[ She seems ... receptive. Hei studies the tiny lights flickering down in the blue depths of Korra's eyes, quivering reflections of the sunlight dappling the trees overhead. He opens his mouth to begin, then stops. Not because his resolve has petered out. It's because if Korra mulls his answer over, tries to shuffle the pieces together, they might click in her subconscious. She might realize what Hei does (used to do?) for a living, back home. Dismantling security systems. Infiltrating high-risk environments. Causing damage -- to people and equipment alike. ]

[ He licks his lips, then scowls a little, face a grim mask for a second. Bitter, almost. It smoothes out after the barest moment. Calmly, he says, ] Delacroix is very isolated. Her connections aren't to people so much as to ... things. Ideas. Her research. Which is where I hit her. [ A beat, before his eyes meet hers. ] The night after you'd been shot, I trashed her lab. The whole thing.

[ So she'd know what it was like to have something valuable wrecked, in a careless eyeblink. He doesn't say that to Korra. But does he really need to? ]