Officer Mako x Reader

Chapter 12: Nothing In Common

[Republic City Hospital]

"Mako, you've been pacing for over an hour," Jay sighed without taking his eyes from the morning newspaper, "I'm sure she's fine,"
"I should've gone in there with her,"  Mako breathed angrily, his eyes still glued to the door the nurses had wheeled you into,
"Should have and being allowed to are two different things," Jay reminded him, " The doctor told us to wait here. So here we are,"
"Still, she was out of my sight for less time than we've been sitting here, and she's already been held hostage, twice," Mako snapped while he massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration,
"Be that as it may, there are far too many witnesses for the Triple Threats to get their hands dirty again, and Shah couldn't get in even if he tried. We're on the twelfth floor. Hospital windows don't open y'know," Jay reassured him,
"True," Mako sighed in defeat "I should've shot him. I-I had him. He was going to fucking kill her. Why the hell did she stop me?"
"Maybe they've fought like this before," Jay shrugged,
"Uh-uh. No way. Not like that," Mako argued, "Y-You saw that look in his eye. Something...S-Something's off,"
"Something's always been off," Jay pointed out in exasperation, "Normal people don't just go around assaulting officers and collecting prison sentences like seashells," he huffed in annoyance, "But you are right. Shah's never been this reckless. Resisting arrest is usually his MO, but he wasn't trying to escape, if that were the case, he would've jumped the second we barged in,"
"So you think he was planning on killing her?" Mako questioned,
"Her or whoever else was planning on walking through that door,"
"God, it never ends with him does it?"
"Hey, I tried to warn you," Jay snapped, "And ironically enough, you're just as hard-headed as he is,"
"Believe me, I have nothing in common with that psychopath," Mako corrected Jay sourly,
"Please, your juvenile records are nearly identical. The only difference is one of you grew out of it," Jay teased, only to meet Mako's angry glare when he finished reading, "Oh, c'mon I was mostly kidding,"
"You better be," Mako nodded before he turned to leave, "I'm going to get some air. Come get me if she comes out of surgery,"
"Hmph. Roger that. Maybe look for your sense of humor while you're out there,"

It took everything in Mako not to scream out loud until his lungs were empty. The chaos he had been trying to avoid had happened in what felt like an instant, and given the amount of time he had been waiting for some shred of good news, his mind still hadn't completely caught up. It was terrible enough had no idea what condition you were in, not to mention letting Shah get away without even so much as a potential lead as to where he might be. Mako had only been head detective on this case for barely half a day and he already felt like he was ten steps behind,

"Get in," Lin ordered from the passenger seat of a darkly tinted car,
"Cheif Lin?" Mako questioned, "W-What are y–
"We don't have time for your questions–
"We?"
"Ugh. Just get in," Lin scoffed,
"Am I coming back?"
"Of course. Now get in the damn car,"
"Councilman Tenzin?" Mako blinked in confusion once he plopped down in the backseat only to be greeted by another familiar face, "What...W-What the hell is she doing here!?" he scoffed in disgust when his eyes landed on Kuvira,
"I said we don't have time for your questions," Lin snapped, "What happened at Southwest Central?"
"Nothing I can't handle," Mako replied sternly,
"That's not what I asked," Lin snapped again,
"Well, I don't think I'm at liberty to say with her present. Unless someone plans on answering my first question,"
"She's here to help," Tenzin nodded,
"Help?" Mako repeated in disbelief, "Help how?"
"Tracking down that flying lunatic. How else do you think?" Kuvira scoffed as she rolled her eyes at him,
"For your information, I didn't ask you," Mako hissed at her, "And I'm the lead detective on this case, since when are we delegating tasks to convicted felons?"
"Since we lost a convicted felon," Lin reminded him, "Uri knows every cop in the city is hot on his heels. Kuvira will be the only person he's not expecting. Now, what happened at Southwest Central?"
"What did you hear?" Mako questioned sourly,
"Eyewitnesses say they saw a man jump from an eleven-story balcony, but he never hit the ground, and I'm guessing you're keeping an eye on the woman that was rushed to ER,"
"Not just any woman. Shah's younger sister," Mako sighed defeatedly,
"That nutjob has family?" Lin questioned,
"Apparently so," Mako nodded,
"How'd you get on the scene so fast?" Lin asked once they circled the block,
"I...I-I uhh I'm sort of...seeing the sister," Mako admitted sheepishly,
"Typical," Kuvira chuckled to herself,
"Do I need to kick you off this case!?" Lin barked at Mako,
"Do whatever you need to do. I'm not stopping until I put Shah behind bars," Mako hissed, "Unless you have another detective you'd like to spare," he smirked, knowing damn well no other officer outranked him,
"Hmph. Fine," Lin huffed, "You're still on, but I want a full detailed report of what you have so far on my desk by Monday," she ordered,
"Noted," Mako breathed with his arms crossed, "Now how much help do you expect to be?" Mako taunted when he locked eyes with Kuvira,
"As of now, she goes where I go," Tenzin informed him, "What else can you tell us about Southwest Central? Did Shah say anything that might've stuck out to you," he asked curiously,
"Other than trying to choke the life out of his own sister. Not really," Mako replied after the car stopped back in front of the hospital,
"I see," Tenzin sighed defeatedly,
"Wait. I just remembered," Mako added when he got out of the car, "When I told him to let her go. He said something along the lines of, once she's gone, I'll only have one earthly tether to deal with,"
"He said earthly tether?" Tenzin questioned fearfully,
"Yeah, I-I didn't know what he meant by it–
"I think I do," Tenzin blurted quickly, "When you're done here, can you meet us at the ferry?"
"Sure, I just have to–
"Mako!" Jay called from the entrance, "She's awake. Let's go,"
"I gotta go," Mako said softly, "I'll see you at the ferry in an hour," he nodded before the car pulled off again,
"Where were you?" Jay asked, "She got out of surgery fifteen minutes ago,"
"Where do you think? Getting chewed out by the Chief,"
"S-So she knows about you and–
"Oh, she's well aware," Mako sighed with a smile as he followed Jay to the elevator,
"And you're not buried under a ton of rubble. Impressive," Jay smirked,
"Yeah, I got lucky. It's too bad they don't trust me to put Shah down myself," Mako hissed softly,
"What makes you say that?"
"Hmph. They wouldn't have dragged another felon into this if they did,"
"Which felon?"
"Kuvira," Mako replied unenthusiastically, 
"Of Zaofu!?"
"The once Great Uniter herself," Mako sighed,
"W-Why her?"
"Apparently they have this inane theory that Shah's anticipating the full force of every cop in the city. Not someone like her," Mako breathed angrily, "He'd never see it coming,"
"That's smart," Jay admitted,
"I know," Mako nodded with his jaw clenched, "Which is why I didn't argue. Doesn't mean I have to like it,"

[Viper's Restaurant]

"You lost her!?" Viper roared at the two men who had failed to bring you to him. His rage had already broken one chair off the brick wall, but the second one sent the splintered wood rattling across the floor like shattered glass,
"Hey! We didn't expect her to put up a fight," one of the men snapped back,
"Yeah. A-And we also didn't expect some trigger-happy cop to come looking for her either. He shot Lu in the foot and almost broke my damn neck–
"Which trigger-happy cop!?" Viper hissed,