"Urgh..." Bolin groaned and covered his eyes from the late morning sun, they were hurting so bad. His muscles were tired and his mind exhausted. If it were up to his body he wouldn't get up for a week. 'But I got more important things to do than sleep all day', he said to himself, rolling over and bumping his head on a short bedside table, "Ouch!". Now his head hurt as well...some days he couldn't win a losing contest. Why was that thing even there? "Oh." he looked at his surroundings, somehow he'd gotten from the back yard to his mom's room...make that a 'mattress-side table'.

"You finally awake, Bro?" His brother asked from across the room, where he sat on the floor and leaned against the door with his chin on his chest. If he hadn't said anything Bolin would have thought he was asleep.

"Yeah."

"You're not gonna go all crazy on me again, are you?" Mako looked up with cautious eyes, causing Bolin to look at his hand. He knew it hadn't been a dream, so why was there no trace of blood or broken skin? Maybe it was the blurriness of his own eyes playing tricks on him.

"...no. How is my hand...Korra?"

"Korra." The elder brother nodded, "She and Asami left about an hour ago to grab a change of cloths and something to eat, should be back anytime."

"Oh, guess I better get up now." Not that it hadn't been part of the plan already.

"Yeah...listen Bro," he slowly stood up, and rubbed out a crick in his neck, "about what I said last night... I don't really think it was your fault. If Zolt hadn't been chasing you-"

"Yeah it was. I shoulda...done something." What, he didn't know. But he was sure that this could have been avoided if he'd done something differently.

"Come on... you could've done 'something'? Like what?"

"I...could've...called the police instead of her." Bolin said the very first thing that came to mind. No, it wasn't a great idea, but it was all he could think of on such short notice. His answer made Mako wish that he didn't ask and it make him very glad Lin wasn't around to hear that, she might earthbend him all the way to Ba Sing Se...oh, wait...scratch that. She'd probably hit him upside the head.

"Look, Bolin. I'm trying to help here," he sighed, "but all I can tell you is that you did exactly what Lin would want you to do, so there's no point in blaming yourself." Maybe putting a hand on his shoulder would help, "Alright?"

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"I know...but we'll find her and then you will." His little brother didn't seem to believe him and he understood why. When they found Lin she'd be a nonbender, and that meant that things...and Lin...would never be the same.

"Well, let's get to work."

"I was thinking that we could go to the police st-"

Knock, knock.

"Bolin," Asami slowly stuck her head through the door, "there's a man named Fai here to see you. Do you know him?" Fai...the name did sound familiar. Where did he hear it before?

"Oh!" it hit him like a bolt of lightning, "Yeah, I know him. Um, guess I better go talk to him."

"Bo, who is this guy?" Mako asked as they started down the stairs and caught a glimpse of a well-groomed, older man who practically reeked of snobbery and the avatar who was watching him like a lizardhawk.

"He's mom's lawyer. One of them, anyway. Fai, look I'm sorry, but I'm really busy right now."

"I'm here to deliver this to you, as instructed by Lady Beifong." he handed Bolin a small package. 'Lady Beifong?' Mako mouthed to Asami who nodded as the lawyer kept talking, "I tried to deliver it yesterday, but for obvious reasons I couldn't reach you."

"Thanks Fai. But I'm going to go look for my mom now and-"

"Actually." Fai held his hand up, halting Bolin, "That is a matter we need to discuss. As Lady Beifong's heirs, you and your brother-"

"Heirs?" the young Beifong figured out where the old family attorney was going with this and he didn't like it one bit. "Look pal," Bolin pointed a finger at him, "there'll be no inheriting for these heirs just yet, 'cause my mom is a tough old badgermole and it's gonna take a lot more than a psycho in a mask to get rid of her! So kindly leave us alone and don't come back for another fifty or sixty years!" He put a hand on the man's back and ushered him through out of the house, making a point to slam the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Korra asked with a mix of curiosity and awe, she would've never thought that Bolin even had a temper to lose.

"Can't believe those guys! Mom hasn't been missing for a day and they're already sending a man here to pass down the family fortune!"

"What fortune?" Mako asked sarcastically, "The whole five-thousand yuans she probably has tucked away in her life savings?" Bolin looked like he suddenly remembered something very important,

"Uhhh-"

"Why don't we talk about it over breakfast?" Asami broke in, as she always did in awkward moments such as these, "Come on, we got all kinds of things to eat." Some food would be almost as welcome as that eight hours of sleep they managed to get.

"We need to go look for my Mom."

"You have to eat and keep your strength up, you stubborn badgermole."Asami blinked as the words left her mouth. She'd heard more than one person say something along those lines to Lin but she couldn't believe she'd just said it to Bolin. And judging by the look he was giving her, it was the first time he'd been on the receiving end of it.

"Fine..." he relented as his stomach growled, "but it's under protest." He grumbled on his way to the kitchen.

"Now what was that all about?" Korra asked again as they passed the plates and food around.

"And what's in the package?"

"The family's lawyers are trying to make mom's funeral arrangements while she's still alive, just like they did after Grammy died and she was in the hospital." he answered before shoveling his face. "And it's thirty-thousand yuans in the package." he gulped down his food while three people stared at him, frozen in shock. "What? I asked mom for it, she gave it to me."

"How?" Mako inquired after the long moment of silence.

"What do you mean 'how'? She called Fai and told him to give it to me." He continued to eat, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.

"I mean 'how can she afford it'? No," they couldn't take it, "give it back."

"Even if I wanted to, she wouldn't let me." he scowled and gave Mako the Lin Beifong death glare, "'I didn't give you that money just to play 'hot sea-prune' with it, so if you don't want it then pass it off to charity, Boy'. Besides she can afford it."

"I doubt it." Mako deadpanned.

"Well, she is rich, Mako." Bolin finally let the owlcat out of the bag as he tipped his plate up to drink the leftover sauce.

"...You're kidding."

"Nope." He covered his mouth to belch.

"How rich?"

"Umm...filthy, stinking, loaded...she's the third richest person in the entire world. Is everyone done yet?"

"Almost." Korra rounded up the last few bites.

"Yes." Asami put her plate in the sink. Mako continued to stare at Bolin with a dropped jaw as his brain tried to process the information.

"Then let's get going. C'mon, Mako." he grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him out of the chair, leaving half his breakfast behind.

Tenzin was at headquarters when they arrived to see if they could possibly get an update on the equalist case. With one look at his downcast face all their hopes for a safe return came crashing down. The Airbender heaved a reluctant sigh and came over to speak with them,

"I'm glad the four of you are safe." he turned to Korra, "And thank you for calling and letting me know where you were."

"Uh, sure." It'd really been Asami's idea, but if it helped in her quest to gain some of her teacher's respect...

"So, any news?" His uncle wasn't supplying any details, which made Bolin a little nervous.

"There is still no information on your mother's whereabouts." He was obviously withholding information, but most of them took it in stride.

"Man," nothing...really?, "where can they be hiding?"

"They held you underground," Mako pointed out, "that's a start."

"There's a lot of underground tunnels in the city." It'd take weeks, maybe months to search through them all.

"Then let's get started." Korra called the charge, though she really didn't want to. Amon's powers terrified her beyond belief, but she couldn't let anyone know that she, the avatar, was afraid.

"I'd prefer if you didn't." Tenzin stopped them, the boys gave him a dirty look, Asami appeared confused, Korra had a split second of relief before hardening her face to show anger.

"She's family." Mako beat Bolin to the punch, "We can't turn our backs on her."

"It's too dangerous. You should let the police handle this."

"No! She wouldn't give up on us...she'd probably deck you for even suggesting it." the earthbender glared while the airbender readied himself to intercept a fist. This wasn't going to work. He'd been wrong all these years when he'd say that Bolin was the anomaly of the Beifong line, being neither hardheaded or short tempered. Because obviously Lin managed to install at least one of the family traits into the boy...and the second one was starting to make an appearance too. Only one thing left to do, let them know exactly what they were up against.

"You don't know what they're capable of." Or he could just chickenhog out with a pathetic warning, whichever.

"We saw Zolt and his men lose their bending." The young Sato reminded him that the benders knew exactly what would happen if they found Lin but failed to save her.

"What aren't you telling us?" The Airbending Master was clearly trying to conceal something from them, so Mako decided to finally call him out on it.

"The Equalists delivered the four men that lost their bending last night. Three of them are unharmed, but I'm afraid that Lightning Bolt Zolt was dead upon arrival."

"Was that really necessary, Chief Beifong? Without his bending, he was harmless." Amon brought in water, soap and a new shirt into the interrogation room where the former metalbender was chained to the steel table.

"That's what they said about Yakone. Look how many people died after he lost his bending." Ten police officers, two innocent bystanders...her father...all just to see a murdering criminal freed from his cage. The only regret her mother had in her entire life was not killing the bastard when she had the chance and Lin refused to make the same mistake.