Chapter 7: Chapter 7 : Misunderstanding and Vulcan
The past week has been the same as ever. The day usually consists of checking if the medicine production is going fine and occasional surgeries. By now the business is self-running, I have ten employees each with their own roles to fill and I don't plan on expanding.
The bigger the clinic becomes the more time it's going to eat away. Listen I like money and helping people as much as the next guy but if I don't have time for myself then it's not worth it. I can always do occasional bounties and live a comfortable life.
Anyway, enough about me! The Avatar made her announcement of moving to Republic City and a few days later she joined the Fire Ferrets pro-bending team and befriended her teammates, brothers Mako and Bolin.
Too bad Korra never decided to visit. Though I can't blame her. With the airbending training, pro-bending she probably doesn't have time to meet a guy she saw for a few minutes and exchange two sentences.
On the other front, the Equalists rally is tomorrow. I don't know if Bolin still got kidnapped but in any case, I'm going. Amon is going to take away someone's bending and I want to see it up close to confirm some of my theories.
Tomorrow is my day off so I'm planning to spend my evening reading a new book imported from Fire Nation about processing metals over a hot cup of tea. Or that was the plan until halfway in I sensed someone breaking into my building via seismic sense.
Can't man read a book over some tea in peace! I sweat if it's the Triple Threat Triad again the police morgue is gaining two new bodies. Consequences be damned!
There are two people, one guy, and one girl. The guy is tall, about 6'2, light on his feet, and he knows what he is doing. The girl is somewhere around 5'7, with no concern for the noise she is making, clearly an amateur.
The building is two stories. The basement and first floor are dedicated to the clinic and the second floor is my living quarters. Those two easily make their way through the first floor and go up to the second floor as it's not working hours anymore.
*Korra pov*
*Sometime before breaking in*
When Mako first came to me searching for Bolin I was happy to help. Anything is better than pointlessly punching air by now. But once again I'm feeling useless.
After those equalist guys took the Triads and Bolin, I and Mako tried searching for them with Naga's help again but we had no luck.
We are tired, Nage included and we are getting nowhere at his pace so I turn to Mako. "We've been out all night. No sign of him."
"We've got to keep looking but where?" Mako says tiredly.
I try to think of anything connected to the equalists and remember chi blocking or more specifically that Vulcan guy using it on one of those yahoos.
"I think I've got an idea!"
"What is it?"
"Remember when I told you about beating up some Triad on my first day?"
He nods.
"Well I wasn't alone, a guy helped me to take them down and he was using chi blocking. You think he could be connected?"
"Could be... Do you know where we could find him?"
"Yeah! I think I got it somewhere here!" I tell Mako as I rummage through satchel on Naga. "Here it is!" I exclaim finding the card Vulcan gave me.
Mako takes the card and reads it. "A phone number and an address. You sure he wasn't hitting on you?" He looks weirdly at me.
"What! Why would he do that?!" I feel my cheeks heating up.
'He did come off flirty, and those eyes… No! Not the time!'
"Get your head out of the gutter Mako! We need to find Bolin! Let's call him."
"No. If this guy is involved with the enemy we can't alert him. It's better if we confront him on our own terms."
"I don't think..." He didn't seem like easy prey.
"Korra! it's Bolin we're talking about!" Mako shouts, sounding desperate.
"...Fine."
*Back to present*
We open up the doors to the second floor and enter a dimly lit living room. Just as we step to the center of the room all hell breaks loose.
'click, click, click.'
Some sort of secret compartments open up all over the room. And before we can react chains with pointy ends come out heading straight for us. I instinctively close my eyes only to hear the chains stop at the last second.
"When I said don't be a stranger I was expecting something different." I hear a familiar voice.
Opening up my eyes I see Vulcan standing in front of me with a frown.
*Hanzo pov*
*Five minutes later*
"So you're telling me. Equalists, a group known for hating benders kidnapped his brother?" I point at Mako sitting in a daze on the couch beside Korra while she nods her head with low shoulders.
"And your first idea was to break into the house of a known and renowned master earthbender in the middle of the night, because?"
"Because I saw you using chi blocking. A skill.."
"A skill any self-respecting surgeon should learn if he wants to operate on a bender." I cut her off.
"Well, I didn't know that!" Realizing she shouted at me her shoulders slumped even lower. "Sorry, Vulcan. In my defense, I was running on a few hours of sleep."
Sigh… "It's fine. But you're lucky I recognized you at the last second or we would be searching the Earth Kingdom for the new Avatar. Oh and you can call me Hanzo, Vulcan is just a nickname."
Mako finally speaks up. "So we are back to square one. Damit!"
Korra places her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Sorry, Mako."
"I think I know where to find your brother if an equalist took him." I but in.
"Really! Do you know where Bolin is?" Mako asks excitedly.
"Tomorrow or I guess by now today, there is an Equalist rally happening at 09:00 pm. Amon is going to reveal something big. I was planning to sneak in to see what it is. If you want to, you can tag along."
"We would be glad to." Mako replies.
"Cool. Now it's already late and you two look like you could use a shower and some sleep. I've got some spare clothes and two guest rooms you can use." I offer.
"We wouldn't want to impose after all this." Korra denies my offer.
"Nonsense! It's no trouble for me. Or is this place too shabby for our esteemed Avatar? I understand."
Getting nervous she denies it. "No! That's not what I meant…"
"Great! Bring the animals inside and I will get them some snacks and you some clothes." I walk out of the room with a smirk.
*45 minutes later*
My guests are showered, fed and asleep but most importantly I'm back to my book. Well, most are asleep. Korra has been standing by my study door for the last two minutes. Having had enough I lightly call out. "You might as well come in."
Korra comes in wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts. Her hair is let down and still slightly damp. Blue eyes glittering in a dimly lit room.
"Damn…" That is my only comment.
She blushes and sits down on the sofa I'm on.
"Sorry... Can't sleep?"
"No. Not after today's event, first, my friend got kidnapped by bender haters and then I almost died."
"Eh.. sorry about that. A habit from the old days." I rub my neck apologetically.
"And calling yourself Vulcan?"
"The same. You see, before coming to Republic City I was a bounty hunter."
"You were a criminal?!" She exclaimed in a hushed voice.
"More like hunted criminals. The job kinda skims the grey line, to be honest. You need a nickname to protect your identity and to attract more clientele if you're good. And other people usually get pick it for you."
"So Vulcan?" Korra asked, getting curious.
"I was fifteen at a time. Some noble's son from the Earth kingdom got kidnapped by a group of bandits. They wanted a ridiculous ransom, a sum even the noble couldn't afford or wasn't willing to."
"But that was his son." She couldn't comprehend someone abandoning their own son for money.
"Well, the noble's mindset was 'I can always make more'. But he did put up a high-paying bounty to infiltrate a camp of sixty men just in case someone was foolish enough."
"I take it you were that fool." The Avatar teased.
"Humph. I was no fool." I state in mock anger.
"I knew what I was doing. After getting in unseen I found my target and was about to take him when I heard the screams for help coming from the center of the camp."
"Against my better judgment, I left the target and went to check out the commotion. And what I found…" I clench my fists and grind my teeth reliving the memories.
"You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable." She says feeling bad.
"It's fine… As I was saying what I found shook me to the core. In the center, I saw a girl no older than me at the time getting pushed down on the ground about to be r*ped by a group of thirty to forty year old men."
"Right in front of what I later learned was her father's corpse." Korra grasps at the information.
"The instant I saw what was about to happen I erupted. Figuratively and literally. I sent out jets of lava in every direction. Only sparing the noble's son and the girl."
"I slaughtered almost everyone. Those monsters in human skin didn't deserve to live. The only survivor from the bandit side was a guy who went out for a piss in the woods. He managed to run away and spread the word of what happened."
"Thus I gained the nickname of Vulcan."
"And the girl?" She inquiries.
"Gave her the money I earned from the bounty and helped her find a job in an orphanage I used to live in."
We both sat in silence for a good few minutes before Korra spoke up again.
"So you're a lavabender?"
"Pretty much." I replied.
Silence reigned supreme again.
"I could teach you if you want?"
"Lavabending?"
"Not just that. Earthbending, lavabending, metalbending, sandbending, seismic sense, chi blocking, hand to hand combat, and much more. I have mastered a lot of things. Of course, if you're up for the task." I sent her a challenging smirk.
"You're on, pretty boy. But.." She returns the smirk but pauses at the end.
"Having trouble with airbending?"
She nods.
"Airbending is the most free and spiritual element. You can't force it to work. It will just come to you naturally." I give her my advice.
"Or so they all say." Korra rolls her pretty eyes.
"Either way the offer always stands." I get up. "And I don't know about you but I think I'm going to bed now."
Korra yawns and gets up too. "I think you got the right idea."
As we separate in the hallway heading in different directions she stops and turns to me.
"Goodnight Hanzo."
"Goodnight Korra."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone