Chapter 1:
Change log:
10/25/17- added more details, fixed several grammatical errors, clarified speakers, and unified transitions between POV.
11/18/17- added a lot more detail, fixed even more grammatical errors, clarified POV.
Author note: Some formatting got messed up. Changes in point of view are indicated by horizontal line
"Why am I the only one surprised by this?" Korra asked, clearly annoyed. Since Kuvira's defeat just a few weeks ago, there had been reports of new equalist activity all over the city.
"With everything going on and you enjoying your vacation into the spirit world, we all felt it was best to give you a lit-" Tenzin started to say before Korra interrupted.
"When were you going to tell me? When they became an even bigger threat?" Korra raged.
Korra noticed Lin furrow her brows and put her hand on her face in frustration. "Would you two can it already! This is a serious problem and I don't have time to deal with you two arguing. We need to decide what to do next," Lin yelled.
Korra was annoyed, but she knew Lin was right. Even weeks after Kuvira's defeat, Republic City was still in ruins. Most people were living in tents without a place to call home, and those who were lucky enough to have a home were now being terrorized by equalists. How could I let this happen, Korra thought. As upset as she was, she knew she needed to focus. "So what do we know so far?" Korra asked.
"All we know for sure is that these equalists are moving fast. In a matter of weeks they've gained a foothold all over the city, and I'm losing officers left and right trying to stop these criminals," Lin explained. Korra pouted, frustrated with how little information Lin and other city officials had managed to gather in the few weeks this had been going on. "We think a bloodbender is in charge, but we don't know if it's Amon or someone else." Korra shivered at the mention of his name. He had been the first real challenge for her as the Avatar, and it had been the first time she felt afraid. Everyone had seen Amon escape, but nobody knew whether or not he was alive. After all she had been through in the past few years, she just wanted a chance to help the world rebuild in an era of peace. Maybe Toph was right after all, Korra thought. The names may change, but the streets really do seem to stay the same. She had been down this road before, and she knew it led to a dead end. Asami had already pointed out all of the good that came from Korra defending the world, but she couldn't help but feel a little depressed at how much suffering she had seen in the world as the Avatar.
"We still haven't figured out their motive yet either," Tenzin added while stroking his beard in thought. "They may share the same goals as the old equalists, but they could just be frustrated with the situation Republic City is in."
As despicable as these people were, Korra couldn't blame them for being upset. If even the Avatar couldn't help to get people back in their homes quickly, then who would? "Have any benders gone missing recently?" Korra asked. She may not be a detective, but she knew she had to try and figure out what was going on.
"Other than my officers, I've only seen a few reports of benders gone missing," Lin replied. Korra knew that wasn't good. If these new equalists were just upset with the situation they're in, they would only target people in charge. This meant they would probably go after even more benders soon.
"On the bright side, my mother will be coming over soon to help you learn some new skills," Tenzin said to Korra, hoping to cheer her up.
"Why is Katara coming here to help me? I already mastered waterbending," Korra asked, raising one eyebrow in confusion.
"There's still a lot for you to learn. This will help prepare you to fight these new equalists until we find out more information. She should be here very soon," Tenzin explained patiently.
"Well if we need more information, then why don't we try to find some equalists and interrogate them?" Korra asked. As Tenzin was about to respond, the three heard a mechanical sound in the distance and turned around to see a few short fire blasts from the white lotus guards. What sounded like a stampede of ostrich horses turned out to be worse than Korra could have ever imagined.
"You better be careful what you wish for," a strange woman shouted from the distance.
Korra, Lin, and Tenzin were shocked to see a woman surrounded by what seemed like a hundred equalists, clear from their characteristic black outfit. Korra wouldn't have thought much of the woman based on her plain black outfit, but something about the strange woman made her seem important. She had perfectly combed hair bundled into a ponytail with dark green band to match her eyes, and she stood confidently with her hands folded behind her back as the equalists scrambled up the stairs towards the training area where they stood.
Korra watched as Tenzin run off towards the dorms shouting, "I'm going to protect Pema."
"Mako, are you there? Get all units over to Air Temple Island immediately! We need backup fast, equalists have stormed the island," Lin shouted over the radio as Korra jumped into action. Without so much as a thought, Korra ran towards the mysterious woman and sent a huge stream of fire towards her. The mysterious woman cartwheeled elegantly to the side and ran towards Korra with her hands behind her back and her ponytail streaming in the wind. Just like the old equalists, Korra thought. The mysterious woman reached forward with an electric bola seemingly appearing out of nowhere, and quickly threw it at Korra, catching her off guard. Korra stood paralyzed by fear as she watched Lin dig her foot into the ground and raise an earth wall in front of Korra to block the bola. "We can't let her escape!" Lin shouted. Snapping out of her shock, Korra put her fists together, concentrating, as her eyes began to glow. Korra moved her hands in a circular motion, whipping up a small tornado, and chased after the mysterious woman with blasts of fire. The mysterious woman dodged, cartwheeling elegantly to the side of all the attacks Korra threw at her. The mysterious woman ran past Korra and threw a bola at Lin, who was too busy to be handling three other equalists to notice it heading towards her. Korra raised an earth pillar under the woman's feet to try and stop her, but she used it as a springboard to get further away from Korra. Seeing the equalists grab Lin, Korra knew she had to let the woman escape so she could save her friend. Korra raised a large earth wall around the equalists, but they dropped Lin and quickly climbed over it. Korra let them go, dropping out of the Avatar State to make sure Lin was okay.
Near the meditation area, the airbenders were trying their best to hold off the equalists. Jinora blew away several bolas as the five equalists focused on her attacked, but as she went to airbend a gust to blow the equalists back, one of them raised their gloved hand, leaving Jinora unable to airbend and with a headache from the low humming sound pulsing through the air like a steady clock. Jinora felt her chi, normally flowing like a river, slowly come to a halt. Astonished, Jinora panicked as she hopelessly dodged bolas being thrown left and right, resorting to rudimentary airbender forms to avoid being captured. She watched the mechanical-looking glove carefully as she dodged, noting the similarities to the old equalists gloves. Unlike the those, however, these new gloves had a short antenna encased in a glass bulb for some unknown purpose. Jinora looked over to see Kai and Bumi weren't having much better luck. They each had three equalists to deal with and had to fight without bending too as more equalists raised their gloved hands, emitting an irritating humming sound. Airbenders were going down quickly with horrific screams as electric bolas entangled their bodies, shocking them with a loud crackling until they fell unconscious. Some airbenders managed to escape with Bumi, but Jinora watched as the others, including Kai, fell too. She continued her efforts, masterfully dodging bolas as dozens of equalists surrounded her. As it appeared she would be captured, she noticed her chi starting to flow sluggishly and made one last attempt at airbending. To her surprise, she was able to generate an air sphere and blow the equalists back. Knowing she was badly outnumbered, she ran towards the dorms to try and escape, but it was too late. A bola wrapped around her legs, sending a painful shock coursing up her body and forcing her to drop to the ground. As she convulsed in pain, drifting in and out of consciousness, she darted her eyes back and forth to see equalists had overtaken the entire island. She tried to be strong and push through the pain, but her body succumbed and she drifted back to unconsciousness.
"Good work everyone, load them into the submarines before they wake up," Ajala ordered. The mysterious Earth Kingdom woman who had led the attack was proud of their work. She had been a skilled and loyal equalist in the first revolution, and considering fewer people were willing to help this time around, she was a good candidate to be promoted to second in command. Her black outfit may have appeared plain, but the new equalist outfits were engineered to be shockproof and appeared a fluorescent color when viewed with special goggles. This was helpful in differentiating between equalists and benders during night raids.
"Should we continue searching the island?" an equalist asked.
"No, Nilak said to grab as many airbenders as we could," Ajala explained.
"I still can't believe we're trusting a bender after Amon betrayed us," another equalist complained.
"I told you already, Nilak said he would take his own bending away when we're done. And if he has second thoughts, we can easily overpower him." Ajala replied. She knew they had a good point, but she was focused on her mission. Although she was born in the Earth Kingdom, she moved to Republic City when her parents joined the United Forces. She didn't know what to think of this at first, but soon her parents were too busy fighting wars caused by benders to have time for her, so she joined the equalists to bring her parents home. Unlike most of those in the United Forces, her parents weren't benders so they got stuck with the brunt work and other menial tasks. Since they were only home at night and exhausted from work, it had been easy to sneak out and help the equalists. After the revolution failed, however, she told her dad who she really was. Her dad wanted nothing to do with her for being an equalist; he blamed them for her mother's death. He blamed them for ruining his life. He blamed her. She had tried to move on like everyone else had, but Kuvira's army destroying her home was the last straw. War had ruined her life, and she knew she had to do whatever she could to stop all of the fighting.
Ajala snapped back to a reality as an equalist asked her for instructions. "We need to get out of here before the police arrive," Ajala explained. As if on cue, police blimps could be seen approaching the island. "Hurry up everyone, get in the subs. I have some business to finish first." Ajala smirked. As the equalists retreated to the submarines carrying as many airbenders as they could, Ajala made her way into the dorms to plant a surprise to be found after she escaped. She placed a small metal card she had been carrying near one of the columns before sitting calmly in the middle of the room, waiting for the police to arrive. She only had to wait a few minutes before they came and quickly surrounded her.
"Surrender peacefully and we won't hurt you," an officer ordered.
Ajala slowly stood up and smiled, knowing she had them exactly where she wanted. "Now, why can't we just have a friendly conversation? I'm quite valuable you know. I can tell you a lot about the new equalists," Ajala paused, smirking, "if I feel like talking." Ajala spoke to the odd officer out, the yellow-eyed officer with an injured arm, wondering why the police would send him here. After looking closer, she recognized the officer was Mako. He had given the equalists a lot of trouble during the Revolution.
The officers looked around, confused. "Why would you help us," Mako stepped up to ask. "Are you abandoning the equalists?"
Ajala noticed how the officer to his right, the only other officer without armor, watched intensely. She hid her curiosity as she subtly glanced at the armorless officer, recognizing him as Bolin. "In due time you'll find out who I am. But since I'm feeling generous today, I'll answer one question. Think carefully," Ajala said, smiling devilishly
"Look here 'mam, you're surrounded and in a lot of trouble. If I were you, I would start talking now. What are you doing here?" another officer demanded.
"If I were you, I'd be a little more respectful to someone being so generous. I don't have to talk you know. I'm here to capture some airbenders. I know you'll be disappointed, but we weren't able to take all of them off your hands," Ajala replied sarcastically.
Mako had enough of this arrogant and mysterious woman. "What's your name? Are you the leader of the equalists?" Mako asked. The officers waited a few seconds for a reply, looking at each other as to see what to do. Seeing the woman was done talking, Mako shot a powerful blast of fire as Bolin stomped into the ground and began to melt the floor where the woman stood. Instinctively, the woman raised her gloved hand as the metal wires being shot at her dropped to the cooling floor like dead snakes, succumbing to the humming sound of the glove as if it were a magical flute. The powerful blast of fire quickly dissipated into little more than smoke. As the officers stood stunned, Ajala bolted out of the room and ran towards the submarines. She looked back to see Mako was the first to process what happened and was quickly chasing after her with Bolin and the other officers following closely behind. Without their bending, however, there wasn't much they could do to stop her.
"Go!" Ajala shouted as she hopped in the submarine. A few officers who were out of the glove's range shot their metal wires at the submarines, but Ajala smiled from the comfort of her submarine as the missed.
Korra saw Tenzin peaking out from the dorms and waved him over to where she and Lin stood to let him know the crisis was over. "They got away," Lin said sternly as Tenzin walked up the two women.
"How many airbenders did the manage to take? Is Jinora safe?" Tenzin asked, his face clearly drowning in concern. Korra turned to Lin, who looked at the ground for a moment, apparently thinking of what to say as Tenzin's expression grew more worrisome in the process.
"A better question is how many airbenders they didn't take. So far, it looks like there's only a handful of airbenders left. They didn't seem to bother with the Acolytes at least. As for your daughter," Lin paused, "I'm afraid we haven't seen her yet." Korra looked to Tenzin. She had seen that look before when Jinora was trapped in the Spirit World. He stood there, the world seemingly crumbling around him. His baby girl, the first airbending master in a generation, was captured and they had no idea where she could be. "Relax you two. She's an airbending master, she can take care of herself." Lin's remarks did little to calm them. Korra put her hand on Tenzin's shoulder.
"I know you're upset Tenzin, but I promise I'll do everything to bring Jinora back safely," Korra reassured.
"Why don't we investigate the crime scene? My officers are reporting that the woman who attacked us confronted them. They weren't able to get much information, but I'm concerned with what else I heard," Lin hesitated. "The woman had a glove that was able to temporarily stop their bending."
"What!" Tenzin exclaimed. "How is that possible?" Korra just stood there, lost in the fog of her own mind, as her nightmares from the past seemed to suddenly rise out of nowhere.
"I don't know. But if that's true, the equalists are more dangerous than ever," Lin stated. Korra shuddered at the thought of more dangerous equalists than before. Chi-blockers were scary enough, but some sort of technology that could chi-block benders without even touching them was terrifying just to think about. As Tenzin and Lin went to investigate the crime scene, Korra waited by the dorms for Katara to arrive, trying to process what happened.
Tenzin and Lin met Mako and Bolin at the crime scene along with some other officers. Tenzin stared at the ground, still having a worried look on his face. "Relax, these criminals clearly know what they're doing, and that means the airbenders will be kept alive. They're more useful as bait," Lin stated with a serious expression. Tenzin stood, struggling to hold back his anger.
"How could you say that!" Tenzin yelled, trying to compose himself before he got carried away. "Please Lin, this is very important to me. Jinora is my daughter, and these airbenders are what little is left of my entire culture. Just please be careful of what you say. Even Toph wouldn't be so cruel," Tenzin continued. Lin jerked up, her brows furrowing in anger.
"How dare you bring my mother into this," Lin shouted, stomping her foot and causing the island to rumble. "You may have a spouse and a family, but if you're going to be like this. You certainly. Don't. Have. ME!" Lin stomped in fury, crushing the crime scene. "Come on officers, let's go. We're done here." Bolin stood as still as a statue, scared of the anger emanating from his boss. Mako was startled to, but he grabbed his brother's arm and started dragging him away.
"Sorry Tenzin," Mako said as he and Bolin boarded the airship with the others. Tenzin stood, with his world literally crumbling around him, wondering what he would possibly do now.
Korra didn't have to wait too long for Katara's boat to old waterbending master calmly walked up the stairs towards the dorms, appearing excited to see Korra and completely unaware of the events that had transpired just an hour ago. "Master Katara, it's good to see you again," Korra said politely, bowing in respect. "So Tenzin told me you came to teach me some new skills," Korra continued.
"Yes, but," Katara trailed off as she looked at the ravaged island littered with bolas everywhere. "What on earth happened here?" Katara looked concerned.
"Some equalists attacked us. Tenzin is okay, but I'm not sure how bad things are. I haven't had time to see the damage myself." Korra lied as she frowned at the ground. She knew the real reason she hadn't looked around with Tenzin is because she had been scared, plain and simple. This whole fiasco had reminded her too much of Amon and brought back some dark memories. It was just too much to process all at once. Katara noticed Korra's melancholy tone and tried to distract her.
"I'm sure Tenzin can handle everything. With all of this going on, I'm going to take you somewhere special to train. Come with me," the waterbending master said. Korra followed her as they walked away from the dorms towards the edge of the island in dead silence. As Korra saw where they appeared to be going, she broke the silent barrier between them.
"Why are we going to the ocean? Are we going to waterbend or something?" Korra inquired.
"We are going to a place Tenzin doesn't even know about," Katara said as she started bending the water. How could Tenzin not know everything about his own island, Korra thought. Obediently, she followed Katara into the ocean, helping to waterbend an air bubble around them, clueless about where they were going.