A/N: Thank you to Black Dragon Master, Sharpe, AsahixMe, Tertius711, IrishDreamer4, CrazyPhenom, and devilfiredog18. SPECIAL thanks to Aquamirra, who left reviews on every chapter.
15. There's progress now where there once was none
He hardly recognises RCPD headquarters.
Gone are the huge, imposing concrete facades; in their place are sturdy walls of structural glazed tiles — the colour no longer drab ash-brown, but a clean mix of slate grey and pristine white in precise layers. Fully functional, but much more pleasing aesthetically. Solid glass panes — reinforced, if he knows Asami — are interspersed along the entire length of the building. Toph's statue — which had been left miraculously unscathed during Kuvira's attack — stands tall and proud in its central alcove, polished and shining. Below Toph's feet, bold gold letters proclaim Republic City Police Headquarters, above a larger-than-life replica of the badge he wears on his uniform. The distinctive tall domes are still present, but much of the flat roof space has been outfitted as a base for the police airships, with shaded booths to serve control and maintenance purposes.
Asami had said she was going for 'elegant fortitude' with the redesign. Mission accomplished.
When he steps inside, the differences are even starker. The new windows allow in much more natural light, making the interior bright and welcoming. Tube-shaped lights embedded into the ceiling have replaced the yellow lamps that used to hang overhead. The walls have been repainted light grey, and the floors are glossy off-white tile. The tables in the bullpen are still wooden, but they look and feel a lot more solid, and they've been rearranged in clusters of pairs — about three or four pairs per cluster — instead of the long rows he's accustomed to.
"Hey, look who's back!" A young cop with curly black hair, bright blue eyes, and an excitable demeanour leans over and bangs the desk diagonally across from his. "Xien, come out and say hello."
"I'm busy, Minsu."
Minsu bangs harder. "That can wait. Look who's here!"
Xien — an older, more seasoned officer with shoulder-length hair gathered in a neat half-bun — grumbles as he withdraws from under his desk. "Who is so important that I have to —" He stops as he sees the answer. "Mako!"
"Juno!" Minsu calls to the brown-haired female detective at the coffeemaker across the room. She glances at him curiously, her gaze trailing to where his thumb is pointing. She grins as she recognises him.
"Well, well," she says as she comes over, coffee cup in hand, to clap him on the back. "Long time no see, detective. You coming back or is this just a visit to see the new place?"
"I'm back," he affirms with a smile.
Xien's brows crease. "Chief didn't tell me you'd be available yet." As the leader of the Triad Squad, he'd no doubt expected to be informed about his team member's return.
"I'm only cleared for desk duty for now." He's a bit put-out about that, but Erin is adamant that he not push too far, too fast — and Lin agrees with her.
Xien, however, nods agreeably. "Makes sense. You did nearly die on us. How's the arm?" He glances at the appendage in question.
"Almost good as new," he says honestly. "I can firebend now." He demonstrates with a small, but strong flame in his left palm. Glassmaking has done wonders to restrengthen his fire.
Minsu's grin lights up his boyish face. "Awesome. That'll come in handy…you know, when you're allowed in the field again."
There's a meaningful glimmer in Minsu's eyes, which doesn't surprise him. Minsu is Bolin's age and has only been on the force for about eighteen months. Like him, Minsu made it onto the Triad Squad because he's former triad — Red Monsoon, in this case. As a matter of fact, Minsu had turned informant while still working for the waterbending mobsters — he'd been the one to tip them off about the underwater gambling dens, which had been a point in his favour when he applied to join the police.
Minsu was also the one who saved him when the dens flooded.
He's not sure how much the squad knows about his mental struggles, but if anyone suspects that there was more to his extended leave than his most recent run-in with triads, it would be Minsu. The rest of the squad might know more than they're letting on, but he's glad they're not bringing it up.
"Desk duty or not," Juno pipes up, "it's good to see you, Mako. You actually have great timing — we're in need of some info on the Triple Threats."
"Oh?" He arches an eyebrow. "They're making trouble again?" Last he'd heard, they were lying low after he'd put Shady Shin and Two-Toed Ping in the hospital. Do they even have a new leader yet?
Xien laughs wryly. "When do they not make trouble?" He gestures at the as-yet unoccupied desk facing Minsu's. "Get yourself settled in. All your stuff should be under there, I think. I'll pass you the files when I'm done fixing my phone line."
Xien dives back under his table to resume his task. Juno gives him a friendly wave as she saunters off to her own desk, not far from Xien's. Minsu, however, comes over and starts helping him move things.
"How are you, really?" the waterbender asks quietly.
"I'm feeling good," he assures the younger man. "I'm almost back to full strength, and so is my bending. Just can't do lightning." He hasn't tried, and probably won't for a while yet. According to Erin, just like what happened to him in the gambling dens gave him a phobia of water, what happened in the Colossus is now blocking his ability to lightningbend. He'll take her word for it; all he knows is that the idea of generating lightning has been distasteful since the Colossus.
"Yeah, but…" Minsu casts a look around to ensure there aren't eavesdroppers, and then lowers his voice anyway. "I heard you're seeing a mind healer."
He nearly bumps his head on the underside of the desk. "How'd you know about that?"
"Uh…well…I may have overheard the Chief mentioning it to Master Tenzin when he was in here the other day."
He frowns heavily. Minsu doesn't look the least bit apologetic.
"Informant habits, Mako. I keep my eyes and ears open all the time."
"Right." He sets a box on the table and begins taking out things to arrange.
Minsu brings up the second box and casually leans against the desk. "So…?"
He grits his jaw. "So?"
"Mako, there's nothing wrong with seeing a mind healer. If she can help you, I'm all for it."
He grunts.
"You know there's nothing wrong with getting help when you need it, right? And it doesn't matter if other people know you're getting help, because even if they think it's stupid, it's your life and your character that's improving and they can just piss off if they can't see that? Isn't that what you told me when I joined up?"
He pauses, remembering. He had told Minsu that, a year and a half ago when the rookie cop was struggling with a mountain of paperwork he didn't know how to do but still insisted on figuring out alone just to prove he was worthy of being part of the force. He had vouched for Minsu when the latter applied to the RCPD, and he'd taken it upon himself to guide the young man in his new career (as much as he could when he had to follow Wu everywhere). Minsu had filled the hole Bolin had left at that time in his life; and much like Bolin, Minsu is now growing up and turning around and giving him advice.
He really should bring up his pathological need to be an older brother to Erin. He bets she'd have a field day with it.
Minsu waits for an answer with wide, guileless eyes.
He gives in with a wry smile and a shake of his head. "Her name is Erin, and she says I'm making progress."
Minsu beams. "What kind of progress?"
"Let's just say I've been holding on to a lot of things that I'm learning to let go of."
"New HQ and new Mako, huh?" Minsu remarks knowingly.
"Hope there's enough of the old Mako left to help us identify former Triple Threats." Xien drops a stack of files on his new desk (phone line apparently fixed, then). "Word on the street is that a whole bunch of them quit when Tokuga took over, and now he's hunting them down."
Ah, so Tokuga is the new leader of the Triple Threat Triad. But what's this about triads leaving? "Triple Threats are quitting?"
Minsu shrugs. "Tokuga's pretty ruthless, I hear. Some of the Triple Threats didn't like his methods or his ideas, so they left. A few of the waterbenders ended up with the Red Monsoons — after a lot of grovelling."
He reaches for a file and thumbs through it. "Turf war still going on, then?"
"Yep. We've had our hands full."
"But we're making progress," Xien adds, unknowingly echoing words from before. "And with you back, hopefully we can move a little faster?" His lips quirk in a small smile, but his experienced topaz eyes are deep.
Well, that answers that question. Xien does know more about his issues than he's letting on.
He nods resolutely and answers both the question Xien voiced and the one left silent. "I'm on it."
At that the squad leader's lips pull into a full smile. "Glad to hear it. It's good to have you back, Mako."
"Good to be back, Xien."
He settles down at his new desk and starts looking through files with an eagerness that he hasn't had in quite a while. Erin was right — strengthening his mind has helped immensely.
He's grown enough that work matters to him again. If that isn't progress, he doesn't know what is.
A/N: Couple of things to say today:
#1: Lyric is from 'The Flood' by Take That.
#2: The only reason I have OCs here is because we have hardly any named officers from the RCPD besides Mako and Lin, and the ones we do know don't fit with what I required. Also, keep in mind we have three years of Mako's life we know nothing about between Books 3 and 4.
#3: I know that in terms of publication, we're still in the middle of this recovery arc - but in the writing process, I have completed the main recovery arc and I've been plotting out the next one...and, uh...well, this story is going to go on for quite a while. Much longer than I'd originally anticipated. I didn't realise I had so much to tell about Mako's life (guess that's what happens when he's out of focus in canon).
My concern that is that this might become draggy, but I really don't want to leave out anything about Mako's story. So...I hope y'all will still be happy to read even when this fic balloons to 40, 50 chapters? (yes, that's my way of asking for reassurance that you wouldn't mind hanging around that long). I will do my best to keep the content engaging and the different moments fresh. And if it ever does get too draggy or slow-moving, I trust you'll let me know so I can course-correct.
Until the weekend, then!