Money from Wolfbats
After some debate with a close friend of mine, we decided on The Lieutenant, though Tarrlok will be fun as well!
I have to share this. Said friend called me earlier laughing her head off. Her mother was changing channels and came across the Legend of Korra marathon. She told her that she knew they would play it to death, then she stopped when she saw Tahno. My best buddy's mother then proceeded to say, "Ooh, he's hot for a cartoon character!" Loved it!
Chapter 5: The Lieutenant
Tahno sat in the backseat of their Satomobile, anxiously bouncing his foot as he waited for Ming and Shaozu. Their newest 'contestant' was not someone he himself would have chosen. It had been Shaozu's idea, and Tahno wanted no part of it. Except to witness whatever chaos they had planned, of course.
Ming slid onto the seat next to him as Shaozu continued to stand by the vehicle, muttering last minute instructions into the microphone. " - if you tell Amon it's us doing this, we'll deny everything, remember?"
"Let's get this over with," Tahno drawled.
"Right," Shaozu said, joining the other two Wolfbats in the car. He slammed the door and leaned forward, watching to get a good view.
"How did you convince him to do this again?" Tahno asked.
"Easy. We told him this money could help fund Amon's insane anti-bender attacks. Well, not with those terms," Ming said. "Just watch. Amon won't kill us."
Tahno scoffed. He had already removed their bending. Tahno would not have put it past him to kill someone. Especially someone doing just what the Wolfbats had planned.
"Ready?" Shaozu asked into the microphone. "We're going to start this off easy. I want you to ask Amon what the inside of his mask smells like.
On their screens, The Lieutenant looked unsure. "Go on, that's fifty easy yuans towards your little group there. I'm sure they'd appreciate it."
The Lieutenant walked over to Amon, who stood with two underlings discussing their recent capture of several benders. Tahno scowled at the image but continued to say nothing. A smirk, however, fought its way to his face when he heard Amon's right hand man ask him what the inside of his mask smelled like.
"What?"Amon asked, low enough so that the Wolfbats could hardly hear him.
"I was just wondering, is all."
"Tell him you never see him without it, so you just wondered if it had some sort of 'funk' to it. We'll give you another fifty for that."
Before he could ask, Amon left The Lieutenant and headed towards one of the many exits in their underground hideout.
"Sorry, you missed that one, but you have plenty of chances to earn more," Ming said. "How about you ask those two what Amon was discussing with them? That's an easy one that won't get you hurt."
The Lieutenant turned to the two Equalists, who both stood rooted to the ground, shocked that anyone would ask anything like that to Amon. "So, what were you talking about?"
"We weren't talking about anything," the shorter one said nervously. "Honest."
"You were talking to Amon just now. What did he have to say?"
"Nothing," the taller one said, a little too quickly for The Lieutenant's liking.
Shaozu took the microphone back from Ming and said, "Get hysterical and accuse them of talking about you behind your back!"
There was a moment's hesitation from him, then The Lieutenant looked from one Equalist to the other. Then he said, "You were talking about me, weren't you?"
"No, sir!"
"We would never – !"
"Admit it!" The Lieutenant shouted. "You were talking about me! You plan to take my place!" He reached for his weapons, but the two Equalists fled before he could even touch them. He chuckled to himself. That was almost fun.
"Great! You're up to two hundred yuans. See if you can find Amon again."
It took a few minutes, but The Lieutenant did find his boss. Amon's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "Have you come to ask if my boots smell as well?"
"I'm sorry, I should have never asked such a thing." The Lieutenant cleared his throat, not expecting Amon to say anything. Before he could chicken out, he blurted out the next question Ming told him to ask. "So, if you were a bender, what type would you be?"
"What?" Amon snarled. "How dare you ask such a thing?"
"Tell him it's a friendship quiz!" Ming shouted into the microphone. Beside him, Tahno was trying not to laugh. Who knew it could be so easy to get under Amon's skin?
"It's like a friendship quiz," The Lieutenant began, taking a step back as Amon advanced towards him. "You know, you and I have worked together for quite some time. I hardly know anything about you."
"You're not supposed to," Amon said coldly.
"Quick tell him that you'll share one of your secrets if he shares his. Your secret is that you really enjoy the smell of panda lilies."
"I enjoy the smell of panda lilies," The Lieutenant blurted out. "There, that's a secret of mine. Now you say one of yours. That's how this works!"
"Give me that!" Tahno snatched the microphone from Shaozu. "Lieu, I'm call you Lieu whether you like it or not. This is Tahno. Your first one hundred yuan task is ready to start, and I'm taking over. First off, I want you to run from Amon, to wherever you keep prisoners if you have them. If you manage to get there before Amon catches you, I'll give you one hundred yuans. Easy enough, right?"
The Lieutenant did not answer. He ducked down and raced past Amon. Ming and Shaozu exchanged a glance over Tahno's head as they watched him race down one shadowed corridor after another. He raced up a flight of steps, past two Equalists who only had a second or two to register who just sped past them, and down another corridor. By the time he reached the cells, The Lieutenant was winded.
"Great going, Lieu, you made it past the scariest guy I've ever met. We'll give you a minute to catch your breath before your next task."
The Lieutenant could only nod as he bent over, his hands on his knees. He was winded and not fully sure Amon would be forgiving. He was not even sure what the three former pro-benders had in store for him. He only knew now that losing their bending seemed to have made them crazy.
"Ready, Lieu?" came Tahno's voice. "I want you to set your prisoners free. While doing that, I want you to shout to them to be free and run to their villages."
"Are you mad?" The Lieutenant hissed, causing one of the prisoners in the cell nearest to him to jump in surprise.
"Do it! You guys are so great that you'll catch them all easily before they can escape completely," Tahno drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
With a sigh, The Lieutenant walked over to a small metal portion of the wall in front of him. He slid it open and punched in a random number passcode that only a handful of Equalists knew. The doors slid open with a metallic rattle.
The prisoners, however, stood staring at the open doors, and the masked man in front of them, in disbelief.
"Go!" he shouted to them. "Run, be free! Run back to your villages! Go!" He made shooing gestures towards the way he came. At first no one moved. Then a young woman took a timid step out of her cell. She glanced back at him, then dashed down the corridor as quickly as she could. Others began to follow suit.
"That's it, you're free! Get back to your – "
The Lieutenant was cut off by Amon, who had sneaked up on his right hand man undetected. He used his skill at chi blocking to knock his strangely acting lieutenant out. When he hit the concrete floor, the Wolfbats lost their camera feed as the small camera broke. The three of them stared at the snowy monitors for a full minute in awe and fear.
Finally, it was Shaozu who spoke. "Does – does that count?"
"Yeah," Ming said with a tiny squeak, "I guess that one counts."
Tahno removed the keys to the Satomobile from his pocket and offered them to Ming. "Get us out of here, would you?"
As Ming drove them away from the Equalist hideout, Shaozu asked, "So what are we going to do about his six hundred and fifty yuans?"
"We'll send them to him in a nice card," Tahno replied.