Chapter Text
Asami's plan almost worked.
After she convinced one of the crewmen to chain her to the wall and broke free, she told Korra that she wanted to knock the guard out when her friend called for help. But Asami was caught by him and he shoved her right back into the temporarily cell.
This time he wasn’t so nice with her, he cuffed her hands behind her back and even her legs this time, and chained her to the floor.
“Be careful, if you try to escape again you might not get caught by me but by someone who won’t hesitate to just knock you out.” he left with this warning.
“I’m sorry.” Asami muttered after a few minutes of silence.
“You tried,” Korra tried to comfort her, and she wished the older girl could see her smile behind her mask. “They have to get me out of this stupid jacket sooner or later. Then we’ll try again.”
The Avatar’s confidence made Asami smile, although she was disappointed in herself. She should have been more careful with her plan.
When they reached Ba Sing Se, Korra’s plan also failed. They didn’t get her out of her jacket, just unlocked the cart and pushed it into the palace. As for Asami, she still had her hands cuffed behind her back, and she went beside Korra with a guard’s grip on her upper arm.
They only stopped when they arrived in the throne room, where the crew of the airship left so only them, a couple of Dai Li agents, the queen’s advisor and the monarch herself remained in the giant room. They stood there right in front of the queen. She had a smug expression on her face and Korra desperately wanted to punch it off.
“Well, well, well, if isn’t the Avatar once again,” Hou-Ting said. “You’re not so tough now, are you?”
“Let me out of these straps and you’ll see how tough I really am!” Korra shouted through her mask.
“Oh, I will, after the chi-blockers are done.” the queen smirked.
“Chi-blockers?” Korra asked, more surprised than angry now.
The monarch raised her hand and a handful of soldiers appeared out of nowhere, their outfit nothing like that of the Dai Li or the royal guards. They hit several points on Korra’s body and after a few seconds they were gone already, disappearing as fast as they came. The girl felt her energy drain and she knew they made it impossible for her to bend anything for the next couple of hours. The sensation was familiar and completely terrifying. It reminded her of Amon for a moment, and she needed a few seconds to get back to the present.
“Korra?” she heard Asami say her name, with a concern that made her look at her friend immediately.
The silent question ‘are you alright?’ was there in the emerald eyes, and although Korra did her best to reassure Asami with her own blue ones, they both knew that chi-blocking and losing her bending awake bad memories.
“You can take her mask off,” the queen snapped them back to reality with her demanding voice. “She can’t do you harm now.”
A Dai Li agent grabbed it from her face, and Korra was glad to breath normally again.
“What are you going to do with us?” Asami asked the question that’s been in Korra’s head since the moment they arrived. She looked genuinely curious, or at least a lot more curious than afraid.
Hou-Ting looked at her, possibly for the first time since they came into the room. She was so busy congratulating herself for having the Avatar that she almost forgot she had another prisoner. She might not have been the master of all four elements, but Asami Sato was a well-known CEO even in Ba Sing Se. Though the queen always preferred Cabbage Corp rather than Future Industries, she was willing to consider pardoning the girl.
“You are lucky, young lady, because I’m going to let you go. On one condition.”
But of course Asami already knew what that condition was without needing the queen to say it.
“I’m not going to tell you where the airbenders are. We are not going to.” she said defiantly, knowing very well that her friend would never betray the new Air Nation. And neither would she.
Korra thanked the older girl with one small smile, appreciating her loyalty. And she was right, there was no way she would give the location of Tenzin and the others away. They might have taken her bending for the time being, but they sure wouldn’t take her spirit.
“Hmm, we’ll see about that,” Hou-Ting said, her usual smugness still apparent. “Guards, take them for questioning. Do whatever you have to in order to get them talk.”
With that three Dai Li agents rushed to the girls and lowered the ground they were standing on. They only stopped when they reached the catacombs beneath the palace. The earthbenders then freed Asami of her handcuffs and Korra of her jacket, but they didn’t allow the girls to have too much freedom. As soon as their previous bounds were off, the agents captured their wrists in a tight rock grip and bent them against a wall. Their hands were above their heads and they were facing each other, only about six feet apart. The girls exchanged a silent look, their mutual concern evident.
Of course, they weren’t very cooperative, especially not Korra, who attempted to hit and kick the agents whenever she had the opportunity. Once she was secured to the wall, the leader of the Dai Li also bent rocks around her legs so she would stop kicking. He was a particularly stern looking man with a brown but graying mustache. He must have been around 40, Korra thought.
“Give up, Avatar, you don’t have your bending and you can’t break out of these,” the agent said, but Korra kept trying to free her hands. “Just tell me where the airbenders are and we’re done here.”
“Yeah, and you can toss me into some cell until her majesty says otherwise,” Korra spat, staring at the corrupt eartbender hatefully. “No thanks.”
“Foolish girl. Do you think you have a choice?” he threatened with more malice in his voice now.
Asami realized the threat hiding in his tone, but it didn’t stop Korra from answering with the same fire and despise.
“Do you think you can do anything about me not talking?”
“Actually, yes,” the agent smirked, and with a wave of his hand Asami’s hands were bound to the wall much higher now. Her feet weren’t even touching the floor, but with another move they were bound tightly to the wall as well. She yelped, more out of surprise than pain. “I think I can.”
Korra’s attitude suddenly changed, she was starting to realize just how far these agents would go to get the information they needed. The thought of Asami getting hurt was gut-wrenching, so she tried to think of another way. But giving them what they wanted was not an option…
“Wait!” she shouted, but she didn’t know how to continue.
“Are you beginning to change your mind?” the leader of the agents asked.
“If you want to hurt somebody, you sick bastard,” Korra paused just to look up at him with hate. “Then here I am. But leave her alone.”
Korra’s tone was firm and daring, and Asami knew she really meant it. She appreciated her friend’s willingness to keep her safe, but it wasn’t like the Sato girl would’ve – could’ve - let anything to happen to Korra either.
“No! Listen, you wouldn’t want to mess with the Avatar,” Asami interfered and tried to reason with the man. She got his attention so she continued. “It’s bad enough you have her as captive, if the leaders of other nations found out then this would already be enough to cause an international conflict. But if you deliberately hurt her so you can kidnap the new airbenders? That could cause a war. And you wouldn’t want that.”
It was a statement. Asami knew enough about politics to guess the agent’s thoughts, and she was sure willing to use her knowledge if it helped her to keep Korra out of harm’s way.
“What? Asami, no, what are you-“ Korra began protesting but she was silenced by the Dai Li.
“So you’re suggesting yourself instead, Miss Sato?” the agent was very well aware of their other prisoner and her status, and he knew that she wasn’t just a common nobody either. “Well, who I am to object.”
Before Korra could begin opposing the idea, the Dai Li leader was bending again, and as he started pushing his hands apart the rock cuffs of Asami also went further away from each other. This meant that she was slowly being stretched, and although Asami had prepared herself for pain, this was more than that.
At first it wasn’t even painful, just uncomfortable. But as her hands and feet were getting further and further away it started to hurt. She didn’t know how much time she spent like this, but by the time Korra started shouting she felt like her limbs were about to tear away from her body.
“Stop! What do you think you’re doing? Just stop!” the Avatar yelled, and when the agent ignored her she kept on trying. It was when Asami let out her raw scream that’s been building up, it was then that Korra tried something else.
“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you, okay? Just stop!”
The man stopped and let Asami out of the rock grips. She was no longer bound to the wall and she fell forward, landing on her knees and palms. She let out some ragged breaths, but she seemed okay to Korra. As okay as you can be after almost getting your limbs ripped off.
“Finally. Go on, Avatar, tell me.” the agent urged her, but his voice was perfectly calm. He disgusted Korra almost to the point where she felt like vomiting.
Before she couldn’t say anything, it was Asami’s voice that broke the silence.
“No, Korra, you can’t. Whatever happens, just don’t.” she pleaded and looked up at the younger girl with her green eyes.
She was a little shaken but still absolutely determined to defend the Air Nation. The pure will in her eyes made Korra hesitate. It wasn’t like she wanted to give the Dai Li and therefore the Earth Queen the information, but she also wanted Asami nowhere near danger, let alone deliberate torture. Katara told her about the Dai Li in her days, and from what she’s seen so far they haven’t changed a bit. They were working for the actual queen now, not for the advisor, but they were still the most corrupt, ruthless and despicable earthbenders she’s ever met. Oh, Spirits, if only she had her bending.
“I’ve had enough of you, too” their interrogator said and grabbed Asami by her hair as she yelped. He yanked it back so she was looking up at him, but instead of fear he only saw determination. The always polite, nice, well-behaved Asami Sato, the one who had the upbringing of a princess, this Asami Sato spat the agent in the face.
Korra would have found the situation hilarious, but there was no time for laughs as the man let go of Asami’s hair and backhanded her. He hit the girl so hard that she fell on the floor, and Korra saw blood on the agent’s hand. Her lower lip was split open.
“Maybe you just need a good old traditional roughing up,” he said as he swept the saliva way from his face, with the same hand that hit Asami. “You two!”
The two Dai Li agents who were just standing there silently the whole time now rushed to Asami’s side, but not to help her up. She was about to stand up when one of them kicked her in the ribcage and she landed on the floor again. The other one stepped on her right calf so hard that she let out a painful scream. The first guard just kept kicking her and although she was trying to shield her stomach with her hands it still hurt. Not to mention that he found a new target in her head and she knew it wasn’t going to end well if he kept on going.
Korra just kept yelling at them to stop, and she called them plenty of names before the leader raised his hand, indicating that they could stop now. When she realized it was over, or at least over for now, Asami had another attempt at getting up, but a guard stepped on her shoulder and pushed her right back on the floor.
“I hope that now you really are going to give us some information,” the leader informed Korra. “Because I can’t promise you that your friend can keep conscious for much longer. And where would be the fun in that?”
“You’re sick,” Korra spat, but she didn’t even bother to look at him now, she just kept staring at Asami, wondering how serious her injuries were.
“Just tell me where the airbenders are already.”
Korra lowered her head and closed her eyes. She couldn’t tell them, she couldn’t betray Tenzin and all those airbenders like this. But she couldn’t just keep watching Asami suffer, especially not knowing that she could make it stop.
“They’re in the Western Air Temple,” Korra finally muttered after a few, long seconds of silence. “All of those who escaped from here and a couple more.”
Asami looked up at her in surprise, but she understood the lie and apparently the Dai Li believed Korra.
“It wasn’t so hard, was it?” the Dai Li agent said to Korra with false sweetness, and when she didn’t answer he just ordered the other earthbenders. “Come on, we’re taking them to the cells.”
Korra was let out of her rock cuff, but it was back the moment she broke away from the wall. An agent grabbed her arm and led her in the direction where the leader was going. The other one dragged Asami up, and since she couldn’t even walk by herself he thought she didn’t need any restraints.
On the way to the cells Korra kept glancing back at Asami, but the guard just kept pushing her. She couldn’t tell how serious her injuries really were and the anxiety was driving her mad. She let out a painful sigh whenever she heard little cries from behind her.