Chapter 2
Korra walks down the steps to the basement, resigned to her fate.
“Hello?” she asks as she steps into the X-files office, her voice echoing against the cold basement walls, “Anybody here? Agent Sato?"
There is no reply, so Korra takes in her surroundings. The only word that could possibly describe this room is “chaotic”. Case files are thrown haphazardly around the room, sorted in an order that only a complete weirdo would ever be able to decipher. Strange instruments twirl and spin and beep and tic around the room, creating an intricate kind of cacophony. On the wall, a poster of a strange, faceless, caterpillar-like creature sits.
“Spooky,” Korra mutters under her breath.
“You called?” A voice comes from and Korra turns around in shock. Right at the door of the office stands an ethereally tall, black haired woman, her eyebrow raised and her arms crossed. She is... definitely not what Korra had expected. She thought she'd be dealing with someone a bit more eccentric looking, someone in a trench coat and a fedora or something.
“Oh no!” Korra says, flustered, “Not you, I meant the uh,” she gestures at the poster.
“Ah,” Agent Sato steps forward, closer to Korra and the poster, “The Face Stealer, also known as Koh in several East Asian countries. We think he's some sort of alien race, trapped here on earth and biding his time before returning home”.
“We”? So there are more of these spooks out there?
“You look skeptical, Agent Raava,” Sato says.
“Well, is there any evidence that this “Face Stealer” exists?” Korra shrugs, “I mean extraordinary claims require extraordinary-”
“Extraordinary evidence, yes I am aware of the saying. And as for evidence,” Sato digs under her desk and pulls out a dusty file, “An American journalist whose name is lost to time,was separated from the platoon he'd been photographing. He wandered the jungle for days, trying to avoid Vietcong soldiers, as well as tigers. At last he arrived, nearly delirious and barely alive, to a small mountain village in Northern Vietnam and he found, well, look for yourself”. Sato hands the file to Korra who blows off the dust and opens it up.
She looks inside and what she sees is absolutely chilling. Photo after photo after photo reveals a terrifying sight: people, completely normal people, except for one thing:
“Their faces are gone!” Korra exclaims.
“Indeed they are,” Sato adjusts her glasses, “You're taking this rather well, considering that when the journalist had finally been found, he was completely delirious, ranting about stolen faces and evil spirits. He had to be sedated and sent to a field hospital. In the morning, when the nurses came in to check on the patients, they found nothing on his bed except for his camera and a mirror. He was never heard from again”.
“Well that's a pretty good story to tell around the campfire, but these pictures don't prove anything. I mean how do we know they're not some elaborate hoax? How do we even know the story's real?” Korra raises her eyebrow skeptically.
“I had them sent to Forensics to try and see if they'd been tampered with, but they couldn't make heads or tails of it. They'd run every test, and these photos seem to be 100% authentic” Asami shrugs.
“But- but people don't just lose their faces, Sato. There has to be some kind of explanation for this. Maybe napalm?” Korra looks from the photos to Sato and to the photos again.
Sato nods her head towards the poster of the creepy caterpillar.
“Sato. No.” Korra says flatly.
“I mean,” Sato grins, “He is called 'The Face Stealer', after all”.