Chapter 31

Of course Ren lost the stupid draw. She should’ve kept her mouth shut and let Kai do the teasing with Xing and Asami. But nooo, Ren had to let the excitement get to her and poke at the couple.

And for that, she was now following Xing to the police headquarters to meet with the ‘Ironclad’ Lin Beifong, while Kai was probably enjoying himself stamping some paperwork or something. Ren didn’t know how, but she was almost certain that Xing had rigged the draw against her.

What’s done was done though, so now the junior aide (and boy was that a nice title to have compared to merely ‘intern’) followed after Xing while her mouth grumbled softly all the way. Ren instinctively hunched a little and shrank into herself as they passed through the headquarter’s entrance. Her time in the streets had ingrained a wariness of the police that she was now struggling against. Even in a clean and tidy office suit, the girl felt like any moment one of the metal-wrapped lawmen would grab her and start asking questions about the triads she no longer lived under.

It wasn’t that the police were cruel, instead it was the fact Ren had seen countless times already the people being released being swiftly pounced on by the Agni Kai. The moment you went with the police, you picked up suspicion, and the triads were not gentle in clearing up that suspicion. Stall vendors, ‘freelance’ workers like Ren, and even lower ranking gang members had been found floating out to Yue’s Bay just because the metalbending police took them in for a day of questioning.

“Relax, Ren,” Xing said, his voice suddenly beside her and a hand gently pressed against her back to guide her forwards. “You’re just here for work. No one’s going to do whatever you’re thinking of.”

Ren gulped as she turned to him to offer a nervous nod, and then consciously kept her legs moving as they were ushered to the Ironclad’s office.

“Welcome,” the dreaded police chief greeted as she rose up from her desk. Ren noticed the scars on Lin’s face, and remembered that for all the raids she personally led, and for all the assassination attempts early in her career as chief of police, nobody had managed to leave any new marks on her.

At least that’s what they all said. For all Ren knew, the chief might’ve gone to the healers every now and then, though if that’s the case why would she leave the scars on her face?

“Chief Beifong,” Xing greeted, completely calm unlike Ren.

“Lin’s fine, Director Xing.” Lin gave him a curt nod, and then her steely gaze shifted to Ren who fought hard to not shrink away. “And you are…Ren?”

“She’s here on behalf of Asami Sato,” Xing smoothly cut in, redirecting her attention back to him. “Miss Asami sends her apologies for not attending this meeting personally, but she has to deal with the…aftermath of last night’s events.”

“Oh?”

“On our way to provide assistance, we were interdicted by Councilman Tarrlok’s task force. Due to…miscommunication, they attempted to stop us, resulting in the damage to Miss Asami’s personal speedboat.”

Lin’s eyebrow arched up. “She’s busy fixing her boat?”

“She’s ascertaining the extent of repairs that would be required,” Xing amended with a slight smirk. “After all, Councilman Tarrlok had agreed to fully compensate her for the damage, so she has to be careful not to overcharge him.”

The disapproval melted away from the police chief, quickly replaced by dry amusement. “Hah. And undercharge, I bet. Serves the man right.”

And Ren flinched as the Ironclad’s eyes fixed onto her again. It wasn’t hostile or intense, but it still made the girl feel like a rodent under the gaze of a mantishawk. “Still, didn’t expect the Satos to be hiring such young help.”

“It’s an attempt to give Ren a chance at a better life,” came the unphased (and probably rehearsed) reply. “Miss Asami was most distraught about the conditions she and her friend Kai were living in, and was keen on making a meaningful change. Still, I can assure you that Ren here has been handling her role diligently.”

“Hmph. Good on her, then.” Lin’s gaze bore into Ren for a second more before shifting away. “Here, take a seat.”

The young aide quickly climbed onto one of the offered chairs, keeping her back straight as she watched the police chief return to her own seat opposite from her.

“Now then, Tenzin said you wanted to talk about security?”

Xing made a show of clearing his throat before responding. “Yes, Chief Lin. You’ve read the reports of Avatar Korra challenging Amon the other night?”

“Which one?” Lin asked, the edge of her lips tugging into a sour smirk. “The one Tenzin passed to me, or the one going through the airwaves and newspapers?”

Apparently, it only took one morning for Xing to come up with the report of what had happened, then passed it to Asami for confirmation, and the evening papers were spreading the Equalists’ failed attempt at foul play.

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Over the course of just one day, people were now going on about how wily the Equalists were, not only in trying to take advantage of Korra’s righteousness to ambush, but also in the fact that they had done so under Tarrlok’s nose. The task force almost realized the treachery too late, though thankfully, Tenzin was around at that time and used his airbending to bravely dash ahead of everyone to reach Korra before the Equalists’ trap fully closed on her.

Despite Amon ultimately fleeing while his men fought, the task force did capture more than a dozen hardcore Equalists, so it was considered a small but important victory overall. Everyone now knew Amon as a deceitful coward, and well wishes were being sent through the radio for Korra as she recovered in Air Temple Island.

As Ren wasn’t there herself, she had to judge that the public version of the event was half-accurate based on how Asami reacted with wry amusement.

And thanks to the heiress pointing it out, Ren realized that nowhere did the public version actually say that Tarrlok’s task force fought the Equalists, or explain why they weren’t even close to Memorial Island in the first place. The wording was vague enough at enough points for people to jump to various conclusions, which was what Xing wanted apparently.

Through Future Media, the councilman - or more likely just Xing using his name - had put out a statement apologizing to everyone for his task force’s failure, promising to do a thorough investigation to determine how the Equalists slipped through them. The way it was worded, it sounded like someone might’ve snitched to the Equalists.

“Assuming that Tarrlok actually had a plan in the first place,” Asami noted derisively when she heard it over the radio.

Xing lightly shrugged off the unsaid accusation of twisting the truth. “Both are relevant. I hope that Councilman Tarrlok has apologized to you?”

“You can call it that,” Lin replied, still unamused. “Your doing?”

“I merely suggested that the task force should not be so callous and single-minded in carrying out its duties, and reminded the councilman that he is not alone in seeking peace in Republic City.”

Basically: don’t piss off the police or anyone else, especially by calling dibs on their stuff, if Ren understood correctly.

“Huh, is that so?”

Xing gave a shrug, and the chief of police was smirking as she shook her head. “He actually put out a formal request for coordinating his task force with the police now, you know that? First time anyone in the council has ever done something like that.”

“It’s a good display of solidarity,” the director beside Ren simply said. “Admittedly, part of why I’m here is to convince you to publicly accept the request. And in a humble manner.” He paused just enough to receive a look from Lin, and then continued.

“As I said, it’ll be a good show of unity for the public. It shows that the higher ups in the city are being serious and are working together to solve the Equalist issue. And while it’ll be naive to think that the councilman would extend his task force’s full cooperation, at least now your department will have access to the information that he has, even if it might be to a lesser degree. And with the terms of cooperation being made public, he can’t just unilaterally requisition your airships, benders or other resources. Not without the journalists being ready to report any sourness in relations between your two groups.”

So it’s Xing trying to fuck Tarrlok up by forcing him to play nice? Ren almost smirked in front of the scary lady at that thought.

“Hm… Makes sense.” Lin threw him a speculative look. “He’d actually go along with this?”

And Ren correctly anticipated Xing’s grin before he answered. “He has no choice but to do so. For the greater good of Republic City, of course.”

The smirk infected the police chief as well, and she gave a nod as what sounded like a short chuckle escaped her. “The greater good… Heh. It’ll mean more work for us, probably.”

“But it’ll also mean you won’t be hindered either. Councilman Tarrlok is a man who takes great care of his reputation. Do not begrudge him credit, even if it’s undeserved, and he will be…compliant enough to allow real work to be done.”

“You sound like you’ve been living here for longer than a few months,” Lin remarked with a faint smile. After Xing gave a casual shrug and nothing else, her expression hardened a little.

“So that’s one part of why you’re here. What’s the others?”

As a reply, the director glanced at Ren, and she carefully laid the file she’d been carrying onto the desk. Gulping down her nerves, the girl spoke up for the first time since she entered the building.

“Future Industries has prepared more comprehensive prototypes for the new Satomobile features, uh, and Miss Asami cordially invites you to review their performance.”

Ren gave a quick look to Xing, who nodded encouragingly, and then continued, trying to meet Lin’s even gaze without flinching away. “Sh-she’s offering this preview only to Republic City’s police and members of the council. Um, Miss Asami hopes that you would be able to attend, if only to hear your honest and experienced thoughts on the new safety features.”

The chief rolled her eyes. “Relax, girl, I’m not going to lock you away.” Then she gave both Ren and Xing a puzzled look. “I’d thought an important demo like this would be displayed to a wider audience.”

Thankfully, Xing did the rest of the talking. “The public will get their turn later. To be blunt, we’d like to gain the approval and recommendation of the city’s authorities first. If things go well, it might affect future traffic policies for the United Republic.”

“You’re really aiming high, huh?”

“I’d like to think Future Industries is producing something that would be vital in preserving a significant amount of lives in the future. Especially as vehicles continue to replace benders and animal-drawn carriages as the default means of long-distance transport.”

Lin kept silent for a thoughtful second before nodding at Ren. “Fine, tell Asami Sato I’ll be there, along with a few of my deputies.”

Ren bowed her head, barely holding back the urge to exhale with relief. “Thank you, Chief Lin.”

“Hm. Is there anything else then?”

“I don’t suppose you can provide any information on the Equalists’ habits and reach for…private investigation?”

“That’s confidential,” Lin immediately replied, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “I can’t just give out information that might compromise our efforts against them.”

XIng didn’t seem at all phased by the blunt rejection. “Understandable. Ah, one last thing,” Xing said while raising a hand. “Since I have your attention, Chief Lin, are there any issues on your end if Future Media carried out streetside promotions or private soup kitchen programs?”

“Eh?” Whatever Lin had expected, clearly it wasn’t that tangent of a question. “I’ll…need to know the details…” Ren herself didn’t know what exactly was planned here, only that both Xing and Asami had been talking about it.

Hopefully they didn’t discuss it while they were going all kissy kissy and rocking the boat until it flipped.

Though, disturbingly, it made would complete sense to Ren if they did.