MAJOR AU: in which Korra was born after Aang died, but by some magical spirit power was transported to our time period here in the real world, which is the same (pop culture and all) 'cept for the fact that bending and the Avatar and all that still exist, and for some other magically spiritually unknown reason, she was sent back in time to the period when the show takes place, where it's basically been like she arrived to Republic City from her/our time instead of the South Pole, and everything else pretty much follows the show from there.

what a mouthful. go forth and read, but ye be warned: there be plot holes abound.

Korra's very peculiar, Mako thinks, studying her while he warms up for practice. She hasn't changed into her gear yet, so she's still wearing her weird loose shirt and her weird blue pants and her weird black-and-white shoes, her hair tied back from her face with something she calls an elastic – and that's not even it, not really. There's just something about her – some quality that Mako can't quite name that makes her seem... different.

Well – apart from the whole "being the Avatar" thing, anyway. Not to mention the whole "apparently somehow from the future" thing.

Before he can let himself start to think about that too much (because he knows it'll just give him a headache if he does), he glances over at her again. She's sitting cross-legged on the floor, meditating like Tenzin told her to – or she's trying, at least, and she's failing miserably. Mako's noticed that Korra tends to fidget, and she's not disappointing him today, scratching her nose or rubbing her forehead every few seconds. Part of him is kind of amazed that she's even managed to sit in one place for so long, let alone do what she's been told.

As he watches she flops backward, throws her arms over her face and starts to laugh, her mouth open wide and her whole body shaking.

"Oh my god!" she says – it's some expression she uses all the time that Mako doesn't really get but he just sort of goes with it – and then she sighs that end-of-laugh sigh with her voice in it. "Oh, god... I'm a horrible person." She looks at him upside-down. "I'm so sorry, Mako."

He'd planned on simply ignoring her, as it's what seems to work best as far as she's concerned, but now that she's gone and dragged him into it...

"What for?" he asks, an eyebrow raised, and he's scowling a bit and Korra collapses back into laughter. "What?" he says, more insistently.

"Okay," she says at last. "Okay. Oh, god. I feel like such a bad person."

She sits up and spins around on her butt to face him, her grin fading and an uncomfortable apology in her eyes for whatever it is she's about to tell him.

"So... I mean, you, you... you saw your parents – die, right?"

His heart drops into his stomach because it's the last thing he expected her to say. Irrational anger flares within him.

"Yeah," he snaps, "and I don't exactly see what's so hilarious about it –"

"No, it's not, I'm sorry, it's so not, it's just –" Korra takes a minute to collect herself and the smile returns. "And you're helping me fight the Equalists, who are technically a criminal organization, right?"

True and fairly obvious. "Yeah."

"So you could say you're fighting crime, right?"

Slowly: "Yeah..." Where's she going with this?

"And most of our run-ins with them have been at night, right?"

He thinks about it. "Yeah."

"And before you and Bolin started pro-bending, you were kind of – no offense – anonymous, right?"

"You could say that."

She snorts another laugh, covering her mouth with her hand. "You're Batman!" she says.

Mako stares at her, partly confused but mainly nonplussed. "I'm what?"

"Batman!" she repeats. "Oh yeah, I guess he doesn't exist yet – I keep forgetting. But anyway, he's this guy who saw his parents get killed as a kid" (cue sympathetic look) "and so he goes around fighting crime in the middle of the night dressed as a bat."

Most of this is hard enough to understand in the first place and it doesn't help that she talks fast when she explains things from her time, almost as though she thinks they're stupid for not getting it, but as a result Mako focuses on the last thing he heard.

"He dresses up as a bat?" he says.

"Yeah," says Korra, nodding eagerly. Then she seems to consider it for a moment and says, "Well, kinda – he wears gray and black and he's got a cape and a mask-thing with bat ears on it, what's it called – a cowl! That's it, he wears a cowl with bat ears."

Mako's brain must not be processing this correctly. "You're expecting me to believe that some guy does vigilante work every night... dressed like a bat."

Now it's not just the pace of her words that imply his stupidity, but her tone and her face, too. "No, he's just a comic book character. He doesn't really exist." Scoffing at his foolishness, rolling her eyes at his ignorance.

This girl is – she's maddening. She's arrogant and annoying and stubborn and headstrong and determined and fierce and brave and why is he listing her good qualities right now when he doesn't like her.

Really. He doesn't.

Cutting his eyes away from her, he moves toward a punching bag in the corner, ready to blow off some steam. "I don't see the point in comparing me to a fictional character," he says without turning around, stretching his shoulders. "Besides – I thought you were supposed to be meditating? Clearing your mind?"

"It's harder than it looks!" she says, too angrily and too defensively to be normal, and she mutters, like maybe he isn't supposed to hear, "I was trying to compliment you, jerk."

Mako strikes with several quick jabs, keeping his fists close to his face. "Really." A swift uppercut, a straight punch. The bag swings on its chain. "You weren't doing a very good job."

Behind him, Korra starts to speak – it'll be something indignant or insulting, no doubt – before she abruptly cuts herself off. He hears her take a deep breath to reign in her temper, probably another of Tenzin's lessons – which reminds him –

Stay light on your feet, he commands himself. Cool under fire.

Flames erupt from his hands on the next series of blows and add to the scorch marks covering the bag.

"Look," she says. "The point is, Bruce Wayne is pretty fantastic."

"I thought we were talking about Batman." He throws in a kick, a small burst of fire coming from the sole of his foot.

"We are – Bruce Wayne is Batman. It's his secret identity."

These words mean nothing to him, but he figures that if Korra knows this secret identity, it must not be a very well-kept secret. "Sure," he says, which really means I have no idea what you're talking about, but continue.

"Bruce Wayne – Batman – whatever – he's brilliant. He's really brave and really strong. But he shuts people out. He always tries to take care of things on his own, because it's the only way he knows how." Korra hesitates then and it's almost a tangible thing in the room. "The thing is, he doesn't have to do it all alone."

A chill runs down Mako's spine. His attacks become more vicious, almost beyond his control.

"Alfred, his butler – he practically raised him," she says. "He's always been there for him. And he has the Justice League. They work together, they have each other's backs. They're a team."

He stills, breathing heavily. He can feel her gaze burning into him, so that the spot directly between his shoulder blades itches.

"Even if we do win the tournament," he says, after a few long seconds of silence, "I don't think it'll be enough to afford a butler."

Moment of truth.

"Thanks anyway, Korra."

And it's lucky that Bolin chooses that precise moment to show up for practice (at the last second, as usual) because it gives Mako an excuse to walk away from her again. He hopes she doesn't notice – though she can't, of course, it's impossible (but it doesn't stop him hoping) – that the pounding of his heart, the heat in his cheeks, the rapid rise and fall of his lungs isn't just from the exercise.

a/n: because Mako is Batman and everything's okay, only not really, but close enough. this turned out much more Makorra-y than i anticipated... hm. are you complaining about this? i'm not complaining about this. THERE CAN NEVER BE TOO MUCH MAKORRA.

i'm so sorry. it's twelve-thirty in the morning. i have a test tomorrow. i am not making intelligent decisions.

don't mind the obvious plot holes. just don't think about it too much and you'll be okay, because it really will give you headaches. Mako will vouch for me.

reviews are lovely. just reading and not reviewing is... also lovely. :)

(but do it for Batman-Mako! he's amazing! just picture it! stare into the distance with me... mmkay. i'm going to bed now.)

cool if you liked it - i wrote this mostly for my own enjoyment.

~whispered touches

disclaimer: i don't own Mako or Korra - they belong to Nick and Bryke. and Batman, Bruce, Alfred, and the Justice League belong to DC, i believe.