AUTHOR'S NOTES: A few chapters ago Asami hinted that Korra was arranging an event to help restore people's bending who had it taken by Amon, and so here's when she actually goes through with it. Also, while this fic doesn't cover much of it directly, Korra and Asami do have a rather exciting bedroom life; I just leave most of it out of the main story due to how long this story already is, and because it's more fun to leave it to the readers' imagination what exactly they do. However, any feedback regarding this move would be appreciated. That said, we also get to see a familiar old face near the end of this chapter, who will play a small but significant role throughout this book as well.
Happy Reading!
BOOK THREE: WATER
CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE: THE RESTORATION EVENTS
Night came before either Korra or Asami knew it, and soon the two had gotten dressed and met up near Asami's garage. Both knew what the other liked to see, and dressed accordingly. To Korra's utmost delight, Asami had worn her hair down over the right side of her neck again. She had originally found it somewhat bothersome because it concealed that favourite spot on her neck that Korra loved to nibble on, but after realizing that she loved the smell and feel of Asami's hair against her face as she nuzzled, it became a much more pleasant change.
The date itself was slightly unusual in that Korra and Asami did not even say a word to each other for nearly the entire time. Despite this, they both made plenty of little affectionate gestures, stealing kisses any time they figured no one else was looking. Korra was even bold enough to bury her face into the crook of Asami's neck, letting Asami's hair cascade over her for a moment. Both of them were fairly discrete, although their giggling was probably enough to tip at least some of the waitstaff off about what they were doing.
Whatever the case, both of them returned home later that evening walking on air, and the night ended with a rather heated exchange. The biggest difference was that unlike many of their previous heated exchanges, this one was fuelled by romantic passion instead of extreme emotions and hostility. Korra couldn't have asked for a better date. Later that evening after their intense exchange of passions had ended, both Korra and Asami were gazing skyward, enjoying the simple fact that they were next to each other.
"I know we didn't say much," Asami whispered, "but that was the best date of my life, Korra. Did you have as much fun as I did?"
"That was easily the best date of my life," Korra sighed dreamily, "I love you so much, Asami. I'm glad you're with me."
"I'm glad to be with you…" she whispered, "And I'm glad you're with me, Korra."
"I'm glad we could do this," Korra nodded, "Especially as you keep cleaning up your dad's mess, and I've got my Bending Restoration Event to host for the next week…"
"Right, I heard about that," Asami smiled, "If I can spare some time I might swing down one of those afternoons... But if not, know that I support you entirely and that I'm thinking of you."
"Of course," Korra leaned over and kissed Asami again, "and I'll be thinking of you too, no matter how busy this next week gets for me."
The next couple of weeks were indeed rather busy for Korra as she organized her Bending Restoration Event to help restore the bending of people who had had it taken. She did have a few concerns after some fraudulent people who had never been benders slipped into the ranks, and it took Korra a while to realize that she could not restore the bending of someone who had never had it. There was only so much she could do regarding fraudsters though, especially since there was nothing illegal about their current status given that Korra was unable to change them one way or another.
"I suppose that answers the issue of whether or not you could make me a bender," Asami reassured her after the 5th day of this event. It was set to be a week-long thing, and so unsurprisingly, Korra was getting exhausted spending so long in the Avatar State at a time. Despite that, she'd come home happy each night.
"Well, I'm glad you're the way you are, babe," Korra sighed happily, "because I wouldn't want to change anything about someone as perfect as you."
"I've occasionally wondered what being a bender was like," Asami admitted, "but you're right. I'm content the way I am, especially if it makes you happy."
Around mid-afternoon on the final day, a trio of familiar faces showed up at Korra's event, to the Avatar's somewhat wry amusement.
"Tahno?" she exclaimed after restoring the three, "I was wondering what took you so long."
"It took a little bit for the boys and I to muster up the courage to show up humbly in front of our biggest rival…" he quipped, "But apparently all those rumours about your compassion and sense of forgiveness weren't unfounded."
"Hey," Korra assured him, "you said yourself that our rivalry was just part of the game. I didn't take it personally, and so I'm glad you didn't either."
"Good, good," Tahno gave a wry, tired smile. "Thanks for restoring my bending by the way, Uhvatar—no. Thank you Korra. Now hey, you need to get that mechanic lady and find yourselves another firebender so the White Falls Wolfbats can properly give you Prison-Breakers the beatdown you've been asking for, for months."
"Too scared to run the Avatar Gauntlet again?" Korra teased.
"Not entirely," Tahno licked his lips, "I'm sure you'll see us again if or when you sign on for another season of that too."
"I hope you're thirsty, because you'll be landing right back in the drink!" Korra cracked her knuckles in turn. They weren't exactly friends, but both Korra and Tahno seemed to appreciate their sports rivalry without it turning hostile. Both parties had definitely matured over the last several months, both possibly for similar humbling reasons.
The only other truly unusual occurrence during Korra's Bending Restoration Convention happened right after she had finished the final day of her scheduled events, by which time there were far fewer people coming to her for assistance anyways. Despite that, she had stayed late just to ensure that anyone who knew about the Avatar's offer could take advantage of it, and so she figured by the time she got home, Asami would likely be in bed. Their relationship was still as strong as it had ever been, but with Asami's morning schedule due to all the new responsibilities of running her father's company, and with Korra's still-stubborn insistence that the morning was evil, the two had different sleep schedules much of the time. The fact that they slept in different rooms due to Korra's active sleeping and hypervigilance only supported this notion.
What was unusual about this final evening was not Korra's overtime, but rather that an attractive woman in a little black dress slipped her a note that left an address and a rather unusual time for a meeting. Korra had never seen this woman before, but the woman used Korra's name.
"Meet me behind Port Town at 2:30AM tonight, and I'll make it worth your time."
The note was short and to the point, but by the time Korra had finished reading it, the stranger had vanished. Naturally Korra was curious, and Asami was undoubtedly sound asleep, and so she couldn't ask her if this sounded suspicious at all. It definitely did, but she was familiar with 'Port Town' considering that sometimes she and her friends would get drinks there (even if Korra was the only one who had ever tried something alcoholic there, and even that only happened occasionally) now and again. The Wind District, where said establishment was located, was not notorious for being a high-crime rate area, although Korra was fairly certain that like most of Republic City, it was not crime-free. She was the Avatar though, and a very powerful Fully-Realized one at that. She didn't even ponder the notion that Amon (or rather Noatak, now that his secret was revealed) was still alive and on the prowl, as she suited back up around 2:15 to make her way to the Wind District.
Korra was by no means as talented a driver as Kwan or Asami, but she could navigate the streets in all but the most hectic of situations without trouble by this point, and Asami's vast repertoire of vehicles was at Korra's command since they effectively lived together "officially" at this point. Regardless, Korra chose a fairly nondescript Satomobile in case something did happen, because Kwan's old words had stuck with her after all this time. She attracted trouble, and when she was around, there was never a dull moment.
Korra arrived at 2:27, and looked around. There was a whisper from the alleyway behind the still fairly lively dive, and Korra peered around the corner and followed the noise, finding that it led to a trio of men in suits who suddenly looked amused by their visitor.
A young woman in an alleyway standing in front of three larger men in trenchcoats seemed like the beginning to many a horrifying and despicable incident, but that hardly seemed to be the intention of any of these men. One of them took the cigar out of his mouth and spoke.
"Avatar Korra, right?" it was a low voice, but almost sounded familiar.
"Were you the one that slipped me the note at my Bending Restoration Convention earlier?" the dim light made it hard to discern any facial features, since they all wore hats and had the collars of their coats pulled up.
"One of my lackeys was," the man replied, "Risha's her name; great lady with a whole lot of uses—but I digress. Come on; let's get outta here before someone sees this situation and gets the wrong idea of what's happenin' here."
Korra followed them in through a back door, and said door was shut behind her almost immediately. The place smelled strongly of cigar smoke and expensive booze.
"Drink?" one of the other men pulled out a whiskey bottle, popped the cork, and poured them both a glass. He himself took a sip of his own drink, thus removing any likely suspicions that it was tampered with.
"Trying to get the Avatar to make another stupid decision?" Korra asked, although she took the glass even if she didn't drink just yet.
"Considering the boss is about to ask you a favour," the man replied as they sat down, "We could see how you'd think that."
"But," the man who was clearly 'the boss' interjected, "I'd also rather not be on the receiving end of your Avatar-fuelled anger, so it's just a courtesy. A little buzz ain't gonna hurt you unless you're some sort of wimpy lightweight, but then what kind of Avatar would you be?"
"Do not accuse me of weakness when you don't know what I've been through," Korra asserted, stepping forward, "I'll take your drink, but you're gonna tell me what this is about."
"Ha!" the boss chuckled as he removed his hat and trenchcoat. Korra recognized the man right away as the former Lightning Bolt Zolt, although he did look like he had aged several years in just a few months. "I thought I liked you. Glad I wasn't wrong."
"Cut to the chase," Korra threw her head back and took a long shot from her glass, "I'm not joining any group of mobsters or any such organization, if that's what you're asking."
"Nothing so fanciful, kid," Zolt took another puff of his cigar, although was respectable enough to turn away from Korra when he blew smoke.
"It's Korra, by the way." Korra demanded again, "If you're trying to schmooze up and act like my equal, treat me like it."
"You'd make a good mobster, Korra," Zolt smirked, "You're assertive and not afraid to use that force to get what you want. Anyways, that's not what I invited you here for."
"Then what is?" Korra's patience seemed to be wearing thin quickly, especially since in a brief moment she had shuddered uncomfortably at Zolt's words—they had reminded her of Tarrlok's remarks to her in City Hall. While Korra had (mostly) forgiven him considered she had been willing to restore his bending, the mental and emotional pain from that incident still lingered.
"You were there when that punk Amon took my bending," Zolt explained, "I want it back."
"Ha!" Korra laughed, "Hahaha… no way. I've been busting my ass in the last few weeks trying to help the whole bender-nonbender shitstorm subside. The last thing I need is for you and your hooligans to bust things up again!"
"Except," Zolt countered, "we can help you deal with the other triads. I'm not even the boss of the Triple-Threats anymore. They threw me right out on my arse the moment I lost my bending."
"So you want it back to reclaim your throne?" Korra pouted suspiciously.
"we want our bending back so we can work for the Avatar," he replied, causing Korra's eyes to widen. The smirk on his face grew as he noticed Korra's piqued curiosity.
"I'm making no promises," Korra shook her head, "but I'll hear you out."
"So," Zolt leaned forward, putting his hands together, "If you give us our bending back, we'll work for you. Anything you might need from the Republic City Underworld is yours at the snap of your fingers if that's whatcha want."
"How do you benefit from it?" Korra wasn't convinced yet, "Because I get this lasting impression that you aren't about to suddenly become Republic City's most upstanding citizens."
"We benefit from it because we get to strike out at the other Triads and keep some of the cut. We put our resources behind the Avatar's efforts to curb the power and influence of the Triads, and those chumps never see it coming! That, and certain charitable causes might wake up one morning with anonymous donations of money. We're not all bad, you know."
"I still feel like there's something I'm not being told here." Korra pouted again.
"Let me spell it out for you," Zolt sighed, "You give us our bending back, and we start working for you. You don't have to pay us a single yuan, but we get free reign to plunder the other Triads' holdings as we please, at our own risk. And if you ever need someone… 'eliminated', you can always call on the gang to keep the upstanding Avatar from getting her hands bloody—well, any bloodier than they already are, anyways. You help us; we help you. You give us our bending back, and we help get rid of all the other triads that still hate your guts."
"Are you going to be going around randomly making people disappear?" Korra inquired.
"Only if you order it," Zolt clarified, taking another puff of his cigar between remarks, "If you find another sleazebag like that Tarrlok fellow, we can take him out. Or hey… maybe you can give him a chance at repentance."
"How did…" Korra stammered, "how did you…?!"
"Word spreads fast, and your buddy Ikiza isn't the only one who has eyes and ears everywhere, Avatar Korra." Zolt put his hands together and smirked, "besides, if you can forgive the man who chucked you into a truck and kidnapped you, and then cut your face open and blew your hand apart, I think you can forgive a few mobsters that just wanna get their bending back. I heard that Amon guy got your bending for a while too. Come on; be honest—how did that make you feel?"
"It…" Korra sighed, knowing she had been played, "it felt horrible. Look… just like Councilman Tarrlok, I'm going to give you and your buddies one chance. If you blow it, I will come for you, and you'll be seeing the Avatar State in a much less pleasant light. Are we clear?"
"Crystal, Avatar." Zolt smirked. "Now I know your girlfriend has enough money to give you anything you ever wanted, but you can definitely expect a symbol of our gratitude from us within the next few weeks—or possibly multiple symbols of it."
"That reminds me," Korra stated as her eyes glowed, "If you touch any of Future Industries or Sato's holdings, our deal's off. I'm not about to enable criminals to plunder my girlfriend's holdings in any way, shape, or form."
"The deal's still on," Zolt promised, "And if I find any of my boys startin' shit behind my back, I'll either whack 'em myself or drag 'em kickin' and screamin' to face your justice."
Korra took a deep breath, and in what was a morally questionable move, she put her hands to Zolt's forehead and chest, and in a moment, his bending was back. Like most benders who had had their abilities stripped by Amon, he had to test it out, even in the room they were in. Zolt's control was spectacular, and it was almost like he became a different person entirely with how quickly his mood improved. Lightning Bolt Zolt was back again.
The reactions of his lackeys were similar when Korra restored them, and if it was all a facade, it convinced Korra, but they all appeared genuinely humbled and grateful for Korra's abilities—some a little more zealous than others.
"Oy, you don't need to kiss her hand, Genji!" one of the mobsters called out after another did exactly that. Odder still was that he had kissed Korra's scarred hand, but honestly Korra's own bias made it hard for her to not feel for these mobsters a bit, knowing how it felt to lose her bending. She definitely planned to keep a close eye on them, however, since she still felt like they weren't telling her everything. Korra hoped she would never have to call on them, but if she had just earned the loyalty and service of several powerful former mobsters, she realized that she had a much greater influence in Republic City now than she did before—and similarly, if she ever needed large sums of money for her friends or to give away, she now had an additional source of revenue besides her own Probending salaries or Asami's assets. With the Avatar's increasing political influence, nearly twenty of Korra's past lives watched through her eyes with great interest and excitement—for each new bit of power Korra gained unwittingly made her more and more like them than she realized.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: That's right, Lightning Bolt Zolt is back, and he's working for Korra in what may be a questionably unethical move. We'll be seeing a little bit more of him in the future as well, although he probably knows better than to piss off an already fairly cautious and traumatized Avatar, especially one as powerful as Korra. Time will tell though...