BOOK 1: WHISPERS, CHAPTER 11: Calling A Meeting

The last few minutes of had been hectic for the girls, to say the least. Once they got inside the building, they were immediately seen by almost all of their friends; Lin Beifong, Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, Jinora, and everyone else that had been an ally of Team Avatar over the years. The group looked at the two women with shock, the girls blushing as they tried to hide their features from their friends. The officers in City Hall quickly rushed the girls upstairs, speeding by their friends as they looked at the duo with bewilderment.

The guards showed them to President Zhu Li's office, the leader of the United Republic greeting the two with a frightened look on her face. She stood up to look at them.

"What… what happened to you guys?"

Korra and Asami looked at one another, the darker skinned girl looking a bit ashamed as Asami looked back at the President. "The protesters outside attacked us."

Zhu Li gasped and looked to her guards. "Get these girls some new clothes."

The male guard bowed and exited the room to follow his order. Zhu Li offered the girls some tea to warm up as they waited for their new garments.

The two women now sat in the conference room of City Hall, the couple still slightly on edge from what had happened outside earlier. The rest of their friends were seated at the table in the middle of the room, talking amongst themselves as Korra and Asami looked at each other with scared eyes.

There were only about less than one-hundred men out there when they entered, and from what they were hearing, that number was gradually swelling in size, the rally against women turning even larger then they had hoped.

Korra glanced at the table, seeing the familiar faces of Mako and Bolin both eyeing her before looking back in the other direction. Tenzin looked at his former student in a worried manner, letting her know he was there for her. Lin, however, seemed to be in her own little world, looking at the window where all the protesters were, her face not moving an inch, a vacant expression on her face while her body seemed to slowly vibrate. Korra wanted to ask her about it, but before she could, the doors to the room opened.

Zhu Li walked in, her guards motioning her in as she sat down at the head of the table, looking at the other people in the room with stress in her eyes.

"Thank you all for coming today", she said adjusting her glasses. "There are some important matters to discuss regarding the city in it's current state, and Avatar Korra here thinks she has the answers to it."

Korra shook her nerves and stood up, the girl at the other end of the table and her back facing the window. "Thank you, Madame President."

She placed her hands on the table and extended her chest out, the spare clothes that Zhu Li had handed them being a bit too tight for the girls, suffocating their skin under the material.

"Everything that's been happening to this city lately has been because of one spirit; Vaatu. He's back."

The other people in the room gasped, surprised faces lighting up, wondering how this could happen, or how the Avatar herself knew this.

"He's been… corrupting things, somehow. He's been tampering with my dreams, the Spirit World, and if I had to guess, even the people here."

Asami stood with her hands together, looking at the rest of the table. "We think he's allied with a former employee of mine. Yan, who's recently dissapeared after an investigation into his activities outside of work. Chief Beifong can fill you all in."

Lin sat there with a blank face, the others waiting for her to respond to Asami's request. She just kept sitting there like a statue, almost motionless except for the slight vibration her body was giving off.

"Lin?" asked Tenzin. His voice must have reached her somehow, as she cleared her throat and stood up along with Korra.

"There's been a recent uptick in dissapearences of women in Republic City. We thought it may have been the work of some kind of serial killer, or kidnapper, and from what we found in Yan's workshop, our suspicions have been confirmed."

Sniffling could be heard from the opposite end as Asami, who was now starting to cry, slammed her fists on the table in anger. Korra reached her hand out to comfort her before she began speaking.

"That fucking psychopathic piece of shit worked for me. He was under my nose the whole time. How the fuck did I not notice someone was **** innocent people in the city that I love?"

Asami's tears fell onto the wooden chair under her as Korra leaned over and hugged the girl, trying to console her from her frustration. Zhu Li sighed seeing this, trying to speak through the waterworks.

"Yes… I've noticed a severe increase in overall crime against women in general. Rapes, domestic **** charges, and even femicide have all gone up by 40% in the last few weeks."

She looked out the window to the protesters, still raging over the fact that a woman was in office inside of the building. "And as you can see, overall anti-female sentiment has increased as well."

The President looked back at the rest of the table, all either in thought about the information being told to them or their worried expressions still being stuck to their faces.

"In light of Korra and Asami's information about this spirit and his accomplice, we think the two are somehow brainwashing the male citizens of the city to hate women. We don't know why, and we don't know how they're doing it."

Lin chimed in again. "Our best guesses are either Vaatu has some sort of ability that can alter the minds of people, Yan has created some sort of biological weapon that can corrupt men, or a combination of both."

The members of Team Avatar and friends looked at one another, trying to get a read on one they were all thinking. Bolin looked to the police chief.

"What should we do, then? Is it even safe for us guys to be out there?"

Zhu Li looked down at her hands. "Firstly, we're going to check all docks and ports in the city. Lin, I want you to investigate if any men have rented or bought a boat out of the city with a large amount of shipping space. Look for names that you don't recognize."

The police chief nodded along as Zhu Li continued. The President sighed.

"We're going to have to make some unfortunate changes to the city and it's systems. As of now, I will be issuing a full female guard staff to protect myself."

The two male guards standing at the door eyed their leader for a moment, not saying a word, before going back to staring at seemingly nothing.

"And as much as I hate to do this, protesting is now illegal."

The group all had their eyes widended. She didn't mearly suggest to make protesting illegal; she just went and made it so.

"All protesters from this moment forward will now be arrested and processed, starting with the ones outside of this building."

As she said this, the protest happening outside was getting louder, with the police starting to apprehend protesters even if they hadn't done anything other then speak their minds, regardless of how vile they may be.

Mako shot out of his seat. "What are you doing? You can't just make protesting illegal because you disagree with them!"

Korra and Asami looked at the young police officer like he had gone nuts. Zhu looked at him with a neutral stare.

"In any other instance I'd agree, but these aren't naturally occuring protests; they're the result of artificial manipulation by outside parties. We need to quell them before they get out of control."

"You're quelling people who you don't like, not people who have done anything wrong!"

"Mako, please sit down", asked Lin, the woman still squirming in her seat for some unknown reason.

Mako slammed his hand down. "No, this is ridiculous. You're compromising these people's rights because you think they're just brainwashed. What kind of President are you?"

"Hey!" shouted Korra across the room. "You know why these protests are happening, Mako. They're not real!"

Mako turned to Korra. "You support this, don't you?"

Although her conscience was telling her to say no, to stand with Mako about this being a completely ridiculous new rule, the events that unfolded outside told her to nudge on this.

"Yes, I do."

Mako looked at his former girlfriend, betrayal and frustration filling his eyes. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Bolin looked at the others. "I should go check on him."

He quickly ran out of the room after him, leaving Tenzin as the only man in the room. But even he looked a bit unsure of what was transpiring. Zhu noticed this.

"Something wrong, Tenzin?"

The old Air monk looked at the president, trying to find the right words.

"Of course not, Ms. President."

Zhu Li looked satisfied with his answer. "Good."

She turned her head towards Lin. "Investigate those docks, Lin. If you find anything, let me know immediately."

Lin got up and bowed her head. "Yes, m'aam."

As Lin walked out of the room, Jinora looked at her father, wondering if there was some sort of inner turmoil in the old man.

Zhu Li stood up from her chair. "This meeting is adjourned."

Korra tended to Asami while looking at the President. "What about Mako?"

Her guards opened the doors for her. She turned around one last time.

"What about him?"

She left the room, with her guards closing the doors behind her. Tenzin and Jinora got up and comforted Asami along with Korra.

The Avatar wondered what had gone over her male friend's head. Did he not listen at all during the meeting? These protests were unnatural, and this was the only way to stop them, to stop other women from getting hurt or worse. She'd talk to him later, but her priority now was making sure the corruption of the city was put to an end. She just hoped that the rest of the world wouldn't follow suit.