AUTHOR'S NOTES: Normally I'm not one to give warnings for small things like foul language, but this chapter is full of many more colourful words than usual, for reasons which will become obvious immediately. That said, here's how Chief BeiFong deals with a much wittier and more powerful Korra. There's no Tenzin to bail her out this time.
Happy Reading!
BOOK TWO: CHANGE
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: METALBENDING DISCIPLINE
Korra remained dazed and dizzy all the way to the police station, where she woke up bound to a chair to restrict her movement, and her headband had been replaced over her forehead. Her hands were cuffed, and it seemed she was mostly unable to bend. After what seemed like an eternity, Chief Lin BeiFong came to see her directly, a large folder in her hands.
"Ah yes… Avatar." she spoke, "We've already got quite the file on you even before today… but now multiple counts of destruction to private and city property, not to mention assault of Republic City Police officers and extensive vandalism to their equipment, but also evading arrest entirely. Young lady, you are in a whole mess of trouble, and that mouth of yours is likely only going to make things worse, so think before you speak."
"Chief," Korra began, "Let me explain something to you. When you're in a situation like that, you don't have time to think. So I thought to myself 'don't think Korra. Act'."
"So…" Lin raised an eyebrow, unamused, "you weren't thinking."
"Not at all!" Korra exclaimed, still unable to move, "I cannot emphasize how little I was thinking!"
Lin gave her an exasperated look, but did not reply.
"But in my defense, Chief," Korra continued, "I firmly believe that assault should be legal, especially if it's against Triads or if the person is a jerk."
"Thank you, Avatar Korra, for your absurd opinion which you share with no one," Lin rolled her eyes, "now, CAN IT! I bend only one element and I still manage to apprehend criminals without causing a ruckus and destroying half the city. You know all four, and so surely if you had any semblance of self-control or discipline, you could have found a much less destructive way of apprehending those Triads."
"Well then, no thanks for apprehending them at all." Korra's time with the Red Lotus had sharpened her wit and comeback skills considerably, "the next time three thugs surround a teenage girl I guess I should just get on my knees and beg for mercy then."
"Don't play innocent, girl; you know your own strength…" Lin scoffed, "and your ridiculous arsenal of powers, which was clearly unregulated."
"Oh, my bad," Korra rolled her eyes, "I forgot that being the goddamn Avatar meant learning the four elements and diversifying my skillsets. Remind me next time I'm reincarnated to only use carefully choreographed routines when I learn how to bend. It might be easier since that poor sod'll be born an earthbender."
"Just because you're some probending whiz that knows how to blow things up and throw a few lightning bolts doesn't make you some Avatar State legend, kid." Lin shook her head. "Justice might be blind but that doesn't mean it's going to turn a blind eye to crimes from the Avatar."
"Really now?" Korra quipped, "because would you look at that?" She had regained her bending, using a deft motion to uncuff herself, "It looks like if I really wanted to escape, I could." she accentuated her point by pulling up her headband. "Fortunately, I don't want to escape; I just don't want to get the slammer for trying to defend myself and accidentally causing a bit of collateral damage on the side." She covered her tattoo with her headband again.
"Even then, you're far from being Fully Realized," Lin pointed a finger right at Korra's nose, making the saucy Avatar go cross-eyed for a brief moment, "and even if you were, you can't just go waltzing through Republic City and doling out vigilante justice like you own the damn place."
"It seems you're letting the Triads to exactly that," Korra riposted, and they'd still be at it if it wasn't for… oh would you look at that… the freakin' Avatar."
There were several seconds of awkward silence, where Lin and Korra basically had a staring contest. Surprisingly, Korra did not relent, and moments after Lin blinked she spoke again.
"Why are you here, Avatar Korra?" her expression narrowed.
"Because… I want to be here?" Korra shrugged, "My best friend lives here; two of my other close friends live here; there's a shitload of opportunities for work here, I love the sports here, to the tune of getting back into the arena in two days?"
She sighed. "Look, what are you gonna do to me? I'll take the punishment like a little bitch if I have to; just don't make me miss my game. I've been waiting for months for this!"
"So it would seem," Lin mused. And idle hands clearly only know trouble. You make a formidable fighter, but you lack discipline. I plan to rectify that."
"Just dole out my punishment already instead of dangling it over my head," Korra complained, "what are you going to do to me, and whose house do I need to rebuild to get freed?"
"I plan to teach you discipline, Avatar." Lin seemed to be analyzing Korra just as hard as Korra was analyzing her; both looking for chinks in the other's armour. "You're spending the rest of the evening with me, and I'm going to teach you the way to utilize metalbending properly. Once we're done, we will consider the charges dropped—only because there was enough money in the Triad gangs' car to cover the damage expenses and then some. Be glad you caught someone worthwhile and not just some petty thug."
"Hey, I'll never say no to more bending training," Korra's tone and expression became much mellower, "I'll do what I have to do."
"You're not going to like it," The right corner of Lin's mouth curled up almost unnoticeably, "But then we shall see. Thank you for not blowing my whole office apart, by the way." With this, she flicked her wrist, and the bindings around Korra's wrists, neck, body, and feet came undone.
"How bad could it possibly be?" Korra shrugged, "oh; can I at least try and heal these wounds? They're stinging like a bitch!"
"You know healing?" Lin quipped, nodding to cue Korra that she could indeed work and heal herself now, "now that's a surprise."
"Katara taught me the basics," Korra explained as she began massaging her left arm with water, "and I learned other tricks from my uncle."
"I'll be honest," Lin quipped, "healing is the last ability I suspected you would ever have any capability for—much less talent."
"I couldn't rely on Unalaq to heal me every time the Red Lotus kicked my face in," Korra shrugged with a pout, "for how ruthless they were for me, they seemed pretty determined to make sure I was kept alive."
"I deal in justice, Avatar Korra; not torture." Lin remarked, "I might work you in the bone but I have no desire to bring you to actual harm, much less kill you."
"Well," Korra pouted as she spent a little extra time on her left arm, "that's a relief."
A few moments later and the pain had subsided from Korra's arm as she moved to her stomach, lifting her shirt slightly to clean up the ice-shrapnel wounds. They were small and so the healing processes were not overly lengthy, and so within 15 minutes Korra felt almost as good as new—albeit still sore.
"Welp, I'm ready," Korra shrugged, "Let's get started."
"Right then," Lin nodded, a very subtle sense of vindication appearing on her visage that Korra wither oblivious or indifferent to, "follow me."
=Several Minutes Later…=
"Learning how to metalbend, my ass!" Korra shouted through gritted teeth. She was situated atop a small rock, her arms above her head supporting two large plates of metal, with Lin sitting in a meditative position on top of them, calmly drinking tea. "You're not even letting me metalbend these sheets!"
"You're trembling, Avatar," Lin replied casually, with a vindictive lack of regard for Korra's struggle, "focus harder and keep it up. You know the rules."
"I'd like to see you try this!" Korra snapped, "Fuck, my knees! AAAAAUGH!" With a concerted force of effort, Korra tried straightening her legs and arms, trying to put less pressure on her joints as she struggled to maintain this balance.
"Metalbending will be good for you, they said…" Korra's face was red and beaded with sweat from her struggle not to drop the weight of the metal and Lin on top of her. She was pretty sure Lin weighed at least as much as she did without her armour—and so with it, it was several extra pounds. Similarly, those sheets of metal were both heavy enough to at least match Korra's body weight, if not exceed it. "MORE LIKE TORTURE LABOUR, AM I RIGHT?"
"Quit your bitching and stop slacking," Lin quipped, "you're weaker than you look."
"Fuck you," Korra's pride was injured, especially since she always used to enjoy showing off her formidable strength. As such, she pushed herself up before her eyes widened. "Wait, is that another panel? Seriously, no; dammit; Lin, I'm gonna fall; my knees are gonna explode, fuck, AAAAAUGH!" her arms and legs bent as Lin somehow managed to carefully slide another panel in between her feet and the two existing ones.
"Do you just carry these around with you? Sweet merciful Raava what did you eat; why are you so heavy… shit, shit… GAAAAAAH!"
Korra's back bent forward as she nearly faltered, and she could feel the aching strain of the weight move from her arms to her back. "Chief, my back's about to break here!"
"A wise and powerful Avatar once said…" Lin took another sip of her tea. "You gotta deal with it."
"Oh, fuck you!" Korra screamed. "HRRRR-AAAAAAH!" With the last mustering of her strength, Korra shifted the weight back to her arms and legs, relieving her back of the intense stress it was just under, "HOW… MUCH… LONGER!?"
"Until your knees give out," Lin replied casually, finishing her tea without complication despite Korra's visible and noticeable trembling.
"Are you serious!?" Korra's eyes were starting to water more from the intensity of the stress put on her body, rather than from emotional turmoil, "are you SERIOUSLY gonna break my legs?"
"Deal with it." Lin's tone was nonchalant and indifferent to Korra's plight.
"Oh fuck all kinds of this, I'm done!" She metalbent the panels away from her and then fell rather unceremoniously off her rock and into the grass at her feet, where she laid motionless, with her chest rapidly expanding and contracting as she tried to catch her breath, and all four of her limbs twitching involuntarily. Her normally brown face was red and glistening with sweat, her eyes were bloodshot and she was drooling slightly.
Lin was unfazed, and had managed to flip gracefully off the metal plates before Korra flung them aside. She looked down at the wearied Korra.
"It's about time," she crossed her arms, a slightly amused smirk on her face.
"About… time… for what?" Tears had actually formed in Korra's eyes, and she was legitimately crying, although this too was from the physical exertion rather than emotional.
"About time that you used metalbending." Lin replied nonchalantly.
"You told me I couldn't!" Korra coughed, still lying on her right side on the ground.
"And with your penchant for breaking the rules, I figured you were going to break it straightaway." Lin riposted. "It seems I was wrong."
"Hey…" Korra wheezed, "I might break rules, but when someone says they're going to teach me bending... I follow instructions to the letter. Clearly… a big fucking mistake." Her words were punctuated with heaving gasps for breath.
"Don't do the crime if you're not willing to do the time," Lin shrugged, "you're free to go. Watch yourself closer next time though, and try not to destroy half the city."
"That was… that was it?" Korra moaned, every joint in her body aching to the point where she couldn't even move.
"This time, aye," Lin started to walk away, "don't tempt me, Avatar…"
"You just wanted to see me suffer!" Korra shouted.
"You deserved it," Lin didn't even skip a beat, but Korra could have sworn there was a slight tone of amusement in the Police Chief's voice.
"ASS!" Korra shouted, "you're a wicked person, Chief…"
"And you're a rather vulgar little woman, aren't you?" Lin retorted. "You're welcome to stick around and sulk there as long as you want, but if you want to go home you can pick yourself up off the ground and do it yourself." She paused to glance at the sky. "It might rain. Make of that what you will."
Korra did not reply, but laid there silently for most of the remainder of the afternoon. Strangely enough, she wasn't mad; just utterly depleted and her entire body ached to the point where she wasn't sure she'd be able to move even if she wanted to. She was really glad that she had come a day early, rather than the eve of the Probending matches, because there was no way she'd be able to fight in this condition, let alone at the top of her game. It was past sundown before she mustered up enough strength to lift her arm and whistle for Naga. She was surprisingly nearby, having carefully followed Korra while being unobtrusive, and so even Lin didn't seem to mind her nearby presence while she was "teaching" Korra.
"Help me up, girl…" Korra waited as Naga nuzzled her up and onto her back, where she hung unceremoniously as Naga looked around.
"Take us home; Sato Estate." Korra mumbled.
Naturally, after they got there, Asami was the one to greet her, and had a few choice words for her as well.
"It's about time you showed back up," She jabbed, poking Korra's side more as an affectionate gesture, "You went quiet for longer than usual this time."
"Things happened," Korra shrugged, "I got assaulted and arrested, and Chief BeiFong did a number on me. Metalbending sucks."
"Is that why you're flopped so gracefully on Naga's back?"
"No respect," Korra sighed, "And Naga spites me."
Naga snorted before leaning to one side and effectively dumping Korra off into a pile at Asami's feet, before sauntering off to her usual stomping grounds behind the estate. Asami giggled.
"You really shouldn't mock her like that when you're so vulnerable," She chuckled, crouching down to talk to the mumbling heap of blue and brown that was Korra.
"Mrrgglfffmmnn…" Korra replied, her face all but attached to the ground.
"Want me to play with your hair while you tell me what happened?" Asami offered.
"Hmmmffrrgm…" Korra mumbled with a subtle nod. Asami sat down and shifted Korra around so that her head was in Asami's lap. She gently removed the beads from Korra's hair and undid her ponytail, spreading out her hair and beginning to untangle it. "So… you got arrested?"
"Yeah," Korra mumbled, "some thugs attacked me, and I might have accidentally destroyed half a city block in my zeal to take 'em down… but then friggin' Chief BeiFong… you know what she did? She pretended it was 'metalbending training'…" she launched into a detailed account of how Lin had forced her to hold her up for what seemed like hours (Korra had not exactly timed how long she was up there).
"Three metal panels AND Chief BeiFong?" Asami exclaimed once she was through, "no wonder you're always showing off your muscles." She chuckled and gave Korra's left arm a squeeze, which made Korra wince slightly. Her healing job had opatched the wound up nicely, but her muscles were still dreadfully sore from being overworked that afternoon.
"Yeah, and I'm still sore as all get-out from it," She indicated, but it was hard to be mad at Asami. "Meanwhile here's you all still being perfect and super pretty and stuff."
"Is that bad?" It was difficult to tell with Korra sometimes. She clearly envied certain facets of Asami's life, but Asami wasn't ever able to worm it out of Korra what parts she envied.
"Of course not!" Korra shook her head, "Just… I don't care why other people call you perfect. I call you that because you are—for me, anyways. I mean, not in that way? I don't think? Umm… I mean, like, you just know me."
The idea that Korra's feelings for Asami might be more than just best friends (and potentially romantic) was a thought that had never occurred to her until now. Asami was beautiful, and every time Korra saw her charming smile or her shimmering perfect hair, she couldn't help but admire the way Asami took care of herself like that. Both of them had grown so much since the time they first met. Korra smiled as she remembered her little 14-year-old self trying to smooth over the awkward tension of their first meeting with little 15-year-old Asami. Now she was 17, Asami was 18, and she was noticeably taller than her. Korra wasn't sure how she felt about that.
"What are you smiling about?" Asami looked down at Korra with that calm, admiring expression she often gave.
"Just thinking about how we met," Korra admitted. "You've gotten a lot taller."
"I think all that growth went straight to your biceps instead," Asami teased.
"Damn right it did," Korra laughed. "Hey, hey! That reminds me—are you coming to my big Probending debut overmorrow?"
"The Avatar Gauntlet?" Asami raised her eyebrows, "I half-expected that you were going to miss the date. Of course I'll be there, cheering you on."
"Did Mako and Bolin sign up?" Korra mused aloud.
"They might have," Asami hummed, trying to remember, "I'll try and stay neutral on that match, but if I had to choose who to cheer for it'd probably still be the Avatar."
"You flatter me, Asami." Korra giggled, closing her eyes as Asami continued to play with her hair.
"You amuse me to no end, Korra," Asami ruffled Korra's hair if only to straighten it again, "There's never a dull moment with you around, and I'm glad to have met you."
"That… really means a lot." Korra admitted, "Not very many people have such a positive image of me. I mean sure it's my fault, but still…"
"They have to deal with it," Asami pecked Korra's forehead. "Simple as that. Now, you're burned out, and you cannot convince me otherwise. You're not going to argue with me this time when I tell you that you need rest, are you?"
"Would I really be Korra if I just went willingly?" Korra laughed.
"Don't even go there," Asami suddenly hoisted Korra into her arms, "you need the rest—tomorrow's a big day for you."
"Fine, fine… fair point, fair point." Korra admitted defeat with a sigh this time, and let Asami carry her to her room. She did not linger, but coaxed Korra to at least remove her armbands, boots, skirt, and belt before she laid down.
"There's the Korra I'm all too familiar with," Asami chuckled. Korra could move slightly, but seemed to not want to.
"Thank again, Asami.." she whispered, closing her eyes. "You're the best."
"I could say the same about you…" Asami whispered as she stepped out. Korra fell asleep almost instantly, comfortable and content—and with images of Asami's beautiful face and voice floating through her head.