"Seems like Lin's been really busy while I was away.
Jin could tell the police cells were comically full; several detainees were barely fitting in because they were jammed in like pieces in a game of Tetris, and even then, many ended up with their arms sticking out through the bars.
Not because they wanted to protest, but because there was simply no more room!
Were they short on staff to escort all these people to the jails?
"Time to pull another batch of evidence," he narrowed his eyes, "this time let's start with some of the politicians who have issues with how my niece runs the police department, mid-level members of the Triple Threat, and… Butakha isn't exactly clean either. Yeah, that'll do for now."
Jin didn't go straight to see Lin. Instead, he stopped by the Arena to grab a couple of tickets for tonight's date. The good seats were going to sell out quickly, and the only reason he could get theirs was that at this hour, many people were still at work.
"I wonder if Lin knows a good tailor."
He needed an outfit, but despite easily locating various tailor shops and clothing stores, he didn't know which ones actually offered quality.
"Being out of the market for so long is annoying; I have to catch up on everything again," he thought tiredly.
He didn't even have his global information network anymore. As he lived in this time, he could only notice more and more of what he'd lost.
"Anyway, let's go see Lin," he thought—there's no use lamenting. "If she doesn't know, she probably has a subordinate who does."
Not wanting to walk, he lifted into the air and glided ten meters above the streets to avoid vehicles and pedestrians, reaching the place in record time.
He didn't even enter through the main entrance; he slipped directly through the window of his niece's office and sat in her chair. Barely a minute later, he noticed Lin returning.
The police chief froze when she saw him there.
"When did you get back? No, wait, how did you get into my office?" Lin was sure she had locked the door, and no one had informed her that she had a visitor.
"This morning. As for my entry…" Jin gestured with his thumb toward the window.
"…Get out of my seat."
Should she put bars on her window?
"What a cold niece I have," Jin pretended to clutch his heart, "bringing you new toys for nothing," he said, floating the next batch of books full of evidence and crime records. "I guess you're not interested?"
Lin's attention was immediately captured.
"Where did—?" Lin slapped her forehead. "You know what, don't tell me, the evidence is real, and that's all that matters," she snatched the books and put them in her safe. "Even if I want to keep arresting people (which I do), we don't have space in the cells."
Yeah, that was a polite way of putting it.
In fact, as packed as they were, what did they do when someone wanted to use the bathroom?
"I can make more cells, though I guess you're waiting for someone to take that huge batch of bad people to jail," Jin reflected, still in Lin's seat. "Your cells are pretty small."
"They've never been this full before, not even when Mom was in charge here," Lin shook her head and eventually took the seat behind the desk. "How was the trip?"
Was this her indirect way of asking about Toph? Tsundere.
"Enlightening, in many ways," Jin recounted without hiding that the mastermind behind his confinement had been Yangchen, and that the traitor had only been a hand guided by her. He also told her some events from Jasmine Island.
"Wait, wait, WHAT?! You and Avatar Kyoshi?!"
"I didn't expect you to be the gossiping type," Jin raised an unimpressed eyebrow, not at all embarrassed. "I just explained a conspiracy involving multiple Avatars and how I tripled the landmass of an island, and you focus on that specific part?"
Lin needed to improve her priorities.
"B-But Avatar Kyoshi—!"
"You should call her Aunt."
That correction hit Lin like a punch. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"You were gone for only a month!" Lin suddenly felt like going home and going to sleep. "The next thing you'll tell me is that you have a date with another woman tonight!"
Jin's silence was deafening.
"You've got to be joking…" Lin's eyelid twitched.
Her mother had told them more than once that her uncle had the charm and charisma to attract many women, but this was ridiculous!
"Actually, I wanted to ask if you knew a good tailor. Getting clothes isn't hard, but I have nothing elegant in my wardrobe. Or a wardrobe, but you get what I mean," he needed a place to sleep, maybe a modest mansion.
"I'm not paying for a suit for a date," Lin flatly refused to support him.
"No need, this morning I got some of the money Col Corporation had been holding for me for decades, and my personal account finally has some pocket money to go on my own," he explained. "Oh, and I already transferred back what you lent me these past days, with some interest."
"Col Corporation?" Lin took a moment to process. "Right, you're one of the earliest investors in the business. I didn't know your shares were still valid."
If what her uncle said was true, and he had collected what was owed (and she had a rough idea of the amount from forty years ago, which would now be higher), then even after paying taxes and management fees, her uncle had just gone from homeless to the top hundred richest people in Republic City in a single morning.
"So don't worry about money, I just need a reference to a reliable store."
Lin sighed, realizing she really couldn't dissuade Jin.
"I don't usually go to those places, but I know one where Tenzin usually orders tailored clothes for his family, it's located in…"
"Thanks, niece!" Jin nodded, satisfied to have gotten the information he wanted. "By the way, did I hear you dragged the Avatar to the station?"
[Jin changes the topic on Lin.]
[Super effective!]
"Ugh, you have no idea!" Lin seemed to take the opportunity to vent her frustrations. "That teenager, Korra (the current Avatar), is a little—!"