[ As hyper-alert as Hei is at this point, his paranoia is at a full simmer. If he hadn't been doing his own obsessive, unobtrusive scans of the area, he would have missed the intruders' lurking at the fringes entirely. ]
[ But he doesn't. ]
[ Keeping Korra bundled close, he drifts at a steady clip toward the Beifong residence, not wanting to do anything out of the ordinary, anything that might suggest he's spotted something and is preparing for it. But he is preparing, the acidic tide of adrenaline leaking in, and as a plan unspools in his mind and the preparation lets his muscles ease into a deceptively innocent shape, and as the presence of danger and the certainty of how he needs to deal with it settles into place with an awful, familiar clarity, he has to acknowledge that he might be outnumbered, overpowered, defeated. ]
[ But there's no point in speculating. He wants them to tail him to a venue they'll find sufficiently dark, or isolated, or otherwise suitable for the business at hand, so they can do what they came for and depart. ]
[ But that's the problem with dark, isolated, and otherwise suitable venues, isn't it? Like tracer rounds, they work in both directions. ]
no subject
[ But he doesn't. ]
[ Keeping Korra bundled close, he drifts at a steady clip toward the Beifong residence, not wanting to do anything out of the ordinary, anything that might suggest he's spotted something and is preparing for it. But he is preparing, the acidic tide of adrenaline leaking in, and as a plan unspools in his mind and the preparation lets his muscles ease into a deceptively innocent shape, and as the presence of danger and the certainty of how he needs to deal with it settles into place with an awful, familiar clarity, he has to acknowledge that he might be outnumbered, overpowered, defeated. ]
[ But there's no point in speculating. He wants them to tail him to a venue they'll find sufficiently dark, or isolated, or otherwise suitable for the business at hand, so they can do what they came for and depart. ]
[ But that's the problem with dark, isolated, and otherwise suitable venues, isn't it? Like tracer rounds, they work in both directions. ]