Not Your Hero

Chapter 5

Asami and Korra stood in the armory. Since they were going to initiate direct contact with the Saviors in the high-class circle, or at least attempt to, they needed to be as prepared as possible. Korra moved to a small rack with swords. She'd always fancied swords. She was good at hand-to-hand combat of course, and an adequate shooter, but with swords, she felt free. She loved and excelled at swordsmanship so much that she was able to beat any combat robot in that field years ago before she graduated from the academy.

After eyeing and then trying most of the swords available, which wasn't a lot considering not many people really used them anymore, Korra opted for a longsword--always her weapon of choice. This was quite a special sword. It didn't have a particularly long handle like most of its siblings did, it was barely long enough for both hands to be placed there. The handle was also very light. The blade, on the other hand, really stood out. It wasn't very wide, but almost 5 feet long and extremely sharp. Quite a thin blade, but balanced enough to feel as if it was slicing through space. Plain, but powerful.

"Good choice." A voice sounded beside her. Korra hadn't even noticed Asami walk over. She continued, "Carbon fiber and aluminum handle make it very light, but the blade must be made of some new metal combination that I don't know of since it's so balanced. Weaponry is never my strong suit." Korra secretly admired Asami talking about science as though it was second nature. She'd never seen anyone talk about science like Asami did, and it was pretty attractive. Did Korra honestly just think that? But attention back on the weapon. "A bit conspicuous, don't you think? The whole point of our little mission is so we don't stand out."

Asami hummed in agreement. "One of my proudest inventions at the compound should be able to help. It's just a prototype, but it can pack atoms of an object tightly together. It's very new, so it only works on smaller inanimate objects, but this sword will do. You can keep it sheathed, shrunken in your pocket, and I'll install a remote so you can control it. Unfortunately, it won't work on guns as I still haven't figured out how to contract bullets without making them explode yet. Or we'd have rifles in our pockets."

"That's amazing, Asami! You're really a great inventor, I don't give you enough credit." Korra smiled. "Meanwhile, what weapons are you going for?"

--

An hour later, pocketing a miniature sword and multiple handguns, Korra and Asami left the compound. Korra left specific instructions, with input from Asami, for the brothers and Opal. But their job was pretty simple: go to the crime scene, gather any necessary evidence, and look for anything out of the ordinary. Compared to Korra and Asami, their jobs demanded significantly less.

The girls, in contrast, were going to pose as high-class citizens and be on the lookout for gatherings of the elite. Korra didn't know about Asami, but the academy never really taught them proper etiquette. She was sure that her cover was going to be busted, sooner or later. Asami didn't show that nervousness though if she had any. It suddenly occurred to Korra that she knew nothing of her family. That, it seems, had to change.

"Hey, Asami, aren't you concerned about our disguises? I'm not feeling my most confident self posing as a member of the elite." Korra probed. The answer came quite confusingly. "I'm not nervous at all. Korra, don't you recognize my last name, Sato? I thought you knew where I was from." When Korra shook her head, Asami continued: "I'm the daughter of Hiroshi Sato, the founder and current CEO of Future Industries. I grew up as the elite of the elite if that's even possible."

Korra stood dumbstruck, literally. How could she be so stupid not to recognize the last name, Sato? That name was practically yelling "elite". But to be honest, Asami didn't seem like your typical rich girl. She was far from spoiled. She was smart, compassionate, kind, capable, independent, and just amazing overall.

After a long uncomfortable silence, Korra started laughing. "Whoa, I never pegged you for a rich girl Sato. You're just so amazing to be the 'daddy's girl' I'd imagine. But for the record, I'm glad I didn't know beforehand you were rich, or I certainly would've had one too many stereotypes. Now, you being rich is just cool." Asami smiled. "Thank you. I never really had friends who wanted to know me for who I am, rather than the rich heiress." "Well, heiress, I'm glad we've become good friends. We are friends, right? Because if you don't want to be it's totally fine and we could just maintain professional boundaries and..." Asami cut Korra off before she could ramble any further. "Of course I'd like to be friends. Now let's go shopping for better clothes, can't pass off for elite in those."

Korra didn't know if it was her imagination, but the term "friends" just felt out of place, as if they should be more.

--

Asami was fun to shop with. Though Korra found most of the clothes extremely expensive and a bit extravagant for her style, Asami was able to coax her into at least trying, and eventually, buying, a few dresses. "For the mission", Asami had told her. And Korra had no choice but to relent. Asami, on the contrary, had an entire wardrobe waiting for her in the Sato estate and didn't need to choose anything. Korra still couldn't believe she'd just made friends with a girl who would eventually inherit the largest technology company in the United Republic and probably the world's largest asset. Wow, Korra couldn't believe she was going to her friend's estate. She was used to the tiny barracks and slightly bigger officer quarters at USOF. Not that the condition was bad, but nothing compared to an estate. One thing was for sure though. Asami was one heck of a friend, in the best possible way.