DISCLAIMER: THESE CHARACTERS, THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, ARE NOT MINE.
CHAPTER ONE: THE BLACKOUTS
"Hey, Korra, I was wondering…" Mako tried not to look at her in the eyes. Even though it had been two weeks since the break-up, he still was uneasy around her. He recalled when Korra had thrown his desk across the room—that was scary.
"Yeah?" Korra asked innocently.
"Well, Asami finished up her latest model, and she's about to go test it. She was wondering if you wanted to join."
"That sounds great," she replied. "Are we ready?"
Mako nodded. "We were just waiting on you.
Asami and Bolin stood outside the factory, next to the Lighthawk, the mentioned model. They saw Mako and Korra trudging up the hill.
"Oh hey, Korra!" Bolin said, and then turned to his brother. "What took you so long?"
"Bolin, we can't teleport places." Mako grimaced.
Asami ran up to Mako and embraced him. She nodded to Korra. "Are we all ready?"
"Seems like it," Korra responded.
The Lighthawk was massive—easily being able to carry four people. The design on the sides showed the head of a golden falcon, with FUTURE INDUSTRIES following.
Mako and Asami sat in the cockpit, while Korra and Bolin were stuck in the back.
The engine roared, and the Lighthawk took off. The Lighthawk did a figure-eight, and then flew north.
Korra could have sworn she heard kisses coming from the front, but she was always looking away when she thought she heard them. She stared out at the ground below.
Asami's factory was located in a forest, far away from Republic City (the skyline could still be seen, however). It rested on a riverbank, which resulted in the river being extremely polluted. The water was a murky brown. Garbage and fish bones floated here and there.
Bolin thought he saw Korra's eyes flare white for the briefest of seconds. He hesitantly backed up.
The plane did a U-turn and flew back to the facility; the test-flight was successful. After many congratulations, Mako and Bolin walked off to the ferry. Korra looked at Asami. "Asami, I was—" Her eyes suddenly glowed white. She sank to the ground, shivering.
Asami gasped, "Korra!"
Bolin and Mako turned around, saw the scene, and rushed to Korra's aid. The three of them scooped her up and carried her to the ferry.
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Korra was propped up on pillows in Tenzin's house. The former three plus Tenzin and his family watched her intently.
"What happened?" Tenzin asked in a harsh tone.
"I have no idea," answered Asami. "One second, she was fine, and the other, she was like this!"
"Is it a side-effect from her battle with Unalaq, maybe?" Mako pitched in.
"Yes, it may be," Tenzin murmured. He touched Korra's forehead; it was ice-cold.
As abruptly as she had fainted, Korra awoke and sat up. "—wondering—wait, where am I?" She looked around. "Tenzin, what are you—?"
Mako ran and hugged her. "Korra, do you have any idea what happened?"
Korra looked confused. "No. What happened?"
"Um, Korra, you kind of fainted," Bolin said. "And your eyes were all glowy and stuff."
"You don't remember that?" Mako asked.
"No, not at all." She looked afraid. "I was just talking to Asami—"
Her eyes glowed again, much to the shock of the others.
Tenzin gripped her, which wasn't very easy to do, as the spasms were much more violent this time.
A gale of wind blew through the room. The group was hurled backwards, as Korra rose to her feet, eyes glowing bright silver. She looked at Asami, and she literally breathed fire from her nostrils. She raised a fist, and a ball of fire hurtled towards the businesswoman. Asami ducked, and the fireball blasted a hole in the wall.
"Korra, what are you doing?" she shouted.
Bolin rose first, and, deprived of any earth, rushed Korra. He was once again blasted by a gust of air.
Korra seemed only intent on harming Asami. She summoned a dagger of fire and gripped Asami's shirt. She singed a hole in it, and said, "Fix it! FIX IT!"
Asami screamed, "Fix what?"
Korra collapsed again. Tenzin, rubbing his head where he had slammed into the wall, picked her up and put her back on the pillows.
"What was that about?" Mako asked, massaging his back, where he had slammed into Tenzin's children.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Korra's old teacher sighed.
Asami poked the hole in her shirt, which was still smoking. "What am I supposed to fix?"
"I think it might be best"—Tenzin turned to Asami—"if you left for now—just until this is sorted out. She's obviously targeted you."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Asami hastily walked out the door.
Tenzin stared at the sleeping girl on the couch. To a casual observer, she would look like just a normal teenager. But Tenzin had seen her in action, bending all four elements to her will.
He sighed and pondered.
Bolin, too, did some thinking. He remembered Korra's reaction to the state of the river.
"Tenzin!" Bolin cried. "I think I might have an idea of what's going on!"
"And what might that be?" Tenzin replied.
"Well, when we were testing out Asami's plane, we got a pretty good look at the river behind the factory." Bolin looked excited. "I saw Korra's eyes kinda flash when she saw it. Maybe this is linked to the pollution!"
"That would also explain what she meant by 'Fix it.' " Tenzin turned to Bolin. "Or why she's attacking Asami."
"Okay," Mako said, "but how do we stop it?"
Bolin frowned. "Clean the river?"
"That'll take more than a year," Mako criticized. "It's huge. And if we do, it'll just get dirty again. If we get rid of the factory, Future Industries will go out of business."
"Oh."
"It's a good start, though," Tenzin said. "Well done. Now, you might want to go home and sleep on it. Let Korra rest, for now."
"Tenzin," Mako said, "we should probably stay here. Just in case, y'know, Korra starts attacking again."
"That's completely nonsensical," said Tenzin. "She was only intent on hurting Asami, as you saw."
Mako insisted, "Please. Just in case. We know nothing about her condition right now, other than the cause, which we're still not sure about. Anything can happen."
Tenzin raised his hands in defeat. "I guess there's no persuading you to leave. So be it. You can sleep in our guest room."
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Korra groaned. She had a severe headache; it felt as if she had slammed her head repeatedly on a rock. She sat up and stretched. It was night, but the sliver of moonlight led her to believe she was still at Tenzin's place.
Korra thought about how Bolin had told her about passing out. This had never happened before, other than when she had been attacked by that one oceanic dark spirit. But even then, she had known she had been unconscious, despite having no memory prior to it. Here, it was one moment, then immediately the next. It was enough to make her nauseous.
She stared at the wall, pondering. Since when was there a scorched hole in the wall?
She stood up, but dizziness hit her like a hurricane, forcing her back down. She adjusted herself on the pillows, closed her eyes, and instantly fell back to sleep.
#####
Tenzin paced his room, searching for an idea, a possible way to stop the blackouts. He was now scared for not only Korra, but those around her as well. The way she had attacked Asami was frightening, and the instance when she swatted away Bolin revealed that she would injure anyone in her way, both literally and metaphorically. What if Korra saw Asami in the streets? Countless civilians might get hurt.
As much as he tried to deny it, part of him wasn't sure if he should believe Korra in that she went amnesiac. He was pretty sure even he would know when he attacked someone. Then again, this was the first time she got violent, so maybe she had remembered this time. As Mako had said, anything was possible in this accursed world of theirs. Now, if only there was something that could restrain her…or someone.
"I've got it!" he cried.
In the guest room, Mako awoke to running footsteps.
The door slowly creaked open. Tenzin stepped inside.
Bolin kept snoring. Mako slapped him, and he came around.
"What happened?" he cried drunkenly, and jumped up into a fighting stance.
"Bolin, it's just Tenzin," Mako replied. He looked at the bearded man. "Why are you here? Did you come up with something?"
"Indeed I did," Tenzin replied. "Well, not something to prevent the fainting, but something to ensure the safety of Asami and others."
"Good enough."
"So, I was thinking we would provide Korra with an escort."
Bolin whistled. "She's not gonna like that."
"It was the only thing I could think of," Tenzin confessed. "And anyways, the escorts could wear disguises, or hide. She may not even know them."
"Wait," said Mako, "who're going to be the escorts?"
"Whoever I can find." Tenzin looked pained.
"I'll do it," Bolin volunteered. Mako said the same.
"What I'm worried about, however," Tenzin continued, "is that she'll recognize you. She would be more likely to assume she's being watched with you two."
Mako grimaced. "Who else do you have?"
A sigh came from Tenzin. "I only have you two, as of now. I imagine I could do it, too, but I'll stand out from the crowd."
Bolin piped up. "Would it even matter if she saw us? I mean, think about it. Wouldn't she just say hi and maybe talk with us? It's kind of a long shot that she'll guess we're spying on her."
"Well, yeah, that could happen," Mako admitted.
"See? Why don't we just hang out with her, and if she goes psycho, just hold her back until she faints?"
Tenzin nodded. "That should do the trick. Thought I fear that she won't faint until her goal is finished."
"Well," said Mako, "let's hope we don't have to worry about that. I'll do my shift tomorrow."
With that all settled, Tenzin walked out of the room. He silently prayed that nothing would go wrong.
Little did he know how useless that prayer would be.