Camp Amon

The very first thing Kuvira thought when she woke up was

Why is Korrasami making out in my cabin?

The second thing she thought was

Ow. Ow. Ow. OW. OW! OW!! What the fuck, face?!

She sat up. And had a look around.

Kuvira, Zhu Li, Bolin, and the kids were in some sort of cell. The kids were grouped together (naturally) by couple. Bolin, who was practically a brother-in-law to her, was laying nearby— down and out for the count. Zhu Li was laying on her other side, looking equally injured.

Shit, how long was I out?

Asami, noticing that the cop was awake, scooted over and offered her a water bottle. Instead of immediately drinking it— Kuvira pressed it against her bruised face. She must’ve looked like a Smurf… cause… you know… black and blue? No? Okay.

“What happened?”

“You took a ‘Mongo’ to the face.”

“What?”

Asami pointed at the door to the cell; where a big, burly chump was standing guard. Even though he had earbuds in, he must’ve been able to hear what they were saying— without looking up, he gave them the middle finger and continued watching movies on his iPod.

“Fuck… how long have we been in here?”

“Uh… six hours or so?”

“What!?”

Varrick should have called Lin for back-up, so where the hell are they?

“You took a nice beating and had a few z’s for a while. Tarrlok and Noatak pointed firearms at us and forced us to drag you guys into the cell.”

They held kids… at gunpoint. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, I fucked up.

“What did they say to you?”

“Oh, you know, Tarrlok with the usual Scooby-Doo-villain-shtick. The ‘You kids shouldn’t have been meddling in affairs you don’t know about’ and ‘you’re young and naïve’ kinda speech.”

“He wasn’t lying about the last part.”

“Hey, you wanted us to help you.”

Kuvira tried to ignore that last bit, but it weighed heavily in her heart. She had made such a big mistake— all for the kicks of finally having some friends. She didn’t deserve to be a cop.

Look, it’s in the fucking past now. You need to find a way out of here, Kuvira.

She studied the cell. It was crude, really. Probably built in case, like the group, someone had decided to snoop where they should have. But… Kuvira was the first cop to investigate Camp Amon— and this was probably the first time they’d put kids in the cell (hopefully). Which meant that if there were any structural problems… they would never have noticed and fixed them before.

She tapped Asami’s hand to get her attention. Fortunately (and also unfortunately), the ground was made of dirt. She began to silently write a message in the Earth— so that “Mongo” wouldn’t notice.

Look for weak points in the structure of this cage.

She wiped the sentence away.

 If there’s a way out… we need to find it before they decide

She wiped that one away, too.

they don’t want to keep us around anymore.

Raava knows she didn’t want to frighten the poor girl… but the reality was impending. They could be killed down here. Regrettably, fear is a good motivator.

Brave, sweet Asami nodded with a determined expression and stood up to examine the cage. If anyone could find a flaw in the structure, the genius engineer could. Mongo (Kuvira sincerely hoped that was his real name, because that would have been hilarious) paused his movie and rattled the cage with… a bloody bat. Must’ve been the one he hit Kuvira with.

“Hey! Just sit down and shut up!” he grunted.

“I just want to get some exercise,” Asami feigned.

The guard gave her steely eyes for a few moments and then returned to his movie.

“Fine, what do I fucking care? So long as they pay me,” he muttered.

Asami continued to walk around the cell, and Kuvira’s heart began to sink as Asami’s head dropped. The girl looked at Kuvira and shook her head.

Fuck. No way out. At least… not from the inside.

.               .               .

“And how are we doing today?” Noatak said with a sickly smile, “Comfy?”

“Let us out you psychopath!!” Wu shouted.

The Camp Director leaned against the cell door and laughed loudly. His fake demeanor was becoming more and more creepy with every second.

“Now, now, that’s no way to speak to your host! We are showing you some generous hospitality, all things considered! You almost blew our operation! Good thing we rounded up all you Vaatu-damned cops!”

Wait… do they not know about Varrick?

A few hours ago, Bolin and Zhu Li had stirred awake. Barely, but still enough to have filled the group in. They’d been discovered poking around the warehouse (having found the other entrance all the way on the other side of camp). Noatak and Tarrlok had interrogated them both violently, but they’d refused to give them information.

“How long are you keeping us here?” Asami asked with narrowed eyes.

“What kind of question is that? We’re going to ransom you off when we have the chance!”

OH SHIT WHAT OH MY GOD HE’D BETTER BE FUCKING BLUFFING!!!

“You’re going to what?!” Bolin wheezed. Poor kid was probably suffering heavy injuries.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Allow me to clarify. I’m hosting Water Tribe royalty, the heiress of Future Industries, and the Future King of the Earth Nation. Not to mention three cops…”

“Ok wow,” Mako said, under his breath. “Fucking rude.”

“… do you know how much money that is?!”

“But you’re working with Unalaq and my Father!!”

“Yeah! They’re going to get the United Republic to pay the money! More for all of us!”

“What kind of fucking operation are you running?!” Zhu Li spat.

“I’m glad you asked!”

Noatak threw a small Ziploc bag of what looked like white rock-candy into the cell. Kuvira picked it up and knew what it was with one glance. Methamphetamine. Zhu Li help it up and inspected it.

“This is… this is an impeccable mixture!” she stammered with wide eyes.

“Ah, see, the chemist appreciates our work! The warehouse is chock brim with crates of perfectly refined crystal. We’re making billions! And soon we’ll have so much more!!”

“Then why don’t you spend money on Camp Amon? The place has gone to shit!”

“Kid, we don’t give two fucks about Dear Old Dad’s dream of ‘straightening’ the world. Well, maybe I care a little. You all are a bunch of sickos… but the real game is down here!”

Kuvira grabbed the little bag of meth from Zhu Li and threw it at him out of anger. Noatak casually caught it and tossed it to his guard.

“You enjoy that, I have plenty.”

Mongo eyed the bag for a few minutes, and then zipped it in his jacket.

“The Bloodsnow Brothers are going to go down in history as the greatest Drug Lords the world has ever seen!” Noatak laughed.

“Oh my god that’s the dumbest name in the history of… like… ever!” Korra whispered to Mako.

Fortunately, the insane criminal didn’t hear them. The last thing Kuvira wanted to do right now was make him mad. A few silent moments passed as the group processed all the information.

“How does my father fit into this?” Asami asked.

Noatak chuckled, “Who do you think helps us distribute the stock? A group named Red Lotus, hired by Unalaq, helps us make the stuff in facilities all over the world! The North and South Poles are covered by Unalaq— and Hiroshi helps us distribute to Republic City and the other Future Industries offices. Under the table of course. We have agents planted all over the world! In exchange everyone gets part of the cut. It took you stupid feds long enough to even suspect something was up!”

The man’s alarm clock went off on his phone. He gave a smirk to the group and made to leave.

“Well, my times up. Speaking of the devils, Tarrlok and I have a conference call with the rascals! You’re going to be very excited, we’ll be having a family reunion down here— in a few days of course, what with travel time.”

“My father’s coming… here?”

“Sure thing! Wants to have some time with his little princess!”

“Why— why are you telling us all this?” Korra whispered, at so low a volume that it might as well have been a figment of Kuvira’s imagination.

“What makes you fucking think you will ever take us down?”