AUTHOR'S NOTES: So obviously with her Avatar Gauntlet thing going, and with Hasook having never left the team, Korra did not and does not join the Fire Ferrets Probending team in this story. This has not, however, stopped her from giving her support and still occasionally training with them. On that note, apparently Hasook was supposed to have a wife and kids in the story, but it was cut for various reasons. Welp, that aspect has been brought back for this story, and so here it is. Also, we get a bit of happy-Korra again. her PTSD doesn't control her life 24/7, after all.
Happy Reading!
BOOK TWO: CHANGE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN: THOUGHTS AND THREATS
The next afternoon, Asami made good on her promise to finally take Korra shopping and get her a makeover. She assured the fretful Avatar that it was not going to be a full-blown overhaul, although her method for convincing Korra had been unorthodox.
"That photo of you…" Korra whispered as they hopped in the car and took off into town, "was very convincing."
"I thought you might like it," Asami gave a casual chuckle, also flashing Korra a subtle wink, "just make sure no one else sees it."
It wasn't exactly a family-unfriendly image, and without taking her attire into account, it just looked like Asami making a playful pose and a matching expression. The fact that she was only wearing lacy undergarments, thigh-high stockings and high-heeled shoes was what made it something to keep on the down-low.
"Full disclosure," Korra quipped, "I cannot be held responsible for things I may do if you ever present yourself like that to me in person."
"Oh, that's the point," Asami winked, "Don't think too hard on it though—not right now anyways. We're going to take you shopping."
"Babe, come on," Korra complained, "you know I'm not into this fancy-pants kind of stuff."
"Don't worry," Asami assured her, "This is nothing too fanciful even. If nothing else, the massages we're getting will be good for you—I know I always feel amazing afterwards, and you're way more tense than I ever am."
"I'll keep that in mind," Korra nodded, briefly peeking at the photograph again. Asami's lip curled upward as she drove them through town.
If Asami had wanted to sell Korra on spa days becoming a much more regular occurrence, it only took a single attempt for this endeavour to be wildly successful. Korra's history of being tense made the massage feel like straight-up euphoria to the point where she had a visible pep in her step after they had finished. To Korra's relief, the subsequent makeover was more just an attempt to tame Korra's wild hair, and the resulting softness had Korra running her fingers through her own hair for the rest of the day.
"I knew you'd like it," she pointed out, taking Korra's hand from her hair as if to prove her point.
"So is this what being Asami feels like?" Korra quipped, trying to imitate Asami's graceful hair-flipping, but really just slapping herself in the face with her own hair.
"It's more like this…" Asami flipped her hair in that elegant way she did, much to Korra's envy.
"Seriously, how do you even do that?" she pouted.
"Don't worry about it," Asami chuckled, "I love your hair—and you—exactly how they are."
Korra was a bit pickier when Asami took her clothes shopping, her preference of blues and darker colours showing clearly.
"Are your shoulders simply allergic to fabric?" Asami couldn't help but point out, "I've only ever seen you in one outfit that covers them."
"They might be," Korra shrugged, "I guess it's just my style."
"Well how adverse are you to mixing it up?" Asami raised her eyebrow.
"You gonna buy me another suit?" Korra crossed her arms with a similar amused look.
"I am now," Asami replied with a wink. "Do you trust me?"
"I trust you with a great many things, Asami; and you know it." Korra asserted, "Although I am dubious about trusting you with my wardrobe."
"Well, if you want to browse with me I won't say no." Asami hummed, "but come now, Korra—do you really think I would get something that revealed you to the public when I don't want you to be revealed like that to anyone else?"
"Well," Korra blushed slightly, "when you put it that way…"
Asami's smooth-talking earned Korra a few new outfits that day, one of which was an actual dress. Korra seemed okay with the 'sneak peeks' she got, although also liked Asami's approach.
"You don't have to try them on right away," she explained as they drove home, "but tell me—with that smile on your face, you had fun, didn't you?"
"Well yeah," Korra admitted, "It's not that hard when you're around. Speaking of which—we still good for the Probending Championships this weekend?"
"I wouldn't miss 'em for the world," Asami smiled, "didn't you want to swing by and say hi to the Fire Ferrets today too?"
"I told them I might be a bit late because of our trip," Korra chuckled, "but otherwise yeah. I'll be fun to see how they do. I'd love to watch them whoop the Wolfbats into submission. It makes me miss the Avatar Gauntlet."
"With how popular that was," Asami rounded another corner, "I'd be surprised if they didn't sign you on for another season."
"That was the plan," Korra explained as they arrived home, "as long as nothing happens of course. I frankly hope we can properly deal with this Equalist revolution before that."
"As do I," Asami nodded as she handed some of the bags to Korra, "But hey, don't get too worked up about Amon, Korra. You said it yourself that he's a coward, and it's true. He hides in the shadows, fights dirty, and he's pitted himself against a 17-year-old girl all while hiding behind a mask. You can't tell me that that's the face of a brave or honourable man."
"Damn skippy it isn't," Korra crossed her arms and pouted again. It might not have seemed like much, but small words of encouragement did wonders for Korra's confidence, particularly when they were true.
Within half an hour, Asami and Korra were on their way to the Probending Arena to try and catch Mako and Bolin. They found both of them practicing there, as well as Hasook, who normally had a tendency to make himself scarce outside of Probending matches.
"Korra!" Bolin was the first one to notice the two women arrive. "How goes it? You look happy."
"You act like you've never seen me happy before!" Korra pouted.
"Well," Mako scratched his head before spinning around and incinerating a paper target with Tahno's face on it, "you did have quite the episode last week."
"Right, right…" korra sighed, "and I'm sorry, I just…" she trailed off as Hasook stepped up.
"Avatar," he flicked his hand as a way of saying hello, "Ms. Sato;"
"We're just dropping into say hi," Asami smiled, "Korra might want to train with you guys for a bit though. I was just providing transportation."
"Can't say I've gotten to know you too much," Korra offered her hand, "Korra, obviously."
"Hasook," The waterbender shook her hand, "yeah, life keeps me busy, and the kids can't feed themselves. Now with Amon all getting on our case, it's getting hairier."
"You never told me you had a wife and kids," Korra had never really stopped to consider that Hasook had a few years on both Mako and Bolin.
"Can't say I recall you ever asking," he shrugged, "but yeah; all waterbenders, so you can imagine how thrilled Amon and his cronies are with me."
"Hey, are they giving you trouble?" Korra offered, "I mean, Amon's a rotten coward, but…"
"Eh, nothing I can't handle; thanks though," Hasook shrugged, "Gotta keep it cool, Korra. If you go around harassing Equalists you're just going to prove him right, remember?"
"There's a difference between harassment and defense though," Korra pointed out, "I'm sure Bolin's made it no mystery that I've murdered someone before, but it was also in self-defense."
"He's mentioned it a couple times," Hasook commented as he slung a barrage of water balls at the targets, "the way he puts it makes it sound real traumatic though; so don't dwell on it for my sake or anything."
"Thanks, actually." Korra smiled. "Means a lot."
"I know enough about women to know it's not a good idea to make 'em mad." he shrugged as he swung a blast of water to defect a ricocheted earth disk from Bolin, "especially not if it's that special time of the month."
"That was two weeks ago, thank you very much!" Korra huffed with a pout.
"It was pretty hard to forget though," Mako cracked a dry smirk.
"Still not as bad as the chopstick incident at Narook's if you ask me though," Bolin offered reassurance before Mako turned to him.
"For how much you spill other secrets," he pointed out, "you're awfully quiet on that one."
"Some things are better left unknown," Bolin replied matter-of-factly. "Korra knows."
Hasook and Mako both instinctually turned to Korra.
"Nope," Korra closed her eyes and raised her hands, "my lips are sealed."
"Chopstick incident?" Asami tilted her head.
"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, Asami… but I'm bound by an unbreakable vow never to speak about it with anyone."
"That just makes it funnier," Asami rolled her eyes with a fairly mirthful smile, "fine then; keep your secrets."
"It's not even that bad," if Korra was lying, she could have fooled everyone in the room apart from Bolin, "but we vowed never to speak of it again."
"That aside," Bolin tried to change the subject, "you wanna practice with us for a bit? You've got some experience with throwing Tahno around anyways, don't you?"
"I'm game," Korra smirked, "kind of a shame we can't practice on the actual field… I'd let you guys run the Avatar Gauntlet again."
"Hard pass on that one," Hasook actually cracked a dry laugh, "you whipped us pretty soundly that night, Korra. My left arm still hurts every now and again from it."
"Everyone knows pain is just weakness leaving the body," Korra quipped, "but alright, alright, I won't run that again. Although… you guys could try to land a hit on me this time. You can even do headshots if you ever wanted to smack my stupid mug."
"There's been times," Hasook quipped, "Match 6 of your gauntlet thing, to be exact."
"Match 6, match 6…" Korra put her finger to her lip and looked up, "Oh right! That one! Hey, nothing says 'I rule, you drool' like a vulgar display of power after a victory. Besides… I had a bruise on the side of my boob from your attack for almost two weeks!"
"S'the name of the game," Hasook shrugged with a laugh. "And you wonder why I like you."
"I wish I could say the same," Korra teased, elbowing him playfully.
"You could," Hasook nudged her in turn, "might be the first time in months you haven't lied."
"Ouch!" Korra laughed, "Right here, Hasook. Right here…"
"If you get too cocky I'll take you up on that headshot rule of yours," he riposted.
"Whoa now," Korra laughed, "I should probably put a mask on—Hasook's got it in for my face."
"Are you sure the headshots are a good idea without gear, Korra? Bolin didn't mind the idea, but he cared for Korra's safety as well (and arguably much more than Korra herself—a trait he shared with Tenzin and Asami).
"I've lived through worse," Korra quipped. "So go ahead—hit me with your best shots."
"And what happens if we do? Mako was waiting for either a catch or a quip.
"Then I get up and we try again." Korra shrugged, "if you can hit me, you can definitely wipe out those sleazy wolfbats and knock Tahno's stupid hair off his stupid head!"
"Fair point," Mako nodded, "let's do this!"
Asami took a seat near the corner of the gym to watch the spectacle unfold, turning on a nearby radio to add some tunes to the training. The Fire Ferrets positioned themselves on one end of the gym while Korra launched herself to the opposite end with a gust of wind. True to her word, Korra didn't attack them at all or even use her bending in her movements. Despite the barrages of water, fire, and earth that came her way however, Korra ducked, dodged, dove, rolled, flipped, spun, and otherwise evaded these barrages with dazzling speed. The Fire Ferrets had definitely improved since Korra had faced them in the arena, although without a solid job to keep her occupied; Korra had reverted to her default timekillers: working out and training. As such, she was still remarkably light on her feet, and extremely fast, almost to the point of being an ostensible showoff. They did manage to hit her a few times, but in a show of her resilience, Korra sprung right back up less than a few seconds later and was back in action.
"You're listening to 'The Music Hour'," the radio made an announcement between songs as the four benders sparred, "Brought to you by Cabbage Corp, Republic City's trusted name in technology for over 50 years."
Korra froze a few moments later however, as the radio broadcasted static. This pause was enough for an earth disc to strike her cleanly in the right side of her face and knock her right over, but instead of cheering, Bolin had given pause as well, with Mako and Hasook following suit a second later. Even Asami looked up from the book she was quietly reading in the corner.
"Good afternoon, citizens of Republic City," Korra paused as she clutched the side of her face, completely ignoring the blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth as she recognized the voice on the radio, "This is Amon. I hope you all enjoyed last night's Probending match, because it will be the last of its kind."
This was enough to get Mako, Bolin, Hasook, and Korra to approach the radio with a slight sense of caution as they listened in.
"It is time for this city to stop worshipping bending athletes as if they were heroes. Even the Avatar has fallen for this crude and sophisticated sport, revered no longer as the spirit of the world in human form, but now as little more than an entertainment icon. Can anyone truly tell me that this is okay? As such, I am calling upon the Republic City Council to shut down the Probending Arena and cancel the finals. Failure to comply will warrant severe consequences."
There was a moment of silence before the radio went back to static and then back to music as if nothing had happened.
"Fuck all kinds of that," Korra shook her head before turning to Asami, "We've gotta get to City Hall. Any of you all in?"
"Uhh, Korra?" Mako pointed to her face, "you've got blood all over the side of your face."
"Sorry about that!" Bolin put his hands to his mouth.
"Nah, it caught me off-guard too," Korra shook her head, wiping her face, although all this really did was transfer it from her cheek to her right hand, "but I'm not about to let the council shut down the arena out of fear. I've learned firsthand that fear is how Amon keeps this little operation of his running, and so there's no way I'm gonna let him get away with this!"
"I'd offer to go with, but I think you can make the point a lot better than me," Hasook quipped, "well, and I've gotta be home in half an hour—wife's orders."
"Mako? Bolin?" Korra turned to her friends.
"I'd love to, but I don't think I'd be much help," Bolin shrugged, "Besides, we should catch up on a bit more practice while Hasook's still around, y'know?"
"I've seen the way you speak, Korra," Mako gave her an encouraging smile, "Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if you convinced them. They should put you on the council someday."
"Ha!" Korra threw her head back, "that'd be the day! I guess we'll see you guys around then?"
"Sounds good," Korra bid them farewell, "Bolin, if you guys win, drinks are on me Friday."
"Right-on!" Bolin grinned as Korra headed to Asami's car to wait for her.
"Good luck tomorrow," Asami gave them a friendly wave goodbye, "Knowing Korra, either the arena will be open for your guys' finals tomorrow, or City Hall will be in ruins."
"That sounds like her," Mako quipped. "Good luck to you both too then."
Within a few moments Asami met Korra by the car, and the pair took off towards City Hall. It was times like this that made Korra glad she had a girlfriend like Asami, not only as one of the best drivers in the city (right alongside Kwan), but also as someone who operated on her wavelength so often. Asami had known before Korra had even said it that she'd want to go to City Hall, and so that was where they were going to be within the next 5 minutes.