Chapter 4: Problems

"Don't look at me like that! I've halted the production of my mover to help you!"

"Please! Spare me your generosity," Korra heard Asami yell as she made her way out of the house.

"Everything okay?" Korra asked as she peaked into the office.

"Yes!" Varrick yelled.

"No!" Asami said at the same time.

"Uh…" The Avatar was hesitant to ask anything else. "I'm going to head out."

"Okay," Asami turned to Varrick. "Stay here for a second. And don't touch anything."

Korra slowly made her way to the front door as Asami came walking after her. "If you see me in handcuffs at the station, it's because I killed him."

Korra turned to face her; her back facing the front door. "Well I'm crossing my fingers then. Seeing you in handcuffs sounds very educational."

"Oh really? What is it you're studying for exactly?"

"Home economics." Asami smirked with a cocked eyebrow and crossed arms. "There's nothing wrong with research, Miss Sato."

"I thought the Avatar was about justice and protecting the innocent."

"Yeah, you're right. But you're a killer in that dress."

Asami took a step forward. "So it's the dress's fault?"

"No, it's definitely your body's fault."

"I can't help that."

"And neither can I," Korra said before grabbing Asami's face and kissing her deeply. Asami replied by pushing herself against her; slamming Korra's back into the door.

The Avatar's hands slid down her back, eventually pulling one slender leg up so that Asami's knee pressed against her hip. Then, Korra's fingers slid up her bare skin, beginning to slip under the fabric of her dress. "Varrick is in the next room," Asami whispered with hot breath as Korra moved her lips to Asami's neck. The blue eyed woman moved all the way up her thigh with her fingertips beginning to graze underwear.

"Korra," Asami warned despite her grip tightening on the aggressor's shoulder.

"Lace, huh?" Korra said against her neck as she covered Asami's lips with her own before she could respond.

Suddenly, Asami pushed herself off of Korra. "We have jobs to do!" she said with a chuckle.

"I was in the middle of one," Korra groaned as she lazily leaned back against the door.

"You have a criminal to catch!" Asami held back a smile as she began to throw a punch at her shoulder. However, Korra caught her arm and pulled her into an embrace. She gave her a kiss before revealing a grin.

"Okay, okay. I'll see you later," she said before letting the CEO free and opening the door behind her. "I look forward to that lace," she said as she closed the door.

She could hear Mrs. Zhen crying down the hall from Lin's office. Korra's heart began breaking before she opened the door.

"Can we get you any water, Mrs. Zhen? Tea?" Mako asked with sympathy evident in his voice. Bolin was seen sitting next to the grieving woman with a comforting hand resting on her shoulder.

Korra paused suddenly. A large bruise covered her left eye. Lin approached Korra while she was still distanced from the woman. "Where did she get that black eye?" Korra whispered to her urgently.

"She said it was an accident."

"Who's accident?"

"Didn't say. She keeps breaking down."

"Is the husband at work?"

"Actually, he's in the hospital. He has a broken leg and he suffered a concussion last night."

Korra's stare intensified. "How did that happen?"

"Apparently Ru did it just before disappearing again."

"She did this to her father?" she asked in disbelief. "So is that supposed to be the accident Mrs. Zhen is referring to?"

Lin paused for a moment. "I'm not too sure about that. That eye looks a lot like she took a punch to the face."

"So what is it you're thinking?"

Lin turned toward the woman, walked closer and took a knee in front of her; placing a hand on hers located on her lap. "I need you to be honest with me, Mrs. Zhen. Were you hit last night?"

The woman's eyes widened as she sniffed and a tear trailed down her cheek. "Ru sent a lot of things flying around the room. The wind flung things in the air and they went all over the place."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Lin answered evenly. "Did your husband hit you last night?"

She answered with silence. The woman's eyes said everything they needed to know. Pain of all sorts spoke through them. "Ru… she was trying to protect me. She was screaming for him to stop when he started getting rough, but when he… hit me… she lost it. Gusts developed behind her and she threw him across the room like it was nothing."

"Has his behavior always been like this?" Mako asked softly. She nodded.

"Ru… She was just protecting me! He was going after her first before I flung myself in between them. He… he just drinks too much."

Korra felt anger bubbling to the surface. She doubted the alcohol was the only problem. It was obvious to her after ten seconds of talking to him that the man wasn't the loving sort.

"So then what happened?" Korra asked sweetly.

"He was laying against the wall unconscious and as I started to go over and check on him, I couldn't move my body anymore. I saw Ru out of the corner of my eye and heard her call out to me, but then pain spread all over me and I passed out."

Bolin remained comforting the woman who broke down again. Mako and Lin walked over to Korra.

"So that took a turn," Mako commented with a sigh.

"I knew that guy was bad news," Korra said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "That poor woman," she said much more softly as her gaze fell on the grieving mother yet again.

"We'll have the patrol at the hospital take care of him. He can heal up, but he's got a cell with his name on it," Lin stated harshly. "We need to bring in the mother of the other girl that was taken."

"Well, we can't exactly do that," Mako corrected. "She suffers from agoraphobia. Running out of the house last night threw her into a bit of a shock. A patrol team is with her so she is safe."

"What about her husband?" Lin questioned.

Mako shook his head. "Died eight years ago."

Korra thought for a moment as she became more confused. "Wait, when did the mother start to be afraid of leaving the house?"

"About four or five years ago."

"How did she get food, or supplies, or anything for that matter for her two kids? They're still young, aren't they?" Korra exclaimed.

"The boy is thirteen and the girl is eleven. Apparently the markets know her children very well. They take care of it all," Mako answered simply.

"Are they benders?" Korra asked curiously.

"Not to our knowledge."

"We have a few hours before we need to start patrolling for the next kidnapping," Lin began. "We just found out a bit more about some of our victims. Let's split up and try to see if we can find out anything else about any of the others."

Mako nodded as he went to grab a file on his desk. Looking down at it, he gave instructions. "Chief, how about you check up with Bev Moto's grandmother. She's our twenty-four year old female who takes care of her sick grandmother while working at the hospital. Maybe check out the hospital where she works too?"

"Sounds good. I'll stop in to greet Mr. Zhen, while I'm at the hospital," Lin said with fire in her eyes.

"I'm jealous," Korra commented.

"Korra, I want you to go to Future Industries and talk to Mr. and Mrs. Rowe. They're the parents of Hans Rowe; twelve year old male. I'll go to the orphanage that Lilly Wells was recently let out of and then talk to people in the market where she worked," Mako finished.

"Bolin, do you think you could stay with Mrs. Zhen? Take her home and stay there with her if that's what she prefers?" Lin asked the mover star.

"Yeah, no problem, Chief," he said with a salute. "You can count on me."

"I overheard her the other day about being a huge Nuktuk fan," Lin whispered to Korra. "Hopefully that'll give her some more comfort."

"Sadly, I don't think it'll be enough," the Avatar replied.

The three began to make their way out of the building. "The President finally announced a curfew. It only took two damn days," Lin spat out in annoyance.

"At least he agreed to it," Mako tried to see the upside.

"Do you think it would have made a difference with everything that happened last night?"

"It could have," Lin answered. "There's no way of knowing though. Maybe the fact that no one should be on the streets would have tipped off one of our patrols." She sighed before continuing. "Everyone's got their radios?" The two nodded. "Call in if you find anything useful." Then, they all went their separate ways.

Korra walked in the entrance of the large office building belonging to Future Industries. A receptionist began to greet her as she approached. "Hello, how may I- Oh! Avatar Korra! Welcome! What can I do for you?" the young woman suddenly perked right up.

"Hi," Korra said with a kind smile. "I was wondering if you could tell me where to find Mr. and Mrs. Rowe?"

"Mr. Rowe is one of our top machinists. He's currently on the fifth floor; the one that has suffered a bit of a mishap in the past week."

"Ah, the explosion. I've heard," Korra said with a sympathetic smile. "And Mrs. Rowe?"

"She is on the ninth floor. I believe there is a conference occurring there right now. She would be participating in that meeting."

"Well I'll just work my way up if that's okay?"

"Of course! Just be careful on the fifth floor. They're trying to stabilize the destruction."

"I will. Thank you," Korra said as she made her way into the elevator. When the doors opened to the fifth floor, she saw metalbenders working on the pipes that were connected in the walls. The sound of machinery was aggressive and she made her way through the maze of construction.

"Excuse me? Can you tell me who Mr. Rowe is?" she yelled over the noise to one of the metalbenders. She looked back at Korra and gave a nod toward a man working with some sort of circuitry across the room. "Thank you," she said before going toward her objective.

"Excuse me. Mr. Rowe? Is it okay if I speak with you for a bit?"

A spark interrupted his attempt at fixing it, causing him to curse before turning toward Korra. "What is it? I'm kind of busy. I have to come down here and do what all these idiots should be more than capable of doing. I have more pressing things to do upstairs," the man complained.

"Um, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm here to talk to you about your son, Hans."

"Have you found him?" he asked with hope brightening up his face.

"No, not yet. I was just wondering if you could tell me more about him."

He sighed. "What do you want to know?" he asked as he turned back to the bundle of wires.

"Anything."

He paused and stared down at the wires before a small smile came to his lips. "He loves machines and gadgets. I never forced it on him or anything. He just finds them as marvelous as I always have. One day I came home and found he had taken apart one of the models we were creating here for the company. He was looking at each part with such fascination." He let out a chuckle. "Then he started taking everything in the house apart, and slowly but surely, was able to put them back together. He really does have a passion for it." He paused for another moment. "Such a smart kid," he added before going back to work with the circuit.

"Sounds like he's got a future here at Future Industries. Pardon the pun."

"They'd be idiots if they didn't keep their eyes on him."

"Is he by chance a bender?"

"Hans? Not at all. Just your everyday genius," he answered with another chuckle.

"He's an only child, right?"

"Yes. We tried to have another one, but our work schedules never gave us the opportunity."

Korra nodded slowly. "Listen, I'd really love to chat about Hans all day. But I have a schedule. If you have any specific questions I'll be happy to answer them."

"I'll let you know if I come up with anything specific. Thank you for your time, Mr. Rowe." He gave a single nod before Korra made her way back to the elevator.

Hans' mother and father both worked fulltime. They couldn't even take off work for a few months in order to have another child. Who was taking care of Hans while they were working? It sounded like a lonely life for a little kid.

As she stepped onto the ninth floor, she noticed the drastic difference in aesthetics. It was much more extravagant. Flowers and decorations lit up the surroundings. No wonder Mr. Rowe was upset he had to be down there.

"Avatar Korra?" a receptionist said as Korra approached.

"Yes, hello. I'm here to see Mrs. Rowe."

"The meeting should be letting out any minute, if you don't mind waiting."

"That's fine," she said with a smile.

Doors suddenly opened at the end of the hall as people in suits and business attire flooded out. The commotion of different conversations all happening at once filled the air.

"Mrs. Rowe," the receptionist spoke up as the crowd approached. "The Avatar would like a word with you."

"Oh, hello," the woman greeted with a friendly smile. "We can talk in my office if you like," she suggested as she held her hand out toward a door nearby.

"That sounds great," she replied as they began to walk toward the door.

"Korra?"

The Avatar turned around to see Asami staring back bewildered. "What are you doing here?"

Korra smiled and walked up to the CEO swiftly. "I'm talking with the parents of one of the missing children. Trying to see if I can find anything else out."

"And here I thought you couldn't stay away from me," Asami grinned; her green eyes burning deep into Korra.

"That's obviously the real reason."

Asami chuckled. "Go do your job."

"Can I come see your office after?" Korra asked playfully as she began walking backwards.

"If you didn't, I'd be offended."

"Well we can't have that, can we?" Korra said with a smirk before entering Mrs. Rowe's office.

She took a seat in front of the woman's desk, where the business woman was already seated. "So how may I help you?" she asked with a sincere smile.

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me. I'm here to see if you could tell me anything about Hans."

Her reaction was of surprise before grief washed over her. She took a deep breath. "I'm assuming that means there is still no word of his whereabouts?"

"I'm sorry, but that's correct. We're doing everything we can though. I was hoping I could talk to you about him for a bit to see if I can learn anything new. Something else we can use to help in this investigation."

"What would you like to know?" she asked sadly.

"Well, I just spoke with your husband. He said Hans is a genius," Korra said with a soft smile. She knew she needed to ease into it by starting off with something positive.

Mrs. Rowe smiled fondly. "He truly is. He has his father's knack for anything mechanical. We would come home and find him fiddling with some device or gadget more often than not."

"While you two are at work, who watches over him?"

"We have a live-in nanny. She's been with us well before he was born. She's a part of our family." Korra took note of that. Hans seemed to be raised primarily by his nanny.

"I know what you're thinking," the woman said sadly. "And you're right. His nanny has taken such good care of him. His father and I have always been career-oriented. We even met here." She buried her face into her hands for a few seconds before resurfacing. "I could have been a better mother to him in the past. I know that. When you lose something, all you think about is what you could have done better. I love him. He's my son. But I could have been there more." Her eyes began to fill with water, but she remained calm. She seemed unwilling to break.

"We will find him, Mrs. Rowe. If you think you could have done something differently, you'll get your chance to fix it," Korra said with determination.

"I hope so," she answered with a sad smile. "I truly hope so." She wiped a stray tear before taking a deep breath. "If you don't mind, Avatar Korra, may I be left alone now?"

Korra gave an empathetic smile. "Of course, Mrs. Rowe. If I think of anything else to ask, I'll contact you. Thank you for your time," she said and then left.

Inside the elevator, as she waited to reach the top floor, she brought her radio to her mouth. "Lin, Mako, I just spoke to Hans' parents."

"What'd you find out?" Lin replied.

"Hans is apparently a genius with machines. His parents are both pretty important people in Future Industries. They don't seem to spend much time at home with him though. He was basically raised by a nanny."

"Hm. Well I'm on my way to the hospital now. Bev's grandmother has been her guardian since she was nine. Her mother is mentally unstable and killed Bev's father during an episode. She has been in the psychiatric ward of the hospital since."

"Oh my- That's horrible," Korra replied as the doors opened to the giant office specified for the CEO of Future Industries. Asami looked up as the Avatar entered. She stayed quiet and listened as Korra approached her desk.

"I'm still at the orphanage. I've been talking to many of the kids here as well as the guardians. Lilly was abandoned in a dumpster when she was only one year old. She went into a few foster homes, but always ended up back here," Mako informed.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm seeing a bit of a pattern here," Korra stated.

"Abandonment, neglect, abuse; you think all the victims have parental issues?" Mako questioned.

"Possible. So far it's the best lead we've got," Lin commented. "We've still got some time before patrolling tonight. Meet back up at the station in three hours."

"Roger that," Mako said.

"You got it, Chief," Korra finished.

"Try not to get too distracted over there, Korra," Mako added.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she replied.

"I sent you to Future Industries. I'm not an idiot," he commented.

"Hi, Mako," Asami chimed in.

"Point proven," he replied. "Three hours, Avatar."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Korra replied before turning it off.

"Sounds like you guys have a lead," Asami said as she got up to pour some tea for the two of them.

Korra rubbed the back of her neck unconfidently. "I guess... If that's evidence, this person would think they're some kind of martyr. It's like Amon all over again."

"Except the entire bending population isn't being threated," Asami commented as she handed a cup to Korra.

"Yeah, instead people are showing up with bending abilities," Korra chuckled and took a sip before realization hit her. She looked at Asami in shock. "This person is a bloodbender. Amon also used energybending to block the Chi of benders; taking away their abilities. Do you think it's possible…"

"To do the reverse?" Asami questioned in alarm. "Korra, I don't know much about the crazy science of bending, but that doesn't seem possible. Wouldn't that imply that anyone can learn some sort of bending?"

"Not necessarily. Maybe a relative, or someone in their family lineage was a bender. I don't know. How else did Ru suddenly become an airbender then?"

"I honestly don't know."

Korra shook her head in frustration as she placed her cup of tea down on the desk. "I don't understand any of it."

"You'll figure it out," Asami supported sweetly. She then grabbed Korra's cup of tea off of her desk and made her way to a table that held a selection of fruits and pastries. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked over her shoulder. "Can you go into the top drawer of my desk?"

"Yeah, sure." Korra leaned off the desk and walked around to open the drawer. Laying neatly on top of many organized files was a pair of black lace underwear. Korra bent down and picked up the piece of clothing before looking back at the sultry woman approaching her.

"I thought I'd get a head start. I mean, seeing as we're on a schedule now," Asami said with eyes that began to undress the Avatar.

"If three hours isn't enough, we have a problem," Korra commented as she pulled her shirt swiftly over her head.

Asami chuckled. "I don't see how that could be a problem," she said placing her hands on Korra's bare hips.

"I never said it was a bad problem," Korra smirked as Asami pressed her urgently against her desk and took her lips.