Not Over Yet

by hellhoundhavoc

WARNING: POST-END GAME Amon's mask may have been swept away with the current, but the equalists are not done with their mission. Without a leader who can take one's bending, the equalists will be forced to use force to get what they want—deadly force. With the stakes raised, an old face is brought back by two strangely familiar strangers. M for Violence and Language later on.

1. Prologue

Grey skies loomed ominously overhead as they watched the four, maybe five, remaining members of a culture that they'd long to learn and live by, take to the sky. Many of their friends and family also left on their large flying bison, fleeing from the island under siege. Yet these young devotes decided to stay behind. Someone had to defend their island and their way of life—someone had to keep the attacking force from following the last air benders and the young avatar. Adorned in robes of oranges, reds, and browns, the small group prepared themselves for a fight with forces that had long had everyone on edge. The revolutionaries meant to take the gift of the air benders, and every bender in Republic City. The non-bending acolytes had nothing to fear from their leader, but they had to make a stand against the equalists to protect their way of life. They promised the eldest air bender that they would do their best to buy his family time to escape, just as the members of the White Lotus had promised before them. They waved to the small family and proceeded to find the chi-blockers.

They had to protect the legacy of Avatar Aang, and just like the benders before them, the air acolytes slowly fell to the equalists' superior fighting power and ability to numb their limbs. One of the younger acolytes, new to the circle, seemed to give the equalists more of a fight. New to pacifism, this particular young man seemed to know how to fight and if not for being outnumbered, perhaps would have given one of the invaders quite the challenge. Yet, there was only so much this one fighter could do to prevent the forces from collecting him and his fellow acolytes. After a brief discussion with a disgruntled lieutenant who was brushing leaves and dirt from his uniform, the figures descended back upon the smaller group of fighters and began to lead them to an air ship, intending to take them to one of the prisons, where the captured benders often sat to await equalization.

As the group was lead down a stone path towards the large ship, the grey skies opened and rain began to fall. In mid stride, their captors stopped. The young fighter, his arms held by two of the invaders, looked over the island to find their masked leader surrounded by a small group; another air ship floating around them. From a distance, the remaining air acolytes watched as Amon accomplished one of his greatest feats.

He had captured former Chief, Lin Beifong.

The young man took in a few sharp breathes as the pair seemed to exchange words though they were too far away to hear. She seemed at peace; even from a distance, he could see that she was at peace. Until the monster stepped around her, and in the pouring rain, they watched as he stripped her of her bending. The world seemed to go silent as she descended to the ground and lied there, powerless and seemingly fragile.

Something snapped in the young acolyte and within seconds, he'd thrown his elbows into the noses of his two holders. His sudden activity had shocked the equalists, and when he broke into a full sprint away from them, he disappeared. They stumbled briefly before desperately trying to reclaim their captive. They never found him; it seemed that he had disappeared altogether, as though he'd never been there at all. Unable to find him, the revolutionaries left the island, taking the others back to their jail with the former chief. Some claimed that he must have taken to the water, but with the time they'd spent looking for him, if he had, he would have surely drowned in the choppy sea.

Of course, the reign of Amon would not last. He would be unmasked by the avatar days later, and flee town with his brother, Tarrlok. Neither would ever be seen again. Yet, even with their leader unmasked as a fraud, the equalist did not find their cause empty. If anything, the discovery that their once esteemed leader was secretly a blood bender only enraged them further. Without an individual to take the bending of their foes, they had no choice. To bring about a world where everyone was equal, they would have to end the benders, permanently.