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The moment the stadium erupted into raucous shouts and isolated surges of blue electricity was the moment Amon signaled to begin. Stationed just below the pro-bending ring and hidden from view, Amon and the Equalists prepared to take the stage. The Lieutenant would not be joining them in their entry for he had been assigned a special task. Like an obedient shadow, he quietly slipped from Amon's side and descended to the level of the water pit below.
The Wolfbats had inadvertently made his job very easy by knocking all three members of the Fire Ferrets into the water. With practiced agility, the Lieutenant dropped onto the base of the arena and drew two fully charged kali sticks. Even when about to electrocute three unsuspecting teenagers, he no longer needed a moment to steel his nerves; it came all too naturally. The electrified batons crackled viciously as they were plunged into the water, instantly seizing all three Fire Ferrets in a paralyzing current that would soon fry them alive if not handled carefully. However, the Lieutenant's timing was nothing short of impeccable. He held his victims in a deadly, electrical grip only until they were effectively stunned. When released, the Avatar and her teammates floated unconscious in the water. For his actions the Lieutenant felt neither satisfaction nor shame, only a detached sense of accomplishment upon completing the task.
Secretly, he was relieved to have been charged with the duty of incapacitating and collecting the Fire Ferrets. It would keep him occupied while Amon and the other Equalists dealt with the Wolfbats overhead. Normally he wouldn't bat an eye watching three men exemplified before the bending masses as they were stripped of their bending. But tonight, for unspoken reasons, there was a wealth of other places he would rather be than beside Amon in that ring. Extinguishing the thought from his mind before it could fully take shape, the Lieutenant cast a rope over the water, expertly snagging the Avatar's ankle. Her unconscious body was reeled to the water's edge like a lifeless thing.
A hush had fallen over the audience as they witnessed the spectacle Amon was providing them. The Lieutenant couldn't see what was happening overhead, but he knew. It wouldn't be long before his leader began to speak and he hastily dragged the bodies of Mako and Bolin onto the base of the arena.
As far as the Lieutenant was concerned, the Wolfbats were getting what they deserved. Tahno in particular, who was arrogant, brutal, a shameless cheater in his own sport. He was the very personification of everything that was wrong with bending. Everything the Lieutenant stood against was consolidated into a single individual, an individual who also happened to be his own flesh and blood. That his son was captain of a pro-bending team was a covert fact he kept entirely to himself. Not even Amon knew of his relation to the infamous water-bending champion. The full extent of the Lieutenant's knowledge of Tahno was derived from newspaper articles and simple observation, none of which inspired any feelings of endearment for the boy.
Of course, he knew, Tahno would despise the Lieutenant in turn if not for being absent for much of his life, then for his father's devotion to the Equalist Movement. But of these matters the Lieutenant had no intention of ever discussing with his son anyway. He would be taken by surprise if Tahno even managed to recognize him after all these years. They'd been estranged for nearly two decades without a single word transpiring between them, had lived separate lives in Republic City without crossing paths once, until now.
As he dragged the Avatar from the pool, his ears caught the splash of three more bodies hitting the water across the arena. The Wolfbats. Amon had cleansed them of their bending and his men had thrown them over the edge of the ring like casualties from a ship at sea. The Lieutenant turned his back to them as if they didn't exist, neither pausing in his actions nor sparing a glance across the pool. His responsibility in keeping the Avatar restrained was all the mattered. It was then the stadium reverberated with the sound of his leader's voice as Amon began to address the spectators in a speech that would mark the beginning of the revolution.
With the Avatar and her friends bound to a structural support, he left them to scale a ladder leading to the upper level where the Equalists were gathered behind Amon. Midway up, his movements slowed to a crawl. A gap between the rungs of the ladder offered a clear view of the pool's edge. On the opposite side of the arena, two of the newly cleansed Wolfbats were dragging themselves out of the water but Tahno had yet to surface.
The Lieutenant paused entirely. His flinty gaze scanned the water's surface, waiting. He was well aware of the overpowering sense of exhaustion that immediately followed the moment one's bending was severed. This he knew from experience after voluntarily relinquishing his own bending years ago in order to join the Equalist cause and pledge his support to Amon. That debilitating moment was one he remembered all too well. Being submerged in water at a time like that could easily prove life-threatening. It was why he had disagreed with Amon's decision to dump the Wolfbats into the water so soon following the event, but he hadn't disagreed strongly enough. Now an icy feeling of dread swept through his being like an electrical charge. His grip tightened, gloved hands frozen on the rungs of the ladder. Amon's potent words suddenly dissolved into distant echoes.
An endless second passed before the third Wolfbat finally emerged and dragged himself out of the pool, collapsing from exhaustion soon after.
A long held breath escaped the Lieutenant's lungs as he watched the subtle rise and fall of Tahno's back from across the arena. It was the most beautiful sight he'd seen since that day twenty-two years ago when he'd witnessed his son breathe in his very first breaths. His forehead came to rest against the ladder and for the briefest lapse of time, everything else surrounding that moment was forgotten. It was true that he was cruelly indifferent to the suffering of benders, but even the Lieutenant had limitations. He knew he could not have stood idly by and watched as his boy was cast helplessly into the water and he knew he could not have done as much himself—not for Amon, not for anyone.
Like a wave slamming ashore, the present swiftly caught up to him. At last, his joints unfroze and he pulled himself up to the pro-bending ring. There, he slipped in among the Equalists unheard, hardly noticed and convincingly emotionless.