(See the end of the chapter for more notes .)

So, I promised myself I'd upload a new chapter this week, and it seems like I came in just under the wire. So... cool. Enjoy!

Chapter Text

Asami

Right jab. Left jab. Right hook. Weave to the left. Block.

Korra was getting good at this. It had been about a month since the two of them first hung out and in that time, sparring and practicing together had become a regular thing. In that time, Korra had shown an almost scary amount of improvement. Granted, they’d had a lot of time to practice lately; the city’s underworld seemed to be taking something of a break.

That didn’t mean Asami had to be idle. She continued to patrol, sometimes alone, sometimes with Landslide and Wildfire, sometimes with the Avatar at her side. There had even been a few memorable times when the four of them had gone out together. Still, all they ran into was muggers or liquor store hold-ups. Nothing came close to the action they saw that first night.

She was also looking into this new gang they’d faced. Unfortunately, most leads into that had come up empty. Mako had been providing most of the information on them, but since the creation of Saikhan’s task force he’d been getting stonewalled at every turn.

Asami’s own search had yielded some results, however. Reading up on the history of the different martial arts through the ages, she was able to identify the technique used to block Bolin’s bending. Chi-blocking was almost a lost art, but it had been much more prolific thousands of years ago. Back in the days of the mythical Lion Turtles, a full third of the world’s population had been benders, so the non-benders developed a technique to level the playing field. As time passed and benders became rarer, so did chi-blocking. Nowadays, with maybe one in a thousand people having bending of any significant power, the technique was next to useless. Still, Asami had to admit, it had served the thugs well when they needed it.

Asami was quickly brought back to the present by Korra’s fist, which was headed straight for her nose. She ducked under the punch and tried to exploit the opening in Korra’s defense with a jab to the ribs. Sensing it, Korra sidestepped, and taking advantage of Asami’s forward momentum, swept her legs, sending her face-first on to the sparring mat.

“Fuckin’ ow!” Asami sat up rubbing her forehead.

“Sorry. Are you okay?” Korra said, offering her hand to Asami. She took it and Korra pulled her up.

“I’m fine. Nice work!” Asami said, and she meant it. This wasn’t the first time Korra had gotten the better of her, but it was the first time she had done it while Asami was fighting at full strength. Since she stopped holding back about a week ago, this was the first time Korra had emerged the winner. Of course, that didn’t mean that Korra was done. She still had a lot to learn. “What do you say we call it early today?”

“You’re the boss,” Korra replied, unwrapping her hands. “Besides, I’ve got this new piece I’ve been wanting to try out.” It had become tradition for them to smoke a little bit after every sparring session. Asami, however, had something different it mind.

“Why don’t we mix it up a little, today. Maybe go out to a bar or a club or something?”

Korra groaned. “I don’t know, Asami. Clubs aren’t really my scene.”

“C’mon Korra, it’ll be fun! We’ll have some drinks, dance, maybe meet some hot girls…” She wiggled her eyebrows on that last one. “Besides, it’s a special occasion.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Today, you officially graduate from the Asami Sato School of Ass-Kicking.”

“Aww, does that mean we’re not gonna spar anymore?”

“Of course we are. But since you finally managed to take me down, I think that deserves a celebration.”

“Cool. Kicking your ass was fun. I wanna do it more often,” Korra said with a cocky smirk.

Asami punched her arm. “Asshole.”

“I try. So I’m gonna head home, then. I doubt they’re gonna let me in anywhere wearing this,” Korra said, indicating her sweaty workout clothes.

“You sure you don’t want a ride to your place?” Asami asked.

Korra waved her off. “Nah, it’s fine. It’ll be faster if I just go on my own. Pick me up in an hour?”

“You got it.” Korra knows the way out, so Asami made her way to her bedroom. After a quick shower, she stood in her walk-in closet, trying to decide what to wear.

Has to be practical, so dresses are out for tonight, is her first thought. While sorting through her clothes, she called Mako on her cell phone.

“Hey, Asami.”

“Hey. Is everything ready for tomorrow night?” Not this one, she thought as she pushed a maroon skirt aside.

“Yeah, Bo and I will be there. But don’t you think it’s a little soon? She’s only been working with us for a month.”

“And she’s proven herself multiple times during the course of that month,” Asami replied, tossing aside a particularly ugly pair of puke-green pants. Why do I even own these?

“I’m just saying we don’t know enough about her. What if she’s up to something? This thing we do is dangerous, Asami, we have to be careful about who we trust.”

“Mako, she knows who I am, where I live, and has been alone with me and no other witnesses multiple times. If she wanted to hurt me, she’s had plenty of opportunities to do it. Besides, you’re the last person who gets to complain about it, considering you’re the reason she knows my identity in the first place!”

She heard a sigh on the other end of the line. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I just want you to be sure about this.”

“Listen Mako, I went behind Korra’s back and told you who she was. I betrayed a friend’s trust so that your paranoid ass could run your stupid background check. So tell me, did you find anything?”

“Not really. Everything matches up with what she’s told you. The Chief of the Southern Water Tribe does have a twenty-one-year-old daughter named Korra who’s a freshman at RCU. I just wish there was a public picture or something, just to confirm it.”

Aha! Asami though as she pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans. “So there you go. Besides, if Korra were some nefarious sleeper agent, don’t you think she would’ve picked something slightly less conspicuous than daughter of a world leader as a cover?”

“Fair point,” Mako admitted. There was silence from his end as he thought things through. “Alright, Asami, I’ll trust you. We’re on for tomorrow.”

“Glad to hear it,” Asami replied and hung up.

She slipped on the jeans, followed by a red shirt, and threw her Future Industries jacket over it. She then picked out a pair of shoes with a slight heel, and checked herself in the mirror. Good enough . She walked over to her vanity and quickly applied her usual mascara, lipstick and eyeshadow. Finally she grabbed her purse before making her way down to the garage.

It took her ten minutes to drive to Korra’s dorm building. She pulled out her phone and sent a text.

Hey, I’m right outside

Not ready yet, sorry. 5 mins. Come up if you want, room 402, was the reply.

Not wanting to just wait in her car, Asami got out and took the stairs up to the fourth floor of the building. She found the door marked 402 and knocked.

“Hi,” said the person who answered the door. “You’re Asami, right?”

The girl was short (compared to Asami, anyways), with green eyes, and a bob haircut. “Right. And I’m guessing you’re Opal.”

“The one and only. Come in.” Asami walked into the dorm room. It was… cozy was a nice way of putting it. Tiny would be more accurate. It had two small beds, two small desks, a few bookshelves with books and papers crammed everywhere, and there were clothes strewn all over the floor, which, judging by the amount of blue, were mostly Korra’s.

“Hey assbutt, your girlfriend’s here!” Opal called into what Asami guessed was the bathroom.

“Oh no, we’re not--”

“Relax, I know. It’s just fun to mess with her.”

The door to the bathroom opened a bit and Korra stuck her head out. “For the last fucking time Opal, Asami’s not my-- Oh hey, ‘Sami. Be right out.” Her head ducked back in and she shut the door.

“See what I mean? Too easy.” Asami chuckled at that. She had to admit, riling Korra up could be fun.

The next couple of minutes were spent chatting with Opal. Asami learned that Opal was a Zaofu native, an architecture major and she had met Korra while taking a tour of the university over the summer. They had hit it off and decided to room together their freshman year. “We kind of bonded over starting college late,” Opal said. “I took a year off after high school to just backpack around the Earth Kingdom, to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”

Just then, Korra came out of the bathroom. She was dressed simply in white jeans and a blue flannel shirt with a tank top underneath. “Ready,” she announced.

“Really?” Opal asked. “That’s what you’re going out in?”

Korra looked down at her outfit. “Yeah… what’s wrong with it?”

Opal groaned. “You are such a fucking stereotype, I swear.”

“Jerk,” Korra said with a grin.

“You love me.”

“Fuck knows why. So Asami, ready to go?”

Asami hesitated. The polite thing would be to ask Opal to go with them. Problem was, that would mess with her plans for the night. Still, she could always postpone that for some other time. “Yeah. Opal, you want to come along?”

“No thanks, I have an assignment I have to get done. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel.”

“Oh my god, shut up!” Korra said, herding Asami out the door. “Let’s just go.”

“I gotta say, this is not what I expected,” Korra said.

Asami drank a sip from her beer before replying. “And what did you expect?”

“Someplace fancy with top shelf liquor. Or somewhere with loud techno music and overpriced drinks. I don’t know, just not… this.”

The bar they were in was the definition of blue-collar. Small, out-of-the-way, with a worn look that gave it a certain charm. It was on the fringe of the city’s industrial district, and every night it was filled with people looking to unwind after a day’s work. Korra and Asami were seated n a corner booth, working on their second round of beers. “Is there anything wrong with my choice of venue?”

“Not really, no. But you did promise me hot girls. And, present company excluded, I don’t see any hot girls.” Korra’s eyes did a scan of the room. “Actually, make that no girls, period. And I know I may not be the best judge of this, but I don’t think there are any hot guys here either.”

Asami laughed. “Don’t worry, this isn’t our only stop of the night. Although I do have to come clean about something.” She examined her glass and noted that she still had about a third of her beer left. Perfect. “This isn’t so much your graduation party as it is your final exam.”

Korra didn’t answer, merely raising her eyebrows. “Come with me,” Asami said.

Asami had chosen this particular bar for a reason. Go any classier, and she’d risk the police being called. Any seedier, and she risked someone pulling out a knife, or even a gun. But in this place, a decent bar brawl was an expected and welcome part of the night. Hell, the winners often bought the losers consolation drinks afterwards.

Beer glass in hand, Asami walked along the bar, looking for a suitable candidate, with Korra trailing close behind. Near the end, she noticed a man who looked like he had some decent muscle on him. Probably a steel worker. She walked up behind him and poured what was left of her beer on his head.

While he was shaking himself off, Asami turned around and pressed the now-empty glass into Korra’s hand. “Remember, no bending,” she whispered. “You don’t want to give yourself away.”

The Big Guy turned around to see a sheepish Korra holding an empty beer glass. “Hey buddy,” she said. “You wanna maybe talk abou-- whoa!” Korra ducked under a punch the Big Guy sent her way and immediately countered with a jab to the ribs. She sidestepped a follow-up kick and followed it with a leg sweep, causing the Big Guy to lose his balance and stumble into the bar.

Two other burly-looking men, presumably the Big Guy’s friends came to his aid. Korra dodged their attacks almost effortlessly. These two were clearly already half in the bag. Still, their involvement caused another two patrons to jump in the fray on Korra’s side, evening the odds. It wasn’t too long before the entire bar was one big battlefield.

Asami watched all this from back in her booth occasionally taking a drink from Korra’s abandoned beer. She was doing well, Asami noted with no small amount of pride. She caught on pretty early that the game was to incapacitate and not to hurt, so she attacked only when she needed to. And she hadn’t been tagged once, carefully weaving through all of her opponents’ attacks.

That seemed about to change, however, as a large man managed to come up behind Korra and grab her in a bear hug, pinning her arms at her sides. Korra wouldn’t be able to get out of that. It didn’t matter that the guy was drunk, uncoordinated and fifty pounds overweight. The laws of physics were on his side. It was time to get involved.

Asami delivered a precise strike under the ribs, just hard enough to wind the guy, causing him to let go of Korra.

“Thanks,” she said.

“One of the most important rules of combat,” Asami replied. “ Never let an opponent with a weight advantage get ahold of you.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Shall we?” They jumped back into the fray.

Half an hour later, the two women were the only ones still in fighting shape. After the initial brawl ended, allies began turning on each other until only one (or in this case, two) emerged victorious.

“Barkeep,” Asami announced, slamming several bills down on the bar. “A round of drinks for everyone, on me.”

Muffled cheers were heard, as almost everyone in the bar was nursing a black eye or a bloody nose. Nevertheless, everyone in the bar was gracious, thanking Asami, even if more than a couple of them did leave muttering something about “being beaten by a couple of girls.”

Asami bought three more rounds for the entire bar, before she and Korra stumbled outside. “Well, that was fun,” Korra said.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“If all of my exams were like this, I’d probably do better in school. So, where to next?”

Asami thought for a moment before speaking. “How about you choose where we go next?”

“Alright,” Korra replied. “I know just the place.”