“Not sure I’m ready to let you go just yet. It’s too much fun watching you suffer.” - *slams* make Tenzin suffer *slams*
It had to of been at least three days since the Equalists snatched him off the street. The gag in his mouth was soaked through from front to back, and feeling in his hands and feet was fleeting at best from the way they were tied behind and out of the way.
No one told him what they wanted—if the Equalists even wanted anything. It seemed like all his captor wanted was to hurt him, satisfied by hearing his screams.
Light shone down from the basement door and footsteps creaked on the wooden steps.
Tenzin was too tired to move at this point. To tired to shy away from the kick to the stomach he knew was coming.
The pain of the blow made him gag and curl in on himself.
"Do you have any idea how much money the Beifong Estate was willing to pay for you?"
The masked Equalist grabbed him by the front of the shirt to pull him to his feet. Tenzin breathed heavy, struggling upright. He didn't respond to the taunt, simply looked on in disgust at the silhouette that had come to torture him since he'd been deposited in this damp and cold basement.
"I can't believe our time here is almost over."
A fist to the face sent his head careening back, but the hold on his shirt kept him standing.
"Not sure I'm ready to let you go just yet."
The Equalist grabbed Tenzin's throat and squeezed. Tenzin tried to wrench away and found himself slammed onto the cold floor. The silhouette encroached, placing a glove on their hand. Tenzin knew what was coming, he blinked through the tears in his eyes.
"It's too much fun watching you suffer."
A gloved hand thumped on his chest and electricity spread like fire through his body. This time he couldn't stop the screaming. It hurt. It hurt more than anything. He thought he could hear his captor laughing as he writhed against his restraints.
The sun was finally rising, light peeking over the city buildings and beginning to fill the small kitchen, blinding Jinora as she sat curled up on a kitchen chair. Blinking in the light, she brought the mug in her hands to her lips, frowning at the taste of cold tea. She looked at the mug then across the kitchen to the kettle, wondering if it was worth it to reheat or just make fresh tea. Deciding against moving at all, she set her mug on the table and relaxed in the chair, thoughts returning to what had woken her up hours earlier.
It had been a few weeks since the night Aden had come home late, bloodied and bruised. She had been shocked and worried, just like old times, and then she had been scared. Just a little, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the reason why.
She had heard of Hok’ee before, but she had always assumed he was an actual person, not a part of her husband. She had so many questions, but she couldn’t think straight, and she wasn’t sure if she should even ask any questions. Technically, nothing was wrong. As far as she could tell, Aden didn’t remember the night at all. Didn’t remember fighting the Triads, didn’t remember coming home and talking with her. Hok’ee had been right, when he has said Aden would be confused. He had looked at her, asked a question about why she was holding a bloody rag, and then promptly passed out. She’d managed to get him into bed and watched him for a couple hours before sleeping herself. When she woke the next morning, thankful that it was Aden’s day off, he didn’t seem to remember a thing. He was just there, making breakfast and asking which tea she wanted.
She thought about asking him directly about Hok’ee. Thought about telling him about that night, about the conversation with Hok’ee, about the things she learned. She just wasn’t sure if she should. They had a good life now; finally together, and married, with their own place and jobs. They had each other, and she would be lying if she said that she wasn’t worried about losing Aden. He still had a lot of secrets about her darker times that he wouldn’t share with her, and she was worried Hok’ee might be one of those secrets that would make him think about leaving her if she knew.
So she continued to think. Think about the future, their options, their secrets, their life. Thought about them and worried in the kitchen chair, cold mug of tea back in her hands, watching the sun rise.
Update on my little equalization fic. Haven’t been able to focus on it much cause I’ve been sick af but I figured I’d share where I am.
Whispers of ‘traitor’ and ‘bender’ swirled around the compound for months. It was nothing out of the ordinary, these ones just seemed to linger though. The rumors had put Akira on edge, but Nemira always tried to calm his nerves. They had no reason to suspect him. So when he was asked to debrief in Amon’s office, nothing seemed suspicious. The questions seemed normal, the usual breakdown of events mixed with any intelligence learned, until the Lieutenant opened his mouth. “Tell us about your last mission into Agni Kai territory.”
That was months ago, his team had been ambushed by a group of Agni Kai’s after a reconnaissance mission into their territory. The battle was going fine until one of the Agni Kai’s got Akira’s mask off. A street rat, Rokai, recognized him. “That was - Look. I know I messed up letting them unmask me, but I got my team outta there. Injured but alive. I turned in a detailed report afterward explaining everything. As did the rest of my team.” Akira looked nervously between the two men. “Is there a problem?”
The Lieutenant cleared his throat, eyes full of concern.“Your report doesn’t fully match that of the rest of your team. Seems you left a rather important detail out of the whole debacle.”
A confused look crossed Akira’s face. “I don’t thin- I didn- if I did it wasn’t on purpose, sir. I promise. If you tell me what the issue is maybe I ca-“ Amon lifted a hand, cutting Akira off.
“You’ve heard the rumors, right brother? That we have a bender within our mix?” Cold blue eyes stared into Akira’s amber. “Seems your team overheard an accusation in the heat of battle. Care to explain?”
Rokai. He’d called Akira ‘waterbender’. The shock hits his face before he has a chance to stop it. The cold dread follows soon after, consuming his body as he looks into the masked eyes of their leader. He opens his mouth, there’s a pause. Nothing would come out.
Amon’s eyes narrowed behind the mask, followed soon by the Lieutenant reaching for his weapons.
After a few moments of silence, Akira spoke softly “I just wanted to help..” it came out as barely a whisper, followed by “What are you gonna do with me..?”
Neither man answered. The Lieutenant simply asked with a frown, “How do you wanna do this, kid?”
“I can’t- I wouldn’t..” Akira didn’t dare lift his arms, didn’t dare move a muscle; only looking away from the disappointment in the Lieutenant’s eyes. “I’m not gonna fight, but please.. no restraints.”
Thankfully, they obliged him; let him walk out of the office of his own accord. Amon stayed back while the Lieutenant escorted Akira through the compound, weapons in hand the whole way. The duo weaved their way through the corridors to the lower levels. The silence between them was suddenly broken by a crackling sound then Amon’s voice over the intercoms. “Sister Nemira. Please report to my office immediately.”
Akira froze. He knew she had to be briefed, she was Amon’s left hand afterall, but it didn’t scare him any less. The pause didn’t last long, brought back by the Lieutenant pushing him slightly with the kali stick. They finally found themselves outside one of the underused holding cells.
“Empty your pockets and take off your weapons belt.”
Keeping his hands where the Lieutenant could see them, he slowly emptied his pockets before unbuckling the belt and holding it out. “Can you see that Nem gets the knives back..?”
The Lieutenant simply nodded as he returned the kali sticks to their pack. “You know what I gotta do, kid.”
Akira returned the nod before the blows hit him. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d been chiblocked but it didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. He just thanked the spirits that they weren’t paralyzing.
The cell opened and Akira stepped inside. As the door closed, the Lieutenant uttered one more thing. “You’ll find no more kindness in this place.”
Akira had lost track of how long it had been. Between the darkness and the sleep deprivation, he could no longer tell and was sure he’d start hallucinating at this point. The only constants were the freezing cold and the guards. Either they were keeping him awake or dragging him to interrogation, not to mention the frequent beatings. He hadn’t expected how long it would take. How long they’d let him stew with his own thoughts. Let him question every moment on how he ended up in this situation. There was still a fight in him. He didn’t want to stand in front of his brothers and sisters and beg for his bending like he’d watched so many others, but the longer he waited, the more the fear crept in.
Curled up on the floor of his cell, Akira was brought back to reality by the sound of footsteps then three guards appearing. They unlocked the cell, weapons in hand as they entered.
“You know the drill. Get up.”
Akira winced as he moved, a small whimper escaping his throat. His body tingled and ached from the constant bombardment of his chi points. Clearly he hadn’t moved fast enough for them, receiving a kick to the abdomen as punishment. He coughed and gagged as he forced himself to his knees before, suddenly, being tugged up by the back of his tattered uniform. Without a second thought, the cuffs were slapped on and his chi points peppered with blows. The next thing he knew he was being shoved out of the cell to whatever awaited him.
He’d been dragged into an interrogation room, wrists shackled to the table before being left alone. Not this again. The blinding lights hurt his eyes. He wondered how long they’d make him wait this time. Putting his head down, Akira let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. He could do this.
After an unknown amount of time, the door finally opened and a woman, Ai, stepped inside followed by a masked guard wielding a shock gauntlet. “Seems I’m stuck dealing with you again, traitor.” There was venom behind those words. “I don’t know what Nemira ever saw in a boy like you.”
With a nod from her, Akira’s body was suddenly lit up with electricity. It stiffened and convulsed, jaw clenching to prevent a scream from escaping. As quickly as it had started, it stopped. He fell forward against the table, eyes down and breathing heavy.
“How many more of you scum are hiding in our ranks?”
He simply shook his head, body still twitching slightly as it came down. “I don’t know anyone. I told you.. I don’t know.”
Ai rolled her eyes, nodding towards the masked equalist again. The sound of electricity filled the room as the glove came to life. Buzzing and crackling suddenly smothered as it connected with Akira’s shoulder. The scream escaped his throat before he had a chance to stop it.
Hey there. Been awhile since I posted any art here but I drew these awhile ago at this point. So here is some Older!Akira. He's probably in his late teens/early 20s.
‘We need to talk’ and ‘don’t worry’ together in a conversation in less than five minutes; Jinora couldn’t help but tense slightly in preparation. She tensed even more when Aden pulled out his mask.
His equalist mask.
Jinora was very still for a few minutes, her eyes frozen on the mask. She had only seen the equalist mask a few times, this particular mask even less. Aden was always very careful to remove his mask before seeing her or any of their friends in the past, for fear of putting them at risk, she guessed. All other appearances of this mask in her life had been accompanied by fear and chaos. This mask had played a big part in her nightmares several years back.
And now it was there, laying on their laps. Tough black material,red circle on the forehead, green goggles and what she had always thought to be metal piping along the jaw. Slowly, she reached out to touch it, internalizing a shudder. Just looking at the mask made her feel like wearing it it would be suffocating.
Her brain caught up with Aden’s words after a few minutes, and she jerked her head up to look at him. “Wait, what? You left?”
The teen had just left the equalist compound. He disappeared into it a few days ago and hadn't gotten to leave until today. The hardest part was over, all that was left was talking to Jinora and figuring some other things out. Aden had to talk to Jinora first, which is how he ended up in their spot on the island. "Jinora! Are you here?"
“Aden?” Jinora called from where she sat high in their tree. Seeing his flushed face, she quickly dropped to the ground, reaching for him.
