Just Like the Good Old Days

I am so sorry for the wait I've put you all through, and I thank you for your patience. I have been procrastinating and had a dreadful amount of writer's block; PLUS! I've gotten re-obsessed with Harry Potter, so I have been getting started on some fanfics for that; to say the least of all the end-of-year stress I had to deal with. But, I have come back to you at last. I don't own Legend of Korra.

Kidnapped

Noatak's POV:

"Korra, I…"

"Attention! Attention!" the radio in the restaurant blared and I felt as if the Universe had decided it wanted to, for lack of better words, screw me over. "This just in. There has just been a jailbreak at police headquarters! Equalist chi-blockers are at large. Armed and dangerous. Last seen heading…" I didn't even need to hear the rest to know what was happening, or that my date with Korra was to be unceremoniously cut short.

Korra quickly slammed down some money on the table and pulled me towards the door. Within moments, we were racing through the streets of Republic City on Naga. We soon caught sight of the familiar figures on motorcycles as well as a truck that I knew contained the escaped Equalists. Hard to believe that I had once been the one to order their escape; and now, here I was stopping them.

We were barely keeping up with the much quicker vehicles when help arrived. Tarrlok, Asami, Bolin, and Mako were racing up towards the Equalist truck in Asami's car.

"Nice of you guys to show up!" Korra shouted to the others.

The case began to heat up. The others nearly crashed into another truck that crossed in front of us until Korra and Bolin Earthbent a ramp so the car could be safely propelled over it; Naga followed by jumping on top of the vehicle and then down the other side. Mako and Bolin began a barrage of lighting and earth at the Equalists, while Tarrlok shot ice projectiles that he drew from the rainwater on the streets; then a smoke-screen was released that engulfed everything. Korra just managed to Earthbend the car around the corner before it could crash. The Equalists hadn't realized we had made the turn, which meant we had the element of surprise on our side. Korra charged Naga forward and took down two Equalists on satocycles; the Equalists, however, ended up on the hood of the car. Mako blasted at them with fire, but they were too quick. Knowing the risk, I, myself, leapt off of Naga and onto the car.

The Equalists were, naturally, shocked by how easily I evaded them; I could tell they were probably newer recruits as their form was rather sloppy. Asami then came to the rescue by electrocuting the two assailants with an Equalist glove that she had undoubtedly taken from her father's workshop when the police were removing the offensive weapons. Our opponents down, I moved to the back-seat of the car. Asami then drove the car right alongside the truck and Mako shot a blast of lightning at the driver, sending the vehicle crashing.

Before we knew it, our pictures were being taken by news reporters.

That's when an angry, adult Tarrlok came charging over to us.

"Avatar Korra," he demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, hey, Tarrlok," Korra drawled in amusement. "Nice of you to show up, finally. Here, we captured the escaped convicts for you."

"What you did was tear up the city and impede the real authorities in their pursuit of these criminals."

"Hmm, that's funny…I didn't see your little taskforce or the cops, the whole time. If it wasn't for Team Avatar, they would have gotten away."

Tarrlok then turned to Chief Bei Fong.

"Chief Bei Fong, please, help me out here," he pleaded.

Bei Fong gave a smirk.

"I admit, the Avatar has a point," she said. "I am interested to know why my officers were so inefficient that a bunch of teenagers had to take the law into their own hands."

It seems that Bei Fong has learned a few things since we first came to the city; if she still thought the same way about us as she first did, we would be headed straight to prison. After a brief argument with Tarrlok, Bei Fong took the prisoners away. Tarrlok then turned to face us.

"I'm warning you, right now," he said threateningly. "If you aren't going to be a part of my taskforce, then stay out of my way."

That's when our Tarrlok stepped forward.

"Your taskforce is nothing but a vainglorious attempt to garner favor with the public; when, in reality, all you are doing is pushing the Non-Benders farther away. At least we actually care about protecting the citizens rather than just getting publicity and fame. If anyone needs to stay out of anyone else's way, it's you out of ours."

Obviously, the older Tarrlok was taken-aback. I was actually very proud of my little brother in that moment when he faced down himself; that certainly took a great deal of courage.

However, once the adrenalin of the case had stilled, I remembered exactly what was supposed to have happened this evening and gave a groan. My attempt to express my feelings to Korra had, once again, been thwarted. It was time to find some form of consolation.

Tarrlok's POV:

It had been a quiet evening at the Air Temple. I knew that Noatak and Korra were going out, so I and the others were just hanging around and doing nothing in particular. That was when we heard the news report about the escaped Equalists. Deciding that something had to be done, we loaded into Asami's car and set off. It wasn't long before we spotted Noatak and Korra on Naga. We all joined together as a team and swiftly brought down the Equalists.

Standing up to myself was terrifying, and yet thrilling. I knew it wouldn't be the last we would hear from me, but it was satisfying to know that I had shown myself to be the better man.

The following day brought news of the Council's new policy regarding Equalists and Non-Benders. Once I really thought about it, it came back to me that it was a horrible decision that had pushed people too far and led to my downfall.

As night was beginning to arrive, I realized that I hadn't seen Noatak since earlier today. He had told me the Equalist escape had interrupted him just as he was about to tell Korra how he feels about her. I figured I better find him, and soon.

Noatak's POV:

Ah, alcohol, my old friend. It'd been a long time since I was able to take a drink when things go wrong. It seems that every time I tried to talk to Korra, something would happen. I remember this bar from my previous existence; I used to come here a lot before the Equalist Movement really got started.

"Noa, what are you doing?"

"Hey, Tar, how's it going?" I asked in a monotone.

"I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here?"

"Having a drink and wallowing in self-pity."

I heard Tarrlok sigh in frustration but I didn't care.

"You're doing this because your date with Korra got interrupted and you weren't able to tell her how you feel about her, aren't you?"

"Gee, I thought that much would be obvious," I said with a heavy note of sarcasm.

"You've got to stop this, Noa. You're only going to cause trouble for yourself."

"Look, Tar, I really just need to be left alone right now, okay?"

"Fine. I was only trying to help. I'll leave you to your self-destruction."

I heard him leave the bar but didn't look up. I'm not sure why, but my head began to feel funny. That's odd. I only had one glass of rice wine; and that's not even strong. At least, not compared to stuff like Cactus Juice. My vision was becoming oddly blurred. What was in that stuff? I got up from my stool and began to head towards the door but my feet gave way and I fell. As I stared up, I saw several people lean over me. That's when a familiar voice echoed through the silence.

"Well, it looks like we caught one of the Avatar's little friends. Amon will be pleased."

My last thought before everything went black was Oh crap.

Korra's POV:

Tarro eventually turned up at where we were waiting; he didn't have Noak with him, though.

"Noak's not feeling well, at the moment," he said. "Apparently, something happened last night that set off one of his 'moods.'"

It was getting kind of late when an announcement blared over the car's radio about Equalists in the Dragon Flats borough. We quickly hopped into Asami's car and shot straight off for the location. When we arrived, however, it turned out that it wasn't Equalists at all; it was a crowd of Non-Benders who were angry about Tarrlok's new policy.

When I looked around for the person in charge, I saw Tarrlok himself; he was in a heated argument with Bei Fong.

"You can't treat civilians like this, Tarrlok!" Bei Fong shouted. "These people have rights!"

"I am trying to protect this city," Tarrlok retorted.

"Well, you're doing a pretty crap job of it," I snapped, getting their attention.

"Avatar Korra, you and your friends have no business here," Tarrlok said.

"We're not going anywhere. You don't have the right to treat these innocent people like criminals."

"For once in your life, Tarrlok," Bei Fong added, "Listen to someone other than yourself. I will not allow my officers to be used to threaten the public."

"This is an Equalist rally," Tarrlok insisted. "There is nothing innocent about it."

"They're not Equalists," Asami protested. "They're normal people who want their rights back."

"They are the enemy. Round up all these Equalists!" Tarrlok shouted at his taskforce.

"Stand down!" Bei Fong ordered her officers; some of whom disregarded her orders and began to aid the taskforce.

To say I was pissed off would be an understatement.

Tarrlok's POV:

When Korra began to rescue the people that my older self was arresting, I knew there was going to be trouble. Remembering what happened next, I just noticed that the older me was about to seize Asami.

"Asami, look out!" I shouted just as the steam of water was about to catch her wrist.

I ducked in front of her and began to fend off the attack.

"Arrest her," my older self shouted at two of the taskforce members.

"What?" Mako protested. "You can't do that!"

"Actually, I can. She's a Non-Bender out after curfew and her father is a known Equalist conspirator."

"Leave her alone!" I declared.

"Arrest those three as well." My older self pointed towards me and the other two boys.

I ducked just as a taskforce person was about to grab me; too late for the others.

"Tarro, run!" I heard Korra shout. That's when I saw her move protectively in front of me and I was reminded of that night in the blizzard so long ago. "Stay away from him," I heard Korra growl.

I looked up and saw a shocked look on my older self's face; clearly his thoughts were similar to mine. His apprehension passed quickly and he threatened to arrest Korra as well unless she and I returned to the Air Temple. Mako called over to us to reassure that they would be okay and that we needed to get out. I put a comforting hand on Korra's shoulder as we watched the others taken away.

"So sad to see your little 'Team Avatar' broken up," sneered my older self. "You had a good run."

"This isn't over, Tarrlok," Korra said threateningly.

"Oh, I believe it is."

As Korra and I headed back to the car, I noticed that Bei Fong was continuing what we had tried to do in releasing the captured Non-Benders. I still couldn't believe what a jerk I had been; I knew there was danger coming.

As soon as we got back to the Air Temple, we went straight to Tenzin. We had no luck at the police station; it seemed that Bei Fong had been 'relieved of her duties' for interfering with 'justice' and now Saikan was in charge.

When we again returned to the Air Temple, I turned to Korra.

"Korra, I know you're angry," I said. "But, please, don't do anything brazen or rash. There's no telling what Tarrlok might do and we just need to think things through."

"Okay, Tarro," she replied. "I'll try to be patient."

When I saw that Korra and Naga were missing the following morning, I knew just where I needed to go. I really hoped that Noatak was okay; having to find his way home, drunk, is never an easy feat.

Yes! I finally got off my lazy butt and wrote another chapter! Whoo! Just to clarify something; because Lin Bei Fong had arrested Hiroshi Sato before he could lead everyone into a trap, she did not end up resigning as Police Chief; however, because she stood against Tarrlok in this chapter, she ended up getting removed from her position. Just thought I should make that clear. Thanks for reading, please review.