Chapter 21: Busting The Kids Out

***

Lin's eyes fluttered open as she felt the heat of the sun hitting her face. Her eyes stared at the ceiling momentarily, waiting for herself to wake up fully. She let herself indulge in this rare moment of not being in a rush to get up to prepare herself for work. She reached for her nightstand to turn on her radio, letting it play in the background as thoughts gradually came rushing to her mind.

One of them concerns the young woman currently staying in her house. She still couldn't believe Yuze chose to stay with her in her apartment, had a chance to cook a meal for her daughter, and saw her face lighten up when she ate the food she prepared herself (Actually, Yuze got mad when she saw Lin in the kitchen but well, the woman loves food so much it disappeared when she finally taste it.)

Then her head turned to look at the frame in her nightstand. The picture was just taken yesterday when she and Yuze visited Hexie to let Chyou check her injuries. Yesterday might be the first in a long time she felt truly relaxed and had fun. After Chyou treated her, the duo stayed there till the night came. Lin watched as her daughter trained her students. She also watched the sparring match between Yuze's protege and her officers— sorry, her former officers. The boss-assistant (mother-daughter) duo even had a bet going on between them. It's a shame Lin lost twenty yuan on the firebender, making the former declare that if she ever gets back to the position, she will have to increase the intensity of the Police Department's training regimen. The stricken look on the three officers' faces made the former Chief's assistant kneel on the ground, laughing.

After the match, the three officers left for duty while Yuze and Lin had lunch with Chyou, Jun, and the three teenagers. Originally, the earthbender refuses as she may know them but it's too personal for her to have dinner with people she barely knew. But the others insisted and Yuze literally forced her to sit at the dining table.

At first, the former Chief has a sense of awkwardness around her but gradually she warms up to them after Chyou tells about Yuze's shenanigans when they were young, the story includes how the firebender pranked Firelord Izumi by saying she saw her father with Mizuki— the Firelord's tutor when she was young— at a restaurant. Though it is partially true, Yuze left a few details which the two met in the same restaurant coincidentally. She makes it look like the two have a secret rendezvous going on between them. The funny part was Firelord Izumi spoke to her father, a heart-to-heart one. The Firelord said and Yuze quoted "I don't know how I will feel about this and I am having conflicted emotions but if this is where you will be happy, I will give you my blessing." The look of confusion on Lord Zuko's face made Firelord Izumi realize that Yuze had her. The Fire Nation's leader had her revenge on the younger woman by intensifying her training tenfold.

After the dinner, Jun suggested they should have a picture together. Again, Lin declined but everyone ganged up on her making the earthbender get in the picture against her will.

But looking at the picture now, she thought it was not that bad. And though the former Chief seems frowning, if you look closely the corner of her lips are slightly curled up and there's a glimmer of joy in her eyes.

Then her thought shifted to her being the former Chief of Police. Questions are running on her mind of what it is for her now that she is unemployed— not that she feared going bankrupt for losing her primary source of money, no. She's a Beifong for spirit's sake. It's just now that she had no job, she had nothing else to do. It will be a hard transition for her from having many works to nothing. And now, she was thinking about what she would do for the rest of the day.

She felt her eyes getting heavier and she fully submitted to it.

Maybe, she will just go back to sleep to make up for many sleepless nights...

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this special report..."

... she couldn't even remember when the last time was...

"... late last night Equalists attacked City Hall..."

Lin's eyes snapped open, the fantasy of long-awaited makeup sleep had been stopped immediately. She propped on her elbow and reached to increase the volume.

"... subduing Councilman Tarrlok and capturing Avatar Korra details are still coming in—"

The woman turned off the radio and got up, though with difficulties as her injuries were still not fully healed. She then walked to a cabinet and opened it. There inside was her Police uniform waiting to be worn.

******

Yuze was humming a tune— she doesn't know. She just invented it.

She was currently in the dining area, having her morning tea. Her feet are propped on another chair while she is answering a crossword puzzle from a newspaper.

"Something possessed as a result of one's natural situation or birth... hmmm. We got eight letters here— Oh! Heritage!"

The firebender continued humming as she wrote down her answer before reading the next question. But her brows knitted as she didn't know the answer to it when the door to her boss's bedroom opened.

Without looking she addressed the older woman, "Good morning, Beifong. And what a great timing you have. Do you know the name of the long-lost city where all the benders can live in harmony?"

"Euphonia."

The firebender wrote down the answer and grinned when the numbers of the letters were the same as the box, "Thanks! Hey, I heated the leftover from last night—" she looked up and arched an eyebrow, "Where are you going?"

Lin finished buttoning and tying her coat, "Apparently, the City Hall was attacked last night, and for some reason, the Avatar was in there when that happened and they took her."

Yuze lowered her feet to the ground, in deep thought, "Maybe she was confronting Tarrlok for freeing her friends from prison."

Lin reached for the cloche hat hanging at the wall, "That's what I thought too," and put it to her head, "The Avatar needs to be found, that's why I'm going to the prison to free her friends. More hands are better."

The firebender threw the newspaper on the table then she finished her tea in one gulp. She stood up and nodded, "Let's go then."

The earthbender stopped, "Oh, no, you will stay here. I could tell you still have a concussion from what I saw yesterday."

Yuze raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, "And your fractured arm and ribs are still not fully healed," then she began walking towards the wall where the older woman's hat lined up 'Why does she have so many hats?'. She picked the one she felt would suit her and wore it, "Besides, the concussion was getting better, so I think I'll be fine," then she snatched the key of satomobile from the older woman's hand, "So, let's go."

Lin watched as the younger woman left the apartment. She sighed and followed.

******

"So, how are we gonna do this?"

"I'll make a hole for entrance. That must take us directly to the jail's entrance. But we had to deal with the officers assigned to guarding the prison."

"I'll handle them. They need sleep after all."

The duo was in an alleyway beside the Police Station building. They were having a conversation, planning how they would free Korra's friends.

"Okay," then Lin took a stance. She lifted her foot, retracting the sole of her boot. She slammed her foot on the ground, using her seismic sense to find where she should properly make the hole. Once she got it, she closed her sole once again and gestured for the younger woman to step back, "Make room."

The assistant did what she was told but she accidentally bumped into bottles of alcohol creating noise.

Lin's head snapped towards the firebender, and whispered demadingly, "What are doing? You're getting us caught!"

"I'm sorry, it's an accident. I didn't notice the bottles."

"I notice it, why you didn't?"

"I already apologize! And not everyone has—"

"What's that noise? And who are talking."

Lin and Yuze's eyes widened. Unfortunately, there were officers on patrol who happened to walk on the alleyway where they are now.

"I don't know. Should we check?"

The two emerald eyes met, "Shit."

The two officers walked to the alleyway to check if there were suspicious people doing something suspicious. They need to be careful in times like these.

What they saw when they reached the entrance of the alleyway made their eyebrows arched. They saw two women with their back facing their way. One was supporting another woman who seemed drunk by the way she leaned at the other woman and the bottle of alcohol in her hand.

"Gosh, Aunt Jing, why are you drunk again!"

The Aunt swung the hand holding a bottle and replied in sluggish, "That motherfucker uncle of yours—" she hiccuped, "Fuck that motherfucker! I saw him with another woman again. A younger woman!" then she took a swig but when she realized it's already empty she threw it on the wall, breaking it in the process.

"Spirits, Auntie!"

"Fuck him and that snake! Fuck both of them. I will kill them. I will end— I will end t-their," then the woman started sobbing, "Why!? What's wrong with me? Am I not enough..."

One of the officers tapped the back of his colleague, "Let's go. It's just a woman having a crash out."

"Yeah," then they began to walk away. Still hearing the Aunt ranted about her husband.

"Spirits, her husband is a jerk," one of the officers commented, "And he cheated with a younger woman?"

The other officer shook his head, "How could someone do that? I can't do that, let alone think of doing that to my Mei."

Then they heard the Aunt screamed, "TELL ME XIA! WHY!?"

The two officers winced, "Same, man. Same."

Lin and Yuze strained their ears, checking if the officers were already gone. When they were sure the officers already left, they got back to work.

The earthbender took a stance and began bending the earth while Yuze was looking at her with a mix of amusement and amazement. Lin felt the younger woman's stare, "What?"

"I didn't know you were good at acting, Beifong," Yuze said amusedly.

"They taught it at the academy," Lin stated jumping into the hole.

Yuze followed and the older woman closed the hole. A light emitted as the firebender lit her finger, "That's cool! What else did they teach you at the academy."

Lin pushed the dirt back and replied emotionless, "Dancing."

"Woah! Now, I'm beginning to like this Academy," Yuze exclaimed, then she said excitedly, "Will I ever see you dance?"

"No."

"Oh, come on! Even just a little shimmy of shoulder—"

"No."

"Okay, fine," Yuze huffed, then her eyes flashed with mischievousness and leaned forward, "The monologue earlier, is that came from real life?"

Lin remained silent and fortunately, they already reached the end.

Yuze smirked, "Is that too much showbiz of a question?"

The earthbender bent one last time making a hole to the ground. Then she faced the firebender with an irritated face, "Just go and get them."

The firebender bowed as long as the small space allowed her, "As you wish, your Majesty."

Yuze jumped out of the hole surprising the two officers guarding the gate, "What—" the woman moved swiftly, and jabbed the men's neck before the two could even react to what was happening. The two officers fell down to the ground, unconscious.

Yuze clapped her hands in a brushing way while Lin came out behind her, peering over her shoulder, "Nice work."

"Of course," the firebender said oozing with confidence that made the older woman roll her eyes. Just then she realized who the guards were, and her eyes glinted with something, "You know you free the teens, I'll watch over them."

Lin saw and recognized the glint but decided not to question her. She nodded and began to walk inside the prison, hearing her daughter from behind saying, "Hehe, I'll finally have revenge for all the poor things you've done to me."

The earthbender ignored it and focused at her task. She slammed her foot on the ground to find the kids and once she knew where they are, the first one she freed was the Sato girl, the next one are the Pro-bending kids. After informing the three about Korra being captured by the Equalists and lifting the fly of the youngest of them all they began walking to the exit while having a discussion.

"Where did they take Korra?" Mako asked worriedly.

"I don't know, kid," Lin answered. Then they rounded a corner, "Let's check up to Tenzin and go—" as they neared the exit they stopped momentarily at the scene of Yuze cackling quietly while drawing at the face of her former officers, "What are you doing?"

Yuze met her eyes, her face an expression of crazy, "Revenge."

Lin rolled her eyes, "Stopped that we have more important things to do."

Yuze raised a finger, "One more thing, wait a second," then she reached for the camera they used for a smug shot and gave it to Bolin, "Kid, take us a picture."

"Okay, ma'am," Bolin said then he accepted the camera and began taking pictures of Yuze with the two unconscious officers whose have drawings on their faces. The firebender did three different poses: one with peace, one with each of her arms around the officers' shoulder as if they were close friends, and one with a thumbs up.

After that, the firebender took out the developed picture and kept it in her inner pocket. Then for her last act, Yuze arranged the two officers to look like a couple, "Cute," then she jumped at the hole, "Let's go!"

The three teenagers look at each other shrugging before following the firebender.

Lin pinched the bridge of her nose then she threw her head back, "Good spirits, help me," she prayed at the heavens before she too followed going down.

***