-Team Avatar-

Chief Qu heard the doors fly open. He looked up to see Lin and Mako storming into his office.

"What do you think you two are doing? You can't just come in here?"

Lin angrily knocked all of Qu's things off of his desk. "What are we doing!? What is this whole government doing? You really believe you can support a man like Graft?" Lin yelled.

Qu cleared his face. "You can't be here, Lin. You aren't authorized." This was true, Lin had never been in Qu's office. A long rug trailed from the door to Qu's wooden, intricately sculpted desk. Behind him large windows overlooking the city. The center window directly faced a building. This view was interesting to Lin, she eyed it and failed to notice the two sentinels pointing guns at her. They were dressed in all black. Qu analyzed her face and saw the bits of frost trailing from Lin and Mako's hair. He looked at them suspiciously. It was snowing, but Lin looked as it she had been outside for an extended time, somewhere more extreme than Republic City.

"I think this has gotten out of hand, Qu," Lin said, but she knew she had already made a mistake by coming here.

"Lin, I know you are upset. I understand, but we can't afford to have you on this force anymore. Your behavior lately hasn't been acceptable and frankly you've lost whatever value you ever had."

Lin didn't speak. The men in the black, they looked like the same ones she and Mako fought on the mountain. The same men who stopped the fiends and killed Sabo and the other godfathers.

"I'll let this go, Lin, if you simply leave now. Quietly exit the building, and we will have no problems." Qu gave her a slip with his signature on it. A pink slip. She had been fired from the place she and her mother helped to create. She wouldn't fight him for it. Not now. It would come. But now was not the time. Lin slowly turned to leave, gesturing Mako to follow her.

They walked through hallways of the station, but they found no signs of any metalbenders, no police officers, nothing. Doors were closed. They reached the lobby, and it was empty as well. No calls. No people complaining about all the shootings, bombings, fires, disasters. None of the things caused by Graft's Clasma test subjects. Lin and Mako returned to their car.

It was the evening, and even the most active districts were empty save for several police cars that drove up and down the street. Lin was pulled over on her way home.

"Ma'am, new rule in place. Curfew. You can't be out this late," the officer said.

"Officer, I have the permission of Chief Qu," she handed him the slip.

"Head directly home, miss. Nowhere else. We see you out again and we will have to take you in. Have a nice night," he said and left her. Lin didn't want to know what happened to people who got arrested these days.

Mako sat in Lin's living room. She sat on her couch and almost fell asleep. "I'm beat."

"Lin, why did we just leave? What just happened?"

Lin sat up. "It's no use going to Qu. He's in on it too. Didn't you see his men? They were the same ones we fought on the mountain and the same ones people have seen across the city. I noticed there were no metalbenders around either, I think they are all becoming those super-soldiers. He's helping Graft with his work."

"Graft's creating monsters," and I helped him when I was younger, Mako thought. I helped him make the things that killed my own parents without knowing it.

"We have to focus on stopping him. If we can expose him somehow, if we can find a way to make this city turn their backs on him, then Qu would fall, too. Qu is just a puppet being pulled by Graft. It's no use talking to him, but I noticed the building his office directly faces. I think that is where Graft is."

Mako got up and began pacing. "We can't take Graft ourselves. We can't just barge in. We need to somehow get him caught in his act, but then still, would people want to believe us? Would they want to give up this illusion of safety? The only people who would have ever risen up against this government were the business owners and engineers that lost their companies to him. But they have all left the city. They are just gone. They were the ones to turn to now. They hated Graft, they were the elite, but we've been abandoned by them. Now we are left with people who bow down to Graft. Who have no idea the danger he is introducing. People who are too comfortable and voluntarily ignorant to help us. "

"You're right. Those were the ones we could have turned to, but they've disappeared thanks to Graft. It's no use trying to find them. We might not have time. But there is someone who can help us. We need Bolin. I need to tell him what has happened. And, I haven't heard from him all day. I'm worried."

"I'll go get him. You've already gotten your curfew warning, just lend me your car. If anything I'll say I stole it. This concerns my family, now. I want to be the one to tell Bolin what is happening."

Lin was tired. Mako seemed very alert, so she agreed to give him the keys while she rested. Mako promised to return quickly, sped downstairs and was on the street to Bolin's. He took back roads and drove down alleyways, avoiding main, busy roads so that police officers wouldn't see him, but a peculiar thing happened. He spotted a police car parked on the side of the road, two cops in the front seats watching for people breaking curfew he assumed. "Shit, just act cool," he told himself. The car was parked parallel to the street in the direction he was going. He passed the car and the two cops shined a light in his direction. He squinted as the light passed over his face. They saw him, and he began to sweat as his anxiety rose.

They never stopped him. They didn't move. Lin had driven and they immediately pulled her over. He wondered why the cops did nothing now. He arrived at Bolin's place and ran upstairs to his apartment. Mako knocked on the door, and when no answer came, he kicked it open. He was unsettled by what he saw.

Bolin lied on the ground in his undershirt and boxers, blood from a small cut caked on his face. The rest of the apartment was a mess of overturned furniture and broken appliances. Bolin was out cold. Mako poured water on his face and tried to get him to wake up. "Bolin! Bolin wake up!" Bolin's eyes slowly opened. "Bolin, come on, man."

"Mako? Mako what happened!?" he looked around frantically. He rose to his feet and looked around his bedroom, in his bathroom and under his bed.

"I don't know. I just got here and saw you on the ground. You tell me what happened." Bolin sat down on his bed, trying to reconstruct the events of the night. Mako sat next to him. "Hey, bro, seriously, are you okay? Did something bad happen?"

Bolin shook his head, "No, I thought something …great had happened actually. I think. I met this girl recently and we were talking…"

This was about the last thing Mako expected to hear. Did Bolin just get drunk out of happiness and lose control of himself on his apartment? "Uhm, that is great…did you trash the place out of celebration?"

"No…I didn't do this, I don't think. And no one robbed me, I was here. I was...dude, I was having sex!"

Again, Mako was completely thrown off, but also happy for his brother. It was nice that seeing his brother happy was enough to ease his own pains. "Dude, nice. With this girl you met? Who is she?"

"Sydney…" upon saying her name, the memories of the night came flying back. He relayed what he was remembering to Mako. He lied in bed with Sydney, naked and free and feeling the only happiness he had felt in his life even if just for a few hours. He watched her fall asleep, and she knew she was safe. He was her savior, but more importantly, he loved her. He loved her and loved seeing her happy and smiling and safe with him. He put his arm around her. He fell asleep with her. He wanted the happiness to last forever but…

Bolin's eyes opened. He saw her still there. Her eyes were open too. She looked scared. "Sydney, what is it?"

"I think…I heard something." She rose and put some of her clothes on. Bolin did as well.

"Are you sure? What did it sound like?"

"I'm not sure what it sounded like, it just sort of felt like something…

Bolin pulled his shirt over his head and saw Sydney standing there, trying to explain, but beyond her stood a man next to the bed. Dressed in all black. The man pulled out a metal ball with a pin.

No. Bolin tried desperately to reach for something, anything that he could throw or bend, but the flash went off and he was blinded. He saw white, and woke up just now to see Mako. "Those men, the ones in black, they took her."

Mako took a knee in front of Bolin. "Bro, that is the reason I've come for you. Those were Graft's men. It's time for Graft's reign to end. You and me, we are going to stop him."

l-l

The brothers drove back to Lin's. Bolin took the wheel this time. "Damn, this thing runs so much better than my hunk of crap. This seat doesn't even thrash around from the engine!"

"It's not supposed to do that, Bo. Your car just sucks."

"Hey, what about the police? Aren't they looking for people out late?"

"Yeah, I don't think we will have a problem. They didn't do anything when they saw me."

"So, you and Lin definitely have a plan on how to do this?"

"Well, not exactly…we need to find a way to lead Graft into a trap where he will expose himself as a criminal."

"What?" Bolin said. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him and save her from this even if it means my life. I want to give her what she might not ever have again: her own life, with her own thoughts, and her own person."

"But, Bolin, we can't become terrorists. We can't make Graft a martyr. He has a whole corrupted government behind him."

"Then we'll bring the whole establishment down. We'll tear them apart so everyone can see what he truly is. That'll generate the fire we need in these worthless remaining citizens to do something. To follow us."

Mako wasn't sure Bolin's ideas were rational. Bolin was angry, he wanted revenge. It was understandable, but it wasn't practical to just kill a man. When they returned to Lin's, however, Mako started to see that this may be the only option. On the roof of Lin's building, two red eyes beamed down at the brothers, long spider-like legs grappled onto the walls holding the figure up. It then disappeared.

"Shit, Bolin come on!"

Lin lied on her couch, half-awake, thinking about Graft and Qu, seeing their psychotic faces, their blackened eyes, their bloody hands and…

Clank

Lin fully awoke, her eyes wide. She heard the clank again, right behind her couch. Her front door swung open, the sound of rushing footsteps against her wooden floor. Mako rushed toward the small metal sphere and kicked it to the window. Before reaching the outside world, the sphere exploded into a fire storm engulfing half of Lin's apartment.

"Lin!" but Lin was deafened, she only saw Mako's lips moving. The flames swirled around her head and her apartment was slowly consumed. If Mako hadn't come, she would be just like her apartment, getting swallowed.

Lin saw Mako blur as he moved toward her. A figure rushed into the room after him and she recognized it to be Bolin. They were yelling about something that she couldn't hear, but she could feel. The floor of her apartment vibrated violently as she heard the sound of the monster's steps impending.

Bolin grabbed Lin and Mako's shirts, picked them off the ground and ran to the huge hole in Lin's apartment wall. They jumped out and quickly landed on a piece of the sidewalk Bolin had uplifted then lowered toward the car. Sirens were echoing in the distance as they started to drive from the burning building being evacuated. As Bolin sped down the barren streets, Mako looked behind them and gasped.

"What is it? Graft's men?" Bolin yelled. Lin turned to see what Mako was looking at. It looked like the fire from the apartment building was stretching out a long, flaming arm and was coming right at their car. It followed closely behind.

"The fire is following us." Looking harder, at the front of the ball of flame was the red-eyed drone. The drone was jet-propelling itself at them by shooting fire from its feet and hands, gliding smoothly and quickly over the surface.

Mako rolled down his window and tried to hit the monster with a lightning bolt, but the monster redirected it easily into a building, destroying it.

"Mako!" Bolin yelled. "What'd you do!?"

Mako watched in horror at the small store his lightning bolt had just dismantled. This monster had no regard for anything around it and cared only to silence the three. Lin looked at the monster riding the fire and it made her remember the stories her mother used to tell about the evil, Fire Nation princess Azula. Only this thing could use other elements as well. The car swerved as Bolin tried to avoid oncoming rocks that the monster was earthbending at them. Mako shot fire out the window, but the monster simply dodged his shots and countered with an even stronger wave of flames. Bolin felt the heat as the flames missed his car and spread across the town's building, consuming them. The entire block behind them was left burning. This had to end quickly before the monster burnt down the whole city.

The drone earthbended a chunk of the road that uplifted before the car and the giant piece of earth quickly came for them. Bolin shifted gears and made a sharp right turn down a backstreet. While turning, he moved his left hand backwards, earthbending the giant piece of road away from their car and hitting the monster, causing its fire trail to burst and explode in all directions. Just like that. Bolin smirked.

The battle wasn't over. Police sirens could be heard in all directions. Bolin kept driving. Mako and Bolin made potholes in the road behind them as they drove away, hoping it would deter the police. They had nowhere to go in the city, and they were soon upon the woods of the city limits.

Bolin didn't know where he was going, as long as the sirens kept getting fainter, he would drive until they were completely gone. They were deep into the woods as they drove southbound into the rolling hills. He started to slow down when they were sure they weren't followed. No lights were behind them, just darkness. Bolin wondered how long it had been, or if the sun had just decided it wasn't going to rise today. The night was never going to end.

"Where am I going?" Bolin asked. "Wait, we can't leave. I'm not leaving." Bolin stopped the car.

"Bolin, there are people who want to kill us. You saw what they did. We can't just go back. They'll find us and then we won't be able to anyone any good," Mako said.

"So, what? We are just going to run away? Leave all of Republic City behind and just run like cowards? I'm not doing that."

Mako grabbed Bolin's arm. "Bolin, I'm not saying that. We aren't running, we're just trying to stay alive. I promise you, we aren't turning our backs on anyone, we just have to lay low, at least for now. At least until we figure out what to do about all this. We'll save her. We aren't giving up."

In the back seat, Lin put her head back, tuning out the world and trying to get her senses back. Bolin continued to drive for a few minutes before Mako began recognizing where they were.

"Bolin, there is no way you can't know where we are."

"It's hard to tell when it's this dark. Why, you know?"

"Yeah, but, I don't think I'm going to like it. Unfortunately, it might be our only safe house…"

Mako directed Bolin up the road until they reached a driveway. The gates read, "Sato".

"Oh," Bolin said.

"Yeah, 'oh'", Mako repeated. "Well, let's see what happens."

The brothers helped Lin out of the car and walked her to the front door. After a few knocks, the door opened but instead of a friendly face, they were met with the barrel of a long pistol.

"Asami…we need help," said Mako, hoping that was who he was talking to. The gun pointed down and the long, black-haired girl showed herself in the doorway.

"Mako…Please, come in. I'm sorry," she said quickly. The three walked in and seated themselves in the main hall. Lin turned down the offer to lie in a bed and simply massaged her head a little to try and get back to normal.

"Well…where do we start…" Mako said. He knew Asami could be trusted. The awkwardness of them being in a room together again was contained as the gravity of the situation rested above all of their heads. Asami admitted that she knew that Graft was an enemy and that he needed to go down.

Mako, Bolin, and Lin told Asami their story. They explained the plight of the gangsters and that they were just being used. They explained Graft's past and that he and a man named Solomon discovered Clasma. They told of their trip to Mount Ozai, and the monster that followed them down the mountain and tried to murder Lin. And finally, they told Asami that the government was part of all this. It was all part of their project. Graft's project.

"It's much deeper than that," Bolin said. "It's not just that Graft has been taking police officers and fusing them with Clasma. He's been doing it for years. He's been testing this stuff on innocent people that he somehow abducts. The stuff erases their memory and they take on personalities of someone else. When it fails he throws them on Pratt Street. No one would ever listen to anyone who lives there."

Asami explained that Graft had everything in the city. He had absorbed all of the businesses, he had all the resources he needed, he had the trust of some and was feared by many. He was extremely dangerous and unstable.

"Graft," Lin said, "needs to be stopped. I always thought that we had to wait, to find a way to protect ourselves while we bring him down, trap him in some clever plan that would expose him. We don't have time. Graft and his whole body of henchmen are killers. They wanted to silence me for knowing the truth. They tried to keep me from investigating these events and when I didn't give up, they sent an assassin to do me in. They have no concern for the safety of this city as long as the people do not know they are doing all this and continue to depend on them. Graft cannot be reasoned with. He has given up his humanity for his mission, and in the end, we are paying for it. He is no longer considered a human to me, and because of that, we must eliminate him."

No one disagreed. If they didn't stop him, the city would burn.

"Well, Team Avatar, saving the world again, huh?" Bolin said, his voice was trying to reach that tone of optimism. His old self.

"We've saved it before," Mako said. "I think we can do it again, even though we don't have the Avatar."

"Oh, I don't think that is true." The voice was right next to Mako. In the chair perpendicular to him, a young woman sat, her face completely veiled by her hood. He had not seen her sit down. No one had noticed her there this whole time. Like she just appeared from nowhere.

She removed her hood.

"I think she's been much closer than you think," Korra said.