It was hot. That's what Korra noticed first. It was hot, her cuts stung, and her muscles were numb- but that's not what woke her. What woke her was the distant whispering, low and echoed as if far away.

"Do you think she'll be alright, Healer Sakura?" Whispered a man. She soon recognized it as Tenzin's voice.

"She'll be fine, Tenzin, relax." A woman whose voice she's never heard before quietly teased, whom she assumed was "Healer Sakura".

"Equalists, he said? Nonsense." Angrily whispered yet another woman's voice. Lin Bei Fong's.

"Didn't believe him for a second myself. Perhaps when Korra comes to she can tell us what really happened."

Wait- what? Who were they taking about? Where was she?

Korra had heard enough. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes.

"Korra!" Gasped Tenzin, holding out his hands to help her into a sitting position on the cushioned cot she had been placed on hours before. Her muscles still hurt- hell, she could barely feel them, but she made it work.

From far across the room, a woman in Watertribe garb began washing her hands in a metal basin. Bloody banges lie on a nearby counter top, awaiting disposal.

Korra looked down at her torso and recognized the clear solution covering her now-cleaned wounds as the medicine her mother used to cover her patients in whenever even her extensive healing skills couldn't do much.

"Where am I-" Korra started before Tenzin brought his index finger up to her lips.

"You're in a healing center, run by a friend of mine, Sakura. As soon as I noticed your sudden disappearance I set out several White Lotus search parties. Guard Sentry Howl's party found you in a cave in one of the mountains overlooking the city bloody, passed out, and cold to the touch. I ordered him to bring you here at once." Tenzin took in a big gulp of air before continuing. "Me and Lin would like to know-"

"We'd like to know who did this to you- if you can remember..." Lin cut in from beside her Airbending master, arms folded across her chest. She no longer bore the armor that signified Chief of the Metalbending Police, and quite frankly, it was peculiar for Korra to see her in traditional Earth Kingdom clothes.

Korra played over everything Tenzin had just said in her head. She winced at the idea of Howl, her secret best friend from all those years at the compound, finding her bloody, unconscious, and all alone in some cave. She'd have to thank him later for finding her before she froze to death.

Nonetheless, she pushed the thoughts from her mind and returned her attention to the problem at hand. Who had did this to her? She pondered the question, the name so close but so far from the tip of her tongue.

"Tarrlok had sworn it was Equalists, even had a wound from electrocution to back it up, but I can never trust a word out of his mouth. Only the spirits know how low he would go for things to be turned in his favor." Tenzin raged when Korra hesitated to answer, subconciously causing the air around him to swirl this way and that, billowing his robe behind him.

"Tarrlok." Korra mumbled, almost inaudiable.

"What?" Lin pressed, leaning forward, ears now perked up in curiousity.

"Seems that I'll leave you three be." sighed Sakura from the other side of the room. The bandages that formerly occupied the countertop were now in the trash basket, and the water basin had been emptied. "Tenzin. Cheif- er- Ms. Bei Fong. Avatar Korra." She bowed to each in turn and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Korra, please repeat yourself. Perhaps louder this time." Tenzin pressed.

"Tarrlok." She enunciated. "It... It was him who did this to me." Korra seethed as she gestured to her entire body. His name was sour on her tongue. Sour. Bitter. Disgusting.

"But how? Surely you didn't go down without a fight." Lin postulated, tightening the grip her own arms had on her torso.

"He... he bloodbended me... w-without a full moon."

This caused both of the adult's eyes to widen in obvious horror. Lin whispered a quick curse, but Tenzin remained silent.

"Tell us exactly what happened, Korra. Everything you can recall." He finally replied.

And so she told them. She told them every single detail of every moment she'd experienced in the last 30 hours that she could remember as they listened with intent interest and concentration.

She told them about her needing to be 'removed'. About Tarrlok controlling her every move without the requirement of a full moon, while she looked on in agony. About him tying her up and leaving her for dead. She told them everything.

When she finished half an hour later, Lin stood stiffer than ever, and Tenzin was as silent as he'd been when he'd asked her to fill them in.

The two adults turned to eachother and began whispering rapidly. When they were finished 7 minutes later, Lin crossed the room, her ready hands reaching for the doorknob.

"What are we going to do?" Korra asked. She hadn't been able to catch a word from the two's hurried conversation, and her head was beginning to buzz with curiousity.

"The only thing we can do." Tenzin replied, his usually soft and friendly eyes now filled with so much malice and anger, it was almost contagious. "We put these lies of his to rest."

"And we do it my way." Lin added in a malevolent tone from the other side of the room.

A/N:

So there you go! Finished and all that. Hope you liked it!
Please don't forget to review; I could really use the feedback to improve my writing!