I don't own these characters or profit from them.
Legend of Korra: Air Ninjas
By, Clayton Overstreet
When you are the bridge between the material world and the spirit world you can never tell what you are going to have to do to keep the world in balance. Korra and Asami had been back from their romantic trip to the spirit world barely three weeks. Korra and Asami were having dinner with Tenzin and his family. They had been putting it off knowing it was going to be embarrassing. As expected Ikki had asked about a dozen questions about their relationship. Meelo declared that he would steal Asami from Korra if he could. Meanwhile Tenzin and Pema just ate quietly and tried not to laugh. Jinora and Boomi were still off with the other air benders, so unfortunately she was not there tyo temper her siblings.
Fortunately Kaya, Tenzin's water bending sister, was visiting and she managed to distract them by saying, "I remember when I first fell in love with a girl. It was Lin."
Everyone stared at her except Tenzin who kept a straight face and ate in silence without looking up. "What?!"
"Oh yeah. I had a crush on her pretty much our whole lives but she was stuck on Tenzin. When he dumped her I asked her out, but she said she wasn't that way. I found other women though and even got married once."
"Really?" Ikki said. "What was it like? Because I kind of think I might like girls too."
Tenzin choked and spit rice across the room. Pema slapped him on the back and Kaya smirked playfully, continuing on as if it had not happened. "Good for you Ikki. Anyway I for one am very happy for you two…"
Both Asami and Korra were flushing hit enough to scorch a fire bender when Varrick walked in, just ahead of the air acolite who was trying to introduce him. "There you are Asami! I have something I need to talk to you and Korra about."
"Oh thank you!" Korra gasped. Then she saw Ikki and Meelo's face. "I mean... go ahead."
"The company is alright, isn't it?" Asami asked.
Varrick laughed. "Are you kidding? Since we started having professional mech fights and Sato-mobile races we've tripled the annual gross earnings!" He sat down and pushed the food aside knocking Tenzin's rice into his lap. The air master just sighed and began scooping it back into the bowl. Pema patted him on the shoulder. "No, what I want to talk to you about is right here." He lay a rolled up map in the table and unrolled it. Then he poked his finger at it.
"That's a map of the Earth kingdom," Korra said.
Asami looked. "What about it?"
"Well as you know my attempt to find a clean energy source by using spirit vines was a huge disaster and led to Kuvira nearly ruling the world."
Meelo nodded. "I vaguely remember something like that."
"Yeah well I've been trying to think of a new source that… well… won't d4estroy the world as we know it. I was going to go with volcanoes…" Everyone else shared a look ythat he didn't notice. "But then Zhu Li told me about something she saw while she was pretending to work for Kuvira." He moved his finger on the map. "This is Dragon-bird mountain. Kuvira planned to dig through it for the railroad but she ran into problems and put her plans on the back burner. Apparently they ran into some weird weather… and lost two survey teams."
"Okay…" Asami said. "I assume you're going somewhere with this."
"Darn tootin' I am! According to Zhu Li's research the same thing happens to anyone who tries to climb that mountain. Strange weather has been reported there for nearly two hundred years. Wind storms, freak blizzards, lightning strikes… you name it. Despite this there is plenty of wildlife including nesting dragon-birds, the village at the base of the mountain is the biggest most thriving community in the area, and untiul people actually step foot on the mountain the weather is just peachy."
Korra frowned. "It sounds like it might be a spirit problem."
"That's what I thought," Varrick said. "If it is then I guess it's back to the drawing board, but I'm kind of hoping it's some kind of natural phenomenon. That's why I need you and Asami to come with me and check it out. If it's a spirit thing then we have the Avatar, you can do your Avatar thing and fix it. If it's natural Asami and I can figure out how to harness it."
Asami nodded. "That's actually not a bad plan."
"Of course no, it's one of mine," he said.
Korra nodded. "If spirits are attacking people I need to do something about it."
Ikki stood up. "Ooo, can I come? I haven't been to the Earth kingdom in a while and I would love to see a magical mountain."
Meelo nodded. "And you will clearly need me to protect you."
Korra shrugged. "If Tenzin says yes."
The air bender stroked his beard. "I suppose… Pema?"
"Oh right, like I'm going to say no and be the bad guy?" She smirked at her husband. "Fine. I'll stay here and take care of Rohan in peace and quiet while you and our kids go off and have another adventure."
"We should see if Mako and Bolin can come, just incase it is dangerous," Korra said. Then she grinned and looked at kaya. "Why don't you go ask Beifong if she can spare Mako for a few days?" Kaya's breath caught in her throat. "Maybe you can talk about old times."
"I don't think that's…" Tenzin began. Kaya was already gone, her bowl spinning on the table. "Oh dear."
"Problem?" Korra asked innocently.
Seeing Pema staring at him, lips pressed tight, Tenzin glared at Korra. "Are you certain you're not the Dark Avatar?" Asami and Korra shared a look and then burst out into giggles.
000
Meelo groaned as they climbed up the side of the mountain. "I don't see why we couldn't take the air bison or a plane or something."
Varrick said, "Because kid, if the weather around here is half of what they say it is being in the air or wrapped in metal is probably a bad idea." He was riding on a wooden pagoda being carried by two strong looking earth benders. "Hey watch it, I almost spilled my drink."
Bolin said, "Am I the only one worried that everyone in the village freaked out and warned us not to go up the mountain. I've never heard the word 'doom' used so many times in a sentence as a verb,noun, and adjective."
Mako snorted. "Bolin come on. Between the two of us and the air benders Korra probably won't even have to lift a finger."
They were already half way up. Korra stopped and looked at the view, more mountains stretching out before them. "So far I'm not really seeing a reason to…"She stopped. She was sure she had spoken, but she had not heard her own words. In fact… she couldn't hear anything. Not even the constant chatter of Ikki. Turning she looked at her friends. Everyone else was looking around wide-eyed as well. She tried to clap to get their attention, but nothing happened.
Tenzin closed his mouth and caught her eye. They both nodded and closed their eyes. Korra's senses told her what he no doubt felt as well. The air around them was unnaturally still. As if something were holding it in place.
Then Korra's eyes shot open as something pierced her arm. She looked down and saw a needle sticking from her bicep. She tried to yell, but the air would not carry her words. Looking around she saw Mako and Bolin had been hit too. Varrick's seat had been dropped and the two men he had hired were on the ground. So was Varrick. The world was going back around the edges and Korra realized they had been poisoned.
That made Korra fight. Zaheer had poisoned her and remembering that got her adrenaline flowing. Then she saw a needle pierce Asami's arm. That was it. The world flashed white as she entered the Avatar state.
At the same time Ikki and Meelo had realized something was wrong. They had summoned a whirlwind and sound returned with a roar and more needles were knocked ut of the air. Korra rose up, surrounded by a ball of wind of her own, then a ring of rocks, and fire. A few nearby trees cracked as the water was dragged out of them.
Mako and Bolin were up too, though a bit sluggish. They saw something move between the trees, trailing darkness like smoke, and everyone started blasting. Lightning, wind, and ice. The figures rushed forward, like shadows. When they met the onslaught they lashed out with something and the attacks… shattered. They prepared to attack again, but the poison, whatever it was, was still working and Mako and Bolin went down. Asami and Tenzin followed.
Korra screamed, her voice echoing across the mountain. She lashed out and a blast of hurricane-force winds hit the attackers. They went from shadowy figures to people in a momnt, lying on their backs. They stared wide eyed as Korra floated towards them. Each wore a skin tight black outfit and a mask that only revealed their eyes.
"You… you're the avatar," one gasped. Ikki and meelo joined them, floating on balls of air. "Air benders?"
Korra was angry and filled the vengeance. She was about to say something cutting. But just then… the poison took her.
000
Korra woke up and sat up immediately. She was in a small room with a number of beds. She recognized it as they inn she and her friends had checked into when they entered town. Looking at the other beds in the room she saw Asami, but not Ikki. Did that mean Tenzin, Mako, and Bolin were in their room and Varrick was in the suite he had rented? She hopped off the bed and to Asami's side. "Asami?"
The girl blinked away and sat up. "Korra? What happened?"
"We were attacked." Korra looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. The place that needle hit me stings, but otherwise I'm okay."
"Come on," Korra said. "Let's see if we can find everyone else." They went out into the hall and to the boys' room. Inside Tenzin, Mako, and Bolin were still asleep. They woke them up and when they knew they were fine they went to Varrick's suite. He was snoring heavily. They shared a look and decided to leave him to sleep for the moment. His pagoda carried snoozed in nearby chairs.
"Let's find Ikki and Meelo," Tenzin said.
They hurried downstairs and were shocked to see the two young air benders at the breakfast table, eating pancakes with some other people. Korra and the others ruched forward , but Korra pulled up short when one girl, about Ikki's age, turned and looked at her. She wore a standard Earth Kingdom outfit, but her eyes were the same as the person she had seen on the mountain.
"You!" A ball of fire appeared in her hand.
"Please!" The girl threw herself to the ground. So did the dozen other people in the room, including the people serving and the innkeeper. "Forgive us. If we had known you were the Avatar and air benders we would have never attacked you."
"Why does that matter?"
The girl looked up. "Well you did enter our training grounds. Our teachers often throw surprises our way when we are up there. And as a general rule we do our best to discourage intruders."
"We who?" Asami asked, putting her hand on Korra's arm and pushing down so that she let the fire die.
The people stood up and another woman said from the stairs above them. She was regal and sharp featured. Like the others she was dressed in Earth nation finery. Korra was about to ask who she was when she came around the edge of the stairs, her feet hovering three inches above the floor. "We are the last air benders." She smiled. "Or so we thought."
"You are air nomads?" Tenzin asked, shocked.
"Not exactly." She landed on the floor and walked the rest of the way to the table and sat down. "Please, sit." Everyone joined her and the others at the table. "As you should know the four nations have many peoples. There are Earth benders, fire benders, water benders, and of course air benders. At least… there used to be. As you know the fire benders wiped out the air nation in a bloody and futile search of the Avatar."
"You aren't going to blame me for that, are you?" Korra asked.
"Of course not. But I will say that it was a futile effort, though they tried their best. Destrying the air temples and even the air nomads would never truly end all air benders. You could destroy the poles and everyone there and there would still be water benders. Like the swamp benders. There are also sand benders and even the fire nation used to have the ancient Sun Warriors."
"You're saying you are a different group of air benders?"
"Yes," she told them. "I am Wu Sing and this village is but one remnant of the old air nation."
"Then why haven't you tried to contact us?" Tenzin asked.
Wu smiled. "Because we have lived in secrecy for nearly two centuries. When the fire nation declared its intention to wipe out the air nation to destry the Avatar, our ancestors went into hiding. They abandoned most of the old ways and found new ones, which kept us safe."
"That all ended long ago," Tenzin said. "My father was the Avatar and he…"
"We know what he did. But one does not immediately trust the first generation to claim to give up their plans of genocide, particularly when the new fire lord is untested and some others with stronger claims to the throne still live. It was always possible that the old fire lord or his heir Azula might reclaim the throne. Then there was all that trouble with the Equalists, the spirits, the Red Lotus, and Kuvira."
"She's got a point," Asami said.
"How did you stay hidden?"
Wu shrugged. "By being careful. Unlike the other elements air is invisible and the fire nation made certain that everyone knew the air benders were all dead."
"And if anyone came poking around?" Korra asked.
"Then we did our best to discreetly get rid of them. If that failed… we used harsher methods."
"Was tha what you were doing up on the mountain?" Mako asked, rubbing his shoulder where the needle had pierced him.
"Originally, yes. We use the mountain as a training ground. It's ideal. If anyone sees anyone flying up there from a distance they assume it's a dragon-bird. If anyone gets closer the villagers warn them off. If they continue on… well accidents happen on mountains all the time."
"Unexpected snow storms, lightning strikes, and the like?" Asami asked.
Wu smiled. "Few people know what air benders were once capable of when they worked together. Changing air pressure to summon thunderstorms and then opening a hole for lighting to strike. Changing air temperature to cause winds, snow, or blasts of hjot air. Did you know that a tornado can drive a piece of straw through solid steel? Alone an air bender can coat themselves in mist if they wish, practically becoming shadows. Together we can change the landscape is needed."
"What was that trick with the sound?" Bolin asked. "I thought I had gone deaf."
"My daughter Una," she said, nodding to the girl who had apologized before. "I noticed that you used lava and lightning when you defended yourselves. I've heard of metal benders, blood benders, swamp benders, and all sorts of variations. Una can bend sound, altering the air around her to either mask specific sounds, take away all hearing, or make it so that a pin drop can shatter your ear drums."
"Wow," Ikki said. "I want to learn that."
"I don't think so," Tenzin said, his voice hard.
They all looked at him. Korra asked, "What's wrong?"
"My father taught me that air bending was all about properly balancing one's self. :iving in harmony with the spirit, the world, and everything in it. But to hear that air benders have been killing people to hide their secrets… I just don't know what my father would have said."
Wu's eyes narrowed. "I don't particularly care. Aang spent a hundred years trapped in ice. We had to deal with fire nation assassins, bounty hunters, and people who might sell us out at the drop of a hat. Not just the air benders either, but our families. Maybe a quarter of this town were air benders before the spirit portals were open. Jump it up to about half afterwards… much to our delight. She shot Korra a smile. "The fire nationdidn't care. They weren't just killing air benders, they were slaughtering their families, trying to make sure that no more could be born."
"So you hid away here," Korra said.
"Not always. This is not a prison and sometimes people left. They kept our secrets of course, but if you read history books you might find mention of mercenaries, amazing fighters, or other gifted people who could be traced back to one of our hidden villages. Criminals too of course."
"You're assassins," Mako said.
"We prefer Air Ninjas." She looked at Korra. "I believe one of our number, a youn g man who was often picked on by a group of air benders and left our village, became the right hand man of the one you knew as Amon."
Korra gasped. "That guy…"
"Yes. Only half trained true, but I hear he was quite the hand full before Amon turned on him."
"That's one way to put it," Bolin said.
"Well nobody said all air benders were saints."
"We try," Tenzin said firmly.
She smiled. "So we've heard. And we have been considering contacting you… once we sw how the world treated the new air benders." She tilted her head. "Maybe now that you are here we can arrange some kind of exchange program."
"My father always said anyone who violates the life of another had no business being an air bender."
"That's not true daddy," Ikki said.
He was surprised. "What are you talking about?"
"Well Zaheer killed the Earth Queen," ikki said. "That didn't stop him from achieving enlightenment and learning to fly after the Beifon's blew up his girlfriend's head. Korra kills animals and eats meat…"
"True," Korra said. "Though if I didn't live at the south pole I bet your dad would have had me eating nothing but bean kurd my whol life… yuck." Tenzin shot her a look. "Hey, I respect that you don't eat meat. You should respect that I do."
"That's not the same thing," he muttered.
"Sure it is," Meelo said. "We've met plenty of spirits of plants and things. Why is eating them any different than animals?" He leaned over and whispered to Una. "I sneak meat rolls when I can."
"Anyway daddy I remember when we visited the air temples and you and uncle Boomi were burying the dead monks. There were a lot of dead fire benders there too, so the air nomads definitely had a limit."
"My father…"
"Your father was twelve," Korra said. "You barely let Jinora get her tattoos. I'll bet there were a lot of things the air nomads hadn't taught him when he ran away."
"Please, return with us to the mountain and watch us train," Wu said. "See how we use our gifts and then decide."
Just then arrick came down the stairs, yawning. "Hey guys you would not believe the weird dream I had about climbing up the mountain… what re you all looking at?"
000
Back on the mountain with a proper escort to keep from being attacked again the ninja training grounds were quite impressive. Even Tenzin, who was still in a bit of a snit, had to admire it. In their ninja outfits the air bendings were through the woods and obstical courses. Some spun, like the things Tenzin had taught Korra air bending moves with while others looked far more deadly. They moved through razor sharp blades like leaves in the wind and in Una's case either silently, with her footsteps coming from the opposite direction, or with explosions of sound that shattered wood, rock, and metal.
"Why are those four dressed as turtles?" Bolin asked. Wu just rolled her eyes. "Are some of them… flying?"
"Yes. It takes training and I've heard only a few have ever managed the skill before, but our ancestors felt that if a flying bison could do it we should be able too as well."
They also trained with weapons. Swords shaped like fam blades. Swung right they could send powerful gusts of wind. Done another way they could cut the air and create what they called a wind blade, short lived but invisible and able to cut like a knife through anything, even rock. They used darts, blow guns, and throwing stars. Even hand fulls of sand, powdered glass, or other things that could blind or, with enough force, strip skin and muscle from bone.
Tenzin noticed some training with poisons, and practicing sleight of hand. He was about to make a comment when Korra said, "You know Kai does that sort of thing too. It's oftn very useful."
"They're learning to kill."
"They're learning to survive," Wu said. "And yes, kill when needed. But we have always kept that as a last resort and remembered the balance. Do you think we have not considered using our skills to eliminate people like Fire Lord Ozen, the former Earth Queen, or other dictators?"
"Why haven't you?" Mako said. "Seems like you would be able to and I doubt even a hundred detectives could prove you had done it."
"We're too removed from the world," Wu said. "Hidden away for safety we could not be sure of the results. Kill a dictator and you risk creating a martyr. Or opening the door for someone worse. Maybe even killing the wrong person. I understand that when Avatar Aang first visited Ba Sing Sei the Earth king was little more than a puppet and that the Dai Lee were doing terrible things in his name. Ask the average person who was the blame and they would have said the king, but if someone had killed him that would have merely cemented the Dai Lee's position of power." She raised an eyebrow. "But at the same time force and violence were needed to oust them and again just a short while ago I believe the Queen was demanding all of your heads as well. Had Zaheer not killed her, how exactly were all of you planning to get out of that?" Everyone looked around uncomfortable.
"What were those weapons they were using?" Asami said. "When they attacked us it was like they cut Mako's lightning, Korra's wind, and even Bolin's lava out of the air."
"Ah, then for that you'll wish to see the armory."
They were led to a larg building and Wu took out a set of keys. Korra wondered how safe that was, but then remembered the ninjas she had seen training. Something told her that just picking pockets was not going to do it and anyone trying would probably lose a hand, for starters.
In the room there were shelves of weapons. Some were obvious. Swords, spears, bows and arrows, throwing stars, and everything else. The rest… "This looks like one of my workshops," Asami said.
Varrick nodded. "No kidding What's in those glass balls with the valves on them?" Korra looked and saw what looked like bubbles of water. But as she extended her senses… it was like platinum or something. Like whatever as inside was too pure to bend.
"Various gasses, in liquid form. Slowly taken from the air. Liquid nitrogen that allows us to freeze things so fast that even metal shatters like ice. Liquid oxygen, which we can use in breathing devices or when fighting fire benders."
"Genius!" Varrick said. "Saturate the air and one spark destroys everything in the area. I bet there's a thousand things you could do with these." Wu just smiled.
Asami pucked something off the wall. It looked like a sword on one end, razor sharp and thin as paper. The other end was a solid bar. A handle between the two for holding Next to the racks holding these were some empty handles. Wu said, "Those are the practice blades for what we refer to as Void Swords." She went over and picked up one of the empty handles. "These… which I should demonstrate outside." Asami carefully replaces the practice sword and they followed her back out to the training area.
Wu continued, "Over the years we're developed ways to fight benders, which even non-benders can use. Not every one of our ninjas are air benders. Many are not any kind of bender, though most are. We've developed electromagnets to counter Earth and Metal bending. Gasses for fire and water. Poisons and weapons. But this is our greatest trimph." She pressed part of the handle and there was a soft whirring that got louder and louder until it sounded like a small high pitched plane engine. Everyone around had to cover their ears for a minute and they felt their ear drums pop. Korra was going to ask why they had not heard that before, then remembered Una's sound bending.
The air at either end of the handle blurred, in and out, depending on the end. Raising her voice Wu said, "One end blows out air in a three foot bar of force stronger than steel and able to punch through anything and can shoot things out at the speed of a tornado. The other in is the void, or vaccume, that sucks in hair like a wind blade." She swung it at a rock and though there was nothing to see, suddenly a huge gash appeared as parts of the rock were sucked into the handle and shot out the other end as dust.
"Can we see that?" Asami asked.
Wu deactivated it and tossed it to her. Asami and Verrick looked inside. He said, "Interesting. High powered fan blade… probably titanium."
"Yes, but look. It's clearly been damaged by the rocks." She looked up at Wu. "how did the one you used on Bolin's lava react?"
"Poorly," she said. "Destroyed almost immediately. We don't run into too many lava benders."
"I'll bet." Asami pursed her lips. "Still even one strike would be enough when combined with surprise."
"And if it could do that to a rock if you got it near a person…" Varrick whistled. "Think of the applications though." Asami nodded. "How do you power it?"
"Batteries, charged by lightning."
Varrick smiled. "You know… you air benders could be exactly what I'm looking for. I thought maybe this was a natural event, but if you can really summon thunder storms whenever you wish, you could power whole cities…"
Asami's eyes lit up. "Add in windmills too…" They began to babble about science stuff and Korra tuned them out.
Tenzin frowned. "I still don't like their methods. Like Varrick said, those swords could shred a man like confetti."
"Tenzin, just let me ask you one thing," Korra said. "When Zaheer and his people took the air temple, what would you have given to have had three Air Ninjas with you?" He lapsed into silence. "I'm not condoning killing people, but from what I've seen these people just keep dangerous people away as best they can and only kill when they are threatened. They make a lot of good points."
"Maybe… where's Ikki?"
000
They found her back at the training ground, running through obstical courses as if she had been doing it for years. "Wheeeeee!"
"Ikki, be careful! Get away from there!" Tenzin cried.
Ikki flew up and out, arching over and landing next to her father. Mako and Bolin applauded, before Tenzin shot them a glare that quieted them down. "Daddy the air ninjas said I could train with them if I wanted And a bunch of them wantt o go to the air temples and train with the other air benders."
"Your boy and the Avatar are also welcome to learn," Wu said. "As for my people, many feel as you do about killing and others have heard of the good airbenders do now, travelling and helping people."
Meelo snorted. "I don't think so. I don't like sneaking around. One should crush his enemies with a full on frontal assault!"
Korra smiled and said, "And as for me I'm thinking hiding here and training for years… I've had enough if that. I don't mind learning some techniques, but part of being the Avatar is travelling the world and making sure everyone's in balance."
"Commendable. But we only just met. I'm sure that after we get to know you we can find one of out people who does not mind a bit of travel and who would be an excellent teacher."
Asami put an arm around Korra. "Since you lost your past lives I bet it couldn't hurt for future Avatars to have access to that kind of knowledge in an emergency."
Korra looked at her old teacher. "Tenzin?"
He stared for a moment. Then his shoulders sagged. "I firmly believe in the search for enlightenment and spirituality. True some like Zaheer may reach the same end on a darker path, but I was taught that one should learn from mistakes and follow the path od what is rigt, over all else." Ikki and some of the others looked uncertain, but before they could say anything, he went on. "But my father also spoke of a time before he fought the Fire Lord. He spoke to his past lives including Kiyoshi, who founded the Kiyoshi warriors, a fire bender, a water bender, and even an air bender and all of them told him he should kill the fire lord. Aang found a way around that, but the air bender said that the Avatar could never truly become one with the universe because he or she is meant to protect the world, not separate from it.
"I cannot approve of these people's methods, but I also can't condemn it. I do know that my father would have been ecstatic to have found any surviving air benders even if he might have been as disappointed by all of this as I am." He looked away from Korra and looked at Ikki. "It's your choice."
Ikki looked up at her dad. "Dad, lots of things are dangerous. Mom always says it's better to have something and not need it, than need it and not have it. I listened to all your stories about grandpa Aang too and while peace is good… fighting definitely has its place too." She reached up and touched her father's cheek. "You trust me to use anything they teach me the right way, don't you dad?"
Korra flinshed and hid a grin. She leaned to Asami and whispered, "Ouch. That is so unfair."
"Of course I trust you," Tenzin was saying. "I… I just…" he turned to Wu. "If oine hair on her head is hurt…"
"I promise nothing," she replied.
He sighed. "I just wonder how I'm going to explain this to your mother."
000
(One year Later in Ba Sing Sei)
Varrick ran amongst the machines. "Darn it, Zhu li, do the thing!"
"Yes dear," his wife said. "I'm doing it, but I'm running out of things to do. If the attack keeps up, the whole plant could explode."
Outside Korra was leading the defense as more people attacked. The group they were fighting outnumbered them twenty to one and most of them were benders of one kind or another. They called themselves Anti-techs. They felt that technology was an abomination, the more advanced the worse. Mostly they were recruited from small villages who had suffered economically from not being able to keep up with the big cities. They had been tampering with Sato-mobiles and fighting mechs for months, causing numberous deaths and drawing public support to their cause until Mako and Beifong had uncovered their sabotage. The public had been wary of them to begin with after things like the Equalist rebellion, so once it was proven even those leaning their way had mostly denounced them.
As a result they had turned to destroy Varrick and Asami's new power plant, which was charged monthly by air bender weather bending. They thought it would just turn off the city's electricit and so far had ignored all explanations that damaging the power containers would blow up half the city and cause an earthquake that could change the face of the continent. Perfectly safe normally, but not once the benders destroyed all of the redundancy systems that kept everything in check.
Korra, in full Avatar state, was fighting themoff but even she was only able to do so much. She was being backed up by a dozen air benders including Tenzin and Boomi and the police, along with kaya who was fighting side by side with Lin Beifong. Lin was hurt, one arm hanging limply and Kaya was refusing to leave her side even though she was also bleeding from a dozen places.
"I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out," Kaya gasped to Lin.
"You should run," Lin said. "Leave me and get out of here."
Kaya laughed. "Idiot." She leaned in and kissed Lin on the lips and then sent a blast of ice at another approaching group of attackers. Up above Asami and a few others flew high, dropping glue bombs. There were metal benders among the enemy and they had already taken down four planes and proven that standard bombs and weapons were useless. Normal mechs were made of ordinary metal and most of the platinum from Kuvira's giant had been melted down and sent back to the Earth kingdom to pay for the damage she caused, so they had to keep their distance.
Suddenly everything paused as the whole group felt as if they were being sat on. Up in the sky above them clouds formed swirling out of a blue sky until it waas gray and nearly black, lightning flashing. Rain began to pour.
"What is going on? What trickery is this?" Fang Tze, the leader of the Anti-techs snarled. He glared up at Korra, who was on her knees, panting. "Is this some trick of yours, Avatar?"
Before she could answer there was a large screech and something dropped out of the clouds followed by four more. Huge dragon-birds fell out of the sky and before anyone could do anything they swept into the crowd of Anti-techs, plowing through them as easily as they had the clouds. Dozens fell in seconds.
Then the world went silent, as if they were in a silent mover. Des[ite all the action around them everyone was confused because none of it made a sound.
While everyone was watching that a dozen gray shadows like living mist began to rush throught he crowds, blending in with the rain and shadows from the thick clouds above. Where they passed anti-tech's fell in waves, knock out needles piercing their skin and faces covered with odd powders. Others began to hallucinate, confusing their allies and enemies as they attacked.
A fire bender took aim at a nearby shadow and let loose a blast, only to be enveloped in a white explosion as the air around him exploded, sending him bowling into three more. Angered a large man bulding with muscles swung a sword the size of an average man. The shadow dodge and was somehow standing on it. It extended a misty arm and a stream of hissing white shot out, hitting the sword. Shocked at the sudden cold the man let go, his skin sticking to the hilt and ripping off as he did. Screaming in pain he was surprised as the misty shape jumped off and his sword shattered as if made of sugar on the ground.
Others fell for no apparent reason, having no way of knowing the oxygen around them was being syphoned off and they were breathing in other gasses that provided their lungs with no nourishment until they passed out. Sand blasted some while invisigle blades cut at others, ripping off their armor. Darts were fired at speeds that pierced what armor remained and arrows and throwing stars rained down pinning people in place as the dragon-birds came around for another pass.
Fang Tze felt a blade at his throat even as he raised his arm to deliver a killing blow to Korra. He froze as sound returned and a voice said in his ear, "You wouldn't hit a girl, would you mister?" He swallowed, frozen in place. "Hi daddy!"
"Ikki!," Tenzin said. "I'm so glad to see you!"
"I brought some friends." She nodded to the rooftop. "Speaking of which, you might want to cover your ears."
Tenzin looked up and saw a ninja on the roof of the building that housed Varrick and Asami's equipment. From the previous lack of sound he guessed it was Una. She spread her hands as if she were about to applaud and all around he felt the air thickening. A voice whispered in his ears and around im he could see the people on his side starle a bit too, as if it were speaking just for them. "Put your fingers in your ears, this is going to be loud.
"Oh dear…" He slapped his hands over his ears and hit the ground.
Fang Tze felt the knife move away and saw the Avatar corned up before him along with her allies. All of them seemed to have surrendered. " We've won—!"
Above him Una brought her hands together, clapping and cut him off. The world shook. The few Anti-techs still standing fell. It also took out a few of Korra's allies who had not heeded the warning. Stones cracked in a funnel shape in front of the girl. Anyone in the direct path was literally blown away.
Tenzin felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Ikki in an Air Ninja uniform, her face uncovered and smiling at him. "Hey dad, I've been meaning to tell you, I'm not a vegetarian any more. I tried to be but… bacon is soooo good!"
"Ikki, you can eat whatever you want. I'll take you out for a hotdog this evening."
Una appeared and Ikki put an arm around her shoulder. "Can I bring my girlfriend? And can we make it steak?"
"Can I get in on that?" Varrick called from the doorway of the building. "We stopped the city from exploding so I feel like celebrating!"
Kaya came over, supporting a limping Lin. "What do we do with all of them?"
Korra stood, looking up at the sky and waving to a relieved Asami. Then she said, "I say we give them what they want and lock them away in some very simply cells with no technology… including a toilet. I think the ones they used to keep Zaheer and his friends in have a few openings."
"After a fair trial," Lin snarled. "I don't want anyone to have any doubts where these morons belong."
Korra nodded. " Agreed. But first lets get them all tied up before they wake up."
Kaya said, "Then can we get some healers in here? Beifong's scars might be sexy, but she doesn't need new ones."
Korra looked around and saw the other ten ninjas who had joined the fight, mounting their dragon-birds and taking off. "Where are they going?"
"It's an ancient ninja tradition," Ikki said.
"What is?"
"Leaving the mess for someone else to clean up," she said. "See you all at dinner." She flicked her wrist then she and una vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"Hey!" Korra said. Then she looked around at the mess of the battle. "Maybe I should have joined the ninjas after all…"
To Be Continued?
Author's Note
It occurred to me that all the benders have a hidden sub culture. Earth Benders have Sand Benders. The Fire Nation had the Sun Warriors. The Water Benders have the Swamp Benders. And I can't imagine that every air bender on the planet was an air nomad and lived in the temples eating vegetarian meals and playing with lemurs. Plus there were a lot of fire bender bodies when Aang found Iyatso's body. So it occurred to me that a hidden sub culture of air bending ninjas who may not hold life and non-violence quite as sacred as their deceased monk counter parts would make sense. Plus it seemed really cool.
If you eoyed this then you should know that I have several books available on Amazon under Clayton overstreet and C.D. Overstreet… the second one if you particularly enjoyed the idea of Korra/Asami, Kaya/Lin, or Ikki/Una. Examples of what I've written include "Yes Virginia, There is a Bogeyman", "How to Be an Anime Character", "Undead Strippers Versus The Alien Zombie Queen", "Lesbian Fairy Tales" and the joke book "Lesbian Princesses and Friends" among others.