Note: Wow, two chapters in one month? That's more like it. On a more serious matter: as we approach the end of the story, we would like to warn readers that things are going to get much darker from here on out. How dark? Well, consider this chapter a very small taste of how much darker we might be going. If you only started reading this as a Korrasami fluff piece for some reason, we are so sorry. This is your warning now before things get really bad, so read at your own discretion. This is also probably the last of these notes you'll be seeing until identity of the Hanzi Killer is revealed. Make of that what you will. Hopefully, we'll be done with the story by summer's end, so enjoy these final few chapters, and thank you all so much for your support.
Korra couldn't believe she was doing it.
She never wanted it, and even as she stood on the rooftop, scanning the streets below, she detested herself for all of her actions. Every part of her knew that she was doing something very, unquestionably wrong, yet she could not turn away. She was backed into a corner. Lin refused to help. Her friends were being picked off one-by-one. If the law did not cooperate, then she would sim,y have to break it.
"Only this once," Korra said under her breath. She repeated the words once every few seconds, partly to calm her nerves and partly to justify her crimes. Vigilantism was not something that she wanted to be regularly associated with. It was uncomfortable being crouched on a rooftop, dressed in her darkest clothes, a scarf wrapped around her face to conceal her identity, waiting for her unlucky victim to pass by so that she could pounce. Darkness did not suit the Avatar.
But it was only this once. So it was fine. Of course it was fine.
It wasn't long after midnight that she spotted her target, illuminated by the faint glow of the spirit portal. His large beard and tattoos made him easy to recognize as the man who spoke to Illu several nights prior. She did not know anything about him, not even his name. Did he have a family? Friends, perhaps? People that would care if he got hurt?
Korra kicked the thoughts out of her heads. It was irrelevant. If she was going to get answers, she would have to go through him. Hopefully, he would be accommodating. If he wasn't—well, Korra hoped he would be accommodating.
She waited for him to pass underneath the building. He kept his eyes glued to the sidewalk, moving with a shuffle in every step. There was not the slightest indication of caution as he walked, as if he was so used to Republic City nightlife that nothing could possibly startle him. Korra crawled closer to the ledge, her heart beating in her ears. She carefully rose to her feet, making sure not to be noticed, and then, just as he walked by, she leapt off. Keeping her hands outstretched, she slowly bent the air around her to ease her descent to the earth, where she landed silently. The man did not notice her as she snuck up behind him, and by the time he suspected something was strange, she had already grabbed him by the back of his collar, and dragged him into the nearby alley.
"Let go of me!" he screamed as he was shoved into a stone wall. Korra grabbed him by his shirt, and tugged shook him violently.
"Shut up," she ordered. "You're going to give me what I want, and if you do, I won't make this any worse for you."
"What do you want?" he asked, more irritated than frightened. "I don't have any money on me, if that's what you're looking for. I'm not that stupid."
"I don't want your money," Korra stated. "I want you to tell me everything you know about Illu Satori."
"Never heard of her."
Korra slammed her fist against the wall next to the man's head, cracking the stone with ease. "Don't lie to me! Illu Satori. Start talking."
"I don't have any idea who that is," the man said calmly. "I think you have the wrong man."
Korra punched the wall again, her fist passing straight through the damaged rock like it was glass. "Next time, it's going to be your head! Talk!"
"Is that really the best you can come up with?" the man said nonchalantly. "Newsflash, kid: breaking the wall with earthbending has been done to death. You're not scaring anybody."
Korra grunted and shoved his face against back against the wall, grinding it on the cold surface. With her fingers clenched over her nose, she growled, "Do you think I'm playing around?"
"Let me guess: You've never interrogated someone before, have you?" he said with a devilish smirk. Korra applied more pressure to his head, but he did not budge. "I can see it in your eyes. You're not cut out for this, and you know it. I'll give you props for trying, though. The getup isn't bad, and you actually managed to sneak up on me. You went all out, but nothing you can do will ever scare me. I've been roaming these streets for so long that I can't get scared anymore."
He lifted up his right leg, and slammed it repeatedly against the ground. Instead of the typical thud accompanied with flesh hitting concrete, there was a loud clang of metal.
"That's a gift from one of my old bosses, a guy who liked to call himself 'Jackdaw' for some reason," he said. "He said that the only way to make sure nobody would break me would be to make sure I was already broken. So, unless you plan on chopping off my other leg, I suggest you scram and let me get back to my life."
"Just tell me where I can find her," Korra demanded, though it came out as more of a plea than anything else.
"Illu's a good woman. She has a good son. I'm not saying shit."
Korra released him and turned away to recompose herself. Even as he lied in the alleyway, he demonstrated his superiority over her. He was right. What was she doing? She wasn't a vigilante. She wasn't a criminal. Hell, she was still wearing her engagement ring underneath her black gloves. What exactly did she think she would accomplish?
But then, she heard the man start to snicker.
"Yeah, run off, kid. Maybe next time, you won't be such a coward."
Korra let that word sink in. She froze, her mind focused solely on that single, six-letter word. Her racing heart slowed, her fists unclenched, and every single ounce of self-doubted filtered through her body and out. She stood silent in contemplation, and when it finally clicked, it felt as though a seal inside of her soul had been broken open.
And then, she began to laugh. A lopsided, disturbed cackle emitted from her lips; a sound so deranged and unnatural that she did not know she was capable of making it. It gradually rose in volume and intensity, until she doubled over, holding herself up on the opposite wall of the alley. Her throat ached and tears welled in her eyes, yet she could not stop laughing.
"That… that is adorable," she said with a wheeze as she started to regain control of her own body.
"That you're a coward?" he asked, confused.
"Oh, not that," Korra said wickedly. She turned back around, and the smile that lined his face vanished instantly. In the blue eyes that previously held fear and unease, there was now nothing except pure, unmistakable madness. "You still think I'm an earthbender."
With a flick of her wrist, the man was violently thrown down the alley with a strong gust of wind. He tumbled for several yards, scraping his face against the ground and tearing off layers of skin on the concrete. Korra moved towards him slowly as he struggled to regain his footing. Every time he started to regain his balance, she would knock him down again. Towering over him, she stomped on his ankle; hard enough to keep him down yet keep his bones intact.
"Do you know what I really can't stand about people like you?" she taunted cruelly. "The way you act like you own everything. The way you act like nothing can touch you."
"Get away from me," he choked out, his face scratched and covered with blood. Korra took another step forward, and grabbed onto his hands, intertwining their fingers. Even through her gloves, she felt copious amounts of sweat.
"What's wrong? Never been touched by a lady before?" Korra teased. "Let me help you with that." In her right hand, she started a small fire, slowly burning his flesh. In the other, she froze his sweat solid, covering his skin with a thin layer of brutal, cold ice. His face contorted with agony. Korra merely laughed at him, pressing her knee against his ribcage and throwing her full bodyweight into it. Once settled, she smashed their heads together, taking pure, sadistic glee as she watched the blood flow down his face. "Isn't this fun? Look at how much fucking fun we're having?"
"You crazy bitch," he swore. "You won't be smiling when I—" Suddenly, his eyes went wide, and he stammered madly, "W-wait a m-minute… you're the…"
"Surprise!" Korra shouted, shaking the scarf off of her face like a rabid dog. "Don't worry, sir! The Avatar is here to save the day!"
"You're not… getting me…"
"To talk?" Korra asked. "Oh, it far too late for talk. You've already helped me so much." She pressed their foreheads together, so that she could guarantee she never broke eye contact. "See, for the longest time, I've had a problem with Republic City. Ever since Kuvira got locked up, I've felt… well, empty, I suppose. It felt like a part of my soul was missing. I spent years trying to fill that emptiness with everything I could think of. And when I say everything, I mean everything. But no matter what I did, no matter how many friends I had or how many hobbies I took up, I never felt whole."
Korra grinned, her voice an unnatural cocktail of malice and sensuality. "But recently, I found something that made me feel complete again: taking poor, desolate creatures like you, and making them suffer for their crimes. I don't know what it is, but there is something so soothing about methodically draining the blood from a man's body, or cutting a prostitute into itty-bitty pieces…" She paused, taking a nice, deep breath to savor the memory. "…or even blowing up the Chief of Police in front of the press."
"You're full of shit."
"Don't believe me? Who else could have done it? I'm friends with everyone on the police force, and all it takes is a few false leads to lure them away while I carefully pick who to kill next. As long as I keep up appearances for the cameras, no one would ever suspect a thing."
The man struggled more vigorously, waggling around like startled cattle. Korra placed a single index finger to his lips, shushing him as if he were a child.
"Now, I was planning on torturing Illu tonight," Korra said with a shrug. "She's been rather rude to me lately, and that's something I don't take too kindly. But, since you were so helpful earlier, I think I should just spend the night with you. Hopefully, I'll have plenty of fun with your body. The only question now is where I should start."
"That won't be necessary," he sputtered. "You don't want to kill me. You don't even know me. Illu's the troublemaker. She always has been. If she dies, it will be better for everyone."
"Then tell me where she is," Korra commanded, tracing a light pattern up his arm.
"She lives in an apartment complex on the corner of Qi and Hodon Street. It's the dark blue building with the white roof and trimmings. She lives on the third floor, in Room 327. There's an alarm system that triggers if anyone tries to enter the building past midnight, so you'll have to find an open window and make your way in. Just please, leave me alone."
"I'm not done with you, yet," she said coldly. "I know there's more you aren't telling me about her. If you really want to keep that other leg, you better spit it out."
"I don't know what you want me to say," he cried. "She was a friend of mine from way back in the day, but she left a life of crime several years ago. I tried getting her to help out with a project, but she didn't want any part of it. She said that she reformed. But even still, she never stopped hating you. Now I see why."
"Me? Why does she hate me?"
"Because she finally found a place to belong, and you destroyed it," he admitted. "She was struggling hard to support her son, when he found her and gave her a position at the top. She rallied around him like he was a king. She was one of his top advisors, but when you took him down, she was left with nothing."
"Who are you talking about?" Korra asked, increasing the pressure on his ribcage. He screamed, and through his cries of agony, a name slipped through his lips. Abruptly, Korra's smile vanished. The façade that she had brilliantly put on disappeared at once, and though her shocked expression did not fully convey it, she found herself back in the body of a scared girl, facing a monster for the very first time.
"Amon," said the man. "She was in love in Amon."
Korra backed away in a daze, releasing her hold on the thug. She could not finish a sentence nor even formulate a single word. The man sobbed on his back, wallowing in his own fear. A minute passed before Korra was able to ease her mind and think rationally. If Illu had been in love with Amon, then it must have meant that she was in love with his ideologies. Korra knew better than anyone what someone warped by that mindset was willing to do to people they saw as unworthy in life. She turned away from the alley—leaving the battered criminal behind—and took off sprinting down the sidewalk.
Her plan worked better than she could have hoped, but that did not stop the pit in her stomach to stop growing. Korra never wanted to resort to hurting the man. She thought she was going to vomit during every painful second of it, and she doubted that she would get any sleep for many nights, and her guilt would never subside. However, what mattered was that she had an address, and she had a motivation. If all went well, the reign of the Hanzi Killer would soon come to an end, and Masaki would be saved. The only thing left to do was to confront the Equalist that took him.