"But I don't fear the dark the dark or any risk tha-"
"Can't you sing something else for a change?"
"Oh, sorry." Bolin rubbed his head with embarrassment, the song just got stuck in the back of his mind, and there seemed to be no way to get it out, "Any requests?"
"How about the sound of silence?"
"Right." He'd be shutting up now, before his fellow metalbending men decided to beat him to death.
"You knuckleheads want out, or not?" And Lin Beifong stood just on the other side of the bars, an impressive figure against the light of the setting sun.
...
"What do you mean, 'they escaped'?!" Tarrlok roared at the lackey with the badge.
"Beifong put her jailer in a sleeper hold."
...
"How?" One of her men asked as they grabbed their gear out of the locker.
"Ukluk." Lin once told the woman, way back when she was a rookie, that if she wanted to blindly follow a politician she could become a secretary and then she made her do fifty pushups. At the time she wanted to make the girl wise up, sometimes the people in charge were imbecilic or corrupt and they should be ignored. Now, after getting stuck with Saikhan and Tarrlok the woman turned her back within centimeters of the bars, practically begging Lin to put her to sleep and steal her keys. Score one for tough love.
...
"And how exactly did they manage to not only get into Police Headquarters, but escape with two more prisoners unnoticed?" Tarrlok felt his blood pressure rise as Saikhan cleared his throat,
"That remains unclear at this time."
...
One good thing that came from spending the majority of their childhoods at Police Headquarters, Lin and her boy knew the place like the back of their hand. Getting in through the sandpits and working their way upward, they managed to use every seldom traveled route to get to the holding cells.
"Halt!" That was, until their luck ran out in the open area of the jail. Lin steeled herself and turned around, putting on her best 'are you sure this worth dying for' look.
"You...wouldn't happen to know where they're keeping my brother and best friend locked up, would you?" Bolin asked with the most innocent smile he could muster. The man's eyes narrowed, and the Beifong's prepared for a fight.
"Take the next right go down three doors. Then go up one floor, first door on your right." He turned a heal and whistled the most guiltless song he could think of.
"Thanks a bunch." Bolin waved at the retreating back, "Everyone's being so helpful today." His brother was at the first destination, "Come on, Bro, this is a jail break." The other one was found a very short time later."You wanna add 'escape' to your record?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Asami shot back with a grin as she got off the cot. Her boyfriend had her in his arms in a second.
"Let's go you two," Lin ruined the mood and abruptly ended Mako's chances of getting a kiss, "this is no place for a lovers reunion."
"And you have no idea where they are?"
"My officers are searching her home and Air Temple Island as we speak."
"Don't be a fool!" Tarrlok got within inches of his henchman's face, "Those are the last places they would go! Now get out there and find them." As Saikhan left he shouted an afterthought, "And do it quickly, we need to get our focus back on Amon!" He let out a very primal growl as slammed the door behind the Chief. Then he headed back to his desk, there was some paperwork that had to be done before he left. The door behind him opened, "Saikhan, I told you t-" That wasn't a balding cop coming through the door, "Amon."
"It is time for you to be equalized." He said evenly. This would be where a normal bender started to shake in their boots. But Tarrlok was not an ordinary bender, and this terrorist was in for a surprise. This would be his greatest victory 'Councilman Tarrlok single-handedly takes down Amon'. The people would praise him as a hero, a savior, and the city would be his.
"You fool! You've never faced bending like mine before." He got into a stance and preformed the forbidden art of bloodbending. Amon's men fell like sacks of potatoes, Amon did not. Well, this was a new experience. He'd just have to use a little more force. "What are you?" Tarrlok asked in disbelief as Amon was still standing even after he put his full strength into the attack.
"I am the solution." The councilman was forced to his knees, a thumb came into contact with his forehead. With Tarrlok's bending gone, the equalists were freed from the spell.
"Tarrlok, we need to talk!" The avatar said as she came through the window. What bad timing she had, "Amon."
"Wait." Amon stopped his lieutenant from moving forward, "She's mine." So it all ended tonight, one way or another. Korra didn't take a second to evaluate the situation, if she had she would've noticed that she was outmatched and even if she won against Amon she was still outnumbered. Three fire blasts were sent Amon's way before she gathered water from Tarrlok's waterfall. Amon dodged the fire and came around to Korra's left. She used the water as a shield to stop him from landing a blow and tried to hit him with a wave. He rolled away from her, zigzagging as she sent water bullets his way. He landed a blow to her arm, rendering it useless. She sent him into a retreat with another strong wave, but realized that there would be no winning this fight. Before Amon could get back within arm reach, Korra jumped out the window and on to her polarbear dog's back. It was time to tuck tail and run.
"Go Naga!" She ordered, "I'm sorry Tarrlok."
Lin had taken her family to hide in the unsanctioned, underground homeless shelter. She'd known about it for years, but never could sum up the will to force it's occupants to evacuate. They weren't in anybody's way and most of them had nowhere else to go. These people took them in right away, fed them and gave them a place to sleep. Now, just as they were about to turn in for the night Mako came and delivered some disturbing news.
"Are you sure?" Truth be told, Lin had some mixed feelings about all this. Tarrlok getting his comeuppance? Good. Amon reaching another one of his goals? Bad. But which was worse? Time would tell.
"They just announced it on the radio, on every station. They say Korra tried to stop them, but she lost the fight with Amon."
"Is she still a bender?"
"Yeah, Bro. He just ran her off." Mako set his fears aside, but there was still a problem and they all knew what it was. The Avatar, protector of the city, ran away; not very encouraging.
"Man, she must feel awful." And Bolin wasn't there to help his friend get through this. Being a fugitive wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
"Focus, Boy." Yeah, she felt bad for the kid, but they had problems of their own right now, "Amon's getting bolder."
"What are we going to do about him?" What a good question. What was she going to do?
"For now, we're going to sleep." Or they were going to sleep, she was going to wait for them to fall asleep and sneak away. She needed to clear her head and think. When that finally did happen, Lin made her way to the surface and then to the park. The police were probably too busy trying to find the councilman to worry about an old woman walking down the road.
What was she going to do? She had no police force, no bending, and a family so stupid that every single member of it would put themselves in danger to keep her safe when they should be running for their lives, or at least for their bending. Tenzin wasn't assertive, Korra was inexperienced, the City Council was useless, Saikhan was a puppet...what could any of them do?!
She reached one of the more secluded ponds in the park and picked up a stone out of the force of habit. There was a time when she would bend it into different shapes while she thought things through. Now she settled for throwing it as hard as she could and trying to enjoy the sound of it hitting the water.
What was she going to do?! She picked up another stone and hurled it across the pond, and a another, and another. What could she do? She couldn't even protect her own family from Tarrlok, how did she expect to defeat Amon? The next stone didn't get thrown, she just stopped to look at it. Maybe if she had her earthbending, but... that was just one more thing the universe decided to take from her.
"Why?!" She shouted to the sky, "You take away my father! My husband! My mother! And now my bending and my freedom?! Can't I have anything, or do you just like screwing with me?!" She threw the rock in the air as if she expected it to hit and injure whatever spirit was messing up her life, "How long is it going to be before you take away my kids?! Well?!" She demanded hysterically, "Answer Me!" Without an answer, and no clear foe to fight, Lin took out her rage on a nearby tree, "You're being ridiculous, Beifong." She said to herself after she calmed down. But...just for a moment, to not have to be strong and to shout at the top of her lungs...and complain, especially complain...it was a useless waste of time in her opinion and she didn't plan on making a habit of it, but it felt good. Suddenly a bit of the weight was off her shoulders.
I've been making a point of not adding personal comments in the story, but I'm going to make an exception. A Guest reviewer wrote 'tagged/forced-to-be-a-family have u seen this?'. To whoever wrote this, I'm not quite sure what you're asking me. Have I seen any forced-to-be-a-family tags? No. Should I?
And since I've already broken my rule, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed as a guest, with no account I can't thank you through a private message. But it really means a lot!