A/N: Thanks very much to Sharpe, Raider, Tertius711, AsahixMe, Black Dragon Master, IrishDreamer4, Guest, StevenBodner, FireLordAziz, and devilfiredog18 for reviews! Apologies for the delayed update today - I was literally polishing this up until 15 minutes before posting. More info after the chapter.
Time check: Late spring, 177 AG (2 years and 9 months post-Book 4)
60. I don't ever see the day that I won't catch you when you fall
"I wasn't going to mention it because it wasn't a big deal!"
Korra's voice is tight, simmering with annoyance. To be fair, he's perhaps being a little pushy about this — but after the latest close call she had his protective instincts have kicked into high gear.
Two days ago, a couple of Agni Kai lightningbenders had launched an ambush on an Equalist rally. He'd been on duty elsewhere, but Saikhan had been staking out the rally and had brought in Korra as backup. When the Agni Kais started going ham on the Equalists, Korra had been right in the thick of it, and although she is making strides in her own lightningbending, her lightning redirection is not yet up to par — she'd been shocked rather badly by a direct hit from one of the triads. Since he hasn't seen Korra in a few days, he'd been totally in the dark about her even going to the rally; he wouldn't even have heard about the incident if he hadn't caught sight of Saikhan's report on Lin's desk yesterday. He'd driven straight over this morning to check in on Korra — and found her as chipper as ever, having healed herself, with no ill effects, and entirely too cavalier about the whole thing for his liking; by her own admission, she hadn't planned on even mentioning it to him. That, combined with his genuine worry and general anxiety about anything Agni Kai, had pushed him over the edge.
"Not a big deal?" he repeats in disbelief. "You got hit by lightning! If that Agni Kai had been bending a lethal voltage, you would be dead, Korra! That is a huge deal!"
"I'm fine," she snaps. "Most lightningbenders can't generate lethal charges, remember?" Korra herself has yet to do so (not that she wants to kill anyone, but she is determined to master the control necessary to do so).
"You can't take that for granted! You don't know if they can or can't until they hit you with it. You're the Avatar, Korra — you have to take precautions!"
"You want me to tell you every time I get called out for Avatar stuff as a precaution?"
He forces himself to inhale so he doesn't yell his next point. "Look, all I'm asking for is a little notice before you rush off somewhere. If I can help, I wanna be there to back you up. And if I can't, at least I'll know what's going on instead of finding out days later that something happened."
"You can't ditch work just to help me every time —"
"I said if I can," he grits out.
"— I don't always have time to leave a message —"
"Yeah, a phone call takes forever."
"— and what's the point in you worrying that you're not with me when more often than not, I can handle it?" Korra's voice rises on the last statement.
He throws up his hands in frustration. "That is not the point. I want to know what's going on."
"And I will tell you, if you ask," she points out, exasperated. "But some of these things are really minor, so excuse me if I forget to mention them because they don't matter."
"They do to me!" he exclaims. "Damn it, Korra — if I'm gonna lose you in some battle, I'd rather know about it while it's happening when I can maybe do something about it instead of finding out of your death from — from the news, or something!"
In the sudden stillness after his outburst, Naga whimpers.
"You're not going to lose me," Korra says, quieter now.
"You don't know that." He's seen too much tragedy to be able to wholly believe that. "You can't promise me that." He can and does certainly hope for it, but it is in no way a guarantee.
"Mako —"
"I gotta go." A glance at his watch informs him he's already late; if he delays any longer he risks a formal reprimand.
Korra grabs his arm, indignant. "You can't leave it here!"
"Korra, I have to go," he emphasises as he pries her hand off. "We can finish this after my shift, okay? I think we could both use a cool-off period."
...
The coffee spills when he fumbles with the cup, and he swears under his breath as he jerks his hand back from the scalding liquid (firebender doesn't equal immune to burns) to grab a cloth to mop up the mess.
"All right, what's your deal today?" Juno demands from where she's stirring sugar into her own cup.
"Nothing," he grunts. "Coffee spilt, that's all."
"Sure, but you don't normally get so colourful for something this small. And you were half an hour late this morning."
He so does not feel like getting into his quarrel with Korra here. Juno's a close colleague, but if he is to confide in anyone in the squad, Minsu (who is out on assignment) is his first and only pick.
"Just some…personal things going on," he says. "I'll sort them out soon enough."
Juno regards him carefully for a long moment before she eventually nods. "Okay. Just make sure you talk to someone if you need to?"
"Yeah."
She walks away and he busies himself cleaning up the coffee spill. He hears the distant ring of his office phone as he's rinsing the cloth and hastens the wringing process before jogging back. His phone stops ringing just as he reaches his desk, and he waits in anticipation for several seconds — but the person doesn't call back, so he shrugs and returns to the coffeemaker to make a second cup of coffee (which he successfully does not spill this time).
He settles at his desk and reaches for the stack of files, sighing internally. The one thing he dislikes about being a sergeant is the amount of paperwork he has to do (and he'd thought it was bad when he was just a regular detective).
He's only just finished going through the second file when the news shatters the usual white noise of the police station. The radio on Xien's desk is usually kept on a low volume, but something has clearly caught the squad leader's attention; Xien turns the sound up until the entire room can hear the frantic report.
"An Equalist mob have surrounded the Republic City Power Plant and are attempting to force their way in. Sources say their objective is to replace lightningbending for power with their own electric technology in order to reduce the city's reliance on bending. The Avatar and several airbenders are on site, but the situation is escalating rapidly."
His mind blanks. Power plant equals lightningbending equals the one bending area Korra has not fully mastered yet, which means a higher chance of her getting hurt — and dammit, this is exactly what he was talking about this morning.
"While there has not yet been an all-out attack, there are threats of —"
It is at that exact moment that all power cuts off in the police station, and the radio goes dead. Silence reigns for all of two seconds before movement erupts. Officers start yelling orders but no one's quite sure of the chain of command; the entire Triad Squad defaults to Xien, but they share this wing with Narcotics and the Chief of Narcotics is also bellowing at the top of his voice that he ranks highest.
Xien ignores Narcotics and gathers his sixteen-member squad (minus Minsu and the few others in the field) to himself.
"All right, folks, this isn't strictly our jurisdiction, but they're going to need backup and I wouldn't be surprised if some triads jump into the chaos. Juno, take five people and go. Designate someone to transmit communications back and forth if necessary, but assess the situation and make the calls." Xien glances around and adds one more order. "Take Mako."
He shoots his squad leader a grateful look; Xien obviously knows he's anxious to be on site to help Korra. While Xien delivers instructions to the squad members staying back in HQ, he helps Juno organise the other four officers coming with them and they are out within two minutes (meanwhile, Narcotics are still shuffling around aimlessly).
The drive to the power plant is swift and silent. Most of the city's power is out — the Equalists must either have a chokehold on the workers or they disrupted the main conductors. Either way, it's not a good situation; Korra will have her hands full.
They hear the altercation before they see it. A large group of Equalists are swarming around, wielding electric gloves and batons and zapping everyone they can reach. Some of Tenzin's airbenders — including Kai and Opal — are patrolling the airspace and attempting to neutralise the Equalists, while a handful of RCPD officers and United Forces soldiers have managed to establish a perimeter around the power plant. Plant workers are trying to help by flinging electricity into the crowd of Equalists, but they're more of a hindrance than a help.
There's no sign of Korra anywhere.
Juno starts issuing orders to the squad, but he's already moving. He counters more than one Equalist until he reaches the police perimeter and demands, "Where's Korra?"
By now everyone in the RCPD are aware of their relationship, so the response is quick and automatic. "Some Equalists managed to get inside and take some workers hostage before we set up the perimeter. She headed inside to deal with them."
As if on cue, a sudden shockwave reverberates out from the power plant core.
"Incoming!" someone yells.
He fights to stay on his feet as lightning sprouts from the roof of the building. A stray bolt whips towards the knot of officers nearby and he redirects it without a second thought.
"Stay low," he directs them as he makes his way inside. He has no doubt there'll be more lightning before this is over.
He runs fast, recalling the layout of the place from the days when he worked here. The core of the power plant houses the central lightning rod, where all the electricity is fed through before being redirected to their respective power grids. Here he finds Korra fending off six Equalists with electric weapons while trying to protect two injured plant workers, her eyes glowing intermittently as she goes in and out of the Avatar State. Most of the Equalists are equipped with the usual gloves and kali sticks, but one is wielding an electric whip and he suspects that's what hit the central rod and caused the lightning surge earlier.
Using lightning here is a bad idea, so he defaults to fire, catching one Equalist by surprise and engaging another one before the one with the whip realises he's here. He's forced to skip out of reach and ends up back-to-back with Korra, who's sweating and breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" he asks in concern.
"Peachy," she grumbles, flinging fire that the Equalists dodge. "That whip is a pain."
She winces as she says it, and that's when he notices the torn gashes in her top and the bleeding lines in her side.
"Korra —"
She yanks him down as said whip comes sailing over their heads, striking the central rod and causing yet another surge of electricity to shoot upwards. As he balances on his hands and knees, he hopes everyone outside got clear.
Korra metalbends a wall around the injured workers for cover while he shoots fire and manages to down a second Equalist. That leaves them with four to deal with.
"I'll have you know I did call," she informs him pointedly before blasting a gust of wind at Equalist #3. "You didn't pick up."
He flashes back to his office phone ringing while he'd been mopping up the coffee mess. "Crap, I was on the other side of the room. Didn't reach the phone in time."
"I wasn't gonna call again."
"No, I get it." She wouldn't have had time to, with a problem of this magnitude. He doesn't blame her for that, and he does appreciate that she tried.
The whip comes round again and they have to squeeze together to avoid it. Yet again, it connects with the rod. He notices that cracks are beginning to show.
"The core can't take much more; if it gets hit again it's gonna blow."
Korra's eyes narrow. "Right, I'm done with this. You take care of whip dude, I'll deal with everyone else." Her voice is steady, but her hand goes to her side.
"Korra…"
"Mako, I got this. You, whip dude. Got it?"
Her eyes bore into his intently, saying trust me — and he does. He relinquishes his deep-seated fears and nods in assent.
"I got you," he promises.
She gives him the hint of a smile. "On three. One, two…"
On three, Korra springs into action. Her eyes glow white as she spins a mini tornado around all the remaining Equalists save whip dude. The whip dude in question snaps the whip towards her, but he's ready for him; he reaches out and grabs the whip, redirecting the current back at the Equalist, who drops like a stone. He's not surprised — he'd felt the charge as it passed through his body; it was strong. No wonder it'd been causing Korra trouble.
Meanwhile, Korra's zephyr has died out, having suffocated the three Equalists enough to make them pass out.
There's a moment of stillness before Korra exhales heavily and sags against him. He catches her easily, already anticipating the fallout of the adrenaline rush. He looks over her anxiously, relaxing somewhat when he sees no other injuries on her. The burned gashes in her side are painful and raw, but they don't look too serious. There is a stark sense of relief in the knowledge that this time, he is here to take care of her.
A troop of RCPD officers storm in, led by Juno. She assesses the situation with one look and directs people to apprehend the unconscious Equalists and escort the injured plant workers outside.
"Everything okay out there?" he queries.
"It's under control," Juno affirms. "You good?"
"Yes," he replies, while Korra flashes her a weak thumbs-up. "I'm gonna take Korra home before I head back to the station."
Juno nods; she's seen the Avatar's injuries too. "You can take a couple of hours, I think. It'll take a while to get things sorted here."
"Thanks. See you in a bit."
He leads Korra outside and helps her onto his bike, looking around for a certain polar bear dog.
"Where's Naga?"
"I left her at home. It was faster to get here by glider."
He spots said glider lying on the ground a few yards away; but as he watches, Opal scoops it up and nods at him as if to say, "I'll return it later."
Korra is leaning on him with her eyes half-closed and he knows she's spent. He presses a comforting kiss to her forehead before revving up the engine and motoring away.
...
When they reach Korra's apartment, he handles everything. He unlocks the door, reassures Naga, and leads Korra to the bathroom, where he helps her strip her bloodied top. She's too tired to conduct any healing right now, so he dips a clean cloth in cool water and gently dabs at the wounds in her side, then rummages in the bathroom cabinet until he finds bandages for dressing. When Korra's clean and comfortable, he settles her in bed and brings her a mug of honey tea, warmed to perfection with firebending.
"I'll come check on you after work, okay?" he says as he tucks her in.
"Mm," she sighs.
"Get some rest." He kisses her forehead and pats the polar bear dog who has set up camp beside the bed. "Look after her, Naga."
Naga yips in the affirmative, thumping her tail on the wooden floor. Satisfied that Korra's in good paws, he closes the door gently on his way out.
Only then does he finally release an explosive exhale. He leans against the door for a few minutes, processing the emotions of the last few hours.
He's always known in the back of his mind that being the Avatar is a dangerous job. So is being a cop. Days like today, however, really drive home that point.
But this is who they are and this is what they do, and neither of them would be happy if they weren't doing it. As long as he can be there for Korra — and he can't imagine that he will ever not move heaven and earth to be there when he knows she needs him — he will live with whatever comes.
That will have to be enough.
A/N: Song is 'Us Against the World' by Westlife.
All right, I'm gonna level with y'all. The blog is still in the works and still definitely on the way, but won't be out anytime soon (sorry!) because real life is moving very quickly for me right now and I don't have a ton of time to both manage the blog and publish regularly on this fic. Because the truth is...your girl here is getting married in less than four months :D
Haha, the secret's out. I got engaged in November (while this story was ongoing) and since then life has been full and exciting and very very busy. There's wedding planning, there's looking for a place to move into with the future hubby, there's work, there's part-time jobs, there's family stuff, and then there's writing. Super, super busy, so once things settle down then I'll be able to put the blog together. I just need a free weekend or something to get it up and running, but for the last two months every weekend has been occupied with one thing or the other. It's coming, I swear - and I aim to still keep this fic going every week even with all the other stuff, but that means the blog has to take a backseat till things settle down a little.
Hope y'all understand and thanks for being so patient! I will definitely update when things change!