What I Learned at SRU -98-

If you have NOT watched Book 1 of Legend of Korra, BE WARNED, as from here on out there will be vague spoilers from things in that season.

I hope this was worth the wait.

What I Learned at SRU
Chapter 98 - The Last Agni Kai

- Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 -

"This is...weird," Jane flatly stated from her stall. She adjusted the baseball cap on her head - the arrowed one she had to wear as her uniform for working at Appa's.

"What's weird?" Korra asked from the next stall over.

The women's restroom in the basement of the ACC was empty aside from the two women on adjacent toilets.

"I dunno, just...we're in the bathroom together," Jane bluntly stated, unzipping her jeans.

"Ohhh, right. Like girls. Girl-talkin', eh? Yea, we're chattin' it up. Gimme some gossip, gurlll," Korra mocked.

Jane chuckled, hunched over her seat. She could hear Korra flipping through a newspaper.

"Ain't normal girl-talk, that's for sure," Jane noted with amusement.

"We did just make plans to go fuck someone's day over," Korra observed casually.

A couple of awkwardly silent moments passed.

"Why are you helping me with this?" Jane sighed out.

"Didn't we already go over this?" Korra dodged.

"The other night...Aang was...making it sound like you're helping me to get revenge."

"Ihhhhsn't that what we're doing?"

Jane's fingers pressed against her forehead, her face tilted down at her lap.

"I remember you said that the guy who killed Kat's mom disappeared. They never found him?"

Ruffling of newspaper. A pause.

"No." The word sounded like Korra had needed to pry it out.

"It was a whole group, though, I thought."

"Cops found some of 'em," Korra conceded. "I had to be the one to ID 'em. Didn't want Kat to need to worry about it, and Kya was...-" She cleared her throat. "I would've recognized him, his voice, his-...But they never got him. Hakoda told me the dude disappeared. No idea if he just got escaped clean or if someone else had to make him quiet."

"But you never got to see him pay for what he did."

"Mm...But forget about that, I ain't gonna let that happen to you. We'll nail this fucker, one way or another. You'll get to take care of him. I'll soften him up for ya, is all."

"Yea, that-...All right." Jane nodded - to herself, really, given that a brown, metal barrier separated them.

"I can't do anything about the bastard that killed my Aunt, but I can help you bring this one down."

"Right." Jane's stomach was churning. Something about Korra seemed off today. It was unsettling - even to her. "Uh, well..." She finished her business and zipped up her jeans. "Gotta get to work now. My shift's about to start."

"Yep. I'm back on in a bit, too...See you tonight."

"Tonight."

- October 31st, 2001 – Halloween

Batons had collided with bodies concealed by monster costumes. Tranquilizer darts had been shot in the commotion, and a handful of the gang members were brought to the tarmac, dragged aside and out of the way. The plan was to take them away, interrogate them, then leave them for the authorities.

A child's shriek for her mother ricocheted inside his skull as he pursued his target through the wild field on the outskirts of this town.

The miserable cries of the girl fawning over her injured mother echoed in his mind as he raced past the collapsed trio of tan-skinned females. He had warned them. He'd told them not to come this way. The woman in the eskimo costume, now laying in a puddle of her own blood, had ignored his warning. There wasn't much he could've done without drawing attention to tonight's operation. But then again, wasn't this woman connected to the Dragon of the West? For all he knew, maybe she had deserved her fate. He couldn't be sure.

But he was sure that the man he'd been stalking for days most certainly deserved the hammer of justice that was about to come down upon him.

He knew where the few others who had escaped would be fleeing to. Without their leader, they'd likely scurry back home. The sheep did not present the problem. Their shepherd did. And yet he was but only one unholy shepherd amongst many.

Like a predator, the vigilante in his hooded coat and ceramic mask traipsed through the rough grass. Reaching his worn out target, he gave them a light push in mid-run. The man stumbled face first into the dirt, his hat and ballroom mask flying off his head.

The pursuer slowed to a stop, barely out of breath from the sprint.

"Who're...-?" coughed out the man on the ground, fumbling to his knees. "Da Lotus...? Y-you...workin' for...-?"

"Lightning Bolt Zolt," called out the man in the white mask, linking his hands primly behind his back. His voice was cold and firm as he recounted the identity of his target. "The outcast leader of the Triple Threat Triad. You were one of the most notorious criminals that served under Yakone."

"Heh..." Zolt coughed more as he found his shaky footing. "Used to like dat spotlight, I did..."

"Indeed," came the masked man. "You've amassed quite the fortune by extorting and abusing the innocent. And now...torturing women and children? How the mighty have fallen..."

"Yakone's pretty persuasive, even when he's got his back inna corner."

Zolt's cocky tone thinly veiled his fear at the prying eyes from beneath the mask before him.

"Regardless...Your reign of terror is about to come to an end."

"Da fuck are you s'possed to be, anyway?" Zolt demanded, clutching at his waist. The masked man could detect that within seconds, a knife would be in that hand. "You think you some kinda lamebrain supah hero? Sayin' crap like dat?"

Zolt fumbled backward, step by step, inching his way across the bare, unkempt field in the cold night. Another figure, veiled by the black evening, approached the man in the mask from behind, two heavy batons in his hands. Zolt could hear the shuffling of bodies meandering through the grass from further behind. The man with the batons strapped his weapons into their holsters at his hips.

"A few managed to get away, but...We've detained most of them, Sir," this new voice reported calmly. His voice was ragged and worn but with a contained ferocity to it, like electricity through a frayed wire.

"Very good, Lieutenant," replied the apparent commander of this uniformed crew.

"You think you're some...fuckin' Batman, n' dis here's yer Robin?" Zolt mocked, sweat collecting across his head while he used smarmy words in a feeble attempt to hide his fear.

The masked man took two steps back, his eyes narrowed at Zolt's attempts at insult. His comrade with the batons frowned and was on the verge of threatening Zolt, but the masked man eased out his hand to quell him with a silent understanding.

"In the interest of fairness," his deep voice announced, not only to Zolt, "I will allow you a chance to defend yourself."

Zolt's eyes sparked wide in an eager panic.

"You're gonna regret doin' dat, pal!" he taunted, rushing at his assailant. His switchblade, still speckled with the blood of his fresh victim, was drawn, the hooded man in the mask its target.

The would-be victim of this predicted slight deftly dodged Zolt's blatant attack with ease, slipping sideways like a stream of water. In one quick motion, he gripped Zolt's knife-wielding wrist, twisting his opponent around. The pressure caused Zolt's blade to slip from his fingers, and with the icy hand of this mysterious man fiercely squeezing the base of his neck, Zolt was stunned. The man pressed Zolt down to his knees, retaining his solid grip. Zolt was left dazed and aghast.

"Why were you sent here?" growled the masked man. "Why did you attack that family?"

"Wh-?! I...I ain't sayin'-Arrghh...!" His head was pulled back as his arm was contorted behind his back. "I...I say anything...Yakone, he...he'd...-"

"He is not the one you should fear. The Lord sees all, Zolt. And He has guided me here tonight to ensure that you never harm another person. He has guided my hand, that I might bring you to your knees in His name. May His will be done."

-Crack!-
-Whump!-

Ragged breaths escaped grass-ridden lips as an otherwise silent moment passed on this bitter Halloween night.

The man in the mask stared down at the broken criminal criminal before him, his hands finding their familiar position behind his back. Zolt's panting body was spread on its stomach, motionless, while his head trembled in the dirt, struggling to lift itself.

"Wh...what did you do to me?" Zolt hoarsely managed out.

"I have taken away your ability to hurt another living soul for as long as you may live."

"Cuh...can't...feel my...-" Zolt was sniveling now, tears streaming from shut eyes.

"You'll never be able to walk again," the masked man explained. "But I have spared your life, that you may live the rest of your days in repentance. It is the Lord's will."

By now, the audience of suited comrades had gathered, Zolt's subdued underlings in tow. They all bore witness of the masked man's demonstration of superiority.

"Yakone's time is over." The man drew back his hood. He removed his mask, dropping it into the grass beside Zolt's blubbering face. He was a handsome man in his 20's with defined jaws and fading sideburns descending down the sides of his face. His hair was wild, like a proud lion's mane. He surveyed his audience of followers and sedated criminals before continuing to speak. "The Phoenix Clan, the White Lotus...their conflict continues to be a blight upon this Earth. Men like Yakone and this monster that now lies before us have been the tools of this conflict...but that time is over. The righteous hand of the Lord will come down upon those who disturb His kingdom. A new era of justice and equality will begin tonight, with our God leading us to put an end to this unruly chaos man has wrought. Those who have devastated our lives - our families - with their tyranny...Families like the one we just passed in that parking lot...Those families will be given peace. These vile people will no longer be tolerated. Brothers, Sisters...tonight, by our divinely guided hands, I tell you...The revolution has begun."

- Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 -

"I still can't believe the old coot's fine with all this." June shook her head to herself as she watched Jane drizzle Sprite soda across the grill. Jane took advantage of the loud moment of liquid sizzling to consider her response. The syrupy vapors calmed her as she scraped her metal spatula against the grill's surface.

"He's not," Jane calmly replied before dunking more of the soda in another spot.

"That makes a bit more sense," June noted, going about straightening up the wrap preparation counter. "Why's Grandpa going along with this, then?"

Jane sighed, sniffing runny mucus back down her nostrils and pushing burnt residue along the grill's gutter.

"Think Iroh wants to make sure his nephew's outta trouble," Jane theorized. "Zuko's gonna keep himself that way if he thinks he's in danger, especially with his girlfriend on his case. And if the cops have their eyes on him...-" She shrugged, continuing to scratch metal against metal. "Think Iroh's doing this for me, too, though," she muttered as an after thought.

"You?"

Jane's eyes slid to the side as she reconsidered this.

"Er, my dad, technically."

"Ah. Right," June deadpanned back. "Sorry about all that."

"Mm." Jane shook her head slightly, her small hum some way of saying, 'don't worry about it.' Even though June's tone was flat, Jane knew the woman was sincere in her sentiment.

"I bet that old fart figures he doesn't have much to lose at his age," said June with a light chuckle.

"Guess so," Jane complied. "Uh, so...-" Jane shifted her arrowed uniform cap around. "You don't think he's suspicious about anything?"

"Zuko?"

"Yea."

"Fff. Other than the death threat he got?"

June's sarcasm was met by a dull and impatient glare.

"He's got no idea the note came from you, if that's what you mean," June sighed out quietly, rolling her eyes. "Pretty sure you're in the clear."

"Mm." Jane nodded to herself, finishing up her duty of cleaning the grill. She began tinkering around with odds and ends to tidy things up, dreading the daunting task of dumping the hot oil from the friers through their filters. The guilt weighed on her when she wasn't keeping busy. Jane had typed, printed, and sent the very note Zuko had been upset over. The threat letter was false - a carefully timed effort to distract authorities while simultaneously keeping Iroh's nephew under watch. Iroh had offered up this plan himself, which had been the more startling part to Jane.

"So that's how it's gonna go," June noted, completing her own task of ensuring all the food was sealed away. "You and Miss Manly-Arms are gonna try offin' this guy yourselves."

"That's how it's gonna go," Jane repeated tiredly. "Assuming the info you got was good."

"It's good," June eased. "This Combustion dude's got his habits set in solid, apparently. They told me that for months now, he's been consistent with his timing on this stuff. Kinda disturbing, when you think about it."

Kind of ironic that you'd be calling it disturbing with the shit you've done in the past...

"So...tonight, then," Jane checked, as if this were some casual meeting she was planning.

"Pretty likely, yea."

"I'll have my eyes keeping a lookout, then."

+ Youtube.com/watch?v=re32xnyYP3A +
('Reignite,' cover/lyrics by 'Malukah')

Jane stares at herself in the mirror. Yellow and black stripes on her undershirt, her eyes ragged and wary, freckled shoulders and cheeks flushed red from the swell of oncoming emotion she foresees will soon drown her.

~Hope can drown; Lost in thunderous sound~

Jane's mind races at the memory of Aang disappearing into the smoldering building.

~Fear can claim what little faith remains~

Korra's throat tightens as she recalls those stone-like hands gripping her.

~But I carry strength from souls now gone~

A weathered family photograph in Jane's wallet.

~They won't let me give in~

Korra's hand shutting the music box closed with resolution.

~I will never surrender; We'll free the Earth and sky~

Korra, slipping on her black leather jacket and marching out the door.

~Crush my heart into embers; And I will reignite~

Jane, sliding two lines of red paint across each of her cheeks.

~I will reignite~

Jane's black boots striking the campus pavement in dark strides.

~Death will take those who fight alone~

{Jack "Jet" Chavez}
{1984 - 2010}
{May he find his Freedom}

~But united we can break a fate once set in stone~

Korra and Jane meeting up, their fists bumping together.

~Just hold the line until the end~

A tired Iroh, sitting down at his table with a bottle of sake.

~Cause we will give them hell~

The fiery-eyed duo, side by side on the sidewalk.

~I will never surrender; We'll free the Earth and sky~

Korra stares with bitter doubt at the sidewalk below.
Jane glances up to the clouded stars above.

~Crush my heart into embers; And I will reignite~

Professor Kurosawa's house is before them.

~I will reignite~

"You ready, Shamrocks?"
"Yea..."

~I will reignite~

[From: cherry]
[im doin this for jet and the ff. k? not you.]
[Sent: 9:47pm]

[Reply]
[To: cherry]
[yea, well i didn't ask for your help. but i get it. thanks.]
[Sent: 9:48pm]

[From: cherry]
[blondie in tracksuit. looks skinny tho.]
[Sent: 9:48pm]

[Reply]
[To: cherry]
[not him. keep lookin.]
[Sent: 9:48pm]

[From: yojimbo]
[He passes by, you'll know.]
[Sent: 9:48pm]

[Reply]
[To: yojimbo]
[awesome.]
[Sent: 9:48pm]

[From: pipsqueak]
[you sure this will work smellerbee?]
[Sent: 9:39pm]

[Reply]
[To: pipsqueak]
[don't worry. we'll get him.]
[Sent: 9:49pm]

[From: the duke]
[No sign of him yet from this direction. Be careful.]
[Sent: 9:40pm]

[Reply]
[To: the duke]
[k. we will. you too.]
[Sent: 9:49pm]

[From: john-boy]
[I know. I understand. Do what you need to do.]
[Sent: 9:45pm]

[Reply]
[To: john-boy]
[thanks. i will.]
[Sent: 9:50pm]

Jane took a deep breath, closing her phone. Propped up against the wall, she crossed her arms around her waist.

"Nothin'?" Korra checked from the kitchen table nearby. Jane shook her head in reply.

"Not yet," she mumbled. Her phone vibrated again.

[From: john-boy]
[(heart)]
[Sent: 9:51pm]

[Reply]
[To: john-boy]
[(heart)]
[Sent: 9:51pm]

"He will come," came the crackling voice of the pudgy professor, sitting across from Korra. Korra raised a brow at him.

"Uh, you do know he's gonna...try to kill you, eh?"

"Wahaha..." Iroh took another sip from his hot sake cup. "He will not succeed."

"What makes you so sure?" Jane skeptically wondered.

"You will not let him," Iroh casually explained with a puffing sigh of satisfaction from his drink. "That...is why you are here, isn't it?"

Korra and Jane exchanged wide-eyed looks of concern as the elderly man poured himself another cup from his sake bottle, which rested in a pot of warm water on the table.

"Besides," Iroh added, "this cannot be my last day. This is not my last drink. My last drink will be jasmine tea."

"Err..." Korra lifted a confused finger. "Yea, I don't...think you quite get that what you drink is gonna stop bad shit from happening..."

Iroh shook his head slowly and set his cup down after another swig.

"Miss Kesuk, you should not doubt yourself. It is unlike you."

"You...don't know me," Korra grumbled with some defense.

"Oh, I know enough," Iroh insisted with a coy smirk. "You live to protect. That is who you are, down beneath. It is why you are here, correct? Babysitting children, guarding our campus...watching over your family."

Korra shrugged at this, but nodded half-heartedly.

"Right this moment-" Iroh went on, his voice raising a bit with enthusiasm. "-you are here to protect me. To protect your friend." He raised his cup to Jane, who avoided his glazed eyes in favor of studying the kitchen's panel flooring.

"I am," Korra conceded, "But I'm just one person, I mean...-" She flicked up her wrists and let the rest of her thought trail away, her mind bleeding out regrets over that night when she failed her aunt.

"One person can change everything," Iroh mused, staring into his warm liquid. "My nephew tells me that I changed his life. And Korra, a single man completely changed the lives of your whole family, is that not correct?"

Korra frowned at this, Iroh's words digging the thorn deeper into her heart.

"Pff." Jane's shoulder popped up in recognition of where the old man was going with this. "This Combustion creep changed my life," she deduced. "And now, we're gonna change the fuck outta his."

"Whahaha!" Iroh chuckled with a pat on his knee. "You see?" he said to Korra, directing his finger to Jane. "This is the kind of mindset you should have. I refuse to drink tea tonight because I refuse to let myself believe that this will be my last drink."

Korra sighed and ran her hand through her bangs in contemplation.

"Gimme something to do and I'll be fine," she puffed out. "I'm a 'doer,' not a 'thinker.'"

"Even whales come up from the ocean to breathe now and again," Iroh cast out his metaphorical thought with a shrug, helping himself to more sake.

"Huh?" growled Korra with irritation.

"He's saying you should step outta your comfort zone," Jane tiredly translated.

Korra shook her head and pinched at the bridge of her nose with discomfort.

"Maybe we can just...I dunno, worry about this guy before we 'think' about how to think, eh?"

Vrrrrmmmmm.

[From: pipsqueak]
There was an image attached - a blurry photo of a thick person in a gray hoodie.
[just passed by. had a beard sorta. ]
[Sent: 9:55pm]

Jane immediately presented the grainy picture to Korra and Iroh. Korra shrugged and Iroh stared at it with narrowed, curious eyes.

"Look like him?" Jane asked.

"Little hard to tell with a shitty cell phone pic," Korra grumbled.

Jane huffed with a shrug, accepting her phone back.

"Not gonna let people get a good look at him, is he?" she pointed out.

Vrrrrmmmmm.

[From: The Duke]
[Just saw Pipsqueak's guy. Forehead tattoo. Coming your way.]
[Sent: 9:55pm]

"Forehead tattoo?" Jane blurted out.

"Yea," Korra replied, her brows furrowing.

Jane nodded with affirmation, snapping her phone shut.

"Time to get in place."

Jane's heart picked up its pace as she heard the clomping footsteps of workboots approach, joined by the sound of a liquid jostling inside a container. Her back pressed against the garage's side paneling, she found herself frozen in place. The steps stopped, and she heard a methodical knocking of wrist against glass coming from the side door. She heard the door creak open, and Iroh's unassuming voice inquire about the man's presence. Some light tapping and bumping sounds, followed by the door closing.

Jane let herself breathe. That was him. He was here. It was a bit much to take in during that moment. Christ, and to think of what he could've been doing to Iroh at that very moment, while she was here, paralyzed in thought. A few seconds later, the sound of clattering kitchen objects startled her to her senses. She fumbled around with her phone, fingers like lightning.

[New Message]
[To: korra]
[here]
[Sent: 10:16pm]

The snap-reaction warning sent out, Jane stared blankly at her phone, her breaths already shallowing at the realization that this moment she'd been waiting for, planning for, revolving her recent life around...She was in this moment, right now. Trembling at the shock of the weight. Being useless. Jane shook off her jitters, setting her cell phone down in the grass beside the garage. She withdrew from her back pocket a leather sheath and slid out her old weapon - the dagger with the lioness head sculpted as its hilt.

What shall it be tonight, old friend? Business or pleasure?

I'm thinking...'pleasure.'

She knew that for this plan to work the way they'd anticipated, she had to wait a moment - as much as it discomforted her to let this psychotic zealot assassin harm an old man. She checked the backyard - the ladder leading upstairs was still there. The plan was that Korra, hiding within, would help escort Iroh outside as Jane distracted their target.

Based on what Korra had managed to glean from Chief Jia and Zuko, and what Jane had figured out from Iroh and June, The Agni Kai group had its own trend: it always killed its victims by fire. Never blunt force, or weaponry. They would batter their victims to the point of unconsciousness, then ignite the building, letting the fire consume the bodies. They were a cult - they were insane. In their minds, they weren't committing a sin, because they never actually killed anyone with their own hands.

And that was the way that this final member of that fallen clan would meet his end, like a bull to a red cape.

Zuko and Iroh had asked June to do some snooping with her contact from the Phoenix Clan, an ex-Serpent she had once worked with. Said contact had dropped info to her about the Combustion Man, referred to within the organization as 'The Last Agni Kai.' With some prodding from June, the contact had planted some info to the Phoenix Clan which would lead them to send The Last Agni Kai to Wayward to 'dispose' of a troublesome 'Dragon of the West.' According to June, this seemed to have gone according to plan. However, Iroh and Jane's scheme to send Zuko a fake threat letter had led the authorities astray, while the real threat message that Iroh had received was kept secret from his nephew, simultaneously confirming the Clan's intentions to attempt to wipe Iroh away and instill fear in his comrades. Jane had summoned the old Freedom Fighters that still remained in the area to help keep an eye out for their hungry bull.

Everything had come together - and in this very moment, the bull was charging headlong at the red cape, blinded by his own zealous insanity. It was time to spring the trap set for this beast.

She held her knife tightly in her fingers, like a firm handshake with a good friend she hadn't seen in a while. But in this moment, as she lingered outside of the Professor's house, that 'old friend' was someone she was looking at differently than the last time she'd shaken that hand. That friend was familiar, the same as they'd always been...but Jane wasn't. Jane was different than before. She'd changed, and moved on, and holding this knife was suddenly bringing back bad memories of the times this 'friend' had enabled her to do things she'd come to regret. Slashing those men in the alley the night Jet died, stabbing one of the Rough Rhinos in a fight the year prior. The things that had happened as a result of actions like these - consequences of becoming 'Smellerbee' - came flooding at her through the eyes of that 'old friend' whose hand she was shaking. She fought them off, shook them away, cast them aside...she had to.

+ Youtube.com/watch?v=yFnnNijn_OI +
('The Last Agni Kai,' by The Track Team)

Dark rings around her eyes, cheeks striped with red paint, Jane closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and...

Smellerbee entered the house.

Making her way through the kitchen, she surveyed the scene. A broken ceramic cup was shattered, laying in a puddle of spilled sake. Some pots and pans that had once been hanging overhead were strewn around an upturned chair. Droplets of blood split on the tile floor. She could hear thumping from upstairs - muffled grunts and growling. As she passed silently through the living room, this scuffle from above was accompanied by the steady clicking of Iroh's dragon-themed grandfather clock.

-Tick-
A smell. Kerosene?
-Tick-
Burning. Trickling smoke.
-Tick-
Flames were licking up the carpet.
-Tick-
Magazines and newspapers swallowed whole.
-Tick-
Wallpaper was already being slurped up.
-Tick-
A painting being chewed alive.
-Tick-

This psychopath had already started the fire while subduing his elderly victim, with himself still inside. It suddenly dawned on Jane how this man must have gotten the badly scarred arm Korra had described.

The glass of the living room's coffee table had been shattered, its now flaming contents littering glass-ridden the carpet. A thin trail of fire, still freshly feeding on kerosene, led the way upstairs.

Smellerbee noted the eerie silence from upstairs.

-Tick-
Boots, walking down.
-Tick-
Stepping through the flames.
-Tick-
A gray hoodie. A scruffy face.
-Tick-
Cold, dead eyes. A stoic glare, his third eye tattooed into his forehead, the mark of his fallen clan.

He drew up his hood, his buzzcut head as barren as his expression.

The Last Agni Kai stood before her as small flames steadily grew around them. Smellerbee's heart skipped before dashing into an adrenaline-fueled frenzy as the man's eyes widened with a slowly building rage at her presence. He puffed out air through his nostrils as his fists tightened. Smellerbee readied her knife.

¡Olé!

+ Youtube.com/watch?v=ysSxxIqKNN0 +
('New Divide' by Linkin Park)

The Combustion Man charged at her, and she swung her knife. A grazing hit - she sliced the side of his forehead open. He plowed right through and swung his massive arms at her. The blow slammed her into Iroh's entertainment system.

Sparks were jumping out from the devices at her back, their wires being nibbled apart by the trickling flames.

~I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me~

Dazed, Jane's hands were balled tight, the grip on her blade fierce.

~I remembered each flash as time began to blur~

All the shit she had lived through since her parents' were taken...

~Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me~

His wide, intense eyes stared down at her in fierce silence.

~And your voice was all I heard; that I get what I deserve~

"Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves..."

~So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean~

She fumbled to get to her feet, her body stinging with fresh cuts and a bruise or two.

~Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes~

His bulky hands grabbed her shoulders, and she refused to show those vacant eyes any fear.

~Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between~

One fist to her rib, one knee to her stomach, and she was tossed toward the kitchen.

~Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide~

She groaned in pain but recovered to her knees, her knife still in hand.

Her olive eyes burned at him with the fires forming around her.

~There was nothing in sight but memories left abandoned~

This man - he was empty, he was hollow. She saw nothing inside his face.

~There was nowhere to hide, the ashes fell like snow~

He approached her without hesitation, embers and flecks of ashen wallpaper fluttering in the air.

~And the ground caved in between where we were standing~

She swung - missed - and he shoved her back again, her head slamming against something hard, metal, and flat.

~And your voice was all I heard; that I get what I deserve~

[From: john-boy]
[I know. I understand. Do what you need to do.]

~So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean~

Smellerbee wobbled back to her feet, scrambling to find her knife in the chaos.

~Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes~

The Last Agni Kai was ravaging the house around her, spreading flames, while she scooped up her blood-tipped knife.

~Across this new divide~

She threw herself at him, slicing at his back. He growled, practically unfazed, and whirled around, his unscarred hand clamped around her neck.

The knife fell from her fingers as she clawed both hands at his wrist, her agility feeble against his girth.

In an instant, she was pinned against wall. His foreboding, hollow face was shadowed by the enveloping glow of red, orange and yellow forming around them.

Smellerbee's throat was tightened. The burning colors were fading into a gray.

-Crack!-
"Rargh!"

Smellerbee was released, collapsing against the wall, searing heat pricking at her face.

"Remember me, fucker?!" Korra's voice bellowed through the hissing fire.

~In every loss~
Mary and Joel, dead and gone.
~in every lie~
Jet's manipulation.
~in every truth that you'd deny~
Toph's stubborn refusal to show she cared.
~And each regret~
Sokka's bitter, jaded words.
~and each goodbye~
Aang's heartfelt words.
~was a mistake too great to hide~
The sting in Katara's eyes when they'd last talked.
~And your voice was all I heard; that I get what I deserve~

"OK...Jane, I-...Whatever it is you're looking for, I hope you...find it. You deserve that much."

~So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean~

As Smellerbee wheezed to regain her breath, choking on the smoke growing around them, Korra and the man were slugging it out.

~Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes~

Korra was tossed through a patch of flames. Smellerbee gripped her knife as she readied another chance to strike him.

~Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between~

Bloodthirsty and ragged, she delivered a grazing slice that tore at the man's arm.

~Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies...~

He tossed her through the now burning kitchen table. Her legs were cut by splintered edges of wood.

~...across this new divide~

Korra, disheveled and enraged, emerged from smoldering rubble to tackle him from behind.

~Across this new divide~

Smellerbee scrambled to stand up through the pain, bruises and cuts all around her, adrenaline surging through her pounding heart.

~Across this new divide~

With her victim finally still, pinned to the ground beneath Korra's weight, Korra retrieved from her inner coat pocket a handheld stun gun. In the moment before The Combustion Man could break free, she jabbed the device into his back and turned it on, shocking him into submission.

Jane stood in stunned silence at this violent act, and the dark satisfaction on Korra's face as she committed it.

Aang's voice:
"And you know how toxic it feels. Don't you? 'Smellerbee?'"

The building smoke broke Jane from her stupor. She choked and sputtered, trying to veil her face with her bare hand. The heat licked at her skin, the tongue of this ravenous beast of red, yellow, and orange tickling her scraped arms.

She stumbled backward, trying to find an exit. Korra, meanwhile, had implemented the zip ties she had taken with her to restrain the dazed man's hands and feet.

"Get him!" she called through the ruckus with a violent cough, dragging the Combustion Man toward the tile floor kitchen, still relatively safe.

Korra paused, leaving their incapacitated foe at Jane's feet expectantly. Jane instinctively raised her knife up, clasped between both hands. Teeth bared, eyes wide with anger, she stared down at the man - the man who'd played a part in destroying her family.

Do it. Do it. Stab him.

"Do it!" Korra commanded in a heated panic, watching the fires behind Jane grow.

Jane blinked, her heart skipping, mind melting from the heat and the smoke and the trauma.

"Fuck," Korra grunted out, realizing Jane was too shocked to carry this act through in the moment. She continued to drag the man toward their exit. "Help me!"

Jane did as instructed with her free arm - the other intent on keeping its knife - and the two of them dragged the Last Agni Kai out through the same door he'd entered, dropping him on his back against the driveway's pavement. They went on to drag him to Iroh's empty garage - the car was still parked in the driveway. With the same swift, commanding presence as she'd subdued the Combustion Man, Korra slammed the garage door shut behind them.

Korra tightened the zip ties along the man's ankles. She pushed her boot down upon his chest, crushing his knuckles between his own back and the hard ground.

"Wh...where's Iroh?" Jane mumbled, her whole body a tense block of adrenaline and fear.

"In the backyard," Korra huffed, clearing her throat of smoke. "Got him out down the ladder, like we planned," she explained, wiping ash from one cheek. "He's probably called authorities by now. You've gotta do it while you've still got the chance."

+ Youtube.com/watch?v=xMBtbACXyGM +
('Blood Theme' by Daniel Licht)

Korra and Jane exchanged intense expressions, but neither said or did a thing. A few seconds later, Korra's patience whittled away. The Combustion Man was waking back up. She stunned him again, noises pouring out from him like a wounded jaguar.

"Come on!" Korra insisted with another desperate look. Jane simply blinked, dumbfounded. "The fff...-?!" Korra panted out with exasperation, wide eyed up at her friend. "Do it!" she growled out in impatience, her eyes flickering with the intensity of the backdrop fire behind them.

Jane flinched from Korra's shout.
Smellerbee squeezed the handle of her blade.

She looked down at him - The Last Agni Kai. This was her moment of revenge.

Her arms were shaking, legs wobbling, eyes burning, fingers quivering, teeth clenched...

Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.
Fucking do it.
You're not doing it.
Stab. Stab. End it. End him.
Avenge your parents.
You need this. You need to see his blood spill.

Blood.

Jet, smeared across a street.
Johnny, wounded in a hospital bed.
Aang, ash-ridden and scarred.
Katara, her head split open, woozy and bloody.

Nils, face swollen, sputtering miserably as he died at Smellerbee's feet.

The buzzing of those bees that she'd unleashed on him hummed in her head.

Aang's words from days ago haunted her.

"Is that who you want to be? Do you want to go back to that kind of life?"
"No!"

Smellerbee's knife had never been heavier than in that moment.

No. I don't want this. I don't need this.

"What are you waiting for?!" roared Korra. "Ya gonna do it, or n-?!"

Korra stopped when Jane flung the knife behind her, casting it against the cement floor before pushing Korra aside and glowering overtop the man's body.

Jane cut loose the contained beast of her rage, her pain, her anger - it burst out through a long, shaking screech of anguish. Korra, stirred and shocked by Jane's reaction, was silenced.

Jane glared down at the Combustion Man's face. All three of his eyes: hollow, devoid of life, of purpose, of feeling.

"I always wondered what kind of a person could do such a thing," Jane whispered at his motionless face, his uncaring eyes looking up at her in a daze. "But now that I see you..." She shut her eyes. "I think I understand," she half-whimpered, half-snarled, dwelling on the violence that had just transpired. "There's fucking...nothing inside you." She opened her eyelids, her olive daggers unable to puncture his eyes of stone. "Nothing at all. You're pathetic, and sad, and empty."

"Rrragh!"
Jane kicked the Combustion Man in the rib.
"Hrrrgh!"
She stomped his stomach.
"Nnnrrrgh!"
She lunged down on his chest and punched his stone face with her frail fist.
"Aaghh!"
She punched again, tears dripping down her face.
"Grrragrghh!"

She dropped a heaving, raspy breath as she lifted her bruised knuckles a third time, giving pause at the broken nose and black eye she'd just caused. Her nose wrinkled, her mouth distorting into a most unsettling frown. She screeched again with frustration, delivering a final punch before pushing herself off of his body and turning away.

She panted for breath, tears of frustration running down her face.

"But...as much as I hate you..." She sniffed, wiping her wrist across her nose as her eyes trembled. "I just can't do it..." She turned away, walking to the corner of the garage.

Speechless, Korra took a moment to contemplate what had just happened - not at all what she had anticipated. She walked to the garage door and opened it. The honking of a firetruck's horn echoed from the distance. Korra grabbed the man's legs, and callously dragged their captured criminal to the front lawn of Iroh's house.

Jane, trembling out of control, waited until after Korra had left, then picked up her knife. Her old friend. She could practically feel the frightful clutch of this 'old friend' on her hand, begging her to not do what she was about to do. She ignored this.

Upon exiting the garage, she was met by a weary, bloody-nosed Iroh, a phone to his ear. He weakly waved to her - he seemed surprisingly calm, given that his home was going up in flames. Jane nodded back, leaving him to continue his discourse. The once faint howling of a firetruck's horn was close.

Jane approached the heat of the house and stared into the void of red, yellow, and orange.

Orange, like the color of her ragged hair.
Yellow, like the stripes on her shirt.
Red, like the paint on her face.

Like the blood others had spilled.
Like the blood she had spilled.
Like the blood she chose not to spill.

Goodbye, old friend.
I don't need you any more.

Jane Fitzpatrick hurled her knife through the kitchen window, the shattering of glass her wake up call.

Wake up, Jane. Wake up.
It's over.

A heavy, shaking sigh spilled from her lips as she watched the fire flicker and burn, the smoke billowing from the now open window. She lifted a tired, stinging hand to her face and let her vision blur, staring blankly at the destruction before her.

I wanted to do it. Let it all out on him. End his life, like he's ended so many. But I couldn't.

Is that because I'm too weak to do it, or strong enough not to?

Jane reflected on this, and on the first conversation that had led to her rethinking this act: the one she'd had with Aang. She could already hear his words in her head.

'I'm proud of you.'

Their talk reverberated through her chest in that moment.

"Jane, you do have a choice. You always have a choice: forgiveness."
"Forgiveness doesn't save anyone."
"It saves you from yourself."

Jane took a deep breath and dried her tears, taking a few steps back from the flames as they snapped, hissed, and banged.

I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him.
But I think I get it now, Aang...
I'm finally ready to forgive myself.

Jane hobbled her way to the grass beside Iroh's garage. She could hear a firetruck pulling in along the curb. She bent down and picked up her phone.

[Calling...]
[john-boy]
["...~...You have reached...-"]
["Longshot."] She had insisted that he get good sleep and leave his phone on silence.
["-...after the tone, please leave a message.]
Johnny wasn't one for emotional phone calls, anyway.
[-BEEEEEP!-]

She left her message.

After this, Jane was approached by an EMT who'd arrived with the firemen, and he bandaged up her bleeding wrist after inspecting her minor injuries. After this task was complete, she could hear more sirens drawing close, so she went out to the front lawn, where Korra was keeping the criminal in check.

["Hey. It's Jane. So...I'm still kickin'."]

+ Youtube.com/watch?v=gSsOnShqhw4 +
('Astor's Birthday Party' by Daniel Licht)

Jane walked around the commotion of firefighters, the world a smoky haze. Water sprayed from a hose. A pair of police cars had pulled up, officers swarming the lawn.

["It's over. We got him."]

Jane approached the rough manhandling of the Combustion Man as he was pulled up to his feet.

["But...I didn't do it. Didn't kill him."]

Jane stared into his hollowed eyes one last time as he was shoved into one of the cars, its red and blue light flashing.

["I mean, I thought I wanted to...but...-"]

Jane glanced over to Korra's stoic gaze, her eyes reflecting the spinning light atop the police car.

["Turns out, I didn't. It didn't feel right to me. You know?"]

Jane sighed, rubbing the dried red paint stripes off her cheeks as she drew close to her friend.

["I'm...actually relieved."]

Korra, one hand on her hip, lifted a fist toward Jane, smiling with some pride.

["You know that...weight...I used to tell you about?"]

Jane wiped sweat and ash from her forehead and bumped Korra's fist, the two exchanging nods of approval.

["I think it's gone, finally. Fuck."]

Korra pounded her palm into Jane's shoulder. It hurt like a son of a bitch with how sore and scraped she was, but she didn't let this show.

["I'm done with this shit. I don't want to be this person anymore."]

Korra's name was called by the police, and she begrudgingly obliged, while Jane stared at the forming crowd of neighbors being held at a distance by authorities. She observed the confusion and shock in their faces.

["There's prolly gonna be a bit of fallout, I guess..."]

She glanced back to see a furious police chief with gray hair was chewing Korra out with rhetoric. Korra, arms crossed with pride, endured the chief's criticisms with a dulled frown.

["But this time, I know things are...going to be OK. I actually can say that now."]

Letting herself get eased toward the ambulance that has accompanied the police, Jane watched as they tended to Iroh's wounds before checking her phone after she felt it vibrate.

["I love you."]

[From: john-boy]
[(heart) (heart)]
[Sent: 10:37pm]

["And I love my friends...I fucking miss them...So much."]

[From: aang]
[zuko txted me. said you were in trouble? call me when you get this.]
[Sent: 10:38pm]

Jane smiled, her eyes watering with solace and anticipation. Her friends...She missed them. Hopefully they would take her back. Standing beside the back of the ambulance car, Jane dialed Aang back and smirked at Iroh's attempts to flirt with the woman tending to him inside the car.

["And I miss you. I hope I see you soon."]

"H-hey..." Jane coughed out, her throat sore. "Aang...?"

Korra, having just been reamed out by Chief Jia, stalked off to the sidewalk, her body pulsing with pain. Her ego had been scratched up tonight from different angles. Jane had let that bastard live - why had she let him live, instead of giving him what he'd deserved? On top of this, Korra's failure to leave an impression with Lin burned at her gut, a metaphorical wound to add to her literal ones. She'd taken down the Combustion Man. The least that bitch could've done was given her some kind of fucking compliment for doing what the police hadn't been able to. Instead, Korra had been lectured about the validity of her presence at the good Professor's house that evening, why a ladder was laying in the backyard, and why she had been carrying her campus security stun gun on her person. And now Lin was probably ripping Jane a new one, when that girl didn't deserve it.

Kicking up dust outside the edge of the now-contained calamity, Korra cursed up a storm to herself as steam snorted from her nose in a fit. Korra's attention was diverted by a strange sight: two men in trench coats, standing across the road, staring right at her. No sooner had she noticed their presence did they continue walking away, side by side.

One man one eastern descent with pair of thick-rimmed glasses tilted his head to his companion as they reached the next block.

"Noah..." His voice was like electricity passing through a frayed wire. "How do you want to handle this?"

The man at his side paced calmly, his hands latched primly behind his back.

"So," he mused. "It seems they are still at work here in this town."

He nodded to himself. He was a handsome man in his 30's, with tanned skin and ragged hair accented by rugged sideburns.

"We'll have to accelerate our plans," he declared simply.