Chapter Text
“I’m afraid any reinforcements you’re expecting might be slightly delayed,” the earthbender said. “Or even delayed indefinitely. As in: dead.”
“Well… shit,” Mako muttered before shooting a blast of fire at the man. “Shin, run!” he shouted.
The enemy earthbender ripped a bunch of cobblestones from the street, having them float around him, blocking Mako’s attack and then, with quick movements of his wrists, sent them at the policeman.
Mako jumped to the side, dodging two of them… but one of the other Triad earthbenders did something that caused the ground under Mako’s feet to shift, making him stumble. He regained his balance but didn’t manage to dodge another one of the cobblestones that got him in the arm, making the fire blast he was shooting miss the target. Another one of the earthbenders made a striking motion with his fist and another stone hit Mako hard in the stomach, making him land on his back.
As soon as he did, he kicked with both legs, sending gouts of flames at his enemies. A scream of pain told him that one of the attacks hit its target, but moments later he was rolling on the ground, escaping a hail of stones attacking him. Bruised and beaten, he got onto his feet, shooting two fast flaming strikes at the nearest opponent, but both got blocked by flying stones, while another hit Mako in the back knocking him onto his knees.
He saw one of the earthbenders rip a large chunk of stone from a nearby well and lift it over his head… and suddenly it, instead at Mako, shot and hit another of the Triad goons, knocking him down. The one who was preparing to land the strike on Mako turned around… only to start screaming as a green crystal hit his hand and start slowly growing over his body.
Mako sighed in relief as he turned and saw Jargala and two of her men running towards him… but his relief was short-lived when he saw that they weren’t really running to help him – they were running away, chased by a thin woman with water tentacles in place of her arms. Before Mako’s eyes, one of the Creeping Crystals send a boulder at her but she just blocked it with a water tentacle before grabbing the Triad bender with two watery tendrils… and tearing him in half, by pulling in both directions.
At least it distracted the Triple Threat goons from Mako for a moment. He tried to calm himself, focus… and with well-trained gesture he aimed two fingers at one of his opponents, lightning shooting from his hand, hitting and electrocuting the Triad thug. Mako continued his attack, turning towards the Teng’s killer, but once again he wasn’t able to take the earthbender by surprise. A pillar of stone erupted from underneath his feet, lifting him before he jumped over Mako’s lightning, in his flight going for a kick that sent a piece of the pillar at Mako.
The policeman dodged at the last moment, but his lightning fizzled out. He barely dodged another stone, hurled at him by one of the other Triad goons, shot a flame blast at him that got blocked… and got hit hard by a stone sent by the Triple Threat leader.
Mako grunted in pain as he hit the wall of the nearby building, hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. Still, he tried to get up… and then was hit by a Jargala Omo-shaped projectile as the enemy waterbender swatted the Creeping Crystals leader with one of her tentacles, before piercing Jargala’s bodyguard with an icy blade.
Mako and Jargala quickly unentangled from each other and got up. Mako quickly judged the situation and swore. Of the four Triple Threats goons only Mushu was standing, one of the other thugs killed by Mako’s lightning, another one writhing on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames from his clothes and another one desperately hitting his hand against the nearest wall, in panic trying to break the crystal that was slowly growing on him.
But apart from Mushu there was also the earthbender who killed Teng and the creepy waterbender lady. Mako’s didn’t like his chances… but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight and one look at Jargala – who looked very pretty with her hair down after one of the blows that got her – told him she wasn’t going to surrender either.
Mako sent a quick fireblast at the waterbender – which got promptly blocked – and started channelling his lightning… but both Mushu and the earthbending commander attacked him with a hail of stones. Jargala got between him and their opponents, pushing the projectiles to the side, but one of them got through her defences, hitting Mako’s leg and dropping him to the ground, his lightning charge dissipating. Jargala blocked a stone from Mushu, redirected one from the other earthbender at the waterbender, barely dodging an ice blade… and then, hit by another stone, fell down – again on Mako.
The creepy waterbender lifted one of her water tendrils, once again turning its tip into a blade made of ice, preparing for a final, deadly strike… but then suddenly the water constituting her arms shot away from her, flying at the earthbending leader, turning into lances of ice. He barely managed to erect a stone wall that protected him… and then ducked to the ground, as an ice dagger came at him from the other direction, almost hitting his neck.
At the same time a stream of water shot into the alley and immediately froze and then-
Korra?, Mako thought in relief when he saw a dark-skinned woman with long black hair and blue dress riding on an ice sleigh into the alley, with lightning-fast motions of her fingers sending a hail of icicles, making Mushu and the other two opponents quickly erect wall to defend themselves.
“You?!” the enemy waterbender snapped, recognizing the woman.
Mako, however, didn’t recognize her. It wasn’t Korra. She was taller and more slender and had an expressionless face… except for… her eyes blazing with hatred. Eyes surrounded by Water Tribe war paint.
“My name is Eska,” she said quietly and yet everyone heard her. “You killed my brother. Prepare to die.”
Seizing the opportunity, Mako and Jargala quickly got up, resuming their attack. Bruised and weakened they weren’t able to surprise the strange benders, with the enemy waterbender swatting Mako’s attacks with her watery tendrils and the earthbender jumping away, but Mushu went down, hit by both Mako’s fire attacks and Jargala’s stone. Meanwhile their new waterbending ally, Eska, jumped into the air, pulling water from the enemy waterbender’s tentacles and sending them as sharp icy disks at the earthbender. He stomped his foot, erecting a wall behind which he managed to hide from the hailstorm… but his cover promptly exploded as Mako’s lightning hit it.
“Fuck this!” the enemy earthbender snapped. He went to his knee, touching the street with one hand… and then quickly getting up.
Cobblestones from the street shot at Mako… but a sudden surge of heat served as a warning that something was wrong. Acting on instinct, Mako grabbed Jargala and jumped back… just as the cobblestones, glowing red from the heat and melting, hit the spot they’d been occupying moments before. Eska jumped off her ice sleigh and sent it flying at her enemies, turning it into a powerful ice spear, but the enemy waterbender grabbed it with her water tentacles and melted the ice, absorbing it into her tendrils. Meanwhile heat was so great that even a firebender like Mako had to step back filled from the alley as the ground before the enemy earthbender started turning into molten lava… which then in a river started flowing at Mako and the rest.
“We need to run!” Jargala said, summoning an earth wall to block the stream of lava… but in front of their eyes it began melting as well.
“My brother will be aveng-” their waterbending ally began but Mako was already running, grabbing her by the arm and pulling behind him, while Jargala was covering their retreat, erecting one wall after another to slow down the flow of molten stone…
* * *
After Ghazan and Ming-Hua finished their report, P’li stood motionless for a long, long time.
“She said ‘Eska’ was her name?” she finally asked. “She was the one who tried to stop you from freeing me?”
“Yeah, and she’s kinda pissed we killed her brother when we did,” Ghazan said.
“Good,” P’li said. “Fury leads to mistakes.”
Ghazan and Ming-Hua exchanged looks. That was the creepy part about P’li. It wasn’t that she was emotionless… not entirely. They saw her melt around Zaheer… but around anyone else she was colder than the poles that the Water Tribes called their homes.
Not a typical firebender at all.
“Well, she knows who we are,” Ghazan said. “And probably she’d passed it to that cop.”
“I almost had him!” Ming-Hua snarled. “If that bitch didn’t interfere-”
“It means that our presence will soon be a secret no longer,” P’li spoke, interrupting the waterbender.
Ghazan shrugged.
He never really liked that cloak and dagger shit.
“So, what does it means for us?” he asked.
“That we don’t have to be careful anymore,” P’li spoke slowly. “The gloves come off. Let’s throw this corrupt city to its knees and break its spine.”
* * *
“What in the Spirits’ name was that?!” Mako shouted as they were later hiding in one of Jargala’s hideouts, the men she quickly summoned protecting the place.
“You shouldn’t have stopped me,” their new waterbender ally said. “My brother needs to be avenged.”
Mako groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“It’s Eska, right?” he asked. “No offence, but even with your help we were kinda getting our asses kicked there! The stuff this earthbender was doing…”
“Lavabending,” Jargala said, pouring them all alcohol… judging by the smell something far stronger than wine. “I’ve only heard of such powers, never seen them.”
“That waterbender was also crazy strong,” Mako said, before looking at Eska. “If it wasn’t for you, she’d have cut us down quickly. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“You shouldn’t have stopped me,” Eska repeated.
“Listen, Jargala and I got a bit of a beating before you arrived on the scene and I didn’t have the juice to pull out even one more bolt of lightning out of my sleeve,” Mako said. “And I doubt you’d do well alone against those two.”
“My brother needs to be avenged,” Eska was beginning to sound like a broken record.
“Oh, he will be avenged,” Jargala said with grim determination. “Those fuckers killed my men. I’m helping you get them. Are you in or out, police officer?”
“I’m in,” Mako sighed. “They need to be stopped. But we need to know more about them. You seem to have history with them.”
Eska blinked slowly, her face perfectly impassive. She took one of Jargala’s drinks and drunk it in one gulp.
“Their names are Ghazan and Ming-Hua,” she said. “They are a part of group of anarchists called the Red Lotus.”
“Seems this Ghazan is leading the Triple Threats now,” Jargala said.
“Or at least pulling the strings,” Mako added. “Any chance that this group also contains a combustionbender?”
Eska slowly turned towards him and something in her eyes sent shivers down his spine.
“A combustionbender named, P’li, yes,” she said. “We… my brother and I… along with Tonraq, Kya and Zuko tried to stop them but…”
“Wait…” Jargala interrupted. “Firelord Zuko?”
“Retired Firelord, yes,” Eska said.
“Korra’s father’s name was Tonraq!” Mako recalled. “And Kya is…”
“The daughter of Avatar Aang,” Eska said.
“Which makes her Tenzin’s sister… but wait… since there are rumours of there being a combustionbender in Republic City, I guess you didn’t manage to stop this Red Lotus from freeing her?”
Eska’s face didn’t change but in her eyes for a moment there was fire hotter than any that Mako could summon.
“No, we failed,” she said. “This fight cost my brother his life… and almost cost Tonraq his.”
“With ‘Lotus’ in their name, Tonraq, Kya and lord Zuko trying to stop them… why do I get the feeling they’ve got some beef with Korra? I mean, the Avatar?” Mako asked.
Jargala snorted.
“If so, it seems they didn’t get the memo that she left Republic City,” she said. “Why don’t they go after her and leave my city alone?”
“I don’t know why they aren’t following the Avatar,” Eska said. “But whatever their plans… I’m going to stop them.”
“Do you know Korra?” Mako asked. “Since you’re both Water Tribes and…”
“And what...? Do you think that in the Water Tribes we all know each other and are all related to each other? For your information, Korra is Southern Water Tribe and I’m from the Northern Water Tribe.”
“Umm… yeah, sorry,” Mako said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“But yes,” Eska added. “She’s my cousin. She also killed my father. But he turned into a monster and I tried to kill her first and also destroy the world, so I guess that makes it good.”
Mako chuckled nervously, unsure if Eska is joking or not. Her expression didn't change in the slightest. In the awkward silence that followed Jargala poured Eska more alcohol. The three of them took their drinks.
Damn, it was strong.
“You’re Unalaq’s daughter?” Mako asked. “So… you’re the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe?”
“I guess,” Eska said in completely emotionless voice. “But I’m not letting them lock me in the palace. Not as long as the four people who killed my brother are alive.”
Jargala frowned.
“Four?” she asked before starting to count on her fingers. “Ghazan, the lavabender, Ming-Hua the creepy waterbender, P’li, our combustionbender… who’s the fourth one?”
“And are they also here?” Mako asked.
* * *
The plans had changed. The Avatar wanted to leave Zaofu, to go into the Foggy Swamp. Zaheer wanted to be there as well but knew there was no way to join her without drawing suspicions to himself. But that didn’t matter.
The fact that his body was here and not there was barely an inconvenience.
He would still be able to keep an eye on her.