9-2-5-6-6-3
“Okay guys. Tonight, Spirit World. Edge of the forest at 11:00. If you’re not there by then, you don’t come with us,” Kuvira whispered to the group.
It was lunchtime, and Wu really wanted to find Bolin. Yeah, the dude was his boyfriend’s brother, but also the new guy sucked at cooking.
“How do you know that they’re in the Spirit World?”
“I don’t. But I’m not going to let those two fuckers sitting smugly over there slip through our fingers again. Varrick is going to stay topside, and if we’re not back within three hours, he’ll call for backup. Police will be here within minutes. That’s if they try to do anything. Or… if we find something we’ll make our way back to a safe spot and call them ourselves.”
“We’re all in?” Korra asked the table.
“Hell yeah.”
Wu thought he saw Noatak whisper to Tarrlok, but shrugged it off.
. . .
“Hey, Mako?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you… you know… okay right now?”
His boyfriend let out a huff. They were sitting on the dock, away from the others. Mako splashed his legs in the water in annoyance.
“I just… I feel like I can’t do anything right now. My brother is missing— and I have to patiently wait for him. I want to punch something.”
“That’s rough, buddy. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Mako flopped onto his back and gestured for Wu to join him. There wasn’t anyone watching besides their group… who were all just as gay. The boys laid there, staring at the sky.
“What do we do when we get out?”
“Hmm?”
“Are we… are we still going to be one of them… couple things?”
“I hope so,” Mako said with a smile. “You only get a certain number of kisses per lifetime— and to think I wasted them on you!”
“Hey!”
The boys playfully fought with each other, until Wu felt himself almost roll off the dock.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
Mako pulled him back to the middle of the dock and gave him a kiss.
“Where are you going to live? You told me you’re not going to Ba Sing Sei again?”
“I’ll find a place, city-boy. Everybody wants to host a prince.”
“You’re so full of it.”
“Hey, you chose to kiss me.”
. . .
“This is so horror movie,” Wu whispered, caught up in all the excitement. “Which one of us dies first?”
“It’s going to be you if you don’t shut up,” Asami muttered back.
“What’s the matter Sato… scared of the dark?” Wu teased.
“Boo!”
One of the girls gave Wu a push and scared the shit out of him.
“Aaghhh!” Wu screamed. “Korra what the hell?”
He had a smile on his face, though. The Water Tribe girl gave him a sly grin and kept walking, giving him the “I’m watching you” sign as she turned.
“Nobody teases my girlfriend but me.”
“You all are grounded,” Kuvira said with a sigh, and then under her breath she muttered, “Lin had better give me a raise.”
“Aww MOM!!”
They reached the Spirit World and pushed their way inside. The chairs and other things Kuvira had left for them to enjoy had been pushed into the corner. They paced around.
“Hang on.”
“What is it?”
Asami stomped the ground. There was a hollow echo.
“No way…”
“Secret tunnel!! Secret tunnel!!!”
“Korra shut up, let’s try and find the entrance.”
“No need,” Mako said, “There’s a hatch— underneath the pile of cinderblocks.”
“We’ve literally been sitting on an underground entrance for a month!?”
They got to work, moving block by block to the other side of the room, until they found it. A locked trapdoor to whatever basement was down below.
“Great, how do we unlock that without the key?”
Korra answered by picking up one of the cinderblocks and swinging it down on the Cabbage-Corp lock. It shattered.
“Now that’s just shoddy craftsmanship,” Asami commented.
“Good work, now let’s get moving.”
Mako and Kuvira pried the door open and the other three aimed their flashlights. The tunnel was concrete, leading… back towards the camp? It smelled just as awful as you’d expect. Wu wondered if there were any rats down there…
“There must be something down here that can lead us to Bolin and Zhu Li.”
Korra and Asami were gripping each other’s hands, and Wu decided to grab Mako’s. Kuvira walked in front with her light— trying to find the end of the tunnel. It began to slope downwards— steeply.
“Raava, it smells really fucking— ugh I don’t know how much longer I can stand this.”
“Yeah, I don’t think the creeps use FeBreze, Asami.”
They managed to stumble upon a large metal door with a keypad. They tried to move it, but the damn thing wouldn’t bust— locked into place. There were no half-barrel hinges. They needed the combo.
“Wow, they’ve got some swish new digs around here,” Wu whistled.
Kuvira looked at the combination, “Any idea of what it could be?”
“Vatuu?”
Kuvira typed the code into the keypad.
8-2-2-8-8
“Not enough digits.”
“Damn…”
The group let out a collective sigh. They hadn’t come this fucking fair only to be stopped by a Raava-damned door.
“Noatak? Tarrlok?”
6-6-2-8-2-5
8-2-7-7-5-6-5
“Nope.”
“Try combining their names.”
It was too long of a combonation.
They’d hit their dead end, seemingly. Well… shit. Wu looked at Mako, who was pacing around trying to think of a solution. He looked as though he hadn’t slept at all last night. The former prince walked up to him and embraced him— literally giving Mako a shoulder to cry on.
Damn… Now I wish I’d paid more attention in class—
“Who was the guy you said used to run the camp? Yakone? Try him,” Korra offered.
9-2-5-6-6-3
The door beeped twice and they heard a ka-chunk! as the door opened. They slipped in as quietly as they could. Kuvira gave the girl a pat on the back.
“Nice going, kid.”
They were in some sort of underground… bunker? Warehouse? Hanger? Who knew. It was a large concrete room filled to the brim with large crates. Vaatu knows what they were filled with. There were also vehicles, which meant there was another way in and out of this underground labyrinth.
In the middle of the room, with a light shining on them, were the pair of cops— unconscious. It wasn’t looking good.
“Bolin!” Mako screamed.
“Zhu Li!”
“Oh my god… is that blood?”
The group ran to untie them. Their faces were bruised and bloody— as if Noatak and Tarrlok… had… tortured them. As they hastily began fiddling with the tight bonds securing them to the chairs, Zhu Li started mumbling incoherently.
“Get… get out… trap…”
What the fuck?
Before they even had time to turn around, all four of the kids let out horrible screams as a large bat swung into the side of Kuvira’s face— effectively knocking her out.
She let out an “UUGH” and slowly slumped to the floor— Korra had caught her.
“You do know how to find your way into trouble, don’t you?”
End of Part Four