jar, a small grin creeping across the Avatar's face in the same moment. "Good Rei, now inflate and deflate those balloons for a few seconds, make sure you get the feeling for it. It'll be much harder to focus in on the lungs when you face a moving opponent."
The Avatar did as was prompted, the balloons expanding and shrinking at a controlled pace with seemingly little effort. Sometimes it scared Asami half to death how quickly Korra would pick up new techniques, it'd taken her barely anytime at all to start metal bending in Zaofu, even giving Wing and Wei a run for their yuans. It enthralled the engineer all the same, a reminder of how determined and skilled Korra the person was, not just Korra the Avatar.
"Excellent," Zaheer smiled. "Your movements are fluid and continuous, exactly what is required to successfully use this lethal technique."
"That'll be my water tribe blood," Korra spoke somewhat humbly before she bowed slightly with clasped hands. "Thank you for teaching me all this stuff and for being so patient with me when I get confused about things."
Just as Zaheer was about to say more Asami stepped into the room, glider in tow. "Zaheer, sir, I finished the repairs on your glider."
The Red Lotus leader narrowed his brows at her as Asami lifted the device up somewhat proudly. Korra turned to face her as well, smiling. More than that. She was smiling at Asami. The water tribe girl's eyes had lost all of their sternness from a moment ago, lighting up at the sight of the engineer. It set Asami's heart racing as she tried to remain composed, noting a strange expression on Zaheer's face. He's staring at Korra like he's pleased that she is so happy to see me. Why? What's he planning?
Asami returned the smile very half heartily, focusing on deconstructing the crooked smile on Zaheer's face rather than greeting Korra with the same level of enthusiasm. She passed the folded glider over to Zaheer, the two of them locked in an unconscious staring contest. Asami was winning the battle for a long time when Korra tapped a hand on her shoulder, instantly destroying the engineer's composure. Shit. Damn it. No Korra. Zaheer wants this for some reason. Stop. "Can you make me one?" Korra asked sincerely.
When the Avatar's hand remained in place Asami shifted away from her reach, ending the contact. The pained expression that flashed across Korra's eyes broke her heart all over again. What the hell was going on here? The Korra Asami had been pining after had shown little to no interest, but Rei, Rei was another story. Asami didn't want this tortured version of Korra to grow intense feelings for her. She wanted the old Avatar back, not this Red Lotus puppet. Maybe this was the only version of Korra that would ever had feelings for her...
Asami returned her eyes to Zaheer. "Probably not, the design isn't so easy to replicate, it requires specialist materials that I can't really scrape together here. You'd need to go somewhere like Air Temple Island for the right stuff."
Zaheer narrowed his brows as he held her gaze. "That is not going to happen. We aren't strong enough yet, you're not ready Rei. Just now, you'll have to make do without a glider."
Korra nodded sadly. "Alright, I'm going to go get cleaned up and practice more with this thing if that's okay?" The Avatar picked up the glass jar carefully. Zaheer didn't verbally reply, waving his hand as Korra exited, instead keeping his eyes fixed on Asami.
Once Korra was out of sight Zaheer placed his hands on Asami's shoulders and dug into the pale skin below her jacket with his fingers. The engineer didn't squirm for a second, didn't even make a sound.
"Why didn't Ghazan escort you here Sato?"
"He wanted to have some drinks with Ming-Hua." It wasn't exactly a lie.
Zaheer's expression twisted into a snarl as his grip tightened. Ghazan's excessive drinking really seemed to bother him. "And you thought you'd use that chance to break the verbal guidelines clearly outlined to you?"
Asami's glare hardened. "I didn't break any of the guidelines. I mentioned Air Temple Island. Nothing about Korra's past, nothing about my past. Only the name of a place."
"Rei's past," Zaheer reminded sharply as his grip became more like that of a steel vice than a person's hand. Asami could feel his nails starting to cut into the skin of her shoulders. "And the name of that place is where Korra trained in air bending, it's full of memories. It's was her home. You think you're so smart Miss Sato, playing your own little game here, getting people to like you by fixing things and wrapping them around your little finger."
Asami remained silent this time, expression cold.
"Well you aren't so smart and you won't win this little game of yours. You have no friends here and you never will. You're alone."
Those words were painful, much more so than the way Zaheer was grabbing her. They made her feel so empty inside. She'd started to fool herself here, distracting herself with all that tinkering and repair work. This wasn't her home, this place wasn't safe for her and it never would be. This was the most dangerous place in the world for Asami Sato to be.
It took her several seconds to note that Zaheer had actually walked away out of the sparring area, leaving the huge room sparse and empty. You are alone here. And don't you ever forget it. She slammed a fist into one of the practice dummies for good measure, or just to stop herself from crying, not that it really mattered, before exiting herself, intending to head straight back to her cell and be left in peace for a few minutes.
The vicious banging on Asami's door pulled the engineer screaming out of a blissful dream she'd never wanted to leave. She was with Korra searching for air benders, on the airship, laughing and joking. They were friends, good friends and nothing more. That was all Asami wanted now despite the considerable gravity of her feelings. Safety, both hers and Korra's. That was the dream now. Anything else beyond that? Impossible.
"Hold on!" Asami shouted as her mind started to operate again. It was late evening she believed, given how long she'd probably been sleeping for. What did Ghazan want with her now? Unusually the huge lava bender didn't sarcastically reply to her comment.
Just as Asami had got herself up and buttoned up her Future Industries jacket tightly the metal door came crashing to the floor of the prison with a tremendous thud, two Red Lotus guards stood on the other side in an earth bending stance, their faces were furious. "Prisoner, kneel on the floor with your hands behind your back." So it wasn't even 'Sato' now, just 'prisoner'.
Asami narrowed her brows at them whilst she complied very slowly, feeling her nerves start to tingle with fear. Where was Ghazan in all this mess? He won't protect you whatever this is. He's not your friend and you're not his.
A pair of metal handcuffs were latched across her wrists with absolutely no hesitation, the lock clamped down firmly and tightly so that her hands were stuck in a rigid and extremely uncomfortable position. Asami couldn't help but grimace as she heard the lock click, the guard who had attached it pulling her roughly upwards whilst his companion kept his hands raised at the door frame, ready for anything. The engineer glanced back into her cell momentarily, noting that the hole in the floor and the plasma saw were still safely covered by her bedding. But for how much longer?
Dread.
A deep feeling of dread consumed Asami as she was led away from her cell and into one of the many passageways carved through the rock by nature. There was a bustle of activity as they walked, sentries running back and forth in a mild panic, most of them water benders Asami quickly noted. Something that requires healing then?
"What's going on?" she asked as politely as possible, eyes widening slightly as someone with considerable burns to their face was rushed passed on a make shift stretcher, crying out in agony as they desperately clutched at their face. Was the lair under attack? No. That made no sense. If that was the case the Red Lotus wouldn't have bothered coming to her cell.
One of her escorts elbowed her in the back, both as a punishment and encouragement to keep walking. "You. You did this."
"Did what?"
Another elbow to the back that Asami tried to ignore. She needed more information. Anything. Anything that would help her prepare, or at least give her a chance to confront whatever she was about to face.
"We're taking you to Zaheer. That's all you need to know."
Except they weren't heading in the direction of Zaheer's chambers judging by the old carvings in the cave wall, instead they were heading to the sparring area. Asami swallowed a building lump in her throat as she heard angry voices just ahead. This was what she'd been expecting for a long time, a grim end, despite the fact she'd fought so hard to prevent it. It'd always been a slim hope. Still, she'd promised herself she wouldn't be afraid of this kind of fate, only for Korra's safety. Asami wasn't keeping to that promise very well right now.
She was terrified. For herself. The hands behind her back wouldn't stop trembling, the rattling of her chains a indication of that.
"In here," the guard muttered as Asami noted a slight stench of burning in the air.
Sure enough they had reached the entrance of the huge cavern that was the Red Lotus training area, but it was bustling unlike earlier, filled with members of the organisation in their black and red garb, young and old, every type of bender and non bender. They were gathering here for something, for her.
"Sato," Ghazan nodded as she walked past him. "For what it's worth I'm sorry, but I did tell you not to do anything stupid."
Something stupid? Surely her little spat with Zaheer earlier wasn't worth all this attention or occasion? Asami Sato was nothing here and Asami Sato's death would be just the same. Meaningless.
Ming-Hua made some jibe that was lost on her as she spotted Zaheer at the other end of the room, flanked by the insanely tall P'Li. The rest of the Red Lotus stood at the very edges of the room, most of them were silent, though their would be the occasional voice from the crowd shouting one thing or another. There had to be at least three dozen people in here, perhaps nearly all of the Red Lotus's strength, in this lair anyway. It also had agents working in secret around the world.
Zaheer nodded when Asami was about 2 meters away from him, the two guards that had been escorting her took a step away as their leader approached. P'Li remained with her partner, watching him protectively as her eyes flitted to Asami stood motionless ahead.
"Prisoner. The Red Lotus have treated you with nothing but kindness." Zaheer was clearly addressing her but he was much more engaged with the considerable audience gathered. Her death was to be some kind of spectacle then. "Yet you betrayed us nonetheless, for a second time."
If she was going to die she wouldn't be silent. "Kindness?! You're all a bunch of monsters who act like they're doing something for the greater good! When you hurt people! When you torture people! When you murder people! Is that how you sleep at night?! By justifying it as some 'great cause' just like every other evil maniac in history?!"
That was met by angry shouts from the crowd but Zaheer quickly silenced them with a raised hand, his eyes focused on Asami at they entered another glaring contest. "Earlier this evening the portable stove in the recreational area exploded, injuring several of our brothers and sisters, some severely. It was a deliberate act, sabotaged by you, our engineer, the person who had taken it apart a few days ago to 'fix it'. Those who were in the room at the time were very lucky not to have been killed during the explosion."
Asami took a step forward. "You're a liar Zaheer! Everyone here knows it! They're just too afraid to act!" The engineer's eyes searched for Ghazan who looked from his leader and back to Asami, his expression cold and emotionless.
Zaheer tore her accusations down with a simple, gentle smile. "Everyone here knows your expertise and technical ability. Only you could've set up the stove to explode in the manner in which it did." Then the Red Lotus leader turned to face his comrades. "You all know the price for murdering or injuring one of your brothers or sisters, prisoner or not."
Death. What else would it be?
But the audience replied with a different answer than Asami had expected as her eyes widened.
They chanted in unison. "Beaten until remorseful."
"If no remorse is shown then they pay the ultimate price. We the Red Lotus are always willing to give people a chance, not one of you can say after today that this girl hasn't had the same opportunities," Zaheer replied calmly. That was met with a firm bout of nodding heads.
Asami took a step closer again whilst Zaheer was distracted, getting herself closer. "And how many chances are you willing to give Avatar Korra?!"
Zaheer's eyes widened considerably at those words, sending a gust of air forward to knock the engineer onto her back and ultimately silence her.
"How can I give chances to a person who doesn't exist?" Zaheer muttered softly as he leaned over her for a few seconds with a crooked smile. You've lost the game. Then the leader turned to the crowd. "Rei! Step forward."
Korra appeared on the other end of the room, dressed in Red Lotus finery and looking a little shell shocked but stern all the same. The Avatar walked forward with confidence, moving to stand beside Zaheer as her eyes darted towards Asami.
"Pick her up," Zaheer commanded.
The Avatar did as she was told immediately, grabbing Asami roughly by the collar of the engineer's jacket, her expression void of emotion as she flexed. Their heads were close together for a fraction of a second. "Don't fight back. It'll make it easier," Rei whispered softly before she pushed Asami a few paces away with a firm hand.
"You helped heal some of those injured Rei, and now you'll deliver justice for that pain. You will bring balance as the Avatar should," Zaheer commanded as he placed an assuring hand on Korra's shoulder. "Beaten until remorseful. That is our way. That is your way. When this girl has shown true remorse then you will stop." With that Zaheer stepped away, P'Li accompanying him as they joined the rest of the crowd, leaving Asami and Korra alone in the center of the sparring area.
Asami stood resolute as she glanced towards Zaheer. The Red Lotus leader had a slight smirk on his face as he watched her, cold eyes drifting between Korra and Asami. If I screw this up. If I try and save Korra now, he'll kill us both. I've just got to take this and hope I survive. She closed her eyes over then and exhaled heavily, trying to leave her body as it were, but she was no air bender, no meditator. She could still feel things, and she felt the first blow pretty strongly.
It was a punch to the stomach that sent her to the ground with a painful thud. A second later and another punch, this time to the side of her arm, with the same force. Again it was painful, but not enough to make Asami scream. She felt the Avatar above her but all of Rei's attacks never hit above her torso, her head remained in tact.
After two minutes of this Asami could claim remorse she assumed, having endured the beaten, and be convincing too, at least to everyone in the room. Asami knew this thing wasn't about her, this so called 'justice'. Zaheer didn't want her to die here, he wanted her to hurt, to remind her who was actually being played here. And of course to test his pet, to see if Rei would do what he asked, even something this extreme.
And Rei was complying. She was hitting relentlessly. Not something the old Korra would've ever done. She'd never hurt her friends, no matter what.
Still, this probably should've hurt more Asami started to reason as she felt a fist smack into her rib cage, making her gasp loudly as she reared upwards but still managed to keep her eyes closed. This was the Avatar attacking her, and Korra was insanely physically strong. Her punches should've been doing much more damage than this, at least have broken a few bones by now.
Then Asami noticed something as her senses started to feel heightened from her current lack of vision. The sounds of air, the feeling of some very, very light air bending, so minimal that Zaheer or no one else in the room would notice.
Rei was cushioning her attacks with air bending.
But Zaheer wanted blood, her blood. And he wouldn't be satisfied with this.
"Rei..." Asami muttered quietly as her attack continued, not pausing for a second. "If you don't want to do this for very long, you have to really hit me. Zaheer won't stop this until you do..."
There was moment of hesitation before Asami was pulled roughly to her feet, she opened her eyes slightly to see confliction burning strongly in Korra's eyes before the Avatar raised a fist back, bringing it forward at full speed and crashing it Asami's nose.
Instantly Asami dropped to the floor like a bag of stones, her head spinning like never before. So that was what it was like to be hit by the Avatar. A fist that could bring down mountains. It'd definitely given the engineer a broken nose as she felt blood running down her face. At least that would look pretty grim and convincing for Zaheer, a bit of physical damage to shown she'd actually been beaten. Not only that but any hits to the nose tended to draw a lot of blood, and this one was a real gusher. It had to look pretty terrible.
Eventually Asami found the strength to sit upwards as she tried to focus her vision, Zaheer's figure dancing across her eyelids.
"I'm...I'm...sorry," Asami spoke sincerely as she spat out some of her own blood onto the ground, just to really nail the point. "I'm truly sorry..."
Zaheer waved his arm, an indication for Rei to shift out of the way. The Avatar's arms were trembling at her side, a bit of blood coating her dark knuckles. "Good job," Zaheer murmured as they passed each other.
Then the Red Lotus leader marched over to her, turning his head briefly to check that Rei was out of earshot and to briefly shout to the crowd. "One of you come and take Sato back to her cell." Then he leaned down to Asami, a smug expression on his face. "There is no game to be played here, you are alone. I hope that was a good demonstration. The same will befall Korra if you step out of line."
All Asami could do was nod her head in defeat, wiping away some of the blood from her face as someone pulled her roughly under her arms. They didn't even bother putting her in chains this time, she was far too weak and shocked to retaliate.
Zaheer had played her good this time.
End Notes
Okay you can hit me now. *Accepts onslaught*
That had to the most painful thing I've ever written. It's so horrible to have Korra actually hurting Asami. God I hate Zaheer so much now.
But despite that, let's celebrate the fact that Mako and Kuvira are getting somewhere with their investigation ahaha...okaybr /
Thoughts, rants, comments etc are all very welcome and encouraging. This is also the longest chapter so far, I'd call it a Christmas gift but then that would be a bit cruel. Merry Christmas!
Thank you for reading! :)
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