Confrontation

Summary: A year after Hiroshi Sato's death, Asami finally confronts her anger and guilt. Oneshot.

Chief Lin Beifong mumbled to herself as she looked over at the pile of papers on her desk. She sighed happily when she felt the cool breeze come in through the open window. She pulled out a few pens from her desk drawer, before moving the top paper from the stack. She had just started to write on the paper until she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called out.

The door creaked open slowly and Mako took a step into the office.

"Chief, Asami is here to see you," he explained.

Lin rolled her eyes and sighed hard. "I'm busy right now. Tell her to come back later."

"I think it's kind of impor-"

"Move!"

Lin looked up in surprise at the harsh tone. Mako quicklu stepped to the side and out of the way to let Asami through the door. She rushed in and stopped in front of Lin's desk. Her green eyes were dark, she was breathing heavily, and her jaw was clenched so hard, Lin watched as a muscle twitched. It was a look she had never seen before on the young engineer's face.

Asami was pissed. Not mad. Pissed.

"You may go," Lin instructed over to Mako. He nodded once before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. "How may I help you?" she asked. She set her pen to the side before leaning back in her chair.

"You," Asami seethed.

"Me."

"You ruined everything," she snarled.

"I'm sure I did, but how?"

"Why did you release him from jail?" Asami slammed her hands onto Lin's desk and leaned forward. Lin looked down at the girl's shaking hands before looking back up. "Why did you ask him for help?"

"Varrick has a fantastic mind. Maybe somewhere along the way, it can be short circuited, but great nonetheless. I had to release him from jail because there was no evidence that he allegedly did what he did." Lin raised her hands and made air quotes when she said allegedly. It was pretty much the one word Varrick would use for every wrong thing he did.

"Not him, my dad!"

"Ah." Lin nodded in understanding.

"What do you mean, ah?" Asami roared. Her voice cracked and her eyes started to water. Her pale cheeks began to redden, which made her eyes look even more green than usual.

"You have one of the top three most brilliant minds in Republic City," Lin complimented her. Asami muttered a quiet 'thank you'. "When it came to the hummingbird suits, you needed all of the help you could get to revamp them in a short amount of time. I didn't think-"

"That's right!" Asami screamed. "You didn't think, at all. Now, thanks to you he's dead."

"You've been sitting on this for a year and you're just now telling me?" Lin demanded. "What do you want, an apology?" She regarded the girl with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

Asami growled as she pushed herself away from the desk. She turned and noticed a bookshelf. Lin watched calmly as Asami slowly picked up a glass figurine that was sitting on a shelf. She quickly ducked her head, when Asami threw it at her from across the room. Before she could reprimand her, Asami started to throw books, statues, papers, and picture frames around the room.

Tears started to slip down Asami's cheeks as she started to breathe heavily. Lin slowly got up out of her seat and rested against the windowsill along the back wall. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to watch in silence. Every so often she would move her head to the left or right to make sure she wasn't struck by an object.

Asami picked up a book. She was about to throw it but stopped and looked at the cover. Engineering Mechanics and Foundations by Hiroshi Sato. She flipped the book open to a random page, grabbed it and ripped it out. Over and over again, she would pull out a page and toss it over her shoulder. Asami whimpered as a page she tried to pull got stuck.

Lin held up her hand and shot out a few metal cables. They wrapped around Asami's waist two times before retracting back into the holder. Asami dug her heels into the floor, leaving long scuff marks across the hardwood, as she tried to stop herself from being moved. Once in a close enough distance, Lin unraveled the cables before wrapping Asami in a tight hug.

Asami buried her face in Lin's chest and started sobbing loudly. Lin grunted when she felt the young girl's legs collapse out from underneath her. She tightened her grip and slowly lowered them to the floor. Lin widened her legs, the creaking of metal caused Asami to flinched, before pulling Asami in close. "Feel better?" she asked.

"I-I don't know i-if I should be mad at y-you for taking him out of jail o-o-or at Kuvira for killing h-him," Asami said while gasping for air. Lin gently rubbed the back of her head. "I just wish he didn't have to leave me that way. I just wish I didn't have to see it."

"I know," Lin muttered.

"I can't stand the sound," Asami admitted quietly. "I used to love working on cars or working with my hands. Now, I can't even be in the room when people are working on metal. It makes me think about it over and over again."

Lin made a soft sound but didn't say anything. She continued to rub the back of Asami's head. The two sat in silence for a few moments. The breeze from the open window came in and blew some of the papers around the room. "I'm sorry for ruining your office," Asami apologized.

"It's okay," Lin said with a snicker. "I did worse to Tenzin after he broke up with me."

"I know. Mako told me." Asami's breathing slowed down. The redness in her face began to disappear as well. "I'm kind of curious."

"I'll tell you about it later. Lin rubbed the back of Asami's head one more time before gently pushing her head away so she could look down at the younger girl. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"A bit." Asami nodded. She looked around the room and winced at all of the broken glass and scattered papers. "Why didn't you stop me?"

"It was only a matter of time until you cracked and finally came to talk to me," Lin answered with a shrug. Asami looked back at her in confusion. "You've been avoiding me for the past year. At first I thought it was a coincidence that you wouldn't attend any events that I was to attend." Asami flushed. "I just thought you threw yourself into your work to help recreate the city again, but then I put two and two together."

Lin reached out and brushed away a stray tear from the corner of Asami's eye. She couldn't help but laugh when she noticed the black streak of makeup on her thumb and then the smudged marks on the younger girl's face. Lin metal bent her cables out to grab a box of tissues and water bottle over to her. She handed the two items to Asami who started to clean her makeup off. "You shouldn't have kept everything bottled up. I should know. I got very tense and sick after holding in my problems with Su and the Chief for more than thirty years."

"When will it get better?" Asami sniffed.

"In time, but you shouldn't rush it."

Asami looked down at her hands shyly. "May I visit you again, next year? Just to talk."

"Sure, kid, anytime," Lin said with a soft smile. "As long as you don't destroy my office again."