The last scene of this chapter was the first glimpse of this story I had in my mind several months ago, and was basically what this entire thing was created around. It took a while to make a full plot around a little bit like that, but it's always a nice feeling when I get to this point in a story and can see it posted.

Enjoy!

Warrior Raging

Chapter 6

"You had better be prepared to either kill or die for that man."

Toph had said several things before she and Tenzin left, but those words were the ones that continued to ring through Lin's head. She had also told her very pointedly not to die, poking her hard in the chest as she did so. Lin certainly had no intention of doing either of those things, but she hadn't bothered attempting to explain herself to her mother. Of all the pointless endeavors she had undertaken over the years, she had long since put "defending her actions to Ma" at the top of that list.

"I still can't believe our mothers," Tenzin said, bringing her out of her thoughts. They had stopped for a late dinner and were leaning against the trunk of a large tree as they watched the sun make its lazy way toward the horizon, only a few hours from the border of Republic City.

Lin chuckled airily, taking a swig of cool water from the metal canteen shared between them. "Let me amend that for you – you can't believe my mother. She probably cajoled yours into the whole thing."

He just shook his head distractedly as he gazed off toward the mountains, the physical landmark surrounding their home. "Making a bet whether we would – well, it's just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous." He reached out to pick up the cracker he had been eating, setting it right back down again. "I'm going to call Mother the moment I get home and talk to her about just what the meaning of all this is."

"Obviously she thought you -" Were making a mistake, is what she was about to say, but she cut the words off quickly before they could come out. Tenzin turned his head to look at her in mild confusion, wondering whether she was going to continue, and she blithely added, "Thought you had mixed feelings. Besides, she was probably betting against my mom."

"I suppose," he replied, not noticing her cover.

"Let's finish up here and get going. If we don't stop again, we might actually make it back by midnight."

xXx

Lin's timing was impeccable, and Tenzin rounded them over the station at her request just after eleven thirty. They decided not to follow around the mountains the way they had left days earlier, instead returning by flying the shortest path to shave as much time as possible. It worked marvelously, and they landed in the courtyard off to the side of the building, lights from windows overhead dim and showing just how late it was. She stepped away from him but didn't make any immediate movement to leave, instead looking around them for anything out of place.

"Are you going to stay here tonight?" Tenzin asked softly, bringing her attention back to him.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I haven't decided yet."

It was a response to both the immediate question and to the one unasked – the larger question about their quickly changing relationship – and she met his eyes through the not-quite-black darkness. "Well," he said, not shying away from her, "would it be all right with you if I stayed? With you, wherever you decide?"

Lin was quiet for a moment, her eyes flicking over his shoulder to focus on the large metal and wooden doors leading inside her personal fortress before looking back at him. His face was calm and so filled with love, and she gave him a small smile. "Yes, it is all right with me."

He reached out to grasp her hand, leaving it lowered between them in the shadows. "Thank you."

"We still need to talk," she told him firmly, "but we can…go home for now, get some decent sleep. If I'm this tired, I can only imagine how exhausted you must be. Let me just run inside to get some stuff to catch up on and check the logs, make sure everything is all right here. I'll talk to Lang first thing in the morning. Want to come with me or stay out here and meditate?"

The bit about meditating was a joke and he grinned at her. "I'll wait for you," he said anyway. The breeze, while very chilly, felt comforting as it swept in from the sea and he wanted to stay here with it for the few minutes it would take her to gather her things together. She nodded silently in understanding, turning to go on into the warm, lit building, bag slung over her shoulder. He watched until she disappeared, and then cast his gaze out over the empty courtyard.

"Excuse me?"

The voice came from the far side of the square near the alley, and he looked in that direction to see a young man walking quickly across the distance toward him. "Yes?" Tenzin asked, somewhat wary now that they were back in the city. He didn't appear dangerous – young and clean-shaven, though seeming somewhat lost.

"Could you point me toward Upper Common Street, please?" he asked as he neared.

xXx

Lin turned on the electric lamp on her desk, not bothering with the gas lamps on the wall when all she wanted was to gather specific files and information before leaving again. Della wasn't in – the well-kept log said she had left for the night a few hours ago – and she glanced through the sheaves of paper stacked neatly waiting for her. Several sealed scrolls were set off to the side, though she ignored those to look at later.

A loud crash and the resounding smack of wood against something solid outside caught her attention through the silence. She hastened around her desk and looked out the window, squinting through the darkness down to the courtyard. A flurry of red and yellow pulled her eyes to the entrance of the alley on the far left, where she only just caught sight of five men bodily shoving a cloth over Tenzin's face and dragging him away the moment he went slack.

"Tenzin!" she cried, numbing fear pulsing through her.

She shoved her window open quickly, leaping up onto the ledge and jumping outside without thinking. "Tenzin! Stop, stop!" Two of the men looked up, almost startled to see her diving out of her office down the side of the building with her cables. The largest of the five hefted the unconscious Tenzin over his shoulder and all of them took off at a fast run, his glider clattering to the paving stones from his limp hand.

"Tenzin!" Her voice was hoarse with the strength of her shout, and she sprinted after them the moment her feet touched the ground, rounding the corner of the alley just behind them in time to hear a Satomobile screeching away from the other end. "Tenzin! Tenzin, no!"

Her heart was beating fast enough to burst as she stood there alone, staring in shock down the empty alley. They got him, was the only agonizing thought racing through her mind.

She didn't know where they were going, she hadn't yet discovered where their main headquarters was located or even who the clan's leader was. She had no idea where to start looking. So, quite simply, she couldn't let them get to where they were headed. Very quickly, she shot a wire to one of the thick cables above, pulling herself up onto the rooftops. Her feet landed on the slanted roof of the building beside the precinct and she climbed to the top and continued running, looking to the streets below for any glimpse of the car. She cabled herself from roof to roof, boots pounding the gold and orange clay tiles as she searched.

Suddenly she saw the car hurdling down a side street headed toward Upper Common Street, jerking from side to side as the driver was pushed by the man in the passenger seat. She recognized the large man who had grabbed Tenzin, and saw a large covered bundle in the laps of the three in the back.

Lin sped her pace to lessen the distance between them tremendously before tugging hard on the cobblestones under the vehicle, tossing it over on its side with a metallic crunch. Tenzin tumbled lifelessly from under the cloth as the men scrambled to their feet from the crashed car.

She jumped down from the rooftop, immediately falling into a fighting stance. One of the broken cobbles came flying through the air toward her, and she changed its path to soar back to the man who threw it. Before she could take in who was where, a searing blaze of fire came through the darkness and she dodged quickly, rolling forward into the street and pulling up a wall of earth at the same time. The flame hit the barrier, heating it and fading away as the attacker realized she was already gone. She broke it open, bringing two large pieces around her to shove forward toward the Firebender. The attack was unexpected enough that, though he tied to run, one of the rocks hit him hard in the shoulder and brought him to the ground, unconscious.

Several shards of stone came pummeling in her direction, and she raised another wall to prevent them from hitting her. One of the Earthbenders broke her wall, sending it backward forcefully until she shoved it down and leapt over the remnants. She lashed out with a cable, catching the closest man and using his own momentum to toss him far from the tussle, where he did not move. Three left.

They descended before she could assess their abilities. One of the remaining was a Waterbender, and he attacked for the first time with a fierce ice lance, missing her by a hair as she spun away. They closed in, trying to keep her space tight, and she pulled a surge up on the earth to knock them back. More cobbles were displaced and she grabbed several and threw them out in a fan. The men knocked most of them away, though a few hit arms and torsos enough to make them stumble.

The Waterbender and two Earthbenders struck out at the same time, reforming their ring around her and funneling several large rocks into a forceful stream of water pulled up from the gutter. It hit her hard and she fell backward onto her side, rolling quickly to miss the heavy rock coming down to smash the ground where her head had been. She ended beside the second Earthbender and, extending her knife, she didn't think before stabbing him cleanly through the left leg and again in the right shoulder. He cried out in pain and she pushed him away.

One Earthbender and the Waterbender left now.

The three of them stood there for a split second eyeing one another and panting. Lin struck first, swinging her cable out to snag the Waterbender's arm. He jerked back from her, grabbing hold of the water again and turning it to ice with the intention of cutting the metal, but Lin pulled him toward her quickly and tightened the cord so swiftly it broke his arm. He hunched forward, but his expression turned deadly and, still grasping the water, he brought the ice around his unbroken arm to shove up with his fist toward the exposed skin of her neck. She dodged at the last moment, the ice scraping the armor around her throat and cutting her skin enough to draw blood, as she used her knife to jab into his stomach the second he was close enough. He fell with a choking gasp as his blood gushed out slickly over her armor, the only one likely to die. She didn't care.

The last man began to run, his footsteps loud through the stiff silence that fell so suddenly.

Lin let him go and dashed to Tenzin's side, reaching out for him before she had even knelt to the ground.

"Tenzin," she murmured urgently, bloody hands searching for his pulse. "Tenzin, open your eyes, look at me. Tenzin!" His heart was thudding gently under her fingers, and she lowered her head to hold her cheek over his open mouth, feeling for his breath to puff against her skin. Tears burned her eyes and she blinked them away quickly. He was alive. He didn't even appear to be badly injured, aside from clearly being unconscious.

After pausing for just a moment to gather herself, Lin stood again to find a nearby emergency line to phone the station for help.