A World Of Grey (Legend of Korra)

Chapter 23

The Jinghu district lay deeper into the Lower Ring, largely characterised by long winding streets with buildings packed closely together at each side. A mismatch of recently renovated buildings and older, fragile structures stood side by side, drab hues of dark greens and grey the primary palette. Walkpaths did not extend to every street, and more often than not they had been laid down unevenly, slanting towards the road. The quality of the road itself seemed to change at a whim, from bad to comparatively worse and back again.

Korra sat beside Captain Fa in the passenger's seat of the patrol car, experiencing the dips and ruts in the road with more frequency than she would have liked. Her eyes were pointed out the window, narrowed in concentration. Before her mind's eye she summoned a series of images, swiftly matching up the details with what she was seeing around her and giving Fa directions accordingly. Their patrol car was leading several others through the district, and the captain was driving with a sense of urgency. Korra was forced to be quick on the mark, but she was able to keep up.

"Left here," she said, pointing to the sharply angled turn in the road, "second right after that."

Korra set her hand against the dashboard to steady herself as Fa took the turn quickly. In the  wing mirror, she could see the other patrol cars following suit. She could feel the weight of responsibility upon her shoulders. The captain was essentially driving blind, and the group of police officers following them were unknowingly relying on her capability to aim them true. She would do it though, because she had no other choice. Akiko was relying on her too, even if she did not know it.

"How close?" Fa said.

"The next turn after this one."

"You're sure."

"I'm sure," Korra replied, her voice unwavering. "I just need to see the street itself."

They turned onto said street a few seconds later. Korra was leaning forward now, her gaze flitting from building to building.

"Which one?" Fa said quickly.

She lifted a hand as though to quiet him. "Hold on," she answered tightly.

"Which one, Avatar?" he demanded in return.

She growled low in her throat, scanning the buildings as they passed by. Korra was looking for an asymmetrically built house with a brown door. The lower left hand side window would be boarded up…

"There!" she shouted, pointing ahead through the windscreen.

Fa pulled up to a screeching halt almost directly outside the house, narrowly avoiding scraping against the side of a parked Robin. The squealing of tyres seemed to echo for several moments as the trailing patrol cars drew up alongside and behind theirs. Korra threw her door open just after the captain, who moved swiftly around the bonnet of the car to stand at the edge of the walkpath.

"Form up," Fa said as men and women in uniform emerged from their vehicles and streamed onto the walkpath, nearby pedestrians ushered away. Korra hung back a little as the other officers pressed forward. There was a small gap at the right hand side of the building, between it and its neighbour. The narrow footpath would lead around to the rear side of the house they would be forcing entry into in moments. Fa pointed his hand towards it as he spoke, keeping his voice low.

"I want officers covering the rear in case anyone inside tries to get clever. The children are being kept in a room on the upper floor. Everyone else is to be treated as a suspect. We breach on my mark. Move!"

Korra followed the lead of several other officers who moved towards the footpath. It was narrow to the point where one could not properly stretch out their arms to either side of them. The path branched out to the left and right after a few metres, widening out as it continued in either direction. They all took the left turn to come around to the back of the house in question, finding there to be a small, ill-kept garden lying behind it. Waist-high fencing cordoned off the garden, its thin bars dusted with rust.