The author is unsure whether to thank Your Local Cow or to curse her for putting this story idea in her head. Either way, this story wouldn't have been possible without Your Local Cow's help.
For authenticity, portions of this story were taken from a transcript of Book One: Chapter Three, "The Revelation". I own nothing of consequence.
Chapter One: The Enemy of My Enemy
Kaldur approached the small factory dressed in a heavy cloak to conceal the water skins strapped to his back. If all goes well tonight, Amon will be dead before morning and this "Revelation" will have little to no bearing on the future of Republic City. But the teenaged waterbender believed in being prepared. He'd spent most of his life training to become a bodyguard to the Northern Water Tribe's royal family just like his father and grandfather. If there was one thing Kaldur's teachers beat into him, it was the belief that forewarned meant forearmed.
Kaldur watched silently from a nearby alley as another couple approached the door only to be stopped by a rather large man. Kaldur couldn't quite make out what the doorman was saying from his position, but whatever was said has flustered the young woman. Her male companion seemed a bit more composed as he pulled out a sheet of paper and showed it to the guard. As the couple entered, the man dropped the paper and it floated gently to the ground.
Kaldur waited until the couple was safely inside before approaching the factory slowly, paying careful attention to the discarded page. The waterbender is relieved to note that it is a copy of the same leaflet Kaldur had obtained from an Equalist protestor the previous morning.
The doorman stood with his arms folded, blocking Kaldur's path to the door. "This is a private event. No one gets in without an invitation."
Kaldur presented his own piece of Equalist propaganda and the doorman let him through unhindered. Kaldur kept on the outskirts of the crowd to prevent anyone from getting a good look at the pair of water skins that clearly mark him as a waterbender. Fortunately, he's arrived in plenty of time. Sticking close to the wall, the teen slowly inches to the front of the crowd. Kaldur managed to get within fifteen feet of the stage before a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, filling him with dread.
"So you made it here too," Conner stated grimly.
Kaldur let out a sigh of relief and patted the younger teen's hand. "I'd like to think Robin's plan will be successful, but we should prepare ourselves for the worst."
"Sometimes, I think you worry too much, Kaldur," Conner said as he removed his hand.
Kaldur smiled, "What about you? You're here same as me." Conner shrugged nonchalantly. "I think I worry just enough. Rob's plan doesn't go into effect until late tonight; there's still plenty of time for something to go wrong."
The conspirators' attention was drawn to the stage as a wiry little man appeared. The audience erupted around them as the man announced, "Please welcome your hero, your savior... Amon!" The announcer then steps back to make room for Amon's grand entrance.
The audience cheers continued as the masked man known as Amon rose from a trapdoor in the stage floor; he is flanked by a line of men in chi blocker uniforms. The crowd slowly quieted as Amon approached the microphone. "My quest for equality began many years ago," Amon began, seizing the microphone. "When I was a boy, my family and I lived on a small farm. We weren't rich, and none of us were benders. This made us very easy targets for the firebender who extorted my father. One day, my father confronted this man, but when he did, that firebender took my family from me. Then, he took my face." The crowd gasped in astonishment as Amon paused for dramatic flair. "I've been forced to hide behind a mask ever since. As you know, the Avatar has recently arrived in Republic City." The crowd booed, forcing Amon to pause once more. "And if she were here, she would tell you that bending brings balance to the world. But, she is wrong. The only thing bending has brought to the world, is suffering. It has been the cause of every war in every era. But that is about to change. I know you have been wondering, "What is the Revelation?" You are about to get your answer. Since the beginning of time, the spirits have acted as guardians of our world, and they have spoken to me. They say the Avatar has failed humanity. That is why the spirits have chosen me to usher in a new era of balance. They have granted me a power that will make Equality a reality. The power to take a person's bending away. Permanently."
"No, that's impossible," Conner said in a hushed whisper. "Please tell me that's impossible."
"It is," Kaldur responded and Conner wondered who he was trying to convince.
"Oh, but I don't expect you to believe me," Amon continued. "Tonight, I will demonstrate both my abilities and the consequences of betrayal." The crowd watched in rapt fascination as Equalists led seven hooded figures to the stage. "Please welcome, Lightning Bolt Zolt," a guard leads the first man onto the stage and Amon removes the hood. "Leader of the Triple Threat Triad and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City." The crowd booed as Amon introduced the first prisoner.
"Ah, booh yourselves!" Zolt called out to the crowd.
"Are those Artemis and Rob?" Conner asked, pointing to the two figures at the end of the line of prisoners. Unlike the others, the two on the end were dressed like chi benders.
Like Conner, Kaldur studied the two figures at the end. One was obviously female and their heights and figures matched their friends'. "Damn, it's impossible to tell for sure with the hoods, but I think so."
"So how do we get them out of this?" Conner asked in a panicked whisper.
On stage, Amon continued to address the crowd. "Zolt has amassed a fortune by extorting and abusing non-benders. But his reign of terror is about to come to an end. Now, in the interest of fairness, I will give Zolt the chance to fight to keep his bending."
"Maybe we'll get lucky," Conner whispered as the guards untie Zolt.
"You're gonna regret doing that, pal," Zolt declared.
The cocky firebender sent round after round of fire blasts hurtling towards Amon, but the revolutionary dodged each one with ease. As Amon got closer, Zolt switched to a lightning bolt attack. Unfazed, Amon seized Zolt's firebending hand and twisted it behind him and placed a hand on Zolt's forehead. The lightning bolt changed to fire and quickly dissipated.
"Wha…What did you do to me?" Zolt stammered out as he attempted to firebend to no avail.
"How is that possible?" Conner asked Kaldur, horrified.
Amon continued to address the audience but Kaldur wasn't paying attention to him anymore. His mind was whirling trying to come up with some way to free their friends before Amon finished with the other benders and moved onto the traitors. The task had already seemed daunting when Kaldur thought he and Conner could rely on their bending. Amon's "revelation" made any rescue attempt nearly impossible.
"Come on," Conner prompted and began nudging his way towards the front. "I can't stand by and do nothing. They're our friends."
Kaldur watched helplessly as the second and third benders' powers were removed. They've reached the front of the stage and Kaldur could feel Conner tensing for an attack. "Wait for the next one," Kaldur whispered. "We'll attack while Amon's draining the next bender's powers. Hopefully, Amon will be distracted enough to give us a chance." Conner looked hesitant, but nodded. "I want to save them too, but right now we need to get our team out."
The fourth bender was released and the young man and Amon squared off. Before the two combatants could start, however, spectators began screaming. Everyone's attention was drawn to the rear of the crowd where steam was quickly filling the room. Amon backed away from the fight quickly and departed the stage.
"Now!" Kaldur called out to his companion and together the teens took to the stage. Equalist guards quickly ran forward to intercept them. "Get Artemis in Robin, I'll take care of them." Taking advantage of the excess moisture in the air, Kaldur used the steam to freeze the chi blockers feet to the stage. He noticed another figure rushing on stage to help and froze the feet of the guard holding the last of the benders as well. Most likely, Kaldur and his team owed the bender's friends for the timely distraction. It should be enough to help the benders escape, but Kaldur didn't have the time to wait and find out. "That won't hold them long!" he called to Conner.
Conner was already moving. Not wanting to risk close quarters combat with a bunch of chi blockers, he used earthbending to send rocks flying at the guards from behind. The blow wouldn't be enough to kill the guards, but they'd each wake up with one really nasty headache.
Kaldur looked shocked as he turned to Conner, "You didn't—"
"They'll be fine," Conner responded. "It's far better than they deserve. Now let's grab the others and get out of here."
Conner moved to where Robin and Artemis were already struggling to free themselves. Conner pulled off Artemis's hood first. Artemis's face was badly bruised, her bottom lip split, and her bushy blonde hair was hopelessly tangled, but she's still smiled when she saw Conner.
"You okay to walk out of here?" Conner asked.
"It looks worse than it is," she lied and winced as her lip cracked open again. Kaldur moved behind Artemis and condensed some of the steam to water and used it to cut the ropes binding her and Robin's wrists. Conner moved to help Robin with his hood as Artemis rubbed the circulation back into her hands.
"Hmph, hmmu mmh mmm…You're letting him get away!" Robin yelled angrily as he struggled to remove the hood. Conner had to grab the younger man's arm to keep him from running behind stage to wherever Amon supposedly disappeared.
"You're welcome," Conner responded, but Robin wasn't paying attention to anything except Conner's hand on his arm.
"Enough!" Kaldur barked and Robin immediately stopped struggling. "You'll have you're revenge, but not today. You nearly died today. Your sister nearly died today." Robin deflated as he remembered his adoptive sister. "We were lucky tonight. That's the only reason we're still alive."
Conner let go of Robin's arm and the younger man moved to cup Artemis's battered cheek. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drag you into all of this."
"It's alright, baby bro," she answered. "You didn't drag me into anything. We're family and family has to stick together."
"Uh, guys," Conner interrupted. "I hate to break up this touching family moment, but…"
Robin and Artemis fell silent so that all of them could hear the guards' shouts and running footsteps. Kaldur sprang into action. "Artemis and Robin, grab some masks from the guards. You know a way out of here?" Artemis nodded. "Good, meet us back at base. Conner and I will buy you some time; you're in no condition to fight again tonight."
Robin swiftly grabbed Artemis's arm and a couple of masks from the fallen chi blockers. "Come on," he said and led his sister to a service entrance.
Kaldur and Conner moved towards the loading bay at the back of the factory, but they couldn't leave just yet. Kaldur waited until the guards filled the room before making his move. Most of the steam had dissipated, but it had left the air heavy with moisture. Kaldur used the moisture to form hundreds of ice shards, which he sent flying at their pursuers. To cut off further pursuit, Conner used his bending to block the door with a slab of pavement.
The benders made it almost three blocks before they heard the first sign of pursuit. "If we can get to the roofs, I can create ice bridges to move between buildings. We'll lose them as soon as there's a gap too large to leap across."
Like most earthbenders, Conner wasn't a great fan of heights. "My bending is useless up there. If they corner us first, I won't be any help to you. Let's split up. There's a tunnel entrance a couple of blocks from here. My brother and I played down there all the time as kids. I can lose them easily."
Kaldur hesitated at first, but finally nodded in acquiescence. "Be careful. I'll see you back at base," Kaldur said and ran towards the nearest fire escape.
Conner took off in the opposite direction, towards the nearest tunnel entrance. "Whoa!" Conner cried as he skidded around the first corner and crashed into a dark skinned teenage girl with the most beautiful blue eyes. The two landed in a heap with Conner on top. Below him the girl struggled to get up.
"What are you doing!" the girl yelled, clearly exasperated.
"Sorry, sorry," Conner blushed and apologized before he disentangled himself. He stood up and offered the girl a hand.
"You need to get out of here," suggested a breathless male voice. For the first time, Conner noticed the girl's two male companions. The speaker was a tall teen wearing a red scarf. There was a second, shorter man that Conner instantly recognized as the last bender from Amon's little demonstration. He was the only one lucky enough to keep his bending.
"Mako's right," the girl commented as she regained her feet. "The Equalists are after us. Wait here; we'll lead them away. And whatever you do, don't follow us."
Conner shook his head, "Just wai—"
"Hey you," a group of Equalist chi blockers rounded the corner two blocks west and pointed directly at Conner. "Stop that man!"
The shorter man turned to Conner. "They're after you too!"
Conner shrugged and replied sheepishly, "Seems that way." Conner planted his feet in a traditional earthbending stance and levitated a large section of pavement and threw it at the oncoming chi blockers.
"Hey another earthbender! Cool!" the shorter man cried. He then came forward and sent a volley of smaller pavement chunks at the remaining chi blockers. "Wahoo!" he cried as the last man went down. His celebration was short lived however, as a second larger group of chi blockers came into sight. "Ah man, these guys just don't know when to quit."
"Maybe we should stick together after all?" Mako suggested.
"Agreed," Conner replied with a curt nod. "Come on, I know a way out of here." Conner took off running south towards Yue Bay.
The girl sent a torrent of fire towards the new Equalist group and quickly caught up to Conner; the boys followed close behind. Conner smirked as the girl pulled alongside. "With those pretty eyes, I would have pegged you for a waterbender. Name's Conner, by the way."
The shorter teen forced his way between Conner and the girl. He glared at Conner as the girl let out an indignant squeak. "I'm Bolin, and over there," Bolin half turned to point behind the trio, "is my brother, Mako. And this is our teammate, Korra." The last sentence came out in a rush.
"I can speak for myself, Bolin. Thanks," Korra interjected, clearly irked. "Oh, great!"
A large delivery truck pulled in front of them and came to an abrupt stop, cutting off the teenagers. The rear door was flung back on its hinges and six more chi blockers piled out. A commotion behind the teens drew their attention to the way they'd come. Part of the group that Conner and Bolin had subdued earlier must have recovered, because there were four more—slightly battered—chi blockers behind them.
The four teens positioned themselves back-to-back in preparation for facing their attackers. "Great!" Mako called out, irritated. "What's your plan now?"
"If you take a left at the next intersection, there's an entrance to the underground tunnel network. My brother, Clark, and I used to play down there all the time when we were kids. We can lose these guys in the tunnels," Conner answered.
"Alright," Mako replied. "New plan. Concentrate your attacks on the Equalists in front. We'll make a hole and head for the tunnels."
Mako made the first move, sending three blasts of fire towards the nearest chi blockers. Bolin wasted no time in cutting off pursuit by raising a section of pavement between the teens and the Equalists coming from behind them. Following Bolin's lead, Conner created similar earthen barriers on either side of the group. Korra joined Mako in sending fire straight towards the chi blockers blocking their way to the tunnels.
Conner brought his arms out straight in front of him, palms together, with a heavy smacking noise, drawing the attention of the other teens and quite a few of the chi blockers. Sweat beaded on Conner's forehead as he slowly separated his palms and the cracking noise that coincided was deafening. Korra, Mako, and Bolin watched in astonishment as the pavement below the Equalists' feet cracked. The gap grew wider as Conner slowly spread his arms. Two large sections of roadway jutted upwards at an angle of approximately sixty degrees before Conner twisted his arms so that his palms were facing skyward. Conner brought his arms straight up as he lifted two hefty portions of earth from below the pavement and deposited it on top of the Equalist forces.
Conner visibly sagged as he released the earth and Mako moved to place a supporting arm under Conner's chest. "You going to be okay, man?"
Panting heavily, Conner nodded and said, "That won't stop them for long. Let's go!"
Mako and Korra led the way, sending bursts of fire toward any chi blockers who were still unencumbered. Bolin followed at a slower pace as to stay alongside Conner in case the other earthbender needed supported. Korra and Mako reached the intersection just as Bolin and Conner were clearing the section of broken pavement.
"One second," Bolin called out to the two in the lead. Bolin moved slowly in a circle and as he did loose bits of dust and earth moved upwards creating a dust cloud. As he completed his circle he sent the dust cloud back in the direction of the chi blockers with a pushing motion, concealing their escape.
"Never seen you use that trick, Bro," Mako commented as he briefly admired Bolin's handiwork.
"There's never really been much use for it before," Bolin replied quietly. "And it won't do us much good if you keep talking so loud. You'll give away our position."
Mako quickly clamped his mouth shut and the other two teens nodded. Conner motioned to the left and the teens made their way down the dank alley leading to the tunnels. They hadn't made it twenty feet down the alley before Mako spotted the tunnel entrance. "Now what, Genius? The tunnel's blocked."
Mako and Bolin followed Mako's gaze to the tunnel entrance and found that, sure enough, heavy iron bars blocked the tunnel's entrance. Conner raised an index finger to his lips and held it up in front of Mako, indicating that he should be quiet and wait a moment. Conner than moved to the entrance and grabbed the bar closest to the right edge of the tunnel with both hands. As Conner began twisting the bar, the other teens noticed a gap about eighteen inches wide between the bottom of the bar and the floor of the tunnel. After a minute or two of twisting, the bar pulled free of the roof of the tunnel with a popping noise. The four teens squeezed through and Bolin took the bar from Conner's tired, wobbly arms and quietly popped it back into place.
Mako, Bolin, and Korra quickly became lost as they quietly followed Conner through the maze of tunnels. They remained silent for a full five minutes before Conner indicated that it should be safe to talk again. "I've been meaning to thank you guys," Conner said, breaking the silence. "We wouldn't have been able to save our teammates at the rally without your help. One question though, where's your waterbender?"
Korra and Mako exchanged a glance. "He'll be meeting up with us later," Korra lied. "You were there to rescue Amon's traitors, weren't you? That's why the chi blockers are after you."
"Guilty," Conner said and shrugged.
"Where are we going, anyhow?" Korra asked. "My friends and I need to get back to Air Temple Island. I have to let Tenzin know what we saw at the rally tonight."
"Tenzin?" Conner paused to mull over the familiar sounding name. "The councilman?"
Korra nodded in response and Conner supposed that going to the city council made a certain amount of sense. "Alright, but why not wait until tomorrow and meet them at City Hall?"
"No!" Korra demanded, sounding desperate. There was an awkward pause as Conner studied the young firebender and finally Korra asked again softly. "I meant please. This is important; we need to get back to Air Temple Island tonight."
Conner stopped in his tracks and looked over Korra carefully. Her request was odd to be sure, but reasonable. It was her wording that gave Conner pause; it seemed to imply that Korra was staying on Air Temple Island. While Conner had just met the young woman, she certainly didn't strike him as an Air Acolyte. That's not to say that Conner had met many acolytes, but they weren't they all supposed to be about inner peace and stuff? Korra seemed like more of a hot head to Conner.
Finally coming to a decision, Conner answered in a resigned tone, "Fine. We're meeting my teammates at one of my father's old warehouses down near the bay. One of my friends is a waterbender. If you can't wait for your waterbending friend, you can ask if he'll help you get across the bay."
"Thank you, thank you!" Korra answered with a sigh of relief. She then gives Conner a quick hug, "And you don't have to worry about us; getting across the bay won't be a problem. If you can get us out of here, we'll be fine on our own."
The next few minutes passed quietly. Knowing they were about to reach the warehouse, Conner finally summoned up the courage to ask more about the strangers and more importantly, Korra. "So, you guys live on Air Temple Island?"
"Not all of us, just me," Korra replied. "I'm finishing my training there. Mast—"
Once again, Bolin pushed himself between the two teens. "My brother and I actually live above the Pro-bending Arena."
"Wait, you live above the Arena?" Conner asked excitedly. "Does that mean you get to watch all the matches? That's got to be the coolest apartment ever! I've been sneaking out of the house to listen to the matches ever since I was a little kid. I've never been able to see an actual match though. My family isn't exactly excited about having a pair of benders in the family," Conner frowned as he recalled his father's reaction to various requests to visit the Arena.
"Watched the matches? Mako, Korra, and I are the Fire Ferrets," Bolin bragged.
"Fire Ferrets," Conner considered for a minute. "I'm sorry, but I haven't been able to catch the last few matches. Aren't you the rookie team that's been moving up the ranks? But wait, how can you have two firebenders and an earthbender? One of you is a reserve player than?" Bolin laughed as Korra and Mako looked ready to protest.
Bolin opened his mouth to respond, but Mako quickly cut him off. "Is that our exit up ahead?" he asked motioning towards an opening in the roof of the tunnel and a rusty old ladder.
"Yeah, but I better go first. My friends should be waiting for me." With that Conner quickly climbed the ladder. As Conner reached the top rung a hand reached out to help him up the rest of the way.
"Man, I didn't think you were ever going to get here," Robin said as he helped Conner up. "What took you so long?"
First thing Conner did as he emerged from the tunnels was search the cavernous room for the rest of the team. Once he'd assured himself that the rest of the team had returned safely, he answered Dick's question. "Some of the chi blockers from the rally caught up to me. Fortunately, I had a little help," Conner reached back down into the tunnel to help Mako up.
Mako looked around and spotted Dick in his Equalist costume first. Mako tensed and prepared to firebend his way out. "These are Amon's traitors?" Mako asked Conner directly.
Kaldur, Artemis, and Robin moved to defend themselves, quickly surrounding the Conner and the firebender.
"Wait!" Conner yelled at Mako and moved between Mako and his team. "These are my friends." He turned to Kaldur and the rest of the team, "These are the guys who created the diversion at the rally."
Mako didn't relax his stance, but he didn't attack either. "No offense, but I just met you. And your friends look an awful lot like chi blockers."
"Stand down," Kaldur commanded the team. As Robin and Artemis relaxed, Mako did as well. "They may be chi blockers, but they want to take down Amon just as much as you do."
"Mako, what's going on?" Korra demanded as her head popped over the tunnel's entrance.
"It's alright, I think," Mako told Korra. He then reached down to help her and Bolin out of the tunnel.
"Guys, these are my friends Artemis, Robin, and Kaldur," Conner introduced.
"I'm Mako and this is my brother, Bolin, and our teammate, Korra…"
Robin cut off Mako and pointed at Korra, "Wait, wait, wait! You're the Avatar?"
"The Avatar?" Conner repeated and looked at Korra like he'd never seen her before.
"Avatar Korra's arrival in Republic City was the top story on all the radio stations last week, I'm surprised you didn't hear about it," Kaldur told Conner.
Korra blushed as she addressed the group, "That's why I need to get back to Air Temple Island tonight.
XXxxxXX
All will be explained in due time. Stay tuned for Chapter Two, Robin and Artemis's back stories are up next. As always, thank you for reading and please REVIEW.