The hummingbird suits swarmed around the Colossus like the insects that had inspired them. The mech towered over what was left of the city, casting shadows that seemed to blot out the light. Korra swallowed. It seemed unfair, almost perverse, that such a thing could exist. When she was a little girl in the compound, she had imagined being the Avatar would be glamorous. Duels to the death against monstrous villains only she could defeat. Well, she had had her duel, and it had let them here. The Avatar, a lightningbender, a lavabender, and the best the Air Nation had to offer, and the best they could do was slow the thing down while the hummingbird suits and Hiroshi and Asami's plasma saws created the opening the rest of them would need to take down the Colossus.
This is what the world is now. Korra had clawed her way back to her former power, but it hadn't been enough. Kuvira was a great metalbender, but far less powerful than Amon or Zaheer. It was her army and the technology of the spirit vines that had led her to get this far. Korra had shaped the world with Harmonic Convergence, but in doing so she had made herself one actor among many. Even the Avatar was no more than a part of an interlocking whole. The new world would belong to those people zooming around the sky: the geniuses, the entrepreneurs, the innovators.
Assuming those geniuses survived. The tightness in Korra's chest intensified as the Colossus swatted one of the hummingbirds away into a nearby building. Asami was up there somewhere. I won't lose you again. And if she couldn't quite win the war on her own, she could still buy Asami time. She waved her arms and shot water from the aqueduct toward the Colossus. She froze it with a thought. And there—right there!—one of the hummingbirds landed on a bare spot on the Colossus' leg.
The Colossus waved its arms, bursting out of the ice bit by bit. Korra could see an almost imperceptible red mark on its leg. Not yet. Not yet. But the Colossus was breaking through its prison faster than the plasma saw could cut. Korra could imagine what would happen next. The Colossus would break free entirely and slap its great metal hands on its leg. Maybe the hummingbird could cut through in time, but whoever was inside would be squashed like a bug. And I am so very sick of death.
She closed her eyes, and a familiar rush of power beckoned. She could no longer summon Aang or any of the others for advice, but the power of a thousand lifetimes still resided within her. It wasn't Aang taking Ozai's bending or Kyoshi breaking off an island from the mainland. It was two lives, but two lives she could save. Her eyes flashed white and the wind whipped around her so hard that Mako and Lin fell to their knees. Broken ice reformed from the droplets left on the metal. The display wouldn't stop the Colossus for more than a second or two, but that might be enough. The machine's movements were clumsy as they fought against the air and ice. The plasma burned bright, and the hummingbird limped away an eyeblink before the Colossus came down on top of it.
Korra exhaled and exited the Avatar State. "Hiroshi's plan worked. Let's get it done." She had saved two lives. Now all of them had to save the world.
The Spirit World was a riot of color and beauty. Korra cradled Kuvira as she contemplated the pain in her muscles and what had just happened. The blast, summoning the long forgotten power of energybending, and shaping the destructive force into a new spirit portal. Now it was just the two of them, the Avatar and the Great Uniter, in this place of peace and balance.
Kuvira stirred weakly. "I—where am I?" Her eyes widened, and she jumped out of Korra's arms and forced herself to her feet. "Are we dead?"
"No, you blasted us into the Spirit World. Exit's right over there when you're ready to leave." Korra jerked her thumb towards the portal. "But it is over. Give up, please. There's been enough destruction today."
"Why should I?" A sneer disfigured Kuvira's face. "You took down the Colossus, but I still have my army. Su was wrong. They'll fight for as long as I tell them to. I will not let the Earth Empire die today." A casual observer would have said Kuvira was as haughty as ever, but there was a slight tremor in her voice.
Korra sat on the grass in front of her. "The only way you could hold on to power now would get a lot of good people killed. That wasn't what you wanted when all this started."
"What I wanted? What I wanted was for my people to be ruled by someone who cared about them, not a pair of brainless idiots who only cared about their topiary and their manicures. Do you know how many people were starving in Ba Sing Se before I came? Maybe you would have done it more kindly, Avatar, but you weren't here."
"No, I wasn't," Korra said softly. "And the rest of the world should never have expected you to do so much alone. It doesn't excuse everything you've done, but I understand. You saved my dad. You were a hero once. Be a hero again."
"A hero?" Kuvira's laugh was bitter. "I'll never be anything but the Great Uniter again. I gave up everything for the Empire. All my friends in Zaofu. Even…even Baatar." She blinked and Korra thought she saw a hint of tears. "There's no going back from what I did. I'll be remembered as a monster. I am a monster. I might as well go down fighting. It's better than living in a cell my whole life. Just please, let me die instead of rotting away."
One life. A life that maybe she would have said once upon a time wasn't worth saving. She had been young and stupid, so sure she knew what was good and what was evil. Then the poison had come and she had known rage and helplessness and despair in their purest forms. Old enemies, not old friends, had been the ones to save her. Who was she to say what anyone deserved? "You're not a monster. You made a mistake. A big mistake, but it's not all that you are. Do you know who came up with the plan to get us inside the Colossus? Hiroshi Sato. You can build some kind of life for yourself. You can still help." She stood and offered her hand. "But let me help you first."
For a long moment, nothing happened, but then Kuvira sighed and took her hand. They walked together towards the light.
When her eyes readjusted to the material world, the first thing Korra saw was a mass of people staring at her. Mako, his arm bent at an awkward angle. Bolin, Opal, Tenzin, the kids, Su and Lin. And Asami, staring at her with a radiant happiness that Korra had seen before but not for a long time. "Korra!" Then they were running towards each other. Korra picked her up and spun her around, heedless of who was watching. They kissed, and she could feel wetness on her face. She neither knew nor cared whose tears they were. All but she loved in the city was still alive.
Gradually, Korra became aware of a brown and gray shape at the edge of her vision. She broke the kiss. Hiroshi skulked at the edge of the crowd, looking like a man who was trying very hard to fade into the background. He noticed Korra's gaze on him and shifted awkwardly. "Avatar Korra, I'm glad you returned to us. My daughter was very worried about you."
"And you!" Asami made no move to leave Korra's embrace, but she shot a halfhearted glare at her father. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to eject me and—"
Hiroshi bowed his head. "I have my hand on the switch. No need for us both to die doing what had to be done."
The ground shifted beneath Korra's feet. "You guys were the last hummingbird."
"You saved my life, Avatar Korra. I don't know what the life of a traitor is worth, but thank you."
Her hands shook. She had saved Hiroshi. Asami could have been an orphan, but now she wasn't and… Korra looked over at Kuvira, her head bowed and hands cuffed in front of her. Maybe that was what the Avatar was in this modern world. Bringing life where there should be death. Giving hope to those who had long since despaired. Creating peace out of war. Easing the pain of those who had already suffered.
Maybe it wasn't very flashy, but as Asami pulled her in for another kiss, Korra decided she would take it.