[IC] History

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Lin Beifong is the daughter of Toph Beifong, one of the heroes that aided Avatar Aang in the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai and brought an end to the 100 Year War. Lin was born 20 years after the war, and raised in Republic City, founded by Aang and Fire Lord Zuko after the war as a place where peoples of all four nations of their world could live together in peace.

She grew up alongside the other children of the members of the original 'Gaang', and knew her mother's friends as family. She also had a relationship with Aang and Katara's youngest son, Tenzin. Though they were close for a long time, the pair eventually grew apart, in no small part due to Lin's lack of desire for a family, which Tenzin greatly wanted. Things fell apart completely after Pema -a young air acolyte who had loved Tenzin from afar- finally confessed her feelings for him; Tenzin broke off his relationship with Lin, and Lin attempted (unsuccessfully) to have Pema thrown in jail.

Following in her mother's footsteps, Lin joined the Republic City police force and worked her way up through the ranks from the ground up. She would eventual succeeding Toph as the Chief, a rank she proceeded to hold for at least a decade. While under her command, improvements to policing were made - including how metal cables were used while on the beat, and the use of airships to monitor the city and increase response times when dealing with incidents of crime -- especially useful when dealing with the rise of the triads in the city boroughs.

In 170 ASC, the relative 'peace' of Republic City was anything but - a man called Amon was stirring up anti-bender sentiment, under the veneer of the Equalist Movement, playing on the fears and discrimination felt by non-benders in the city. At the same time, the new Avatar, a young woman called Korra, arrived in the city seeking airbender training with Tenzin and ended up embroiled in a street fight with triad members. While she 'saved the day', Korra was also responsible for the destruction of public and private property and ended up in jail due to attempting to evade arrest. Not the best first impression to make on Lin, who made it abundantly clear that being the Avatar did not make her exempt from following the law, and that events from past lives would not earn her favouritism.

Unfortunately for Lin, this wouldn't be the last she saw of the Avatar, and she was greatly displeased with the attention being lavished on her by the city. In her eyes, Korra had done nothing to earn it and she wouldn't be getting any praise from her. Actions spoke louder to the Chief than words, and thus far, the new Avatar was nothing but talk.

Her tune would change in time, with the catalyst occurring when Amon's Equalists invaded the pro-bending arena during the finals tournament, which had been held in spite of his threats. Though Lin and her officers had done their best to secure the building and ensure the safety of the spectators, the Equalists knocked out the police force and sabotaged their boats and airships; they weren't able to prevent one of the teams losing their bending in front of a horrified audience, nor catch the perpetrators.

Coming round just as the Equalists were escaping through the roof, Lin watched as Korra went after Amon, attempting to waterbend her way to the ceiling. Aiding the girl to the roof when her water 'flight' fell short, Lin followed shortly after. Fighting the Equalists on the roof, she was briefly knocked down by Amon's Lieutenant; Korra intervened, giving Lin time to recover before she went after the blimp. She would have been successful in confronting Amon as well, had the glass not given out below, taking Korra with it. Briefly torn, Lin ultimately sacrificed her chance at catching Amon and dove after the Avatar, using metalbending to save her life.

Lin was disheartened to have been outplayed this time by Amon, and Tenzin noted this was likely the start of the war they had feared was coming. After that, Lin and her police force were kept busy tracking Equalist leads, and found propaganda supplies and shipment crates of electric gloves being held in warehouses belonging to one of the industrial giants of the city, Cabbage Corp. Seizing and freezing all assets, Lin still considered the investigation on-going, and would not budge to reveal more details when pressed by the media.

While sceptical due to lack of proof when Korra approached Lin and Tenzin with a possible link between the Equalists and Hiroshi Sato, the CEO of Future Industries, the older woman still heard her out and did not dismiss her concerns out right. Sato could potentially have an anti-bender motive at stake, Lin pointed out: his wife had been killed by a firebender during a robbery of the Sato's mansion 12 years before. Though searching his factories turned up no links to the Equalists, Korra received a note from one of the workers claiming to be disillusioned by 'the war'. Meeting him at a specified location, he confirmed that not only was Sato an Equalist, he was making something extra powerful for Amon's movement in a secret factory beneath his mansion.

Taking a squad of metalbenders with her, Korra and Tenzin, Lin stormed the Sato estate in search of the factory. And find it they did, with a concealed entrance leading into the cliff. Lin insisted that Mako, Asami and Bolin remain up top while they investigated the tunnel. Said tunnel led to an underground base containing platinum-forged machines, intended to level the playfield against benders. Machines that piloted by the Equalists, and led by Hiroshi.

It was a setup, and after a fierce, short fight, Lin, her squad, Korra and Tenzin were taken out.

Though the trio managed to escape thanks to the intervention of Korra's friends, they were forced to leave Lin's team behind in the enemies' clutches. As they made their escape, Lin decided to hand in her resignation as Police Chief the next morning. When Tenzin chided her not to give up, she snapped back that she wasn't resigning out of fear - this way, she could track down her people and take down Amon, outside of the restrictions imposed by the laws that had been used against them. However, Lin had been badly hurt in the attack, and spent several days in hospital recovering from her injuries.

During this time, harsh restrictions were imposed on the freedoms of non-benders, and Korra's friends ended up arrested during Councilor Tarrlok's overzealous campaign. The next day, the news broke on the radio that the Avatar had been kidnapped by the Equalists. In spite of her injuries, Lin suited up and headed out, stopping to break the Avatar's friends out of prison before approaching Tenzin to help find Korra. Their search led them to underground tunnels that the Equalists were using as a prison: Korra was nowhere to be found, but Lin was able locate her men using seismic sense. But she was too late - Amon had already taken their bending, and she apologised for not saving them sooner.

As they made their way out, they learned that the Equalists had not been responsible for Korra's disappearance -- the true culprit was Tarrlok! Using both her metal and earthbending abilities, Lin helped everyone escape, and the group confronted Tarrlok over what had happened. It was here that they made another shocking discovery: Tarrlok was a bloodbender, a forbidden waterbending sub-art. Though they tried to stop him, he knocked them out with bloodbending; though they were only down for a short while, picking up his trail proved unnecessary, however: while flying through the city on Tenzin's sky bison, they heard the howl of Korra's polar bear dog, who had found her master and brought her back to the city. Returning with the injured Avatar to the Airbender temple, they learned that Tarrlok was the son of a notorious bloodbending gangster who had disappeared 40 years ago.

And Amon had taken his bending.

Alarmed at the brazen act, Tenzin decided to return to city hall to get an update on the situation. Though he was initially nervous about asking, Tenzin requested that Lin remain at the Air Temple to watch over his family; Lin agreed to do so. Not long after his departure, explosions could be heard echoing across the city and boats and airships belonging to the police department were taken out. Lin ordered Tenzin's family inside to safety - and defense of the family became paramount when Pema went into labour.

Going toe to toe with the Equalists, Lin held her own until she was hit with another electrical attack. She would have been captured, had Tenzin's children had not chosen then to step in and use their airbending training against their attackers. Impressed by their courage and skill, Lin made it clear to Tenzin on his return that he had trained them well.

Unfortunately, the Equalists weren't done with them yet. When it became clear that more airships were approaching the Island, the group split up: Korra and her friends back to the mainland to hide underground until they received word from the United Forces, while Tenzin would take his family away to safety, and return once he was certain they were secure. Lin insisted on going with them to protect the last airbenders. However, with two airships in pursuit as they fled, it became clear that something had to stop the Equalists. Or someone.

Destroying one of the nets fired at the sky bison, Lin caught the remains with one of her cables and launched herself at the first of the airships, and using her metalbending, ripped a massive hole in the hull, taking it down. Leaping over to the second ship, Lin attempted to repeat this act but was ultimately taken down, knocked out by an electic bolus. When she next awoke, she wasn't aboard the airship anymore - or anywhere near Republic City, for that matter.

Lin was in Traverse Town.