Yes, it's a do-over of The Pasts Present. No, I can't promise this is it. I want it to be perfect. Some parts maybe the same but I'm trying to make everything better. I wrote my first real adult scene as an embarrassed person.


Lin looked up at the ceiling. She wondered, not for the first time, if a part of her brain had been damaged after suffering from a brain injury many years ago. Then again, this was always how she dealt with this insatiable hollow vacancy. It was hard finding a partner that could satisfy her need, many were too scared to even try. Admittedly, she felt that she may like Raiko, but perhaps that was because he treated her like she thought she deserved.
The violence brought her back to her biggest shame. It hurt more than her body did, but at the same time, nothing felt real tangible anymore. She usually didn't seek this out, but rainy days made her prone to remembering other horrific events in her life. Lin couldn't admit it, but for a long time, she had felt a curtain covering her eyesight; soon enough, it would be gone entirely. Typically, it was dark and silent; she couldn't remember what whomever was with her did to her, but today Raiko decided to make her listen to him. He called her names, spat on her; they both knew she wanted it.
Raiko, himself, wondered if he had gone too far this time, as he didn't really want to hurt her. Even if it did turn him on. Lin's tormented whimper sent a tingle of pleasure down Raiko's spine before he shoved his entire length in with one swift motion. Lin passed out beneath him, and blood trickled down her legs. He sighed with exasperation, sitting back and waiting with a cigarette for Lin to come to it again. When she didn't wake up for a few minutes, Raiko put out his cigarette on Lin's hip, making her bruised body jolt at the sudden pain. The sting of the burn turned out to be the final straw, jolting Lin back to consciousness.
She didn't move, her hips aching more and more with every breath. Instead, she kept breathing harshly, reminding herself that it would be okay. If she only got through this, it would be okay. She couldn't even lift her head, staring up at the dingy ceiling as Raiko continued the relentless torture. She grumbled and rasped until Raiko had enough and attempted to silence her with his hand. She never told him to stop. She didn't see the significance.
He felt he went too far due to his anger, but she never told him no; surely she would.
This didn't stop the screams, merely quenching them, and Lin felt as if her throat was raw and bloody from overuse. She didn't know how much time passed, moments, minutes, hours; she only knew the pain.
After Raiko had had his fun, he pulled out, the sight of Lin's broken body beneath him sending euphoric tingles down his spine.
"Good girl, Lin." he praised, admiring his work, and placed the gentlest kiss he could muster on Lin's parted mouth. She kissed back with dazed eyes. She tiredly pushed back memories of 127AG , how the monster had said those exact words; how cold she felt. She didn't even remember how she ended up making Raiko angry enough to be this rough today, but the memories of that month-and-a half were etched in her head for a lifetime.
"You were excellent." He praised her. "I'll let your hands go, and then you'll suck me off. Got it?" He asked the barely conscious Lin and stroked her cheek. When he didn't get a response, he whipped her around harshly and shoved himself down Lin's throat, adding extra pressure by choking her until he finished down her throat.
Lin was barely lucid, in more pain than she could ever remember. Even the small act of Raiko flipping her around had felt like multiple stab wounds straight to her abdomen, and as Raiko leaned over her to do that deed, she seriously never felt more alive. Raiko finally climbed off her, swallowing whatever she could and coughing up the rest.
"I'm going back to the office to catch up on paperwork." She said without emotion, as she struggled to sit up. Just like after every encounter, she could feel her roiling, foreboding feelings disappear; she once again felt alive - for now anyways.
"I wish you would let me talk with you instead of barely getting a chance before you ask me to do this." He said, looking at her flushed face. He then glanced down at the marks he left on her and felt a bit disgusted when he decided he went way too far.
"I don't talk to married men." Her voice was hoarse, but nothing out of the ordinary. She stood and tried to clean off quickly before she bent her uniform on. She noticed the disgust on his face, the guilt.
"I wanted it." Lin stoically stated. Her spine was straight.
"Why?" Raiko felt confused. He would never have thought the Chief would have issues of some sort, but it became obvious once the affair had started; it was still a relatively new affair. One he planned on leaving his wife for.
She left with no answer.
After she exited the room, she headed back to the field for the day. Once finished, she arrived back at the precinct, where she finally sat down in her office. She had hoped today would have been a less strenuous day; naturally, it hadn't been. Raiko had been breathing down her neck lately about the rise in crime and the people camping on the streets - as if Kuvira and her weapon did not happen.
Her rotary phone rang, and upon answering it, she was met with Tenzin's voice. He told her that she needed to come quickly, that Mako had lost his temper and attacked a man. She assured him she would be on the next ferry over to try and separate them for now before heading out.


From the corner of Mako's eye, a tall man had appeared, he wouldn't admit it, but the whole thing had him on edge
"Mako, are you okay?" Tenzin said, his voice cast down.
"No, did you have to call Beifong?" Mako argued back, annoyed. He recalled what happened when the man had first appeared in front of them not long ago.
The man had fallen to his knees, which made Mako observe him. The man's eyes had bags, his eyes were a shade of emerald; he was closer to Su in age, with a slight frame. He apologized again and again with desperation, saying he had nothing to live for any more now that he was cleansed of his impurity. That he deeply regretted killing his parents and for Mako to detain him.
There had been audible gasps from his friends and brother, as something in Mako snapped upon hearing what this man had done to his parents. Whatever touch of control he ever had was gone in a second, he saw red, and he could kill the man. He didn't even consider what was just said. It had taken Korra and Bumi to hold him back from hurting him.

"You know the answer to that. Besides, he had his bending taken and used the exact wording of Amon." Tenzin held back a shiver at the testimonies he heard,
"Yes, you're right. She can take him down for questioning." Mako seethed.
"We will be coming with you both." Korra said softly, and she put her hand on Mako's shoulder.
Lin arrived and took a moment to find then, through her cloudy vision. She eventually marched over to them. While Tenzin shared the events, she felt cold raindrops land on her. It took everything for Lin not to feel shaken by what just happened. What Tenzin just said was a nightmare to her. She looked at Mako with a stern look.
Mako opened his mouth to speak, but Lin did not allow it.
"I don't even want to hear it, detective," Lin said, knowing she would have to face this police brutality. A thing she disapproved of. If it were another officer, their career would have been over that second. With Mako and what just happened circumstance-wise, it was a bit too grey. They decided to deal with this mess in the station. They pondered in silence the whole ride; when they arrived at the police station, they found themselves in the same interrogation room they were in, day in and day out.
Lin watched from outside with Mako, and the chief had Saikhan handle the interrogation. It made Mako more and more volatile.
"He knows more. He isn't even asking good questions, Chief." Mako fumed. That monster had admitted to slaughtering his parents for a few yuans. He could still remember the smell of their burnt flesh.
Lin couldn't stop herself from putting a hand on his shoulder for a moment.
"If you don't cool it down, detective, I'll find something more suitable for you to do. You know why you can't go in there." Lin crossed her arms prickly before Mako could say anything more.
"Chief, we have four more people confessing to crimes. One was involving the Sato mansion murder, one was a former Commander of the United forces, and it goes on; all had their bending removed too." Officer Song said
Lin pinched her nose and sent Mako to give them each an interrogation room and told Song to get an officer to get a statement from each case. Something about the situation in the room made her shoulders tense, and the lightning crackling in the background wasn't helping. Spirits, she hated the flashes of memories that flooded her mind.
The cold stone.
His hand over her head.
The downpour was beating the pavement.
Silence.
The smell of burned flesh and hot ore.
The following torture the Equalist inflicted for the whereabouts of Avatar Korra. Her bending, the frigid floor. The water in her lungs, and her brain was on fire. Her nose was on fire. Her throat had wholly swollen up. She was drowning and scared.

"Chief." An officer said, noticing her stillness.
"Right, I need to talk to Mako." She decided she would let him off with a warning. It was too light of punishment, but she had to figure out what was going on, and she was too short-staffed.
She called him over from his desk, and he tensed. She beckoned him to join her, and they walked to her office in an intense silence. When they sat down in her office, the thunder crackled, and the downpour was like the night she lost her bending. Lin watched Mako's mouth move, but she couldn't make anything out. When the flash came from the lighting Mako's face was Amons, hands reaching over to take her bending.
Lin abruptly stood, closing her eyes. When she looked again, Mako looked over with concern,
"I'm warning you, don't blow it, Amoko," she said in a stern steel voice and a scowl.
Mako noticed the slip in his name, but did not comment; instead, he apologized again. He decided to get the statements to go over them with her. Deciding not to bring attention to her lack of focus and distress, he knew her tells. Lin didn't know if she would last as Chief much longer, but there was this sick pride that she had survived this long, despite people always saying she would never make it, that she couldn't give in now. She was aware that someone young, with good ideas would take over one day and that's what she hoped for. She wasn't proud of the current state of things and how the laws worked either. She wanted to help not hurt people, but after Kuvira everything had spun on its head.
There was a knock on the door. It was Saikhan, and his skin was oddly pale.
"Put on the radio. It's urgent."
"What is it?" Mako said, while Lin turned on the radio.
"It's those Equalists again." Said Saikhan, worried about the turn of events after that statement he took earlier.
After listening to the speech, Lin had Mako take Saikhan to handle the flood of calls. She told Mako she would call Tenzin to find Korra. In truth, Lin mostly went for her flask hidden in her desk. She downed its burning contents as she dialed Air Temple Island. Lin nearly ripped her hair out when Ikki answered instead of Tenzin. After a clear explanation and a refill on the most concentrated drink she hid in her office, she managed to inform him that there was a chance that Amon or his affiliates had returned to wreak havoc on the city. Smoking inside was technically not allowed anymore at the police station, but Lin opened a window anyway and filled her lungs with smoke. Tenzin promised to meet them in President Raiko's chambers, and with that she hung up and got up again. Lin decided to take one more drink for the road today, which was quickly becoming a nightmare.
She didn't want to see the President after the previous night. His insistence that he and his wife were separating caused a gnawing feeling in her heart, and even though her feet could feel he was being truthful, she knew it wouldn't work out. It never worked out with the other men in her life, and it was stupid to think a cursed Beifong had a chance. She thought back to the statements. Knowing that this was really important and related to the current events, she decided to read through these one more time to know her facts and not focus on Raiko.


Raiko, Tenzin, Asami, Bolin, Opal, and Korra were already there when Lin and Mako got to City Hall.
"They threatened to bomb Air Temple Island, but why?" Bolin spoke before anyone had a chance to breathe.
"That's what we are here to find out, Bo, and to tell you guys what is going on with the events earlier." Mako said.
"Ah, so what happened with that?" Tenzin asked, looking at Lin. She was like a statue, but it didn't feel the same as her usual cold behavior. She didn't seem to register his question, so he turned to Raiko.
Lin looked at both Raiko and Tenzin, suddenly feeling nauseous, despite not eating. Her headache would get worse with everyone there. The two men were already heatedly disagreeing about a course of action.
"How about we discuss this inside?" Lins's tone was dreary. She knew this would be a waste of time.
Lin struggled to keep up as the kids talked when they sat at the table. They discussed for hours the plans of action, and the Chief offered her officers as protection, while they figured out if this thing was even real. It wouldn't be taken lightly, or at least that is what they said. Lin's thoughts floated to Hibiki, how she had to fill Raiko in on him again and wondering if it had any connection with what just happened. She felt delighted about their date of sorts in his highrise. Lin's attention was brought back when she heard Mako speak.
"Amon's grip could still be felt," Mako said. "We have four more people in holding, they each confessed to their crime. The Sato mansion murder, the murder of San and Naoki, and the hazing of former commander Li-Mao. On top of that information, the confessed also claim to have been 'cleansed of their impurity.'" Lin said with not an ounce of emotion, as she handed out their written statements and the events that took place when they lost their bending.
"Another thing for you and your officers to investigate, Chief." Raiko asserted as he kept his eyes on the police budget, he was more concerned about having to waste money to guard Air Temple Island.
"We have a copycat. They may be a blood bender, and they may be attached to the remnants of the Equalist movement." Lin said, as she ignored Raiko and decided to focus on what she could deduce from what the statement said.
"How do you know it's not among one of his goons?" Bolin thought out loud. He struggled to read about the murders and hazing.
"His targets are experiments. For now, he sent them to ask forgiveness for their crimes. They're only associated with gangs as of now. It's one of those vigilantes; besides the methods that scum just described was nothing like Amon." Lin looked around, and it was almost like she knew what was next when Tenzin spoke up.
"But how can you be sure, Lin?" He flinched when her eyes narrowed.
"I'm sorry, did you read these testimonies just now? Do you know something I don't, Tenzin?" Lin was too on edge for this conversation.
"Lin, what he's saying is that it's too soon," Korra said weakly, not wanting to think about when Amon took her bending
"Add it to my list. This person seems only to be targeting the Avatar's inner circle," Lin said
"Wouldn't that suggest revenge?" Opal asked.
"It could be, but why come back? It could be revenge, but not against the Avatar."
They spent the rest of the day trying to figure it out, but everyone only had parts, nobody had a full idea. When Raiko decided to speak again it was focused on the potential bombing. Republic city was under attack, and he decided it was Amon again, despite Lin's contrary opinions based on the evidence. Lin went back to her thoughts. It had been a chaotic morning before this already, and crime had been at an all-time high recently. There was a turf battle taking place, and Shady Shin was at the center of it. They needed help, but everything was spread so thin after Kuvira. So many people had no place to go and had lost everything they had; they sought refuge amongst each other on the streets and in places that were offering whatever they could to keep afloat in the current disasters.
"I don't know if I can keep reading these statements." Bolin interjected. He didn't want to read about his parent's death anymore; he still could remember the smell of singed flesh.
"Me either, but we have to look for clues that must be some overlap." Asami replied, determinedly. If only her father could know who killed her mother, maybe it would've been the closure that he so needed, if only things were different. Korra noticed the grief in Asami's eyes. She put her hand on Asami's, and they looked at each other; a comfort filling their hearts.
Each story got sadder and sadder, learning Bumi was hazed, and that this same Commander had also harmed females under his command. This murderer took out a new air bender, and it got more disturbing. Worst of all, none of these confessions had overlap besides gang violence. The slaughters of Mako and Bolin's parents, and Asami's mother. Opal had tears in her eyes. The city indeed was an awful place, killing people for such simple things. One way or another, the kids decided they would go to Air Temple Island and have dinner if everything went smooth.
Lin felt there should be more, but the lamebrain President didn't feel it was necessary, and of course, Tenzin was against anything too aggressive.
Lin excused herself to the bathroom, unable to tolerate it anymore. This wasn't a game. She felt the plan they had was too light, but she was all too aware that nobody would listen to her. She was too tired to bother anymore. She sat on the toilet for a bit dragging a piece of metal across her wrist absentmindedly, unsure of why she didn't feel a thing, despite the thin red lines marring her skin. Lin began thinking about Raiko and how preposterous he was. Amon had once taken the bending of the Avatar; this was an emergency, especially with so many people going with so many loose ends. But he was more concerned over the budget in place for the Republic City Police and his reelection. She stared at the ruddy marks on her arm, thinking about how stupid red tape was being.
Why she was so attracted to political types, she would never know. Maybe it was because of how vacant it all was. Her words didn't matter; she had seen how replaceable she had been four years ago. Why should it be different now? She wasn't half the Chief her mom had been.
She hadn't noticed how much time had passed until she heard Asami knock on the door. Lin blinked, and the next thing she knew, she was back to the group again. She felt okay for now but could still feel a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. She was far away from her paperwork and officers. It was Amon and possibly that rat-snake Tarrlok who had orchestrated the first wave of terrorism perfectly; they must have found out the city's dirty secrets somehow.
"Something big is coming. I can feel it." Mako sighed. He looked over at his Chief. Lin would die if it meant the people around her were safe. He knew Raiko had surrounded them in red tape as he had two years ago, but there had to be more. There had to be a link.
Lin noted Raiko had left to talk to his campaign advisor and turned to the others."The air temples have no actual ties to the bombings last time, but it is a place that had a comeback story for benders." Lin mused, her voice holding a gravelly tone.
"So why would they destroy it if that's the same thing the Equalists are trying to do?" Korra asked.
Lin looked up with steely green eyes narrowed, but not with bitterness. "What if they aren't. What if those terrorists are bluffing to keep the cops far from where they want to attack?" Lin's gaze fell back to the desk; they were fucked.

"I'll try and talk to Raiko to convince him that he couldn't afford to let a bombing happen during a crisis like this." Lin looked to Tenzin.
Tenzin could feel the hairs on his arm stick up; he was concerned for her, but unsure how she would take it.
Lin thought about Raiko, and how she knew he wouldn't listen. How he had so much unrestrained sovereignty and no idea what he was doing. Lin regretted using her discretion over Pema and Air Temple Island all those years ago. It was so hypocritical, a mishandling of her duty, and she knew benders had abused their powers perpetually. She even knew the police gradually were evolving into authoritarians of the indigent and powerless, just to protect the pouches of big money in Republic City. Maybe it invariably was always going to be that way. She didn't pay attention back to them as she should have, but these politicians did the same, they only hid it better, and the Equalists wanted to do the same - it was all power in the end.
It felt like everyone was becoming a haze of the same fiend with endless taking, selfish, abusive hands. Hands like her nightmares. Hands she yearned for, his hands. She should be sleeping. She hadn't in a few days, but instead, she blinked, and time passed again.

She was now in fresh clothes in Raikos's office once again, and it was starting to be close to going back to work time. She didn't even know what she was doing anymore or why, just that she couldn't leave, couldn't lose. Being a failure again wasn't an option; besides, what else did she have really? She would die or end her life one day, and until then, she would do the only thing she had tried to do her whole life, primarily, the right thing. She would fill her numbness with pain. It seemed to be the only thing she could have. Kya had once told her positive thought would bring positive changes or some crock-shit spirituality talk; if only Kya knew it was hopeless when it came to her.