Chapter 4
It's about 3 A.M. and Korra is zooming on the highway, set on making it back to D.C. before dawn. Asami is curled up in the passenger's seat, the jazz that Korra's playing making her feel warm and safe, nearly putting her to sleep. Just before she lets her eyes flutter shut, she sees a light in the distance, moving toward them, and she jolts up, fully awake.
“Korra!” she reaches for the steering wheel and drives them into the corn field.
“What the hell!” Korra pushes Asami back, “Are you insane?”
“Shh,” Asami motions for Korra to turn off the car and take out the keys. Korra complies with a sigh.
“What's going on?” she whispers.
“They were going to run us off the road,” Asami whispers back, pulling on a strand of her hair nervously.
“What? Why?”
“I don't know. I think we might be on to something, something they don't want us to know”.
“They?”
“The CIA, the government, whoever it was that was in that car,” Asami's mind races, going through all the possibilities. There were several people who wanted her dead, being an insistent, curious FBI agent who asks the wrong questions and all.
“I can't believe this,” Korra puts her head on the steering wheel, “This is insane. We work for the government, Sato”.
Asami hears a sound in the bushes and shushes Korra again.
“Where did they go?” A man's voice breaks the silence.
Korra and Asami look up in shock.
“Get out of the car,” Asami mouths.
Korra nods silently and opens the door as quietly as she can and Asami does the same. What could they possibly want? Are we really onto something that serious? Asami thinks as she stealthily leads Korra through the corn field.
“I think I heard something!” another voice, a woman's this time, makes Korra jump.
Korra's gonna get us caught.
“I found the car!” the man calls back.
The car? What's in the- oh shit, “The tape!” she whispers.
Korra looks at her wide eyed in realization.
“Find the tape!” the woman calls back, confirming Asami's fears, “I'll look for them”.
Fuck.
“Korra,” Asami whispers, “We need to split up, we make too much noise together”.
Korra nods in affirmation and takes out her gun, clicking the safety off. She and Asami head out in opposite directions, deeper into the field.
-
Korra finds herself completely lost in the maze of corn, the full moon shining down on her. She keeps moving forward, trying to get a safe distance away from Asami, from the car so that she can hide out until their pursuers leave.
She finally settles into a small open patch of empty earth, crouching down and allowing the corn around her to keep her hidden. Her pulse is racing wildly and it's all she can do to keep her panting from alerting her pursuers of her presence. Korra has dealt with her fair share of dangerous characters before, but this is different. She's faced down kidnappers, drug lords, and terrorists, but never members of her own government. It's a difficult thing to process, being tracked by those who share the same boss she does. It throws her for a loop, and she finds herself resisting the temptation to just give herself up. After all, if the government is trying to apprehend her, it must be for a good reason, right?
The night wind blows through the cornfield, making the dry husks sway and rattle eerily. The moonlight seems sinister, almost evil and Korra has to fight to calm herself and focus on the task at hand. She hears a branch break near her, and for some reason, her mind leaps immediately to the story Daisy had told earlier. Korra thinks of the creeping, massive beast of the legend, the hairs on her arms standing, as if they too area as tense as she is. The faceless children, the missing photographer, Daisy's screaming face, all flash before her mind's eye, and as the rustling in the corn grows louder and louder, Korra finds herself unable to move in terror. The corn nearest her moves as it, whatever it is, grows closer to her, and Korra takes a deep breath, ready to meet her pursuer, whether it be government agent or legendary monster.
A figure burst through the corn and into the small clearing, and Korra brings up her gun, ready to fire it at a moment's notice.
“Korra!” A voice whispers, and Korra looks up. Sato is standing in front of her, her arm out to calm Korra.
“Fuck,” Korra breathes, lowering her gun, “Sato, what are you doing here?”
“They're gone”.
“Already?” Korra raises an eyebrow and holsters her gun.
“Yeah,” Sato nods, “They must have found what they were looking for”.
“Why?” Korra stands, “What could they possibly want with a tape of some old lady rambling about a myth?”
“I have no idea. We must be onto something the government doesn't want to be known. Lots of stuff went down in Nam”.
Korra nods. This makes sense, perhaps the old woman was delusional because of some experimental drug or weapon unleashed on Vietnam. With Sato in front of her, the face stealer ceases to feel real, and Korra finds herself embarrassed at her prior terror.
“Let's go back to the car,” She dusts herself off and turns towards Sato, “Sucks about the tape, though”.
Sato smiles slightly and shrugs, turning in the direction of the car.
-
Asami sits in the passenger seat of the car and watches Korra start the car and reach for the cassette player.
“The fuck?” Korra looks over at Asami, puzzled. The tape deck is empty, Korra's jazz tape gone.
“Like I said,” Asami reaches into her pocket, “They must have thought they'd found what they came for”.
Asami holds the tape in her hand with a grin as Korra looks at her in disbelief.
“The fuck?” Korra gasps.
-
Miles away, the pair of mysterious government agents sit in their own car.
“You found the tape?” The woman asks the man. The man nods in response and puts the tape into the player.
“The way you wear your hat, the way you sip your tea, the memories of all that, no they can't take that away from me” Ella Fitzgerald's voice croons over the speakers.
The two agents look at each other.
“The fuck?” the woman says.