This was no abandon Air Temple. This was the powerhouse of innovation and industry, the city that never sleeps: Republic City. Shining in the smoke of night like a star fallen to earth, thanks to her veins of lightning and fire. Golden light floated on the water like an oil spill, until the bumbling barge chopped through and sloshed dark water in her wake. In the deafening roar of the barge motor our girl watched the skyscrapers stack higher and higher while the statue of the proud statue of Avatar Aang shrank into the distance. She hitched her foot up on the side-railing, leaned her head out over the water, watching the swirling kaleidoscope patterns of black water and golden light. She fumbled around her pockets and pulled a smoke from the rumpled pack. Hanging the end down she snapped her fingers and a burst of starving sparks began to gnaw away the paper and tobacco.
"Oi, we're here! Now get it all off my boat ya good'fer'nothing layabouts!" The ferryman hollered as he cut the engine. Everyone took a minute to stamp their cigarettes under heel before moving to their stations. A short ramp connected to the dock like a fist to a face, and a dozen crew members began to hustle large, slatted crates to shore. Under the streetlights the crew didn't look like hired muscle. All of them were dressed in corporate uniform: suit, tie, spit-shined loafers. They could have just been on a coffee break from the office- if any offices let out at two in the morning on a weekend.
Our girl buttoned her black blazer, tugged her tie straight, and pulled her hat low over her eyesspan style="letter-spacing: 0px;". She warned the strong-arms to stand aside before she whistled into the dark cargo hold. The deck rocked as a massive white bear-dog shot out of the shadows and slammed the young woman to the floor with two huge paws. Laughing as she was bathed in kisses, the young woman pulled herself up and scratched the bear-dog's ears while the crew buckled on her saddle and loaded the saddle-packs with bottles and straw.
For a bunch of hardened criminals running an illegal transport operation, the bootleggers were relatively care-free, and all friends to one another. An argument broke out over mover-stars Bolin and Scarlet and a crew member punched our girl in the arm and asked, "Korra, as the Avatar can ya ask tha Spirits who's they got the hots for?" which raised a chorus of votes for either side.
Korra waved her arms dramatically and gasped, "Oooh! Ah... the Spirits say Bolin loves himself more than all of you ever could!"
The crowd bubbled with laughter, and clinked their bottles, spilling their drinks. One of the bootleggers passed Korra a bottle and shook their fist in why-I-oughta anger, "You better get me an autograph this time!
"Korra," snapped two distinct voices in unison. The conversations died like bugs hitting a windshield. The twins rolled their motorbike up, wearing identical blue trench coats, thick-avator goggles, and disappointed frowns. "You should have left by now, cousin," Eska sighed as Korra gave a noncommittal grunt, and sipped her bottle of liquor. Desna shook his head, "/spanSomething wicked this way comes."
Eska smiled as she dropped the axe of the guillotine,"The wicked is your ex. Also he's with the police."
Tires ripped along the pavement, sirens and lights screaming, as police cars blocked up the road from the dock. An officer jumped on the hood of their car and yelled into a megaphone, "This is the police! Put your hands up and surrender!"
Unfortunately, the crew did not get paid to surrender. Cracking their knuckles the benders fell into their stances, thirsty for the fight. Korra tossed her bottle into the bay and jumped into the saddle as the men raised a rallying cry, "For the Avatar! Protector of the good, and the good stuff!"
The twins shouted as they stoked their bike, and yelled, "Follow us." The bike shot towards the police line, dodging and weaving the burst of fire, water and earth exchanged on both sides.
"Naga, chase!" Korra snapped, and bent low to the saddle as the bear-dog gained speed, and tailed the back-tire of the motorbike.
"Stop!" An officer broke from the line and spouted flames at the polar bear-dog, catching a saddle-bag on fire. Naga yelped as her thick fur smoldered, and Korra blasted the fire away with a slosh of bay-water. In a flash two metal cables lashed around the bear-dogs fore-paws and pulled her snarling, and snapping to the ground. Eska and Desna heard their distress and sucked the officers responsible into the ocean, leaving Naga to chew through the metal with her bone-splitting teeth. Korra shot bricks of stone from the pavement at the fire-bending officer, trying to hold him off until they were free. "Korra, you can't escape!" the officer growled, as the bear-dog snapped the last wire.
"We broke up! Get over it!' Korra clenched her fist and pulled back with all her might, straining as the street rose like the peak of a wave in the ocean. Naga saw their freedom and charged up the great swell of earth, with the fire-bender's comet punches nipping at her heels. Using her full strength the massive bear-dog hurled herself over the police line.
Motorbikes squealed behind them, but machines didn't have a half a million years of evolutionary adaptability of a natural predator! Using cabbage cart as a step-stool Naga clawed on top of a low-hanging roof. Then she just hopped from one roof to the next, like they were floats of ice in the Arctic ocean. Even weighed down with thousands of dollars in illegal alcohol the bear-dog lost the police after a dozen or so blocks.
"Boosh!" Korra cheered, peering over the edge of a high-rise building. Eska and Desna had the police in hot pursuit, and were leading them on a wild goose-chase in the opposite direction. She patted her companion on the shoulder and said, "Come on girl, let's go give the good people what they ordered."