The Spirit of Competition

Liko stood before her with his eyes closed, his knees bent and his bare feet within the dirt. "Make sure to breathe," instructed Lin. A hummingbee buzzed in her ear and she instinctively swatted it away; it fluttered toward the garden Lin hadn't touched since last spring, then flew away in search of something alive.

He huffed. "I am breathing."

Work seemed dead end after dead end after dead end, a revolving door leading her not in or out. Amon went quiet after his little radio performance, playing his next move whilst in the shadows. And Korra joined Tarrlok's task force. Lin had her doubts about the whole thing, but they put more Equalists behind bars than even her own men. Peace seemed imminent for a few days there, until Korra's avidity got the better of her. Exactly what Amon wanted to happen–perhaps what Tarrlok wanted, too; the kid played right into their hands, and exhaustion prevented Lin from being much help the last couple days, not that Korra would have accepted any assistance from anyone, much less the authorities.

"Then keep breathing," came Lin's curt response, sounding a little too much like Toph in that moment. The sun was barely above the horizon and neither mother nor son felt much enthusiasm for this early and abrupt training session, but Amon was still active and the nightmares refused to leave her. She awoke drenched in sweat–feeling the vibration of her own beating heart–and did what any mother in that moment would do: she dragged her half asleep teenage son from his bed to their backyard to ease some of her worries. "And focus on the vibrations around you." His face wrinkled into a concentrated expression; his toes wiggled in the dirt. "What do you see?" she asked after a moment.

"I see… the Ghost Witch of the Mountain ," he sneered before opening his eyes. He stood straight and crossed his arms. Liko was no fighter and sometimes it felt cruel to force him into such a mindset. But Amon's presence loomed around them. "What do you mean, 'What do I see?' I see black! My eyes are fucking closed."

Lin rolled her eyes and mirrored his stance. "Fine," she said. "We're done here. Wash up. Get ready for school."

He trudged his way inside without so much as a glance in her direction. Her attention went to the dead garden full of overgrown weeds and dirt where grass should be. Her legs angled in position as she moved to remove the ugly sight, but the memory of a summer breeze stalled her: Tenzin's shadow briefly relieving her from the hot sun as she placed the flowers, dirt in her nails, in her hair, on her clothes. "I'm not quite sure about the tulips," he pondered aloud, a tray of some form of hydrating liquid in hand. She was still speaking to her mother then. Suyin was still trying to get in contact. And Aang was still alive.

Still… the image was so still.

It was a time when being made police chief was furthest from her mind, when long talks about marriage and proposals ended with her telling him, "Maybe," or, "I'll think about it." When Liko was only an idea, a suggestion from a desperate Airbender who wanted only to live up to his father's legacy.

The tulips were dead now–or dead still. No point in lingering. She made to demolish it–maybe she could put up a fountain or a bird feeder in its place–but the phone ringing halted her movement.

"It's Hikaru," called out Liko.

Lin huffed, making her way inside, leaving the demolishing for another day, another moment. Hikaru was her friend… back when she had friends, but he was also a journalist whose desire for getting the latest scoop on Amon overpowered any other motives for why he was calling at such an early hour. She grabbed the phone and spit out her usual spiel: "The investigation into Amon's whereabouts, as well as the victims who lost their bending, is still ongoing and we have no new information for you at this time." Slamming the phone down, she turned to Liko now dressed and wearing shoes with his backpack dangling carelessly at his side. "Ready, kid?"

Liko yawned. "Yeah, I guess so."

They spent the ride to school mostly in stewing silence, the radio frequency broadcasting glimpses of dispatchers and officers' conversations occasionally disrupting their sulking. Teenage angst mixed with lack of sleep, on top of having Beifong genes, often caused trouble. Lin felt she was the one most likely to explode between the two of them.

" We have… uh, female down on South Yue Street," came the muffled voice of a male dispatcher. "Caller reports she's breathing but unresponsive. Healers are enroute."

Faint sirens blared in the distance; Lin was heading north, opposite of the chaos. "I'm working late again tonight," she told Liko. They were nearing his school and the traffic halted to allow people to cross the road.

"Enroute," replied Officer Moyo in response to the dispatcher: good kid but with a lot of wasted potential. Graduated top of his class at the Academy six years prior, but had done little to impress her since. Saikhan said he drank too much, even for a Beifong's standards.

"There's a shocker," came Liko's response to her news, adding a huff at the end for emphasis.

She rolled her eyes. "You're staying with your–"

"Don't say it," he muttered, moving to open his door. His school was just around the corner; its rusted metal walls gleaming in the morning sunlight. "Don't fucking say it." He slammed the door and tromped away without glancing back at her.

"Equalist members have been spotted near the port ," came the dispatcher but her attention mostly remained on Liko, who was disappearing into a crowd of children walking toward the school.

"Hear that, Chief?" Lin heard Saikhan ask clearly from the dispatch.

She hesitated, feeling a discomfort settle in her stomach just at the sound of his voice. Liko was turning the corner, still not looking back at her. The crossing guard was yelling for her to move forward.

"Yeah," she responded with her own huff, turning on her lights. "Be right there."

A few rookies scope out the joint while she and Saikhan collect witness statements. They haven't talked about the kiss yet—she doesn't want to. It was a mistake. The gleam in his eyes told her he felt differently. But her focus was on solving this case, not about her non-existent love life. Why would Amon's goons be at the port anyway? Something felt off about the entire thing.

"We were just unloading some boxes when they came out of nowhere."

"Yeah, it was like… they wanted us to see them," said one witness. A kid, probably only a few years older than Liko."They had these masks on. Kinda creepy, actually. The eyes on them glowed."

"And they wore these gray suits with long gloves," added the guy beside him. He was older than the first guy. About thirty, she would say.

"Matches their description," noted Saikhan as he jotted all this down in his notepad.

"Did they take anything? Any cargo missing?" Lin asked.

The kid shook his head. "No, they were in and out of here pretty fast. They didn't seem like they wanted to hurt us. Just maybe scare us a little."

"They didn't seem all that bad, you know?" said his friend. "Maybe these Equalist guys got a bad rep."

She resisted the urge to growl. She and Saikhan shared a look—that gleam in his eyes made her want to vomit—and she moved away, letting him handle those idiots by himself.

The rookies returned soon after. "All clear, Chief," said one of them.

"Just wasted my time, thanks," she told the two workers before opening her vehicle door. Maybe she was being too harsh, but Amon's popularity grew with each passing day. Benders were frantic. Non-benders were reckless. And it all fell on her to fix it.

She could see Saikhan in her rear view mirror, swaggering toward her. She started her car and— boom . Black smoke filled the air. Sirens sounded in the distance. Her heart dropped. " All units, report. Bombing at Avatar Aang Station. Equalists sighted."

"Shit!"

It was a set up, the whole damn thing! And she played into it. Saikhan hurriedly entered her car and she sped off toward the destruction. Tarrlok was charming the press when they arrived on scene several minutes later. Hikaru stood at the end, jotting notes down while the councilman talked out of his ass. He looked annoyed.

"Secure the perimeter," she ordered her men as they arrived. They run into action. "Don't let your guard down. Keep an eye out for survivors."

Tarrlok waved her over, a disingenuous smirk forming. His task force moved in to waterbend the fire out. A discomfort settled in her stomach. Tenzin's usually the one to handle the press. Maybe he just wanted the chance to show off his task force—let the city see them in action. She was surprised Korra wasn't here with him, flaunting her strength. But, Lin guessed, she had probending to focus on now. "Ah, Chief Beifong, I was just briefing them on the situation. Care to add anything?"

She decided to stick to the usual lines: "The investigation is still ongoing and we have—"

"—no new information for you at this time," Hikaru finished for her, visibly perking at her shock. Is she really that predictable? "Yeah. We got that, Chief. Anything else?"

She stumbled slightly at his boldness, but maintained a professional demeanor. "Equalist members have been spotted in the area. Be careful, don't wander—in case anything goes down."

"Chief," called Saikhan near the radio. "There's… a call for you."

She crossed her arms. He was really starting to annoy her. Why'd she have to go and kiss him? "I'm busy."

"Uh, Chief… It's Liko's school."

Tenzin hurried down the metal hall. The receptionist told him it was just to the left and a few doors down, but the school felt like a maze. Finally, he spotted a familiar brooding figure hunched over in a chair: Liko, sitting in a small metal desk facing his teacher. Tenzin took a deep breath, then entered.

"Councilman Tenzin," said his teacher, sounding surprised. Lin usually dealt with his school affairs. He didn't even know the woman's name.

"Please, call me Tenzin," he told her. His focus then turned to Liko, whose head remained facing down and his lips locked right. This was no doubt about his unfinished assignments. But he asked anyway, "What seems to be the problem?"

"Oh, um…" She glanced at the door, wondering. "Should we wait for your, um…" She stopped, unable to label who Lin was to him.

Ex-wife? No, they never married. Chief seemed too formal. "Liko's mother"—he settled on—"is currently dealing with a disruption downtown." Liko finally looked at him, his face red in—what was it? Anger? Embarrassment? Possibly a mixture of both. "I will be happy to relay the message back to…"

But his words fell flat when Lin appeared suddenly at the doorway. She must have come straight from the station. There was that familiar look of disdain on her face. Liko shrank at the sight of her. She glared at Tenzin, then Liko before stomping toward them. The room was now small; the air felt thick. "What is it? What happened?"

"Liko hasn't been completing his assignments," began his teacher after a short awkward pause, her focus mostly on Lin. "It started a few weeks ago. He would turn in unfinished assignments, blank papers, claiming he forgot… or he didn't have time." Lin looked disapprovingly down at Liko, who in return rolled his eyes. "I know it might be a stressful time for him right now. It's a stressful time for all of us in the city…"

"It's still no excuse," agreed Tenzin. Liko nearly snarled.

Lin huffed, massaging her temples. He sensed a migraine forming. "Can he redo some assignments? Maybe do extra credit?"

"I went ahead and put all of his missing assignments in this folder," she continued. "He'll have until the end of the week to complete them."

"Thank you." Lin grabbed the folder, then forcefully handed it off to Liko. "He'll get it done."

A bell rang. His teacher excused herself for a moment and stepped out. Liko stood. "Mom—"

"I don't want to hear it," she snapped. "You have a simple job: go to school, get good grades…"

"Lin—"

"Stay out of this, Tenzin," she said. It felt as if he were talking to a wall. A stubborn, overworked wall. Her attention remained on Liko. "I risk my ass every day to keep you and the rest of the city safe and you can't even be bothered to complete a few simple assignments?"

"It's not… it's not like that!"

"I'm the chief of police, kid. I can't stop everything and come down here every time you have a problem. Do you have any idea where I was when your school called?"

He huffed, then crossed his arms and shot her with the same look she was giving him. "Flirting with Saikhan is my safest bet."

Lin growled. Tenzin's stomach twisted. She was far too good for him. Saikhan was an incompetent loser, easily manipulated. She deserved so much better.

"We'll discuss this later," she said, turning her heel and stomping out. "I have to get back."

Tenzin placed a gentle hand on his son's shoulder. "I'll help you with your assignments after school," he promised.

Another bell rang. Liko shrugged off his touch and reached down to collect his book bag. "I'm late for gym." And following his mother's path, he trampled out.

Korra got the call from Bolin early in the morning, asking her to come over to practice. She heard Asami giggling in the background. She told him she was busy. And then the bombing happened. Tarrlok seemed to have everything covered by the time she got there. She posed with him for a few photos—with Beifong brooding in the background—and then he ignored her for the rest of the time she was there.

She was home practicing with Tenzin and Jinora when he called again, now begging her to come over. She finally relented, and told Tenzin she was off to practice. He offered her a ride; she told him she'd take the ferry, wanting to get there as slowly as possible.

Liko once again sat atop the metal newspaper stand when they docked. He was writing something down in some folder. "Hey kid," she greeted.

Tired eyes looked up at her. "Hey."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, just… trying to write my family tree," he said, sliding off the stand. "It's for school. It's dumb."

"That shouldn't be too hard," she said. His grandparents were legendary; they saved the world, changed history for the better. And his parents ran Republic City.

Liko shrugged, closing his folder. "What are you doing?"

"I'm headed to the arena for practice," she told him. The thought of Mako being all over Asami for the next hour made her sick. "Wanna come? I could really use some backup."

His face went sour. "Not really into pro-bending. Besides, my…" He sighed. "Tenzin's expecting me."

"Suit yourself."

And she heard the shrill voice of that mailman again, calling her over. It was almost as bad as her nightmares of Amon. Her heart skipped as she pretended not to hear him, or even see him. He looked to be headed to the island.

And Liko straightened, probably not wanting to be stuck with him for the next fifteen minutes to an hour. "On second thought… I never really gave pro-bending a chance. Maybe… maybe I'll like it."

"Yeah, maybe," she agreed, grabbing him by the sleeve and running.

Lin's office was cluttered with paperwork. They had a few Equalists in custody but, unsurprisingly, none of them were talking. Tarrlok's task force was proving to be useful in the investigation—though she would never admit it out loud.

Jiang, her secretary, entered with more files, the latest reports. He set the papers down on the stack in front of her. It was going to be a long night but they were close to finding Amon. She could feel it. "Councilman Tenzin is here to see you."

"What is it now?" she asked without looking up. "Avatar Korra shut down the highway this time?"

"Thankfully, no," came Tenzin's response, entering without her consent.

"Then what is it?"

His face turned serious. "Liko. He didn't come to the island after school."

" Great ," Lin said, standing. She didn't have time for any of this. "You lost my son while an anti-bending terrorist group is loose in the city." She exited her office to find Saikhan. He would have to take over for a while.

"I didn't lose him, Lin," he said, following her out. "He… he never showed up. You were the one who said he was fine taking the ferry."

Saikhan was by the VariTea maker, laughing with a few officers. Saikhan's smile faded at the sight of Tenzin—they never did get along. "Liko's gone AWOL. I'll be back when I find him. Continue interrogating the Equalists in the meantime."

"Tarrlok's coming in soon." He'd been coming in all week after work, wanting to be the big shot hero. And, honestly, his savior complex was bigger than his own ego right now. Then again, they were one in the same.

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Fine. But remind him who's running this show, would ya?"

They rode Oogie down to Liko's go-to place: the record shop near their house. Something illegal hit their nostrils upon entering and lingered around them as they roamed, but, like all the other times, she ignored it. Ichiro, the zonked, red-eyed worker, waved at her from the register. "Hey, Chief-lady, where's Little Man?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Lin replied, disappointed to see the shop near empty.

Tenzin observed a poster on the wall: a shirtless man with wild hair screaming into a microphone, and his band mates—equally disheveled—posing on either side of him. A crossed out Earth Kingdom symbol was at the top with their name in red ink beside it. Liko had a similar poster hanging up on his bedroom wall. "These are The Drills?" questioned a concerned Tenzin.

"Yeah, dude," said Ichiro, "they're, like… the voice of our generation. You know what I mean, man?"

Tenzin's brow rose. "I'm not entirely sure you know what you mean…"

"Have you seen Liko?" Lin asked, skipping the small talk.

"Not today, no," he answered. Tenzin wandered off to browse the many records. "Nobody appreciates rock music like Little Man does, you know?"

Lin did. It almost made the music bearable. Almost. She headed for the door, her mind already on the next place he might be: Yoyo's, his favorite restaurant. But Ichiro was trying to sell a record to Tenzin, his hophead mind insisting it would change his life. And to her shock, he actually bought it from him.

"Well, he just seemed so eager for me to listen to it, Lin," he explained on their way to Yoyo's, "and you know how I hate saying no to sales people. I just get so flustered. But I may end up liking… What's this band called again? Fire. I like… fire. I think." Liko liked them—they weren't The Drills, but he still danced to the loud nonsense they made. Though, if Tenzin started listening to them, then he might end up hating them.

Yoyo, like Ichiro, hadn't seen Liko today, either. And now she was getting worried. He wasn't the type to run out on his own like this. Then again, she didn't think he was the type to ignore his homework. Teenage rebellion would be the death of her. She decided to retrace his steps, see if he even made it to the ferry.

She questioned a few white lotus members who were heading into the city for dinner. They hadn't seen Liko since the day before. Some mailman exited the ferry with them, and was now calling Tenzin over. "Let's… move on," Tenzin said quietly. "Shin can be a bit much."

But Lin refused to budge—mostly to torture Tenzin—and the young man greeted him eagerly, "Councilman Tenzin!"

He managed a polite smile. "Shin! How lovely it is to see you again."

"You're not overworking our Avatar now, are you?"

"I… I don't believe so. Why do you ask?"

"She just seemed eager to get out of here is all. Took that kid who's always around and left before she even spotted me," he said, and Lin's interest piqued. "You know girls are delicate flowers at that age. You need to—"

"Kid? What kid?" Lin said, crossing her arms.

"Oh, she was with that kid. The boy, about yay high." His hand lifted about the same height as Liko. "Unimportant," Shin told her, waving it off and continuing with his blabber.

"Korra is at the arena practicing," Tenzin told her. "It could be that he joined her."

"Liko doesn't do pro-bending," she told him, already walking toward Oogie. They had no other leads. "C'mon. Let's go see if the Avatar kidnapped my kid."

"Always a pleasure , Shin," Tenzin said politely. The mailman tipped his hat. And he airbent himself back onto Oogie before the man could utter another word.

Bolin sent an earth disk flying. Korra easily dodged it and it hit the net. Mako was busy making kissy faces at Asami, so she splashed them with water. And they recoiled, briefly before looking up. "My fault," said Asami. "I'm a distraction." Why did she have to be so nice?

"A good distraction," said Mako, wiping the water from his face. She made to hit him again, but Bolin got her right in the stomach.

"Oh, yeah! And the undefeated champ stays… undefeated," he cheered, flaunting his muscles as Korra hit the ground.

"You guys are definitely going to win Friday's big game," said Asami.

"Only if you're there to cheer us on," Mako said, moving in for a kiss.

A disgusting giggle. "Always."

Korra resisted the urge to vomit. Liko sat alone in the corner, silently stressing over his homework. Maybe the assignment was harder than she originally thought. She moved toward him. "I should probably get back," he told her, closing his folder.

"They can be a bit much, I know," said Korra, gesturing to the make out session starting behind her. "Thanks for sticking it out this long."

He frowned. "No… it's not that. I'm just having trouble—"

And the doors burst open. Beifong frantically entered with Tenzin sprinting a few steps behind. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Bolin jumped. Mako and Asami separate guiltily. Liko shrank.

Korra put on a brave face. "Chief Beifong—"

Beifong looked past her. "You had me running around this entire city trying to find you. You could have been dead in some ditch for all I knew."

"But I wasn't," he said, crossing his arms. "I was with Korra. It's no big deal."

"No big deal? A psycho terrorist who can take your bending away is loose in the city and all you can say is that it's no big deal? I don't know why you're choosing now to be this free spirit , too cool for school—"

"Mom!"

"—too cool for anything that's good for you, but I've had it! You're grounded."

"Fine!"

"No radio. No rock music—"

"I don't care!" he told her. "Whatever."

Mirroring her son's stance, she crossed her arms. "Get your stuff. We're leaving."

With a fierce huff, he put the folder in his bag and nodded in Korra's direction. "See ya, kid," he told her.

"See ya, kid," she echoed, watching as Beifong led him out.

They all stood in silence for a moment. Tenzin stroked his beard, a look of worry on his face. "Man, I never thought I'd actually meet Chief Beifong—well, actually, that's not true," Bolin began to babble. "I thought maybe one day she might arrest Mako and I for, you know, some type of criminal activity, but… but I'm totally glad that's not the case. Never pegged her as the concerned mom type, though."

Silence, again.

Tenzin sighed. "I'll see you at home, Korra," he told her, turning to leave.

"Yeah, see you at home."

Maybe now they could finally start practicing. To her disappointment, Mako and Asami went back to kissing. Bolin threw a disk at her. She dodged it easily, then knocked Mako down with a spurt of water. Asami laughed. Something inside her fluttered.

Liko ran inside the house. Lin stomped after him. Tenzin offered his help, but she told him she could handle it; she'd been handling it for the last twelve or so years. She slammed the door behind her. "Don't walk away from me. We're not done here!"

Liko turned swiftly back to her, then threw his bag onto the kitchen table. The migraine was already forming. "Why do you care?" he shot back, angry tears forming. "You didn't even want this!"

"What do you mean I don't want this? You being safe is all I care about!" Lin shouted back. She decided to take a step back. Her head began throbbing. "Look—I know you're not happy spending so much time on the island with Tenzin, but that's the safest place for you to be right now."

"It's not about that! It has never been about that!" He pulled out the folder from his bag and showed her the first assignment: a paper with Liko and Lin's names connected by a line, their incomplete family tree. "You hate your mom. You hate your sister." He hesitated, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "You hate Tenzin. You hate everybody!" Her stomach tightened. She didn't hate any of them. Not really. "You didn't even want this. You didn't even want me. And Tenzin…" He stopped, looking away to wipe his face. "I didn't do it because… I didn't know what to put."

"What… kind of teacher assigns a family tree anyway? What do you learn from that?"

He sniffed. "It's heritage month. Ms. Cai said it's to embrace everybody's different backgrounds."

"You can keep it like that," she offered, tracing her name down to his own. She'd probably just put him down too if she ever had to make one of these things. "Just us, I mean. I can talk to your teacher about it."

He shrugged, avoiding her gaze. "Whatever," he said coldly, stomping toward his room. He needed some time to cool off.

She went to the phone when his door slammed. She should probably call Saikhan, check up on things at the station. Maybe also call Tenzin, tell him everything was okay. But when the operator asked where she wanted to call, she found herself hesitating. "Zaofu, please," she said after a moment. "Um, Suyin Beifong. I… don't know the number." Su called every now and again, wanting to get back in contact; Lin always told her she was busy.

"One moment please," said the operator in a cheery tone. After a moment, she heard a click and then a ringing. She felt a stinging on her cheek. She hung up before anyone could answer.

And her stomach clenched, her heart fell as the phone suddenly began ringing again on its own. Her hand hovered over it for a long moment. "Hello," she picked up finally, expecting Su to be on the other end.

"Hey, uh, Chief."

"Hikaru?" He called this morning, too. His boss must really be up his ass about whatever story he was working on. "Look, I've told you everything I can about Amon. You'll just have to wait like everybody else."

She started to hang up. He stopped her. "Actually, I was calling about drinks."

"Drinks?"

"Yeah, it's been a while. I'd love to catch up."

"Oh." Something fluttered inside her.

"What do you say? Wanna meet up at the Earth Queen's Tavern in about an hour? I'm buying."

"I can't," she told him.

"Oh."

"I mean, not tonight. My… kid, he's going through something right now."

"Another time then."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Another time."

They hang up without setting it up. She was too concerned about Liko's wellbeing to care. Maybe she could call back in the morning.

She bent her armor off, then moved to knock on Liko's door. He didn't answer, so she entered. He was laying on the bottom bunk, his back facing her. "Hey kid," she said, sitting beside him. "I just came in here to say… I don't hate you. I love you a lot, actually. Probably don't show it enough. That's the Beifong in me."

Beifongs always bottle up their feelings, hoping it doesn't eventually burst out at the wrong moment. She barely cried when Tenzin left. Just wiped the dirt from her pants and moved on. Same with Su. Lin got bandaged up and was back on the beat the next day, like it never happened.

He turned to face her. "I don't hate you, either."

She brushed the hair away and kissed his forehead. "You're not grounded, all right? Just… tell me these things next time."

Liko nodded as she stood.

"Goodnight," she told him.

He turned back to the wall. "'Night."

She should call Saikhan. Tarrlok's probably being a pain in the ass at the station. She went to lie down in her bed instead.