Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4984969.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      Multi
  Fandom:
      Avatar:_Legend_of_Korra
  Relationship:
      Korra_(Avatar)/Original_Male_Character(s), Original_Female_Character(s)/
      Original_Female_Character(s)
  Character:
      Korra_(Avatar), Mako_(Avatar), Bolin_(Avatar), Asami_Sato, Original
      Characters
  Additional Tags:
      Family_Drama, Angst, Action/Adventure
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-10-12 Updated: 2016-01-11 Chapters: 9/? Words: 65036
****** The Equalist ******
by VlaanderenVrij
Summary
     Rokoyu Fire is a 19 year old male living in Republic City, he is a
     nonbender and a member of the inner circle of the Equalist movement.
     The Avatar is coming to the city and Amon decides to hand Rokoyu a
     special mission; he must infiltrate the Avatar's circle and befriend
     her, but how long can he keep his cover safe and is he really sure
     that he is doing the right thing? (OCxKorra)
Notes
     I'm new to Ao3 but have already posted this story on fanfiction.net.
     I'm however rewriting it; well more like fixing my spelling a bit so
     I decided to upload it onto here as well to see what the reaction is
     like.
     Also this fic is rated M and that is because I will be including
     sexual and bloody scene's. This is just an extra warning if that is
     not what you are looking for.
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review or comment if
     possible! I'm still an amateur so be gentle on me please ;-)
***** Prologue *****
Chapter Summary
     Short intro to the story to set the tone
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                   Chapter I
                                   PROLOGUE
                        "Only justice will bring peace"
                                 Avatar Kyoshi
===============================================================================
 Earth, Fire, Air, Water
When I was a boy, my father told me the story of how Avatar Aang and his
friends heroically ended the Hundred Year War. How Avatar Aang and Fire Lord
Zuko transformed the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations,
a society where benders and nonbenders from all over the world could live and
thrive together in peace and harmony. They named the capital of this great land
Republic City. Avatar Aang accomplished many remarkable things in his life, his
time in this world however had to come to an end. And like the cycle of the
seasons, the cycle of the Avatar began anew.
For all his accomplishments there was one thing Avatar Aang did not take into
consideration. He requested the White lotus to find the new Avatar and to
protect her until she became a fully realized Avatar. Because Avatar Korra was
cooped up in the Southern Water Tribe for 17 years the triads and some of the
mightiest benders in the city abused their powers to beat, extort, kill and
oppress the nonbenders of the city, the weakest group you could target.
It was only a matter of time before the nonbenders would rise up against these
criminals and corrupt benders. To fight back against those who oppressed them
we needed a figure to lead us. One man embodied that vision, namely our great
leader Amon! He showed us the right way, a way to finally rid this world of the
oppressing and unnatural tool that was bending, a way to reclaim our identity
as humans, a way to show benders that they too needed to fear us nonbenders.
I was born in the Dragon Flats borough into a normal middle class family. My
father was the son of a Fire Nation immigrant while my mother was born in the
Northern Water tribe. He was an electrician who owned his own shop. I always
saw him as a hard working man and so was my mother who raised my sister and me
as a housemother.
From a young age I watched as benders bullied us nonbenders into submission and
at the age of ten I started taking self-defence classes in the hope of being
able to defend myself from these...monsters.
I developed a natural hatred towards them, not that I showed it to the outside
world. I kept all of that to myself. If the benders at my school found out
surely I would receive the full brunt of their wrath and so would my
defenseless sister. Of course I had my run ins with these freaks but I tried to
keep those occasions to a strict minimum.
My sister's name was Daskana, a nonbender like me. We fought each other tooth
and nail for the attention of our parents and so we also had a natural hatred
towards each other.    It got pretty intense at moments, and it would probably
remain like that forever.
The only two friends I ever had were Mako and Bolin, weirdly enough two
benders. They had lost their parents to a firebender and I felt sorry for them,
it was my friendship with them that kept my hatred somewhat in check. It was an
akward friendship, because I couldn't exactly tell them I didn't like their
kind. Though in truth it never got between us. I considered them to be an
extension of my family and they had the same feeling about me.
When I turned thirteen one of the benders at school sensed an opportunity. He
wanted to steal my lunch money. However being well trained in martial arts by
that age he stood little chance against me. I defended myself and to my own
surprise I quickly had the firebender on his knees, holding his arms in a tight
hold behind his back. Sadly my hatred took hold of me, without thinking it
trough properly I broke both his arms, clear for the whole schoolyard to see.
My classmates gasped in horror at the mangled limbs. Of course the headmaster
suspended only me and not the bully. You can guess it. He too was a bender,
using his power to keep the nonbenders little. I didn't mind his attitude. I
had a pretty comfortable life after this incident, no bender dared to challenge
me again out of fear for what might happen to them.
To the outside world my family embodied the vision of Avatar Aang. A diverse
family living in the dream that was Republic City, the city of a thousand
opportunities. We lived in a supposed era of peace and love but then everything
changed for the worse, teaching me that nothing that I had ever been told was
true. This was not a world of peace and love.
I left school when I turned sixteen having skipped three years, easily managing
to graduating. You see in contrary to most of the benders, I had a brain. I had
always been able to study without much effort, just paying attention in the
classes was enough, not to mention my desire for reading added to that. Just
like my father I left school as an electrician, however unlike him I was not so
much into the repair part of the job. I made things like: tools, clocks, small
handy things for use in the household, as long as it was electrical I was able
to fix or make it. Before I well and truly realized it I was fabricating small
electric self-defence weapons for nonbenders, which I sold during the night on
the black market.
The triads learned about my little trade and decided to teach me a lesson since
some of their men had been hurt pretty bad thanks to my weapons. They already
extorted my father on a weekly basis, so why not anty up the price right? One
day two of them entered the store, demanding my father pay twice as much
protection money to compensate for the damage suffered from my weapons. To my
own surprise he didn't comply, he had always done so in order to protect his
family but enough was enough, if he gave them that money he would have to close
the shop and then he would no longer be able to provide for us and to him that
was unacceptable. The scumbags did not hesitate after his refusal and before I
could step in a large lightning bolt was shot from of the criminal's fingertips
into my father's chest.
I hurried over the counter in the hope to safe him but to no avail, it had been
a direct hit in the heart. I sat there with his corpse in my lap for hours, his
blood all over me, the cops had to drag me away from him or else I would still
be sitting there today. My mother's heart was broken after that and not two
weeks later she committed suicide, she couldn't handle losing the love of her
life. I was left to take care of my sister alone, me a sixteen year old boy.
Since I wasn't old enough to take over the shop the bank stepped in and
confiscated almost all our possessions in order to get their loaned money back.
You guessed it once again, the bank director was a waterbender. In the end I
was forced to go and work in an inhospitable factory and even there I only got
the shitty jobs, most factories were focused on machines that were powered by
bending. You could say my resentment for benders grew considerably every day I
worked in that shithole.
I fell into a dark abyss, I felt guilty for the death of my parents and soon
the booze, bar fights and countless one night stands started to pile up. There
was a day when I decided to kill myself just like my mother had but Daskana
stepped in just in time and talked me out of it. I could not let her alone, I
could not let that happen. She reminded me there were some things left worth
living for.
Not too long after that I came into contact with a strange masked man who had
learned of my story, he wanted my help to start a revolution amongst the
nonbenders of the city. He had observed me for a while and felt that there was
much potential in me. I had been weary of him at first but he showed me and my
sister a great deal of kindness, the kind most of my kind had always been
denied. We started plotting, well more like dreaming to be honest but soon our
ideas turned into actual effort because we wanted it so badly. We figured out
we were going to need more people onboard and we started recruiting and
dividing the work effort.
Amon would be our great leader, his way with words was so powerful he could
make a polar bear dog pee in fear for his life. His charisma and leadership
would lead us to victory. Not to mention his gift from the spirits that would
allow him to take away a bender's bending was a serious force to be reckoned
with.
I introduced him to a man I had sold weapons to in the past. Quang, or
nicknamed "Lieutenant". I believe he served in the United Forces but was kicked
out for misconduct, read: a bender didn't like it that Quang received a
promotion over him. So the jerk pulled some political weight to get Quang
kicked out of the U.F. It was his task to be our drill sergeant and the main
army would be under his direct command.
Our band of brothers against benders expanded to a foursome. Roll in Hiroshi
Sato, one of the wealthiest men in the city and world who had lost his wife to
a firebender. His hatred towards benders knew almost no boundaries. With his
industrial power we would be able to construct much more developed weaponry
than I ever could with my two hands and his funding would come in handy for the
propaganda war.
My role was much simpler. I was selected to become Amon's student and ordered
to form a squad of around ten of the best warriors that I could find, creating
a special forces unit. We would be performing assassinations, kidnappings,
stealth missions, etc.. basically covert operations taken to a whole new level.
I would also design the diagram structure of the organization. Call it the
foundation it all worked and operated on. An achievement I was very proud of,
that's why the people around me called the Equalist movement my baby.
Under his wing Amon taught me about economics, politics, history and even some
philosophy. My previous status as an excellent student was confirmed once more,
so to give me a covers story of my own Amon and I devised a plan that would get
me and my sister out of Dragon Flats. I became an independent stock broker and
investor. Thanks to Hiroshi, who provided to first funds I got my business off
of the ground, making enough money to buy a nice condo in Downtown Republic
City. I wasn't super rich but I had a considerable amount of reserve on the
bank.
As I took care of my sister with more interest in her welfare I learned that
the death of our parents had also led to serious anti-bending sentiments with
her. At one point she demanded to know why I would disappear from time to time
and what the hell I was up to at night. Seeing an opportunity to gain a student
of my own I introduced her to Amon and she reluctantly joined. In no time she
mastered chi blocking and blossomed open. We buried our lifelong hatchet, at
least when we were on the job, at home we were still as stubborn to coexist as
always.
After three years of hard work our organization was growing fast. We had built
a strong amount of followers and Hiroshi had constructed a secret factory under
his mansion were her was developing our weapons and gear. He even built an
impressive airfield up in the mountains where he stored revolutionary flying
machines. Our organization wasn't big enough yet to topple the bending
council's government but we had some influence on the streets.
Then we received the chance of a lifetime. The Avatar, the ultimate bender of
this world had escaped her compound in the Southern Water Tribe and was
presumably on her way to Republic City. Amon decided this was the time to speed
up our plans and the avatar would play into them nicely.
The revolution was about to kick off. If only back then I had known how
drastically my life was about to change the day that girl set foot in my city.
My name is Rokoyu Fire, the year is 170 AG. I am a member of the inner circle
of the Equalist movement and this is my story...
***** Slow beginnings *****
Chapter Summary
     Rokoyu's story begins as he's called to a late night meeting.
Chapter Notes
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review or comment if
     possible!
 
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter II
                                SLOW BEGINNINGS
           "The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains"
                                   Karl Marx
===============================================================================
 I was sitting comfortably in my reading chair, going through a book about
traditional firebending forms. It was almost past midnight and I really needed
to get some sleep, but this book was way to interesting. I had borrowed it from
Amon's personal collection, something that had become a regular occurrence
since I was still considered his student. I was building a library of my but
that costs time and money. Some of Amon's books were quite rare and contained
small details regular books from the public library just didn't offer. So it
was a no-brainer when it came to selecting a title to read.
I already finished two other books from the same author on water and
earthbending. I would practice the forms in these books by simply repeating the
drawings provided. Even though I was not a bender I found this was perfectly in
line with my studies. I wanted to see for myself how it felt to perform these
forms.
Why? Know thy enemy of course! By studying bending I could comprehend better
what happened when you faced one of those freaks out in the field. It gave me
more insight in their thinking and aided in anticipating their moves. Heck,
some of the defensive moves taught to benders came in handy for nonbenders,
saved my skin a couple of times.
I was about to practice some forms when suddenly the phone rambled violently. I
hated the ringing sound this stupid thing made. It almost made your eardrums go
poof everything it went off. Modern times I guess...
"Can't Sato invent something that doesn't make such a racket?" I grumbled to
myself while stashing away the book.
I walked over to the phone, feeling the soreness in my muscles and limbs. It
had been like that the entire day and it was getting on my nerves.
The day before one of my female subordinates had been successful in chi
blocking me during a practice session. We were sparring and somehow she managed
to get a couple of jabs in one my right side, leaving me with only one capable
arm. It didn't take her very long to knock me out completely and embarrassing
me in front of my entire team. Never before had anyone been able to chi block
me so I definitely needed to keep a close eye on her, she could come in handy.
He name was Dasva and I knew for a fact she had leadership qualities inside of
her.
It had taken me at least an hour before I regained full control of my body
again. Well at least now I knew how it felt like to be chi blocked and like it
I did most definitely not!
I reached for the phone horn and picked it up. "Fire residence, with whom am I
speaking?"
A carful voice on the other side responded. "The fish have assembled in the
barrel."
There was a click on the other side and my brain started analyzing what that
message meant and before laying the horn back down I had it figured out.
"So Amons wants a meeting in the middle of the night? Damn I really need that
sleep." I wobbled over to my bedroom, aching my sore back and opened my closet.
I got on my knees and searched for the secret lever in the back. I pulled it
and the door to the back compartment opened. I draged out my bag and started
unpacking the gear. It didn't take me very long to put the equalist uniform on,
throwing my regular clothes on the bed. The standard Equalist uniform consists
of a comfortable jumpsuit and head mask that creates a great deal of
moveability.
I put the bag back into the compartment and pulled the lever once again,
watching as the secreted door shoved itself back in place. I closed the doors
and I inspected myself in the closet mirror.
I pulled in closer, observing my face, staring into my amber eyes, the lighting
in the room reflecting of my pale skin. I started ruffling my short black hair
until I found it satisfying, not that it really mattered because wearing the
equalist mask screwed it up again.
I caressed my trimmed beard, grinning at how perfect it was these days. It was
a full facial one, reaching from one side burn to the other. After the death of
my parents I didn't bother shaving anymore, but that didn't mean I kept it wild
and dirty. No I had it trimmed by my barber every time. Amon even told me it
made me look older and that it would demand respect from my fellow businessmen.
I took a firm position, showing of my strength in front of the mirror
attempting to make the muscles that I didn't have to flex, sighing at my
failure. No matter how much I trained, I never seemed to gather much body
muscle. Always remaining the same tall scrawny guy.
"Alright Amon, let's see whatever your reason is for dragging us out there
tonight"
I picked up my long trenchcoat and wrapped it around me, putting the cords into
a knot around my waist. It's not that I didn't like sneaking trough alleys; but
I needed to get my ass over there as soon as possible and this was my best and
favorite cover. I stuffed the mask into my left pocket and one of my two
electrical gloves in the right one, keeping the other one at home for once.
I left my bedroom and made my way through the apartment. On my way out I
spotted a framed picture with a familiar face and I was attracted towards it,
picking it up and smiling at myself and my sister in the picture. She was
laughing in this one while I was sitting next to her with a serious expression
on my face. It was a picture from about a year ago. We took a night off to
visit the fair and we had this taken in one those photo booths. She was holding
a plush she won at one of the kiosks. One night without bickering. I could only
beg the spirits to have more of those.
When you looked at it closely we didn't really have anything in common. For
starters we didn't look allot alike. I had pale skin like my father and she had
darker skin, one more associated with people from the Water Tribe. She got her
looks from mom and I from dad. You could say we balanced each other out nicely
but in reality we were fire and water reincarnated. A phrase I had heard so
many times it was getting old by now. Even our names pointed out our diverse
backgrounds. I'm Rokoyu and her name is Daskana, respectively clearly Fire
Nation and Water Tribe names. Not that we ever really cared about any of that
stuff since we weren't benders. Those freaks has some sort of fetish when it
came to their precious nations. We didn't even wear garb from those countries
like most of the benders in the city did, hell we never even visited them. We
wore what most nonbenders in the city wore, gray, dull gray.
I put the frame back down and retreated into the kitchen, pulling out some
memos and a pencil, deciding it was best not to leave without informing her.
She was quite sensitive about that and I wasn't in the mood for another fight.
"Daskana
I have a meeting in town, don't stay up for me.
Rokoyu"
I put the pencil back into the drawer. I hesitated a bit as I put the note in a
visible place on the counter, hovering in place, wondering how her training
exercise was going. I needed to get moving though towards the meeting as the
others were probably already there and spirits I didn't want to be the one
holding the whole shebang up.
I rushed out the door and once outside I pulled the long trenchcoat's hood over
my head and started pacing towards the tram, casually putting my hands in my
pockets to appear clam and natural. If I got jumped I was going to need that
glove fast.
I arrived just in time to catch the tram towards Dragon Flats, the only
neighbourhood in town where there were more nonbenders percentage wise compared
to benders. 87% v.s. 13% in fact. It was only normal that we had our
headquarters down there.
It was late so the tram was basically almost empty. Only a couple of people on
their way to their night shifts were sitting onboard for the ride. I sat myself
down in the corner of the tram, not wanting to draw any attention towards
myself. At the next stop however I received a small heart attack. Two
metalbender cops boarded the tram and started inspecting passports and ID's.
If I was caught wearing all this equalist stuff on me the jail time would have
been severe, not to mention what those two clowns might do to me. Metalbenders
cops were known to be real assholes when it came to Equalist supporters and I
was not keen to find out what they did to an actual chi blocker.
I pulled my hood down so that they could inspect my face properly, pretending
as if nothing was wrong. One of the cops started making his way down the rows
checking every passenger while the other one kept a close eye on proceedings,
his hands twitching for some actions.
"Fucking assholes."I thought to myself with a chuckle as the inspecting cop
found his way to me.
"ID!" he demanded sternly.
I didn't need an instruction. He had already sensed I was not a bender and as
usual they talked as if they were addressing someone lesser than their own
kind.
"Here, you go sir" I held out my ID card and he snapped it from my fingers,
giving me a suspicious look.
He held it up towards the light in the tram and peeked over towards me,
checking if the person on the ID was in fact me. He took a bit longer then I
was comfortable with and I twitched a bit in my seat
"Something wrong  mister.... Fire?" He read my name from the ID-card and gave
me suspicious look.
"No, not at all, just want to get going that's all. I have work to be work on
time" I lied as sincere as possible.
He peeked back at the ID. "I can see the person in the ID is you but you should
really consider going to city hall and requesting a new one. Some of my
colleagues might not recognize you with the beard." he explained as he holds
the card back out towards me and I put it back into my pockets.
"I'll get on that, thank you officer."
Both of them got out but not without giving the driver a friendly nod. Thank
the spirits that went well! The scumbag had a point tough, that I could not
deny. I had quite the beard nowadays and it might confuse someone else. Would
be a damn shame to get arrested on suspicion of having a fake ID and then being
caught with Equalist gear as a consequence, while the ID was in fact, real...
"Ok, tomorrow the beard goes Amon. I know you said it makes me look older than
I am but I am not interested in a trip towards Beifong's dungeon." I thought to
myself as the tram started shaking a bit and we got moving again.
Soon we reached the district I was looking for and I got off the tram, putting
the hood back in it's place over my head. This was the area where I grew up so
naturally I knew it like the back of my hand. In no time I arrived at the
warehouse where our organization has its headquarters. Before rounding the last
corner I checked if no one had seen me and I pulled the hood back and put the
mask over my head. I had no problem showing my face to the leadership but
standard grunts did not need see my face. It would only give them a target to
pick out of a police line.
I walked over to the building's entrance and knocked on the door. A peephole
appeared in the door and I could see several eyes inspecting me.
"Password?" the eyes demanded of me and I obliged.
"There can be no peace without justice"
The door opened and a familiar voice answered. The big sentry came out from
behind the door and gave me a smile. "Welcome brother, they are waiting for you
in the conference room."
I didn't give him an answer, I was still in a hurry you know. The big sentry
was our regular guard, always on post and damn nearly impossible to pass
undedected.
I walked across the abandoned warehouse floor before reaching the large gap in
the floor, the large concrete door pushed upwards. The smell of oil and
gasoline penetrating my nostrils, this really used to be a car depot at one
point or another.
Our headquarters was stationed in a secret underground facility under the
warehouse. It belonged to Hiroshi Sato and he had emptied it out so we could
move in and make ourselves cosy. A full year of secret construction and it was
now part of the large underground network of the city. The warehouse was still
on his company books so that no one started asking questions about it, as far
as the company was concerned Future Industries was still using it as a car
depot.
I made my way down the stairs while removing my trenchcoat and navigating
through the narrow corridors, finding several grunts along the way. My boots
made quite the stomping noise and as soon as the grunts realized my presence,
spotting the Master Sergeant stripes on my right arm, they jumped at attention.
I quickly waved at them with my right hand to signal that it was not necessary.
I rounded the last corner and found the conference room and knocked on the
door. Hiroshi Sato opened it
"So you finally decided to show up Fire?"
I nearly popped under my mask. Had he just really said my real name out loud,
with some grunts nearby?
"Sato! Don't mention my real name. I don't need the cops banging down my door
because one stupid grunt couldn't keep his mouth shut." I exclaimed as I peeked
down the hallway but luckily there was nobody near. "Looks like you're lucky
this time!" I added.
Sato raised his brows, for such a public figure he sure should consider wearing
a mask, or at least something in front of those grunts. If one of them talked
we could potentially lose our industrial power and that would set us back
years, if not decades. Hiroshi dashed back into the room, clearly annoyed by my
comments. I could hear him grumbling but didn't understand his words. I stepped
inside and closed the door behind me, locking it firmly in place. I removed my
mask and placed it on the hooks provided on the wall next to the door together
with my coat.
I walked over towards Hiroshi who was pouring himself a cup of fresh tea,
sighing and putting my hands on my hips.
"Look I'm sorry, but you have to be more careful Hiroshi. I would just
appreciate it if you called me by my cover name when grunts are close around
us. It's safer for us all that way."
Hiroshi put his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay son. I'll try to be more
careful. I'm really too old for all this secret stuff. So forgive me if my mood
seems a bit out of line."
I gave him an understanding nod and poured myself a cup of tea before sitting
down at the round table. Quang was already present but Amon was not, where was
he?
Quang opened his mouth. "Are you ladies done bickering over the little stuff?
If the information I have obtained from a source in the Southern Water Tribe
earlier today is true than perhaps we could have a massive problem on our
hands."
I raised my brows at this. "If whatever your information is about, is soooooo
important then where is Amon? Shouldn't he be here already? The man lives down
here after all!"
Hiroshi nodded in agreement, if this was all so important then where in the
spirits name was Amon?
"He's out, checking if the rumor is true, make yourselves comfortable it could
be another hour or so before he gets back." Quang defended himself
I was quick to retaliate. "Could you at least inform us what this is about?"
Hiroshi agreed with me again while stirring in his tea. "Yes Lieutenant, even
if it's not true and we came down here for nothing you can still tell us,
that's the least you owe us for our time"
Quang removed himself from the table and pulled out a written hand note from
his pockets. He threw it in front of us and I snatched the note up before
Hiroshi. I inspected the piece of paper but I could not make any sense of it,
there were only numbers on it.
"These are just a bunch of numbers. I don't read spy Quang." I chuckled at him
as he I handed the note to Hiroshi.
Quang just grinned back at me in response as he sat back down. "Today Avatar
Korra has completed her firebending test in the Southern Water Tribe. She has
three elements mastered, just one to go. Councilman Tenzin was supposed to
temporarily move down there to teach her the last block: Airbending.
Unfortunately he refused to do so during a visit, because of our antics in the
city. Now I don't know the full details but rumor has it she wasn't too happy
about it."
"Some people would be happy to have one element, but no. The mighty avatar is
not content with that, she has got to have them all. Who does this arrogant
little shit think she is?"I thought to myself just before interrupting Quang
."What does that have to do whith us?".
Quang pretended the interruption hadn't occurred and continued his explanation.
"Like I was saying, she wasn't too happy about it and she promptly escaped the
compound,. Yes you've heard that right, she ran. She said her goodbyes to her
parents and was last seen boarding a ship heading towards Republic City. I
suspect she might be running after councilman Tenzin who should be back here
already. The White Lotus found out and raised a general alarm but the bird had
flown by that time."
I shared a concerned look with Hiroshi. He was usually quite calm but I spotted
small drops of sweat on his forehead."
"Grave news indeed Quang! if true this could possibly be a game ending problem.
If the avatar makes it to the city then we could find ourselves with an
formidable foe!"
I could not believe my own ears, this man, the wealthiest man in Republic City
was cowering for a seventeen year old girl?
"Nonsense! If she does come to the city she will still be as venerable as the
other benders. Sure she has two more elements available to her but let's not
forget she's not even a fully realized Avatar yet. If her handlers chose to
leave airbending for last that probably means she has not yet fully mastered
the avatar state, if at all. Remember that most avatar's in history usually
connected with their spiritual self during this stage of their training. From
what I've been able to muster from the newspaper gossip columns over the last
couple of years she's quite stubborn and completely lacks any spiritual
connection. The attack first and ask questions later type of woman. " I
announced confidently, sipping from my cup of tea.
I readjusted myself in my chair, moving my right leg over the other, my right
index finger pushing up against my temple. Quang was quite surprised by my
'revelation'.
"Really Fire? You read the tabloids? You didn't strike me as the type, how do
we even know if any of that load of bull is true?"
I had to give it to the man, he was right. The media in Republic City was
notorious for being nothing more that written lies and made up stories, but
when it came to their precious Avatar they were usually right on the Yuan.
There was however something else I wished to ask Quag about. "Say Quang, if
this all happend today, how did you obtain this new? How old it anyways?"
He looked up and smirked at me "I have good spies and a good wire connection
down south. The news is about two hours old I believe, not that you should
concern yourself with such complicated things Fire. Intelligence is my
department for a reason."
I gave him a disinterested nod back but in reality I had been aching to know
for quite some time, even though he and I had a slight dislike for one another
I had in fact nothing but respect for the man and they way he gathered
information so fast. I tried to get the conversation going again but we were
only bickering amongst ourselves. It got so loud I started to wonder if a spy
in the hallway right next to us would be able to hear it all. I needed to end
this and fast but a rigid voice cut me to it.
"Sillence!"
The three of us looked to our rights to see Amon standing in the room, hands
behind his back, being his typical cold and distanced self. So much for that
hour worth of waiting. Neither of us had seen the masked man enter the room and
I was sure I locked us in so I started to ponder if he really had a key for
every room of this compound, just as the rumors suggested. I snapped back to
reality, there were more important things to discuss right now.
"Amon. Quang here filled us in. Are the rumors valid? Is the Avatar on her way
to Republic City?" I directed my questions towards the masked man.
I was dying to know and so were my brothers in arms. Amon started pacing
towards his seat at center of the round table, looking at us with those always
observing eyes of his safely tucked away behind the mask. He deviated from his
course and moved over to pour himself a cup of fresh hot tea behind me before
finally settling down in his chair, his chest still forward and confident as
always. He didn't say a word and the three of us just sat there our glaze fully
focused on the mask, longing to know.
Amon took a sip of his tea, mask still in place, not a drop spilled. I always
wondered how much practice went into that. He looked up at us and finally put
us out of our misery. "I can confirm that the stories are true, she's on her
way up here. Shipping company has called in that they've found a stowaway
onboard. A seventeen year old girl that perfectly matches the Avatar's
discription."
Hiroshi was now having a small panic attack next to me.
"Oh spirits! Why? We're done for! All our hard work for nothingè She is going
to rip us apart like-"
"Hiroshi, not this again! I've told you before, no Avatar state, no Avatar!
Without it she's just a very powerful bender and those we can take on any day,
any time. I guarantee it." I interrupted him, we didn't need him undermining
morale.
"Although I think we should be on our guard. I do believe that besides the
Avatar State this girl lacks any experience to take us on. She has never even
left the Southern Water Tribe for crying out loud. She's in for a culture
shock." Quang agreed with me.
Amons was still sitting there, silent, cup of tea in his hand, comfortably
leaning back in his chair while Sato was wiping the sweat of his face with a
white tissue. We all looked at him, silently asking him for his imput.
"I agree with Quang and Fire, they both have valued points. In fact gentleman
this works perfect for us. If we can smear her good name, the name that Avatar
Aang built up... then we can achieve almost full support from the nonbender
community and if we can get them behind us... then my friends, then we have an
army to fight with! Her arrival only speeds up our timeframe. Hiroshi I need
you to start mass production the gloves, mecha tanks and airplanes. If my gut
feeling is right then soon we will have swarms of followers lining up to join.
They will need equipment and gear. Quang I also believe we will need more sites
to train our recruits so that's your responsibility."
Sato and Quang nodded at Amon in agreement, they had been waiting for years for
things to get set in motion. Amon then turned to me. He was in full preparation
modus.
"Fire, my pupil I need you to buy a majority stake in a small failing
newspaper. Once you have achieved this we will start feeding them information
on the avatar. Information only we know whilst battling her. So we'll control
that end of the propaganda war. More papers will copy their work and so we can
discredit the Avatar on a grand level. Also keep your unit on close standby.
They will need to perform at a moment's notice."
"Yes Amon." I nodded.
Amon paused, gasping for air in silence. I could see his eyes flickering behind
the mask. he was having a private brainstorming party and I could only imagine
what devious ideas he was plotting in that brain of his. Oh, how I wanted to
poke around that place from time to time.
"You know Fire... I was thinking. That sister of yours... can she be trusted?"
I was taken a bit back by this question and frankly offended, but I was not
going to lash out against the man that had given me a second chance in life. I
respected him too much for that.
"Amon... euhm... well if my trust is a barometer then... yes! Absolutely, she
is devoted to our cause and she will stop at nothing to see the job done. She
can be trusted."
He was observing me tightly, trying to see if I was telling the truth or not
but he couldn't come to a negative conclusion because it was simply not a lie.
She was prepared to die for our cause, as was I.
"Very well gentleman, let's plot the details of our requirements, the
revolution is about to begin!" He suddenly dropped the idea and continued on as
if nothing had happened.
Well that definitely raised my curiosity! We spent the next two hours figuring
out what we needed before dashing out into the night, back to our respective
lairs.
While sitting on the tram ride home I was constantly thinking about what he
asked of me.
" That sister of yours... can she be trusted?"
What did he want with Daskana? Why was she suddenly important to him? As far as
he was concerned she was my own student. I knew he didn't like that little fact
but what was he going to do to stop me?
The walk home was silent, not a soul on the streets, perfect just the way I
liked it. I stumbled up the stairs, yawning loadly. I was really sleepy by this
point and I all wanted was my bed. I put the key in the door but suddenly it
swung open, only for me to be met by two fierce angry looking blue eyes.
"Rokoyu, where in the spirits name have you been? It's almost half five in the
morning you bum! You didn't get drunk again did you?" Daskan shouted, nearly
making my eardrums pop.
Being scolded like that is not fun, especially if it's for no good reason and
certainly not when you've been dragged out for a meeting in the middle of the
night!
"I wrote you a note didn't I? I had an important meeting tonight and no I am
not drunk! I only had tea, just tea" I emphazised and for once I wasn't telling
lies!
"What note?" she looked down and noticed my favorite disguise.
She untied the cords of my trenchcoat, noting the Equalist uniform under it.
She sighed and settled down a bit, realizing her mistake, hushing me inside. I
walked into the kitchen looking for that ruddy note and found it was stuck
under the fridge, must have happened when I had stormed out earlier that night.
"Found it!" I handed her he note, looking quite pleased with myself.
She read the words on the paper. "I'm sorry I lashed out against you. I'm just
concerned you know. So how was the meeting?"
I stopped in my tracks. I was already halfway through the living room. I had
intended to retreat to my room as fast as possible and finally enjoy that sleep
I had been denied all night long, but it would seem the spirits denied it once
more.
I slowly turned around to face her and sighed. "Well... the meeting was...
interesting. Guess who's coming to town?"
She shrugged her shoulders "How should I know. I'm just a humble grunt
remember. Spit it out already!"
I rolled my eyes at this, sometimes she could be so dense. "Our esteemed
AvatarKorra has deemed our city worthy of a visit."
And with that I left her standing there in the room, her face turning pale and
raising her brows in confusion. I knew she wanted to hear more but that would
have to wait until the next morning, a morning that was approaching fast. My
best guess what that I would be getting around two and a half hours worth of
sleep, not enough for a full grown male but it would have to do. I shut the
door behind me, not bothering to unclothe. I only removed my boots and fell
onto my bed with a smack, darkness quickly consuming me but my mind was still
rambling over what had happened that night , especially Amon's question
featured.
"That sister of yours, can she be trusted?"
What on earth does that man want with her? What is he plotting?
Being an higher-up Equalist... it never ceased to be fun.
***** Reunion *****
Chapter Summary
     Rokoyu finds out what Amon's up to, and like it he does not.
Chapter Notes
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review or comment.
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter III
                                    REUNION
  "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution
                                 inevitable."
                                John F. Kennedy
===============================================================================
I opened my sleepy eyes, only to be met by the ceiling of my bedroom. I yawned
and stretched out on my bed, making my limbs pop. I turned around to see what
time it was on the clock and my earlier assessment had been right. I'd slept
around two and a half hours and it was now around seven in the morning, thank
you insomnia!
It was probably time to get up so I wobbled over to the closet mirror and
realized I was still wearing my Equalist gear. I enjoyed wearing the uniform
but I was going to have to get some work done at one point during the day and
you can't do business in those clothes. While changing into one of my business
suits
I still felt that aching soreness in my muscles, but to my relief it was
starting to fade a bit, being replaced by a weird tingling in my arms and
fingers. I felt a lot warmer as well than I was used to. My boy temperature
must have been soaring high. What on earth had Dasva done to me? Was this
really how it felt to be chi blocked? If so then kudos to all my victims for
suffering this intolerable feeling.
I put my pocket watch into my suit jacket and tightened my tie around my neck.
I made my way to the kitchen. Daskana was up as well, still wearing her night
robes, being busy preparing breakfast. In other words heating up some seaweed
soup because that was all that she knew about cooking to be honnest. Spirits if
I let that woman I would be sipping seaweed soup every day, for the rest of my
miserable life.
"Seaweed soup... seriously? Again?" I complained and she turned around to meet
my gaze.
"If you don't like it you can always go out and get your own food!" She snapped
annoyed.
No, I was too lazy to do that, seaweed soup it was.
"It's fine, just try to diverse your range a bit, starting tomorrow would be
nice?"
She rolled her eyes at me, sticking out her tongue. She seemed a bit tense so I
tried changing the subject.
"So how was the training exercise? Are the latest batch of recruits coming
along nicely?"  I asked but unfortunately my sister was interested in a more
serious matter.
"Why is the Avatar coming to Republic City? This could be a serious clusterfuck
for the revolution."
Oh, that's what she was so tense about.
"Don't worry about it. We've discussed it thoroughly and came to the conclusion
that she is not a threat, at least not for now. Amon is plotting to drag her
through the mud, ensuring it stays that way. Of course that is if she somehow
manages to find a way to stay here. Apparently the White Lotus was not amused
when she escaped her compound in the Southern Water Tribe, so I'm not going to
act all surprised if they dragged her back home."
She gave me a confused look and interrupted my tale. "Escaped?"
I cleared my throat and continued my explanation of the situation. "She was
supposed to receive airbending training from that monk slash councilman on air
temple island, but seeing as we are making so much trouble for the
establishment he's decided to postpone it. She didn't take it well and promptly
ran off to catch a ship heading for the city. The white Lotus would have
stopped her, so yeah, she escaped." I rolled my eyes.
That didn't put her exactly at ease and soon the was turning cold while my
sister and I were arguing about the situation. She suggested we take the Avatar
out the moment she sets a foot on shore but that's not in line with Amon's
plans.
"Look, Daskana, Amon thinks the Avatar's presence could help our cause, as long
as we make her look incompetent in the process. Soon all the nonbenders will be
flooding to our cause and let's face it, this girl is not ready for the world.
This is going to be a walk in the park. Amon said himself that he agreed with
me. My dear sister, soon we will finally avenge our parents deaths."
Her concern faded as snow before the sun and she found it inside of herself to
smirk. "Avenging our parents? I do like the sound of that brother! Fuck the
Avatar! Fuck the benders!"
"That's more like! Besides Daskana.... It seems the man has some plans for
you."
She raised her brows and gave me an interesting grin. "What does Amon want with
me?"
I didn't have the answer to that "Hell if I know. He was interested in you,
guess we'll find out soon enough."
We finished our cold soup and she rushed to get her clothes on, preparing
herself for work. She didn't have a steady job but a local Water Tribe
restaurant called 'Narooks Noodlery' hired her when one of the regular
waitresses was not available. Apparently she had gotten the call earlier that
moring when I was still sleeping.
I didn't like it, I made enough money to sustain us both but she was hell bent
on providing her share of the income. She spend a lot of time at home so I
guessed it kept her socially active to be amongst people, even if most of those
people were benders, the kind of people she hated so much.
"So, when will you be home?" I inquired just as she was about to leave.
"You know how it works at Narooks, could be any moment really. If that regular
girl decides to show up I can take my leave again, so I'm hoping the bitch
stays at home."
"Okay, enjoy your day"
She left and so did I. I walked down the street to my office, which was located
a block away from the condo. I entered and my trusty assistant, Aya, a young
girl with with Earth Kingdom origins greeted me. Of course she too was a
nonbender. I wouldn't dare hiring one of those freaks.
"Good morning mister Fire. I left all your messages on your desk so you can
review them at your own discretion."
I didn't run my business on a day to day basis. I would walk in and out when I
pleased, that's just how the life of an equalist went. I always made sure I had
enough deals going on to compensate for me not being there. I couldn't afford
to spend day after day at the office, luckily my costomers knew it worked that
way. Aya was capable enough to compensate for my absence.
"Thank you Aya" I thanked her and moved myself into my office, sitting down
behind my desk.
I  worked my way through the messages and calls, checked the newspapers for the
new stock prices and made some calls to clients and investment partners so we
could talk business or just to make small talk up. I had a sharp tongue, always
able to make them dance to my tune one way or another. In some ways I
manipulated them, but that's how the stock exchange worked. You win some and
you lose some, but a stockbroker always wins. Fifty percent commission ensured
that.
Making calls is time consuming and before I could realize it well enough it was
already midday. I was getting seriously miffed because of the weird soreness
and tingling in my muscles. The inconsistency of my body temperature wasn't
helping me at all. It felt so out of balance. I was seriously starting to think
about visiting a doctor or the emergency room, but if the staff found out I had
been chi blocked they would surely call the cops. Not something I was keen on
finding out so I just had to suck it up and bite trough it.
"It'll wear out" I tought to myself to myself as I asked Aya to get me some
food.
She was quickly back with some local roasted Komodo Chicken, my favorite lunch.
I was eating quietly in peace when the phone rang. What idiot dared calling me
during my afternoon lunch break?
I picked the phone up, intending to give this flying hogmonkey a piece of my
mind but before I could do so a familiar voice cut me to it.
"The fish have assembled in the barrel. The schoolmaster would like to give the
student herdegree, area 31"
A click was hearable on the other side of the line. I put the horn back down
and sat there for moment pondering what that message meant, putting the pieces
together, losing my appetite when I figured it out.
"Amon wants to make my sister a part of the inner circle. He wants to meet at
our secret place at the docks. Why? Surely it has something to do with that
awkward question last night. What is he plotting? Damn him and his schemes!"
The time for questions would have to wait. I picked up the phone and rang the
number of Narooks. After a couple of beeps Daskana picked up the call.
"This is Narooks, how can I be of service?"
"Daskana It's me. I need you to meet me at my office right away. We have very
important family business to discuss. I need you to hurry! This is serious do
you understand?"
I hoped she would catch my drift. I couldn't say 'Amon wants to meet us at the
docks to make you an inner circle member'trough the regular phone line. Her
breathing echoed through the line, her hesitation clear for me to hear. I guess
she didn't want to stand up Narook, but our organization came before that.
"Okay-Okay, I'm on my way. This better be important Rokoyu!" She snapped at me
trough the horn, no doubt throwing it down hard in anger.
Area 31 was an apartment in at the docs of downtown Republic City were only the
leadership gathered from time to time. So it looked like we wouldn't have to
run home and pull on our gear to keep our covers. Nobody at the docks really
cared about regurlar folks running around.
I pushed the food away and threw it in a nearby bin. Not knowing what the point
was of this meeting bothered me. It didn't take my sister very long to make her
way down to my office. She stormed into the recpetion, not even paying
attention to Aya who was greeting her. She entered my office, her face as red
as a tomato, slamming the door behind her violently. I swear if I didn't knew
better she might have been having an affair with this Narook character. Not
that that was any of my business, given my history with one night stands but
still... this was my sister we are talking about here. Narook can count himself
lucky she was into girls anyways.
"What is your problem, dragging me away from my work like this? What's the big
idea here?" she snapped as she dropped herself in a chair across from me.
Frankly I didn't know why Amon wanted to do this myself so our best course of
action was to just get our asses over there and find out.
"I don't know myself!" I waved my hands in innocence. "Amon has called a
meeting at a secret place and he wants you there for some reason. I think he
wants to make you a member of the leadership. Now are we going to stay here and
argue, or are we going to get going?"
Her rage calmed down as she heard that explanation. Her face cleared up seemed
actually excited about this. Taking on a bigger role had been one of her main
motivations to keep on training and improving. I asked Aya to note down all my
messages and told her to go home around five since I didn't think I'd make it
back to the office that day in time to get some more work done.
We left and walked down the streets side by side, slowly making our way to the
docks. It was a busy day, seemed like a lot of markets and shops had their
weekly deliveries brought. The air in the city was always diverse thanks to the
countless food stands from all over the world and I loved the diverse smells in
my nose. The temperature in the air was pleasant as well and there was a bit of
sun peeking behind the clouds. Winter was coming fast and I was thanking the
spirits for these last rays of sun and warmth. I had always preferred the
summer over the winter. To have the gaze of the sun on me, there was nothing
more I needed to make a bad day good again. For a second I wanted nothing more
than to turn around and head to the park, laying myself down in the grass and
enjoying the day, but the fact was that we had an important meeting and it came
before anything, even our personal longings.
We arrived at the spot and looked around to see if no one spotted us going in.
Up the stairs we went and she knocked on the door. This to my own displeasure,
sister or not I was the senior member here.
"Daskna next time you'll wait-"
"Password?" a voice interrupted me behind the door and I could hear Quang well
up on the other side as well.
"You big idiot! This is a secure place we don't need a password here! Let them
in!"
The same big guard from the warehouse opened the door for us and let us enter
before taking his leave and guarding the door, keeping any unwanted visitors
out.
The room was completely empty. Amon was standing over at the window,
overlooking the activity in the harbour while Quang was standing over at a
wall, leaning casually against it, inspecting his electrical kali sticks. Sato
was sitting on the only chair in the apartment, looking a bit disinterested.
Daskana and I stood there in the middle of things. I put my hands behind my
back and put my chest forward, mimicking Amon's style in a way. I gave her a
little shove with my elbow and she took the same posture. Amon kept standing
there not moving a single inch as he began his speech.
"Rokoyu... Daskana... I have called you here today because I have taken a
decision. One that will change your lives drastically. Daskana from now onwards
you are no longer second in command of our special forces unit but you will be
their commanding officer and in doing so you will become part of our inner
circle."
I was shocked at this revelation. Was he really going to take my unit away from
me? Had all that hard work been for nothing? Had I done something wrong? Why? I
spent three years putting it together. It was composed of the finest nonbender
warriors I could find in Republic City. No, this could definitely not be
happening! I couldn't let him do this to me!
"Rokoyu... you are probably feeling quite confused right now. Calm yourself.
You'll remain involved, don't worry. It just won't be on a permanent basis
anymore. I have a separate and special assignment for you, one that could
possibly be of the utmost importance to our cause. Know that I give you an
option, you can refuse if you like but I have full confidence that you won't do
that."
I was boiling over. He did not just do this to me. My fist where clenched
behind my back but I needed to keep my composure. I didn't want to look weak or
vulnerable, after all I was only the pupil, and not the master.
"Anything you want Amon" I scorned at him.
He must have sensed the displeasure in my voice because he finally dared to
turn around and face me like the man he was.
"Excellent! Good that that's settled."
He pulled out a note, ignoring me in the process which only made me even more
angrier. I knew what he was doing with the note, having gone through the same
process three years ago.
"Daskana, kneel and repeat after me please."
She complied and got on one knee, bowing her head.
"Let it be known to all that have gathered here today that I, Deskana Fire
Am from now onwards a member of the inner circle of the Equalist movement
That I will gladly give my life to protect our secrets
That I will gladly give my life to protect those who cannot fend for themselves
That I will gladly give my life to see our revolution succeed at any cost
That I will now rise as a knight of the Equalist movement"
"Now raise Daskana Fire and allow your brothers to welcome you." Amon ordered.
She got on her feet and received congratulations from the three of them but I
just stood there, still flabbergasted at what just had occurred. Not hiding my
dissatisfaction with these kind of tactics.
"Brother Fire, do you not wish to welcome your sister, your 'real'sister into
our midst?" Amon questioned, his eyes flaring up from behind his mask.
"Gladly Amon, but would you be so kind as to inform me what this assignment you
mentioned earlier is about?!" I spoke between clenched teeth.
"Ah... yes... your assignment... well it's fairly simple." he walked up to me,
coming nose to nose. "I want you to befriend the Avatar, seduce her if you
must, gain her trust and report you findings back to us."
It seemed like he hadn't informed Hiroshi and Quang about this idea beforehand,
because they turned their heads towards each other at the same time and raised
their brows. My sister was more astonished as she held her hands in front of
her mouth to muzzle any noise.
"You want me to do what now?!" I shouted, losing my calm, never before had I
raised my voice at him but, this was just beyond ridiculous. It almost felt
like a betrayal of sorts.
"Brother... brother... calm down. You're prefect for the job. You have a
plausible cover and you're around her age. Some might even call you a handsome
young man. You used to be a ladies' man no? So this should be a right up your
alley." I explained and I could imagine him grinning behind his mask. He was
enjoying it way more than he should.
"I see my reputation precedes me... " I looked down at my feet. "I have no idea
how I might pull something like this off though. There is no way I am going to
get into contact with her. We don't even know if she'll be staying in the city.
For all you know she's going to be put on the first boat back." I expressed my
arguments against this situation.
"Brother, come with me" he signaled to the window and I followed him.
He put an arm over my should and pulled me in closer, pointing the finger of
his free hand out towards the docks.
"Do you see that dock right there?" he asked and I nodded. "Tomorrow the
Avatar's ship will more up into it and she will dash into the city. Follow her
around and make sure you contact her immediately. Once you break the ice I am
certain your will find a way to keep her entertained. You have to forge the
irons while they are hot Rokoyu. Thankfully for us she boarded one of Future
Industries ferryboats, so we learnt where she will be docking, as to her
staying in the city I wouldn't worry about that either. She is stubborn and
won't allow Councilman Tenzin to send her back, call it a gut feeling."
I looked over to the spot noting some dockworkers were around. Perhaps
preparing for the ship arriving tomorrow. I turned to Amon and sighed, trying
to let it slip.
"You really want me to try this, don't you?"
He nodded once.
"Yes, go as far as you can with this, get in her pants if that is what it takes
to keep her enchanted. The information we could gain from this could be well
worth the effort."
I winced a bit, Amon was not someone that talked like that very often, usually
he was quite sophisticated. So for him to urge me to seduce a woman and have my
way with her sounded out of the ordinary.
"Get in her pants."I repeated his words in my head.
What on earth was he about to get me into? Did he really expect me to seduce a
filthy bender?
My anger had not subsided but I just could not find the strength to deny him
his request. He was like a second father to me and I surrendered my concerns.
"Fine, I'll do it. Let me think this through and tomorrow I will attempt to
make contact, but don't expect anything okay."
Amon put his other hand on my shoulder and moved me so we faced each other, the
sunlight from outside reflecting of his mask.
"Thank you my friend. I am certain you will succeed in your mission. Just keep
the endgame in mind and I'm certain you'll succeed in finding a way. I'm
putting a lot faith in you Rokoyu. I personally trained you, don't fail me."
He removed his hands from my shoulder and held his right one out in front of
him, signaling for a handshake. I obliged. It was firm and when he attempted to
let loose I kept his hand right there.
"That I will gladly give my life to see our revolution succeed at any cost."
Amon's head jerked a bit back but he quickly nodded in agreement.
"Absolutely brother. I wish you the best of luck, make us proud."
I let go of his hand and he signaled to the others it was time to leave. They
walked out of the door and left me and Dasakna there alone. She was still
standing there, shocked by it all. I could see she was mustering her courage to
say something, tears forming in her eyes.
"So what was that last part about? Why did you say that to him?"
Oh she knew what I meant, she just didn't want to face it.
"If this goes wrong, this assignment I mean. Then it goes wrong horribly sis."
I grinned, trying to hide my fear.
She put her hands in front of her mouth and dashed over towards me, realizing
her suspicions were true. She put her hands around my waist in a warm embrace
and dug her face into my chest. I could feel her crying up against me. It took
me a bit by surprise, but I let her. We didn't show our emotions like this very
often. So I really enjoyed this moment, even if it wasn't over something
positive. She looked up from my chest, her eyes stained with tears, staring
with those blue eyes of her.
"I can't lose you, not like this. I want to go down fighting together!" she
sobbed loudly, screaming into my suit.
I didn't know how to respond so we just stood there for a couple of moments,
not saying anything. I eventually did find some words of comfort.
"Shhhh... don't cry. It's all right. It's just a new and exciting move. I want
you to promise me something. If somehow, something happens to me during this
mission I want you to do everything in your power to assist Amon to the best of
your abilities. If I cannot avenge our parents' death then it must be you. we
have to succeed! This is what we signed up for. I have my orders and you now
have yours."
She shook her head "No! I want to do this with you!"
"And I will still be there for you if you need me in the coming weeks. I will
assist you as long as it does not interfere with my undercover work. This is
how it's going to be. We have no choice Daskana. This is our duty and that's
the way it's going to be."
She left our embrace and pulled out a tissue to wipe away her tears. I casually
placed my hands in my pockets, looking at my shoes and swallowing a difficult
lump in my throat, manning up after such an emotional moment."
"I can use a drink right now." I whispered to myself.
"Me too" my sister sobbed, still drying her eyes with tissues.
"But you don't even drink?" I questioned, brows raised.
"Guess I do know" she joked.
"All right then, let's get out of here."
She followed me out the door and soon we were leaving the docks behind us.
Sitting ourselves down at the first café we came across. The waiter hurried
over to us, almost tripping over his own feet, seems like we were his only
customers and he didn't want us to run away badly.
"Two shots of your finest Fire Nation whiskey." I demanded of the man and he
soon came back out with the goods.
I didn't hesitate and poured the stuff down my throat in go. My sister simply
mimicked me and her face turned red, coughing her lungs out, clearly
underestimating the power of a shot of Fire Nation whiskey.
We sat there silent for a couple of minutes, just observing the people passing
by while that whiskey was slowly calming our nerves. Now that I was having a
calmer moment so many thoughts were racing through my mind. I was trying to
figure out how I was going to pull this one off. I mean he was actually asking
me to befriend her and even seduce her to the point where we would have to have
intercourse. It just made me feel uncomfortable. Add in that she's the most
powerful being in our world and you know I was actually quite afraid of this
whole situation.
 I knew the night before I had boasted that she wasn't a problem, but that was
as an adversary. Now we were supposed to be friends? That's a whole different
pro-bending game if you ask me. Did this weapon of mass destruction even have
feelings?
Thinking about pro-bending gave me an idea. If I could get in contact with
her... perhaps I could use Mako and Bolin to warm her up to me. If she saw that
I had friends that were benders she might not associate me with the Equalist
movement at all. Actually it was a brilliant idea! only problem was I had not
seen Mako and Bolin in like two years. We kind of lost track of each other
after I found some things out about who they earned their money.
They ran with the triads for a while, given my family history with such scum I
decided to cast them out from that point onwards. Somehow these days they were
known as the fantastic pro-bending brothers, The Fire Ferrets. I had been too
ashamed to face them again but this seemed like an excellent opportunity for a
reunion.
"Rekindling my friendship with them might just make this a bit easier."I
pondered to myself
"I gotta go." I said breaking the silence.
"What?" Daskana raised her brows.
I got up, removing a couple of Yuans out of my wallet and handed them over to
her. "You can get home on your own right?"
"Hey, don't leave me here like that Rokoyu!" she shot right up, no longer
sobbing by herself grabbing me by the arm.
"It's okay, I just had an idea that might make all of this a bit more easy." I
said, kissing her temple, walking away from the café, making my way over to the
pro-bending arena.
I have to admit that despite my hatred for benders and bending in general I did
enjoy the occasional match or two. What was there not to like? A couple of
benders beating each other up and I didn't even have to help them... perfect!
I got on a tram towards the pier where the arena was situated. On that tram I
noticed a fellow with a pile of Amon posters under his arms. he was also
carrying a megaphone. The guy never probably never even heard of the word
'inconspicuous'.
"Be careful with that. Wouldn't want anything happening to you;" I whispered in
the man's direction
"Is that a threat bender? You people really like oppressing us huh?"
I rolled my eyes at him, was he really that dense?
"I'm not threatening you, brother." I said as I gave him a wink.
He finally he caught on to my message and we shook hands before he got off at
the park. The tram continued making his way through the city. I saw the bending
arena and got off the tram.
I walked up to the building, admiring the architecture. It was the middle of
the day so only diehard fans were hanging around the arena, hoping to catch a
glimpse of their favorite players. I strolled through the main doors and up to
one of the paying booths. Inside the booth I spotted an older gentleman. At
first I hadn't recognized him but a closer inspection revealed that this man
was Toza, a former pro-bending champion. He had been involved in a tussle with
the triads about two years ago. They bribed him to throw a match, at least that
was what the gossip columns told and he had eventually decided to screw them
over. Seemed like it he was still around after that scandal. A disgrace if you
ask me.
"Good afternoon sir. I am looking for the Fire Ferrets?"  I asked quite polite.
The man didn't even look up. He was to busy counting last night's income.
"Get in line, didn't you see those people outside. They too want to see the
Fire Ferrets and all the others."
"Oh, but I'm an old friend."
He looked at me now but still disinterested "Yeah, do you even know how many
people have said that to me today alone? You kids really need to figure out
some better excuses."
Kids? Did this guy not see the beard?  This majestically trimmed beard?
"Well if you are not going to cooperate perhaps this could help?" I smirked as
I held a one hundred Yuan note and that definitely caught his interest. I could
see a sparkle in the former star's eyes.
He snatched the bill from my hands and he held out a visitors badge. "That's if
the security catches you. Just show them that and they will let you past. The
Fire Ferrets are practicing in the main arena today. Knock yourself out."
He opened the main doors and I navigated the corridors, walking into the lower
stands where the best seats where. I could see the team practicing against a
couple of electrical dummies. I sat down in one of the chairs just analyzing
their performance. It was so serene in there, no crowd only the sound of the
three elements at work.
So far I had never been able to see a match of Mako and Bolin and what the
papers had been writing had not been not a lie. They were in perfect harmony,
only their waterbender seemed a bit out of sinc. Actually he didn't fit in at
all. You didn't need be a pro-bending specialist to see he was to focused on
traditional bending and that doesn't work in this game, not one bit.
I got back up and made my way to their dressing room, opening the door I
stepped in and spotted the mess they had made, clothes lying everywhere on the
floor.
"Guess some things never change." I chuckled to myself, still looking at the
warzone they had created.
As they were preparing another round of drills I walked over to the edge of the
open room and activated the platform. They started pounding their fake
adversaries and by the time I had reached the field they had almost finished
them off, only Mako missed his final fire jab.
"You're still a lousy shot Mako!" I shouted at the trio, startling them.
They turned around and took defensive stances, ready to pounce on however had
dared to interrupt them. I nearly did the same in reflex, straighting out my
back to counter my reflex. If I was going to pull this off then I needed more
control over my body. This would not suffice.
"Rokoyu? Is that you?" Mako raised his brows.
"The one and only." I smirked back at him as I unbuttoned my suit jacket and
placed my hands on my hips.
"Well I'll be dammed, almost didn't recognize you with the beard!" He shouted
as he walked over to me and so did the other two men.
Mako removed his helmet, probably to get a better look at me. It was only then
I realized how much these two had grown. Three years ago I had been tallest of
the three, but now I could look Mako straight in the eye without having to look
down. He held out his hand and I gave him a firm shake.
"Well you've aged well!" he joked at me.
"Yeah and you still look like you could use some help with the ladies!" I
smirked back at him
We were about to resume our talk when suddenly out of nowhere Bolin nearly
tackled me in a hug. He almost hugged the air out of my lungs.
"Am i glad to see you again bro!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the
hollow arena. At least Bolin would always remain his good spirited self.
"Hey Bo, nice to see you again too.... can't breathhh ttthoouggh!" I squirmed
as I fought to get air.
He let go of me, planting me back down on the floor and gave me a confused look
as he inspected me better.
"Those are some fancy clothes you are wearing, last time we saw you...well...
you were working at this nasty factory. This is confusing." he waved his hands
at my suit.
Mako pinched the bridge of his nose at his brothers direct comment.
"Bo, we can talk about that later" Mako said as he directed his attention to
 me again "Rokoyu, I want you to meet our waterbender, Hasook."
I nodded my head at the dark skinned man and he nodded back, but this boy did
not seem very interested in what was happening, so I didn't pay him anymore
mind.
"Well if you want to finish your practice I can just got back into the changing
room and wait?"
Mako shook his head. "No, we were about finish anyway. Toza usually cleans all
of this up."
I nodded at the firebender and we started walking over to their dressing room.
I made myself comfortable on the bench at the centre of the room as they
changed into their normal garb, making some small talk about the weather. The
waterbender boy didn't really pay me any mind but apparently there was one
thing he wanted to know.
"Firebender?" he asked as he put his bag over his shoulder.
The question shook me up a bit. Did I really look like a freak to him? Most
people assumed that because of the gray clothes that I was a nonbender. Did he
not know the color coding of he world? This guy looked right off the boat.
"Euhm no... not a bender, sorry. You don't seem to be from around here?" I
questioned him back.
Bolin, enthusiastic as usual answered for Hasook. "He immigrated from the
Northern Water Tribe about two months ago. He's still adjusting to the city
life."
"Mmm, I see" eyeballing the Northern watertribesman.
Hasook turned to Mako "Look.. I gotta get going Mako. What time do I need to be
here for the match tomorrow?"
Mako raised his brows. I could read his mind and like this question he
certainly did not. Hasook didn't even know his own match schedule? What a pro!
"Nine Hasook, nine!" Mako snapped annoyed.
Hasook wasn't too impressed "Alright... just don't blame me again if we lose
okay."
Hasook left the room and I waited until I was sure he was gone. "That guy is
going to end up costing you the match. Traditional waterbending just doesn't
work in pro-bending. You've told him that right?"
Mako nodded in agreement. "I know but he was the only waterbender I could find
in such a short notice. I hope I can find someone more professional soon,
because this is not going to work out."
I nodded back at him. Bolin didn't seem to care though as long as he got to
play pro-bending, he was happy. They put their gear in the locker room and I
looked slightly surprised at that. Bolin picked up on my confusion.
"We live in u^p the attic so we just leave our stuff down here. Toza had us set
up in there. You gotta see it, it's totally awesome!"
I was glad to hear that, when we last met they worked for the triads and were
living on the streets. Seemed like they had finally left that life behind and I
was happy for them. The three of us had so much in common. These guys always
felt more like brothers to me and now it showed. Three years apart, probably
still some bad blood between us and still we acted like nothing had changed. 
This even though I basically neglected them for two years.
Just like me they lost their parents to a firebender, something fucked up like
that builds up a bond, an awkward bond but a bond nonetheless.
I followed them up to their little hide out in the attic. Sticking my head out
of the manhole I was immediately awestruck by the view. The city just looked
beautiful from up there and it wasn't even night. The apartment itself was
nothing special but it was clean and cosy. It was a roof above their heads, and
that at the place where they worked for their money. They couldn't have had it
better, not in this economy at least.
"Wow! Nice digs, love the view." I commented amazed.
"Yeah, I was skeptical when Toza said we could live up in the addict but I was
sold the moment he brought us up here." Mako noted as he let himself drop on
the couch.
Bolin signaled me to take a seat, tapping his hand on the fabric and so I made
myself comfortable next to him.
"Man, am I just so happy to see you again. I'v really missed you." Bolin said.
I could feel a bit of guilt creeping up my spine and it increased by the second
I waited to respond, guess it was me who needed to make amends first.
"Look I probably should apologize first. Three years ago I learnt that you were
running around with the triads and that you had been doing so for several
years, seeing as the triads killed my dad that kinda scared me. I distanced
myself from you guys on purpose and we lost sight of one another. That's just
not how a good friend should-"
"Don't you dare apologise for that, we were stupid enough to go running around
with them. We only saw the money they flashed and not the consequences. You did
good distancing yourself from us...." Mako interrupted me as he looked down at
his feet in shame. "Look what I'm trying to say is.... is that I understand
your motives. We too lost our parents and there was a lot of stuff that scared
us out there in the big cold world. I get why you did it Rokoyu.""
Bolin cut in as well "Yeah, I guess it should be us apologizing to you Rokoyu."
"You know what guys? Let's just forgive each other okay? Let's leave all of
that nasty business behind us an look towards the future. It's time the three
of us start hanging out again, just like the old days." I tried being the
middle man.
We spent the next couple of hours telling stories, explaining how we got out of
our respective shitty lives. Of course I left out my involvement in the
Equalist movement. For a moment I forgot about all that stuff and I felt at
peace. We were laughing and joking all the way and it had been quite a while
since I had this much fun if I was perfectly honest with myself.
Mako ordered some takeaway food and when that was finished I played a couple of
games of pai sho with the guys, winning most of them of course, but I sneaked
in a couple of wins here and there for Bolin, not for Mako though. He was just
going to have to suck up his loses.
"Looks like you still got it Rokoyu." Mako said impressed as he stared at
another triupmhant harmony on the board. "Hey, I totally forgot. How's
Daskana?" he added and this particular question I would have liked to avoid.
Before our parents died they had been dating for a while and Mako always had a
soft spot for her, mainly because she was a nonbender and unable to defend
herself. If only he knew that by now she would have been able to chi block him
without him even landing a single hit. Irony I guess...
"She's fine, occasionally works at Narooks, still single though." I explained
and Mako seemed be gaining some long lost hope, but I was going to crush that
either way.  I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him a bit of a vile look. "Not
that that should concern you fire boy."
"Come on, I think I still have a shot!" Mako wasn't giving up just yet.
"I've got you know."I thought to myself. "Pal, that's my sister you're talking
about! You don't stand a chance, besides she bends the other way these days." I
noted and grinned like a fool.
 Mako's eyes widened and his cheeks blushed red. "Oh.. well... tha-that clears
that up." he stammered. Bolin only looked confused  and stared from Mako back o
me. "Bo, I'll explain it to you later" Mako said, giving his little brother a
nudge across the shoulder.
"Well that's going to be a special story. You going to talk about the bees and
flowers Mako. I'll pay money to hear that!" I joked and he waved me away.
"Say, why don't you come and see the match tomorrow?" he tried changing
subjects.
"Tomorrow? No I have a business dinner that night but how about your match the
day after, the one against the platypus bears? I read about the pro-bending
regular season every day in the newspaper, so I almost know the schedule by
heart." I lied. I didn't know how late things might get with the Avatar and I
didn't want to stuck my friends up.
Mako nodded. "Sure, I'll have two tickets reserved for you, VIP ones. You can
watch the match in our private booth across from the field, best seats in the
house!"
"Thanks Mako." I said as I took a look at the clock. "Oh fuck the spirits, is
that the time?! I really should be heading home, didn't catch a lot of sleep
last night and I intend to catch up on that tonight."
I got up and so did the bending brothers. We said our goodbyes and I climbed
down the ladder. The corridors were packed with people now, apparently there
were some friendly matches that day and that lured quite a crowd. I thought
about picking one up but decided against it, with Bolin and Mako back in my
life I was going to see plenty of pro-bending. Because it was so busy I left
without returning the visitor badge. It would come in handy the next time I was
going to sneak in here. Toza shouldn't have given such a valuable commodity to
me.
The tram ride back downtown felt weird, my emotions were in turmoil. I was glad
to have reconnected with my friends, but now I realized again why I did so. To
use them in Amon's plot, to make me look more friendlier in front of the
avatar. Spirits, I really had to be the world's greatest hypocrite at that
point.
This whole mission just seemed so unnecessary to me and then there was this
annoying soreness in my muscles. I was starting to get really fed up with it.
Sometimes the glowing feeling in my arms got so hot I almost felt like my
liquids were going to evaporate. Whatever this was it wasn't good.
When I got back home I received a scolding from Daskana for standing her up
like that. I explained to her what I had been doing, but that made things only
worse because I had reached out to her ex-boyfriend.
"I'm telling you, involving them is the stupidest thing you have done yet!" she
shouted.
"You're just pissed off you never had a second chance with him!" I snapped back
at her.
"Why would I want that? I don't want to screw around with such... such...
filth. I'm not even into guys anymore!"
She stormed off into her bedroom and slammed the door so hard it fell out of
one of its hinges.
 "Great, that the second time today you killed one of my doors!"
I was just glad to be rid of her for now. I got into my sleeping wear and fell
back onto my bed. It wasn't even eleven in the evening yet but I felt so worn
down at that point. I made sure my alarm clock was set for five in the morning.
Amon had not informed me at what hour that ship was going to arrive so my best
bet was to hold a stake out in the apartment overlooking the dock.
This had been one weird day. I lost my unit, got a stupid undercover mission
and had blown new life into an old friendship.
Life sometimes moves in mysterious ways...
 
***** Meeting avatar Korra *****
Chapter Summary
     Rokoyu finally meets his target. The mission commences.
Chapter Notes
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to comment or review if
     possible!
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter IV
                             MEETING AVATAR KORRA
  "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are
        evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it"
                                Albert Einstein
===============================================================================
 For once I slept through the entire night. I guess my insomnia wanted to give
me a night off for once so I could successfully commence my mission. At least I
was granted that luxury. I was woken violently when the alarm went off. In a
reflex I grabbed the ruddy thing and threw it up against the wall, lucky for me
it didn't break. I sat upright and stayed there for a couple of seconds, trying
to focus and rebalance myself.
I got up and started some stretching exercises. I picked up the alarm from the
floor and put it back where it belonged on my nightstand. I walked out of the
room and into the spacious bathroom, facing the mirror and inspecting the
damage the sleep had done to my face. Apart from my messed up hair it seemed
fine so I got into the shower to wake up properly. It had been a couple of days
since I last washed and if I was going to try and impress the most powerful
girl in the then perhaps being clean and fresh was a basic requirement.
I patted myself dry and put the towel around my waist. I stepped back in front
the mirror and decided to make my words come true. I'd told myself I was going
to shave off my beard and this was as good an opportunity as any other. It was
time for a clean start.
I opened the cabinet and picked up the straight razor that had once belonged to
my father and put it down on the sink. I smirked at that, in the many years
since his death I had never used the thing. It had been one of the only items I
had saved from the bank alongside some of our private stuff like pictures and
clothes. It was quite precious to me as it was one of the last things that
reminded me of his memory.
I stood there eying the razor, seeing flashes of the time when dad had taught
me how to shave. I put his teachings to task and began applying the shaving
soap to my face. I picked up the razor from the sink and started shaving away
the hair, gone was all my hard work to trim and perfect the beard.
When I was finished I washed my face removing the last bits of soap and loose
hairs. I stared at myself in the mirror. Amon had not lied, the beard added at
least a decade. Even though I had aged a bit compared to the last time I had
seen my own face properly without all that hair, I still looked quite young,
except for the subtle bags of red under my eyes. Well, let's face it, I was
still only 19 after all! I turned my head from left to right inspecting if I
had done the job properly, coming to the conclusion it was alright.
I left the bathroom walking over to my sisters room. I put one of my ears on
the door and could hear her snoring inside. I decided to leave her alone. I
could heat up my own seaweed soup. I put a kettle on the stove on low heat and
poured in some soup from the fridge. I went back into my bedroom and got
dressed. I decided not to wear a suit this time but some more casual garb I had
laying around from the older days.
By the time I was dressed the soup was hot enough and I poured myself a bowl. I
sat down at the kitchen table and calmly sipped my soup in peace when suddenly
the door of Daskana's bedroom swung open and she rushed over to the bathroom.
Seems like she had fixed her own door after I had gone to bed. She didn't even
giving me a single look. She was still pissed at me over last night, but I was
on a mission and this was just a distraction I didn't need.
"Better to patch things up and focus on the job at hand."I thought to myself as
she walked into the kitchen, still ignoring me, pouring herself a bowl and
sitting down in a seat across from me. She looked down at the bowl, paying me
no mind. I had to try and breaking the ice
"Look... euhm... I'm sorry I contacted them, but you have to trust me on this.
This will work if I play my pai sho moves right."
She looked up at me, preparing to continue her scolding from last night, but
suddenly her brows raised and her eyes widened, a hand moved in front of her
mouth.
"You shaved off the beard!" She exclaimed into her hand.
"You like it?" I smiled.
She slammed her flat hand on the table. "Are you kidding me? Of course I do! At
least now you don't look like a pervert anymore! You look like your old self
again!"
I rolled my eyes "I did not look like a pervert."
"Yes... you... did." she stated.
"All right, I guess it was a bit creepy." I laughed and she did the same.
The rest of breakfast went off without a hitch. Well if shaving my beard was
all that it took to patch things up, than it was well worth the price if you
ask me. Daskana is not a woman you want an extended argument with. She becomes
more vicious by the minute if you don't settle things down. Trust me, I know
her like the back of my hand.
When I noticed it was already six in the morning I told her not to worry about
me and inform Aya that I wasn't going to make it to work. I left the condo
making my way down to the docks. The sun was starting to rise and it was fully
risen by the time I got to the apartment. I went up the stairs and entered the
abandoned living room that had clear view of the harbor. I dragged the chair
Hiroshi had been sitting on a day before across the empty room to the window. I
sat down and pulled out the binoculars I had brought along out of the leather
pouch and put it around my neck.
I sat there bored for several hours looking at ships in the harbour. Ship
spotting was definitely not a hobby I was looking to get into. I was trying to
figure out what to say to the Avatar but I remembered what Daskana had told me
during breakfast "Just go with the flow".
I decided there and then seduction was not going to be an option. I was not
going to go down that road. We were going to be friends an nothing more. I had
told myself to stop treating women as an object to be used and disposed off. A
sabbatical I had no intention of breaking, no matter how badly Amon wanted me
to do so.
Around nine I suddenly spotted a ship with the familiar Future Industries gear
logo on the hull crossing across the harbor, heading towards the dock I had
been spying on. I jumped up, throwing the binoculars on the floor and left the
apartment as fast as I could. When I reached the street level I calmed myself
down and started to casually walk down the ships towards my intended target,
casually putting my hands in my pockets.
I arrived at the right dock and casually looked around as the ship pulled into
it and the dockworkers tied the ropes down. I observed how they started
unloading the cargo form the main deck with large cranes as a side hanger bay
door opened. They lowered a metal boardwalk.
Dockworkers started unloading some smaller cargo and a couple of the passengers
disembarked the ship as well. All eager to settle in the biggest metropolis of
the world. I kept my gaze on the hanger, hoping to see the Avatar leave but it
took a bit longer then I was expecting. I walked closer to the boardwalk hoping
to get a better look inside but then I received the heart attack of a lifetime.
A girl mounted on top of giant Polar bear dog dashed out of the hull, casually
waving at the workers and thanking them for the ride. I got knocked over as was
the guy next to me. Fortunately I was able to hold onto a crate but the other
guy got knocked into the water.
"No doubt about it. That's her! Arrogant little shit!"I thought to myself as I
stared after her.
I balanced myself out and in a reflex I rushed after her, but that Polarbear
dog was just too damn fast to keep up with! Thank the spirits I was in
reasonable shape, but it wasn't not enough. I lost them. I stopped in the
middle of the street, staring from left to right, trying to pick up the trail.
Scolding myself in the back of my mind.
"Wonderful, just what I needed! Why didn't Quang inform me she was travelling
with that giant plush! If I'd known that I could have hired a sato-moped and
followed her around town easily, arrrghh!"
Not knowing where she went I strolled away from the docks and down one of the
main shopping streets of downtown, but there was no sign of them no matter how
hard I looked. This had just got a whole lot harder then it needed to be if I
had had decent intelligence about her traveling partner.
I wandered the streets for at least half an hour or so before deciding to call
it a day, my forced destiny as an undercover operative had been destroyed by a
seventeen year old girl in about three seconds or so, swell...
"Quang is not going to let me hear the end of this for weeks!"
I decided not to let this beautiful sunny day go to waste and got on a tram
heading towards the park. I needed some peace and calm because my mood had
shifted from slightly optimistic to grumpy. Why did so many things in my life
need to be so complicated? Couldn't they come easy for once? I got off and
walked around the park, buying a cup of tea from one of the merchants and
sitting myself down on a bench. I observed the people around me, using the tea
to calm myself down.
There were some school kids playing around the bushes, probably skipping
school. Next to them were a couple of young waterbenders, practicing their
bending forms, but without actually bending the water in the pond. That was
forbidden by lawmakers. A bit further away from them sat a lonely Water Tribe
girl with her Polar bear dog, who was in the pond refreshing itself in the
fresh water. All the while the girl was frying some fish on a stick with her
firebending.
"Wait... what!?"I blinked twice. "A Water Tribe girl? Firebending?"
My mind didn't register it a first, but spirits it was real. It was my target,
the avatar! She couldn't be more fresh of the boat. You don't feed on the Koi
fish in the pond, you feed them!
I got up, throwing my still half full cup of tea into a nearby bin. I wanted to
rush over but out of nowhere a tramp came out of the bushes near her and they
started talking. I got closer nonetheless and watched them from on top of a
bridge, concealing the fact I was spying on them. The guy took one of the fish
and gnawed on the flesh and they continued their conversation.
I was about to get more closer to hear what they were saying but once again
someone stopped me in my tracks. A whistle was blown next to my ears, nearly
deafening me and the cop hastily made his way over to the duo, shouting as he
went.
"Hey, you! Stop! You can't fish here!"
She looked up in shock and the tramp didn't hesitate, hiding in his bush. The
Avatar hoisted herself back on top of her Polar bear dog and dashed away.
"No! Not again! Oh why me you evil spirits?"I too ran after her.
The nonbender cop halted himself on the spot where the Avatar and the tramp had
been sitting moments earlier, panting for air. I stopped next to him for a
second as I ran after her.
"Yeah pal, welcome to my world."
I had realized that chasing that beast was useless. She was already only a
small dot anymore in the distance. Against my better judgment I still ran after
her. I was lucky because for some reason she decided to stay in the park,
taking in all the sights. I caught up to her and spotted an Equalist protester
doing his usual work. I quickly recognized him as the guy I met on the tram the
day before. The Avatar moved towards him and listened to his preachings.
"Okay... this could be interesting. Let's wait and see what she does with this
situation"
I kept my distance, leaning up against a lantern and pretending to be nose deep
in a newspaper I had pulled out of trashcan.
"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the Equalists!
For too long the bending elite of this city have forced nonbenders to live as
lower class citizens. Join Amon, and together we will tear down the bending
establishment."
The Avatar seemed surprised at his comments. "What are you talking about?" She
paused. "Bending is the coolest thing in the world."
"Oh yeah? Let me guess: you're a bender." the protester proclaimed, having none
of it, as he should.
"Yeah, I am." she responded, her arrogance clear for the entire crowd to pick
up on.
"Then I bet you'd just love to knock me off this platform with some
waterbending huh?" the protester cleverly tried to provoke her into violence.
"I'm seriously thinking about it." she answered his challenge as she crossed
her arms over her chest.
"Amon was right. If this is her attitude towards nonbenders then we were are
going to have a field day with this girl."I smirked from behind my newspaper.
Perhaps she was going to be a more easier target then I had initially
anticipated. The protester jus knew he was slowly getting to her and cleverly
turned to the crowd again to launch an attack. He clearly saw a weak target
when it presented itself to him.
"This is what's wrong with this city! Benders like this girl only use their
power to oppress us!" the crowd now gave her an angry glare.
"Yeah! Get out of here!" one of them shouted.
"What? I'm not oppressing anyone!" she announced dismayed and surprised.
"You're ... you're oppressing yourselves!" she bellowed out while pointing at
the crowd.
My mouth nearly dropped onto the floor. Had she actually gone there? How dare
she! That had totally done it. The crowd started shouting and cursing at her.
In pure and utter defeat she wandered her pet away from the scene, clearly
annoyed at how that had gone.
The protester seemed a bit taken back by her clueless last comment and decided
to send her on her merry way with one last statement.
"That didn't even make sense!" he shouted trough his megaphone.
"Welcome to Republic City Avatar Korra."I thought to myself while pinching my
nose at such an ignorant comment.
I followed her out of the park, trying to remain unseen. Thankfully she didn't
have her beast run anymore. However this wasn't the mission. I was going to
have to contact her at one point during the day. She steered into a random
street, eyeing the wares in the shops.
She was completely lost. I could see it in the way she was eyeing the street
signs and growled at herself for getting lost so fast. I casually walked over
to an elderly couple that was playing some pai sho, pretending I was interested
in their game. The Avatar took the bait and turned towards, strolling in our
direction, holding her animal by the reins.
"Okay, you come to me. Even better!"
"Excuse me sir, I think I'm lost. How do I get to Air Temple Island from here?"
she asked, a bit sad that she was being forced to ask common people for help.
"Just head down this street and you will find the ferry to the island." I
responded her question, while waving towards the correct direction.
We got distracted by the sound of a loud automobile pulling up at the front of
one of the shops. We watched as several hoodlums left their vehicle. I didn't
need a second look to see they were trouble. These were triad members.
They started shaking a phonograph vendor down for his money, just like they had
my father. The pattern was unmistakably familiar. One of them created a small
fire in his hand to scare the vendor. I was so caught up in the moment I hadn't
even realized the Avatar had moved in closer for a better look.
"Give me the money... or else..." one of the punks threatened
"Or else what, hoodlum?" a familiar voice threatened back.
I turned my head to see she was standing in the middle of the street opposite
the gangmembers.
"Is this girl crazy? It's three against one!"I thought to myself, actually
concerned what this situation was turning into.
"Since you're obviously fresh off the boat, let me explain a couple things.
You're in Triple Threat Triad territory..." the leader of the gang paused for a
second and held his stretched out arms to the area around him. "..and we're
about to put you in the hospital." he pointed his finger threateningly at her.
"You're the only ones who are gonna need a hospital." she announced as she
smashed her left hand into her right palm, looking quite confident of herself.
"... and for your sake. I hope there's one nearby." she completed the threat.
The goons gave each other a confused look and I did the same with the elderly
couple.
"Great! Now I am going to have to explain to Amon how the Avatar ended up in
the hospital, or even worse... got killed on my watch. Swell..."
"Who do you think you are?" one of the goons demanded to know.
"Why don't you come and find out?" She teased back with that confident grin
still etched on her face.
That did it. The leader of the gang shot a water bullet from under his coat but
she simply guided it behind her back and shot it back at him. It froze around
his head and he almost lost his balance, stumbling towards her. She performed a
spinning kick against his head. He lost complete control and slammed his head
against the hood of the hotrod, shattering the ice in the process. It almost
knocked him out cold figural and literally. The earthbender goon was enraged by
his leader's defeat and charged towards her. He jumped up in the air, preparing
to earthbend at her. She saw it coming without too much effort and anticipated
his landing spot. She bended the earth upwards just as he was about to land and
the result was that he was catapulted towards the sky, screaming like a girl.
"What just happened?" the elderly woman seemingly asked out load.
" Did she just earthbend?" the elderly man said seemingly more confused than
his counterpart.
The three of us lifted our heads up to the sky to see the goon falling, hitting
almost every obstacle on his way down. When he finally hit the pavement I
squinted my face in a 'that must have hurt'-look and I was proven right. I
could see several cuts on his face, bleeding heavily.
"You won't get any pity from me scum." I chuckled in my mind.
The last punk just stood there, flabbergasted at it all. He swallowed a lump in
his throat and mustered his courage. He charged forward, bending a large stream
of fire towards her, but once again she simply anticipates the attack. She
jumped up and used two small fires in her palms to deflect the stream of heat,
moving as if it was nothing. She landed in front of him, grabbing his hands so
he couldn't firebend anymore.
"Can she firebend, too?" the elderly woman questioned, looking even more
confused than before, clutching the man's collar
"Could she be?" he said in awe.
They were finally catching up to what I already knew, this girl was the all
powerful Avatar...
She turned around and swung the goon around her, gaining momentum, still
holding his hands. She threw him through the window of a radio shop.
I had to addmit. I was mightily impressed by what she had just displayed. The
triads were known to enlist some of the most vicious benders around and she
just took them down as if they were a couple of ragdolls. My boasting a couple
of days ago had been completely misguided. Sure she needed to learn a lot about
the workings of the city and the world for that matter, but she had the skills
to become a serious problem for the revolution. If this was her level of
bending then I was going to have to be careful.
If I was honest about it all she looked quite attractive as well while kicking
their asses. I had always been one who went after the prissy or shy type, but
never before had I seen such a powerful performance from any girl. I was
enjoying watching her work more than I should, especially the way her muscles
flexed when she worked. Spirits that alone was enough to drive any man crazy.
None of us had paid any attention to the two other scumbags and apparently they
had made it back to their satomobile. Tires screeched as they were tearing down
the street towards Korra. She jumped out of the way as one of them shouted to
the firebender to get in. He didn't hesitate and jumped in the backseat. The
Avatar however wasn't finished with them just yet.
"You're not getting away!" she shouted determined while she flexed her arms in
front of her, earthbending a fissure at the vehicle, causing it to be
catapulted.
It tumbled over its own axle a couple of times before landing in another shop's
front window and causing a whole lot of damage. She ran over to the shop .I
told myelf to stop staring and use the opportunity. I walked over to her and
stood next to her, observing the massive damage to the shop. The goons fell out
of their car grunting in pain, begging for their mothers.
"Got an idea about who I am now... chumps?" she questioned arrogantly, knowing
very well they were no longer in a state to answer that.
I clenched my fists, gathering all my courage, this was my shot at a proper
conversation, 'breaking the ice'as Amon had put it so eloquently.
"Well Avatar... I have to say: Welcome to Republic City."
She turned her head to her right, brows raised. "How did you-"
I interrupted her holding up my left hand up and gestured with my right to all
the damage she had caused in the street.
"I saw you in action. I know very well who you are Avatar Korra."
I then held out my right hand, signaling for a friendly handshake and she
obliged
"Just Korra if You like."
"Okay... Korra it is. I'm Rokoyu, Rokoyu Fire." I said with a friendly smile.
She kept shaking my hand, looking a bit uneasy and unsure what to say.
"You can let go now" I said jokingly.
She snapped back to reality and let go of my hand.
"Sorry." she mumbled, scratching the back of her neck, all the while her cheeks
were blushing a bit red.
Before we got a chance to talk more and get a proper conversation going we were
interrupted by a recognizable noise, at least for me it was. I looked up
towards the sky and spotted a massive police airship above us. This was my
queue to leave, following her around was one thing, getting arrested hover was
not part of the plan.
"Well, looks like I need to get going. Good luck with that. I hope to see you
around... Korra." I said her name in a teasing manner.
She raised her brows as if something like that didn't happen a lot.
"Police! Freeze where you are!"
She looked up and I took my chance, dashing into one of the more darker alleys.
I stayed around and watched from the shadows what was about to happen next. She
was in so much trouble and from the looks of things she had no idea.
I had made enough contact for now. I had hoped for more but this was going to
have to do. First step of the mission complete. I was certain I was going to
see her again. After all I had put a basis down and she was probably going to
stay at Air Temple island. No way she was going to let Tenzin send her home.
She was obviously to headstrong to give up now.
The metalbenders descended from the skies and she showed them her catch of the
day. The cops arrested the scum but the police captain that was present also
wanted to bring her in. If you think about it was not a weird call. She had
caused a lot of damage to public property. Like it or not but that is a felony
around here and she needed to be held responsible for her actions, just like
the rest of us. I wasn't surprised to see her resisting arrest. Benders always
think they are in the right, even when they are not.
The captain bended a cable towards her but she grabbed hold of it. They started
arguing and soon a fight erupted. To my surprise she managed to dodge their
cables and hoist herself onto that beast of hers. As she was about to round the
corner, removing herself from my view a metalbender launched himself at her
ride, but she put her left foot on his face and pushed him back violently,
knocking him to the street hard.
I laughed loudly at this sight which caused one of the metalbenders cops to
move his gaze towards me in the dark alley. Thank the spirits I had chosen a
dark alley so he couldn't see my face. His colleagues ran after Korra and their
fallen comrade but he jumped over to me using his cables to propel himself. I
didn't need an invitation and started running away, thanking the spirits once
again for having my Equalist mask with me. I rounded a corner and quickly
pulled the mask over my head, preparing myself for combat. He chased me trough
several alleys, shooting his cables at me but missing every time. I rounded
another corner and launched myself at a fire escape above me using a bit of
gymnastics to reach it. He came around the corner, panting an confused. I
silently jumped down, landing behind him and quickly jabbed all his chi points.
He crumbled down to the floor and I grabbed him by the joints of his armor,
shoving him up against the wall, holding him firmly in place. I got a better
look at him and recognized him. He was the same cop that had checked my ID two
nights ago.
"You messed with the wrong guy... bender." I arrogantly announced as I leaned
close to his ear.
Any confidence he had earlier was crushed now. He was drooling on his uniform
because he had no control over his muscles and nerves. I decided to give him
one final parting message.
"Next time stay at home cop, because you won't make it home that time around.
You've been warned."
I balled my right fist and punched him hard in ribs. I could hear one of them
smashing, causing him to grunt in pain. I let go of him and he fell down on the
ground, gasping for air. I spat on the pavement next to his face, marking my
disgust for his kind.
Suddenly I felt a weird feeling creep up my spine. It was as if some sort of
sixth sense was being activated. I was being watched!
With one swift turn I came face to face with the creep, preparing for combat,
only to find a boy, perhaps not even five years old looking at me. He was
shaking from fear. I immediately felt guilty that he had to see men do such
things at that age.
I held my index finger in front of my mask where my mouth was, signaling him to
be quiet. I slowly moved over to him and his facial expressions didn't falter
as I did. I knelt down on one knee to face him on his own height. He held out
the palm of his hand making a small fire as if he was trying to prepare his
self-defence. I closed his palm, dousing the flame and started whispering to
him.
"Don't be scared kid. I am not going to hurt you. Run along now. Go home to
your mother and father. Forget what you saw here."
He just stared at me, saddened by some of my words.
"I... I... don't have a mommy or daddy. I only had mommy but... something
happened...she's with the spirits now...I...I ran away."
Those words shocked me. I looked over my shoulder to see the metalbender had
passed out because of the pain. I sighed and removed my mask. I don't know why
I did that, perhaps you could call it instinct. I hoped the boy would lower his
guard, so he could see I was human and not a monster with a mask.
"I know a place where they can care of you. Would you like me to take you
there?" I asked as I met his amber eyes.
He gave me a suspicious look but nodded nonetheless, a small smile appearing on
his face. I held out my hand and he took it. I moved myself so that he wouldn't
see the wounded cop on the floor, stuffing the mask in my pocket. As if he
hadn't seen me beat him up earlier.
We left the alley, me still holding his little hand. Once we rounded the last
corner of the alley I looked up to be met by the sun. It stung but was also
lovely at the same time. Then it was interrupted by a giant airship flying
above us. I spotted the Avatar still mounted on her ride, bound by cables under
the ship's hull. I started laughing loudly at this sight as well.
"Nice going Avatar. First day in Republic City and you've already got an arrest
record. Can't wait to see the newspaper tomorrow."
The boy seemed a bit confused as we stared at the airship, but as soon as it
was out of sight he just smiled gently again. I started walking again and had
the urge to make small talk, hoping he would lose the earlier moment in which
we had met.
"What's your name?" I inquired.
"Roku" the boy answered.
It surprised me a bit. That was quite a famous name to have.
"So... you were named after one of the Avatars?"
We stopped and Roku looked up at me, brows raised and eyes beaming with
questions.
"I'm named after the Avatar?"
"Well not the current one, but yes, there was once an Avatar called Roku. He
was born in the Fire Nation. His natural element was fire, just like you."
The boy's eyes started to sparkle.
"Wow, I didn't know! That's so cool! What's your name?"
I lifted him up and put him on my shoulders. Somehow this felt natural and he
didn't protest.
"I'm Rokoyu. It's a deviation on your name." I explained as I got walking
again.
The boy started laughing, telling me I had a funny name. As I was walking down
the streets with him on my shoulders I told him the story of Avatar Roku, just
as my father had done with me so many years ago. My father adored the avatars,
or rather he was obsessed with them. Why he did so I could not fathom, but his
many stories about the being's many incarnations had never disappointed.
We arrived at our destination. A shelter for homeless kids. We entered and I
told the staff I found him on the streets. They registered him and gave him a
plate of hot food, seemed like it had been a while since he last had a proper
meal. I stayed with him until they put him to bed, but before I left he asked
me something
"Will you come and visit me?" he asked with sad eyes.
I smilled at him. "Sure, whatever you want sport." I responded as I ruffled his
hair much to his annoyance.
I left the shelter, making my way back home. On the way over there I kept
thinking about Roku. Why had I do that? Why had I help him?
He was just another bender. When he would grow up he was probably going to join
the triads and help them shake down simple nonbenders like me. I just couldn't
find the answer with myself and to my own surprise the whole way back to my
home, not even bothering to wait for a tram.
I arrived home to find Daskana had spent the whole day alone. She started
asking question how things went but my feelings were in such turmoil, I was not
ready to answer them yet. Since it was already closing in on dinnertime and I
had not eaten anything since that early breakfast I went back out to get some
food, settling on some Water Tribe noodles from narooks, since that was
Daskana's favorite grub. Not that I had a distaste for it. Water Tribe food was
awesome. It's something I had grown up with as my mom was Water Tribe. It held
little secrets for me.
We sat there in the kitchen, eating in silence, slurping down the noodles. I
decided to cheer the mood up a bit and walked over to the radio, activating it.
I sat back down, enjoying the jazzy tunes when suddenly the programming was
interrupted.
"Ladies and Gentleman we now interrupt our regular programming for a surprise
press conference at city hall. It seems that Avatar Korra has come to Republic
City folks!"
Daskana and I were startled and jumped up, staring at one another. We dashed
over to the radio, sending noodles flying trough the air, fighting each other
over who got to increase the volume. We listened intensely at the press
conference, volume almost turned open fully.
We could hear someone clearing her throat trough the speakers. "Hello?" It was
followed by a screeching sound and we held our hands over our ears in pain.
"I'm Korra..." a crowd screaming loudly, not only trough the radio, but also
trough an opened window in the kitchen. That's how excited they were. "... your
new Avatar..." the crowd continued shouting excitingly for a couple of seconds
before calming down again. Reporters started shooting all sorts of questions at
her and we could hear her stumbling over her words, not sure if she wanted the
answer them or not
"Uh ... yes, I am definitely here to stay, but honestly I... I... I don't
exactly have a plan yet. See, I'm still in training, but-" she hesitated a
second or so. "Look, all I know is Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the
center of peace and balance in the world and I believe we can make history a
reality. I look forward to serving you!" the crowd starting cheering again but
she had one more message to give. "I'm so happy to be here. Thank you Republic
City!"
The announcer took over again. " All right seems like that's all the questions
the Avatar will be answering today. The Avatar is here to stay folks! Who could
have predicted that!"
I turned off the radio, settling back down in my chair. Daskana did the same in
hers, staring at me.
"Ready to tell me how your day went now?"
I looked up at her and told her the whole ordeal. How I had chased Korra around
town all day long and lost her a couple of times. How she had been owned by one
of our protestors. How she had beaten up those thugs. How I made contact and
then beaten up that poor cop. I left out the part about Roku though. No need to
tell her something weird like that. I didn't need another scolding.
While I was telling my story she was grinning and laughing at the Avatars'
failures and mine as well. She enjoyed my suffering, just like I knew she
would..
"Looks like you two are a perfect fit for each other." she joked as I finished
the entire story.
"I'm just going to be a friend Daskana. I have no intention of seducing her." I
retaliated.
"Well if that press conference is any indicator we are talking about one
insecure girl here. Perfect target for you if you ask me. You like 'em that way
don't you?"
Oh she did not just insinuate that. I was going to get her back for that.
"Well... you're into girls, why don't you do it?" I grinned, clenching my
teeth.
I just knew I shouldn't have gone there. When it came to her sexuality there
were no jokes allowd.
"How dare you drag my sexual preference into this! I don't associate with
theirkind!" she snapped as she punched me across the shoulder.
I started laughing as she pouted, giving me a vile look. Teasing me was ok, but
noooo, no one could do it to her. Childish if you ask me. Was she still twelve
or what?
She got up, chair falling over, intending to go to her room.
"Don't slam the door. It won't survive another assault like that!" I yelled
jokingly after her, but to no avail.
She slammed it so hard the last hinge gave way and the door fell onto the
floor, causing me to pinch the bridge of my nose as she just stood there in the
middle of her doorway, staring at the destroyed door.
Her own anger had startled her.
"Told you so" I said but her revenge was sweet.
She now turned to my room and slammed that door too, locking it behind her. I
sighed and got back up, this was how it had always been. I cleaned up the
remains of dinner and fixed the door, hoping she wasn't going to slam it again
the next chance she got.
I spent the rest of the evening reading more in that firebending book and
listened to the pro-bending matches on the radio. The Fire Ferrets won again it
seemed. They were playing really well, if only their waterbender was better...
Daskana refused to leave my room so decided to sleep on the couch. Not that I
was going to get a full night's sleep in anyway.
Once again this had been one weird day that seemed to leave my feelings in
chaos. Why had I helped that Roku kid? It just didn't seem to make sense.
Perhaps in some ways I saw myself in him?
I didn't have a clue and it kept me up almost all night.
***** Building a foundation *****
Chapter Notes
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review if possible!
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter V        
                             BUILDING A FOUNDATION
                     "Everything you can imagine is real."
                                 Pablo Picasso
===============================================================================
 That night was hell. I barley slept, constantly thinking about Korra and Roku.
Not to mention the couch I was on was not very comfortable. With hindsight, why
hadn't I just slept in Daskana's room? It's not like she was using it. Too much
pride I guess.
The Result of such a dreadful night was that I was up early and had a bad mood.
So I preferred a lonely breakfast.
You guessed it, delicious seaweed soup...
I went downstairs to retrieve the newspaper from the mailbox. The front page of
course filled with news on the arrival of Korra. There was a small article
about three triad members being arrested on suspicion of racketeering by the
police and that a fourth nameless suspect had been apprehended after a pursuit
trough the city, but had been released because there was not enough evidence
linking him/her to the crime.
"Must be nice to have friends in high places. If it had been me I would be
rotting away in a jail cell right now but nooo...the Avatar gets a luxury stay
on Air Temple Island and a clean record too. Guess the law doesn't apply to her
huh? Benders abusing their power, how extraordinarily common."
It didn't sit right with me. She broke the law. Were where the consequences? I
was going to remember her off her little tussle with the triads, you watch me.
Once the sun was up I left the condo, leaving my sister to grumble to herself.
I was at my wit's end with that girl! I loved her dearly and professionally we
got along fine, but once we were at home it seemed like all we did was argue
and fight each other. It had always been like that and it was getting old to be
honest.
I walked the couple of blocks to my office, whistling as I went with my as of
yet unfinished newspaper safely folded under my arm. I arrived at the office
and crossed the street, finding Aya standing at the door with her key in hand.
She spotted me and turned around with wide eyes.
"Well aren't you early today. That can only mean you've had a fight with
Daskana." she joked and I couldn't help but shrug.
"You know me all too well Aya. Really... I don't know what I would do without
you." I responded lightly.
We entered the office and she handed me the post and messages from the day
before. I walked into my office and read the rest of the newspaper, giving
special attention to the stock prices of newspapers and magazines in the city.
After all, before Amon told me to spy on the Avatar he had also saddled me up
with the instruction to buy a small newspaper that we could use to discredit
said Avatar. I spotted an interesting target who seemed to be in trouble.
"The Daily Republic"
"Aya, can you come in here for a sec?" I called in Aya and she was quickly at
my side. "Bring up our file on The Daily Republic please."
She raised her brows. "We're buying stock from newspapers now? That's a bit far
off your alley isn't it?"
I just looked at her with an blank face. She knew when I did that I didn't want
to many questions?
"Okay... I will go and get the file mister Fire."
We had an extensive archive on most companies in the cities that were players
on the stock market. Aya would update them every month. Like I had said
earlier, I don't know what I would do without her.
She brought in the file and I started flipping through the pages, soon finding
what I was looking for: their yearly accountancy reports. Every firm in the
city was obliged to file these once a year to the chamber of commerce. It
didn't take me long to see this was a disaster waiting to happen. The rest of
the documents indicated they were losing subscribers fast and were also
printing less and less orders.
With some persuasion I would easily be able to force them to sell out to me. I
flipped some more pages to find the phone number of the owner of the paper who
also happened to be the chief editor. I rang the number and she picked up.
"This is Mala Kazza of The daily republic, with whom am I speaking?"
"Ah miss Kazza, this is Rokoyu Fire speaking. I am an independent stock broker
and investor and would like to speak to you about a business proposal. Today if
it suits you?"
She seemed to take a second to mull things over. "Well mister Fire this is
unexpected. When and where would you like to meet?"
I gave it a short thought. "Well, how about Kwong's Cuisine? Meet me there
around twelve? We can make it lunch."
"Doesn't that place have like a two week reservation waitlist?" she questioned.
I could sense in her voice she didn't trust me for one bit. Then again I was
slippery when it came to my business so I didn't hold it against her.
"No miss Kazza, not for me. I can walk in whenever I want." I explained.
"How will I recognize you mister Fire?"
I gave her a little laugh trough the phone. "Grey suit, yellow tie, black hair,
amber eyes. You'll recognize me, don't worry."
She caved in, just like I knew she would. "Fine mister Fire. I will meet with
you."
"Okay miss Kazza, see you around twelve."
We both said our goodbyes and I put the horn down. I spent the rest of my
morning sipping tea and reading my messages, making some calls to clients that
were hoping to sell when they should hold on to their stock.
I left around eleven, first stopping at the condo to lift myself into a suit. I
had still been wearing the same clothes as the day before since Daskana had
locked me out of my bedroom. By the time I got there she was gone, probably
working at Narooks. I hastily changed clothes and sprayed myself with a bit of
cologne.
On my way over to Kwongs I stopped over at the bank, checking my personal bank
safe to see if I had the required funds to make such a purchase. If I pulled
this off there was little reserve left for me and my sister to live from. I was
going to have to sell some of my other assets in order to fill the gap.
I left the bank and made my way over to the restaurant. I strolled over to the
entrance and a woman standing there waved at me. She was quite the eye candy if
I say so myself. Nice long blond hair, a nice figure, not one bit of her make-
up in disorder. She seemed like the prissy type. Just my type of gal.
"Mister Fire. What a pleasure to meet you" S
he opened, holding out her hand. I accepted it but didn't shake it. I lifted it
to my mouth and I placed a gentle kiss on it.
"No miss Kazza, the pleasure is all mine" I teased.
She didn't seem impressed though, giving me a suspicious look.
"Well Mister Fire, this better be worth my time"
I grinned at her, not yet ready to discuss business. "Oh please, call me Rokoyu
miss Kazza."
She extended the curtsey "And you may call Mala, Rokoyu." she teased this time
around.
"Let's enter shall we?" I held open the door.
She nodded I followed her inside and I greeted the headwaiter. He recognized me
and immediately had a table set up for us two. Under normal curcumstances I
wouldn't be considered upper class or richenough to receive such a treatment
from Kwongs, but Hiroshi Sato was and he had ordered them to do anything I
wanted. Guess I too had friends in high places after all.
We sat down and both ordered some fancy named food, including a couple of
glasses of their best Earth Kingdom champagne. We ate our expensive food,
discussing the state of the city and the political situation. I noticed she had
a slight soft spot for the Equalist movement, but she didn't agree with our
violent methods. Once we finished our desserts it was time to discuss business.
"Mala let me get to the point of this meeting. I want to buy yournewspaper."
She looked confused. "Oh sorry, I was under the impression you were looking to
invest?"
"No Mala, with all due respect, investing in your newspaper would be a serious
mistake. Let me be honest here with you. I have gone through the paperwork and
you are fighting a losing battle. Your staff is unable to get scoops. Therefore
everything you print is yesterdays news. You are losing money hand over fist.
The subscriptions are decreasing and so are the orders you place at the
printing company."
I gave her a little of a battering but she was tough enough to handle it, this
I had quickly ascertained.
"Well..." she took a sip from her champagne. "You certainly did your homework
Rokoyu, but going forward from the idea that you are right. Why should I sell
out to you? What do you offer that others won't?"
"Easy. I am willing to give you nine Yuans per share compared to the six they
are worth right now. That's 75.000 Yuans straight in your pocket Mala, minus
taxation of course."
She raised her eyebrows at this. "What? Are you mad? I'm no expert on stock
market activity, but this seems like a stupid move on your part, not that I am
complaining about your proposal."
"Let's say Mala that I am not doing this to make a profit out if this. Let's
say I am part of an organization that wishes to use the services of your
company to print whatever they need printed."
It was a cheeky statement, but given the fact she had some sympathy towards us
it might work. She looked more confused, but I could tell from the nervous way
her eyes moved up and down from me back down to the table she was putting the
pieces together.
"You're... you're an.... an Equalist?" she whispered, the thought alone feeding
her nervousness.
I leaned back in my chair and sipped from the champagne. "Yes."
"You don't look like the type that runs around in dark alleys, chi blocking
people Rokoyu."
"You would be surprised to see what I am capable off." I teased once more.
"Mala, I would like you to stay on as chief editor. You seem like the type that
wants to out the truth to the world. The words of the equalist movement are
that truth. You might not agree with our violent actions, but you agree with us
ideology wise. That alone is enough. We will provide you with the information
and you can contribute to the just cause in a peaceful manner. The freedom of
speech act protects your sources and so, no one can link you to us. Under no
circumstance can the police or any government agency force you to give up your
sources. Mala.... please don't tell me all of this does not sound interesting
to you? You seem like the type that wishes to move up in the world. This is
your chance."
She just sat there looking at her hands, twitching nervously in place. I could
see she was wavering ever so slightly so I decided to knock over her final wall
of doubt.
"You want to help your company right? To keep the people that work for you out
of unemployment? Look at it as a chance to become one of the most important
journalists this city has ever known. The other newspapers will be lining up to
copy your stories. They look down on you now, but then... then they will beg
you too help them out. Can you envision what it must feel like to have them
groveling at your feet, begging you to sell them a story or two?"
She mulled things over, but there was a sparkle in her brown eyes. She was
starting to see the possibilities of this agreement. She suddenly gave me a
confident smile. Success! She was sold on the idea.
"Alright! I'll do it! You have yourself a deal Rokoyu!" she exclaimed
excitingly.
"Excellent Mala! Why don't you come by my office tomorrow to sign the
paperwork. I will give you your money in cash. My assistant will file all the
necessary paperwork with the chamber of commerce."
"I can't wait to get to work. When will I meet your contacts?"
"I don't know that. They will contact you in due time Mala. How does 2:00 PM
sound like to you? To visit my office that is."
"Perfect! I am so thankful for this. You saved my company!"
My grin had only widened "No Mala, the pleasure is all mine." I repeated my
earlier teasing statement.
We finished the details of our negotiations and she left to get back to her
work. I paid the check and went back to the office, informing Aya of the
documents she needed to prepare to finalize the deal. I read the rest of my
messages and decided to call it a day.
I went back home to relax a bit. After all that night I was going to see Mako
and Bolin's match against the Golden Temple Tigerdillos. I didn't want to show
up looking tense. Around Six Daskana walked in and she started talking to me
again. Seemed like she had decided to forgot about our little fight.
"Daskana, have you taken command of the unit yet?" I inquired as she put away
some of her working clothes.
"Sure brother, were do you think I was today? I told them you've been given a
special mission by Amon and they respect you for it. Also there was a big wig
meeting today."
I was surprised to hear this. "What? Today? Why wasn't I notified of this?" I
asked as I jerked up in the couch, frowning.
Frankly I was insulted. Was I after all not a member of the leadership?
"Amon doesn't want to disturb you and give you the space you need to pull your
mission off. Only big thing we discussed was the revelation. We are plotting a
date and have started dressing up the warehouse where it's being held. The
supporters are hanging up posters, flags and more related stuff. It's nothing
you need to concern yourself with. We are having another meeting about it again
tomorrow."
The revelation... finally... after three years of plotting and hard work things
were about the get moving. Korra's arrival had strenghten Amon's confidence. He
was going to let the world know what he was capable off and I was certain it
would shake the freaks to their core.
"Okay... Inform them that I have agreed a deal with the owner of the of The
Daily Republic to purchase the company. Tomorrow I'm signing the paperwork. So
tell them they can start feeding information. Our contact there is the chief
editor: Mala Kazza. Believe it or not but she actually has sympathy towards our
cause. That should help her break her ethical code."
"You had a meeting with her today?"
I raised my brows at this. How did she know that?
"I saw you enter dummy..." she crossed her arms over her chest. "I was on my
way to the market after an early shift at Narooks." She sat don next to me and
gave me a shove with her right elbow. "She looked like your type. So did you
screw her afterwards, or is your sabbatical still going?"
I rolled my eyes. "Look, I don't hump everything on two legs that walks past me
okay."
"Keep telling that to yourself." she lauged and went out to get some food.
We mostly ate in silence, like we always did, but there was something I wanted
to ask her.
"Euhm... I'm going to the pro-bending arena tonight to watch Mako and Bo play.
He reserved two tickets. So... do you want to come with me? I know it might be
a bit conflicting with Mako being your ex and all, but I told him he had his
shot."
She smiled at me. "I'd love to but Narook called me and well... you know... I
gotta go out there and make some money."
Given how it would take me some days to sell off some assets to fill the gap,
perhaps her working over there was not such a bad idea after all.
"Okay... whatever makes you happy sis."
She didn't stay for long and went out to work. It got me wondering again. Is
she really not having a relationship with this guy? She practically jumps up
whenever she hears the phone, as if she hopes it is him, asking her to come and
pull a shift.
I read a couple of more pages of the firebending book before leaving the
apartment, catching a tram to the arena. On the way over there we passed the
shelter were I had left Roku and I had a thought. Maybe he wanted to go with me
and watch a match of pro-bending? However I figured out in time the staff would
never allow that. I wasn't related to him or anything. I didn't want them to
think I was some kind of pervert.
I arrived well in time for the match. At night the arena looked even more
stunning. The whole building was lit up and reflected a golden shine. Ironic if
you considered how much money went around in gambling on the matches. I had
seen it before like this, but every time it left me awestruck.
It was quite a busy day. There were long lines waiting outside, but the door on
the left side was empty. That's where the people with reserved tickets entered.
The better folk as some would put it.
I walked trough that exact door into the reception hall, passing the long line
of people next to me. While approaching the booth in front of me I looked up at
the giant posters hanging from the ceiling, depicting old and new stars of the
game. Mako and Bolin had not done enough to deserve a spot amongst these men
and with the revolution about to kick off they probably would never be amongst
them...
"Hello, euhm... reservation should be under the name of Fire." I said as I
arrived in front of the booth.
The girl in the booth went over her list and nodded. "Rokoyu Fire? There are
two VIP tickets listed under you name, but you seem to be alone." she blinked.
"Yeah... not my choice." I remarked.
She opened a wooden box and held out both tickets. "Take the other one with
you. It's not going to be valid anymore after tonight. Think of it as a
souvenir cutie." she smiled at me.
Was she hitting on me? If so she was not very convincing. Still she seemed like
a nice girl, so who was I to judge?
"Okay, thanks!" I said as I accepted the tickets and walked through the gates
giving her a smile in return, she giggled and I had to stay focused.
"Okay Fire, if you want that sabbatical to last then you need to let this
slip."
I walked up the giant stairs and moved through the packed corridors, passing by
a first security checkpoint. The corridors emptied out, the further I advanced,
encountering less people. It was only normal, there were more poor folks
compared to rich assholes in this world. It got to a point where there was not
a soul around me. I kept walking to their personal room across from the field,
whistling to myself, passing by some gyms.
Suddenly I heard a splashing sound. I looked down to see a whole lot of water
and it looked like it was fresh. I leaned down on one knee took a good whiff of
fresh air. From the smell I ascertained it was not a spilled drink, this liquid
came from somewhere else, this was sea water. I got up and flowed the trail.
This wasn't normal, someone had sneaked in here. Maybe someone trying their
luck in acquiring the best seats. I strolled past another gym and heard voices
on the inside, recognising at least one of the people inside.
"Praise the spirits! I can't have this much luck in one day!"
"Hey, what're you doin' in my gym?" Toza demanded to know from an innocently
looking Korra.
"Uh... I was just looking for a bathroom and... I got lost." she replied, but
any fool could see it was a lie.
That water I came across earlier was probably her doing. She must have sneaked
in from the side of the arena and now faced the consequences of not being a
paying customer.
"Ah, the old 'I had to pee' excuse! You know, I'm sick and tired of you kids
sneakin' in without payin'!" Toza exclaimed.
"I'm taking you to security!" he threatened
"No, wait!" She pleaded, looking a bit scared.
This was my queue to step in. I approached the two and coughed. "There you are!
I've been looking everywhere for you!" I spoke up loud enough to make both of
them notice my presence and turn their heads towards me. " It's all right
mister Toza. She's here with me. I have her ticket right here."
I flashed the tickets in front of his eyes. Of course he didn't buy it, mainly
because I'm smirking like an idiot, but even he can't argue with the fact I
just handed her a valid ticket.
"Yeah, I'm with him." Korra was quick to play along with the ruse, accepting
the piece of paper.
"Ah, I don't care. Get out of my gym! I got work to do!" he raised his arms
annoyed and started lifting up one of the barbells laying around the gym with
his earthbending.
We moved ourselves away from him. Her strolling next to me and whispering
something in my direction.
"Seriously! Thanks Rokoyu! I nearly got arrested again." she smiled a bit
crooked.
I chuckled at this. "I know. I saw you dangling in the air yesterday. Somehow
the newspapers didn't make mention that... not enough evidence huh?"
I just had to get that one out of my system. Her cheeks turned a bit red, but
she didn't seem insulted. "Really man. Thanks for doing this!"
"Oh don't mention it, follow me I know were our seats are. That is if you're
still interested in seeing a match Korra?"
"Off course I do! I've always wanted to see a real pro-bending match. I came
here for a reason you know!"
She genuinely seems excited so I didn't mind having her along for the ride. My
little deception was soon going to play it's part in disguising my true
allegiance. But then again... I was abusing my surrogate's brothers trust to
make this happen. I was seriously overstepping it.
"Well you're in for a treat. I just happen to have tickets for the best seats
in the house!"
She didn't bite and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right..."
"You'll see. We can't get any closer really. Except if you're a player."
I opened the door to the private booth and the team was already in gear, ready
to go out there and kick some Tigerdillo butt. I allowed her to enter first.
She was glazing the entire room, trying to take it all in.
"So... impressed now?"
We walked over to the railing. She was totally blown away by it all, gazing
into the arena with wide and glistering eyes.
"Woah! Unbelievable! This place is even more amazing than I imagined!" she
exclaimed excited.
The atmosphere in the arena was unbelievabl with the spotlight directed at the
playing field. The seats were packed. I wondered where were they going to put
all those people outside? Jeez, perhaps I should have bought some shares of the
pro-bending organisation? I could have made a fortune out of this!
Mako walked over to me, grinning all the way. "Looks like you still got it. I
can't believe it. I give you tickets and you invite a lady friend up here? You
will never change will you?"
Korra hadn't noticed. She was still gazing over the sights, perhaps for the
best...
"Nah, she's just an acquaintance of mine." I grinned back and winked at him,
hoping he would catch onto my drift that this was the Avatar, but clearly Mako
and Bo had not read the newspaper that day, because neither them or Hasook
seemed to realize who this girl was.
The two other Fire Ferrets came over towards us and I turned around, grabbing
her gently by the shoulder, leading her away from the railing towards the guys.
"Come here, I want you to meet the fantastic Fire Ferrets! The guy on the left
is Hasook, waterbender. The guy with the always serious face in the middle is
Mako, firebender. And finally he goofy kid on the right is Bolin, earthbender."
She gave them an awkward nod, not sure if she was allowed to speak or not.
"Guys meet Korra, this is her first time visiting a pro-bending match."
They blankly nodded back at her and put their helmets on.
"Mako? Wow, I... I heard you playing on the radio." she tried to start a
conversation, holding out her hand for a shake towards the team captain.
"Come on team, we're up." Mako said, walking past Korra, completely ignoring
her.
"... Or I could meet him later." she stammered rejected at her outstretched
hand.
"Yeah, sorry about that. My brother just gets real... focused before a match.
Okay, I gotta go, wish me luck." Bolin said laughingly in an apologizing way
for his brothers behavior.
Korra watched as they left the room and made their way over the ramp onto the
playing field.
"Good luck. Knock 'em out!" she shouted after them, as if that was going to get
their attention.
We both walked over to the railing to get the best view possible of the match.
"Introooooducing ... the Fire Ferrets!" the ring announcers shouted his longs
out
"So how do you know these guys?" Korra questioned me while still giving most
her attention to the introduction of the teams. I did the same.
"We're childhood friends, except for the waterbender. I have no idea who he
is."
I was not intending to give her to much information. She didn't need to know I
practically ignored them for a long time
"Aaahh.. like that, never really had friends. I was always stuck in that stupid
compound. I can imagine you and that Mako guy practice your firebending
together when you were kids, must have been nice to have friends to do that
with. I only had some practice dummies who didn't care all that much. They just
did what the White lotus told them to do. Growing up with only adults around is
not fun, trust me on that."
That comment struck me a bit off balance. This had been the second time in two
days someone called me a firebender. I guessed it was because she was fresh of
the boat, so I just started laughing, because the thought alone was ridiculous.
"Yeah, watch me..."
I walked away from the railing into the room and she turned around to look at
me with one brow raised. I got into a firebender stance and jabbed my clenched
fist forwards, but of course nothing happened. I turned back to her and gave
her my trademark blaank look, hands crossed over my chest, pouting my lips.
"Oh, I'm sorry but your aura... it really reflects that one from a firebender."
"What do you know about auras?" I raised one brow.
"I'm not only a waterbender. I'm also a healer, had the best teacher in the
world. I know a thing or two about auras" She just smiled at me.
I shook my head in fake understanding. "Hey, the game is about to kick off." I
pointed my finger at the field and we focused our attention back at the game.
The teams started exchanging blows and it didn't take long before Bolin and
Hasook were pushed back to zone 2. Korra clutched her face next to me in
despair. I didn't pay it any mind and tried to enjoy the match, but her
nervousness next to me was annoying to say the least.
The Tigerdillos advanced into Ferret territory and the match recommenced, but
once again they exploited their clear advantage and knocked Hasook into zone 3
with an earth disk. They had anticipated that he was the weak link in the
ferrets game and knocked him into the drink with a water and earth disk combo.
I pinched the bridge of my nose at this. I told Mako this guy was no good. He
was going to have to find a replacement as soon as possible if he wanted to
survive in the tournament. That is if they qualified in the first place!
With three against two The tigerdillos continued their assault and pushed Mako
and Bolin into zone three. Luckily they avoided a knock out thanks to the bell,
subsequently round one went to the Tigerdillos.
Round two opened the same way round one had ended, but there was room for
optimism. The boys finally got into the right rhythm and pushed the Tigerdillos
back for the first time, resulting in a win for the Ferrets. It was now 1-1,
still anyone's game at that point but the Ferrets were definitely still under
pressure.
As soon as the deciding round started Hasook screwed up and fell onto Bolin.
The Tigerdillo's earthbender sensed an opportunity and slammed a disk into
Bolin's side, so both him and Hasook were launched off the field into the
drink. It didn't look good out there, but Mako was still standing.
"Oh, no!" Korra shouted while twitching nervously next to me.
Mako moved himself towards the edge of the field and used his cool under fire
style to dodge most of their attacks. The attackers were too confident in their
ability to win and Mako was clever enough to use that against them, allowing
them to punch themselves out. Korra was pulling the two ponytails that were
dangling next to her face in sheer nervousness. She looked like she was going
to have a meltdown next to me.
"Spirits she's lively..."I thought to myself. "You're probably thinking the
match is about to be lost right?"
"Yeah! Look at him! He's bobbing and weaving! He can't take all three of hem
on!"
"Wait for it..."
Mako's plan worked. The tigerdillos ran out of fuel, all three of them.
"Almost..."
"But-" she muttered as the three Tigerdillos stared at each other, unable to
find much strength to bend any longer.
"Now!" I shouted, feeling my own eagerness to see a Ferret victory well up.
"Come on Mako! You've got this!"
Mako went on a one man army spree that knocked the Tigerdillo's into the drink
one by one. Once the last guy splashed into the water the crowd went ecstatic,
and so did Korra next to me. I wasn't surprised about Mako's performance, but I
took a deep breath to keep my composure. He had always been an excellent
firebender, but he had improved even more in these couple of years of
separation.
"Did you see that? He just beat three guys all by himself!" Korra's mouth
dropped in utter awe at what just happened.
I could only chuckle at that. "Typical Mako, give him a chance to shine and he
takes it."
Bolin entered the room via the lift. He too was ecstatic with the win.
"Woohoo! Yes! One more win and we're in the championship tournament! So, what'd
ya think, Korra? Bolin's got some moves, huh?"
She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "What did I think? What did I
think!? That was amazing!"
In her pure enthusiasm she pushed him back so hard he stumbled to the floor.
Just as I gave him a hand and pulled him back on his feet Mako and Hasook
entered the room, arguing as they went.
"You did more harm than good out there. You almost cost us the match!" Mako
accused and I couldn't find any reason to come to the waterbenders aid.
"We won, didn't we?" Hasook snapped back at his team captain while jerking his
helmet off.
"Barely!" Mako retaliated
"Get off my case, pal! Ugh"
Hasook was clearly annoyed at his captains accusations. He threw his helmet on
the ground and slammed the door on his way out.
"Useless." Mako said to himself out loud.
"You guys were incredible out there! Especially you, Mr. Hat Trick!" Korra
pointed her fingers at him
"Oh... you're still here?" Mako responded lightly, still giving his everything
to ignore her
"Oh, you're still a jerk?" she responded irritated by his behavior.
"Ooh...! Right in the sensitive parts" I exclaimed jokingly throughout the
room.
Mako pretended he didn't care about her snappy comeback, but I saw a flicker in
his eyes. That had won her a couple of points. Not enough to gain his
attention.
"I've been immersed in bending my entire life, but I never learned how to move
like that! It's like there's a whole new style here!" Korra exclaimed "Think
you could show me a few tricks?" she added as she gave Bolin a small shove in
the ribs with her right elbow.
"Ab-so-lutely!" Bolin replied in his usual happy style.
"Right now? Come on Bolin." Mako nagged, clearly annoyed at his brothers good
hearted answer.
"Just ignore him Korra. Yeah, I could show you the basics. I'm just not sure
how my earthbending would translate to your waterbending but we'll figure it
out." Bolin agreed to teach her a few move.
I started laughing loudly at his Water Tribe remark, which resulted in Mako
giving me a confused look, so did Korra. It was only then she realized these
guys had no idea who she was and that I was the only guy in the room that did.
I winked at her and she winked back, agreeing to play along. I put my hands on
Bolin's shoulders and sneaked up behind him.
"Won't be a problem. She's actually an earthbender." I said as I let go of his
shoulders and stood back next to Korra, leaning myself against her quite
muscled shoulders. She was actually quite firm to lean up against. Damn girl!
"I'm sorry, no, no! I didn't mean to assume! 'Cause I... you know, I was just
figuring... with your Water Tribe getup... that you are... a Water Tribe ...
gal?" Bolin quickly tried to apologize for his fuck-up.
Bolin looked more confused than ever before. Mako was standing over at his
locker mulling things over.
"Nope, you're right. I'm a waterbender... and a firebender." she grinned at
him, arms crossed over her chest.
"Mm. Mm-hmm. I'm very confused right now." was the only response Bolin could
come up with, rubbing his chin.
I started laughing again and Mako finally put the pieces together.
"You're the Avatar, and I'm an idiot." He said in an almost 'requesting for
forgiveness'-kind of way
"Both are true." Korra mocked him in a teasing manner.
"Understatement of the century!" I exclaimed waving my hands towards at the
ceiling. "Jeez you used to be faster Mako!"
The brothers stared at each other, probably wondering how on earth I, their
simple nonbender friend from their days in the Dragon Flats knew the all
powerful Avatar.
Bolin turned towards his brother and shielded his face from us with his hand
and pointed at her. "No ... way... The Avatar!" he stage-whispered.
Mako could only roll his eyes at that. Korra and I started laughing again, me
still leaning on her shoulder.
"How about those lessons?"
...
We had found our way to one of the gyms so Bolin could teach her a thing or two
about pro-bending. They were busy shooting some disks at a net as Mako and I
talked a bit, leaning against some nearby equipment, trying our best not to be
heard by the other two.
"So... how does one meet the Avatar?" he inquired, eyeing me curiously
"Coincidence..." I said convincingly. "Pure and utter coincidence bro. I walked
into her yesterday while she was beating up some of your old Triple Threat
Triad friends."
He frowned his brows. "They were not my friends Rokoyu. We did it because we
were poor an needed the money. It was... it was stupid okay."
"It's all right Mako, I said I wanted to look towards the future and it was
stupid from me to say it out loud like that. Now where was I... ah... beating
up that scum. You should have seen it Mako. It was as if she was some wild
beast, playing with her latest catch. I've never seen such raw power before,
but..." I held up a finger.
"But what?"
"All she did was attack, attack, attack. I'm pretty sure that if you can throw
her off her balance and push her into the defensive, that she's venerable." I
theorized.
"Still analyzing people I see. Why don't you challenge her to a little sparring
match then, to prove your theory. I know you've got it into to challenge
benders. The gym is fireproof so you don't have to worry about her burning the
place down. It gives me and Bolin a chance to see that raw power you were
talking about."
I liked that idea, giving her a bit of a scare would do her good. To let her
know and feel that things were different around here in Republic City. I wasn't
going to hurt her, this would just be a little fun.
"Wow! Nice adjustment! You're a natural at this." Bolin's voice echoed trough
the gym and I nodded at mako, signalling he had my go-ahead.
He stepped forward in front of Korra and Bolin and casually put his hands in
his pockets.
"Say Korra... how about a little sparring match?"
She placed her hands around her waist and pushed it to the side a bit, taking
that confident stance I'd seen her take from time to time.
"You sure about that pretty boy?" She teased him.
"Oh no... not against me." He placed his right hand on his heart and held out
his hand towards me as I suddenly appeared next to him. "Rokoyu here is more
than capable." he grinned at her.
She raised her brows ever so slightly. "But... but... he's not a..."
I gently walked to the centre of the gym, hands in my pockets as well, giving
her an intimidating look and completed the sentence for her. "...a bender? If
you're too much of a komodo chicken to accept my challenge than say so
Avatar..." I rolled the R's over her title.
That irritated her a bit. I had already gotten under her skin before the match
had even commenced.
"Challenge accepted!" she exclaimed and I nodded.
We both put on a pro-bending practice uniform for protection and faced each
other in the gym. We waited for Mako to give the signal to begin. She took a
firebending stance while I simply stood there at attention, back straight and
hands behind my spine, both looking mightily confident of ourselves. The only
thing I needed to remember was no chi blocking. If I did that in front of Mako
and Bolin they might start asking questions that didn't need to be asked. The
council had after all declared the art illegal. My being able to do such things
was not supposed to be in my arsenal of tricks, the knew me well enough for
that.
We stood there, concentrating on Mako. You could hear a pin fall if you focused
closely enough. We had agreed not to give it our fullest but I was not going to
let her win, no way. I was certain she wasn't going to keep her end of the
bargain either.
"Go!" Mako shouted, Bolin standing nervously next to him looking slightly
concerned.
He knew what I was capable off. He had been there that day so many years ago
when I broke that firebender's arms. I could still see the fright on his eyes
from that day at times. He had never forgotten it, nor had I.
Korra blasted several powerful fire jabs into my direction. I dashed forward
using my speed and agility to dodge most of them weaving right and left. I
caught her completely off guard and jumped forwards, right foot first, giving
her quite a stern kick to the stomach. She was thrown back, landing on one of
her knees. She quickly regained her balance and threw some more fire jabs my
way with a couple of fireballs as a cherry on top, clearly frustrated I had
managed to already land a hit. I had only struck once and had already gotten
even more under her skin. This only fed my confidence about my chances.
I repeated the ordeal, closing the distance and bobbed around her, making her
grunt in frustration. I saw a gap appear and grabbed her right arm bending it
behind her back. She tried to regain control by using her other hand to attempt
a fire jab towards my stomach, but I grabbed it before she got a chance to use
it. I swept over the floor with my right foot, swiping her off her feet and she
tumbled to the ground, face first. I quickly pressed my right knee in her neck
and my other one on her legs to control them. Her arms were tightly pressed
behind her back, my hands pinning them down. I had her firm in place and as
such, this battle was pretty much over.
"Yield?" I smugly asked.
I had the feeling both of us had gone against the agreement and given it our
fullest. I was worried I was hurting her. She didn't answer at first, but after
a couple of seconds of helpless struggle she had no choice but to gave in.
"Yeah I yield!"
I let go of her and she turned onto her back, panting and sweating. She sat
upwards, supporting herself with her hands behind her back, frustrated with how
this match had been lost.
"Woah... you're fast, and I mean really fast. I almost never saw any of that
coming. Where did you learn all of that?"
"Master Bai. He used to have a small martial arts school in Dragon Flats were I
was born, but I believe he died about a year ago."
It wasn't a complete lie. I had leared a lot from master Bai but most of the
stuff I just did to the Avatar I had actually learned under the guidance of
Amon.
She raised her brows. "Dragon Flats? Isn't that like... the poorest part of
town?"
Mako, Bolin and I stepped forwards looking down on her with frowns,
intimidating her "What's that got to do with anything?" We asked in unison.
She shook ever so slightly, crawling a bit backwards. "Oh... heh heh. I'm
guessing you guys are... are all from that there?"
We nodded at her and she looked a bit uncomfortable "I.. I... didn't mean to
presume but I saw your fancy clothes Rokoyu so I figured you came from money...
sorry"
The three of us shared a granny look and started laughing. "No, we certainly
don't come from money. We could have only dreamed about that when we were
young. Apology accepted Korra." Bolin chuckled.
I walked closer to her and held out my hand. "Still friends? I didn't hurt you
now did I?"
She gazed at my hand a with a sense of caution, but she wavered it quickly and
smiled, grabbing it. She planted her boots against mine so I could pull her up.
"No, I'm fine. Just a bit surprised that's all."
For such a muscled woman she actually felt quite light or perhaps I was just
that strong? Nah, it was probably the adrenaline pumping trough my body. I
wasn't nearly as strong as she was. I pulled her up a bit too fast and she lost
her balance, landing clumsily in my arms, wrapping her arms around me to keep
her from falling over. We stood there being completely awkward, staring at each
other. Her face on my chest. We both realized Mako and Bolin were watching and
quickly let go of each other, pretending that it hadn't happen. Of course I had
been suckered right in.
"Those blue orbs... damn it! She has such beautiful eyes. Damn you and your
taste for woman Rokoyu!"
"I think I'm gonna turn in. You kids have fun." Mako grinned at me as he walked
out of the gym. "Nice to meet you, AvatarKorra!" he yelled from beyond the
corner.
"That guy is not easily impressed is he?" Korra questioned me.
"Nope but if you stick around long enough he'll settle down a bit." I responded
while removing my helmet, putting it down on a nearby table.
"Yeah it was nice to meet you Korra. You know what? Why don't you both come by
tomorrow? Same time, same place. I will have two tickets reserved for you guys
again." Bolin proposed, seeming a bit enthusiastic to meet the avatar again.
"Sure Bo, would love that." I nodded my head.
"I'll see if I can try and sneak off the island again." she said, then
realizing something. "Speaking of the island! I have to get up early tomorrow
for airbending training... I better get goin!"
She quickly changed out of her training suit and into her Water Tribe getup.
She took off without saying too much. Bolin and I followed her out, but Bolin
took a left turn on his way to the attic.
I yelled a goodbye after him and ran after Korra. The corridors were empty by
now, only a couple of diehards still lingering around. I caught up to her in
the at the ticket booths.
"Hey, wait up. Let me walk you to the ferry." I almost shouted at her.
She raised her brows as we exited the building. "It's night, there are no more
ferries to Air Temple Island." She shook her head.
I slammed my own palm in my face, as a citizen of this city I should know stuff
like that.
"So you're going to waterbend your way over there?"
She nodded, looking a bit annoyed by my presence. She really wanted to get
going and I was keeping her.
"You know, when I said the word friend to you I meant it." I held out my hand
once again "Friends?"
She smiled, shook my hand and looked up at me.
"Sure Rokoyu, I'd like that. Now I really need to get going."
She let go of my hand and jumped towards the water, bending it around her as
she dove in feet first. She dived under and I could see the small waves making
their way over to the island.
When she was completely out of sight I pumped my fists into the air like a
little child. I had gained her trust. Now I needed to continue building on the
foundation. I was interrupted when the tingling feeling in my limbs returned. I
had told myself it would clear and I had been right, but now it was back. I got
really hot and for a second I swore I saw some steam coming of my skin. I just
tried not to focus on it and it felt like I gained a bit more control over
these weird feelings.
What the fuck was this shit? When was it going to stop being so annoying? I had
a important mission to work on and this wasn't helping at all. I was going to
have to see a healer about this. It was getting under my skin and I didn't need
that. That's when I usually made deadly mistakes. Perhaps Quang knew an
underground address.
On the tram back home I couldn't stop thinking about that nights events,
especially that moment she fell into my arms. It gave me a chance to explore
her eyes, those beautiful blue eyes of her. I have to admit they had taken me
into a hold. I had never seen such eyes before. I was literally blown back by
them.
Perhaps this was going to lead to more than just friendship.No! I shouldn't
take it that far. It's only bound to fuck me up at one point or another.
There was another thought that raced through my mind. Well not so much a
thought more like an single word. It stung but there was no denying it any
more.
Hypocrite
***** Firebender *****
Chapter Notes
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review or comment if
     possible!
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter VI
                                  FIREBENDER
                  "In time we hate that which we often fear."
                              William Shakespeare
===============================================================================
 I opened the door to the apartment, only to find Daskana standing in the
middle of the living room. She was obviously waiting for me, wearing her chi
blocker uniform and electrified glove. I spotted the master sergeant stripes on
her right arm, the same rank I held. It was still weird for me to know she now
wielded the same authority as me. I had still not fully accepted the fact I
lost control over the unit and seeing her then and there stung a bit. Of course
I tried to hide my displeasure. It would only lead to another conflict.
"Those stripes look good on you sis." I lied.
"Yeah, I also love the many perks that come with the job. Like yelling and
ordering subordinates around. So... how was your evening?" She asked, smiling
proudly.
I didn't really want to talk about it but I wasn't in the mood for another
sibling war either, so I decided to spill my guts about that night's events.
"It was good... place was packed and the boys won but that's not so important.
You'll never believe who I saved from being arrested again today."
I said it in such an obvious way there was no way she couldn't catch onto the
bait.
"No...way... the Avatar?!"
"Yep, she sneaked in without paying and prince charming over here just happened
to have two tickets on him..." I grinned.
"You lucky bastard... and here I was thinking you were never going to get in
touch with her again." she paused, trying to form an additional snappy comment
but I beat her to it.
"Also... guess who kicked her ass during a little sparring match."
She rolled her eyes. "Typical you." she waved her hands at me. "Always trying
to size people up by fighting them..." she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You're lucky she's the batting ram type herself. Now I regret not being there
so I could have seen that pretty face connect with the floor."
I gave her a quirky smile. "Korra never saw any of it coming. I swear to you
any chi blocker can take her on. As long as they can dodge her bending, which
is quite good truth to be told. The moves she chucked at me were mightily
impressive. Perhaps the best I have ever seen, but she lacks... how you say...
refinement?"
"Sounds like you're in love."
I took a step back, raising a brow. "And you had to go and ruin it didn't you?
For once we are having a normal conversation and you have to come up with a
stupid comment like that."
For once she didn't bursted into an angry fit, like I was used off from her and
shrugged her shoulders.
"Whatever you want brother. Time for me to talk you up to speed. The Revelation
is in two days time. Amon has requested your presence that evening, since you
are still a member of the inner circle."
She was tormenting me. She knew very well I didn't like being cut out of all
the meetings and plotting. I kept a straight face though, not wanting to
display my displeasure with the situation.
"No problem, I'll see if I can clear up my schedule for that night. Not that I
needed to be invited. I was going either way because I have been waiting for
that day to come for three years sister, and I will be damned to be left out of
that too."
"I figured as much so I convinced Amon to let you come. I know you want to be
involved." she paused for a second, clearing her throat "Now another matter. I
know you have been struggling the past couple of days because you were chi
blocked and I have an address for you. She's an old healer that works under the
health care systems' radar. She's pricy, but it will get you some answers."
I widened my eyes and stared at her. "How did-"
She cut me off by shaking her head. "I'm your sister. I know you better than
any broad in this city. I have eyes you know and you look like shit to be
honest."
I stood there nailed to the wooden floor, wondering why we always fought each
other so much. She could be such a nice person if she wanted to be. She pointed
to a small memo on the table. I picked it up and noticed the address was in the
Xiang borough, which was located across the river. It was a long and costly
tram ride across the bridge, but if this was going to give me some answers,
then it was well worth the cost. If I was going to see this woman I needed to
get up early the next day. Not that that was a problem thanks to my sleeping
issues.
"I care for you Rokoyu, even if you don't want to see it. I hate having to send
you over to one of those freaks, but this needs to be resolved. If you keep
looking lackluster they way you do, the people you are trying to mislead will
start asking questions, questions you obviously don't need." She explained as
put her hand on my shoulder and I nodded.
"It's that obvious huh? I guess one visit couldn't hurt."
"Good. Now I need to get going. The team's spying on this triad hideout Amon
wants us to raid!"
She really was excited to be in charge. I guessed if it made her happy, then I
could swallow my pride and accept that she was the one in charge going forward,
even if it hurt a bit every time it came up.
"Ok, you be careful out there. Watch each other's backs and everything should
go like clockwork." I said as she crawled out of the window, putting on the
mask as she went.
She turned around one last time and nodded confidently before jumped down. I
ran for the widow and leaned out of it, staring after her.
"I'm proud of you Daskana!" I shouted after her as she left, hoping it would
give her an extra boost. "She'll be fine Rokoyu, you trained her well"I thought
to myself.
I had personally overseen her training and had to admit she was as skilled in
chi blocking and martial arts as I was. The only issue was experience. I had
been in self-defense classes since I was ten and had nine years of knowledge to
complement my arsenal, but Daskana had only started out when he was sixteen,
finishing her training a year ago. It worried me, but if I took myself as a
measure of comparison then she should be safe. Still she was the only family I
had left. I didn't want to be left alone.
I didn't linger about for much longer and went straight to bed, hoping for a
good night's rest, but knowing very well I wasn't going to get it. I barley
slept that night. To make matters worse by the time I had actually fallen
asleep Daskana returned home from her stakeout and woke me up again. I couldn't
get back to sleep after that. So I just continued to lie there until it was
time to get up.
...
I barley slept that night. To make matters worse by the time I had actually
fallen asleep Daskana returned home from her stakeout and woke me up again. I
couldn't get back to sleep after that. So I just continued to lie there until
it was time to get up.
The sun peeked through the blinds of my room and shattered any hopes for a
morning nap. I got up and took a shower before my bowl of daily seaweed soup.
Daskana joined me, her eyes a bit red because of the late hour nature of her
business. The other thing I found awkward was that she was already fully
clothed.
"Rokoyu do you think you can help me out? I have been given the clear from Amon
to go ahead and assault the triad headquarters tomorrow. I need you there, one
of our guys has a severe case of food poisoning and it's a ten man job."
I looked up at her and smiled. I knew she was just trying to cheer me up by
involving me as much as possible. She probably told that guy to stay home so
she could make this work.
"Sure, I told you I would be there for you should you need me. What is the
purpose of the mission? Are we talking someone out permanently?"
"No, it's a snatch and grab. The triads are preparing for a turf war and
tomorrow the heads of the Triple Threat Triad are coming together for their war
council. Even the big boss: 'Lightning BoltZoltwill be there. Amon wants to use
them at the revelation as guinea pigs."
I laughed "Perfect! That scum will get what they deserve. It will be an honor
to deliver them to Amon. What time are we leaving for the mission?"
"Around seven in the evening. We'll have to wait until we can confirm they've
all entered the headquarters. Once they do we'll strike." She proclaimed,
nodding her head in excitement. "Finally our hard work will pay off brother.
Once the secret is out the benders will be the ones cowering away in fear
instead of us."
"Sounds perfect." I grinned as I took another sip of my soup. "The time is
ours. They'll learn to fear us.
Daskana left after our conversation was over to start a shift at Narooks.
Apparently he had offered her a more steady job instead of constantly having
her to fill in. It would do her some good to keep socially active. I hoped it
would take away a bit of the anger she had been holding onto. It also explained
why she was already fully clothed.
I went back into my room to get dressed myself. I was nearly finished as I was
buttoning up my suit's jacket when suddenly I spotted something in the corner
of the closet. It was a water tribe inspired parka with pelt around the hems.
It had been a gift from my mother for my fifteenth birthday. Just like the
razor it had been one of the items I had saved from confiscation. I had never
worn it, but kept it as a priced possession instead of a daily commodity. It
was a reminder of my triple heritage.
A tripple heritage is a term for a person who can claim he stems from the three
of the four great nations. It basically comes down to proving you've got the
blood of people from the Fire Nation, Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom. My
grandfather was an immigrant from the Fire Nation and he married a girl from
the Earth Kingdom that was living in the Fire Nation colony of Yu Dao. Roll in
my father who married a girl from the Northern Water Tribe and you effectively
get what I just described, a triple heritage. I don't think there was any
chance to complete the circle since Fire Lord Sozin had murdered out almost all
of the Air Nation. So there was no chance of adding that to the bloodline. A
triple heritage makes you a special person, at least in the eyes of a few old
timers. Some say it grants this person extra powers. Of course being a well
educated nonbender I didn't believe in those tales. If anything it was only a
couple of words on paper.
I lifted the parka out of the closet and laid it down on the bed, softly
caressing the pelt touches with my fingers. It was still as soft as I
remembered. I pulled it off the hook and got rid of the suit jacket, pulling
the parka over my shoulders. It fitted perfectly even though it had been bought
for a fifteen year old boy. My mother had a tendency to buy things that were
too large so they would last longer. She wasn't a cheap skate or anything. She
was just a practical woman.
I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled gently. The parka looked good on me
even though I was pale of skin and didn't share my mother's complexion. It gave
me a bit of a warriors look and I liked it. I decided to keep it on, the
weather was getting colder by the day and the jacket had a hood which came in
handy to stay incognito. I switched the rest of my suit into regular clothes an
left the apartment, walking over to my office.
As per usual Aya was already in, preparing for the day.
"Well sir, don't you look... savagetoday." she complimented the moment I walked
through the door.
"She did not just say that..." I thought to myself as my face turned red in
anger.
"Aya, the great people of the Water Tribe are not a bunch of savages as you
have put so eloquently. They've advanced on all fronts after the Hundred Year
War, just like all the other nations. Not to mention my own mother was born in
the Northern Tribe. So I would appreciate it if you keep your condescending
comments to yourself in the future!" I scolded her firmly.
She got smaller by the second as I was gave her the verbal beating. She was a
great assistant who rarely made snappy comments, but for what she had said, she
needed to be reminded of her place in this firm.
"I am not going to work today, but I will be back in the afternoon to sign the
contract with miss Kaza and hand her the money. Now is there anything useful
you wish to add to this conversation? If not then I suggest you get back to
work. If anyone calls and asks if they should sell just tell them to hold on to
their stock. The market is stable at the moment and there is no reason to make
chances."
"Okay sir." She replied with a quiet voice.
She looked a bit taken back by my behavior, which fed my guilt a bit. I didn't
like to have to scold her in such a manner and perhaps I had been a bit too
influenced by the soreness and agitation in my limbs, which by that point
started to feel considerably painful as well. It felt like I was being stuck
with needles. Not to mention my body temperature felt like I was suffering from
a dreadful fever. I didn't say anything when I left. I liked Aya, and seeing
her self-confidence take a hit like that ate away at me.
Thought first things first.
I walked over to the nearest tram stop and got on the correct one towards the
Xiang borough, which was a more suburban area of the city. It housed less
skyscrapers and more apartment blocks, houses and generally living quarters for
the many immigrants that flocked the city per year. It was a borough that
housed people of all classes: Rich, middle-class and poor. They all flocked
together in blocks. I rarely went there, only when it was absolutely necessary
to meet up with Equalist or business associates. The only other time I visited
it was when I had met up with a nice gal who wanted to have some fun times
together... although the last time had been quite a while ago. That tends to
happen when you promise yourself a sabbatical, which was going fine at that
point. Jerking off was all that I needed to keep my sex-drive in check... for
now at least.
Yes I was young and living it, blame me for enjoying the excellent goods life
provided.
It was a long and tedious tram ride over there. When we crossed over Kyoshi
bridge I took a peak into the bay and spotted Air Temple Island, wondering if
Korra was there at that moment, practicing her airbending. I wondered if was
had already capable of lifting me up in the air. I had never battled an
airbender before, so I was looking forward to seeing it in action. The more
info on benders, the merrier.
I got off at the first stop because I simply didn't know exactly where this
address was located. I asked a couple of people on the streets, but they sent
me in the wrong direction. I found a tram stop and inspected the map attached
to the glass. I found the street name I was looking for and came to the
conclusion I was on the other side of the borough
"Nice going Rokoyu. So much brainpower and you get lost in your own city."
I got back on the first tram that passed by and arrived closer to the address.
I walked the last bit and strolled up to the door. I knocked but no one
responded. It was a two story wooden house. It was old and worn down, but there
were plenty of indications that it had not been abandoned yet. Some of the wood
had been replaced and I could see someone had attempted to apply some fresh
paint but it was done sloppy. You'd think a water bender can do a better job
than that...
I knocked again but this time a lot firmer. I knocked so hard I felt my
knuckles go numb. The door opened and I faced an elderly woman. She was about
my height and had long silver hair in a braid behind her back. I was actually
amazed to find someone my height, and she was a woman too. How rare was that!
"Can I help you young man?" she questioned
"Yes. I believe you can." I held out an envelope with cash.
She accepted it and verified its content, but obviously wary of my person,
glancing up at me with distrustful eyes. Then again I didn't trust her old
bones either. She was still a filthy bender after all.
"Indeed I can help you, why don't you come in?" She signalled with her hand.
I went inside and to my surprise it was quite neat compared to the outside.
Sure most of the furniture was old fashioned and worn a bit, but she at least
kept the place clean; It didn't even smell like one of those old people homes
you heard about.
"Follow me son. Upstairs is where we need to be." she declared and I obliged,
following her up the stairs.
"What's your name, ma'am?" I inquired as polite as possible, not wanting to get
on her bad side despite my disgust for her black magic.
"You may call me Sesi dear. What may I call you?" I followed her trough a small
corridor to a back door. It was dark in there so I kept my guard up
"Rokoyu, but if you don't mind I'll keep my last name to myself. It's better
for us both that way."
"If that is the way you want to do it Rokoyu I won't protest. Customer is
king."
She opened the door to the backroom. It was a large chamber and in the middle
was a large square shaped wooden tub. It was filled with hot and steamy water
with an electrical system that kept it warm. The blinds in the room were closed
halfway, so there was only a little bit of sunlight penetrating the room,
creating a shady, but also comforting effect.
She settled down on a chair and looked up to me. "So tell me what the problem
is, and I will see if there is anything that can be done about it." She
informed me and I nodded.
"I have a question first. Anything that I will tell you stays between us,
right?" I questioned the old woman, twitching with a hidden electrified glove
in the pocket of my parka.
"Yes, of course my boy. The first reason why you pay me thrice as much as in a
regular hospital. The second reason why is that I don't judge, watever the
injuries are: 'I don't ask were, I don't ask why and I don't ask how'." she
replied, counting down the statements with her fingers.
I could sense she was dead serious about her working ethics. She seemed like a
nice person so I decided to give her the broader picture, but I still did not
trust her. I started explaining things to her and she picked up a pen and began
writing down all my remakes, she nodded while I did my explanation, keeping her
gaze on the piece of paper.
"Several days ago I was chi blocked for the first time and ever since that day
I've had this strange feeling in my limbs. At first it felt sore but now it's
just tingling. Sometimes it also hurts, as if I'm being stuck with needles. I
also have the idea that my body temperature constantly changes from normal to
very hot, close to fever temperatures. Last night I could have sworn I saw some
steam rising from the skin of my arms."
"Mmm... I see, I think I have an idea what it might be, but I would like to
examine you properly to be sure. It's what you paid for after all. Strip down
to your boxers and lie down in the tub please." she paused for a second "Don't
mind the hot water, it will make your veins relax and give me more insight into
your body."
It felt weird having to strip down in front of an old lady, but she didn't even
seem to care. Seeing her customers daily was a daily routine for her. I got in
the tub and first allowed my legs to adjust to the hot water and then slowly
lifted myself down into the soothing water. She put a soft pillow on the wooden
edge of the tub so I could lie down my head in comfort. The water was nice and
hot and it definitely allowed me to relax.
She stood a bit away from the tub, she flexed her arms in front of her and
cracked her fingers. She started moving her arms around her slow, but steady.
The room lit up as the water started to glow around me. It was quite bright so
I closed my eyes "If at any moment you feel uncomfortable, please say so and I
will stop." she commented while directing the water around me.
I could feel her directing the water, rubbing it slowly past my limbs. There
was nothing I could do but relax and wait it out. She took her time, spending
at least ten minutes figuring it out. Sometimes she would let out little sounds
like 'Mmm...' or 'Aaaha...', but she remained mostly silent.
Suddenly the water quieted down and I opened my eyes. The brightness was gone.
She pulled up her chair next to the tub and sat herself down again.
"What do you know about chi points?" she asked
"Well I know where all of them are located, and how hard you need to hit them
to block them."
She looked down and mumbled something to herself, I swore she said the word
Equalist but I couldn't be certain. She looked up again and continued.
"Well.... what do you know about the spiritual side of the chi points?" she
questioned
"Nothing if I'm honest" I replied to her question
"Okay... I will try and explain this in normal people talk. When I was
examining you I sensed that you have a great deal of anger and hatred inside of
you. I could feel it has been there for quite some time and that it was
considerably enhanced by a trauma. Since it was developed at a young age it
closed down your chi points with the exception to the ones controlling your
motor control. You've grown so used to it you don't even notice it anymore.
When you were chi blocked, the person that committed the act... how do I say
this..." she paused for a second, trying to find a simple way to explain
whatever she wanted to say "... knocked firmly on an already closed door. It
means that once the affect was worn out your points finally opened themselves
again after years of being closed."
I raised my brows but kept listening intensely to her explanation "... now I
don't know if you realize this but..." she paused again and put her hand on my
shoulder "Son, you're a bender...."
To say I was shocked at this revelation was an understatement. Had that women
just actually said what I thought she said. I felt myself getting light,
nauseous even, twitching nervously in the water. It couldn't be true! She had
to be wrong about all of it. It was not what I had expected to hear. at all My
world was crumbling before my very eyes, but Sesi wasn't finished with breaking
everything I knew about myself into a thousand pieces.
"...and if my senses aren't cheating on me I'd say you are a firebender."
"You're wrong! You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted loadly trough the room.
"I'm not son. It is what it is, even if you don't want to believe it right now.
Because your body isn't expecting the chi points being open it reacts with the
soreness and tingling. The pain and body temperature is another matter. Because
you never... and I am presuming here... have bended any fire, you have a lot of
arrearage. Most firebenders never come to face with this problem because they
use their element on a daily or weekly basis."
I cut in "So, I need to let off some steam?"
She didn't expect me to figure it out and raised one brow but nodded with a
smile "Exactly!"
I just stared in front of me, still completely blown out of the water "But...
last night I tried a firebender stance to explain to someone I wasn't a bender.
Shouldn't I have created a huge fireball, or even some sort of small flame?
Something?"
She looked down at her feet and tried to come up with an answer. "Well what you
have is a rare thing. In fact it's so rare I only learned about it from my
master a long time ago, but have never actually come face to face with a case."
she got up from her seat "Wait here I'm going to get a book. This might be a
bit more complicated than I initially thought."
"Jeez, this must be one rare condition if a lady this experienced has to look
things up in a book..."
I waited in the tub, my feelings completely at war with themselves. If I'm
honest about it all I was frightened, methe badass Equalist that sparred with
the Avatar and pinned her down to the ground was... scared...
Sesi came back, holding an old and dusty book in her hands. She was already
flipping through the pages and sat herself down again. She spent several
minutes reading trough the pages, searching for more anwsers. For such an old
person she sure could read fast. Her eyes progressed pages faster than I had
ever seen before.
"Okay, I think I might have a good explanation for you last question. In theory
you should be able to firebend, this because your chi points are wide open due
to the chi blocking. In reality however they are slowly closing themselves
again because spiritually you are still holding onto whatever you hate. Since
we are being honest here son, are you an Equalist?"
I looked down at myself in the water a bit ashamed of having to admit to it
"Yes" I said, no wavering or regret in my voice.
Sse looked up from her book. "Well, since you pretty much hate benders and so
also hate bending in general, you can't firebend. It's a weird combination of
the points closing themselves and your strongly developed dislike for benders.
As long as you don't let go your hatred, surpassing yourself, you will not be
able to firebend and you will continue to feel pain until the points close
themselves again. Once that happens, they might never open again. It's not an
exact science though, so don't come crying to me when things don't go as
expected."
I sighed heavily "So, I need to let go of my hatred for benders and this before
the points close themselves again, or else I might never be able to bend, no
matter what?" I questioned with a heavy heart, even a bit disgusted with
myself.
"Quite possibly yes. Like I said the points might open again later, but it's
also possible they might not. This moment you've been given right now might be
your only chance to unblock you bending."
I sighed again. "But I don't understand. No one in my family is a bender."
Sesi sighed herself, shuffling her feet. "Look I'm not insinuating anything,
but perhaps someone wasn't as honest about it as they could have been. It's
that or someone higher up the line, a grandfather, a great grandfather and so
on were possibly firebenders. Sometimes it happens, that bending is lost down
the line. Why don't you get out of the water and come downstairs with me so I
can get you a cup of jasmine tea? You look like you could use one."
I lifted myself up, but it was difficult after such a revelation, my legs and
body felt so heavy at this point. I was a broken man and completely lost,
staring confused out in front of me. Sesi walked over to one of the cabinets
and threw me a towel. I put it around me and she laid another one down in front
of the tub. I stepped out onto the towel and I patted myself dry, the silence
nearly making my cry already.
"If you stand still I can bend out all of the water out of you boxers." she
said as she stood in front of the door.
It was a weird proposal but since I didn't bring a spare pair I nodded my head
in agreement. With one gentle swing of her right arm she bended the water out
of my boxers and guided it back into the tub.
"I'm going downstairs do prepare that tea." She declared and left the room,
leaving me alone to my thoughts.
I put my clothes back on but I folded my jacket over my right arm. I checked
the room if I didn't forget anything, but as I walked up to the door I got hit
real hard with the facts.
"I...I can't be a benders!" I cursed under my breath. "This... this can fucking
end me. I have to let this pas by me as silently as possible. Amon will kill me
if he finds out, let alone Hiroshi or Quang... fuck me!" I slammed my head
against the door. "Why now, why now you evil fucking spirits." My forehead was
leaning against the wood of the door, my breathing heavy with taste of stomach
acid in my mouth.
I sighed one last time in frustation and left walking down the stairs and
finding the kitchen. It wasn't very big, but at least you could call it cozy,
there was a small kitchen table with two chairs and I made myself comfortable.
I was still in complete shock, staring emotionless in front of me, trying to
put the pieces together of how this could have happened, but it didn't work,
nothing came to me. I had no idea how this could have occurred without anyone
ever knowing and I had not been prepared at all to hear this news. It could
ruin everything I had worked so hard for, hell it could ruin me in the eyes of
everyone that looked up to me as a leading figure of the Equalist movment.
"This can't be true, she has to be wrong. She is an old lady... she-she has to
be delirious or something! There can be no other explanation here! I'm not a
bender, No way! I'm an equalist for crying out loud this can't be happening to
me!"My mind tried to put me at ease, but the facts were right in front of me.
I was brought back to the present when I heard the clanging of teacups. Sesi
placed the tray down on the table and settled in the chair opposite me. She
pulled a dcigarette out of a pack that was present on the table.
I took a sip from the tea, letting the jasmine attempt to calm my rambling mind
down. "You're 100% sure about all of this?" I asked, nearly begging her to
reconsider her diagnosis. as
She picked up a lighter and held it close to the tip her cigarette. She took a
good swig and exhaled the fumes. "Son, there is no reason for me to be lying
about this. You're a paying customer, just like the many others that came
before you, and the many that will follow after you."
I started shaking quite severe, tears forming in my eyes. I was so scared and
confused at that point. My emotions were starting to get the better of me.
"You mind if I take a cigarette for myself?" I asked politly as I pointed my
finger at the packet.
Sesi raised her, but shrugged nonethless. "I didn't get the impression from
your lungs you were a smoker." she declared as I grabbed a cigarette. I moved
the cigarette towards my mouth with my shaking hands and lit it up. I took a
good swig and exhaled the fumes, allowing the flavor to fill my lungs.
"I'm not. When I was twelve I started smoking because I wanted to rebel against
my parents, but of course after three weeks my father found out. I received the
scolding of a lifetime and haven't touched one since."
She smiled and shook her head, chuckling. "Good man, it's a nasty habit
anyway."
I smiled back at her, even if it was only a half smile. "He was a good man. He
died a couple of years ago unfortunately.."
I allow the combination of tobacco and tea to calm me down. I subsequently
managed to hold back the tears that were waiting for the word go at my gate. My
internal feelings were still in turmoil. It's not every day someone who spend
nineteen years of his life as a nonbender finds out he's actually quite the
opposite...
"So, how does one get over this... this hatred? Because I'm not even sure if I
want to do it." I asserted with a sigh.
Sesi looked away, up at the clock in the room. "I'm a healer, not a monk. I can
only identify emotions inside of you, not make them disappear. That can only be
achieved by you. If you want to know... then perhaps you should contact
Councilman Tenzin. He's supposed to be this spiritual guru no?"
I nodded. "I guess so, at least that's what the papers say."
She gazed over to my jacket. I noticed she had done that several times during
our entire conversation. "Where did you get that? Won that off of a bender did
you?" She points towards the piece of fabric.
I look down at the jacket and placed it in my hands, caressing the pelt edges.
"My mother... she gave this to me the day I turned fifteen."
She smiled curiously, taking another swig of her cigarette. "Northern or
Southern pole?"
I chuckled akwardly. "North"
Sesi let out a gentle laugh "Good Woman. I'm from there myself. I never met
your parents, but I'm already guessing they were good people."
I once again nodded "The best Sesi... that trauma you mentioned earlier? It's
their deaths. Dad was murdered by a firebender while... while mom took her own
life."
It sounded cold to say it like that but it was the truth. I was so venerable at
that point I didn't even bother to sugarcoat it anymore. I put out the
cigarette and looked up at the clock. It was already closing in on midday and I
still had to get to the bank, then back to my office to sign that deal.
"Well Sesi, looks like I got to get going. I...I still have some other
appointments today."
We got up and walked towards the door. I lifted the jacket over my shoulders
and pulled it down in place. Before leaving I turned around one more time to
face Sesi.
"You might not believe this coming from an equalist but..." I paused to gain
some courage "...thank you for everything, I mean it. I have no idea how I'm
going to deal with this, but at least now I know what I'm dealing with."
She waved her hands. "No problem, you paid me well enough for my services.
Whatever you do with this situation is completely up to you, I can't make that
decision for you." I turned around and walked out of the door but before I'm
completely down the steps she spoke up again. "However, whatever you decide...
I think it is fair to say this city can expect great things from you, whether
it be good... orbad" she put her hand on my left shoulder again, but I did not
face her. "Good luck Rokoyu and if you ever need anything else you have my
address and I never chance my rate."
I nodded and walked away from the house. I could hear her close the door behind
me and then I dashed away from that place as fast as possible. I dashed into an
alley, checking if it was empty and leaned against a wall, sliding down and
holding my hands over my knees, the first tears finally breaking the barriers.
I sat there for at least ten minutes, crying and sobbing, cursing the spirits
for making life so hard on me. I screamed and shouted, but no one walking past
the alley cared enough to see what was wrong with me. That's how city life
went, the weak suffered while the strong marched on.
I wanted to slam my hands into the wall behind me in pure rage, but possibly
breaking y fist would only lead to questions and I didn't need that. I had so
many questions myself and I was in no position to answer them.
I didn't know who I was anymore...
Was I Rokoyu, the Equalist chi blocker who was about to help Amon unleash a
vicious revolution against benders in this city?
Was I Rokoyu, the ruthless businessman that could use his verbal skills to beat
any opponent into submission?
Was I Rokoyu, the childhood friend of Mako and Bolin that would jump into a
fire for them because he considers them to be his brothers?
Was I Rokoyu, the brother that always argued with his sister about every little
details, even though he loved her, and was willing to lay down his life for
her?
Was I Rokoyu, the undercover operative that was attempting to gain the trust of
the Avatar and possible even go as far as to seduce her?
Who was I?
There was only one thing that was certain now
I was a firebender
***** Bonding *****
Chapter Summary
     Rokoyu and Korra spend some time together
Chapter Notes
     So for this chapter we get a bit more bonding between Rokoyu and
     Korra. It's a bit longer then what I had intended, but I didn't want
     to cut anything out either so I kept it the way it was.
     Tell me what you guys think!
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review if possible!
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter VII
                                    BONDING
"Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel, you can't always see the light at the
   end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving, you will come to a better
                                    place."
                                  Uncle Iroh
===============================================================================
I had been in that alley for at least half an hour or so. Unsure how to exactly
react to all of this news. So far my only response had been to huddle in a
small ball and cry, shout and hit myself on the head with the back of my palms.
I didn't know what to do next, let alone what kind of impact this was going to
have on me.
It suddenly dawned on me this was the first time in years I had cried. I had
built up a massive wall, only to see it crumble in a matter of seconds. The
crash was even more destructive then any fiancial crisis I had witnessed on the
stock market. This was huge and could lead to me losing everything that I held
dear.
The last time I had let my emotions flow like this had been when the body of my
lifeless father had been in my lap, moments after his demise, me holding his
head tightly to my chest as I kept shouting for help the whole time. Even when
the metalbender cops had dragged me away from his crospe with their cables I
had still been crying. I even attempted to take those cops on, but I had been
too emotionally weak to win. I was lucky they didn't press charges because of
the circumstances.
It was such a heavy memory I didn't even remember much of what happened
afterwards. That entire week had been one big blur. The moment where my memory
picked up again was his funeral. I didn't cry then, the only thing I felt was
hatred, hatred for them, those freaks that had taken him away from me.
And here I was sitting in that alley, moments after hearing I was one of those
freaks, the kind of people I hated so much as a child, and even now as an
adult. I tried thinking back to the moment I first encountered a bender,
another horrifying memory that had marked my childhood and caused a lasting
trauma.
...
Republic City, Dragon Flats, 157 AG
I must have been six years old and was walking back home with my mom while it
was getting dark. School had been as fun as always, playing with my friends and
enjoying classes. My sister had been picked up during midday because she had
been sick, so she was home already.
"Enjoyed your day at school honey?" my mom asked, a big smile on her face.
"Yes mommy."
"That's good to hear. I want you to tell me when you don't feel well in school
Rokoyu. It's important you don't crawl up into a ball and crop up everything. I
need you to open up more."
"I like school mommy. I have lots of friends."
"That's wonder-'
She was interrupted by two men fighting in the streets. They were members of
opposite triads and were obviously dueling it out. They both were firebenders
and at first I was amazed at the bright colours their bending produced as it
reflected of the houses and water on the street.
My mother held my hand tightly as she tried to move away from the scene but it
was such a powerful spectacle.
"Rokoyu..." my mom urged as she tried to pull me away. "Let's take another
route dear..." she said, fear in her voice clear for me to hear. I didn't want
to leave though, so I stayed nailed to the ground. I wished that the duel would
never end, but it did, and nothing could have prepared me for how it came to an
end.
One man suddenly overpowered the other, and he fell to the ground. His opponent
stood over his victim and laughed in an evil manner. He prepared to deal the
final blow and my mother attempted to move herself in front of me in time so I
didn't have to see the horrors, but she was too late.
"Close your eyes! Now Rokoyu, NOW!"
I watched with eyes as wide as the great divide how he shot a massive fireball
into the man's face and chest. I watched how he burned the flesh off his
victims body. I screamed in terror and the scum noticed us standing there. My
mother kept standing in front of me in a protective stance and was prepared to
do whatever was necessary to save me from this monster. He stopped a couple of
meters in front of us and moved his finger in front of his mouth. "Don't be
scared woman, I am not going to hurt you or your child, run along now, go home
to your husband. Forget what you saw here."
"Rokoyu, let's go!" my mother finally lifted me onto her arm and cleared the
scene as fast as possible.
....
Republic City, 170 AG
It was the birth of my fear, a fear which would eventually lead into hatred, a
hatred which would bring me where we are today. I enjoyed a short spell where
things normalised a bit as I bonded with Mako and Bolin, but that was rendered
useless when I found out they worked for the triads, feeling my cliché image of
benders had been confirmed by the betrayal of the bending brothers.
I snapped back to reality. Those words... the words that scum had spoken  to my
mother to make her comply, they had been exactly the same words I myself, had
said to that Roku kid a couple of days ago... I even had mimicked the
firebender by holding my finger in front of my mask.
It all made more sense now. Why I had done those things for Roku. I had hurt a
person in front of him, and he had been scared of me, just as I had been so
many years ago. Only he didn't have a parent to protect him. That's why I moved
myself in front of him to keep him from seeing the defeated and bleeding police
officer, because that was exactly what my mother had done for me all those
years ago
Another realization suddenly hit me.
I had been no better than the scum from my past, and I didn't want to be like
that... what had I become? Perhaps I wasn't thinking straight, but I made a
silent promise to myself; I was going to do everything in my power to unlock my
bending, and become a better man. It didn't know where it would lead me, but I
had to do this, this much was certain. I had to unlock this to find out what it
meant. To see what made me special.
I pulled myself up and dried my eyes with the sleeves of my jacket. I pulled
the hood over my head, so people wouldn't see I had been crying and walked out
of that alley. I strolled through the streets of Xiang until I found a small
bar and went inside. I ordered myself a good drink, some stronger stuff; I
could use one at that point as things were still trying to settle in.
I poured the stuff down my throat and allowed it to go around my system,
letting it numb myself a bit, taking the edge off, and boy did it work.
"Can I use you phone?" I asked the bartender, feeling the heat of the liquor in
my throat.
"Sure pal, one Yuan per minute and don't think you can cheat, because I will
put a clock next to it." he said as he pulled the device from under the bar and
slammed it down in front of me together with the clock. I dialed the office
number and waited until Aya picked up the phone, once I started talking the
bartender pressed the clock and the seconds started ticking away.
"Aya, it's me. Look... euhm.... I'm sorry I scolded you like that this morning.
I didn't... I didn't mean anything I said okay." I apologized sincerely. If I
was going to make changes to my life I had to start somewhere.
She seemed to hesitate on the other side of the phone "I'm sorry too sir. I
should have never made such ignorant comments about your family." she paused
for a second "Sir?Are-are you alright? You sound as if something terrible has
happened."
I took a deep breath "Yeah... perhaps not terrible but something big has
happened Aya. Don't worry about me though. I'm a big boy. I can handle it." I
took a deep breath "Look I need you to postpone my meeting with miss Kaza to
tomorrow. I can't make it back in time and I would hate to waist her time.
That's no way to start a working relationship."
"Sure sir, the paperwork is ready. All you two need to do is read and sign it.
I'll make the arrangements for tomorrow."
I sighed with relief. "Thank you Aya, I don't know what I would do without
you." I thanked her from the bottom of my heart.
"It's my job sir, you take care of yourself now."
"Thanks take care now." I said as I laid down the horn.
The bartender stopped the clock and counted the minutes.
"That'll be three yuans please and two Yuans for the drink." he commented as he
held out his hand.
I pulled out my wallet from my pocket and paid for the drink and the call. I
got up from my seat and cleaned myself up in the restroom. I left the bar.
There was only one destination I had in mind next.
"Air Temple Island"
I got on a tram back towards the downtown area of town and mauled thing over.
If I was going to try and figure this thing out, then I was going to have to
walk a tight rope between the Avatar, the Equalists and my own bloody sisster.
This much was certain. I would continue to spy on the Avatar for Amon. I might
want to change my life, but I still stood behind the basic ideals of our
movement. I had lived my life as a nonbender and perhaps I was going to stay
one, so this was all still verry important to me.
My promise to myself had been an impulsive one. Only then on that tram I
realised I was so deeply involved this was going to be one massive assignment,
but my father had imprinted onto me from a young age that I should always keep
my promises. That included promises to myself. I was going to have to find a
middle way, I had to, I wasn't going to shame the memory of my father.
"Go with the flow."
I remembered the words Daskana's words to m. I had already made contact with
that Avatar and at this point her words still applied, things only got a lot
more complicated.
Thinking about Daskana prompted up another issue. Was I going to stay quiet
about all of this, or confess it all. How would she react? It had been me who
had guided her to a life as an Equalist, so would she hate me for being a
bender, or not? It was all one big gamble, a verry dangerous gamble. My best
course of action would be to stay quiet about it all of it for the time being.
I would tell her in due course when I had more answers for her.
The tram arrived at the docks and I got off. I got onto the ferry and paid the
fee. The boat moved away from the docks and we slowly sailed over to the
island. I wasn't going there to see the Avatar, but rather Concilman Tenzin.
Surely he could help or advise me with my problem.
I stood over at one of the rails, listening to the peaceful sound of the waves
hitting the boat. The sun peeked from behind a cloud and it was joyous as her
bright gaze cut across my face.
"Guess now I know why I enjoy the sun so much. Firebenders are strongest when
the sun is in ful view."
We arrived at the docks and I thanked the captain for the ride. I walked off
the plank and was immediately met by several sentries from the White Lotus who
came running down the stairs, shouting commands at me.
"Sir! We are going to ask you to turn around and go back to the city! Visitors
are no longer allowed on the island! Faillure to comply with this command will
result in your involuntary removal of this island!"
Okay, I had not anticipated for this, but I didn't just came all the way out
here for nothing. I guess I was going to have to pull the oldest trick in the
book.
"I'm an acquaintance of the Avatar" I grinned at the guards.
"Nice try pal, leave peacefully, and we won't use force!" one of the guards
threatened as he created a small fire in his right palm.
"Ah, that typical bender arrogance... how ironic."I rolled my eyes. I guess I
was going to have to pull the oldest trick in the book. "Look, perhaps this
might chance you minds." I held up several one hundred Yuan bills. Just as with
Toza two days earlier there were sparkles in the men's eyes. One of them
grabbed the notes and divided them amongst the other two.
"Okay stranger, you win. Just for the record... we..." he waved at his fellow
guards "...did not see you enter the island, and if you get caught, it's not
our problem."
They walked back up that stairs and went to their posts, pretending none of it
had happened.
"Wow, this is the force that is trained to protect the Avatar? Perhaps they
should pay them a bit more so they won't be inclined to take a bribe. Compare
that our Equalist soldiers, they are incorruptible, knowing very well it will
be the end of them if they betray us."
These men's corruption was my gain, so I too walked up the stairs. It sure was
quite a climb all the way to the top. As each step bore into my muscles I
remembered my father telling me stories about Avatar Aang and this island, how
he had built this Air Temple in memory of his massacred culture. Not many
citizens of the city had the honor of visiting the island so I counted myself
and my wallet lucky.
I arrived at the top level of the stairs and looked around to see if I spotted
Korra or Tenzin, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"Don't tell me they aren't here. Stupid idiot, you could have asked those
guards that." I thought to myself as I smacked myself with the palms of my
hands.
"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" a gentle voice asked.
 I turned to my right and I was met by what I presumed was an Air Acolyte. I
could tell by the clothing she was wearing. Not to mention the airbender
tattoos covering her arms.
"I'm here to see Councilman Tenzin. Is he on the island?" I asked with a small
smile on my face
"He's training Avatar Korra at the spinning gates, so just follow that path and
you should find them." she answered as she pointing at the correct pathway.
"Thank you." I said and the woman bowed her head, going back to her duties of
the day.
I walked over the path. This sure was one calm and peaceful place. I had never
been before, but I felt right at home. I suddenly heard talking and I rounded a
corner to find a small courtyard next to some buildings to my left, presumably
Tenzin's house.
In front of me I could see Korra, who was wearing an air nomad outfit by the
looks things and the airbending master himself right next to her. They were
facing what I presumed to be those spinning gates. I slowly made my way over to
them when suddenly I was swooped up by a large gush of air and Tenzin swirled
around, his robe nearly pushing Korra off her feet. He guided me towards him
and I could tell me presence was not welcomed.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? How did you get past the guards?" he
demanded to know, his fierce eyes piercing right trough me.
"Euhm... Korra.... a little bit of help here would be very much
appreciated... please" I winced as I was still lifted in the air by a small
wind tornado, feeling uncomfortable.
I knew nothing about airbending, this was a freighting power.
She started laughing because of my terrified face. "Let him go Tenzin... he's a
friend." she explained and the elder airbender put me down on the ground
"Well... that was something else." I laughed as I corrected the look on my face
back to serious and straightened out my clothes. Tenzin was still gazing at me
with those piercing eyes.
"My questions still stands stranger." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his
chest.
"Firstly, the name is Fire, Rokoyu Fire, a friend of the Avatar. Secondly, I'm
actually here to see you councilor. Thirdly, I have not seen any guards on my
way over here." I said as I counted my answers with my fingers.
Burning those guards seemed like a good of an answer like any other.
The Councilman rolled his eyes. "Those guards are slacking again! I swear, I'm
going to ask the White Lotus to replace these incompetent fools Korra!"
She raised her brows. "Don't do that Tenzin they're the same guards that I had
in the compound, and they are a good bunch of guys."
He rolled his eyes again, clearly frustrated by her wishes. "Allright, if that
is you wish then I will oblige. Now can we try this exercise again, please? It
is essential you master something as basic as the spinning gates Korra" Tenzin
requested.
Korra sighed heavily and walked over to the gates. Suddenly I noticed a bunch
of little kids had been standing next to their father all this time. They were
all eyeing me with curious faces. The boy even looked a bit creepy if I was
honest, but it didn't faze me. He was only a little kid after all. The middle
child only stared, but the what I presumed was the eldest only gave me a little
grin.
"She's not stupid that one, she knows I'm here for something else."
The oldest of the trio stepped forward and launched a gush of air into the
gates and they started spinning. Korra took a deep breath of air and launched
herself at the gates, but instead of making her way through them all she did
was knock herself from one panel to another, and it got the better of her. She
lost her temper and began firbending at the wooden panels in a pure tantrum of
rage until she had almost destroyed the entire contraption.
I gave a quick gaze over to the foursome standing next to me and they all
looked equally shocked like myself. A gust of wind was launched from under
Tenzin's robes as he began his scolding. "Korra! That was a two-thousand-year-
old historical treasure! What-what's wrong with you?!" he shouted, his face
turned red with anger.
Korra was still standing between the burning and smouldering wreckage, panting
and breathing heavily. "There's nothing wrong with me! I've been practicing,
just like you taught me, but it isn't sinking in, okay?" She slanted her head
in frustration "It hasn't clicked like you said it would!"
Tenzin tried to defuse the situation by calming himself down a bit, a wise
decision after witnissing her raw power all things considered. "Korra, this
isn't something you can force. If you would only listen to me ..." he said with
a calmer tone, sighing.
"I have been! But you know what I think? Maybe the problem isn't me! Maybe the
reason I haven't learned airbending yet is because..." She gasped for air and
pointed her finger at her master "youare a terrible teacher!" she shouted again
and stormed off angrily, even ignoring me in the process.
Tenzin bowed his head dejected and the two girls hugged him for comfort. The
boy however bolted for the wreckage and imitated Korra's tantrum. The pure
innocence of that child turned a smile on my face, even if he was a bender.
"Children... why don't you go and see if you can help your mother around the
house. Let the grownups talk." Tenzin said and the kids nodded at their father.
They dashed off into the house, but not without the eldest grinning sly at me
again. "So mister Fire you wished to speak to me?" the airbender asked as he
turned his attention to me, still visible dejected about Korra's fit.
"Is there somewhere where we can discuss this in private?" I questioned him
back, folding my hands behind my back.
"Follow me to my study mister Fire. I'll have my wife bring us some tea. That
is if you like tea? My star student is not easy on that front either."
I nodded my head at Tenzin. "Absolutly, no problem. I'll never turn down a good
cup of tea Councilman." I replied
"Please, just call me Tenzin mister Fire." he informed me while we walked into
the dining room of the house.
"And you me call me Rokoyu if you like" I smiled at him
"You love tea and you're polite. If only you had been the Avatar." Tenzin
sighed
"I'm sure Korra didn't mean any of that Tenzin. She's just a bit frustrated
that's all." I commented at the seeming helplessness the master found himself
in.
"I hope you're right, because I don't think I can take another week of this."
he sighed again.
He introduced me to his wife Pema and asked her to bring some tea to the study.
I followed him into the study which also served as an office. Not very monklike
but he was also a politician so it made sense in a way. Actually... Being a
monk and politician was a weird combination if you ask me, and since there were
only five airbenders in the world it also seemed a bit unnecessary for his vote
on the council to have the same worth of the other councilmen and women, but
that was the way Republic City was run. It had been like that ever since Aang
and Zuko had transformed the colonies into the Republic.
"At least... that's how it's run for now.... things might change soon." I
thought to myself as I pulled back one chair in the study.
He sat himself down behind his desk and caressed his beard with his hand. I sat
myself down in one of the chairs in front of the desk while his wife placed the
cups between us
"Do you have any sort of confidentiality?" I questioned him once his wife was
out of the door
"No, I'm afraid not. It doesn't apply to monks, only healers and other medical
professionals" he calmly answered, he gave me a suspicious look as well.
"Whatever this is about, it better not be anything illegal Rokoyu." he mumbled
trough his teeth
"No! It's strictly personal, that's all! I like my privacy you see and I
wouldn't want my business associates to think of me as weak." I lied trough my
teeth.
"You're a businessman? Not to be offensive here Rokoyu but you don't look like
the type to be honest" he pointed at me and I couldn't deny he had a fair
point.
"Oh but I am. I'm a stockbroker and investor, but..." I paused for a second
"you're right, a long time ago I had been prepared to live as a simple
electrician.."
Tenzin raised his brows even more in suspicion "That's quite a career change,
are you even schooled in economics?" he questioned with a slight hint of
distrust in his voice.
"Of course, I have a full licensed to trade on the stock market. All I had to
do was fill out an exam from this commission and so I acquired my license. I
would verry much appreciate it if we were to deal with the problem at hand
now?" I shot a question back
"Sure tell me whatever it is you wish advice for." he said as he leaned
forward, placing his hands in front of him.
"It's simple. I have a grudge with an old friend of mine and I would like to
let go of that, but so far I can't find it in myself to do so. I would like to
think there is some spiritual answer to such a problem." I explained things
vaguely enough for him to remain in the dark. He caressed his beard while
thinking it trough. He got up from his armchair and started pacing the room.
"Well Rokoyu there are several methods and they are different for each person.
I don't know you well enough but I have a good nose for spiritual people and
you are definitely one of them."
I raised my brows at the thought alone. "Me a spiritual person? I think not!"
The councilman continued with his advice. "I think you could try one of the
simpler methods: meditation. Now, you could come over here on a weekly basis
and I could guide you, but since you're more a private person I would recommend
a do-it-yourself strategy. I'll give you the name of this book." he explained
while writing down the name on a small memo, handing it to me "It's written by
a former air acolyte who chose to leave us and peruse a life as an actual
nomad. He studied under me and I stand behind his conclusions in the book." he
explained as I took one last sip from the tea, pouring what was left of it one
go.
"Thank you for the advice Tenzin, now might you be willing to accept my help?"
I declared as I rose up from my seat, putting the note away in an inside pocket
of my parka. Tenzin looked at me suspiciously, stroking his beard. "Would you
mind if I take the Avatar with me back to the city? She's obviously tense right
now and I'd like to think I can calm her down a bit for you. You know just show
her around town."
At first Tenzin shook his head, but after mulling it over he got over his
reservations and nodded. "This might actually be a good idea Rokoyu. You have
my permission as long as she's back before dinner time. Don't get her into any
difficult situations."
"I won't. I'm a simple man. Trouble has ways of avoiding me." I joked with a
nod and moved over towards the door. "Liar. You are nothing but trouble. It
might even be your fucking middle name."Before walking out of the office I
turned around one more time and bowed my head, giving the master a formal fire
nation style greeting. "Thank you for your wisdom and hospitality Councilor. I
shall leave you in peace now."
Tenzin gently smiled and turned his attention to his papers, realizing that was
my que to make myself scarce I left his study and went to find that stubborn
girl.
I strolled back into the kitchen and spotted Pema doing some sowing work with
the girls. They all looked up and the pregnant mother opened.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I think so. Might you know where I could possibly find Avatar Korra?" I
questioned.
Pema shook her head and shrugged, one of the girls however raised her hand in
excitement. It was the younger one of the girls. "I know where Korra is! When
she's frustrated or angry she goes to the meditation pavilion. If you'd like I
can take you there?"
"That would be great, tahnk you, but only if your mother can miss you for a
couple of minutes."
Pema simply waved her hands to signal it was ok and soon the little girl was
pulling me through the corridors of the house and pathways over to the
meditation pavilion. I could see Korra was sitting in the small gazebo,
mumbling things to herself. I thanked the girl and she informed me her name was
Ikki. She left as I approached the Avatar, but from the corner of my eye I saw
her jumping into a bush to spy on us.
"Why you little..."
I tried not to pay it too much mind and slowly walked over to Korra who was
sitting on her rear end with her hands over her knees, pouting.
"Tenzin, not now! leave me alone!" she shouted, not finding me worthy of a
glance.
"Tenzin? Do you really think I'm that old?" I joked and she half-turned, giving
me a smile that could hardly be categorized as a smile, the frustration still
visible.
I sat myself down next to her in a lotus position. "Now, excuse me for being
intrusive, but I'm going on a limb here. I'm presuming airbending training is
not going as you had expected?"
She nodded and I sighed, recognizing the feeling. "You know... when I started
in self-defence class all those years ago, things didn't go as planned for me
either. Master Bai was one tough fucker and I hated his guts for the longest of
times." Korra giggled slightly at my swearing. "Don't get me wrong, in the end
he pulled trough and I left his studio with the utmost respect for the man. One
day it will be the same with you and Tenzin. It's only in those initial stages,
were you still have to learn each other better that things just don't flow like
you want to. Once you get trough that it will be like the man is a second
father to you, trust me on that."
Korra sighed deeply. "Tenzin? A second father? Get out of town! He won't even
let me listen to the radio because: 'You need to stay focused on you airbending
Korra!'." she complained, doing her best impression of Tenzin's voice, which I
found rather to be on point.
"I see... just try to remember he's hard on you to make you better. He doesn't
do it on purpose, or because he likes seeing you fail, but because he wants
what is best for you, and perhaps... you shouldn't be so hard on him either." I
advised, patting her on the back. She rolled her eyes, looking at me with one
of those 'mind your own business' faces. "Look... if he wanted to keep you
locked up on this island, then why did he give me permission to take you off
island to see a bit of the city. Just to calm down a bit." I grinned at her,
knowing she'd crave something like this. "Fire you suave motherfucker."
She turned a bit to her left and surprised me by grappling me by the collar of
my jacket, pulling me close to her face. I almost thought she was going to kiss
me, but she held back just in time. The anger and worry on her face had
completely vanished? "Really?!" she yelped, clearly overhappy with my words.
"Why didn't you say that earlier?!" she nearly screamed as she let loose and
catapulted me back.
"Spirits this is one fierce and strong woman! I'd better not get on her wrong
side...oh, wait... fuck me.... I'm so screwed."
She flipped on her feet and looked down at me, her eyes glistering with
anticipation. "I'm going to get changed, wait for me down at the pier!" she
exclaimed and ran off so fast she could have matched the speed of a messenger
hawk.
I simply chuckled at that and got back on my two feet. As I took my first step
I suddenly got hit by a massive spike of pain in my right leg and I knelt down.
The pain surged form my leg to my other limbs and I nearly toppled over. I
started to panic a bit, making my breathing go heavy and slight eratic. This
was way more serious than any of the little attacks I had had the days before.
The only thing I could do was try to remain calm and breath in and out in the
hope the pain would subsid. To my own surprise it worked, and the pain numbed
to the point where I could stand on my two legs again.
"Jeez, that old lady was not joking when she said my attacks might get worse."
I stumbled away from the pavilion, limping a bit. I felt a familiar feeling
creep up on my spine as I past a bush. I was being watched, and remembered a
certain someone had been lurking in the bushes. I jumped to the right and dove
into the bushes with my right hand and pulled the little sneaky minx out of her
hiding spot by the back of her collar. I put her down in front of me and
gripped her shoulder. I expected to receive a scolding for handling her like
that, but she only looked at me with two cute little eyes, hands tightly behind
her back
"So are you and Korra like boyfriend-girlfriend?" she yelped out excited.
She jumped me with that question. "No Ikki, we're just... friends. Yes
friends." I said while ruffling her hair. "Not that it is any of your business.
Besides I believe your mother is waiting for you." I smirked at her and left
her standing there.
"I know what I saw!" she shouted after me. "You're weird!" she added in but I
ignored her completly.
The thing that worried me the most was that she witnessed my little moment of
weakness. I could only hope she wouldn't go yapping about it to her father.
Surely when presented with the right amount of evidence even he could figure
out my spiritual questions actually had a different purpose. I better be
prepared to awnser questions if they presented themselves.
I made my way down to the pier passing by one of the bribed guards who
whistled, pretending he hadn't seen me pass. When I arrived down at the pier my
limp had disappeared and I didn't need to wait long for Korra. She came running
down the stairs, almost taking two steps at the same time. She was wearing some
different clothing compared to earlier, instead of that sleeveless shirt she
had worn when she arrived in town, she now donned long fingerless gloves and a
parka that looked a lot like the one I was wearing only hers was shaped in a v
down at the lower hem, while mine was horizontal.
"Ready to go?" I asked and she nodded her head excited, her smile as wide as
Yue Bay itself at that point.
We both got on the ferry back to the city. I wanted to pay the captain but he
shook his head pointing at Korra "As long as you're with her, you don't have to
pay."
Okay, I believe they had once called this 'the Avatar card'. Well it was better
than having to pay him off again anyway, better for my wallet that is. Being
upper class didn't mean I had forgotten my time as a poor sod. I'm always
looking to save a couple of yuans left and right.
Korra was standing at the railing as the boat fought agaisnt the waves, leaning
against the metal with her back, one boot on the railing. She smirked as I came
over to her.
"I have to ask city boy... you didn't wear that parka to impress me now, did
you?"
I smiled and shook my head. "No, this old thing was a birthday gift from my
mom. She was from the Northern tribe and tried to get me a bit more interested
in her culture."
Korra raised a single brow. "Was?"
I shook my head and sighed deeply. I was going to have to tell her at one
point, but it still didn't make it easy to talk about. Every time I felt my
stomach turn and twit itself, and this time would be no different.
I leaned against the railing, mimicking her pose and looked up at the bright
sun. "My parents are dead." It sounded colder than I had intended and Korra
winced, her smile disappeared into a worried look.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that. I... sorry/"
Ik kept gazing at the sun. "No it's fine Korra. It happened three years ago. I
was sixteen and was working in my dad's shop when two triad scumbags entered
and tried to shake him down. They wanted more money from him then he was
already paying, but my dad decided enough was enough and refused. I came from
the back of the shop when I heard the ruckuss to see what the hell was happing.
I was just in time to see the guy lightning bend straight at my father." I
sighed, biting my lip, feeling the pain all over again. "He didn't suffer
though. He was killed upon impact." I exhaled out the heavy air in my lungs.
"Wow, that's heavy" Korra winced again, looking down at her boots.
"Yeah, it didn't get better, two weeks after that I found my mother dangling
from a rope in the kitchen... she couldn't handle loosing him."
Korra put her hands in front of her mouth "Jeez Rokoyu... I can't even begin to
imagine..." she shacked, Her next move catching me off guard completely.
She embraced me and gave me a firm hug. It felt a bit awkward at first but I
let her, her body warmth was so soothing I almost returned the embrac,e but
decided against it. I wanted to be a friend and nothing more, but she was
making that very hard for me.
For such a brash and ignorant young woman she sure had a lot of compassion. She
also seemed to be able to read people a lot better than I had initially
thought.
She let go of the embrace blushed a bit "Sorry, you looked like you could use a
hug..."
"Thanks, I needed that, just don't surprise me like that next time."
"I'm going to be more thankful I still have my parents from now on." she
commented while repositioning herself on the railing.
"You do that Korra, enjoy every moment you have with them because you will
never know when the last one might be. I can speak of experience here. I miss
them so much It's not even normal. Just like you and me, they only live once."
she nodded her head and we stayed quit for the rest of the ferry ride, letting
all of that sink in, though I didn't need to let it sink in, I had lived it
after all.
The ship docked and we stepped off the boat. As I had a look around for
transportation Korra started mumbling to herself, scolding. "Ah shit! I should
have brought Naga! That way we could have navigated the city much faster." She
stomped her right foot against an empty crate in frustration.
"Hey Polar girl, it's time you learned how things work here in the city." I
declared and earned a nasty glare for it. Not that I cared, city people tend
not to give many shits. "People around here are not used to seeing a girl
ridding a polar bear dog trough the city. Normal folks use the tram, or just go
on foot and that's what we are going to do, just like any other day." I said
seriously, but Korra did not seem excited on the prospect of walking, pouting
her lips and looking rather muffed. "Some humility will do you good, follow
me." I declared and gave her a little elbow to the arm. "Come on let's go."
I walked with her over to a tram and we got on it. Of course I had to pay for
her fare, because for some reason she didn't really know what the concept of
public transport was. We sat ourselves down on a free bench, but Korra kept
nervously twitching next to me. "Hey relax, it's just a tram. It's not going to
hurt you." I joked.
She frowned her brows "I'm not scared of the stupid tram allright! I just find
it difficult to sit still, that's all."
I could only laugh at that, of course she was a jitterbug.
We got off at the park and took a walk through the park. She talked a bit about
her airbending training and how she hated being cooped up in that compound down
south for so long. She stopped when we spotted a group of waterbenders practice
their moves down by the water. She stared at them, analyzing their positioning
and skill.
"Hey why don't we give that a try?" I asked, but she only raised her brows at
me and started laughing.
"What do you know about waterbending?" she said, still laughing her ass off.
I realized this had been my first fuckup, her knowing I had extended knowledge
about the most common styles of bending was not information she needed to know.
"Curse that mouth of mine!" I needed to correct this and honesty was the only
way out.
"More than you think Avatar. Nonbenders in this city have to resort to
traditional martial arts to even stand a chance against you benders. I apply
myself and study bending in my private time to become better at anticipating my
challengers."
She narrowed her eyes curiously. "You are full of surprised you know that?"
"If only you knew the truth Korra..."I thought to myself as I shrugged
uninterested. "Follow me" I said in a more orderly tone.
She walked a step behind me as we moved closer to the water. I stopped and she
moved in front of me so we were face to face. I got into the basic stance and
so did she. "Just repeat after me." I said and performed a simple push and pull
form. She copied me, but actually bended the water out of the pond and drenched
me with it. She closed her eyes and started laughing again.
I looked down at myself with my mouth wide open, shock all over my face. "You
did not just do that!"
She was still laughing so hard she nearly chocked. I dashed forward with
everything I got and grabbed her by the waist. "Hey!... what are you!" She
yelled in protest, but it was too late. I dragged her into the water until we
were both were floating in the water. This time it was me who was laughing. She
used a small water spout to propel herself out of the water while I had to walk
out of the pond, splashing as I whent.
"Okay miss waterbender... you can have the honor of bending the water out of my
clothes."
She rolled her eyes and with a simple flick of the wrist removed all liquid
from my clothes. She repeated the same procedure with herself and guided the
water back into the pond.
"Now can we give this another try without any actual bending?" I declared,
getting back into the same postion. Korra shrugged her shoulders.
 I figured she was still a bit mad because I had dragged her into the water.
Hey, if she messed with me I was going to get her back. We practiced some forms
and I began slowly to implements some more advanced moves in there. We
continued like this for at least half an hour. It gave me plenty of time to
observe her and the more I looked at her the more I became engulfed by this
girl. The way her female lines moved while performing her forms were heavenly
to see and she really looked focused and determined as well, not to mention
those two sea blue eyes of her. Spirits I was starting to fall hard for her and
somehow I got the impression she was checking me out to.
"Just friends Rokoyu, don't complicate the situation further."
Not that I could compare much to her. Sure I was the tallest of us two by a far
margin, but she had way more muscles then me. I trained a lot, but compared to
her I still looked coltish. At least the gawky kid from my childhood was far
gone now. My thinner appearance was enough to make many doubt my ability, a
handy tool in combat if you asked me.
My feelings for her were growing by the minute, but I couldn't be sure if the
feeling was mutual, as long as that wasn't confirmed I wouldn't move, and even
then...
Korra eventually grew tired of the exercising, but was polite enough not to say
that. "You know, this is nice." she spoke for the first time in minutes "If you
had been a waterbender you would have easily matched any other. I've never
practiced my forms without the actual bending and this is way more intense. It
definitely improves restraint." she declared.
"And besides restraint is definitely something y need." I thought to myself
The compliment was nice but in reality I was never going to match any bender,
repeating the forms is one thing, actually mastering the bending is a whole
diffrent game of Pai Sho. No I'd rather trust on my chi blocking thank you very
much.
"Hey, why don't we go and grab something to eat. I haven't had anything since
breakfast." I suggested.
We stopped our little workout and she nodded her head.
"Sure, where do you wanna go?" she questioned with a radiant smirk on her face.
"I know a place you're going to like so much."
She raised one of her brows. "It's not a vegetarian place is it? 'cause I'm
sick and tired of that stuff. I don't want to see another ball of vegetables."
I let out a load chuckle. "Haha, no they've got meat, really good meat
actually." I grinned at her.
We walked over to the exit of the park where Korra spotted an Equalist
supporter posting an Amon poster on a wall with a bucket of glue. She walked
over to the poster as the man left to find another wall to posterize. I noticed
the angry glare on her face as she read the lettering. I stood next to her to
take a peek for myself. It was a more simplistic designed poster with red
background and our symbol for equality (平) placed in right the middle. The top
text read in big massive uppercase letters: "EQUALITY NOW!" while the to lower
text read. "THE AVATAR HAS FAILED US ALL!"
She ripped down the poster and tore it apart in anger, throwing the remains in
a dumpster nearby.
"Not a fan of freedom of speech?" I cheekily asked and I immediately received a
venomous answer.
"Don't tell me you actually believe this bullshit?!" she sneered at me, spit
landing on my face.
"Well, truth be told they have a point Korra. Nonbenders are definitely
struggling in this city, hell they are struggling everywhere in the world. Not
everyone has my kind of skills to defend themselves with, and the police barely
does anything about the problems. In fact I'd say the metalbender cops don't
even care one bit."
She got quite annoyed. "Then why haven't you joined up yet?!" she snapped
again, raising her voice.
"Because like many nonbenders in this city I don't believe in the violent
methods of the Equalists. I don't like the idea of several hundred chi blockers
patrolling the streets at night vigilante style." I snapped back my lies back
at her.
"Have you ever gone to one of their meetings?" she asked, looking at the
shredded poster in the bin.
I grinded my teeth. Most nonbenders in the city had at least attended one
meeting, this was a mathematically certainty when looking at our PR departments
results. I couldn't lie my way out of this, even if I tried, because it
wouldn't be realistic.
"Once, two years ago when they were just a bunch of morons crying in the
wilderness." I'd known these question would pop up at one point and had
carefully prepared my answer. "Besides, how can the mighty Avatar have failed
me if she hasn't even been given a proper chance yet." I completed my statement
that seemed to work like a charm. I could visually see the hardness on her face
disappear a bit. She breathed in and calmed down a bit. As far as I was
concerned this discussion was closed for now
"You good?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder. "No bad blood between
us?"
"We're good, thanks for being honest with me. Not many around here would do
that I guess."
We walked out of the park back towards the tram. "Where are we going again?"
She tried to plug the answer from me as we boarded the tram but I kept my lips
sealed tight. The tram stopped in the district of downtown where I wanted to go
and we got off. Korra looked around her amazed, gazing at the water tribe flags
and shops.
"Korra, welcome to Little Water Tribe. I said you were going to like it. Not
bad, huh?"
"Are you kidding me? I love it!" she exclaimed.
We walked past several shops and she eyed the merchandise behind the windows,
commenting on how much more expensive things were in Republic City. I had never
been in the water tribes so I couldn't even possibly compare the pricing.
We found our way to my intended restaurant, upon arrival she looked up at the
plaque outside of the place. "Narook's Seaweed Noodlery" Korra repeated the
words.
"Yup, they serve the finest Water Tribe food in the city. This place is an
institution in the Water Tribe community. Let's go inside."
I allowed her to walk in first and we were immediately met by the man himself "
Rokoyu? What a surprise to see you here today." Narook waved as he spotted who
his customer was.
"Hah Narook my old friend, I just happened to show my friend here around town
todat and since she's a water tribe gal I decided to come to your fine
establishment. I don't think I'm scorring any bad points here." I winked and
had a look around. "Say... is... euhm.... is Daskana around?" I questioned the
older man.
"She's in the back, doing some dishes. Shall I sent her out her to get your
orders?" he grinned and I nodded.
Korra had already selected a table at the window so I quickly joined her,
sitting opposite her.
"Girlfriend?" she asked with a disinterested tone, leaning back to watch out of
the window.
"What?" I questioned back, one brow raised.
"This Daskana person you mentioned to Narook. Is she your girlfriend?" She was
plucked for information and I could only chuckled at her insinuation.
"Daskana is my sister Korra."
Korra's eyes widened and she slaps herself on the forehead for it. "I'm such a
fool from time to time." she apologized
"Perhaps..." was the only response I could mutter out. Daskana came out of the
kitchen, looking impartially down at her notepad. Apparently Narook had not
informed her it was me who she was serving. This was my chance to have little
bit of fun with her for once.
Daskana walked up to our table and looked up, but stiffed at the sight. Her
eyes widened as she realized I had that Avatar with me. "Hey sis, I'd like you
to meet Korra... sorry 'Avatar' Korra." I teased with a smirk.
"Hey" Korra said while waving with a curt wave, but my sister was unable to
speak. I saw her eyes flickering up and down uncomfortably as she tried to
process this, or rather how she was supposed to act.
"Hello." was all she muttered out uncomfortable. She turned to me with an anger
gaze, her eyes already strangeling me. "What can I get you today brother." she
sneered with venom, completely ignoring Korra further.
We both ordered and she hurried back into the kitchen as if an evil spirit was
chasing her.
"You tell me to relax but whew..." Korra whistled "There's some serious tension
between the two of you." she said while crossing her arms.
"We're siblings, it's supposed to be that way. You're an only child right?" I
asked while giving the menu a further inspection, finding the pricings
absolutely too cheap for such good food.
"Yes, but I've got two cousins..." she declared with a monotone voice.
"That's not the same. They didn't come from the same womb as you did..." I
sighed,
I was not really in the mood to discuss my difficult relationship with Daskana.
Korra on the other hand was hell bent on debating the subject.
"So how does it work then? I'm genuinly interested to hear about this because I
always wondered what it would be to have sister or brother.
 I hadn't gone to Narooks to talk about me and Daskana, so I got a bit annoyed
at her insitance. "Let it go Korra. I can't even begin to describe how my
relationship with Daskana works, and so I won't." I sneered in the Avatars
directions.
Her knowing me a bit better is one thing, her snooping in my private life is
another matter. I'd already told her enough for one day.
"Whatever..." she snapped the menu out of my hand and inspected it for herself.
"She doesn't like me very much, does she?"
I shook my head. "No she sure doesn't." I was still annoyed at her earlier
insistence, but couldn't really stay miffed for long. "She'll come around
though. She always does" I added. "But you're the Avatar, and a bender, so no,
things will not come around this time."
Daskana brought out the noodles and as fast as she came she dashed back into
the kitchen. I tried to eat my food in peace but Korra gushed down on the
noodles, seemingly unable to help herself. She didn't seem to have a lot of
table manners either as she managed to sprits some of the noodles all over the
table. It kind of looked familiar, Daskana had a similar eating style and I
could only laugh silently to myself at the fact those two had something in
common. "That's Water Tribe for ya, no class whatsoever."
"So, do you like it?" I asked as I watched her eat.
"Hmm, it's delicious and totally authentic! I didn't realize how much I missed
Water Tribe grub." she answered the question with a mouthful of noodles, 
making me laugh at the sight.
"So... how are you going to deal with the match tonight? You do realize I
promised Tenzin to bring you back to the island before dinner time, but we were
also invited to go and watch the Fire Ferrets again tonight."
She stopped swallowing her noodles. "I have an idea. I go back to the island,
storm in during dinner and pretend I'm still angry at Tenzin and excuse myself
to my room. I sneak out like normal and meet up with you again at the arena."
she explained, waving her chopsticks in the air and her mouth still full of
noodles.
"That's fine by me, as long as I get to keep my promise to Tenzin. Whatever you
do after that is your responsibility."
We finished our meal and I paid Narook. Daskana was nowhere to be seen so I
figured she ended her shift and went home, probably still fuming with anger at
me for putting her on the spot.
We hitched a quick tram ride to the dock and strolled over to the ferry.
"So... guess I'll see you tonight?" she asked while putting one boot on the
boarding plank
"Yep... see you tonight." I replied a bit cheepish. "Jeez, could you be
possibly be more obvious you really like her as more than a friend you lanky
nerd."
"You know Rokoyu. You're a good friend, I've rarely had this much fun." she
complemented. while slowly putting the second boot on the plank
"No problem Korra, I live to serve the Avatar. You get going now or you're in
for another scolding, which means I'll get one too if I meet Tenzin again." I
waved at her as she got on the ferry.
"Just a friend? That's... good?" I thought to myself as I watched the boat
become smaller. "I mean she thinks of you as a friend, that is excellent. Now
contain yourself and stop being such a love struck fool."
I had taken the fullest intention of being just a friend, but the truth was
that the more time I spent with her, the more I grew to like her in that way.
It was awkward, never before had I had feelings for someone like Korra. She was
stuborn, impatient, headstrong, sarcastic, etc... Not exactly the qualities I
was looking for in a woman, but it was so different with her. In fact I liked
the way she was, I reveled in it. Perhaps it was her innocence, perhaps it was
simply because she reminded me of my mother a bit.
It made me feel more alive than ever before...
 
***** Guilt *****
Chapter Summary
     Rokoyu finds that there is more to his past than meets the eye. The
     bending bro's help him uncover a horrifying truth.
Chapter Notes
     It hurts me to pain Rokoyu even more but it has to be done, time to
     break him even more :-(
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                 Chapter VIII
                                     GUILT
         "My guiding principle is this: Guilt is never to be doubted."
                                  Franz Kafka
===============================================================================
I had departed company with Korra so there was plenty of time to go and meet
the boys early. I took the usual trip down to the bending arena with the tram.
The last bits of sun were floating over the edge of the sea when I stood before
the arena and I pulled out my wallet. I searched the leather for the visitors
badge I had purposely neglected to return a couple of days earlier, and put it
around my neck. I walked inside and was cleared by security without a hitch.
"Ah, the joys of other people's stupidty..."
The first fans were already in the hallways, inspecting every detail of the
programs they had bought earlier. I cleared several more checkpoints and walked
up the ladder to their attic. I peaked my head trough the hole and spotted the
guys chewing down on their dinner.
"Hey guys!" I made my presence noted as I climbed through the hole.
I was welcomed by my friends and they offered me some food but of course I
refused because my belly was already full. I made myself comfortable on the
couch opposite the boys looked around, spotting a framed picture behind me on a
low cabinet right behind the couch.
"Well I be damned! You still have this one." I said as I leaned over and picked
it up, gazing over the four people in the picture
"Of course!" Bolin shouted, noodles flying everywhere. "Wouldn't even dare to
get rid of that one."
I held the frame closer to my face for a better inspection. Although the
picture was now framed you could clearly see it had once been folded up and
kept as a prized procession in a wallet. I had taken this one myself several
years ago in the backroom of my father's shop with his camera. I stood in the
middle of the picture, holding a girl tightly around her waist, pulling her
close to me. We were both were fifteen. Mako, fourteen, stood to our right
while Bolin, twelve, stood to the left, each of the brothers holding on of
their arms around me and the girl. We were all smiling broadly in the picture.
I sighed when I stared into the girls eyes. Her name was Aki, my girlfriend at
the time. I remembered how our relationship had grown and eventually fallen
apart. I allowed the memory to drift me away from reality.
...
I was fourteen when Aki strolled into my life. She was a new kid at school and
immediately I developed a strong crush on her. She wasn't the usually type of
girl I had eyed up before though. I usually ran after the easy-to-get girls,
but had been denied any chance at a proper youthful relationship so far because
I was considered a weird nerd by many, and my reputation proceeded me. I tried
connecting with this new kid, but she would run off before I could even open my
mouth. Seemed like she was just like the others.
She was really quiet and shy, the reserved type, but she was an excellent
student if I say so myself. A trait we both shared. Some of the guys at school
called her simple, but I could only see a goddess of beauty beneath those perky
glasses of her. Her bright auburn eyes burned right trough me like fireballs.
Her long flowing brown hair was braided in a ponytail behind her back.
I tried many times to get closer but just like everyone else she pushed me
away. It got a point where I had given up on her. She wasn't interested and you
can't force someone to like you.
One day however I walked past an empty classroom when I spotted a bit of light
coming from under the door. I peaked trough the keyhole and saw two boys
undressing Aki while a third one held two waterwhips above her, threatening to
harm her with it if she didn't go along with their demands. I immediately knew
what was going on and decided to do something about it, going against my usual
tendency to only care for myself.
I kicked the door open and rushed inside, one of the two perverts was the
firebender I beat up couple of years earlier. As soon as he recognized and knew
what I was capable off he decided to lower his guard and stand in the corner,
frightened for his own life.
The two others were no match for me either and I gave them the beating of
lifetime. I kept beating them until their noses were broken and their faces
were covered in bruises and blood
I threatened the three of them and told them that if they didn't chance schools
I would take it up with the principal. Even an asshole like him would not stand
for attempted rape.
I turned around as soon as they got the hell out of dodge and helped the poor
girl get dressed, because of my violent actions I had scared her as well. I
offered her my coat for warmth as I walked her home and she loosened up a bit
while we talked about what had happened. She thanked me more than a thousand
times, and the only thing I asked in return was one date.
Not the best time to ask I know, but I wasn't exactly an expert in love at age
fourteen, thankfully I got my chance and I took it with both hands.
We dated for a year, taking slowly so we didn't rush into anything we would
regret later. When we both turned fifteen we took our relationship to the next
level and became sexually active. She wanted to experiment earlier, but I
refused in light of how we had met.
Aki had been the first girl I had been with and it was the same for her. We
took it slow once again and became madly in love with each other as we
discovered more about each other, both mentally, and physically.
I could sense she was happy being with me, but the reality was that Aki was not
going trough the best of times at home, hampering said happiness. Her parents
were both firebenders and they hated their daughter because she had been born
without the ability. I deeply despised those people for the way they treated
her. Sometimes I would find bruises, and burn marks on her body during our more
intimate moments. I knew they didn't treat her right, but there was little I
could do. Aki strictly forbade me from seeing them as that would only drive
them to punish her further. The fact she had chosen me, a nonbender as a
partner had not fallen well with them, and they did everything to hold our
relationship back.
One day, several weeks after taking photograph with the brothers I found her in
the girls bathroom at school, sobbing loudly. As I opened the door only to be
horrified at what they had done that time around. The right side of her face
was covered in bruises and she couldn't even open her eye anymore. It was so
brutal I couldn't believe they had dared to sent her to school like that. It
was as if they wanted the world to see how much they despised her.
This had to stop so I dragged her to the school nurse against her will to get
those bruises treated. However that cunt said there was little she could do as
long as Aki didn't press charges herself. I left Aki in her care and stormed
off to face her parents. I arrived at her house and furiously scolded them for
what they did to her on a daily basis, threatening to report them to the police
if they didn't stop.
I wanted to do what I usually did, beat them until they submitted to my
demands, but that would only get me arrested and removed from Aki, so I begged
the spirits to let the police threat work. It seemed to have worked, because
two weeks passed and they didn't touch her anymore.
One day however Aki didn't show up for school and her father wouldn't let me
see her either. He informed me she was going to change schools and that I
wasn't allowed to see her again. I didn't know why they did this and in anger
engaged the father in a duel, but he was a far more experienced firebender then
those punks I dealt with at school. He kept me at bay long enough for that
bitch of a mother to call the cops and assist her husband in fighting me. I
could handle him, but not the both of them and had to slowly back off. The cops
arrived just in time to stop them from bringing serious harm to me. As a cherry
on top I was arrested on charges of assault and battery. It was ridiculous,
especially seeing as they had done more harm to me.
Luckily for me my father had been well aware of the situation and managed to
bail me out, avoiding juvenile detention. I kept trying to see my Aki, but her
parents made sure they were around her at all times.
Two weeks after the incident I received a letter from Aki in which she
explained that she wanted to break off the relationship, because she couldn't
be with such a violent person, someone that who would attack her parents and
hide in dark alleys to spy on her. I knew her parents had forced her to write
this letter, that much was certain to me. She had never expressed any of those
sentiments before to me. So that one was a walk in the park. I wanted to keep
trying to see her and convince her to run away from them but I knew the
situation was hopeless and I completly lost faith.
My heart in shatters I decided to move on with my life, so I dove into my
studies and made sure I graduated school once I turned sixteen, like my
father's plan. Unfortunately fate intervened once more as a couple of months
later he was murdered by the triads and my life was turned upside down even
more.
Aki soon turned into a distant memory as I sank deeper and deeper into my
alcohol-bar and sex- induced depression. I never saw her again and I had
categorized it as just another one of those painful memories of my past.
...
"Hey! Rokoyu! Still with us buddy?" Mako snapped his fingers in front of my
expressionless face.
"What? Oh.... euhm... yeah... I'm back." I snapped to reality as I was still
holding the frame between my fingers, clutching to it as my heart ached.
"What were you thinking about buddy?" Bolin questioned.
"Aki" I responded with a knowing look while caressing her face in the picture.
"Say... you boys don't happen to have stayed in touch with her?" I inquired the
brothers.
They both raised their brows in concern and surprise. Mako sat down next to me
and put a hand on my shoulder. "So... you haven't heard?"
"Know what Mako? Come on bro, spill it out already."
"Aki... she.... she died a couple of months ago." he squeezed my shoulder to
emphezise his seriousness, something he didn't need to do because I knew damn
well when he was being exactly that..
My heart sank in my chest, my stomach twisting around several times and I
started to feel sick. Bolin picked up on it fast and handed me an empty
trashcan as I puked my noodles back out into the metal bin.
 "What? How? When?" I questioned the brothers while breathing heavily in pure
shock, wiping my mouth with a tissue.
"Her parents mate, those sick fucks took their torturing to the next level...
she couldn't handle it anymore. She... well she ended-"
I held my hand in front of Mako as I realized what he meatn. "No need to tell
me Mako. I know where you are going with this." I got up and started pacing the
room, holding my hands on my forehead in frustration. "Please tell me those
psychopaths were arrested for this?!"
"Yes, they were sentenced to life in prison for what they did to her."
"So... she had to sacrifice her life in order for those monsters to be stopped?
Fucking cops! Those assholes didn't listen to me then, and look how it turned
out. They deserve to fucking die!" I raised my voice and Bolin nervously
twitched in place.
"A couple of weeks before it happened she started writing letters to me." Mako
explained as he got up and gripped both my shoulders, focring me to look at
him. "She found a way to write without them finding out. She wanted to write to
you, but her letters kept coming back. Probably because you moved out of the
Dragon Flats. She found out from the newspapers where we lived and started a
correspondence. The stuff she wrote me about were horrible, but I knew I had to
keep sending letters back to her to keep the hope alive but..." Mako paused to
remove a lump in his throat. I could see he was having trouble telling me all
of this. It had weighed on his consience. "... she turned eighteen and they
found out about the letters somehow. She tried to run away with her kid since
she was an adult and no longer bound to them, but they locked her up in her
room for days without feeding her. Then... it... happened." Mako sighed,
lowering his head.
I walked out from under his grip over to the window, putting my arm on it and
leaning my forehead against the glass. I was trying to make sense of this
story, but I couldn't until suddenly something Mako had said hit me hard.
"Wait-wait... did you just say she had a kid?!" I exclaimed as I turned to face
him again.
"Yeah, I didn't know about it until after she passed away. Bolin and I even
helped with the missing persons search for weeks, hanging up posters and
stuff."
"What do you mean missing person?!" I shouted trough the room.
"When her parents found the body, he was apparently standing next to them. He
saw that she had passed away and ran away. He hasn't been found since. It's one
of the bigges mysteries doing the rounds back in the flats. Everyone is keeping
an eye out for him." Mako explained
Bolin walked over to a cabinet and handed me a poster. My face turned green
again as I looked into the eyes of the missing boy and read the text.
"Missing: Roku Chou
Age: 4
Sex: Male
Race: Caucasian
Hair: Black
Eyes: Auburn
Height: 4'0"
Roku was last seen on Chintao street in the Dragon Flats, wearing a white
shirt, red jacket and beige trousers. The police requests citizens to be on the
lookout for him. If you have information please contact your local police
station, or dial 505-145-4331.
Roku is a registered firebender and since he is not old enough to be trained
there is a warning to approach with caution if found."
My stomach twisted again, but this time it had nothing left to give. I started
to panic and fell to my knees, panting heavily, trying to get some air but it
wasn't working. I fedt like I was being stabbed by a thousand needles again.
Mako and Bolin rushed over to help me up but I couldn't keep it together and
lost consciousness. I tried fighting it as hard as I couldn but was sucked into
the darkness. I had to give up and allowed it to consume me.
What on earth had I ever done wrong to deserve this.
...
I opened my eyes again. Mako and Bolin had dropped me back on the floor and had
turned me on my back so I could breath in more air.. They had put a pillow
under my head and a wet rag over my temple. Bot were standing above me, staring
down at me with concerned looks, frightened even.
"Bro, are you okay?" Bolin questioned concerned
"No! I'm not fucking okay Bolin!" I exclaimed while jumping up and picking up
the poster from the floor, almost wobbling back over. "Age 4, this can't be
right!" I muttered seemingly to myself. "Who is the father?" I inquired while
sitting myself down groggily on the couch again, still looking into Roku's eyes
with grinding teeth.
"Well, the police said there was no name filed on the birth certificate." Mako
proclaimed as he stood in front of me.
I raised my brows. "Of course. I know where this kid is." I said out loud
without even thinking it trough.
"You do?" the boys said in sinc, looking shocked at this revelation.
"He's safe. You'll find him in a homeless shelter for kids. It's also an
orphanage."
"Rokoyu, you need to explain this to us." Mako said crossing his arms over his
chest as he sat down on the table. "Because I can see sitting here that you
know more then you are letting onto."
"I found him." I scratched my nose. "Not three days ago. He was in an alley all
by himself. He tried to firebend at me. I calmed him down and took him to the
shelter, end of story." I explained myself. "It all makes sense now."
"What makes sense?" Mako asked
"Why  her parents wouldn't let me see her anymore!" I shouted as I held the
poster next to my face and looked up at the boys. "He's my son, don't you see
the fucking resemblance?" I said while tearing up, allowing the tears to flow
free now.
The boys widened their eyes as they put the pieces together, seeing the obvious
link. Mako jumped up and kicked over one of the plants in the room while Bolin
continued to stand there shocked.
"Why didn't I see this then!" Mako blamed himself. "Oh, sometimes I'm such an
idiot." he continued his rambling as he tapped his forehead against a beam.
The boys sat themselves down on either side of me and we sat there starring at
nothing for several minutes, unable to comment any further on the matter for
minutes, shaking our heads in disbelief.
"This day just keeps getting better and better doesn't it? I have to get him
out of that place. He's my son for pete's sake. I-I have to be a father to him,
he obviously needs one. I need to see him, tell him who I am, what his mother
meant to me... but... does he really need me? He doesn't know me, I don't know
him. I'm a lying piece of shit, a no good bastard that doesn't deserve the love
he receives from his friends. I'm an Equalist, an enemy of his kind... my
kind... I'm poison. I can't take care of him. I can't be a realistic father to
him... I don't deserve to be."
I removed my hands from my hair. "He's better off without me."
"What are you talking about Rokoyu?" Mako declared surprised. "You're his
father! He needs you, just as much as you need him!" Mako exclaimed with a
stern look on his face
"No he doesn't Mako. He doesn't even know who I am. He'll get adopted by some
nice family and live his life in peace. My life is so fucked up, there is
nothing good I can offer him. It's better this way, trust me."
"Perhaps not, but you know what you can offer him?" he placed a hand on my
shoulder again. "A father, his real father. We both lost ours to violence.
Wouldn't you want one more day with yours on this planet? What wouldn't you
give to see him one more time? Come one man, I know you're better then this."
"I would give everything." I snapped at him
"And now you want to take this boy's chance away at meeting you? This is your
business Rokoyu, I'm okay with that, but I know what my answer would be. It's
your decision and I sympathize with your arguments, but you would be making a
decisions forhim, and I don't think that is what you want. The Rokoyu I knew
would never do that."
I nodded at Mako wipping my eyes dry with another tissue "Correct, but the
facts still stand. I would be a worthless father."
"You don't know that, remember you saved his mother from those thugs that tried
to... you know... A man that has the courage to stand up for the people he
loves, deserves a chance." Mako tried to talk me out of it
"...and I'm also the man that failed in keeping his mother safe from those
monsters!" I retorted slamming my hands on the table in anger and emotion.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for that. You did all you could and the
circumstances surrounding your parents deaths made it even more difficult for
you." Mako reasoned with me, still one hand on my shoulder.
"I'll think about it" I lied to keep Mako appeased. I had already made up my
mind.
Mako didn't have all the info I did and I knew that he would be better off in
the orphanage. I needed to get out of the appartment. All of this was to much
to handle on top of the other news I had gotten that day. I didn't want to boys
to see me break down even further. I got up from the couch.
 "Boys I don't think you will mind if I miss your match tonight. I need to
process all of this." I pointed at the poster clutched in my hands, almost
clinging to it like a junkie to his stuff. "... and everything that came out
here tonight stays in this room." I declared and both of the stared at each
other for a couple of seconds in worry. I grinded my teeth and bit my lip. Boys
have I made myself understood?" I asked firmly and both of them nodded at me
weakly. I hated having to sound so cold but I needed to get my point across.
"We got your back Rokoyu." Bolin said.
I walked over to the ladder and started descending. "Oh and if you see Korra
tonight just tell her I got sick from our little dinner and went home."
Mako looked down on me while I continued my descend from the top of the hole
"You really like her don't you?" I stopped halfway and looked up at him
"What?"
"Korra... you really like her"
"None of your business." I gave him a half smile as I released the ladder and
dropped to the floor. I looked up at him one final time and sighed. "Besides
Mako, what you said earlier about me not making decisions for others?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not the Rokoyu you knew back then. You realize that right?"
"I do."
"Good." I nodded weakly and left his viewpoint.
The next hour was a blur. I stumbled through the streets without any purpose or
goal. I eventually found a bar and started pouring shot after shot down my
throat. The bartender eventually stopped taking my money and kicked me out of
the establishment as he wanted to go to bed early. I wandered the streets some
more and surprisingly found my way home in my shitfaced state. I didn't even
know what time it was anymore.
I tried putting the key in the keyhole of my appartment, but  failed miserably.
I started cursing loudly at my failures when suddenly the door swept open.
Daskana stood in the doorway with her night robe around her, glaring at me with
pure anger. She wanted to start scolding me, but I didn't even give her a
chance to do that. I embraced her and pushed my face into her robe, crying and
weeping like I had been doing for hours. Nothing I mumbled made any sense to
her. She was shocked to see me like this, like I said, crying wasn't something
I did often, if at all, so this must have been a culture shock for her.
She knew what to do in case of alcohol abuse, so she gave me her preferred cold
turkey treatment. She pulled of my clothing as I was shaking too much to even
help her with such a difficult task. She shoved me into the shower an allowed
ice cold water to run over me. There are many ways to sober up, but a cold
shower definitely does the trick. After it was finished I was at least able to
put on my own nightwear again and stumbled to my bed. Of course I was still
pretty drunk though and just dropped myself on my bed without moving to much of
the covers. I allowed the darkness to take me again and the last thing I
remembered was Daskana putting a blanket over me to keep me warm.
"She does care about me."were the last words I thought to myself before I
passed out again
...
I woke up violently, sweating and panting. I was in my own room and that fact
was a big surprise to me. How on earth had I gotten here? The last memory I had
about the night before was inside the bar, me pouring some more alcohol down
the drain to sooth the pain. I suddenly felt the rush of my enormous headache
pain my head and I dove into the pillow, trying to numb the feeling, but it
didn't quit work. I felt like someone was constantly hitting me with a flat
hammer. I realized from the little bits of sun coming through the blinds in my
room that it was already morning. And boy what a morning it was.
The door to the room swung open and Daskana entered with a tray. "Ah you're
awake. Get up drunk, I've made you breakfast and something that will help that
hangover of yours."
I sat myself upright against the wall and looked at her as she put down the
tray and sat herself down on the bed.
"How... when did I get home?" I questioned with a raspy voice, the taste of
liquor still present in my mouth.
"Around three in the night schmuck."
"Did I say anything?" I asked tentativly, hoping, praying I hadn't revealed
anything of the days events.
"Not much really. The only three things I gathered from your mumblings were the
words: Korra - firebender and Roku. Now can you make any sense out of that, or
are you going to keep me in the dark here?"
I had told myself the day before I wasn't going to say anything to her about
everything I had found out, and I was going to keep my silent vow. I really
wanted to shout and tell her she was an aunt now, but I contained myself for
the best.
"Not really... I went to see that healer and she said the symptoms should be
gone in a couple of days. After that I did my job and bonded a bit with Korra,
as the mission dictates. Afterwards I went to see the match and had a drink
before coming home. It got out of hand, nothing to worry yourself about." I
lied trough my teeth.
She eyed me with a nasty look and I could tell she didn't buy the story at all.
If looks could kills he would have stabbed me right trough the hart there and
then.
"Okaaaay... if you don't want to tell me the truth, then that's fine. It's your
burden to carry not mine, you're a grown up after all. Eat you breakfast and
drink this up." she pointed at a cup with a green substance.
"What's that?" I questioned as I lifted it up and squinted my face at the green
stuff.
"It's a shake, made it myself. You don't need to know what's in it, just drink
it up and you'll be able to deal with the day without falling over after every
step you take. Once you're done meet me in the kitchen. I'm going to give you
the low-down on tonight's operation, that is if your still offering to help?"
"Of course, I always keep my promises." I nodded my head at her
"Good!" she responded
I did as she said and swallowed the green substance. Disgusting didn't even do
it justice, it was repulsive and gross, making my stumoch wanting to eject the
substance in an instance. It took my utmost best to keep myself from throwing
it back out. Dasakna handed me some water to wash it down better, and I ate my
breakfast in silence while she sat in a chair, inspecting her fingernails,
almost seemingly standing watch on my behalf  . For once she had actually gone
through the effort to make breakfast. No more damn seaweed some for me! I
chewed down on the goods and was surprised to find it was delicious. She was a
great cook, if only she actually cooked more often. That'd be great actually.
"What have I done to deserve this?"I questioned myself as we shared a sideway
glance.
"So, who would have thought your girlfriend would make for such an excellent
pro-bending player." She teased while kicking her chair back and forth.
"Excuse me?" I questioned, brows raised and she seemed equally confused by that
response.
"You did see the match right? The Avatar played for the Fire Ferrets and saved
their skins from being disqualified. Her interventions means they are now
officially placed for the tournament. Of course, having been there you know
what I am talking about?" she teases again as she came closer to the truth, not
that I was going to give it to her.
I pretended the little slip up hadn't occurred and shoved another spoon of food
in my mouth. "Sure, one hell of a player she turned out to be, but since when
do you listen to pro-bending?" I asked with a mouthful, diverting attention
away from what was needed to stay hidden beneath lies and deception.
"Some customers requested to listen in on the match last night and Narook
agreed to it. I heard the whole ordeal. I laughed my ass off when they wiped
the floor with her, but when she pulled herself together and ensured victory
for the team... that's when I realized she's not going to be an easy target, as
you have so blatantly put it, but since you told me you were there last night,
you came to the same conclusions as me." she teased with a slight bit of venom
rolling off her tongue.
She got up from her seat and walked towards the door in an arrogant pose,
knowing damn well that there was a lot more to the story.
"I thought you left after you shift ended?" I questioned her as she touched the
doorhandle.
She stopped and furrowed her brows at me. "Ah about that, no I went back a
couple of hours later. The next time you dare to bring that whore to my work...
things might get nasty. Stuff that in your thick head, brother." she sneered
once more with venom at me while storming out of the room.
I knew she was right, better to keep those two separated for now... What
concerned me more was that from her tone I could tell she too was keeping
something secret from me. If only I knew what it was. It had something to do
with Narook, this much was certain.
I ate the rest of my breakfast, pondering the situation over  and regained some
flashes from the day before. How I had found out about me being a bender, how I
had decided to unlock my bending, how I had learned about Aki's fate and that I
had a son with her named Roku. A boy I rescued from the streets not only two
days earlier.
"Fate has got to be messing with my head. It's almost as if the cosmic energy
just likes to prove my way of life wrong..."
My decision on the matter still stood. Roku was going to have to stay in the
orphanage and be adopted by a family that would treat him nice. Hopefully one
in the Fire Nation, the homeland of his natural element, far away from the
shithole that Republic City had become, far away from the poison that was me.
Concerning Aki, my old lover, the mother of my child, my guilt was massive at
that point. I had suppressed her memory to the back of my mind. No attempt had
been made in the last three years to save her from those monsters. I had the
means and resources to do so, a crew of the best nonbender warriors in the
city, and all under my direct command. We would have wiped the floor with those
freaks, and I would have rescued her. I could have proposed to her, making her
my wife, so that I could protect her until the end of my days. I had negelected
to any of that, all because I had been so hard at work to build up my career
and the movement. I had tossed the right thing out of the way for my desire for
revenge. I was a monster, and didn't deserve have to have Roku as my son... who
on earth could argue with me on this one if they had all the info to judge.
I lifted myself out of bed and found my clothes from the day before had been
washed and folded onto a chair. I wanted to put them on, but then I realized I
needed to get some business done that day, important Equalist business, so I
lifted myself in one of my trusty suit and went to check up on my sister in the
kitchen. To my own surprise that green stuff Daskana had prepared for me worked
wonders and the headache had numbed considerably, but the guilt and shame of
the revelations would probably stay a part of me for the rest of my days.
I sat down with her while she explained me how the operation was going to
unfold, and what my part in it would be. One team would stack up on the front
door while two secondary teams would kick in the back door. A simple surround
and crush tactic that worked every time. By having them believe the frontal
assault was the most powerful one they would focus all attack in one direction,
only to be raped in the ass by my sisters advance.
Once Daskana had outlined the final details about the mission I decided to fill
her in on what happened to Aki. They never were friends, but at least she had
given her blessing on us being a couple back in the day. So by logic she
deserved to know the fateful end of Aki Chou.
"Daskana, do you remember Aki?" I questioned her, trembling a bit at the sound
of Aki's name.
She raised a curious brow "Of course... why do you ask?"
"She's dead, did you know that?"
"Nooo...." she held her hands in front of her mouth "What on earth happened to
her?"
"Her freak parents happened, those monsters drove her to suicide..." I pointed
in the air as if directing my finger towards the direction where the Dragons
Flats were located.
Daskana realized this must have been the reason why I had gotten so drunk last
night and jumped over to give me an tight embrace.
"That's terrible! I'm so sorry for giving you a hard time this morning." she
said as she wept a couple of tears onto my shoulder.
 I couldn't cry anymore, I had no more tears to give after the night before. Of
course there was a hella more to the story, but I couldn't bring myself to tell
her the rest. It would be too much for her to handle. She was already a wreck
form hearing the little I did allow her to know.
Our embrace was warm and it gave me more comfort then any bottle of scotch
could give me. It's amazing how fast you forget that when you stare down to the
bottom of a glass. We stayed there for a while, talking softly about what a
nice girl Aki had always been. Eventually Daskana decided to take a fresh
shower to shake off the cold feeling. I couldn't argue with that one.
We agreed to meet up later for the mission and I left for work. My first stop
was the bank where I picked up the required funds to pay miss Kaza. Then I
walked past the orphanage, standing outside of the main doors and staring up at
the many windows. I wanted to go inside, really I did, but it would only
complicate things to such a degree it would become unbearable. It pained me to
know my own flesh and blood was in there, and that I was a coward for not going
to see him. I forced myself to walk away until I reached my office.
At the office Aya handed me all my messages and documents that needed to be
signed and got to work. The day unfolded painfully slow, making me doubt my
decision even more. Mako's words saw to that. I bit trough it and grinded
trough the paperwork that had been stacked up because of my lack of activity
from the last couple of days. I once again instructed Aya to get me some food
when lunch came around.
"Aya, can you go an grab me some roasted Komodo Chicken." I called out trough
the door. "I'm to engulfed in my work to do it myself." She nodded her head and
quickly put on her coat "... and bring something for yourself." I added while
handing her a couple of banknotes. She raised her brows at this, but left
without pursuing the matter.
I worked my way through some tough calls, waiting for her to come back came
back with the grub.
"No Mister Falcao I assure you that at this current time and moment it would be
wiser to just hold onto your stock of Magmar Steel. The company directors have
decided to raise the fixed capital once more to fully ensure the financial
stability of the company an convince stockholders that their current losses
will be a thing of the past in the up and coming financial year." I rolled my
eyes as Aya cam back inside, she let out a small laugh as she watched me
struggle.
"If you think it best Fire then I trust you on this matter, but if turns out to
be false then I expect to be compensated for my losses."
"Absolutely mister Falcao. Now I'm sorry, but a customer just walked into my
office. Do you wish to continue this conversation at another point?" I said
with my gentle voice, screaming in anguish at the back of my mind. I was not a
happy person when I was hungry.
"No need, we discussed what needed to be discussed. Good day to you Rokoyu."
"Goodbeye Mist Falcao." I slammed the horn down and sighed loudly.
"That guy does not understand the concept of shares does he? You won't pay him
a dime when he comes complaining, right?" Aya called out to me as she sorted
out the boxes of fast food on her desk.
I walked out of the office and collected my bag. "Absolutely not. He's an idiot
and I'll take his money every day. I'll play him like a tune, don't worry.
Say... why don't you come and join me in the office."
She raised her brows again in suspicion at my request.
"Sir? What happened to you yesterday? In the two years I've worked for you,
you've never asked me to eat together in your office!"
"Well... let's just say that I'm a different man today. Come, join me." I
chuckled as I walked back in and dropped myself into my comfy office chair.
I worked my way through my favorite food while she was enjoying herself on some
noodles across from me.
"Sir? Can I ask you something... personal?"
The weird way in which she spoke raised my curiosity.
"Sure, shoot." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Well a couple of days ago me and some friends were talking about me working
here. I told them about you and your..." she coughed. "reputationwhen it comes
to women. They couldn't quite believe a man like that never took his chances
with me..." she blushed and hesitated before going any further. "Sir, am I not
attractive enough for you?"
The nature of her question completely jumped me. In the two years we worked
together she never dropped her professionalism, and neither had I. We didn't
discuss our private lives. I didn't even know if she had a boyfriend or was
perhaps even married. I couldn't quite make out if she had feelings for me or
was just trying to make an interesting conversation. I was simply boggled by
this question.
"Aya... you kindda have blown me straight out of the water here... do I think
you are attractive? Sure, absolutely. You're a very beautiful girl... sorry...
I mean woman, and I wouldn't mind sharing my sheets with you, but I don't think
we would make a very good match. We get along fine professionally and I don't
think we need to complicate our work experience. I find this question awkward
Aya, be honest with me, do you have feelings for me?"
Her face turned even more red and she looked down at her noodles in shame.
"There was once a time when I did sir." she admitted, growing even more red.
"We had been working together for several weeks and I tried sending you small
signals, but you never picked up on them. At first I felt hurt, because I
thought you were playing some sort of sick game with me, but then I realized
you truly had no idea. So to get over it, I worked harder than ever before, and
eventually got over my crush on you."
"Aya... I don't know what to say..." I stumbled over my words. I really had no
idea that she once had felt that way about me. "Look..." I tried to assemble
the right thing to say "I'm sorry if I ever offended you by not responding to
whatever you did to get my attention. I never wanted you to feel hurt. I'm
truly sorry Aya, but my reasoning still stands. We make a good team
professionally. I told you yesterday that I don't know what I would do without
you and I meant it. You'll find mister charming one day. A pretty girl like you
won't stay single." I smiled and she smiled back.
"It's fine sir, I understand you position. I'm going to let you eat in peace
now."
She placed the bowl of needles back in the box and left my office. I wanted to
stop her and peruse this conversation further to ensure there wasn't any bad
blood between us, but respected her decision and left her alone. It must have
been hard for her to keep this a secret for me for so long, so she probably
needed some time alone to process it.
I finished my meal and continued work. Paperwork had to be one of the most
tedious aspects of my job and I hated every second of it. I thanked the spirits
when I spotted a familiar face enter the building. I walked out of my office to
greet the newcomer.
"Mala! Welcome to my office. You can follow me inside if you would like?"
"Ah thank you Rokoyu." she said while nodding at Aya who was sitting behind her
desk.
I could sense Mala was quite excited to get the sale over and done with so I
hushed her inside. Who wouldn't be happy on a payday like this.
"Aya? Can you bring in the contracts?" I called out to her as I let Mala
enter."
"Of course sir." she responded while removing the paperwork from a drawer of
her desk.
We settled in the office and started the formalities. Mala and I each held a
copy of the contract and I read all the contests out loud while she followed me
on paper. Aya had been so kind to bring us some jasmine tea so that I
occasionally had the chance to wet my mouth. From time to time I could see from
the back of my eyes that Mala was constantly looking over towards me, licking
her lips along with it. She was one hot little gal if you asked me. We finally
got trough the last page and I sighed in relief that the most tedious part was
over.
"So Mala, everything in order, or do you have any objections to the contents
and requirements of this contract?"
"No Rokoyu, seems like your assistant added in all the necessary clauses and
information. I'm happy with this document as it is."
"Good, then I suggest we get to the most important part." I chuckled a bit
cheecky.
I got up from behind my desk and laid both copies next to each other. We both
signed each required field on each copy and finalized the deal with a
handshake. I stepped back behind my desk and removed a large painting from the
wall, exposing a large safe behind it.
"Well well Rokoyu, that's quite some hardware you got there." she teased.
I could have sworn she was hitting on me. Our meeting two days ago had gone the
same. There was some serious sexual tension between the two of us, but I
couldn't allow it to get the better of me. I had to make my sabbatical last
longer than five months, so I let her comments slip, pretending I was to
focused on the safe to notice her teasing. I pulled out the bag the bank had
put them money in and placed it onto my desk. Mala leaned in for a better look
as I unzipped it.
"Wow... I've never seen this much cash before." she stated, eyes sparkling as
she eyed the bills.
"You can count it if you like, each packet is a thousand Yuans and the bank
assured me there were 75 of these in here. If you don't wish to count it then I
would still like to show you this note. It is a grantee from the bank manager
that when the bag left the bank it contained 75.000 Yuans. Honesty goes before
anything in this business and I provide top service in that department."
"No, I trust you, if you guarantee it's all there then I wouldn't even dare to
suggest otherwise."
"That's fine either way." I said while handing her the bag, I placed her copy
of the contract in the bag and zipped it up again.
I held out my hand. "It was a pleasure doing business with you Mala. If you
don't mind I would like to request my senior editor to give me monthly
updates." I chuckled
"That won't be a problem boss."she said, licking her lips on the word boss. She
shook my hand stern and both our eyes locked. She leaned forward closer to my
right ear. "... and I wouldn't mind if the boss took me on his desk, right
here, right now..." she whispered teasingly, attempting to seduce me.
"Hold it together Rokoyu, don't do it.! You've got enough shit on your plate as
it is."
I let go of her hand and took a step back.
"Thank you for the offer Mala but let's keep this relationship purely
professional. You're a very attractive woman but let's not go down that road."
"Okay Rokoyu, I'm an adult, so are you. If you ever change your mind. My door
is always open to you..."
I nodded my head and she left my office. I followed her out to the main door.
"You're not on foot are you? Wouldn't want some thugs to take that bag of you
now." I asked a bit concerned.
"Oh, no problem, I have my own Satomobile." she replied with a smile.
"So... good luck, and here's to a fortuitous relationship Mala." I said as I
opened the door for her and allowing her to leave
"Likewise, see you in a month Rokoyu." she said and I repeated the same words.
I watched out of the window to make sure she left in her car unharmed. She was
carrying a lot of cash, making her a prime target for criminals. It all went
smooth and I stared until her Satomobile was completely out of my view.
I turned around and saw Aya was eying me with two curious eyes. "Ah yes Aya. I
need you to file the paperwork we just signed at the chamber of commerce. I
also need you to sell off several of my assets, today. I will hand you a list I
put together before lunch. Tell them to put the funds on my personal bank
account."
"Today?" she muttered disaponted. "Yes Aya, today. It's three PM now..." I
looked up at the clock. "... if you hurry you can get all of this done in an
hour. I'll stay here and close up shop around five. You can go home after you
file the paperwork. Consider it a small token of my appreciation for your work
here."
I didn't need to tell her twice. She rarely got to pinch an hour of her work
time and she quickly saw that she was getting the better deal here. She left
with all the paperwork as I returned to my office and got some more work done.
I spent the next two hours grinding and sliming some more customers in buying
stock. I closed up shop and bought the book Tenzin had recommended for my
recovery along with some dinner for myself.
I went home and ate my dinner in peace, trying to temporarily forget about my
inner demons. For most of the day my work had distracted me but now I was
sitting alone in my apartment, and the rollercoaster started up again. A
thousand thoughts races trough my mind as I sat there in my favorite reading
couch, looking into the darkning sky, wondering what might have been had I been
more presistent in he past.
I could have had it all. A house, a family, my father's shop to support them...
an honest life instead of the rogue one I lived now.
I pulled myself away from those thoughts. "It wasn't meant to be Rokoyu." I
rose from my chair and rushed into my bedroom. "You never were good at being
the regular guy. It's for the best. This is your life now, live with it.
Equality for all is all that matters."
I put on my uniform and did some exercises to keep busy until the big moment
arrived. Daskana had been quite precise in her orders, and I intended to follow
them to the letter.
Time to make those triad bastards pay for what they did on a daily basis...
***** Bolin's Betrayal *****
Chapter Summary
     Rokoyu and Daskana raid a Triad hideout to get Amon some guinea pigs
     for the Revelation, but what they find in the hideout will lead to
     quite a difficult position for the Fire siblings.
Chapter Notes
     Tell me what you guys think!
     I do not own the LOK, full credit goes to the respective owners and
     creators of that amazing show! Don't forget to review if possible!
See the end of the chapter for more notes
===============================================================================
                                       平
                                   Book One
                                  REVOLUTION
                                  Chapter IX
                               BOLIN'S BETRAYAL
              "The measure of a man is what he does with power."
                                     Plato
===============================================================================
                                        
I closed the front door of the apartment from the inside out and put the key in
my pocket. I checked my belt again to see if I had enough gear on me pouches
and came to the conclusion I had plenty of ammunition to deal with the mission.
I checked my gear bag for the last piece of the puzzle and put both my
electrical gloves in my pockets before throwing the bag back into the secret
compartment. I pulled the lever and it closed like it was supposed to.
I checked if everything was secured before crawling out of the window, pulling
my mask over my face and climbed down the fire escape, inspecting the area
around me to make sure no one had seen me back out of my home.
Normally I would take a tram, but since I couldn't dress up in my long trench
coat I had to go for the sneaky approach. It would take me some time to get
over to the designated meeting place, so I had left way too early to give
myself some breathing space. The sun was giving the city the last bits of
warmth, so I had to be extra careful to remain hidden as I sneaked from alley
to alley.
I waited in the alley I had agreed to meet Daskana when suddenly a truck pulled
into it and the backdoor opened.
"Get in!" Daskana stage-whispered and I obliged.
In the back of the truck was my team, all present and ready for duty except the
one who had been sent home by Daskana. They were all gazing at me trough their
green goggles as I sat down on one of the benches. I hadn't seen them in some
days, so it was a bit awkward to say the least. Especially considering the
things that had come to light.
Corporal Sandor sat across me. He was the second in command of the unit now and
he was apparently glad to see me again.
"Master Sergeant Rixen, it's an honor to be fighting by your side once more,
sir." He held out his hand and I shook it.
"The feeling is mutual Corporal." I responded while still shaking his hand.
"Actually... it's Sergeant now." He happily pulled at the fabric of his right
arm and showed me had three stripes now instead of two.
"My appologies Sergeant. I've been out of the loop."
"No offense taken sir." he nodded his head as I tapped Daskna's shoulder next
to me.
"Are the bikes in place Vixen?" I questioned her.
Vixen was the nickname I had given her because one thing these men had
absolutely no clue about, was that their new boss was actually my own blood and
sister. I had always tried not to call her by her real name for security
reasons, and now that she was in charge, it mattered even more that I kept up
appearances. Or better: show her the respect her promotion demanded. On equal
terms at last. I knew she had to be loving this more then I was.
"Yeah, they are waiting for us in an alley close to the triad hideout. We
pulled a big tarp over them with a police insignia on it so no one would even
dare to take a closer look."
"Good, that's brilliant actually."
Everyone stayed silent for a time as the truck wobbled a bit over the bumpy
roads. One of the men raised his hand, wanting to ask a question. This little
motion allowed me to recognize him as Private Ryuu. He always raised his hand
before asking a question, a trait he had gained from an old schoolmaster who
always demanded the act.
"Sir, might I speak freely?"
"Go ahead soldier." I rolled my eyes behind my mask.
"Well... sir, I don't even know if I'm allowed to ask this, but here goes. What
is this mission Amon has sent you on? I mean no disrespect towards your
replacement; but we weren't notified at all. It just happened without any
debate. You suddenly weren't there anymore. It feels disrespectful towards our
working relationship."
"I'm sorry Ryuu, but I'm not at liberty to tell anyone any specifics about the
mission. I'm sorry you feel that our separation was a bit... abrupt, but I need
you guys to be assured that this won't hamper this unit in any way. Besides I
go where Amon wants me to go, this isn't a democracy. The mission is important
enough for me to hand you over in the caring hands of the Master Sergeant here.
I have accepted my faith and will be around to assist you guys when necessary,
that much is certain. I need you guy to give Vixen all the support you can
give."
He got what he had to say out of his system and accepted my explanation and
nodded his head. The whole truck probably had a high desire to know what
exactly I was doing, but there was nothing I could tell them. Amon would rip me
to pieces if I did.
The truck pulled to a stop and everyone bar the only two other female members
of our crew got out. They had orders to bring up the motorcycles along with the
truck driver who was apparently was a simple grunt that had been selected for
this mission because of his driving skills. Not too many people in the city
actually had a driving license, let alone one to operate a large truck and to
be able to drive it fast and effectively. We were lucky to have him around to
be frank.
The darkness had fully set by that time and we sneaked trough the alley,
climbing a fire escape to the rooftop opposite our target building. I walked
over to the ledge while the guys made themselves comfortable on a couple of
mattresses they had dragged up there for their stakeout. They had even carved a
pai sho board for amusement on the back of a crate that also served as a table.
I was impressed to say the least at the quality of the self made board. One of
them pulled out his sack with stones and they started playing a couple of
games.
I got down one knee close to the ledge, staring at the triad headquarters when
suddenly someone held out a set of binoculars beside me. I accepted them
without even looking at who gave them to me and looked through the glass,
noticing a red hotrod pull up to the headquarters. A guy got out of the
driver's side and I could hear him whistling a jazzy tune. Someone else got out
from the other side, but I couldn't quite see his face. I adjusted the zoom
function on the binoculars but the hoodlum only pulled up his collar higher to
remain incognito.
"Guy with the Water Tribe get up is Shady Shin. He's one of our prime targets,
I have no idea who the John Doe on the right is though." Daskana said to my
left.
 I guessed she too was gazing at the scene below and had been the one who
handed me the binoculars. I kept on gazing at the unknown figure as the two
walked over to the door and greeted the four guards. The way this mystery man
walked seemed familiar, but I couldn't quit place it.
"So we're after Shady, huh? Good, I've always wanted to put that smug scumbag
in his place. We'll find out who mister mysterious is."
We waited for at least two hours until all bare one scumbag we were after was
inside of the building.
"We need to make our move now." Daskana commented as I played with one of my
gloves, sitting down on the ledge.
"But we are still missing one guy. Don't you want all five?" I argued.
"No issue. We'll just grab one of the lower ranked members. Amon won't notice
the difference, and it doesn't really matter that much. It's mostly Zolt he's
after."
"Okay Vixen, let's get the show on the road then." I breathed out and got up,
signaling with my finger to the guys it was time and they jumped up, picking up
their pai sho tiles and putting them back on their belts.
"So everyone clear on the game plan? Team one moves up on the front while the
other two teams come in from the back. Salma and Dasva will bring up the rear
for extraction." We all nodded our heads at my sister and started descending
the fire escape. "Okay guys, watch each other's backs and let's get this done
cleanly." she gave out one final instruction before the group split up.
I moved into position with my three guys in the alley across the building. Once
we spotted a mirror signal in the alley next to the target building the
operation commenced. We dashed forward and expertly threw our bolas at the four
guards at the front door. They were caught completely off guard and were
wrapped by the ropes. We moved over them and expertly chi blocked them, gagging
and dragging them into the alley next to the building. We prepared to breach
the door by stacking up, but when it suddenly swung open I was forced to act.
It seemed we had made a bit too much noise and I came face to face with Shady
Shin. There was no time to waste and I quickly dashed inside to engage him,
shoving him up against a wall while shouting to the others to breach the room.
"Move in now!" I jabbed all of his chi points and charged in after my men.
The benders were shocked to see their hideout under attack and prepared to
defend it from the four of us. They started bending at my troops who expertly
dodged the fire, earth and water strikes. The furniture in the room took one
hell of beating and there was some glass shattering as well. The triads in the
room had left the back room door completely unguarded as planned and that
worked in our favour. With a batting ram Daskana and her men breached and came
storming in, engaging them in the rear.
The criminals were facing two fronts and were quickly overpowered. Only Zolt
was still standing and Daskana engaged him in close combat, chi blocking both
his sides. She had dealt with one of the most notorious criminals in the city
in a matter of seconds. I was quite proud to see how good she had become.
From the corner of my eyes I spotted someone running up the stairs. How had we
missed him? He must have been hiding under a table or something. I didn't
hesitate and chased after him. The chase lasted all the way up to the roof. He
ran up to the ledge and stared down, but it was too high to jump down. I
quickly ascertained that this fellow was mister mysterious from earlier. I
didn't know what bended so I pulled out my equalist glove and placed it over my
right hand.
"Stay away from me!" the scumbags shouted as his chest heaved up and down.
There was something familiar in his voice, a mixture of goofiness and fear, but
I still couldn't place it. It made the adrenaline in my body pump even faster.
I pulled out a bola and started swinging them around me. The scum realized his
only chance of getting out of his precarious sitation was to fightt me head on
so he turned around, coming face to face. My heart basically stopped as I
recognized the figure in front of me and slowed down my boa in disbelief,
holding the ropes next to my waist.
"Bolin!? What's he doing here!? He isn't supposed to be here anymore! He's on
the right path now. What the fuck did he get himself into now!?"
Bolin noticed my hesitation and seized the moment, bending a large piece of the
rooftop towards me. I was quick enough to realize that I nodded off a bit and
needed to dodge. With one quick jump into the air I dodge the block of earth,
but that had definitely been a close one. The fact he was attacking me left me
without too many options. I could have tried to let him go but we were up to
high, then again I was so pissed at him I couldn't care less. The only way out
of this for him was back down the stairs, but then the others would catch me in
the act, and that was a big no-go for me. The only choice I was left with was
self defense. I spinned up my bola again and threw it at the earthbender. He
tried to dodge it, but to no avail, he fell to the floor grunting.
"Please no! You don't need to do this sir! I'm to young to die!" he shouted as
I moved over him.
He was attempting his utmost best to pull the bola loose, but it wouldn't give
way. I shook my head in disbelief that this goodhearted idiot had somehow ended
up there that night. I chi blocked him and attempted to lift him on my
shoulders, but he was resisting, and in doing so at least doubled his weight.
I put him down on the ground again, pushed my mouth against the built in
respirator so that my voice would sound a lot different. "Look... you can
either come quietly and I won't be forced to restrain you any further. If that
happens. It... will.... hurt..." I held out the glove close to him and made it
spark a bit. "Is... that... understood?"
He was freighted and pale, all the nerves in his face at snapping point. He
realized he had no choice but to comply, so he nodded and let me handle him..
"Okay fatty, time to bring you in. Piece of shit triad scum!" I sneered with
venom.
I felt betrayed by him. My best friend, My brother. Mako had assured me they
were no longer living this life, but obviously Bolin still was. This betrayel
only fuelled my anger and made me colder towards him then I normally would be.
It was unacceptable on all levels. He knew the triads had been responsible for
my father's death. Why would he still run with them behind his brothers back?
I lifted him up over my shoulders again and made my way down to the lower
levels of the building.
"You could stand to lose a few." I said while carefully descending down the
stairs, but no response came, his fear sweat dripping down his face. I dropped
him down with the other detainees and nodded at Daskan, who shook her head as
she spotted Bolin. Some of the guys were busy tying up our targets with proper
rope, while others were dragging the ordinary guards up the stairs to lock them
in the bathroom. I noticed the front door was still open so moved over to
slowly close it as if nothing had happened there. Who was I kidding? The noise
alone was enough for the neighbours to call the cops. We had to extract, and
fast.
Then I spotted I one of the men putting rope around Bolin. "No, not him, put
him with the others in the bathroom." I ordered and he nodded in compliance.
"No! He comes with us! We need five men, and we are missing one of our targets.
He'll do just fine." Daskana sneered as she stood next to me.
I had to do something. I couldn't be responsible for Bolin losing his bending.
It was all he lived for, I could not that hanging over me. Yes I was absolutely
furious at him, in fact I wanted to beat him up for it, but he didn't deserve
what was in store for the others. My conscience would never be able to handle
that.
"Master Sergeant Vixen, a word please?" I signaled her to come to a corner to
shield our conversation from the others. "Daskana, what are you doing. You do
realize that is Bolin right?" I whispered to her
"So...? He betrayed you brother, again. They told you they were not doing this
anymore, and here we us catching us in the act. I told you it was a mistake to
involve them and now he must pay the ultimate price. I will not discuss this
any further. I am in charge here and the final word is mine. You pull yourself
together and get real."
"Okay, team leader... if you say so. You're the boss." I sarcastically snapped
at her.
She was right though, this was her operation and there was little that I could
do but man up and take another punch right in the guilt. One more thing to add
to my list of things I wish I had done differently.
She raised her finger in a swinging motion. "Saddle up boys! Exfil is in one
minute."
We lifted the men up and walked out of the back door, putting them in the back
of the truck. Daskana and I agreed to take the last two bikes in the column to
cover the rear. I mounted one of the rear bikes and active the ignition. I
could hear some of the guys giving the gas a little nudge as the engine noises
filled the back alley. I did the same and a mixture of exhaust gases and steam
coming from pipes filled the alley.
Suddenly a cracking sound behind us caught both of our attention, swinging our
heads over our backs. The back door of the hideout was kicked open with force,
causing ever more damage to the already battered door.
For a second I thought the thugs we had locked up in the bathroom had escaped
and now came to rescue their masters but only two people came running out of
the hideout. To my own surprise it was Korra and Mako! I quickly signaled the
truck to leave and everyone squeezed the throttle to get the hell out of there
as they followed my order flawlessly.
"What the fuck are they doing here?"I thought to myself as I instinctively
reached for one of my pouches and threw a smoke canister at the approaching
pair, Daskana did exactly the same thing, proving we did in fact had a clear
sibling lnk. We flicked the gas of our bikes and raced after the others as
smoke covered the entire alley.
The adrenaline was pumping massively trough my body as I nervously kept on
gazing backwards to see if they had elected to follow. At first I thought our
smokescreen had worked, but then I spotted the silhouette of Korra's pet, Naga,
appearing in the smoke. It came into full view with the Avatar and pro-bender
mounted on top.
"It's got to be Bolin right? They came to his rescue. Fuck... me...."
Suddenly fireballs flying over my head brought me back to attention and I
weaved in order to dodge the incoming fire. The tarmac under my bike began to
shake, making the front wheels wobbel. I was launched into the air thanks to a
massive fissure that had been bend upwards. This had to be Korra's doing. She
was an earthbender after all. I tightly hugged the metal frame as I braced for
an accident but for some miracle the bike stayed on the road upon impact.
Miraculously I managed to stay on it. I punched the gas again in order to stay
ahead of my pursuers.
We drove onto a more open place and I pulled up next to Daskana. She looked
over towards me and gave me a simple nod, I gave one back. There was only one
way this was going to end well for us. If we wanted to get these prisoners out
of here, then we needed to distract them, one way or another. In perfect unison
we slammed the brakes and slid our bikes to a stop, a mixture of gasoline and
burning rubber filling my nostrils. I could see the Avatar on her pet steaming
towards u and got a great idea. I searched my bola pouch and threw one directly
at the legs of the mighty Polar beast. It worked, the bola latched itself
around her legs and she crashed down to the ground face first. Mako and Korra
were launched into the air and landed a few feet away from us, both grunting in
pain from the fall. We dismounted the bikes and I quickly turned to Daskana.
"You take him... I will deal with her." I ordered, effectively taking over
command from her. "Non-lethal only!" I added into her direction for good
measure, charging forward.
We elegantly jumped over to them as they regained their footing. Korra was fast
to send a massive fire blast in my direction. I jumped as high as I could,
twisting several times in the air to avoid the heat. I continued my run for her
as soon as my feet connected with the tarmac again.
My inner feelings were no longer that of guilt, more like frustration and
anger. I wanted to get over to her as fast as possible, to show her who was
boss. I closed the distance and engaged in hand to hand combat with her. I
attempted a quick jab to the central chi point of her neck, but she managed to
block me with her left hand. She quickly directed another fire blast with her
right hand, me ducking just in time. She bended some more fire at me again and
I used the back of my forearm to guide hers away from me. She changed hands to
counter, but I followed in my defense. She took a single step back and used a
sideways motion to spin in a full moon fire kick. I leaned to the left,
allowing the fire to come real close, but not hit me. I could feel the heat of
that particular attack, and that was not a verry pleasant expierience.
"Spirits! That was fucking close!"
She moved her leg upwards to firebend at my head, but I mimicked her and guided
her fire away from me. I wrapped my lower leg around hers and pull it down,
 exposing her right side completely open for attack. I landed about four jabs
before backing away. She stumbled back as well, only one good side available to
her now.
This match was going to be over quickly. In fact so far this hadn't really been
much of challenge. How wrong of me to think it would be that easy.... she was
determined to fight to the bitter end. I should have known it would go down
like that. If only in that moment I had held back.
She stared a bit flabbergasted at me, grunting in discomfort. No longer did her
face stream confidence, but rather staggeration, She grabbed hold of her right
numbed arm with her left, her eyes in big wonder about what had just happened
to her. She was angered and charged forward determined, shooting fire from her
left arm and foot in a desperate attempt to keep the fight in her favor, but
she should have known the consequences. Her right side was so numb she was
completely off balance, and I didn't even have to break a sweat dodging her
attacks, bobbing and weaving. She was wearing herself out in her rage, and all
I had to do was wait and enjoy the show.
I could hear Mako grunt in discomfort as well a bit removed from us. A sideways
glance confirmed Daskana was going to town on him, kicking him to the floor by
shoving her knees in his abdomen. Her chi blocking had already cut off his
access to his element. At my side Korra was starting to get tired, and I jumped
forward, mimicking her move from a couple of days ago when she took down that
firebending triad. I grabbed her clenched fists and swirled her around me,
gaining momentum and threw her onto the ground hard. She groaned in pain as she
rolled over several times, coming to a step near my motorcycle.
I had thought that would have finally done the trick, but she defied that and
got back up again, even if was nearly tumbling over again. She was suffering,
sweat and bruises visible on her arms. She launched herself at me again with
fire, but I sidestepped and shoved her in the back, pushing her back on her
knees in order to jab the chi points on her left side. In a last ditch effort
she ended her last bit of fire at me from the back of her heel. I spotted it
just in time and planted my foot on the back of her boot, pushing it down in an
unnatural position. She screamed this time and kicked ferociously back with her
other foot. Pain does that with a person. I simply dodged the surprise attack
and stepped a bit back. Intrigued if she'd be able to do it again.
To my surprise she once again got back up, limping a bit, a visible mix of pain
and anger on her face, even some repressed pain tears.
This was getting silly. Normally enemies had already surrendered by this point,
but I should have known the Avatar would never surrender. I sighed annoyed and
dashed forward again, determined to bring this to a swift end, pretending I was
going in for a simple punch to the face. She prepared her defense and in the
last seconds before stricking I jumped up really high. It completely catched
her off guard. I kicked both of my feet forward, planting them on her chest.
Her face pinched together as the impact impeded her breathing ability. The kick
was much harder then I had  intended and she was catapulted backwards, once
again crashing to the ground in pain... much more pain than before.
She was lying on her side, chest moving up and down rapidly, her eyes blurrily
looking around her. I walked up to her, not wanting to get up again. I brought
my boot down hard in her ribs, hearing another loud groan from her. I had
stomped her so hard she cringed up a bit, clutching her ribs, breathing
heavily, at least trying to.
"Stop it you freak! Stop hurting her!" The disabled Mako shouted from a short
distance.
He had a vailiant point. I had already gone way further than necessary, as this
wasn't how I usually did things, but her insistence to continue the fight had
fuelled my desire to dominate this little battle of faith.
 I crouched down over her back and jabbed the remaining chi points. Not that
she had any fire left in her, but better safe than sorry.
I dragged her over the floor by one arm and threw her into Mako, who still had
some movement left in his arms. He reached for her arm and pulled her on her
back so she could breath properly again.
We should have left that instant, but I was so drunk on power I decided to have
a bit of fun.  I slowly strolled over to them. Daskana, standing next to them,
prepared to knock them out if they moved a single muscle.
"We should go and join-" she tried to get us moving, but I wouldn't let her.
"Shut up." I snapped in a downgrading tone, lowering myself in a dominating
position over the both of them. I pushed my mouth closer to the respirator
again in order to disguise my voice. "Well... well... well, what do we have
here? The Avatar and her boyfriend have come out to play..." I arrogantly
teased.
"You give us Bolin back, and we back off!" Korra grunted, seemingly still in
agony. As far as I could tell there was no bleeding so I assumed I had perhaps
sprained a few things and that she would only have some severe bruising after
this. I was not a healer so I couldn't be sure, then again, at that moment I
didn't really care either.
I shook my head slowly "They way I see things, you are in no position to make
any demands Avatar. You should count yourself lucky that you are destined for
greater things, because I would have no issues with ending you here tonight.
You believe yourself to be some all powerful being?" I said in a mocking tone,
the scowl on her pained face growing. "Clearly... you are not... because a
simple nonbender just wiped the floor with you, literally. Perhaps the two of
you should go back to benderschool for a while, think about that he next time
we face off. It was nice meeting you... Avatar." I teased once more, rolling
the R's of her title.
I got back up to my normal level and left them there, nodding at Daskana. We
mounted our bikes and we started the engines. I watched as Mako tried to pull
himself up again, meaning Daskana must have missed some of the chi points that
were utilized by his motor control. He pulled Korra to her feet, supporting on
each other.
"You cowards come back here!" she shouted in our direction as he put her arm
around him for support. We didn't comply of course and took off, laughing
loudly.
We headed towards the underground prison, leaving the normal road, driving into
the concrete sewage system. The metal bars that covered the tunnel were still
raised from the truck entering and we drove into the dark corridor, lighting
the way with our lights. Daskana flicked a switch on her bike and a side door
opened trough which we found parking lot. We parked the bikes with the rest of
the other machinery and walked back out of the small garage, closing it via a
remote on the wall. We stepped onto one of the electrical trolleys and Daskana
manned it, while I sat down next o her.
"Brother... whew... I thought you were going to kill her. Good to see you are
still in there... I almost thought you running after that bitch all the time
had soften you up, but boy... was I wrong about that."
"Shut up." I snapped at her
"Why? You did what you had to do, she didn't back off, she kept attacking and
paid for it."
"Because that's not who I am! We don't do things like that normally!" I nearly
screamed, unleashing allo
"Hey, calm the fuck down, we still have work to do."
"Don't act like what I did was okay. She was down on he floor and I kicked her
for good measure. I just... I just don't feel that it was necessary." I sighed.
"I've had such a shitty couple of days and I took it out on her."
"Well if it bugs you that much, you might as well help her recover from it, you
know, getting closer to her and all that."
The trolley stopped at the central processing area. The guys were unloading the
prisoners and taking mug shots of them. Quang stood nearby, watching over
proceedings until he noticed us coming off the trolley. He walked over to us, a
grin growing under his mustache.
"What happened? Where did those two suddenly come from?" He questioned. He must
have already been briefed by our group about our unexpected troubles.
"They came for him." I pointed at Bolin while they were taking a mug shots of
him, sweat streaming down his face.
"What does the Avatar want with that criminal? It doesn't make any sense."
"It does when you know that's Bolin, one of her teammates on the Fire Ferrets."
I explained, while crossing my arms over my chest.
"We took them down, there is nothing to worry about." Daskana completed with a
curt nod. "Mission accomplished, almost completely like plan."
Quang moved closer to me, shielding us from the others. "She didn't recognize
you, did she?" he whispered.
I shook my head in return. "No, at least I hope not. I shall find out tomorrow
I guess."
Quang now shook his head. "You are not going anywhere Master Sergeant. Amon has
put you in charge of the prison until the revelation. It's your responsibility
to keep these men in line for now. We still have a lot of work to do, so he
felt you were the right man for the job. He wants no mistakes on this."
I was not too pleased with this information, turning to my sister. "You didn't
inform me of this... why?"
She shook her head back. "I didn't know, get off my case asshole."
She left the conversation and ushered the crew into a line, congratulating them
on a job well done, informing them they could go home for now, they had
deserved that privilege after such an op.
"She seems to be adjusting well to the new situation." Quang commented, that
smirk still etched onto his face.
"Too well for my taste. She's getting cocky, and that might get people into
trouble."
"Relax, if she look a bit like you she should do just fine." he joked.
"That's what worries me." I joked back, finding the irony in those words.
"Well...." he looked down at his watch. "...I'm needed elsewhere. The warden
should be in his office. He'll hand the control of the prison over to you once
you're ready sunshine."
Quang left soon after with Daskana. I stayed as ordered, continuing observing
how the detainees where chi blocked again and chained with platinum cuffs to
the floor of their cells. I walked over to the warden's office and he was
already standing in the doorway, keys in his hands.
"I've been informed that I should hand over my command to you Master Sargeant
Rixen." he opened and I nodded.
"That is correct Sergeant." I replied
"Here you go sir." I took the keys from him. "Change of the watch is at seven
in the morning and one again at seven in the evening." he explained, saluting
me before taking his leave.
I stepped into the small office and threw the metals on the desk. I sat myself
down behind it and lifted my feet onto the metal, having a moment to ponder
about that nights events. Not only Bolin's betrayal, but my own violent actions
towards Korra and Mako as well.
"You are one piece of work you know that? That was totally uncalled for. What
the fuck is wrong with you?"
It was the uniform, once I put it on I became someone completely else. It made
me feel powerful, and as such I lost track of what I was doing sometimes, as if
I engaged some kind of automatic pilot that I couldn't switch off. Even when
not wearing the gear sometimes I could act much more angrier and violent then I
wanted to be. The real me would never even dare to hurt a woman, let alone a
girl I like that much, once I put that mask on I could be a monster, end of
discussion.
Before Korra came to the city I was confident of most of my actions, not even
doubting their morality, but given the revelations of the past couple of days I
realized once again that I was not a hair better then the people I fought
against. I started to doubt my own promise of becoming a better man, so far I
had done nothing of worth to indicate I was honoring my own words.
"And I want to become a better person? Give me a break, there is not a single
act in this world that can set all of this straight."
Because of that perhaps the best course of action was to revel in the violence.
To accept my fate as a nonbender, and see this revolution trough, stopping the
Avatar in her attempts to quell our uprising. Undoubtedly tonight's events had
pitched her against the Equalists for good, that was totally on me, not that
Amon wouldn't have done it at some point. I was being forced to decide whether
to keep my own promise, or allow my hatred to consume me and accept that it
just wasn't meant to be, me being a bender that is.
I took some time but eventually I made the decision not to act on either,
letting things unravel for now. It would not aid anyone if I started letting my
doubts getting in the way of either life, that of Rokoyu the broker, and that
of Master Sergeant Rixen.
"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Yeah, that's the way forward for
now."
I got back to work, after all Amon's orders still stood, people didn't need to
think me weak or incompetent. It would allow me to temporarily focus on
something else.
I got up from the office chair and activated the intercom system. "All guards
are to report to the main courtyard, Rixen out!" I barked trough the
microphone, hopefully catching everyone's attention.
I marched out of the office to find men and women dashing for the main
courtyard in a hurry, me following them at a normal pace. All the grunts that
worked in the facility lined up in several rows in the courtyard, straightening
their backs. I walked down from the platform slowly, head held high, chest
forward and my hands tightly behind my back, stopping right in front of them
"Do you maggots know who I am?" I raised my voice inside of the mask.
" Sir, yes sir!" they shouted in choir
I started pacing in front of them. "Good! I don't know how you do things
normally down here, but let me be very clear. I will not tolerate any slaking,
nor will any of you be allowed to leave before this shift is over. We have some
very valuable targets in our holding cells tonight and they will need to be chi
blocked every twenty minutes. I know the effect normally lasts forty five
minutes to an hour, but these prisoners are the best at what they do. They are
triads, some of the most fiercest benders at there who will stop at nothing to
save their own hides. We have to be extra careful." I paused for a second
observing their reactions. One of them stared at his feet nervously, slightly
shaking his head. I stomped between the rows of grunts until I was very close
to his face. "Do you have a problem with that soldier?" I breezed, my
displeasure with him clear to read.
"No-no, not at all sir! It's just..." he stopped, hesitant to further explain
himself. He was rather short to be a fully grown man, and I had a small
suspicion he wasn't an adult, on the other hand I really couldn't give a single
shit.
"Speak private!"
"One of those men is famous sir, he's Bolin... an excellent pro-bender and-"
"So? He was found running around with the triads tonight, and now he's getting
what's coming to him." I didn't really mean that statement, but Bolin's actions
were still to fresh under my skin to simple move past them. "If your conscience
can't allow you to do your job, then perhaps I have no use for you down here?"
I scolded him firmly, leaving him shaking in place.
"No sir! Don't send me away, please! I-I'll do my job, you have my word on
that."
"Good. That goes for the rest of you." I stared around me, the men and woman
unwavering. "If any of you do not have enough believe in our cause, then I
suggest you find another order to serve. These men are benders, our enemy, and
don't you dare forget that!" I shouted to the rest of them.
I slowly backed away from the short chi blocker, walking back up the stairs to
the platform until I was overlooking them all. I gripped the railing and took a
deep breath of air.
 
"Any of you who no longer wish to be here, you may now leave, but know that you
shall be shunned from the movement. Failure to keep us a secret will result in
severe consequences. So... anyone interested in that?" I asked, this time more
gentler.
Nobody moved a muscle, indicating they were all onboard. "Excellent, this is
good teamwork people."
"Sir, yes Sir!" they shouted in unison again.
"UNIT DISSMISSED!" I screamed, making my voice echo trough the facility.
Like a colony of ants the perfect lines broke apart and everyone went back to
their designated stations. I approached the man... or rather boy I had scolded
earlier, stopping him as he as well intended to go back to his duties.
"Take me to this Bolin." I ordered, pretending I didn't know who he had
mentioned earlier was. As I walked behind him; I pulled out a chair from my
office and took it with me to the cell, dragging it behind me, making the metal
screech, undoubtedly scaring the prisoners, no matter how though they thought
they were.
I entered the cell and planted the chair in front of my friend in the wrong
direction so I could lean on the back. I nodded at the short chi blocker who
closed the door back up locked it. Bolin was sitting on his knees, looking down
at the cuffs that chained him down to the floor with a short chain.
"So I've been informed you are Bolin, a big pro-bender." I said gently, trying
to break the ice.
Bolin looked up, still looking terrified, eyes so cold and distant it shook me
to my core. People thought Bolin was dumb, but he knew enough from his time on
the streets when he had worked himself in a bed mes. I could see some rings
around his eyes, he had been weeping, something that only fed my guilt over him
being there.
"Why am I here?" He questioned, patting his face dry with his sleeve.
"Because you also happen to be a criminal." I softly said, pretending I didn't
give a hoot about him.
"I'm not a criminal! I wasn't supposed to be there!" he defended himself,
shaking his chains in frustration.
"Then explain it to me, why where you there Bolin?" I demanded, but
surprisingly he shook his head.
"Why should I tell you, do you even care?"
"I am the temporary warden of this institute, and I want to know the fine
details of my prisoners." It was a lie but Bolin would never sense such a
thing.
Bolin sighed heavily and looked down in shame as he began his tale. "I haven't
worked for the triads in years. This morning I was training with my team when
Butakha, the owner of the pro-bending league walked in and told us we needed to
cough up 30.000 Yuans for the championship pot. I told my friends I would
perform a street circus with my Fire Ferret pet, Pabu, to raise the money, but
the people weren't giving me much."
I wanted to slap my face at the stupidity of his plan, but this was Bolin, you
expected stuff like this from him, even if he was nearing adulthood.
"Go on."
"I was just minding my own business when Shady Shin pulled up in his hotrod and
threw me a big lump of cash. He told me that if I helped him with this one job
I would get a lot of money... all I had to do was stand in the room and keep a
lookout for things." Bolin finished his explanation with a sigh. "Guess I'm not
even good for that anymore. I didn't even hear you guys pull up to the door."
"You poor chump." I joked with a sadistic laugh. "Looks like you were simply in
the wrong place at the wrong time, but my reasoning still stands. You ran
around with the triads, accepting their money, hence you are a criminal in my
book. Was there no one else you knew that could have possibly loaned you the
money, or even helped you find a sponsor?"
I was playing with fire here, but I couldn't contain myself. I had to point him
to the big flaw in his thinking process. Would he never pick up a bit of wit
like his brother?
"Well... now that you put it like that... perhaps I could have asked Rokoyu to
help us. He's a nonbender just like you. You see he's some sort of businessman.
He could have helped us find the money, I think" Bolin mulled things over.
"See Bo, if you would just use your brain for once."I mentally sighed. "Ah,
I've heard about this Rokoyu before. Lost his parents to the triads, and now
you're telling me he's still hanging out with the likes of you? Perhaps we
should visit that fucking traitor and give him a little taste of our kind of
justice."
Bolin's eyes whent wide and he did something I would never hold him accountable
for. He lurched forward towards me. I could jerk back just in time and place
the chair back down once the chains pulled him down.
"No! Leave him alone, he has suffered enough! I'll stay clear of the triads! I
promise!" His voice echoed through the cell, fright all over his face.
This was what I had hoped to achieve with my visit. To scare him so much, he
was never going to run back to them anymore, money troubles or not. This could
never happen again on my watch.
"What insurance do I have you will keep your promise? What I understood from
your little story is that you used to work for them some time ago. It wouldn't
make very much sense for me to trust a man that keeps on running back to them,
like a random junk on the streets to his kick."
Bolin shook his head. "Sometimes I make stupid mistakes and get myself in
trouble. I didn't mean for this to happen. I know Rokoyu considers me a
brother. If he finds out about this he'll never talk to me again. I've already
had to miss him for two years. I don't want that to happen again. I won't got
back to them, I promise, please don't hurt him."
"You seem like a sincere guy Bolin and as such I'll let this slip. If I ever
catch you again, I will be forced to tell him... and perhaps knock some sense
into him about who he keeps as company."
"Man, Mako is going to be so worried about me right now." Bolin whispered to
himself, thinking I didn't hear it
"Oh he is. After we took you from the hideout, he and the Avatar came chasing
after us. Unfortunately for them they ran into me and one of my colleagues." I
laughed.
"What did you do to them? Tell me they're alive!" Bolin shouted in anger. He
was fierce and determined to know what had happened to his teammates.
"Oh they are not dead, do you think I'm that kind of person? I only roughed
them up a bit, couple of bruises here and there, maybe a sprained bone or two.
Nothing too serious." I dismissed his insinuation that I had killed them
"You monster! Why are you people doing this to us?"
"For Equality of course, this world has been infected by a virus and we are the
cure." I got up from my seat and looked down at him "You have no idea what you
have gotten yourself into, do you?" Bolin shook his head. "Well, tomorrow you
will pay a big price for your stupidity." I stated. "And I'll never forgive
myself for it."
I moved towards the door "What are you going to do to me?!" he shouted and I
turned in front of the door, on hand on the chair.
"Oh, you'll see..." I said and knocked on the door. The short guard let me out
and I went back to my office, dragging the chair behind me, creating that same
excruciating noise that reflected of the walls. I was tormenting the prisoners
and liked it. This was way too much power for me to be handling at that moment.
I opened the door to my office, only to find a familiar figure gazing over a
large city map behind my temporary desk, instantly dropping the chair in
surprise.
"Amon? What are you doing here?" I asked tentativly.
"I'm here for an update on your progress." his raspy voice said from behind the
mask, still gazing over every detail of the map.
I grabbed the chair back where it belonged and closed the door behind us for
some privacy. I moved closer to the desk and placed my hands one them. He was
still analyzing the large map on the wall as if there was anything usefull on
there that he didn't know already. I realized him placing me in charge of the
prison was a ruse to get me separated from the others so he could get informed
about my mission. It was clever, classic Amon. I couldn't figure out why he
wanted to keep this between us, but this was Amon, he never did anything
without thinking it trough, so he probably had a perfectly reason for it.
"What would you like to know Amon?"
"Everything you find of worth my friend. I asked one of the guards to bring us
some tea. It's been too long since I've had a private conversation with my
former student. To be honest with you I miss those moments."
As the guard walked in and placed the tray with tea on the desk Amon and I
switched places. I sat myself down in the comfortable leather office chair
while he made due with the wooden chair I had just dragged back in there. The
grunt left again and closed the door and was ordered by Amon to let nobody
disturb us. I pulled off my mask as I always did in his presence and tossed it
onto the desk. He leaned backwards and placed his right leg over his other one.
"So Rokoyu, I have given you time and space to make this work. How far are we
with things."
I picked up the tea and took a sip. "On the first day I succesfully made
contact with the Avatar. At first I had failed to keep up with her, but I
managed to locate her again in the park. She seemed so clueless on how life in
this city works. I mean she was eating koi fish out of the pond for crying out
loud!" I waved my hands in the air, remembering it well enough.
I could hear Amon chuckle from behind his mask. "Silly girl."
"One thing we could use against her is her apparent lack of knowledge on the
struggle nonbenders have to endure in this city every day. She had an argument
with one of our protestors in the park and even went as far as making the
following statement:'You are oppressing yourselves'." I said with my best
imitation of her voice.
Amon nodded his head as he also took a sip form his cup. "Excellent, I'll have
miss Kaza interview that protestor. It's a start."
"Well... a bit later she did something that was actually quite admirable. She
defended a poor shopkeeper from being extorted by three dangerous  triads, and
gave them the beating of a lifetime. You would have been impressed as well."
"No surprises there Rokoyu, pretending to actually care about the people with a
noble act here and there is her way of justifying her inability to do what
needs to be done."
"I don't know Amon, it did look rather spontaneous to me. She didn't even
hesitate helping that man, risking life and limb to crush those bastards."
"Rokoyu, do not underestimate her kind. Do not allow her poisonous ideals to
spread into yours. She is the virus, and we are the cure. Never forget that"
"I won't Amon, but the more time I spent with her, the more I'm starting to
doubt things, if only ever so slightly." I carefully lied, giving him an inch,
hopefully not an entire arm.
"You shouldn't, I have full faith in your abilities and so should you. I've
always carefully selected my personnel, and if I didn't see something special
in you, I would have never even asked you to help me built all of this. You are
determined and fierce, stay loyal to our principles, and everything will fall
back into its righteous place once we rise."
"Thank you for your wisdom." I greeted him with the formal Fire Nation
greeting. "I needed that, mentor."
I meant it, every time I was felt a bit down, Amon would be right there with
his magic words to pick me right back up. I too had missed the conversations we
used to have when he were just master and pupil.
"Anyway after said incident I made first contact as instructed and ever since
that we've been doing some activities here and there. I have a feeling she
considers me a friend and as planned by myslef she also seems to have developed
a friendship with my old bender buddies Mako and Bolin."
"Ah indeed, the fabulous pro-bending brothers. I have to admit it was a
brilliant move on your part to involve them. It grants your cover more merit.
There is now way she would suspect anything now. Your sister informed me a bit
about them and how she was pissed you let them back in. I believe one of them
is in our cellblocks right now?"
I nodded. "Yes, unfortunately Bolin is in our custody, stupid idiot got himself
involved with the triads again, now he'll have to suffer the consequences. I'm
sorry we couldn't get all five of them for you as you wanted."
"No need to be sorry, he'll do just fine. The crowd won't notice the difference
between that scum." Amon paused. "Anything else you would like to share?" his
eyes flaring from behind the mask.
Te way he posed that particular question made a cold chill crawl up my spine.
For a second I thought Amon might know more than he was letting onto. Did he
know I was a bender? Did he know I had a son, a bender son at that too? Did he
realize I had feelings for Korra?
"Rokoyu? Everything okay?" he asked gently and concerned, tilting his head.
"No... I'm fine..." It suddenly daunted on me he was actually referring to the
mission. "Perhaps there is something that could be useful, at least for you. I
visited Air Temple Island yesterday and her training with councilman Tenzin
isn't going as well as we believed. She even told me later she's been unable to
even create a small puff of wind. Weird, huh?"
"Hmm...I see... so the rumors I'd picked up were true." Her caressed the edge
of his mask, right where his chin was. "So she's failing as a spiritual person.
This will play into our cards nicely Rokoyu. This proves you don't need to
doubt yourself. Your mission is already delivering valuable intelligence to our
cause, and tonight you have demonstrated once again that no one messes with
you. You' sister told me about the skill you displayed in a duel with her, and
I can only state how proud of you I am, and how far you've come."
The man was like a father to me. To hear him say that he was proud of me was
certainly a big boost, perhaps then he could help me with some more advice.
"Then why do I feel so miserable now for being so violent with her? When I
fought her all I felt was a desire for power, to dominate her, to crush her
under my heels. That's not who I am in real life, once I put the mask over my
head I..I... find myself reveling in the fact I'm incognito and can do as I
please. I didn't mean to hurt her as badly as I did. I'm finding myself
conflicted about how I handled it."
"Hmm... this is disturbing to hear indeed Rokoyu, fighting our enemies is a
noble cause, and I would hate to see you get dragged into the dark hole that
the feeling power is. I can speak of experience here."
"You do?" I raised my eyebrows
"Indeed... I'm a mysterious masked man who preaches about equality at rallies
every week. The desire for more power is only naturally to be present in this
line of work. I however never thought it would infect you. Your heart must have
been far more damaged then I could have ever imagined."
A silence fell over the room, Amon had this way with words that ensured you
hung on every syllable as he spoke. It meant that every time you spoke you
carefully selected the words to make sure the conversation remained on a
certain intellectual level.
"I use meditation to contain it. I won't promise it will disappear but perhaps
you can become more at peace with yourself." Amon advised me while sipping his
tea.
"Interesting, I will definitely give that a try." I responded.
It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either, at home I already had a book
on the matter waiting for me to be read. I had bought it in the hope of being
able to unlock my bending and perhaps it could serve two purposes, that is if I
still wanted to unlock the fire in the first place.
"Any more information that could be important?" He suddenly tried to force the
conversation in a different direction
"No, that's about it for now. I could have spent more time with her tonight.
Perhaps even help her find Bolin, but I'm stuck here on your orders."
"I know, but I do not have enough faith in the warden. He does not understand
the importance of these prisoners... but you do." he pointed his finger at me.
"I watched you chew out those grunts earlier. It proves my point." Amon got up
from his seat and put his empty cup of tea back on the tray "I'm going to leave
you to your duties now, bring the prisoners to this location tomorrow." Amon
pulled out four folded up posters out of his pocket and laid them down in the
correct order on my desk, it revealed a map with specific instructions were the
Revelation would take place. "Your crew has been instructed to pick you and the
prisoners up around nine. Chi block them one more time before lifting them onto
the truck, that should ensure that by the time I need them on stage their
bending is returned to them. I need it to make the statement more visually
impressive."
"Message received loud and clear Amon. I'll get them there on time and oiled up
for you." I saluted him and he nodded in agreement.
"I'm sure you will, get some rest for now, it's been a long night and you will
need be focused tomorrow. I'm really happy about your work here so far."
I nodded and he promptly left the office. I locked the door behind him so no
grunt could walk in and see my face. I removed my boots and I untangled the
camp cot that I found in a closet. I lied down and closed, my eyes, wondering
what the next day would have in store for me.
Probably a memory that would not be the most pleasant of things to remember...
poor Bolin...
 
Chapter End Notes
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