"... then you need to go give this to Captain Hong. Then go to the Finance Department and ask for the budget for this month and—"

Lin stopped when she noticed her assistant was not listening. Her brows furrowed as she slammed her palm on her desk bringing the younger woman in reality. But the earthbender's eyes narrowed when she noticed the younger woman flinched, which was the first. It just means the woman was really in deep thought.

"I'm sorry could you repeat that?" Yuze asked, pushing the button of her pen and readying her clipboard.

Lin furrowed as she noticed the dark circles under the younger woman's eyes, "What happened to you?"

The firebender glanced up at her before she looked down at her clipboard once again, "Sorry, I'm just hungry I guess."

Lin paused for a moment as if she was forming a decision in her head before she nodded and stood up. The firebender watched in confusion as her boss wore her coat, "Let's have a dinner then."

Yuze blinked, "Wait, what?"

The Chief of Police smoothed her clothes, "You said you're hungry."

"Yes, but—"

Lin walked passed her assistant, "No but."

"It's still 4 in the afternoon!"

"Early dinner then," Lin looked to her assistant over her shoulder, "Are you coming or you will?"

Lin hummed at the flavor of the broth, "This is very delicious."

The younger woman sitting across from her snorted as she picked up a couple of strands of noodles with her chopstick, "Of course it is. We are on Hexie for spirit's sake."

The earthbender picked a dumpling, "I never tried eating here."

Yuze paused and looked at her boss in disbelief, "What? Why?"

Lin shrugged, "I'm a busy woman," then she shoved the dumpling in her mouth, moaning softly as she chewed.

"Oh, gosh, you are really married to your job," Yuze scoffed as she took a side dish in her mouth, "Maybe that is also the reason why you don't have a love life."

"Now you're meddling with my love life?" Lin snided though there was no heat behind it. If making fun of her will take Yuze's mind even for just a few moments, then she will bear with it.

Yuze swallowed and pointed at her with her chopstick, "Speaking of love life, did you know this morning I heard Korra talking with Tenzin's girls about love life? And guess who joined their conversation?"

"Tenzin?"

"No, Pema!" Yuze groaned as she rolled her eyes, "And guess what she advised Korra?"

"I'm guessing she talked about soulmate crap?"

"Yes! The nerve! How dare she teach Korra to steal a man from another woman?" Yuze huffed.

Lin drank water to wash the food she had eaten, "Of course, that's the advice she will give to Korra. That's how she got Tenzin."

Yuze laughed humorlessly as she shoved a dumpling at her mouth. Lin stared curiously at the frowning face of the young woman across her, "Do you have a feud with that woman? Why does it seem like you hate her?"

Yuze shook her head, "No, nothing like that. And I don't hate her, I just... don't like her."

"Same thing."

"It's different. I don't hate her but that doesn't mean I like her," the firebender sighed, "I just don't like her guts."

It still didn't satisfy Lin's curiosity and was about to question her when a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Miss Chief!"

The said woman whipped her head and saw Luhan waving at her with so muchenthusiasm, beside him was Jiayi who was smiling at her and also waving though not like how Luhan does, and not far behind them Zhen was standing and nodded on her way. The three of them were wearing uniforms. Luhan and Jiayi were both holding notepads and standing beside the tables of the other customers, while Zhen was on behind the counter.

Lin tilted her head. She noticed them just now.

"You knew them?"

The older woman nodded, "Yes. They come to me when you are no show up."

"Woah, really?" Yuze asked her eyes wide as she slurped her noodles.

Lin nodded, "They even told me what their agenda is with you," she glanced at her assistant, "So?"

Yuze gulped down, "If you are asking if I have finally taken them under my wing, then yes."

"Oh?" Lin's eyes shown with a little bit of interest, "And how will you do that? If I'm not mistaken the other two are waterbender and earthbender which you are not."

"That would be us."

Lin looked at the person that has spoken. She recognized the two walking towards them as the owners of the diner where they currently are.

"Nice to finally meet the esteemed Chief of Republic City," the man who answered earlier said. He stretched his hand which Lin shook with her hand, "My name is Jianjun but you can call me Jun."

Then the woman stepped forward. Her stomach had a noticeable bulge indicating she was pregnant, "I hope she doesn't give you headaches?" she nodded her head towards Yuze who only stuck her tongue in return. Chyou rolled her eyes and then reached her hand, "The name is Chyou."

Lin shook her hand, "Nice to meet you two. And Yuze gives them to me, especially the scene she causes on her first day."

The two laughed at it as they remembered Yuze's first day at their diner causing the latter to pout.

"So how did you become friends with Yuze?" Lin asked curiously.

"The three of us are childhood friends. Actually, we just got reconnected recently after five years," Jun explained.

The three become quiet after Jun says the last words. Lin glanced toward the woman in front of her and saw Yuze looking down, her hand gripping the chopsticks. The silence had been broken by Zhen calling them. Jun and Chyou bid their goodbyes and hope for them to enjoy their food.

After the two left, Lin observed Yuze's behavior. Since her friend mentioned those last words, she became quiet, and seems her mind went to another world.

Lin cleared her throat loudly making the younger woman blink. The earthbender wiped her mouth clean with a napkin, "So they're the ones who train the other brats?"

Yuze blinked before she nodded, "Uh yes, though just in bending cause you know I'm a firebender, I only train Zhen incomes of bending. Though I don't train them just in bending, I also train them how to fight without bending. "

"So why they are here?"

"Well ever since I introduced them to Jun and Chyou, they offered them a job and room at their building when they learned the three of them didn't have a family and were only sleeping in the street."

"So how are they as a student?"

"Psh, they constantly moaning and whining but they never quit which I like for a student..."

Lin propped her elbow at the table and listened as Yuze yap about her students. Seems like she succeeded in distracting her from what's boggling her mind.

Yuze was walking down the street on her way home to the Air Temple Island. She was alone as her boss returned to the Police Headquarters wanting the unfinished reports to be done. Chief Beifong doesn't want to leave it or else it will only add up to the other batch of reports tomorrow.

The woman is really tough and too damn a workaholic.

Yuze turned to the corner, her mind playing the dream once again. Lin has been great distraction, and Yuze knows what her boss was doing earlier and for that she is thankful.

The firebender then noticed that she walked into a deserted quiet area. Too quiet for her taste. Yuze's pace gradually decreased before she completely stopped in the middle of the street.

Then she did a backflip just in time for a sharp rock to fly where she was standing a moment ago, piercing the ground. Then she leaned backward and sidestepped as a few stones came following after the first attack. She looked back where it came from and saw two men walk out of the shadow, a smirk on their faces. She felt another presence and looked behind and saw another three men. She counted the heartbeats she could sense and it was twenty in total.

She frowned as she realized her current situation. Just then she felt a familiar heartbeat, she spun around and from the alleyway, the face of her just recent opponent was revealed.

"Chang."

Chang smirked as he walked towards her with two other goons following closely behind him.

"Hello, girly, miss me?" the former officer grinned.

Yuze looked him up and down, "Chang, looking good?" pertaining at the bandages covering half of her body. She smirked inwardly when she got a reaction from him even just a little. She looked around and eyed the people surrounding her, "So you became part of a gang after your badge had been taken from you?"

"Correction, leader of the Triad," Chang raised his chin proudly.

Yuze barked a laugh, "Then you're even more pathetic. So what? You founded your own group just to what got your revenge on me?" she looked him up and down, "Pathetic."

Chang gritted his teeth as he declared, "Get her."

Yuze cracked her neck as Chang's lackeys began to move, "You know I needed a distraction right now. You're such a blessing in disguise, Chang."

Yuze ran to meet one of his members and ducked at its hands covered by frozen water. She stretched her arms and swatted its knee then she rolled backward just in time for a flame to fly where she was a moment ago. Then she turned her head to dodge the hand covered by a sharp body of earth. She grabbed the arm of its owner and punched the elbow. The owner screamed painfully as the sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the place. She immediately punched its face followed by a round spun kick making the guy fly, knocking him in the process.

Yuze rolled as sharpened ice flew towards her. A fist covered by flame came closer to her and she tried to get away but she couldn't. She looked down and saw her feet encased by the earth. Just then she felt the impact of the fist and her body flying. She managed to shift mid-air and landed on the ground. She felt a charge of energy in the air. She looked up and saw lightning coming down to her, she raised her hand to catch it before redirecting at the man rushing towards her, the man screamed and fell to the ground.

Yuze saw three men rushing towards her. She reached behind her but she didn't feel her batons. She cursed inwardly when she remembered she left not expecting she would get in a fight today. She looked around and saw a long thin wood enough to pass as staff leaning at the wall in arm stretch. She reached for it and spun it around. She struck the head of one of the members, but she screamed when she felt something hitting her leg.

Yuze looked down and saw a rock piercing her leg. She looked up and raised her staff when an arm covered by earth swung downward. She then thrusted the staff on her opponent's stomach, then followed it by hitting its head. A water whipped grabbed her staff, she looked up and saw the man bending the water smirking. He was about to tug her staff when a black spinning bolas came flying rounding the waterbender's form and electrifying him in the process.

Everyone stopped and looked where it came from and saw a man in a suit, wearing a mask twirling a bolas. Then all of a sudden another eight jumped out of nowhere.

"Equalist," Chang hissed glaring at the newcomers.

This changed everything.

Left and right the Triad and the Equalist are having a fight while Yuze is fighting both. It's a three-way fight with Yuze in a risky situation.

Yuze bent a flame thrown from her into the earthbender rushing towards her. Then she bent backward and leaned towards her side to avoid the Equalist's attack. She jabbed at the outstretched arm of the Equalist. The latter looked at his nonfunctioning arm and then to Yuze who just smirked at her.

"What? You think you're the only one who can block Chi?" then she spun around and kicked the Equalist to its head.

She looked around to see who the next one would come to her when all of a sudden a hand grabbed her arm and she found herself mid-air. The air was knocked out of her lungs at the impact of her body to the ground.

She propped her elbow and her eyes blinked as her vision became blurry Chang who was walking towards her became two.

"You know the moment I saw you there was a sense of familiarity when my eyes landed on you. I felt like I already saw you from somewhere," Chang said.

Yuze managed to stand up though it took her seconds to do it but her knees quivered and her knees gave up making her bad leg to kneel. Then she hissed when a hand grabbed her jaw and made her look at Chang.

"Then when I got home that day, that's when I remembered where I saw you," Yuze's eyes started to glisten as the hand gripping her jaw tightened, "The newspaper," Chang brought his lips closed to her ear, "Huh, White Empress?"

Yuze's eyes widened as she heard the name she tried to run from. A grunt came out of her throat when Chang's hand went to her hair and tugged it making her lean her head back.

"You act so highly, so kindly but behind that innocent face of yours there is a monster hiding," Chang slapped her and her head hit the ground hard, "You're an abomination in this world, Yuze."

Yuze tried to prop her elbow but her body couldn't do it but she didn't give up and managed to get on her knees. Her head was throbbing. Then voices started echoing in her mind, joining Chang's voice.

"You're a murderer."

"Why did you do this to us?"

Yuze's body quivered. Then she hissed as she felt a pang of pain in her heart

"You killed those people."

"Why did you kill us?"

"Stop."

Yuze went to her chest and clutched it as the pain intensity gradually increased. It feels like her body is on fire.

"Please, stop."

"You have no mercy."

"You have no heart."

Yuze opened her eyes and stared in horror as she saw a few strands of her hair slowly becoming white.

"No, no, stop."

"You. Are. A. Monster."

Yuze's eyes widened as she threw her head back, her body arched and a scream tore through her throat then she felt a great force expelled from her body.

And everything went black.

Lin is currently signing a paper when the lights flickered. She looked up and narrowed her eyes. Then she jumped out of her chair when her door slammed open.

Lin looked up and saw a panting officer staring at her, "Chief, we had a situation."

She didn't know why but she felt her whole body tense and her heart beating fast.

When the police arrived, a large number of people were already there. Wanting to witness the scene. The only ones preventing them from getting were the police who already got there earlier as they were patrolling close to the scene.

Lin stepped out of the satomobile and ran into the scene. Ignoring the reporters, swatting them while screaming, "Move!"

The moment she got in she looked around. Her head turned from left to right, looking for a certain someone. But all she saw was a few scorned bodies and some were left unscratched but from what she could feel, all of them didn't have a heartbeat anymore but one.

She finds where the familiar but barely beat of heart. Her eyes stopped at a lone figure lying on her stomach on the ground. She ran towards it and flipped her form.

A gasp came from Lin's mouth as she saw its state. She cradled the younger woman's form, "Yuze?"

She pushed aside her assistant's hair and just then noticed the white strands that were not there earlier.

Lin tapped the younger woman's cheek, not hard but enough to wake the woman, "Yuze?"

The Chief of Police could see Yuze's eyes moving behind her eyelid, "Yuze can you hear me? If you do, squeeze my hand."

Lin reached for her assistant's hand and though it was weak she felt it. She sighed in relief.

'She's okay. She's fine.'

Just then she heard the ambulance arrival.

"Where is she?"

The Chief of Police turned her head and saw Tenzin striding out towards her. His face is showing nothing but concern.

Lin said nothing but just motioned to him to follow her. After some walking and turns, they stopped in front of a door. Tenzin grabbed the doorknob and entered.

The Chief of Police had a glimpse of her assistant sitting up and leaning against the bed headboard. The young woman looked up when she heard the door open.

"Tenzin."

Lin heard the desperation and anxiety in the younger woman's voice.

"What, happened..."

Lin didn't hear the next words as Tenzin already closed the door. She sat down at the visitor waiting chair. Half of an hour passed and the room door finally opened.

Lin stood up and called Tenzin.

"Tenzin, what's going on?" Lin asked, but she got no response, "Tenzin?"

The airbender sighed, "I'm sorry Lin but I can't tell you, it's not mine to tell. You can ask Yuze though I'm asking you to do it later on. She was still shaken from what happened," he put a hand to his former lover, "Now if you will excuse me. There's something I need to do."

Tenzin continues walking leaving Lin standing in the middle of the hospital corridor alone. She stared concernly at the door of the room where her assistant was.

"Tenzin," a voice greeted from the other line, "What is this call for?"

Tenzin brought the telephone as he walked towards the window. Watching the city, "I'm afraid the seal is starting to wear off, Uncle Zuko."