Droplets

Rain fell.

Sprinkles of rain fell through the skyline of Republic City. The large city had changed, the streets were almost barren, save for the few souls who walked through the rain as part of their daily routine of work. The A on the side of Avengers Tower was darkened with rust, along with the large number four on the Baxter Building.

The city had changed drastically in the four years after Amon's defeat, benders and nonbenders finally lived in harmony with one another. The Triple Threat Triads, Red Monsoons, and Agni Kai's had been long forgotten since they had been taken down by the police years ago.

Supervillains had been carted away to prisons designed to hold their kind indefinitely. All of which were located hundreds of miles away from populated cities and towns.

But change is not always good.

The Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, had been banded from Republic City. Along wit the Fantastic Four, all superheroes had been removed from the city, any who remained were declared criminals of the state.

The new police force, appropriately dubbed the Officers, was no longer reserved for metalbenders, anyone who wished to join and serve their state.

The state that had sealed off all entries and exits into the city. The state that closed it's ports to just past Air Temple Island.

The state that had vanished the Avatar.

This was no longer Republic City. The occupants of this new urban jungle had given it a new title. The Reign.

(000)

Future Industries, despite the trouble that Hiroshi Sato had caused, was still in business and in a large part it was thanks to the Reign. The walls that secured the city needed to be strong enough so that no one could penetrate them, not metalbenders, the Avatar, the Avengers, or any heroes or villains for that matter.

The wall was crescent shaped that stretched over miles of land just a inch before the official limits of the city. And behind it all was Asami Sato, currently signing her signature on the papers to refurbish said barrier.

The heroes to the Sato estate had become more beautiful than she had been years prior to when the Equalist moment came full swing. She had gained a few inches in hight, her hair had been shortened to the length that she now tied it off into a ponytail.

Asami yawned as she looked over the reports again, "Had to be twenty pages. I had to be expansive with my responsibilities didn't I?" she asked herself sarcastically. The twenty page long report was her idea, outlining what her company was responsible for, maintenance. She had no desire to expand the wall longer than it already was.

She frowned as the words seemed to mix together on the page, she put her pen down and took to rubbing her eyes. Leaning back into her chair, her eyes drifted to the photo of Team Avatar on her desk.

She, Korra, Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, Lin, and even Jason had been squeezed in since he helped hold them together. She frowned at the news of when Mayor Ying banished Korra for her incompetency to rid the city of the spirit vines.

She had left a few days later after spending time with her friends before leaving for the Fire Nation. The rest wanted to visit her of course, but soon after, a state of panic erupted when all the prisons and jails in the city were overrun by their prisoners. The heroes of the city were nowhere to be found during the crisis, and so Mayor Ying stepped into action.

He put the city under martial law, his decree to have al volunteers take up arms against the prisoners faired extraordinarily well, pushing the prisoners back into their cages.

Asami sighed before returning back to her paperwork, the wall needed to be updated and it wasn't going to happen without her say-so.

(000)

Crime in the city wasn't something that could be stopped in one day of course. But that didn't stop the Officers from trying, no matter how much force they used.

Driving down one of the streets was a large pickup truck, the same models used during the Task Force set up by Councilman Tarrlock during the Equalist movement Only a tarp was over the back to shield the occupants from the current weather. In the back where six men, each of them wearing a Officer uniform under chest, elbow, and knee padding. Some of them wearing helmets for extra protection.

The former captain of the Pro-Bender team, The Fire Ferrets say near the back of the tuck. Mako watched the yellow lines pass away and retreat into the darkness, the truck hitting the occasional bump and making him sit up more straight before starting to slouch.

It's gonna be bad. he thought silently to himself as a few of the other officers spoke to one another. A few laughing at a few 'stories' that they told. Their tales containing details of how they break bones, or how their suspects end up on the ground crying.

"I swear it was the funniest thing I ever seen. So the guy I had, some office clerk or something, was giving me some lip. I take out old faithful," the man patted the taser on his belt, "And I give him a shock, you know what he does? He falls down and pisses himself!" he said, making the others around him burst out in laugher from the tale.

Mako ignored him as he shut his eyes, trying to focus on the sound of the rain pelting the tarp overhead. Four years ago he joined the police, he wanted to make a difference after being in the Secret War along with all the other heroes. He worked the beat, and he didn't mind that much, but after the breakout of jails and the Officers being formed from the police, he started to hate his job.

The job turned from a honorable job to being a thug for the city. And he hated it.

The truck suddenly lurched forward, Mako was the first one out of the car as usual. Their undercover unit had discovered a illegal Wasp distribution facility. A abandoned office building had been a pretty good cover, but the Officers were closing in.

The twelve literally surrounded the building, Mako and a Earthbender, Shu, took up a wall. Shu pressed his hand to the wall and closed his eyes, they snapped open a moment later, nodding to Mako who responded with his own.

Five seconds later, Shu slammed both palms onto the wall, causing it to explode inside the building. Bodies and furniture slammed against the opposite wall from the force of the bricks impact, Mako jumped through the dust and launched a swipe of fore across vertically, making anyone who was standing stagger way before falling down.

One of them gathered water from a canteen to Mako's left, he turned in time roll his body against the water as well as counter by sending burst of flame at the hand, burning it a shade of red and making the criminal hiss at the contact.

Shu sent an block of earth to one of the hostile's chest, the sound of cracking ribs filled the air, making Mako's stomach churn. "EVERYONE STAY THE HELL DOWN OR YOU GET SOMETHING BROKEN!" one of the Officers called out.

Minutes later a transport for the prisoners arrived, in total there was ten, five of which had broken bones, and three hand bad bruising. The remaining two where moderately injured but nothing serious.

Mako stood silently as rain washed over his head. When did things go to shit? he asked himself before shaking his head of those thoughts and walked towards the Officer Transport to go back to the station.

(000)

Green eyes looked on up at the large wall, Bolin traced the top of the structure with his eyes, it was almost as high as the outer ring of Ba-Sing-Se but instead had a thin coat of platinum sheets going over the walls.

The Earthbender straightened his work clothes before continuing his walk. After Mayor Ying had announced the wall would be constructed to prevent any outer force could harm the city, he like many were nervous about this.

But after he explained it was for keeping anyone who hurt the the people living in the city, he could understand his reasoning. Many compared it to having their own wall of Ba-Sing-Se, though not many saw that as a good thing.

Bolin's job was to make sure any no one try to breech the wall from within. Basically he was a guard, but he called it being a watchman. Mostly because it sounded fancier to him, even if Mako thinks otherwise.

Bolin wore a set of overalls and brown shirt, but because of the weather he had a poncho on to help keep him dry. Pabu was currently nestled under his shirt, providing some warmth against the cold weather.

He and Mako had gone halves on a apartment in the city, since the idea of moving to the Pro-Bending stadium was out of the question. It was a Trolly ride away but it could have been worse.

The sound of something hitting metal rang through the air, Bolin tensed up before running towards the origin of the sound. As he ran through the dark, he tried to keep the water out of his eyes. He slid to a stop, there where a few kids with a bucket and paintbrush, "Crap! Run!" one of them yelled, dropping the can and brush before running off.

Bolin ran to the spot where the bucket was leaking to the street, "Aw come on. Really! Are guys going to leave me to clean up this mess?" he called out in question to the youths.

Bolin looked at the paint on the wall, it wasn't the first time this happened, in fact sometimes if it wasn't too bad they may keep it on the wall. But there where only five words on the wall, 'Where did our heroes go?'

Bolin sighed, he'd be lying if he said that wasn't a good question. He could understand sealing off the city for it's own protection. But after it got up, a ban on vigilante or anything like a superhero was banned.

"Well buddy. We better go write a report." he said to the fore ferret who had woken from all the excitement. As Bolin walked back towards the nearest station, the red pain slid down the wall towards the ground, like a wound had been felt to the Great Wall.

(000)

The Avatar was tired, Korra had just spent the last six hours in the Earth Nation fighting a large band of mercenaries who had been stealing Earth Kingdom foods from traders on their way to the capital. It was a marvel how no one in the area caught on to what they where doing, it just went to showed ignorant people could be.

She felt a gloved hand gently shake her shoulder, he immediately say up in her seat and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was. "Oh, sorry Cap." she said apologetically to her team leader.

The Captain smiled, "Hey we're all tired. But we're five minutes out, just thought you should know." he explained.

She nodded as she stretched her limbs out, looking out the window to where Tobi was piloting the Quinjet. It still seemed all too surreal that she was part of the Avengers. Tobi and Cap admitted that they weren't entirely sure if she was allowed to join in the first place because of her position but she confirmed they where fine.

She looked back to see Ms. Marvel, Ant Man, Falcon, and Luke Cage all with tired looks in their eyes. She herself was apparently the only one that actually dozed off.

"How far out are we from home?" she asked, standing up and walking up beside Tobi and looking out the windshield. The ocean was below them now but at the speed they were going it was almost a blur.

Soon, the Fire Nation Capital came into view. The Avengers Compound was a refurbished S.H.I.E.L.D. base that the Firelord gladly let the heroes use as their base. It was a large ten story building with a training grounds area under a retractable dome that doubled as the landing and takeoff location for the Quinjets.

The dome folded apart, allowing the aircraft to land in the large field covered in grass. When the jet touched down, the team filed out of the ship to find the former Firelord himself to welcome them, Korra smiled, "It's nice to see you again Firelord Zuko, what do we owe the pleasure?" she asked.

The older man returned her bow, "You as well. But...I'm afraid I have some troubling news." he said, making the teammate's all look at one another before focusing on the Firelord. "This afternoon, Izumi received word regarding the Reign." he started, making Korra frown in anger.

"It appears that Mayor Ying is planning on expanding the wall outward." he said, making the Team's eyes eyes widen.

"Can he do that? I mean he can't really-" Luke Cage.

"They can." Iron Man interrupted. "Area surrounding the city is old highway and empty forests. You could put anything out there. I was planning to put a Arc Reactor facility out there at one point." he explained to the group.

Korra clenched her fist in anger. She hated that she was forced to leave the city because of something that she couldn't do at the time. She wasn't the only one, all the heroes who had been banished from the city all had a grudge against the Mayor.

"So. What can we do?" Korra asked, a look of anger mixed with determination in her eyes.

(000)

Pema gave a tired sigh as she put the dinner on the table, the news of a wall expansion was just announced over the radio. Pema didn't like politics, but even she knew that trouble was going come of this.

Pema waited as the rain outside continued to fall, "It's just like that day..." she said sadly, the weather matching exactly to the day that-

"Yay dinner!" Meelo cheered as he ran past his mother into his seat, his young brother Rohan right behind him. Ikki and Jinora entered moments later at a much slower pace, taking their place at the table.

All of Pema's children had grown in hight in the past few years, Rohan and his older brother had grown out their hair, the color matching their father's color. Ikki had let her hair grow out so that she had it gong past her shoulders and onto the top of her back, she still had her hair buns though.

Jinora on the other hand had changed much more than her siblings, she had been awarded her Tattoos years ago and had them proudly shown on her head, cutting her hair around the tip of her arrow. On top of that, she was much wiser in the ways of the world than she had four years ago.

Tenzin walked in behind Pema, he bent down and kissed her affectionately on the forehead before taking his seat beside her. Tenzin had unsurprisingly not changed during the past few years, "Pema it looks wonderful." he said, making his wife smile at his words.

"Come on guys, hands together." Pema said, clasping her hand in Tenzin's and her other in Jinora's.

Tenzin cleared his throat, "Dear spirits. We thank you for this bountiful meal, the health that you bless us with, and the-" the sound of thunder shook through the house, "-passionate weather." he said, making the kids smile at his choice of words. Tenzin's features turned saddened, "And above all, for the health, and safety that you grant our family." he said, making the others bow their heads.

(000)

"What was he like?" Rohan suddenly asked.

He and his older brother were working on a crude drawing of their family. It was a genuine surprise to see how talented Meelo was with a brush and paint, Tenzin litter sky sat down and watched him draw just so see if he was fibbing. Meatless to say he learned that he hasn't seen everything, yet.

Jinora and Ikki were playing a game of Pai-Sho, something that the sisters where competitive in against one another. The younger girl of the two looked over to Rohan with a questionable look, "What was who like little bro?" and asked.

Rohan looked down at his crude drawing, "You know. That one guy mom and dad talk about sometimes? Jason! That's it." he said, making the others freeze.

Jinora gave her brother a serious look, "Rohan. When did mom and dad talk about him?" she asked carefully.

The four year old thought for a moment, "After dinner. They said it was just like the day when Jason left." he explained, making the other three share a look of realization then sadness. "What?" he asked innocently.

Jinora walked over to her brother and got down on her knees beside him. "Jason wa-is, our cousin. He was mom's sister's son." she explained, seeing the brief look of confusion cross Rohan's face.

His eyes brightened at that, "Really! So he's like a brother then?" he asked. Jinora smiled sadly as she nodded. That raised another question, "Why haven't I met him?" he asked.

Ikki joined her sister by sitting down on the other side of her brother. "He was a lot older than us, you met him a few weeks after you were born. You probably don't remember him." she explained.

Rohan let out a 'oooooh' of clarity. "So what was he like?" he asked again.

The three older siblings thought for a moment, Meelo spoke first, " He was funny." he said, making his sisters smile.

"Yeah he was. He used to say the funniest things sometimes just to make someone smile. He was nice too." Ikki stated.

Jinora nodded, "He was...he was smart too." she added, making the other two nod in agreement.

Rohan tried to think of this mystery man to him but it was hard considering he never met him. "What did he look like?" he asked.

Jinora had to think for that, "He had brown hair like me. But his wasn't bushy as Meelo's. He had blue eyes, a nice smile, and he was tall." she said.

Ikki giggled to herself, "I remember we used to hold onto his arms and legs and he'd carry us when we held on." she said, making the others laugh at the memories.

That left one question, "So why did he leave?" Rohan asked.

The three all looked sad at his question, "Jason...he got really sad one day Rohan. And he decided to leave to try and be happy." Jinora said, not wanting to go into details.

Rohan was silent as he drew on his paper, now beside him and his siblings was someone much taller, with blue for his eyes and brown hair, under his feet was the name Jason.

(000)

Fifty miles east of the Reign there was a small earth kingdom colony. The town wasn't the cleanest, the buildings were old and cracked but still was habitable. The buildings where closely packed they get down narrow streets.

Most of the buildings where two or three stores tall, but near the outskirts of the city was a old warehouse that was later than four of the other structures in area combined.

I side the warehouse, a pit with stands surrounding the hole was center stage. A metal oval shaped cage coveted the pit for the patrons to observe. The pit was about six feet deep with four doors leading to it from underground, the stands were packed with little over a hundred people, all there t watch the fight.

It wasn't pro bending, this fight was reserved for non-benders only. No bending, no shirt, no shoes, that were the rules of the ring. "Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the match!" the anniversary in the center of the ring yelled out, making the crowd erupt in cheers.

"Tonight is the semifinal round! These four men will fight until there's only one left standing! And then in two days they will face the champion!" he yelled out, making another roar of cheers erupt from the crowd.

"First off, we have the son of the former earth rumble champion, the Boulder, his son Avalanche!" he said, one of the doors opening to show a man with the body of a professional freighter step in, his hair shaved close to his scalp in a green pair of pants.

"Next, we have the the former champion, Bone Crusher!" the announcer continued, the second spot opening to reveal the next opponent. He was similar in body type to Avalanche only he seemed more martial artist with his his stance as he came out.

"Our third competitor, from the Firenation, Red Dragon!" the third door opened to show a less built man but with a bald head and tattooed face with that similar of a dragon, the scales going back onto his skull and neck.

"And our fourth and final contender, from parts unknown, the underdog, The Spider!" the fourth door opened, revealing a younger man in his early twenties, his body was well defined but not as much as the others in the ring, he had short brown hair, blue eyes, and a beard over his face the same color as his hair.

Only some of the crowd clapped at his introduction, others looked uneasy, this was a brutal fight, and this guy looked like he barely went outside, let alone fought.

Oh how wrong they were.

"Now, fight!"

Avalanche and Bone Crusher clashed immediately, landing blows on each other that made the crowd roar in approval. Red Dragon sponged towards the Spider, "I'm gonna make this quick." he stated as he threw a right hook at the young adult.

The Spider didn't make a move to avoid the fist, nor did he try to block it, he let the fist connect. He stumbled briefly, but stayed in two feet while a knee shot into his abdomen, making the air shoot out his mouth as he dubbed over. Hands grabbed the sides of his head, lifting his head briefly before pushing down as he rode his knee into the young adult's face.

The Spider's head shot back up from the blow, blood leaking from his now readjusted nose. Red Drangon backed up before rushing forward and drop kicking the opponent, the blow sending him onto his back as Red Dragon scrambled back into his feet, raising his hands up into the crowd as they cheered.

The Spider breathed out through his mouth before rolling onto his front and pushing himself up from the ground in time for him to be grabbed by his hair and repeatedly stuck across the face, it went on for seconds, minutes, he couldn't tell. He could feel his left cheek cut open from the man's assault as well as his right eye swelled.

Finally, Red Dragon pushed him away a few steps until the Spider's back was to the wall. "Just fall already!" he yelled bore cocking a fist back and ringing towards him. As he closed in, he threw his arm out.

Faster than he could register, the Spider raised a open palm and shot it forward, intercepting his ouch. The force from the abrupt stop as well as the young adult's own strength caused the knuckles in Red Dragon's hands to break like eggs, "GAAAHHHHH! HE BROKE MY HAND!" he yelled as he held the bleeding hand.

"You got only yourself to blame for that one." The Spider said, throwing a left hook with enough force to knock Red Dragon off his feet and into the air briefly before hitting the ground, blood leaking out of his mouth.

The crowd let loose a road of awe at his feat, so much attention was drawn to him that they all almost missed Bone Crusher ram Avalanche's head into the wall, giving him a concussion and knocking him out cold.

The Spider waited as Bone Crusher walked towards him, the former champ stood in front of the underdog. "I'm gonna grind you into dust! I'm gonna make you beg for me to end it, I'm gonna-" he started sizing himself up.

The Spider drew a fist back and shot it into Bone Crusher's stomach, this caused him to keel over, coughing up blood before the underdog swung a uppercut with his other hand, the firmer champ flew back into the air before landing painfully on his back.

The crowed went crazy to say the least, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Our new top contender! The Spider!" the announcer yelled out as the last man standing walked towards the same door he came in from.

(000)

Half a hour later, the winner of the fight was having money put in his hand. "-four, four fifty, there. Five hundred. Gotta admit, didn't expect you win, but when the guy in Gaoling said you have a ouch, hot damn do you have a punch!" the announcer said excitedly to the young adult as he put the money in his pocket.

"So day after tomorrow you'll fight the champ. Give you some time to patch yourself up so-"

"Tomorrow." the young adult interrupted. "Think you can manage that? I'll be good for tomorrow." he said, trying to convince him.

The man smiled, "Your a real trooper kid. Fine, the crowd will love it. See you tomorrow then." he said as the young adult walked away.

He put his hands in his pockets after he pulled the hood over his head, protecting him from the rain. The broken nose was already beginning to heal, he'd reset it later but there was no rush, no need to keep up appearances.

He continued on his way home, a small apartment with one room and a bed, as the weather continued it's downpour. A body brushed past his, running away with a bag in his hand, "Stop! Stop him! Thief!" someone called out behind him.

The Spider lowered his head. It wasn't his place not anymore. It wasn't Jason O-rou's concern. It hadn't been for the past four years and it wasn't going to start being it now.

AN: This was personally one of my favorite Spider-Man What if stories, I know people rink it's a rip off of the Dark Knight Returns but I don't see it like that.

Now I get that the idea of someone sealing off Republic City from the world by a giant wall is a little hard to swallow, but come on, they did the exact same thing with Ba-Sing-Sae, twice!

Anyway that's the first chapter, I hope you all like it, now clock down below and go check out the next one!