The radio in Jinyong's workshop blared the sounds of the pro-bending match: a crowd roaring, the announcer shouting over it, but neither Jinyong nor Asami were really listening.
Asami sat on the desk, legs hooked around him, her hands tracing the back of his neck as their mouths met. The kiss had been going for a while now, deep, passionate. Her perfume clung to his shirt, faintly sweet against the smell of the workshop. Every time she leaned in, the edge of the desk creaked under her.
His hands lingered at her waist, fingers slipping slightly against the fabric of her blouse. Her breath hitched when his lips brushed her jaw, and she smiled against him, teasing, like she always did.
For a moment, the world was just that for the two of them. Heat, uneven breaths, and the hum of the workshop's lights.
Then the radio crackled.
"Hold on, folks, we're just waiting for the referee's official call, but... I-I think this replacement player could be... no, there's no way! You've gotta be kidding me! She's the Avatar, folks!"
Both of them froze.
Asami broke the kiss first, letting out a quiet laugh. "The one match we skip…"
Jinyong leaned back, catching his breath. "She really doesn't waste time exploring the city."
Before either could say more, a loud knock echoed from the workshop door. Asami groaned, burying her face in his shoulder for a second.
Jinyong just sighed, brushing her arm before stepping back to fix his shirt. "I'll get it."
She shot him a look, still catching her breath. "Whoever that is, they owe me an apology."
He smirked but didn't answer. The knock came again, sharper this time.
When he opened the door, one of his father's servants was standing there, looking serious. "Young Master. Your father requests your presence. It's urgent."
Jinyong's tone shifted immediately. "Wait by the car. I'll be out soon."
The servant bowed and left without another word. Jinyong turned back to Asami, who was already straightening her blouse.
"What happened?" she asked, brows furrowed.
"My father wants to see me," Jinyong said, buttoning his collar. "And I think I know why."
Asami crossed her arms. "Why?"
"Equalists."
Asami frowned. "They're moving?"
He nodded. "They're moving early. The Avatar's arrival probably pushed them."
Her expression darkened, then softened. "Tell me everything after."
He gave a faint smile. "I will."
After one last kiss, he grabbed his coat and a couple of folders filled with paper, and stepped out into the night, the sound of the radio still echoing faintly behind him, the crowd cheering for the Avatar, as he got into the servant's car and drove away from his place.
—
The pitter patter of rain hit the window of Jinyong's father's office. Wonyong stood beside the window itself, face full of anxiety, full of weariness. Meanwhile, Jinyong himself was sitting in front of his father's desk, hand on the table, tapping the wood endlessly. They didn't speak to each other for a while, as the tension hung in the air when Wonyong told him about what he knew.
"Two weeks from now," Wonyong broke the silence. "Amon will move. He calls it 'The Revelation'. Gather new and old followers alike and… show something."
"Show what exactly?" Jinyong asked, but obviously, he already knew the answer.
"Amon has the ability to remove bending away from someone." said Wonyong, his voice a bit shaky now, still couldn't believe the information he just spewed. "I didn't believe it of course at first, but then he showed me… he says he wants to use it to cleanse the world from benders. So that we will have true equality amongst us."
Another silence hung in the air.
"So we should burn the bridge as soon as possible." Jinyong hummed.
His father instantly turned to his son. "You seem calm about it. Do you realize the implication, son? He says a spirit has given him the ability. He says that the avatar has failed to maintain balance, and—"
"And do you believe it?" Jinyong said, cutting him off.
His father went quiet for a moment, turning to the city through the windows again. "Do you see the world outside? How unbalanced it is, how… unfair it is? Maybe a spirit did give him the ability after all."
"You fell for the propaganda, father." Jinyong took out his folders that he brought with them, dropping it on the desk.
Seeing the files, Wonyong raised his brow, and walked to his desk, looking over it. "What is this?"
"Information about Amon." Jinyong simply said.
"But… this is about a criminal gang leader, Yakone," said Wonyong, frowning. "You think he's Amon? Don't be ridiculous."
"Read until the end." Jinyong told him.
And Wonyong did so. He read about Yakone not being able to bend anymore thanks to Avatar Aang. and that he had two sons, Tarrlok and Noatak.
"Tarrlok… was the son of a prolific bloodbender?" Wonyong went wide-eyed. "How… how did you get this?"
"The village where Yakone was is pretty remote." Jinyong lied as easily as he breathed. "But I managed to get some information."
"You…" Wonyong sighed, not even expecting less from his son anymore. "This is good political blackmail material, but I don't see the connection between Tarrlok and Amon."
Jinyong just pointed at the name 'Noatak'. "The stories that I got mentioned that Noatak got killed by a blizzard. But what if he didn't?"
"I still don't know how a non-bender can connect to the son of a bloodbender."
"You said he can get rid of someone's bender." Jinyong said. "What if it doesn't come from a spirit? What if it comes from bloodbending? One of the only bending disciplines that can theoretically disturb another benders' chi. A bloodbender with enough knowledge on chi points could wreak havoc on it. I should know, I'm knowledgeable on chi-points."
Wonyong was silent again for a moment. "You already know that he can take away someone's bending, do you? Before I even know it? How do you know all this?"
"I knew where the factories were without you even telling me." Jinyong simply said. "You think I can't know more?"
"You are scaring me, son." Wonyong scratched his head. "So you're telling me Amon is a bloodbender. That is a wild guess."
"A logical guess. I'm guessing that he showed you how he got rid of a bender's bending ability not in a full moon, but it says here that Yakone comes from a family of strong bloodbenders that don't need the full moon. We assume Tarrlok is, and Noatak is too. Which is why, I think either Tarrlok or Noatak is Amon. The line connecting Noatak and Amon is thin, but it's there."
"It's very thin," said Wonyong somberly.
"Come on, father." Jinyong said. "Would you rather believe Amon to be the son of the leader of a criminal empire of the past that happens to be a bloodbender, or that he's been entrusted by a spirit to cleanse the world of benders?"
"Both seem unbelievable," he muttered.
"It makes sense how Amon can develop the ability." Jinyong continued. "His father's bending was taken away by Avatar Aang. He must want that kind of power too and figured it out. And now, that Avatar Korra is here…"
"...He wants to take revenge?" Wonyong finally sort of believed it.
"Well, I don't know about that, but…" Jinyong murmured. "We can stick with that too, I suppose."
Another silence hung heavy in the air. Wonyong then looked at his son. "What are you planning to do then? I know you prepared your security team not for nothing."
Jinyong looked down at the files. "Now… we go to the police, tell everything we know, and form a plan with them. Just like we always talked about. Maybe advertise our soon-to-be official security company too."
Wonyong merely chuckled. "You really are my son. Always views things with profits in mind."
—
Inside Lin Beifong's office, right now Wonyong and the chief of police were arguing. The clock was ticking in the background, the sun was starting to shine again outside. Though the blinds were closed, now the chief is a bit paranoid that someone might hear what they were talking about. Jinyong meanwhile was just wandering around, not sitting, half-listening to the argument.
"You colluded with terrorists, you gained your profits from it, and now you beg me for amnesty in exchange for information?" Lin slammed her hands against the desk. "Do you think I'm stupid, Mr. Keum?"
"Of course not." Wonyong simply said. "But In the first place, if I hadn't colluded with them, you wouldn't have someone knocking on your doors with a gold mine like this. My plan is always going to be betraying them. I've no plans for long term cooperations with the Equalists."
"Yeah, your ideas didn't align?" Lin scoffed.
"You could say that, Chief Beifong." Jinyong simply said, interjecting their conversation.
Lin frowned at Jinyong. "And why did you bring your kid here? This is no daycare."
"Because he and I are in this together." Wonyong said. "I need your written agreement that we will be absolved of anything and be granted protection. Then, I will tell you everything. Their bases, their factories, drop names, I will even tell you one of their plans that they are planning to execute in the near future."
"In the near future?" Lin frowned even deeper. "Speak up then."
"Written agreement first, Chief Beifong." said Wonyong, smiling, offering her a pen and a paper of official contract.
The woman got annoyed, but took the pen anyway. "Fine." she said, signing. "Now, speak up."
After that, Wonyong told everything. Some information that even Jinyong didn't know. Locations of factories that he knew, bases that he had visited, and about Amon himself, and his abilities. At that point, Lin didn't believe it.
"Stop joking Mr. Keum." she said, frowning. "I already signed, you've no need to speak nonsense. You're telling me a non-bender can take someone's bending abilities away?"
"But that's just it. We suspect that he's not a non-bender." Jinyong then dropped his own files to the desk. Lin got confused just like his father at first about the information, but then after slowly explaining it, that there's a chance that either Tarrlok, a member of the council, was actually Amon, or his brother, she sort of believed it.
"Well what do you know… another convenient way to put down a rival, am I right?" Lin said wryly.
"I assure you chief, merely coincidental." said Wonyong. "Besides, I have no ill will on Tarrlok. I don't even go that deep into politics these days except for the lead scare mess earlier this year. Once I start dropping names though…"
"Names," said Lin. "I smell that there's someone close to you involved too."
"Hiroshi Sato." It was Jinyong who told her. "He was the one who offered the deal in the first place. Masked behind a legitimate deal of course."
"You mean the big deal a few years back? Now, it makes sense." Lin muttered. "Aren't you dating his daughter, kid? Are you selling out her dad this easily, all for business?"
"She has nothing to do with it." Jinyong simply answered. "I told her about her father, and I told her to keep quiet and act like nothing happened for this reason. So you, and I suppose us, can hit the movement hard all at once."
"Us?" Lin frowned. "You want to involve yourself, after you just told me to sign to guarantee your protection?"
"No one knows the equalists better than us, Chief." said Wonyong. "We built some of their weapons."
"You, and what force?" Lin scoffed.
"We are planning to make a security company." Jinyong said. "A squad is already trained. Just need the papers ready."
"Are you kidding me?" Lin looked gobsmacked. "You mean to tell me you want to use this for an advertisement for your new company?"
"At the end of the day we are businessmen, chief." Wonyong smiled. "It's killing multiple birds with one stone."
"You are all unbelievable." said Lin, massaging her temples. "And you want me to agree to cooperate with this new company of yours?"
"There's a lot of bases and factories that need to be raided at the same time for maximum effectiveness." Jinyong said. "I don't think all your forces can be spread that thin."
"Really? So you already have a plan in your mind about how we are going to take down the Equalists?" Lin scoffed.
"I believe we do." Jinyong hummed. "Of course, there's no guarantee of success."
Lin looked at Jinyong for a while, annoyed. "Let's hear it. I'll decide from that if I agree or not."
Jinyong merely smiled. "Then we need a map."