Author's notes: I'm making a big assumption here that might csh with established canon that I could have missed. Hopefully it's acceptable enough if that happens.
Despite the increased work brought by the tournament, Goro was still happy to be glorified borer for Future Media. It was satisfying, being part of what they were doing, hearing the crowd’s reactions to the performances, and reading about it in the next day’s papers.
The pre-game shows were, as some of his smarter comrades in the company had said, striking proof of what Equality could achieve; The wonders of technology and the common man’s skills being put on dispy for all to see, drawing as much attention - if not more, thanks to Hitori Kuro’s enthralling voice - than six benders flinging dirt and water and fire at each other.
And according to one rather insistent clerk, the Fire Ferrets’ wins were also indirectly thanks to Equality.
“After all, who’s sponsoring the team?” the woman asked during the lunchtime meeting at the back of an Equalist friendly eatery. “It’s not the nobles from the Fire Nation or Water Tribes, it’s not the ruling council, it’s not the Avatar’s White Lotus, it’s not the triads.”
Someone reached out to tap her shoulder, reminding the speaker to limit her volume, and she shrank a little from the gesture before resuming with a softer voice.
“But it’s Future Industries - a company owned and run by a non-bender, and has been churning out gadgets and cars for everyone. We all know it’s because of Hiroshi and Asami Sato that the Fire Ferrets could even join the games at all.”
Goro found himself nodding along to the reasoning, almost joining the murmurs of agreement around him.
The woman shook a fist at her audience to emphasize her point. “It’s non-benders that generously lifted the pro-bending brothers out of poverty. It’s non-benders that gave them a chance to achieve their dream. Not to prove or counter any point about bender superiority, but because it was good business.”
Now the clerk spread out her hands, palms up, as she put on a triumphant grin. “Is that not part of Equality? Benders relying on the grace of non-benders… Is it not the opposite of what the bending elite have in mind for us?”
This time there was a sharp hush as the murmurs began to grow in loudness, and the silence that followed resetted the building fervor. Despite the enforced quiet, Goro found himself nodding to the comrades beside him, exchanging looks that endorsed the words they heard.
Motivated by the cndestine meeting, Goro went back to work with a reinvigorated sense of purpose. He and his comrades were doing good work here in Future Media, and surely it was only a matter of time that someone would talk to Director Xing about embracing the Equalist cause more openly.
Such happy thoughts were interrupted as Goro and his colleagues neared the Future Media building. Across the intersection, he saw city folk hurrying away, clearly to avoid trouble. In their wake was a small mob composed of borers and workers judging by their attire, with their lower faces covered by bck cloth.
“Hey,” a colleague remarked with arm, “aren’t they…”
“They can’t be,” Goro breathed out, as he too saw the red circle proudly dispyed on the mob’s face coverings. The Equalist symbol, which meant that this was a mob comprised of Equalists…but why now? And why were they moving with violent intent towards Future Media?
“That doesn’t look good,” said the clerk who had given the speech earlier. “We shou-”
Smoke, bck and dirty, suddenly spat out from within the mob, and then men were running out from the formation to hurl cy pots at the gates of Future Media headquarters. The building’s guards retreated as the smoking, earthen vessels shattered on impact with the metal gate, and spshed burning oil onto the ground and walls.
“Down with the bender sympathizers!” It was a horrific call that was echoed by the throng of supposed Equalists. “Down with the benders! Down with Future Media and Future Industries for keeping them in power!”
Goro’s jaw fell in disbelief as he watched more cy pots soar through the air to spread more dirty orange fire into the Future Media compound.
“Why are they doing this?”
Wasn’t it agreed that Future Media was an ally to the cause?
Goro didn’t know why, but he was drawn to the fmes licking up into the air and the billowing smoke that resulted, which also brought to his attention the windows of Future Media behind them. Even at this distance, he could make out familiar faces from behind the gss panes; friendly coworkers and kind superiors who peered out worryingly at the madness outside. He also saw the director’s face staring down at the gates with stillness akin to a stone mask.
The fmes were snuffed out abruptly, leaving only bck smog to hang in the air which silhouetted the line of a dozen Future Media guards standing behind the gates. The mob roared in outrage, and another volley of pots were hurled. This time, their flight was interrupted by bolts of ice waterbended by a couple of guards. Even as the doused vessels nded onto the ground, a stomp by several other guards opened up holes that swallowed the cy pots completely.
Despite the complete defeat of their attack, the mob was further riled.
“See? They employ benders! Future Media is no friend of the Equalists!”
“But we all know they employ benders,” the clerk behind Goro muttered, fully dumbfounded like everyone else.
For a moment, it seemed like the face-covered rabble seemed ready to actually charge the gates, but then the familiar wail from a siren was heard, and a shadow slowly swept across the streets, causing everyone to look up.
“It’s the police! Scram!”
And just like that, they turned tail and fled the way they came, scattering like a disturbed elephant rat nest.
As ever, it took a few seconds before the metalbending police nded. Metal wires shed out on their way down, ensnaring a few fleeing figures, but their comrades quickly stopped and brought out bolt cutters to free them before they were reeled in. More cy pots were flung, creating a wall of fire and smoke that gave the police pause and forced them to climb up the buildings with their wires to go around the obstacle.
By then, their targets have been freed and scampered off.
“What…what just happened?” someone asked, voicing everyone’s stunned thoughts.
*****
“So, that just happened,” Lin commented as she surveyed the soot and oil stains on Future Media’s gate and exterior walls. “After all their skulking from Tarrlok’s task force, I didn’t think they had it in them…” The police chief gave a querying gnce at the director beside her. “So what did you do to piss ‘em off?”
“Nothing that I’m aware of,” Xing answered, wearing a contemptive frown. Well, at least he wasn’t freaking out and demanding the police to do one pointless chore or another. Despite squads of her metalbenders already pursuing the perpetrators for clues, Lin doubted it’d amount to anything substantial.
With the triads, the problem was getting anything to stick that their wyers or personal favors couldn’t wrangle them out of. Even their recruits would get reduced sentences due to ‘good behaviour’. Lin’s strict enforcement of the w only extended to pursuing and capturing perps, not the courts that still had judged kowtowing to prominent figures.
With the Equalists though, they had the tendency to blend in with the crowd simply by losing their face masks and uniforms. Tarrlok’s task force actually raiding training cells was a notable achievement, but despite all that they couldn’t nab anyone high enough in the Equalist hierarchy to offer any real information.
To make things more problematic, being an Equalist terrorist was a crime, but being a sympathizer was completely legal. And good luck securing enough evidence to clearly differentiate one from the other.
Bme the corporate bigwigs for that…or actually, Lin bmed Tarrlok for that, since he was the one who tried implicating several industrialists with having ties to the underground movement. It was clearly a move to intimidate them to fall into line, but it backfired spectacurly when they pooled their resources together for a legal battle that the United Republic wasn’t prepared for. In a span of an hour of the councilman’s speech going public, every w firm in Republic City was hired in the defense against the corporations. The council was forced to hire legal help from the other nations, at a prohibitive cost.
Tenzin earned a lot of goodwill from everyone not on Tarrlok’s side for brokering a peace and compromise before his stubborn counterpart bankrupted the republic with legal fees. It was a big reason why the airbender councilman was the preferred councillor to invite if the corporates needed minimal VIPs for acceptable social prestige.
But back to the point, the precedent was set that made apprehending suspected Equalists a damned chore. If Lin’s people could even bag one man or woman with a cy pot filled with fuel, that’d be a win by itself. The scarves would be useless, since anyone can say they picked it off the street (Lin learned that lesson early on), and bolt cutters were a common enough tool for excuses to be made to wriggle free.
“Well, if they’re coming for you, it means that the Equalists are changing tactics again.”
Xing didn’t seem convinced though. “Hm… But this doesn’t make sense, does it?”
“They’re terrorists. One moment they’re spreading discord, the next they’re kidnapping people to take away their bending, and now they’ve switched to vandalizing a building in broad daylight.”
“But…why?”
Lin offered a shrug to the naive kid, reminded that he came from the boonies before this. “They said something about Future Media being bender sympathizers, right? There’s your why. Amon will probably give a big speech tonight to harp on that.”
“It doesn’t make sense though?” The director’s analytical gaze made her hold back her quip. “If they wanted to really cause damage, they’d have attacked at night. Our guards would’ve been overpowered by their numbers, and if they pyed their hands right, they could wreak a lot of havoc before drawing the attention of the police airships… I mean, you could easily paint slogans in the dark first, and then set fire to the…”
Xing’s musings trailed off as he no doubt noticed the looks he was getting from Lin and the few officers nearby.
“Maybe you should write your feedback to them?”
The boy’s shoulders rose and fell in a sheepish shrug. “Sending a mob in the afternoon just isn’t…uh, optimal,” he mely finished.
The police chief repressed a sigh. “Like I said, they’re terrorists. And they were a mob too, at that. A mob is as intelligent as its stupidest members.”
“That’s a good catchphrase…”
Lin rolled her eyes at the remark but continued on. “Anyway, you’re overthinking things. The Equalists have decided to send a message, and make Future Media part of it.”
Exasperation began welling up in her as she saw the frown appear again on Xing’s face. “But according to my sources, Future Media and Future Industries have been viewed positively by the Equalists…”
The exasperation fled as Lin’s gaze instantly narrowed into a sharp gre. “Sources?”
“I have…people who have connections,” Xing answered, braving her attention.
Lin’s gre narrowed some more as a thought came up. “The kids of yours?”
The director immediately shook his head. “No, Ren and Kai are busy being Asami’s aides. But they have offered…referrals ever since my encounter with Butoq Itiro.”
“And these referrals of yours…have ties with the Equalists?”
“Not directly, they just keep track of the rumors that inevitably leak out,” Xing answered without any discernible guile, still unperturbed by Lin’s steely attention. “Not all basements and private rooms are completely soundproof.”
He met Lin’s gre for a second longer before adding, “no, I doubt they’d know anything about Amon’s movements. The sources only passively harvest information to avoid trouble, not to seek it.”
There was a heavy pause, and then Lin let out a grunt as she finally reined in her interrogative stare. “I’ll be making note of this in the report.”
“Of course.”
“You might be asked to divulge the identity of your sources.”
“Unfortunately, I doubt it’ll be of use…it’s hard to keep track of beggars and urchins, after all,” Xing casually replied with a nonchant shrug. “And that’s assuming they’re not using a disguise.”
“Hmph.” Moving on from the point that was made… “So your…sources. They know where the Equalists hang out?”
“Equalist sympathizers, most likely,” the boy corrected. “It’s hard to confirm whether they’re actual members of the movement or not…”
“You don’t even know half of it,” Lin grumbled.
Xing offered a fsh of a smirk as commiseration before continuing. “But assuming I’m not being pyed, everything I’ve gathered so paints a consistent picture of the Equalists’ perception of Future Industries and Future Media. They view them as shining examples of what their movement can achieve, and they view people like Hiroshi Sato as role models.”
That was concerning and, now that she thought about it, unsurprising…
Lin pondered over the new information for a moment before coming to a likely conclusion. “Well…every group has its factions. Triads splinter, the ruling council bickers… Maybe some people in the Equalist decided to go extra stupid?”
“That is a possibility,” Xing responded with a satisfying degree of concern.
“Well, regardless, I’ll have an airship patrol around Future Media for a while, in case they decide to go for another round. And I’ll keep you updated on what our investigation turns up, of course.”
“Thank you, I appreciate your assistance, Chief Lin.”
Lin rolled her eyes. “You can thank me by keeping to your current work and not interfering by conducting your own investigations.” Seeing the bnk look he gave her, the metalbender cracked a dry smirk. “I’m not stupid, kid. You’re smart and young enough to go looking for trouble to solve, but dumb enough to do so in the wrong way.”
Ah, there was the affronted look kids his age always gave when told to stay put.
“So I’m asking you, as chief of Republic City’s police force, leave this with us, alright? Stick to your duties as director of Future Media. I’m hoping you’re not as reckless as the Avatar.”
The little gambit paid off, and Xing seemed to take enough offense at the comparison to take Lin’s words to heart.
It took a few seconds before he gave a curt, unhappy nod, though. “I promise that I’ll not interfere with police investigations,” he finally conceded, and Lin decided that it was good enough.
At least she could reason with this one. Imagine trying to get the Avatar to stay out of city business; Tenzin would no doubt butt in to defend the girl too…
*****
Despite the police presence now crawling around Future Media’s headquarters, work still continued. There was a brief, nerve-wracking period where Goro and practically everyone else in Future Media was interviewed by the police, but other than that the company insisted on resuming the working day like nothing had happened. The pre-game for this evening’s semifinals would not wait, and honestly, Goro found getting back into the rush of work to be a comfort from the disturbing scene he’d witnessed. Though, like many other colleagues, he couldn’t help but peek out through the windows every now and then, wondering if another mob would suddenly turn up regardless of the two airships floating overhead, and the reporters and police now swarming the area.
Logically, Goro knew that nobody would be stupid enough to unch another attack, especially now that Ironcd Lin was on the ground, personally directing the metalbending police’s operations. But the sudden attack wasn’t logical at all.
Why did his Equalists brothers and sisters hate Future Media? Did Amon know about this?
The day wore on without further incident, and just before office hours came to an end, Goro was approached by Mozi, Director Xing’s assistant.
“The director would like to speak with you.”
Unease settled in Goro’s guts as he followed the stern-faced assistant to the upper floors, and surprisingly was led into a small meeting room where other nervous colleagues awaited. They were all comrades of the cause, the tech menial realized. People who he had lunch and a meeting with earlier in the day.
The unease froze into something cold and spiky.
“Is that the st one?” Director Xing asked, sitting at the head of the table as Goro was ushered to an empty seat.
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you, Mozi. Keep the outside clear, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
The door closed softly, leaving almost two dozen men and women shifting in their seats before the director. Xing’s chair swivelled quietly as he swept his gaze across the room, his expression hard but otherwise unreadable.
“I’m told that you all had a clear view of the attack this afternoon, as you were returning from lunch.”
Bobbing heads and murmurs of meek affirmatives broke out.
Xing nodded before a smile formed on his face. “I’m gd that none of you were hurt. I’d not like to imagine what would happen if the mob had decided to attack a few minutes ter.”
Neither did Goro, now that the director brought it up. And from the bnching faces around him, he wasn’t alone in that sentiment.
An awkwardness suddenly filled the air, heavy and stifling. There was a loud creak as the director’s chair shifted and he rose from it.
“So then. As you all had a clear view of what happened, I’d like to ask: were the goons that made a poor attempt at firebombing us actually Equalists?”
Silence returned as everyone exchanged nervous gnces with each other. Eventually, nods were shakily given, and someone answered for the group. “Y-Yes, sir. They…they were wearing Equalist masks.”
“Hm. But you have doubts?”
“S-Sir?”
The director leveled a hard gaze that made Goro shrink in his seat. “None of you here are sure - or rather, you cannot believe that the vandals are Equalists. The way some of you are squirming in your seats makes that clear enough.”
Several people started stammering excuses over each other, creating a jumble of nonsense to fill the air.
“Rex,” the director’s voice cut through the din, enforcing silence through the hardness in his voice.
“I will be clear, I am not going to care where any of you stand in the Equalist cause, not unless circumstances force me to. And to avoid said circumstances from occurring, I’m asking you now: Do you all believe that the mob who appeared at our gates earlier were Equalists?”
It took several drawn out seconds before Goro answered. “No…no, sir.”
“And why is that?”
“Be-because, uh…”
“Because you believe that the Equalists do not view Future Media as an enemy?” Xing answered for him, and Goro nodded hastily at that, unable to appreciate how the answer was worded.
“Y-yes, sir. We, I-”
“You- all of you think that the Equalist movement does not share the sentiments of what the mob was shouting.”
This time Goro wasn’t the only one agreeing to the director’s words.
“So, with that in mind, is there a chance that there’s a group within the Equalists who think otherwise?”
The silence sted for far longer now as Goro and the others thought really hard about that question. It didn’t make sense at all, did it? Would Amon allow such sabotage to the cause?
Eventually, it was the firebrand clerk who answered. “No. No sir. We- Um, no.”
Xing fixed his gaze on her for a moment before slipping back into his seat with a sigh. “Right. Now then, from what I understand, the Equalists draw members from almost every walk of life, right? It doesn’t differentiate between occupation or ethnicity?”
Goro joined the others in bobbing their heads silently to the questions.
Director Xing’s gaze darkened as he leaned forwards and steepled his fingers together in front of him. “So, would it be uncommon for an Equalist mob of this afternoon’s size to be comprised solely of Water Tribe members?”
