"It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience." – Julius Caesar
"...You're telling me it spoke to you?"
"He did." Korra nodded her head, correcting Laya's twin brother, Gohon, as she was in the middle of healing his broken arm. "It was...weird hearing him speak. I honestly thought he was a spirit at first."
Gohon seemed unconvinced.
"You sure it wasn't a spirit or something? I hear you guys in the water tribes deal with those things on a more regular basis than the rest of us," He proposed, expressing his doubt. "I've heard freaky tales across the Earth Kingdom about spirits taking on weird forms and sounding like peoples' relatives. You positive this ain't the case?"
"I don't know," Korra admitted, having very little experience with the spirit side of being an Avatar. "It could be a spirit or...it could be a person. I'm sure Harak's gonna do everything to figure out where he's from if he is human."
"If you ask me, I ain't never seen a human do what this guy was doing."
"Really?"
The earth-bender looked at her in disbelief.
"You saw the way he was moving out there," Gohon said, causing her to remember the brief encounter with the giant. "There's no way a human can move that fast and take out so many benders. The worst part is no one saw him use any of the four elements. Just his fists. One minute, he's standing in front of me. The next thing I know, I'm holding my arm after he broke it from just twisting it. The guy barely did a thing against me."
Out of everything he said, Korra thought about how the giant never used any of the elements. All he did was move around and take them out. Over a dozen guards were left on the ground, injured in some way, shape, or form. It's a scary thought to know a potential non-bender was capable of such a feat, but a lot of questions started forming in her mind.
"If he isn't a spirit, where do you think he's from?" Korra asked, curious to get Gohon's take. "Do you think he's from the Earth Kingdom?"
The man scoffed at the question.
"I doubt it. Ain't no stories about a giant man wandering around in armor as black as midnight," Gohon said, dismissing the possibility outright. "If we had a story like that, I doubt our Queen would tolerate a man like that existing. I imagine you folks down here can say the same thing."
"Pretty much. My dad never told me tales about an armored giant wandering the South Pole."
"I don't know whether to be relieved or scared to know that."
Korra smiled at his attempt to lighten up the situation. Once she finished healing his arm, Korra tossed the water back into a nearby bucket.
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," She told him. "As for you, your arm is as good as new. Make sure not to break it again so soon. I doubt Laya or your wife would be okay with finding out you hurt yourself a second time this month already."
He laughed at her joke.
"Look at you, finding a sense of humor. You know what? Maybe one day you'll manage to find a boy who won't be scared to death of you." Gohon then leaned in closer. "And, uh, keep this between us; the guys here are not worth your attention. Believe me, you can do far better. Plus, Laya and my wife agree with me. But you never heard this from me."
At that moment, Korra felt a mixture of emotions. Either way, it didn't stop her from blushing. As Korra was about to smack him on his arm, the door to the infirmary swung open, revealing the man's sister.
"Where's Gohon?"
He raised his hand and waved her over, "Over here, sis."
Korra watched as Laya walked across the infirmary. Other than greeting the occasional injured guard, she made a beeline to them. The moment she got close enough, Laya smirked at Gohon.
"I see your arm is good to go."
"You're dang right it is," Gohon retorted, cracking a smile. He lifted his arm and flexed it. "And I'm better than ever. It's all thanks to our resident Avatar. Hey, you know, if this whole Avatar business doesn't work out for ya, I can see you doing a whole lot of good healing folks. Spirits knows there are plenty of them out there."
Slap!
"Ow!"
"Don't be a prick to her." Laya, after she finished slapping her brother on the back of his neck, looked up at her. "You already know what I'm going to say."
Korra shrugged her shoulders, "Don't take his comments too seriously."
"At least, you remember what I say...unlike this idiot brother of mine."
"I'm right here, you know?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck. Gohon then let out a groan of pain, which was followed by him expressing said pain. "But, you need to learn to hold back, sis. Keep that up and I may have to be worried about my good brother's life. Well, aside from all the chaos my nieces and nephews put him through."
Laya glared at him, "Shut it."
"Fine, fine. Anyway, besides doing your sibling duty and checking up on me, what brings you down to the infirmary?" Gohon asked, standing up the chair. "I thought Harak asked you to pull security duty on the giant?"
"He did," Laya confirmed. "Then a few minutes ago, he asked me to go look for you. He says he wants to speak to the giant and find out why exactly it's here."
Korra perked up at the mention of Harak deciding to interrogate the armored giant. An idea formed in her mind. She looked up at Laya, asking, "Do you mind if I tag along?"
Unfortunately, Laya shook her head.
"No can do. Harak strictly mentioned you can't be around him," She said, shaking her head. "He nearly sacked me for letting you be near that thing. Besides, he specifically asked for us."
The young Avatar – the vessel of wisdom of countless generations – pouted as if she were a child. Laya shrugged her shoulders with an apologetic expression on her face.
"Sorry, Korra. Orders are orders."
After her twin brother finished putting on his garb, Korra was forced to watch them twins walk out of the infirmary, heading for their makeshift detention center. Or, as she liked to call it, a box created by a few earth-benders. It was slapdash, but Korra knew the walls were easily a few meters thick. As much as the others may not admit it, the giant scared them.
'But what the heck is an Insurrectionist?'
(X)
"I asked you a question! Who are you?"
"…"
"Answer my question or I will make you."
Six resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the interrogator's method of extracting information from him. If it were an ONI official, they would've either tortured him or shipped him off to one of their classified black sites. Either way, Six doubted these people were capable of stooping to the levels of the Office of Naval Intelligence.
Last night turned out to be a rather interesting encounter. It revealed several things to the spartan. One of them is the possibility that this outpost doesn't belong to the Insurrectionists. No, Six found quite a bit of evidence to the contrary.
The biggest detail was after he was trapped inside of a four-sided box that popped out of the ground. A woman – likely in her late twenties or early thirties – appeared at the top. She made a few gestures with her hand, causing some nearby metal to rise above her, and wrapped them around his arms. He realized they were handcuffs.
Just slightly bigger than normal ones.
That same woman was standing in a corner behind his interrogator. In the other corner, there was a man with a similar facial structure as the woman. They're likely siblings. There's also a good chance the man is capable of being able to manipulate metal like the woman.
"Who sent you?!" He exclaimed, suddenly getting up in Six's face.
"…"
His silence continued to frustrate the man. By this point, Six figured they would've turned to torture as a method of extracting information. So why were they hesitating? The UNSC wasn't above such things given everything that's occurred over the past thirty years.
"Talk!"
One final desperate plea from the interrogator. Then, out of clear anger, the old man raised his hand. A moment later, the snow on the ground flew into the air and turned into shards of ice. Dozens of them floated menacingly in the air, inches away from Six's face. The two other people in the room were not prepared for this to happen if the surprised expressions on their faces meant anything.
"If you do not talk, I will be forced to use less-than-ideal methods. I am giving you one last chance to tell me what I wanna know." The shards of ice moved closer to him. "Do not make me do this to you."
The look in his eyes told Six everything.
He wasn't going to go through with his threat. This old man didn't have the heart necessary to skewer him like an animal. It's why the spartan kept quiet, continuing the unofficial staring match. Then, as he suspected, the man reached his limit and yelled.
All the shards of ice fell to the ground, shattering into millions of pieces.
"Argh!"
The old man finally hit his limit. He then gave an order to the two guards to open a way for him. They followed his orders without question. Six watched as a portion of the wall came down, shaped exactly like a real door. Once the old man left, the two closed the hole up. Now, it was only three of them left.
Six looked at the guards.
What further confirmed his theory about them being siblings were their eye colors as well as the color of their hair. While their heads were covered by some hood, he did see a few pieces of red hair sticking out.
Then, something unexpected happened.
"Uh, Mr. Giant?"
Six blinked a few times at the name given to him by the unknown male. He turned his head, raising an eyebrow underneath his helmet. Unsure of what to say. That being said, the woman in the room looked aghast at the man's question.
"What are you doing?!" She whispered harshly, glaring at the man. "Harak said not to talk to him!"
"Come on, you can't tell me you're not interested in hearing what the giant has to say," The male guard retorted, not even bothering to lower his voice. The guard then looked back at him, "You mind if I ask a question?"
The spartan wanted to believe it was a ploy to get him to speak and reveal some information. However, the reaction from the female guard was far too genuine to be fake.
"Depends."
"You…You can speak?"
"When he wants to," Six said, answering the female guard's question. Ignoring the dumbfounded look on her face, the spartan kept speaking. "Now, one of you had something to ask."
The male guard broke out of his stupor.
"Oh, um, right," He said, glancing over at the other guard before looking back at him. "A lot of us want to know if you're some kind of spirit. One made for battle or something from the way you were kicking our butts."
"He broke your arm. That's not kicking our butt."
"Thank you for the correction, sis."
Six expected a multitude of different questions. The last thing he imagined these people asking him was whether or not he was a spirit. A ridiculous question to even contemplate. His circumstances may be unusual, but he's a trained intelligence operative, not some superstitious native.
"I'm not a spirit."
"You're human then?"
"…"
The spartan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Questions like these are why Six has no patience or willingness to deal with civilians regularly. Although, it seems the male guard wasn't finished.
He called out to him, "If you don't mind since you're talking to us; can I ask why you gave our boss the silent treatment? It's kind of weird to suddenly start speaking up after he left."
"Your boss didn't ask nicely."
"Well," The male guard rubbed the back of his head. "I've heard worse reasons for not talking to Harak before. Can't say I blame ya. But, uh, I was also hoping you might be willing to tell us why exactly you came to this place. Nicely, of course."
"I made an assumption."
The male guard raised an eyebrow, "What kind of assumption?"
"…"
These people – as normal as they seemed to be on the surface – aren't privy to such information. After all, there's always the chance they may be trying to extract vital intelligence out of him. Or, they could be attempting to contact Insurrectionist forces. A third, more hopeful thought, is they could be associated with the UNSC in some capacity. But, unfortunately, Six was not willing to risk giving away information that could be detrimental to the UNSC.
"Great, he's back to giving us the silent treatment," The female guard said, scoffing at him.
(X)
Last night turned out to be more of a disaster than she could've imagined. Korra took in the incredible amount of damage done to the compound. Temporary buildings were being erected to replace those set on fire by wayward blasts. Others, meanwhile, received much in the way of repairs.
In the back of her mind, she was reminded of those paintings depicting the damage done to parts of the world during the Hundred Years War. A haunting image of temples engulfed in flames.
"No word on your fire-bending training?"
Katara's question brought Korra back to reality. The young woman took a deep breath before shaking her head, "Not a single word. He wants to wait until the storm passes completely. And, uh, I kind of broke another headgear."
"Already?"
Korra scratched her cheek while laughing awkwardly, "I mean, it's not entirely my fault. It just slipped out of my hand when I changed out of my training gear. You know, it was a complete accident and not a result of me being angry or anything."
"It's alright. I understand how much the trip meant to you."
"...Was it that obvious?"
The older woman laughed at her question, "Dear, you weren't trying very hard to mask your anger. Out of everyone, those trainers deserve an apology for the way you threw them around yesterday."
"I didn't mean to hurt them or anything."
"I know. However, you tend to let your temper dictate your actions," Katara chided her. "In training, it's inevitable you're going to get upset and take your frustrations out on whatever pour soul is your sparring partner for the day. Out in the real world, however, is a completely different story. You're the Avatar. As much as you may not like it, the world expects a great deal out of you. This means you'll have to tolerate people who don't like you."
"...So what you're saying is I can't hit everyone in life?"
Katara gave her a flat look.
"Sorry, bad joke."
"Either way, I do want you to know even Harak sympathizes with you," Katara revealed, a statement that caught Korra by surprise. Her reaction must've been obvious because the old woman chuckled. "I know it sounds difficult to believe. Trust me, I was a little surprised myself. However, we know you're upset. It's just…"
"I'm not helping the situation, aren't I?"
She reluctantly nodded, "I'm afraid so."
"Ugh." Korra couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of acting like a brat about the trip being canceled cause of the storm. She let out an exasperated sigh, saying, "I feel like a giant idiot now."
"You're young. It's alright for you to let those moronic tendencies take control from time to time. None of us were perfect at your age," Katara said, feeling the older woman's hand on her arm. "An example to learn from is last night. What you did, leaping into action and trying to assist the guards, while noble of you, was incredibly stupid."
"I know, I know," Korra interrupted Katara, not wanting to go through yet another lecture. "Harak was already pretty thorough in grilling me. I don't need one from you too."
Katara frowned at her, "Do you understand how dangerous last night was for you?"
"I think I have a pretty good idea, Katara."
While it appeared she had more to say on the matter, the older woman remained quiet. Korra knew she was being rude, but everyone had been getting on her nerves since this morning. They treated her like she was made from glass or something. But the mention of how dangerous things ended up reminded her of the bizarre question.
Insurrectionist.
She glanced through one of her old textbooks in the storage shed. It's a word to describe an individual who takes part in an armed rebellion against the government.
It's such an odd question.
"Hey, Katara…"
"Yes?"
"Are there any...rebellions going in the world?"
"Not to my knowledge," Katara replied casually. "The only sort of trouble I hear about are the issues in the Earth Kingdom and some hooligans troubling Republic City. Other than those situations, I've heard nothing about a rebellion brewing in the world. Why?"
Korra shrugged her shoulders, "No reason."
For a split second, the young Avatar glanced over in the direction of the stone prison, home to a unique individual who may know something the others don't.
Off in the distance, Korra saw the sun beginning to set. An idea came to mind. A risky one, but she was keen on speaking to this giant and finding out what exactly he knows. All she has to do is wait for the night to arrive.
'I hope the twins aren't guarding the inside tonight.'