Summary: Mako and Bolin try to surprise Korra on her birthday.
A/N: Hey, guys. So, I'm not entirely sure where this would fit in the continuity. Some time after episode 9, I guess, but it's kind of hazy as to where after that. But it's winter. Because there's snow. So, yeah. LOK is not mine (sadly), blah, blah, blah. Go read. - Immac
Mako peeped his head around the corner.
"They got Korra out of the house, right?" he whispers to Bolin. Bolin nods. The two brothers scamper towards the kitchen as quietly as they can, so as not to wake the acolytes or Tenzin and Pema. Through the window, the early morning grey sunlight gleamed off of the statue of Avatar Aang. Everything was still and silent.
"So… what does she like?" Bolin asks as they begin fumbling through the various pots and cans on the counter. Mako squats to poke through a cabinet, then realizes that he has no idea.
"I guess we just do whatever we can find," he shrugs.
"So you're sure the Equalists took her this way?" Korra asks skeptically as Jinora and Meelo lead the way down a steep hill towards a tunnel.
"Skoochy said so," Jinora shrugs, "and I don't really see any other options."
Korra raises an eyebrow skeptically as they approach a large, metal gate covering the entrance. Planting both feet in the ground, she bends the snow around her, striking and slashing the gate with the water until a small square about the size of Meelo fell open. Korra let the excess water fall to her feet, and she followed the air bender kids into the tunnel where they swore the Equalists were keeping Ikki.
"Hey, Bo," Mako calls as he reaches for a bag of dried berries. "Korra likes fruit, right?"
"I guess," Bolin shrugs. He holds up a bag. "I found some sky bison oats!" he proclaims eagerly. Mako looks at him in disbelief.
"We're making cake, Bolin, not oatmeal. Try to find… baking things. Like…" he reaches into a cupboard and pulls out a container. "Flour. Flour is baking stuff, right?"
Bolin doesn't respond, just raises an eyebrow.
"At least I'm not offering to feed her sky bison food," Mako mutters, placing the container on the counter.
"Which path do you think she's on?" Korra asks. Four tunnels stood in front of them. Jinora looked at them, contemplating them.
"The loud one!" Meelo exclaims eagerly. Korra gives him a look that says Be quiet or they'll find us. Jinora gives him a look that says STOP TALKING NOW.
"If we're going by noise, that one sounds the loudest," Korra gestures to the one that's second from the far right with the fire she'd bent to light their path. "We could try there."
Jinora nods. She glares at Meelo as they fall in line behind Korra.
"Okay, hand me a spoonful of cactus juice," Mako instructs, struggling to remember the recipe they'd snatched from Bei Fong's house before she'd taken it back.
Bolin squeezes the water out of the cactus onto a spoon and hands it to his brother. Leaning forward, he sniffs the inside, and looks up, saying, "Are you sure we're supposed to put this in cake? It smells… kinda weird."
"I can't remember, but we'll figure it out. How much can one spoon hurt, anyway?" he says as Bolin sticks his finger into the cactus, licking the water inside.
"Well, what's next, then?" Bolin asks, licking his lips. He scrunches up his nose at the odd taste, then tosses the cactus out the window.
"Uh…" Mako mutters, closing his eyes and struggling to remember. "I think it was two Buzzard-Bee eggs."
Bolin glances into the cabinets, looking for any kind of eggs. He then blinks and stands up.
"We don't have those here. This is a vegetarian island," he says.
"We're idiots."
"Shh…" Korra whispers as they glance inside. Two chi-blockers are standing in the middle of the room, ordering different carts to different locations. Korra waits until their backs are turned, then blasts a fireball in their direction. Both fall to the ground, coughing and sputtering.
"Not again!" one growls as he struggles to his feet. Korra shoves Jinora and Meelo towards the cart headed to the jail. Before the chi-blockers can get to them, Jinora airbends the cart into motion, knocking the Equalists backwards in the process.
"Nice one," Korra says approvingly. Jinora smiles.
The cart stops at the prison, and as soon as it does, the chi blockers are attacking them again. Korra waterbends one against the wall, freezing it there, and turns to the other, creating a hole under him in the earth and encasing him up to his neck. They both groan, struggling to move, but she's locked them into their respective elemental jails tightly. Jinora and Meelo follow her down the hallway, looking in each cell for Ikki.
"Where is she?" Korra murmurs. None of the cells appeared to hold the bubbly seven year old. Besides, the hallway was too quiet. Ikki was never quiet. Korra held her breath, hoping that she wasn't too late. At the end of the hallway, she turned back to face the other two air bender kids. "I don't see her."
"But she has to be here," Jinora says. "Where else would they keep her?"
"I don't know. But we'll find her," Korra assures the younger girl. "In the meantime," she adds, turning towards the rest of the cells filled with de-bended people, "let's get the rest of them out."
She looks up and away from Jinora and Meelo, hearing her gasp leap from her throat, along with theirs. Facing them in the middle of the hallway, hands folded together behind his back, almost politely, is the one man they hadn't accounted for when coming here. Amon chuckles.
"Welcome, Avatar," he says.
This wasn't part of the plan.