Chapter 17: What Trust is Worth

As one would expect, growing up in a notorious street gang didn't exactly make for the most pleasant of childhoods. However, it wasn't just the threat of violence or the constant fear that, at any moment, the police would kick down the door and haul you off to prison. It affected Mako in ways many people overlooked; growing up with the Triple Threats meant Mako never had the opportunity to have a friend his own age.

Other than his little brother, the person closest to Mako's age was Shady Shin, and he was more than 15 years older than the two brothers. Of course, there were probably other kids that worked for the Triple Threats over the years, but Mako never knew any of them. Zolt always tried to make sure that his information network was kept compartmentalized. That way, in case one of his number runners got caught, then they wouldn't be able to expose any of the others.

Even after leaving their former life behind them, Mako never really connected with anyone other than Bolin and Toza. Sure, he and Bolin had several teammates over the years, and Bolin was always making friends with the other Pro-benders who worked out in Toza's gym. But to Mako, they were always just acquaintances, work colleagues. It was ironic then that after spending so many years being afraid that, at any moment, he and Bolin would suddenly be arrested, the first person Mako would hesitantly call a friend was actually a police officer.

Speaking of, either Ketu or Korra must have told the Air Temple Island ferry operators about Mako since they had no issues with him asking for a lift to the normally-isolated island. They didn't even ask for some sort of fee. A first for Mako since the Triple Threats would always try to charge people a 'fee' for just living on the same block as them.

The sun was setting as Mako made his way up the staircase to the training grounds, and his vision was somewhat impeded thanks to the sun's glare. Approaching the area where the monks at the dock said that Korra would be, Mako could make out the distinctive outline of Ketu in his police armor. He was standing beside two small children, and all three of them were looking at a large collection of wooden panels. Just then the two children, young girls Mako realized, raised their arms and began moving them in circular motions.

What happened next got Mako's attention and caused his eyes to widen slightly. The air above the two girls began to distort as the wind gathered in miniature cyclones. Coming to this island, Mako was aware that he was likely to run into Ketu's family. Still, this was the first time he'd ever seen someone airbend before, and it was slightly awe-inspiring. The girls then moved their arms forward, sending their collected air power at the assortment of gates in front of them, making them spin wildly.

Just as Mako was beginning to wonder where Korra was and what the point of this demonstration was, he got both answers very quickly. In the middle of all of the wooden boards was his new teammate. Korra was twisting and turning through the jumble of chaotically spinning panels as though she were dancing.

Mako was momentarily stunned. That was insane! The environment inside there was constantly changing. If you stopped moving, you'd get mauled by the hundred-pound pieces of wood. And if you didn't get your timing right and missed any of your escape windows, then you'dget mauled again.

"Good! Light on your feet!" the older of the two girls yelled to Korra.

Korra then popped out of the spinning labyrinth a moment later, kicking up some dust as she skidded to a halt. She leaned over and put her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

If this is what Korra was doing before she started Pro-bending, Mako could now see how she was able to compete at the pro level without any prior experience in the sport. Maybe he and Bolin could come here to train? It seemed to have done wonders for Korra. Pushing those irrelevant thoughts aside, Mako put his hands in his pockets and approached the group so he could ask them about his wayward little brother.

"Oo-oo, he's cute," the younger of the two girls commented as they finally noticed Mako's presence.

"Watch it…" Ketu said to the young girls with a teasing half-smile. "If I think that you two are getting old enough to start liking boys, then I'll just have to lock you both up here on the Island and never let you out."

"You do realize that there are boys here on the island too, right?" the older girl asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Ketu then let his smirk fall. "Then I guess I'll just have to bury them all alive," his voice lowered menacingly, a small boulder floating above his clenched fist.

The two sisters obviously didn't believe their brother would go through with his male-purging plan as they both giggled at his antics and skipped away with the assistance of their airbending.

"You know, I don't know who I pity more," Korra commented, "Ikki and Jinora or the boys who'll try to date them."

"Oh, definitely the boys," Mako said, looking to Ketu with a grin.

"Speaking of younger siblings, where's Bolin?" Ketu asked. "Did he not want to come with you?"

Mako's smile quickly fell as a worried expression crossed his face. "I don't know," Mako answered. "I actually came here hoping to find him."

"Think something's wrong?" Ketu asked.

"I don't know," Mako said, looking to the side uncertainly. "Bolin has a knack for getting into…stupid situations," he continued before sighing. "See you guys later."

Mako turned around and began walking back towards the docks, but Korra quickly followed. "Wait!" she called out. "We could help you look for him," she offered.

"No—thank you," Mako said, his speech disjointed. "I, uh, I got it," he assured Korra nervously.

"Hey," Korra said, grabbing his arm. "It's okay to accept a helping hand when it's offered," she said.

"Yeah, we're friends, aren't we?" Ketu added with a look of concern.

Mako looked to the ground, thinking. He took a deep breath before answering. "Alright," he relented. He then looked to Korra. "Thank you," Mako said.

"You're welcome," Korra said a smile. "Now, I think our best bet would be to take Naga," she suggested with determination.

"Who's Naga?" Mako asked.

"My best friend," Korra explained, "and a great tracker."

Ketu placed his arms on the boat's railing as he fiddled around with his sky bison whistle. He, Mako, and Korra were currently on the deck of the Air Temple Island ferry as they crossed Yue Bay to the city proper. Korra's polar bear dog, Naga, was panting excitedly as she was finally getting a chance to leave the island after several weeks. After Tenzin had found out that Ketu and Korra had been using Oogi to sneak out, he had forbade the two teenagers from using the sky bison to leave the island. Though, he did at least make it clear to the ferrymen that the two of them were allowed to leave the island at any time they chose.

"You're best friend's a polar bear dog," Mako said, looking at the panting Naga. "Somehow that makes perfect sense," he teased.

"I'll take that as a compliment City Boy," Korra shot back with a smirk.

"And what about your best friend," he asked Ketu. "Did you not want Nima to come along?"

Ketu jolted as he was caught slightly off-guard by the question. Korra was now looking at him as well, curious to see how he would answer.

"No—I mean, I wouldn't have minded if she wanted to come along," Ketu tried to explain. "It's just that she and her dad are doing inventory for the library. Apparently, her dad wants to do it every other month from now on instead of bi-annually. She'll be doing that pretty much until the end of the week."

Satisfied with his answer, the group fell into silence as they waited to reach their destination. Secretly, Ketu was thankful that she wasn't coming. If Mako's nervousness and hesitation to involve others was anything to go by, then this whole situation could end up going pear-shaped. Ketu didn't want to have to be forced to choose between defending his best friend from potential dangers or protecting Korra like his assignment mandated.

As they all disembarked from the ferry, Ketu began leading the group towards a police storage yard not too far from the docks. After being given his new assignment, this is where he had his motorcycle stored. The reason that they needed his motorcycle was twofold. First, having a police radio was always handy, especially since Mako had mentioned that Bolin had likely gotten into a 'sticky situation.' Second, while Naga was certainly strong enough to carry the three of them, the only one she would let drive was Korra. That meant that either Ketu would be forced to hug into Mako as he sat between Korra and Ketu, or vice versa. Ketu liked Mako well enough as a friend and all, but he still didn't feel like he was that close to Mako.

"So," Ketu began as he threw up the door of a storage unit, revealing the motorcycle within, "any idea where we should start looking?" he asked "No offense to Naga, but I don't think that even she could find a single person in a city of more than 5.6 million by just wandering around blindly."

Korra merely stuck out her bottom lip, pouting, and crossed her arms, conceding the point. She and Ketu then looked to Mako to hear his opinion.

Mako looked down, thinking. "Well, there is one place I can see him going," he finally said.

"Alright then, let's go!" Korra exclaimed, eager to get on the move.

She practically jumped onto Naga's back, holding her hand out to help Mako up as well. As the three of them began making their way to where Mako suspected his brother might be. Ketu swung his leg over his motorcycle and revved the engine to life. He had to really pull back on the accelerator to catch up with the now-running polar bear dog.

The group was traveling for several minutes with Mako directing Korra and Ketu following close behind before they finally came upon the Central City Station. "Well, this is his usual hangout," Mako said as he and Korra climbed off of Naga's back.

Ketu had to pull off to the side to find a proper parking spot for his motorcycle. As he did, he couldn't help but look up at the massive statue of Fire Lord Zuko. Despite being a loyal friend to the late Avatar Aang, Ketu had never met man personally. Though, he had met his grandson, Supreme Commander of the United Forces, General Iroh II. Despite the statue's outdated clothes and hairstyle, Ketu could definitely see the family resemblance between the two men.

Turning his attention back to the situation at hand. Ketu saw Mako and Korra talking with a young boy, Mako had just reached into his pocket and handed over several yuan to the wannabe street punk as Korra put on an aghast face. Apparently, she'd never heard of the concept of buying information.

Ketu smiled at her naivete and decided to hang back until Mako had concluded his business. After all, waving a police badge was likely just going to make the kid clam shut.

After some more 'negotiating' in which the young boy motioned that he wanted more money, he finally leaned in close to Mako and whispered something likely very important before running off. Taking that as his queue, Ketu made his way over to Korra and Mako.

"So, find anything out?" he asked.

Mako looked nervous and was biting his lip as though her were trying to decide if he should reveal his information, "Um, well yeah…kinda, but—"

"RRU-UUGH!" Korra interrupted, frustrated with Mako's continued hesitation. "Apparently, Bolin drove off with some guy named 'Shady Shin' after he gave Bolin a big wad of cash," she quickly revealed.

"Korra!" Mako exclaimed in betrayal.

Ketu merely raised an eyebrow at the revelation that Mako's younger brother and Korra's new teammate had apparently chosen to associate himself with one of the Triple Threat Triads top lieutenants. "Anything else?" he asked, directing the question specifically at Mako.

Mako had the decency to look down in embarrassment before finally answering, "Apparently, there's some big turf war brewing between the Red Monsoons, the Agni Kais, and the Triple Threats."

"Hmm, that does align with the intel that the RCPD has been receiving," Ketu placed his hand under his chin as he processed this new information. "Word on the street is that all the triads are on the lookout for fresh muscle."

"And now, Bolin is in the middle of all of it," Korra said somberly.

The group moved along in silence as they made their way towards the Triple Threats' headquarters. After some more guilt-tripping on Ketu's part, he'd managed to convince Mako that it was in Bolin's best interest if they pulled him out now, rather than after any sort of turf war broke out, and he'd agreed to lead the Avatar and her police bodyguard to their quarry's likely location.

Never one to be good with silence, Korra finally spoke. "So, the Triple Threat Triads? Ketu and I beat up some of those yahoos when I got into town," she said. "Why would Bolin get tangled up with—"

Suddenly, a furry, red streak raced across the road, cutting Naga off. Being the dog that she was, Naga quickly turned away from her current route to chase down the offensive rodent. Ketu had to squeeze tightly on the motorcycle's breaks and swerve in order to not miss the abrupt turn that Naga had taken. Naga pursued the creature for a couple more blocks before finally forcing it to climb up a light pole. Finally, able to see it properly, the group realized that Naga had just 'treed' Bolin's pet fire ferret.

"Hey, isn't that Pabu?" Ketu asked after finally having caught up.

Naga was jumping around excitedly and salivating as she waited for her prey to finally come within biting distance. "No Naga!" Korra reprimanded, pulling hard on the dog's reins. "Pabu's a friend, not a snack!"

Pabu descended from his perch after the large creature below him finally calmed down. Touching his nose with Naga's, he must have decided that it was safe as he used the polar bear dog as a pathway to run straight to Mako.

Mako scooped up the nervous Pabu as he wrapped himself around Mako's shoulders. "Bolin wouldn't leave Pabu behind for anything," Mako said, petting the fire ferret reassuringly. "We gotta hurry."

After only a couple more minutes, the group finally arrived at the Triple Threat's headquarters. Mako and Korra climbed off of Naga as Ketu set down the kickstand on his motorcycle. He decided to leave the engine running though, just in case.

"Something's not right," Mako said as they approached the building. "There are usually thugs posted out front." Mako's expression betrayed him as his worry became more apparent with each passing moment.

Korra was striding confidently up to the front door when Ketu blocked her path, his back turned to her. She was about to move past him when he raised his left hand, motioning for her to stand down. Korra crossed her arms over her chest and gave a frustrated huff as she was forced to wait, but, nevertheless, did as she was prompted.

Satisfied with his charge's response, Ketu crouched low to the ground, closed his eyes, and touched the ground with his fingertips. After a moment he finally spoke, "There's no one in the house," Ketu revealed, "but there is a large group of people out back."

He paused again as though he was trying to decipher some sort of garbled message. "There's also a truck and four—no, five motorcycles," Ketu corrected. "Any idea what might be going on?" he asked Mako as he opened his eyes and stood back up.

"That doesn't make any sense. The Triple Threats don't use motorcycles," Mako explained. "They only ever go around in satomobiles. That way, they can always travel in groups of three," he said, his voice taking on a distinct edge as he wondered what exactly was going on.

"Alright then, everyone keep quiet," Korra ordered as she led the two boys around the other side of the building.

The two boys followed her around without a word. As they reached the edge of the building, the three of them peered around into the alley out back. Just as Ketu had said, there were 5 motorcycles and a truck along with a large group of people. However, only about half of them appeared to Triple Threats, and they were bound and gagged as they were forced into the back of what appeared to be an RCPD paddy wagon that had all of its markings removed. The rest were all dressed similarly in dark brown and grey leather outfits, covering every part of their body, and wore masks with glowing green goggles.

"Everyone freeze!" Korra yelled as she stepped out from behind the corner of the building, revealing their position. "You're all under arrest!"

"She's the one who said to keep quiet," Mako pointed out in exacerbation. "What does she think she's—?" he began to ask Ketu but stopped when he realized that Korra's bodyguard had disappeared.

As expected, it didn't take long for the group of kidnappers to come to the collective decision to attempt an escape with their abductees in tow. Five of them climbed onto the motorcycles while the rest piled into the truck, and as the last one was about to get in the truck, he slammed the back door.

Just before he did Mako caught a glimpse of Bolin's terrified face, and for an instant their eyes met. "BOLIN!" Mako called out desperately as his little brother was taken away from him.

Just then, another motorcycle tore right past him in hot pursuit with its sirens blaring.

It was moments like these that made Ketu really miss the military. In the military, everything ran based upon a strict chain of command. No one took any major action without prior approval from their superior officer. Crazy actions, like, say, deliberately exposing your position to a group of potential hostiles, just wasn't something that ever happened.

Seriously, what did Korra think was going to happen when she demanded that these unknown criminals surrender, despite the fact that she and her group were outnumbered and had no leverage on them? Maybe she had been expecting them to stand their ground and fight? Either way, Ketu was correct when he predicted that they would choose to cut and run rather than stick around, and his forward-thinking had allowed him to keep within a close distance to the paddy wagon and group of motorcycles. The closest of which was only about 5 feet in front of him.

Sparing a quick glance back, Ketu saw that Korra and Mako were following behind on Naga, though they were about 10 meters behind him. With his allies close behind, Ketu decided to take action by thrusting his right arm forward and launching metal cables from his gauntlet to wrap themselves around the nearest motorcyclist. This was an especially difficult maneuver to pull off as he was forced unconsciously to use his metalbending to continue holding the accelerator back on his own motorcycle or else risk losing precious speed.

With his arms forced to his sides, the rider quickly lost control. Ketu detached his cables from his armor just as the bike began to wobble back and forth. The bound rider was then launched as his motorcycle finally flipped. Luckily, his landing was cushioned as he crashed into a large pile of garbage.

Looking back, Ketu hoped that Korra and Mako would do the sensible thing and secure their prisoner for questioning while he continued the pursuit. Unfortunately, it was apparently too much to hope for to expect civilians to follow basic protocol as Naga continued to bound past the subdued kidnapper without even slowing down.

Ketu was reeling back his fist again, preparing to capture another one when they all emerged into a massive intersection. Suddenly, two motorcycles broke off from the pack, each of their riders launching bolas at Ketu's motorcycle and Naga's legs, respectively. Ketu veered sharply, forcing his motorcycle to the ground and sending sparks flying everywhere as the bola sailed over his head. Keeping up his momentum, Ketu forced the bike back upright and continued his pursuit of the truck.

Unseen by him, Naga hadn't been able to dodge the bola that had been thrown at her. With her front paws suddenly bound together, Naga fell forward, sending her two passengers careening forward onto the street. The riders that had thrown the bolas sped past Ketu and moved in to engage Korra and Mako. Ketu was fully prepared to leave them to it. After all, they were a Pro-bender and the Avatar; they could handle it, right? However, he slammed on the breaks when he heard Korra call out in pain.

Looking back, he saw that Korra and Mako each had one arm hanging limply by their side as they both tried to retreat. Their attackers were obviously well-trained, closing the distance between them and their targets at lightning-fast speeds and then expertly dodging or pulling away whenever Korra or Mako would try to fend them off with a blast of fire.

Korra attempted to send a massive wave of fire at her enemy with a large overhead kick. Unfortunately, the assailant intercepted it with their own kick. Then, they wrapped their leg around Korra's, forcing it to the ground and exposing Korra's uninjured left flank to attack. With her leg pinned, Korra swung her left arm, however, the attacker merely ducked under her arm and delivered several quick finger jabs into various points along her arm and left side. They then kicked Korra and sent her sprawling to the ground with Mako.

So that's how it was? They were chi-blockers. Wasting no more time, Ketu aimed his motorcycle back at them and pulled back on the accelerator.

The two chi-blockers had pulled out more bolas and were spinning them around in circles to build up more force and speed as they moved towards Korra and Mako menacingly. Apparently, their plan was to beat the two benders while they were unable to move.

Just as Ketu was about to reach them, he backflipped off his motorcycle and sent it speeding at his targets. The two attackers stopped swinging their bolas and were forced to jump back and away from Korra and Mako in order to dodge the several hundred pounds of metal that someone had just launched at them. Giving them no time to properly defend, Ketu swung with a strong uppercut and launched a small boulder from below the street into the torso of one of the aggressors. He was launched off of his feet and landed hard on his back, cradling his chest and most likely a few broken ribs.

It was hard to tell with the mask on, but based on their aggressive assault, Ketu would've guessed that the other chi-blocker was probably very angry with their partner's treatment. The other one quickly closed the distance between themself and Ketu. Ketu tried to fend them off with a kick, which they dodged, and followed it up with a jab. However, his opponent managed to catch his wrist, pull it up, and delivered several precise finger jabs into his right arm and side.

"Nice try," Ketu said with a smirk as he brought his back foot down.

Unfortunately for the chi-blocker, they were only met with a dull, aching feeling in their fingertips as a pillar of rock appeared between the two of them.

Ketu's opponent was forced back, and they turned to see that their partner was getting back up to his feet, though still clearly injured. The two of them then turned to Ketu as they tried to decide how to proceed.

In response, Ketu moved between them and his friends and put his fists up, prepared to fight. Just for emphasis, Ketu used his metalbending to summon the two 10-inch blades from within his gauntlets, daring the chi-blockers to even try to get close to him again.

They looked to each other for a moment before they both jumped back and reached for something on the back of their belts. Ketu heard the all-to-familiar tink of a pin being pulled as two metal cylinders rolled across the ground. Panicked, Ketu retracted his blades and attempted to bury the two bombs with his earthbending as a way to shield the blast. Luckily, there was no explosive boom as copious amounts of green smoke began to escape from the cracks in Ketu's hastily created barrier. With his vision obstructed, Ketu closed his eyes and attempted to use his Seismic Sensing to find the chi-blockers. However, before he could, he heard two motorcycles rev to life as they retreated in the same direction that the truck and other motorcycles had left in.

Korra pushed herself up from off the ground. Whatever it was that those fighters had done to her had caused her muscles to go limp, and she was just now getting the feeling back in her arms. Korra could see her attackers fleeing on their motorcycles, and she attempted to throw a fireball at them. However, to her utter shock, nothing happened.

"I can't bend?" Korra threw another punch, but again nothing happened. "Argh! I can't bend!" she realized in a panic.

"Calm down. Those guys were chi-blockers," Ketu explained. "Your bending will come back," he assured her, "just give it some time." Ketu then knelt down next to Naga, withdrew one of his gauntlet blades, and used it to cut the polar bear dog free from the bola wrapped around its legs.

"Well, how're you still able to bend?" Korra asked.

Ketu merely held up his left arm and rapped his knuckles on the armor covering his forearm. "According to my mom, back when Granny Toph was fighting in the old War, she had a run-in with a chi-blocker from the Fire Nation," he explained. "Later, when she was helping to design the RCPD's armor, she made sure that it would cover all our vital chi points."

"That's all well and good, but those guys weren't just any old chi-blockers," Mako said as he slowly got off the ground on unsteady feet. "They were Amon's henchmen," he continued worriedly.

Ketu took on a thoughtful expression as he mulled over this new information. "If the Equalists are openly attacking benders now, then things are only going to get worse," he concluded. "Especially since those benders were a part of Republic City's most criminal organization."

Mako closed his eyes and put a hand on his forehead. "Ugh, I can't believe Bolin got himself into this mess!" he groaned in frustration.

"Mako, we are going to save your brother," Korra assured him as she grabbed his shoulder. "I promise you that."

Ketu wanted to warn Korra about the folly of making promises she might not be able to keep. However, he chose to keep his mouth shut after seeing the calm that Korra's words brought Mako. "Well, we're not going to accomplish anything by standing around here," Ketu said, getting the other two's attention. "Let's see if that guy I tied up is still back there," he suggested, jerking his thumb in the direction that they'd all come from.

It took the group a couple minutes to backtrack, and by the time they'd reached the pile of garbage that the Equalist had landed in, he was nowhere to be found. All that remained was a tangled mess of cables and a flaming pile of metal and rubber.

"Why would he set his motorcycle on fire?" Mako asked.

"Probably to cover up where they got it," Ketu speculated. "You don't just find high-performance motorcycles and a police-grade paddy wagon laying around. Someone with a lot of resources is helping these guys out."

"There can't be that many people with that much money, right?" Korra asked. "Why don't we start by interrogating anyone rich enough to pull something like this off?"

"This is Republic City," Mako said. "You know, the industrial and economic capital of the world? Do you know how many multi-million yuan companies are in this city?" he asked rhetorically. "Heck, you met a multi-millionaire this morning!"

"Alright, jeez," Korra said defensively as she put her hands up. "I'm sorry for being so ignorant."

"Enough with the bickering!" Ketu demanded as he moved to his motorcycle. He then reached down and picked up his transceiver on his radio. "Dispatch, this is Unit 4-4-2, come in," he said.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mako asked.

"I'm reporting this whole incident, duh," Ketu said.

"Unit 4-4-2, this is Dispatch, we read you," the radio blared out.

"You can't do that," Mako said desperately, ignoring the radio. "If anyone finds out about this, Bolin could get arrested."

Ketu was getting ready to say that being in jail was probably better than whatever an extremist group like the Equalists had planned for Bolin, but stopped when he saw the determined look in his friend's eye. For a moment, the two of them stared at one another, as if they were both waiting for the other one to make a move.

"Unit 4-4-2, come in!" the radio screeched, regaining everyone's attention.

Ketu picked up the transceiver "This is Unit 4-4-2, sorry for the delay," he paused as he looked to Mako one last time. "We have a vehicle on fire near the intersection of 87th and Fong; requesting fire and rescue, over."

"Copy that, 4-4-2, any idea what caused it?"

Ketu gave a heavy sigh before continuing, "…Negative, Dispatch, no sign of the driver either."

Mako released the breath he didn't realize that he'd been holding and sent Ketu a grateful smile. Korra grinned as well, happy that Ketu was willing to put his friends first.

"Understood," Dispatch acknowledged before continuing on in a much more informal tone. "So-o-o…Sergeant Sonar, what's it like spending your whole day doing nothin' but watching after a cutie like the Avatar?"

Ketu's eyebrows shot up, shocked that the dispatcher would actually say something like that over an official line. He turned and saw that Korra looked to be about as irritated as he expected. Still keeping a wary eye on Korra just in case she decided to try to destroy his radio, Ketu picked up the transceiver.

"Umm…you realize she can you, right?" he asked somewhat nervously.

It was hard to tell over the radio, but it sounded like there were fumbling noises coming in from the other end before the dispatcher voice came back on, once again all-business, "Eh-hum, sorry, Unit 4-4-2," Dispatch cleared his throat nervously. "We had some, uh…interference there for a minute. Fire and rescue is en route, over and out."

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they tried to process the whole conversation.

"Well, that was awkward," Mako concluded. "Still, thanks for not reporting my brother. We really appreciated it," he said gratefully.

"Yeah," Ketu responded wearily as he rubbed his eyes. "Now all we have to do is find and rescue Bolin before the Equalists do anything," he continued. "Oh, and to make things even better, we don't have any idea where to start looking," Ketu finished sarcastically.

Korra's face was still slightly red after being referred to as 'cutie.' "Well, that's not exactly true," she spoke up. "What about that protestor we ran into on my first day in town?"

"Hmm, I actually forgot about that guy," Ketu admitted as he put a hand on his chin.

"Okay," Mako prompted, "where's he usually hang out?"

"He was holding some sort of rally in the park the last time we saw him," Korra answered. "I doubt he'd be there now."

"Maybe not, but what about tomorrow, during the day?" Mako asked.

Ketu shrugged, "Couldn't hurt to check, at least."

Just then, the clock tower gonged, signaling that it was now past one in the morning.

"Ugh, I really don't want to hear Tenzin nag at us about staying out too late," Korra groaned. "Let's just camp out in the park while we wait for our man to show up," she suggested.

"No need," Ketu said. "My apartment is just a couple blocks from the park," he revealed. "We can just crash there. Besides there's too much exposure in the park; staying inside is much safer."

Korra huffed at Ketu's need to constantly be in 'bodyguard-mode.' Still, she couldn't help but agree that staying indoors would be much more comfortable than sleeping outside with no supplies.

Ketu's apartment wasn't anything all that special. Still, it was rather large for only having a single bedroom. In fact, it was big enough that Naga was able to squish herself through the front door and curl up by the heater in the corner of the kitchen.

"Ah, home sweet home," Ketu said, stretching lazily.

"Not bad," Korra commented as she looked around. "Though, considering you're supposed to be a scion of the famous Beifong family, I wasn't expecting something…so drab," she commented drolly.

Ketu merely snorted and rolled his eyes Korra's attempt to appear stuck-up and began to remove his armor.

"What are you talking about, Korra?" Mako asked, apparently too enraptured with his surroundings to pick up on Korra's sarcasm. "Considering big it is and how close we are to the park and downtown, this place must cost a fortune!"

"Well, the United Forces pays its officers well," Ketu said with a shrug as he finished taking the last of his armor off, leaving him in only his skintight undershirt.

Korra couldn't help but look away as she blushed at his defined physique.

"Anyway," Ketu continued, oblivious to Korra's predicament, "unfortunately, I only have the one bed. Korra, you can sleep there. Mako, you can crash on the couch. And I'll rough it on the floor; I've still got a bedroll stashed somewhere in the closet," he said as he began to rummage through a closet located in the hall just outside the bedroom.

"Alright," Mako said, yawning as he made his way to the couch. "Sounds good to me."

"Well that doesn't work for me," Korra spoke up, forcing Mako to stop with a hand on his shoulder. "We're just guests here," she continued as she finally managed to force down her blush. "You should be able to sleep in your own bed."

"Don't worry about it, Korra," Ketu assured her. "I've had to rough it before."

"Ha!" Korra laughed. "If you think that sleeping on the carpeted floor of a temperature-controlled apartment is 'roughing it,' then you really should just take the bed," she challenged.

"Oh yeah," Ketu agreed sarcastically, "and surviving in the Si Wong Dessert for a week with less than a liter of water? I mean that was practically like a beach vacation!"

Mako groaned to himself. He could tell that the two of them were going to be at it for a while. "Hey guys—" he tried to get their attention.

"Alright, listen," Korra said, cutting Mako off in the process. "I'm from the Southern Water Tribe," she explained, putting a hand on her chest. "It's bad manners to inconvenience your host."

Mako sighed. Neither one of them were going to listen at this point, so he decided to just accept that fact as he sleepily made his way to the one place that knew neither one of them were going to be sleeping.

"Well then, it's a good thing we're in the United Republic," Ketu shot back, "where people are expected to be gracious to—"

Ketu was cut off by the sound of loud, rumbling snores coming from the partially cracked-open bedroom door. Korra turned her attention to door as well, and the two of them stared at it for a minute as they processed what had just happened.

After a moment, Ketu finally spoke, "Okay, now that was just rude."

"Totally," Korra quickly agreed.

They both paused and then chuckled at the whole situation before Ketu finally started to set up his bedroll.

Korra smirked as she watched him. "Yeah, you enjoy your nice, cushy sleeping bag. All I need is my gal, Naga, here," she said, sitting next to her polar bear dog and reclining into her side. "Isn't that right, girl?"

In response, Naga merely scooched away from the young woman who was attempting to use her as some sort of lounge chair, causing Korra to lose her balance as her back hit the hard floor. It was clear that Naga wasn't willing to share her corner or, more specifically, the space heater with anyone, even her own mistress.

Ketu let out a bark of laughter at the exchange as he laid down on his bedroll and set his alarm clock.

Korra gave her traitorous steed the stink eye for several moments before finally relenting with a sigh. Swallowing her pride, Korra walked up to Ketu. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare bedroll, would you?" she asked.

"No, sorry," he answered with a lopsided grin from his position on the ground. "But there is a blanket on the back of the couch if you want to sleep there," he offered.

Korra pursed her lips at Ketu's attempt at winning this metaphorical challenge. With a huff, she yanked the blanket and plopped herself down on the floor a few feet away from him.

They both laid there in silence before Korra finally started to move around, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in on the hard floor. She even attempted to put the blanket under herself to use as some sort of cushion.

Finally feeling sorry enough for her, Ketu unzipped his sleeping bag and laid the whole thing out flat. He then slid over to the far right, before rolling to his side, facing away from Korra, and closing his eyes as he tried to go to sleep despite the chill of no longer having a cover.

Korra was trying to be quiet, but Ketu could tell that she had been watching him, and through his Seismic Sense, he could feel it as she moved in to lay on the unoccupied half of the padding that he had provided. What he had not expected was the warmth of the blanket that Korra had been using as it was suddenly draped over the two of them.

Without a word, they fell asleep. Both of them silently acknowledging that this little competition of theirs had ended with a draw.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, sorry for the delayed upload, hopefully you can forgive me considering that this chapter is basically two-in-one (almost 7,000 words). Back when I said that I was halfway through this chapter, I didn't realize how long it was going to be. I just couldn't find a good spot to end it while still keeping in everything that I wanted.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. If you haven't already, please, follow/fave and leave a review. It's what motivates me to spending my free time writing, instead of playing video games or something. I'll try to have the next chapter out in 2-3 weeks. You can expect for it to be my customary 3,000-4,500 words. Hope you guys are having a good summer and stay safe out there.

-Ominous Out