Note: These next few chapters will be a bit shorter in length. To make up for that, these next few chapters will be much more uncomfortable to read through. By this point, you should know what you're getting into. We warned you many chapters ago. See you next week. Enjoy.

Will You Sacrifice Your Pride?

The message was scribbled onto the thick, metal doorway on the side of the warehouse, dripping a foul-smelling red liquid onto the cold pier in a still puddle. Korra's hand trembled as she reached for the handle. The time was eight o'clock, exactly as Masaki demanded. Whatever feelings of nervousness or terror faced her, it was too late to turn back. She tried to think of Asami, her body drenched in her own blood, her four-fingered hand reaching out, desperately trying to grab her, in order to stay motivated.

Pushing the door open, Korra was greeted by an intense stench that stabbed up through her nose and into her mind. The warehouse, intended for the storage of many large objects, had been abandoned long ago, due to a massive gap in the structure of the ceiling, through which moonlight poured through and offered the only source of illumination. A phone was attached to the wall directly next to the side entrance, and a large crate was placed on the opposite end of the room, but Korra's gaze was cast forward, onto the rotting corpse that lies peacefully in the natural light, it's arms crossed over its chest and eyes closed shut, as if it had been prepared for a burial. A gash was drawn about the throat, and from the nectar, a word was written directly over the body's head.

Slothful

Korra never saw a dead body before. She expected worse.

The phone rang nearby, and Korra picked it up without hesitation. Her voice was unshaken.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Wow. You actually showed up," Masaki said, surprise evident in his tone. "And thanks for coming alone. It shows that you have faith in me. I appreciate that."

"You said you wanted to play a game. I'm here. Let's get this over with."

"Do you see that guy lying over there?" Masaki quipped, casually ignoring her. "His name was... Baba, I think? Maybe it was Buba, or Bubba. I can't remember. All I do remember is that he was any neighbor, and I despised him. He was an unemployed, uncaring swine feeding off of the backs of hardworking people, including my parents. Always trying to borrow money. Always trying to find a way to avoid work. So, I put him to work making phone calls for me. Only when he finally found that working reaps reward did he outlive his usefulness."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Korra," Masaki explained, "he reminds me of you. You never had to work hard for anything, did you? The moment you were born, destiny picked you for greatness. It gave you people to watch over you and take care of you and teach you, and you spent most-if not all-of your life up on a pedestal, thinking that you're special. I hate special."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't I? I mean, let's be honest here: I'm not the one with a giant statue of herself in the middle of the city."

Korra sighed. "I never asked for that."

"But you didn't turn away from it. That's okay, though. It's why you're here tonight. The first game is about bringing you back down to our level. Here is what I want you to do: Open up that crate over there. Inside, you will find a big cardboard sign. All I want you to do is take that sign, go into the busiest part of town, and hold it above your head until dawn. If someone asks you about the sign, do what they want. Sound easy enough?"

Korra wasn't buying it. It did sound easy. Far too easy for her liking. Suspicious, she dropped the phone, walked over to the crate, and yanked it open. Peering inside, she located the large sign, and read it in the dim moonlight. Immediately after she finished, a shudder ran up her spine, and she recoiled in disgust, clutching a hand over her mouth. That was what he wanted her to say? What he wanted her to do? Her skin crawled at the thought. He had to be joking if he really thought that she would willingly do that to herself. But she heard Masaki calling faintly over the phone, and in a moment of pure dread, realized that he was completely serious with his intentions.

She picked up the phone once again. "I can't do-"

"Yes, you can, and yes, you will," Masaki stated with certainty. "Because, if you don't do it, then I'll have to bash Asami's head against a wall until it bursts open, and I'm not sure how sturdy her skull is as of late. I have been hitting it a lot recently."

Korra shivered all over. Her hand balled into a fist. She couldn't believe what she was about to agree to do. But then she thought of Asami, and that lone, mutilated hand trembling in the darkness, and she choked down her pride.

"Fine. I'll do it."

She heard Masaki's tongue click as he grinned. "I'm glad to hear that. Oh, but before you go, there's one more thing I want you to do for me..."

Lin was in the middle of research when an officer stormed into her office and gave her the report. She hardly believed him, and it as only when he claimed that he received multiple calls on the matter did she throw on a heavy coat, hurry to a squad car, and race to Market Street, hoping to be proven wrong. Unlike the rest of the city, the street thrived with life twenty-four hours every day, serving as a central hub for many people who enjoyed staying up late in Republic City. When she arrived in the brightly-lit cultural haven, she scanned the crowd for her target. It only took a few moments to find her target, and when Lin locked her gaze, she became overwhelmed with shame and grief.

Korra stood off to the side, directly underneath the glow of a street lamp, naked as the day she was born. She shivered in the cold, autumn wind, and held a large cardboard sing above her head, inscribed with a very clear, distinct message:

I am a filthy slut. Please fuck me.

Lin approached Korra with caution, trying to keep her eyes directed at the floor. As she got closer, she could see the dozens of people ogling her as they walked by, taking in every inch of bare flesh. Korra noticed her, but said nothing, as if pretending not to exist. "So… either this has something to do with that phone call from earlier, or you have a really interesting way of spending your weekends."

"What are you doing here, Lin?" Korra asked quietly.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm supposed to be asking you that question."

"This has nothing to do with you.

"Technically, it does," Lin clarified. "Last time I checked, indecent exposure was a crime. So, either I arrest you, or you tell me what's going on."

Korra trembled, her brown skin covered with goosebumps. "Masaki is forcing me to go through these 'games' to prove I'm willing to save Asami. He said that if I don't play along, or I get you involved, he'll kill her, which is why you can't be here."

"Too late. He involved me when he tried to have me killed." Lin sighed, and took a seat on the curb to Korra's left. "So, how long does he want you to stand here?"

"Dawn."

"And that's it?"

Korra paused, as the filthy words slithered over her tongue. "He told me that if someone came up to me and asked to… you know… I would have to do it."

Lin grimaced. "Has anyone asked yet?"

"Not yet," Korra said with relief, "but... there was this one guy who just walked up to me and stared. He kept looking me up and down, like he was considering whether or not he wanted to buy me, and he had this horrible grin on his face while he was doing it. I've never felt so... used." She shuddered, forcing the putrid thoughts into the recesses of her mind.

"If you want," Lin suggested, "I can set up a police barricade around this area. No one would get anywhere near you."

"He said that he would kill her if you got involved," Korra said desperately. "You being here is pushing it enough. Please, just let me bear this for one night. For Asami's sake."

Lin groaned. "If you insist."

Korra pursed her lips. "Really? You're not going to fight me any further?"

"Korra, something tells me that once you decide to parade around Republic City without any clothes on, you're pretty much committed to the cause. I doubt anything I could say would change your mind. That being said, I'm not leaving you alone to assaulted by some creep in the middle of the night. Hopefully, if they notice that I'm with you, they'll decide to stay away, and then you could tell Masaki that no one ever came up to you."

Lin did not see the Avatar smile, but she couldn't help but notice the tension disappear from her shoulders. For a moment, it almost felt like things were normal.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Lin said with a shrug. Quickly, she thought of something to distract Korra from her current situation. "Now, do you want to hear what we've found on Masaki Sugiyama?"

"You actually found something?" Korra asked, surprised.

"We found everything," Lin stated. "Masaki Sugiyama was born nearly thirteen years ago in Republic City Central Hospital. His mother, Mai, was a surgeon, and his father, Tao-Li, was an engineer. Based on the kid's medical reports, it seems like you were right about that damage to his facial nerves; that grin is his face's resting position, and it hurts him to stop smiling, even for a few seconds. He used to live near the center of his city due to his family's wealth, but then, four years ago, he moved to the outskirts of town."

"Four years ago?" Korra asked. "Would that have anything to do with Kuvira's attack?"

"I was getting to that," said Lin. "See, this is where the details start getting a little shifty. We found plenty of documents before Kuvira's assault on the city, but afterwards, everything about the kid pretty much vanishes. The only thing we found about him were a few school reports. Aside from that, he might as well have dropped off the face of the Earth. What we did manage to find were his parent's records, which weren't entirely useful."

"Did you manage to get in contact with them? Did they know what their son was doing?"

Lin bowed her head. "They're both dead."

Korra gasped. "What? When did they die?"

"His mother died from medical complications three months ago," Lin stated. "During Kuvira's attack on the city, we put out a mandatory evacuation for all civilians. Apparently, not everyone was so willing to leave their homes. Masaki and his parents were still inside their apartment when Kuvira destroyed the building. The kid and his father got lucky. The mom got caught in the debris, and ended up paralyzed from the neck down. Her medical expenses cost the family most of everything they had, and the father quit his job so that he could take care of her. Based on his repeated arrests for public drunkenness over the past several years, I don't think he took it very well."

"That's horrible," Korra said, saddened.

"Yeah, but here's where things get interesting. After a while, the dad attempted to get a job working as a housekeeper, before being fired due to a lack of work ethic. His employer? Kuzo Diaxini, the first victim of the Hanzi Killer. Afterwards, his life spiraled further, before two final arrests within weeks of each other: one for driving while under the influence of alcohol, and the other for soliciting prostitution from a woman named Nuo Krovo, or as you probably remember her-"

"Lust," Korra said bluntly. "And then, as luck would have it, the mother died a month later, from both a broken body and a broken heart."

"It's all starting to make sense now, isn't it?" said Lin. "The other victims fit in, too: Ami Satori was the aunt of a student who constantly bullied him. Bubba Nen was a neighbor who constantly drained their already-dwindling resources. Even Quan Irro, the other missing child… he's the child of one of the mother's colleagues, someone who cut off contact with the family after the mother's accident. The Hanzi Killer's targets weren't chosen randomly at all. They were all part of a kid's attempt to get revenge against the people who he blamed for ruining his life."

"Then why is he targeting me?" Korra asked. "I never even met him until a few weeks ago."

"Well, if I had to play detective," Lin said, cracking her knuckles, "I'd say he blamed you for everything. Think about it: every terrible thing in Masaki's life can be traced back to his mother getting caught in the destruction that Kuvira caused… destruction that you failed to stop. Maybe—and this is just a hunch—if he can't take revenge against Kuvira, then you're the next best thing. He needs to find somebody to blame, and it just so happens that you fit the bill."

"Then he's insane," Korra said sternly. Lin snickered.

"He murdered twenty people and then started writing messages with their blood. I think being insane is a given."

"Good point," Korra noted. "Wait a second, what happened to his father? You said you found records of his death."

"Actually, we didn't find any records of his death at all. When we found his address, I sent a squad to investigate. They found the entire apartment in ruins, aside from a record player blaring opera music, a fully-stocked refrigerator, and the father's decomposing body on the couch. I have people running an autopsy on it, but from what I already know, it seems that Masaki slit his father's throat several days before the first official murder took place. The building's concrete walls blocked out the smell, and no one seemed to notice that a man disappeared overnight."

"Was there any writing?"

"Nothing. I doubt he was ever supposed to be found."

Korra nodded, deep in thought. She blew a stream of fire out of her mouth to stave off the ever-creeping coldness. The sound of bells filled the air. It was nine o'clock. She planted her bare feet into the sidewalk, and closed her eyes, blocking out the world around her. She refused to give Masaki the satisfaction of her defeat. She did not understand what she did to wrong him, but she was determined to put an end to his madness.

Nine hours left.

Two games to go.

And then, it would all be over.