9:00/ One hour after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Holding Cell

"Get her in a cell." Oh wonderful, the equalists decided to imprison someone else. Who was it to be this time, a criminal, cop, ordinary citizen who did absolutely nothing to anyone? Well, Lin would find out very soon.

"Hey! Who piled a bunch of junk in the first cell?" A second, unseen, voice asked irritably.

"Just put her in..." Kushi immediately reconsidered her idea, this person was not the friendliest cellmate, after all. And if this particular prisoner got hurt Amon would kill them. On the other hand, cleaning out the first cell would be a lot of work, "Hey Beifong. You got a problem with this one?" She shoved new inmate into Lin's vision.

"Beifong?" Wonderful, Amon already had his hands on the avatar. The chief was simply dying to hear how this little event came to pass. Crossing her arms and glaring at the girl, she gave them an honest answer,

"Nothing I would kill her for." Oh, she might be knocking some sense into the young avatar pretty soon, but the girl would survive it...most likely. Korra was an idiot, but did she really deserve to die for that? They chi-blocked the girl and threw her into the cell. So the kid still had her bending...saving her for the finale, was he?

9:00/ One hour after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Interrogation Room

Meanwhile, Bolin and Mako had been thrown into an interrogation room, but no one came in to ask any questions. Both were still reeling over the betrayal, and Bolin had just finished his unfortunate duty to tell Mako about his girlfriend joining the equalists. It wasn't pretty. The little brother could only remember seeing the big brother cry one time...just one time and their parents had just died.

"We...g-gotta g-et outta he-here." He sniffled. Was Mako really sniffling?, "Mea-metalbend."

"Bro, I can't." He raised his arms dramatically while his brother brought the waterworks under control.

"Try."

"Look, do you know why Grammy called me 'Rhyolite'?" Well, he'd tell him, "It's a volcanic rock with very little iron in it. She knew back then that I'm not metalbender material!" Bolin turned to sit facing the door and sulked.

9:09/ One hour after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Holding Cell

"What act of stupidity landed you here?" Lin asked when the guards left them alone.

"Hiroshi, he's an equalist! He had a factory under his mansion where he's been building weapons for them!"

"Hiroshi Sato?" Had she been in this prison alone for so long that she'd started to hallucinate?

"He's got Bolin and Mako, too. Asami joined him." The older woman's world just stopped. For a few seconds she didn't even breathe. Then as her body kicked back into motion, tears started welling up in her eyes. She turned and went to the back corner of the cell, doing her best to hide it, not that it wasn't obvious. If her shoulders hadn't been shaking, if she hadn't raised her hand to her mouth to muffle her cries...if her hand did successfully smother the sounds, then she might have gotten away with crying, but as it was...no.

"I'm sorry, Chief." Her cell mate's voice barely registered. 'I trusted him/how many times have I let my son stay with them/ I'm such an idiot, now my boys are gonna pay for my failure/how could that bastard fool me for ten years?!',and these were only some of the thoughts racing through her head.

"That bastard!" With a roar that would make a sabertooth mooselion run for cover, Lin whirled around, grabbed the braces of the double-layered bunk and knocked it over. Korra rushed to the wall to avoid the wood frame; in horror she watched a very angry mother release all her pent up frustration on the inanimate object.

9:16/ One hour after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Equipment Room

"You'll make a fine equalist, Asami." It nearly brought Hiroshi to tears, seeing his daughter don the uniform.

"Thanks, Dad." She smiled as Kushi handed her the last piece of standard-issue equipment, a set of lock picks, "I can't wait to get started."

"You'll be set up on south end-" CRASH!, "Beifong!" They ran out of the room and down to the holding cells as fast as their legs could carry them. Kushi messed up, royally. She knew she shouldn't have put the avatar in with that murderer! She could only hope that they weren't too late. The noise stopped before they reached the origin of the ruckus. That couldn't be good.

"The situation is under control." The lieutenant and his men had beaten them there. Asami looked into the cage, Lin and Korra were standing on some broken wood that was scattered across the floor, presumably to avoid electrocution from the lieutenant's kali sticks.

"You see what I mean, Sweetie?" This was the perfect example for Hiroshi to give his daughter, "If she still had her bending, that little temper tantrum would have killed us all."

"No, just you, and maybe the other morons." Lin's hands were bleeding; Asami moved in to help,

"Don't get too close." The ranking equalists advised, "She already killed Lightning Bolt Zolt." Before the young woman had time to recover from the shock, Lin called to her from the other side of the bars.

"No, by all means, come in here, Asami. I'd like to have a word with you." There was a small part in the back of Lin's mind that couldn't believe it was coming to this. One year ago she wouldn't dream of hurting that kid, she always liked her. But her anger was preventing her from caring about the past all that much.

"Don't you touch my daughter!" Hiroshi said with a raised fist. Lin almost laughed,

"But you can betray and capture my boys?!" Fair was fair, except when the turnabout went against them, "Not very equal is it?!" She challenged, "Come on, Hiroshi, I'm a nonbender now just like you, so you don't have an excuse anymore. Get your ass in here!" 'And let me have a fair shot at you'. No movement, only a scoff, "You're a coward."

"Move!" The Lieutenant shoved Hiroshi to the left, saving him from a flying piece of wood and taking it in the side of the head himself, "Augh..." he wiped always some blood, "that's it!"

"No/don't do it/you can't..." Five people held the man back from doing exactly what Lin wanted.

"I'm fine," he forced everyone off him, "let's go." He needed to find some gaze and a way to safely get that mess out of the cell. Hiroshi, on the other hand, hated the very notion of letting Lin off the hook and didn't want to leave.

"But-"

"No. It's Amon's orders, we leave her alone."

10:00/ Two hours after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Interrogation Room

'Ah, well...what could it hurt to try?' Bolin was tired of sulking and there was nothing else to do. So he slapped his hand against the door. Nothing. So he did it again. Nope. Again. Nadda. Negative. And nothing. Finally a creak was heard. Mako looked up excitedly...before the door opened to reveal equalists on the other side.

Bolin scrambled across the room. Mako kicked a flame at them, they dodged. They filled the small room, grabbing Mako by the arm and locking it in the table restraints. A couple more people put his little brother in handcuffs and dragged him out of the room.

"Bolin! No!"

"Dad, you said they weren't going to hurt them." Asami watched her friend was taken away from his brother.

"It's the only way to control her." The Lieutenant reasoned as his subordinates moved the young man along.

"Mom!" She was here! He tried to break free of the grip to get to her.

"Bolin!" She ran to the bars and reached out for him.

"Step back!" Kali sticks crisscrossed around Bolin's neck, "Do it now!" She gave him such a hard glare that Bolin thought it might actually cause the man to burst into flames, but she did as she was told. Grabbing Korra by the arm, she backed away until they were up against the wall, "Get that mess cleaned up." The people cautiously entered Lin's space and cleared away the pieces. Once they were finished they dragged him away and back to the interrogation room.

"Bo! Are you okay?" Mako asked, freed from his bonds but crippled from the fear that his brother had just lost his bending.

"Mom's here!"

12:00/ Four hours after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Holding Cell

Two more hours of pacing the floor like a caged animal had been interrupted by a another set of footsteps, followed by two Kali sticks being slid through the bars. After delivering her peace offering, Asami looked Lin in the eyes to see if it was safe to go within arm reach. The woman nodded her thanks, then picked up her new weapons.

"...You do know how to use these, don't you?" She asked holding the lock picks up.

"Kid, if we get outta here, remind me to apologize." Lin replied, almost gleefully setting the weapons aside and snatching the tool, "Where are the boys?"

"The interrogation room."

12:11/ Four hours after Mecha Tank Test Run- Equalist Interrogation Room

"Alright metal," Bolin leaned against the door with his shoes off and eyes closed, "I'm tired of putting up with you. I got a family to bust out and you're the only thing stopping me from doing it so...get the hell outta my way!"

Slam!

…...

The trio jumped back as a metal door came flying past their heads.

"I did it!" Bolin laughed hysterically.

"Attaboy." Lin smirked. The boy finally got it!

"Mom!" He opened his arms as an alarm went off.

"Equalists!" Mako pushed him out of the doorway and got him running.

"Where's the exit, Girl?"

"It's this way! Follow me!", Asami took off, with the inmates on her tail. She grabbed the two arm guards out off her belt as she ran, "Here, Bo!"

"Thanks." He struggled to put them on without breaking his pace, almost running into a pole because of it, and barely managing to get them on before they reached the surface.

"Really?!" Bolin cried. Why did their luck have to be this bad? Not only did they find themselves in Hiroshi's factory, but they were also outnumbered and surrounded as well. 'Hmmm...no mustache man, I wonder where he is...no, focus Bolin!'. He quickly got into a stance with his family as they stared off.

It all happened at once, they came with their gloves and their chi-blocking. His mom knocked a guy's block off with the sticks as he sent another one sailing. She bounced off the wall and came straight back for him. Asami leg-swiped a woman and almost got hit by a guy who got flame-bombed by Mako. She smiled, forgetting where she was for a moment. They both would've got zapped if Korra's bending hadn't came back in enough time to send boulders flying at their assailants.

Even as good as they were fighting, it wasn't going to be enough. They had all just come to the realization that they were done for when the crowd stopped. Bolin threw one last punch at a guy before turning to see why.

"Amon." He'd like to retract his previous thoughts, now they were done for. He looked to his family members, scattered along the production floor. Korra was blocked on both sides up on the catwalk. Asami and Mako were cornered. His mom was...was the only one moving, and heading straight for the masked man.

"A challenge? I had hoped it would not come to this, Chief Beifong. I do have a family debt owed to you." What the guy was talking about, Bolin didn't know and he'd probably never find out either because his mom wasn't in the mood to discuss it. All she did was get into a fighting stance. He moved first, narrowly missing the kali aimed at his hip. She backed away to regain her footing as he tried to grab her wrist. It was a battle of epic proportions.

"Psst. Asami." Mako nudged the woman to his left and pointed to three medium sized tanks just in bending range, "Is that gas in those tanks over there?"

"Yeah...", A few fire darts quickly penetrated the tanks sending everyone for cover. The small explosion was enough to feel the ground shake. The green gas of the equalists filled the air as they all started to run from the incoming police sirens. But some of them weren't quite quick enough. The cops stormed the place, most of them fighting off the remaining terrorists; five officers helping each one of the victims out and to the ambulances. By the time the gas had cleared, six people were arrested, the reporters made their way to the scene and Bolin's family was declared healthy...with the exception of a few cuts and bruises, but that was nothing new.

"Now you go to the healers' tomorrow and get those ribs looked at." the paramedic said after looking at his wounds.

"Yeah, yeah." Bolin said offhandedly, not paying attention in the slightest. He had someone to find.

"I told you, I'm fine!" Yep, that was her. He found her shouting at her paramedic as she stalked away, her hands wrapped in gaze, "Bolin! Mako!" She shouted.

"Looking for me?" He asked cheekily as he came up behind her. As soon as she turned to face him she was put into a crushing hug. For once, she didn't look to the right or left, she just returned it, "I've missed you, Mom."

"I've missed you too, Son." She stood there, just content that the kid was alright when Mako came into her peripheral vision. He didn't have any time to react as she pulled him into the hug, too. And if for only a minute, they were a family again, WHACK! A hand smacked the back of the firebenders head,"You could've killed us all...good job."

"And, she's back."

BEIFONG IS BACK

This had to be the first time Lin Beifong was in the paper without a scowl, wound, or glass of alcohol.