Chapter 31

And the Killer is! Part 1

"Ugh, this is the worst..." Shesh grumbled as she sat next to Skoochy on the back of the Cabbage Cart.

"Eh, it's not so bad, I'd say be happy that Tahno and me decided to pick you two up, even if Qishi really wanted the passenger seat," Skoochy sighed as he tilted his hat slightly. It had been awhile since she road in the back of the cart, there was a certain nostalgic feeling to the whole thing. The breeze was blowing as the vehicle traveled down the road.

They were traveling to Xinzang house to meet with Korra to discuss what they found at Diyin home, or rather what they didn't find. Tahno was driving and Qishi was in the passenger seat. Both Shesh and Skoochy was sitting in the back, all together that made four of them.

Shesh was about to close her eyes and enjoy the trip until the vehicle skid to a halt, nearing causing Shesh to bash her head against the back window. Shesh eye twitched as she sat up. The beat up cabbage cart was at a complete stop in the middle of the street as both she and Skoochy jumped off the back looking around.

"Huh, what happened?" Shesh walked around the front to see a woman in a white coat frozen with fear. It seemed the cabbage cart had nearly run her over.

"Oh man..." A voice was heard from the driver seat as both it and the passenger doors opened. Tahno got out, with a rather shocked expression as Qishi looked at him, her eyes narrowed.

"Tahno, I thought you of all people would know about proper vehicle safety! This is something I would expect from Shesh, not someone who has lived in Republic City!"

Shesh decided to ignore the insult as she turned to face the woman. She had long black hair and brown eyes, she was wearing what seemed to be a lab coat from future industries, at least it had its logo on it. She was tall and slender, and lacked any sort of make-up. Honestly, to Shesh, she looked like a rather boring person. The kind you would pass in the street without giving a second thought to. Though that wasn't the only thing.

The woman was holding a small suitcase in her hand, something that was about half the size of a person. She also had an odd smell coming from her, like something was rotting.

"Hey...are you alright?" Shesh smiled nervously as the woman glared at her.

"I am quite alright, this entire situation is my fault...I'd prefer if you erase this encounter from your minds," the woman was blunt as Shesh frowned.

She was trying to be nice, but it seemed that the woman wanted to be short with her.

"Nonono, this is not alright! We did almost run you down; there must be at least one thing we can do for you?" Qishi insisted as the woman stopped for a moment and scanned both her and Shesh.

"...You wouldn't happen to be the avatar would you?"

Shesh eye twitched she and Korra kind of looked alike, but not enough to confused one another. "No of course not!"

"Yes, she just the avatar's sister..." Tahno smirked as Shesh gave him a glare.

The woman remained silent as she gripped her bag.

"May I ask why you would ask such a thing? Do you need something from the avatar?" Qishi adjusted her glasses slightly as the woman continued to look at all of them before letting out a sigh.

"No, nothing...I must be on my way," the woman quickly walked off leaving all our of them confused. Chances were, it was simply bad luck, they most likely would never see the woman again after all. Still, Shesh couldn't help but shake the feeling of something off about the whole exchange between them. As if they just won the lottery of bad luck in fact.

It didn't take long for them to reach Xinzang's home. They recognized it due to the look, and the fact that their was a giant polar bear dog that seemed to be 'parked' in the front.

"Shit, Korra beat us here..." Shesh grumbled as she slowly stepped off of the back of the cabbage cart with Skoochy following her.

Qishi got out of the passenger side as they all noticed Tahno simply staying inside.

"Um, Tahno, aren't you getting out?" Skoochy asked as he waterbender shook his head before staring at Naga nervously.

"I would rather not, plus knowing you guys, something weird is probably going to happen. I think I'm just going to take some alone time and think for a bit," Skoochy shrugged as the all walked up to the front door. Qishi petting Naga ever so gently.

They entered the home to see Xinzang and Korra sitting at a small table talking. Shesh bit her lip at the sight as she crossed her arms.

"Sorry we're late Xinzang, Korra didn't say anything stupid, did she?"

Korra was about to say something back as Xinzang gave a small chuckle and shook her head. "Oh, no need to worry about it, I was just happy to have some new visitors. This reminds me, I should probably make some more tea!" Xinzang seemed like she was in a good mood as she walked back to her kitchen. It seemed that she had done some renovating, though Shesh assumed she still had the training area in the back.

"She seems so nice, I'm still surprised she is your teacher..." Korra made a comment that Shesh grumbled at before taking a seat at the table. Qishi followed as Skoochy walked towards Pet Show who was still in his cage, minding his own business.

"Anyway, what did you find at Diyin place?" Korra asked as Shesh and Qishi looked at one another.

"Well, the thing is. Once we got to her place, it was completely messed up. Like someone beat us to it, not only that but the S.W.O.R.D was missing," Shesh frowned as Qishi nodded.

"Yes, it also appeared that there were multiple holes in the home as if someone burnt there way though solid stone to get in... It was most likely a firebender, even if I don't know how it was possible..."

Korra sighed. "I talked to Lin, she really wants us to stop looking into this, but besides that. Nothing new from Diyin, it seems she really told us everything she knew about the situation,"

With that, they were right back where they started. Despite stopping Diyin, the killer was still out there. It was only a matter of time until someone was found dead or went missing again.

"On the bright side, we still have the list of people. We can continue investigating them, after all at least one of them has to be the culprit..." Qishi smiled as Xinzang walked back in holding a plate with a large pot of tea and a few cups surrounding it.

"I personally prefer cold drinks to hot ones, but it's always nice to change things up every once in awhile!" Xinzang set the tea on the table before Skoochy sighed and took the seat next to her. Xinzang slowly poured each cup of tea as Korra glanced at Skoochy and Xinzang for a moment.

"Um, so is she your mom?" Korra recalled that Skoochy was supposed to be an orphan, at least that he was when she first met him.

"What, no...I just kind of live here for a bit," Skoochy pointed that fact out as Xinzang quickly nodded.

"Yes, I mean do I look old enough to have kids!" Xinzang nodded as Shesh and Qishi gave an awkward cough. "You two can at least pretend," Xinzang glared at the two woman before smiling. "Anyway, how does the case go?"

"Not well, we are currently back to where we started. At this rate we may never find the killer," Qishi stated as Xinzang tapped her lip.

"Perhaps it is for the best, putting yourselves in dangerous situations all the time can't be good for your health after all. Plus I'm sure the police force is working rather hard on the case, then again, you guys never been ones to leave things alone," Xinzang laughed slightly as Shesh shrugged.

"Hey, I already wasted way too much time on this to just let it go!" Shesh countered as a faint ticking entered all of their ears.

It wasn't just ticking, but it sounded like small gears turning. Like a tiny machine was in the room working its way around the room. They all looked around for a moment, to notice a rather small toy Satomobile on the table suddenly. Just working its way around the tea set casually. It was such a random thing to happen, they really didn't know what to say.

"Um...Skoochy, did you buy a toy or something?" Shesh asked as Skoochy shook his head.

"No, that's not mine," Skoochy eyes narrowed as he stared at it. It was most likely from Future Industries. It seemed to have been made out of pure metal and hard plastic. It had a nice platinum color to it, in fact it was most likely made out of pure platinum as it continued to roll across the table before stopping, it seemed to have some sort of small tape attached to the side of its body.

It moved slightly before jumping into the large tea pot. Causing hot tea to splash upward, it was such an odd event as the tea pot shook.

"...Everyone get away from the table!" Xinzang knew instantly what was about the happen as she grabbed Skoochy and hit the floor. None of the questioned the older woman as Korra, Shesh and Qishi followed her example.

After a second, a large explosion happened. Completely destroying the table and causing debris to fly in every direction. As the smoke cleared, Shesh gave a small cough and started to look around. The main room was completely wrecked, and everyone was covered in dirt.

"Is everyone alright?" Shesh winced as she stayed on the ground, she saw Qishi lean up from off the floor. Her glasses and hair were slightly messy, but it seemed she was unharmed. The same could be said for Korra as well.

Shesh turned to her teacher who was on top of Skoochy. Most likely trying to protect him from the blast, she noticed a small bit of blood dripping from her arm.

"H-hey Xinzang, you alright?!" Shesh asked as the woman laughed holding her shoulder slightly.

"This, oh my, you know full well that I have been through far worse..." Xinzang replied as Skoochy coughed.

"What the heck happened?!" He straightened his hat as Korra looked around.

"It was probably a bomb," it was an obvious statement, at least it should have been obvious as Shesh took a whiff of the air. She didn't smell any blasting jelly or any sort of thing that could start an explosion. In fact, despite the bomb going off, she still didn't smell anything. Not only that, but the toy vehicle was rather small. Far too small to cause an explosion like that, at least that is what she assumed.

"Shit, I guess someone really doesn't want us to find the killer," Shesh doubted it was a random attack as she helped Qishi up from off the floor. At that moment they heard a familiar ticking sound as the rubble in the middle of the room started to move. What came popping out was the small toy Satomobile, most likely the same one from before. The only damage it seemed to have took from blowing up was the fact that it was now a little dusty.

It drove in circles for a minute before setting its next target. It sped towards Skoochy and Xinzang.

"Korra do something!" Shesh snapped, as Korra took a deep breath and stomped the wooden floor. Underneath the floorboards, a large pillar of stone came jetting out. In one swift motion the toy Satomobile was ejected from, of course this created a hole in Xinzang's roof.

"That takes care of that!" Korra smiled as Qishi quickly shook her head.

"No, I doubt that. If blowing itself up didn't stop it, then I doubt just throwing it somewhere would, that thing seems to be following us somehow...Most likely it's because of an enemy bender!"

"If it's a bender, then they have to be nearby!" Korra said as Qishi tapped her lip.

"Yes, that would be the most logical thing to say but the movements of the machine seemed way too simple, almost automated. I don't know how or how it attacks based on what, but I'm not even sure if the person that sent it after us is nearby."

Before the conversation could continue a slight ticking was heard as the sound of a window breaking echoed through the home.

It seemed that the small toy bomb was once again inside the home.

Author note

This is a long time coming, sorry, been super busy lately.