Chapter Text
"You lost us Zaheer, you have no right to complain about anything!" The chief was bursting with anger, her face was the deepest shade of red Korra had ever seen on a human being.
"Calm down Lin, you're going to give yourself a heart attack."
"That's Chief to you, and don't you forget it!"
"Yeah, okay, whatever. Look, I'm just saying, I can't be expected to just sit around in an office and do paperwork. I'm supposed to be out there, kicking bad guy butt!"
"You will do as you're told, and that's final!"
Of course, nothing was ever final in a conversation with Korra, at least not until she got her way, or ended up storming furiously from whatever room they were in.
"Chief, I'm not going to sit around all day when I can be out making a difference, I'd rather just quit and go at it alone."
The chief stared at Korra incredulously, "You would give up the chance to get called back to... the top, just because you don't want to sit behind a desk for a couple of weeks?"
Korra crossed her arms and nodded, a slight pout on her face. Even the chief had to admit she found that expression kind of adorable, but she couldn't stand how childish she could get at times. She was 19 and she should act like it. Unfortunately, Lin knew Korra was stubborn and really might quit if she didn't get her way. Korra wouldn't stick around if she felt she wasn't helping.
"Look, I'll see if I can get you a different assignment, something a little more involving. Just don't do anything stupid."
Just like that, Korra's expression changed to one of pure joy. She rushed forward towards the chief, picked her up easily, and twirled her around. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Put me down this instant!" Lin demanded.
Korra set her down on the floor gently, smiling sheepishly, as she rubbed the back of her neck. Her face was flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry chief, I just got excited."
"Just go before I change my mind and have you fetching coffees for the rest of the week." She grumbled, watching with her usual serious expression on her face as Korra hastily ran out of the room and crashed head first into officer Kuvira, knocking her to the ground. Korra quickly yanked her to her feet before running out of the building as fast as she could, leaving a blushing Kuvira staring after her.
The chief just shook her head and chuckled, "That kid is still the strangest person I've ever met."
She made her way to her desk, it would be hard to get Korra anything she would like, but she'd said she'd try. She sighed, if only Korra had called for backup instead of chasing the Red Lotus on her own, this wouldn't have happened. She'd still be out there, top special agent for the secret forces, the legendary, White Lotus. Korra was right, she shouldn't be stuck behind a desk.
Chief Lin was sure that even if she did deserve the punishment, Korra's skills could be put to better use elsewhere, not filing away case reports. She picked up the phone and dialed.
"Yes, President Raiko? I think I have the perfect person for that assignment you told me about. Her name is Korra, I'm sure you've heard of her." She paused to listen, and nodded even though no one could see her, "of course, that'll be perfect. I'll let her know first thing tomorrow."
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The next day...
When Lin had told Korra that she'd try to get her off desk duty, she'd never imagined Korra's reaction at the job she had managed to get for her. At first Korra had seemed happy, excited even, to find out she'd be able to do anything that didn't involve sitting in an office chair, but when she found out exactly what she'd be doing, her facial expression did a complete 180.
Her smile became a frown, not a pout like the ones Lin is used to dealing with, an actual frown.
"Is everything alright Korra? I thought you'd be more excited about this." Lin asked, her voice completely serious, without a single tone or inflection giving away the fact that she was truly wondering what was wrong.
"I guess, it's just, I don't think I can handle being a bodyguard again."
So that's what the problem is, Lin shook her head and frowned, "This won't be like with Wu. Your charge is a very smart, disciplined young lady, you won't have any issues with her."
"Good," Korra let out a loud sigh, "at least this one's female, I don't think I could handle another rich boy flirting with me nonstop. Even when I was with Mako he wouldn't stop with the nonsense." Korra ran her fingers through her short brown hair at the memory of Wu's incessant flirting and Mako's nonchalance about the whole thing. They had broken up shortly after, Korra had decided they were better off being friends.
Lin let out one of her rare chuckles at Korra's annoyed expression. She couldn't resist poking a bit of fun at her whenever she got so serious. "I hear that she's a very pretty young woman and not at all boring to be around. In fact, most of the male bodyguards, and a few of the females, were disappointed when they heard you got the job."
"Lin, I don't care if she's the most beautiful thing in the entire universe, if she so much as hints at flirting with me, I'm out. Besides, I'm not into that whole loving the ladies thing, that's more Mako's style." Korra was now pouting at Lin again, which meant all was right in the universe. Lin even let her little slip up with her name, well, slip. "Okay, so fill me in. Why does this girl need protecting? She get mixed up with criminals?"
"Not her personally, her father got arrested for helping a terrorist group amass weapons in secret and manufacturing quite a bit of them himself. People have been sending her death threats for all the damage he caused and blaming her for being related to him. The White Lotus hasn't wanted to give more information than that about her case but they are adamant that she is completely innocent and had no idea what was going on."
"Wait...you're not talking about Asami Sato, are you?" Korra fidgeted nervously and Lin arched an eyebrow at her.
"Yes, hadn't I told you her name?"
"No, you hadn't."
"Oh, well, now you know."
Korra squirmed in her seat and started tapping her foot on the ground.
"What? Why does that bother you? Have you two met?" Lin couldn't see any reason why that should make Korra nervous but it did and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"Yes. Once."
"When?"
Korra scrunched up her face in discomfort. "When I arrested her father."