Laura threw herself at the outside of the inner cylinder as soon as Lin had opened the outer one up, she screamed and stabbed at the adimantium reinforced glass as viciously as she could. Her claws scraped and banged on the capsule loud enough for the other mutant children to be woken by it. Mako, having realised Laura wasn't there after they'd all been electrocuted, jumped to his feet and ran in the direction of the disturbance closely followed by all the others. The children charged in with their powers in full display only to find themselves restrained by the metal plates they had run on to. "hey!" Mako growled, "let us go!"
Asami was hovering close to the capsule, protecting it with her glove raised and they could hear Laura on the other side of it, trying to smash it. "Lin, get those kids to safety!" Asami bellowed over the noise, "and collapse those tunnels!" Lin nodded, moved the metal panels to the far side of the cavern with a twitch of her finger before she lowered her hand and caused a massive cave in by the entrance
"job done" Lin nodded, she hurried forward eagerly when there was a cracking sounds from the capsule and seconds later there was a shattering noise. The capsule had broken. Asami cried in delight before she hugged Laura tightly crying her thanks with tears running down her face. "not over yet, Asami" Lin muttered before she fashioned a blade out of her armour that she was wearing and sliced cleanly through the straps and chains that were holding the dark skinned woman to the machine. "fuck you, Raiko!" she growled, slicing the straps on Korra's legs. "Fuck you, Tenzin!" she snarled, slicing the straps on her arms. "fuck you, Hiroshi!" she yelled while she made quick work of the straps over Korra's body. "FUCK YOU, NOATAK! FUCK YOU, TARRLOK! FUCK YOU, UNALAQ!!" she bellowed at the top of her voice, cutting all the tubes, the wires and everything else going into or stuck on Korra. She was breathing heavily when she withdrew after she had sliced all the tubes and wires and pulled everything except the ventilator and the feeding tube out of Korra. "fuck you all" she panted and slunk away to a pond where she pulled out a mug and dipped it into the water, drinking from it before she looked at Laura and held out her arms.
Much to the surprise of the other mutants, Laura grinned and ran into the older woman's arms. "thank you" Asami whispered tearfully when she had walked over and joined the hug
"De nada" Laura whispered
"Yeah, thanks Laura" Lin wheezed and cuddled the girl tightly
"De nada" Laura repeated. "how long til she wakes?" she asked
"I haven't a clue" Lin shrugged.
"While we're waiting, why not introduce your friends?" Asami asked kindly
"Jonah, Gideon, Rebecca, Delilah, Rictor, Mako, Bolin, Joey" she pointed at each of them and named each one
Lin scowled while Asami smiled and nodded at each of them. "hi, nice to meet you, and apologies for the metal, it's for your own safety"
"me no comprende" one of the children, Rebecca, stuttered
Asami looked at Lin expectantly, she scowled before translating Asami's words into Spanish. "hola, encantado de conocerte, y disculpas por el metal, es por tu propia seguridad"
The children looked confused but then nodded and returned to watching Laura who had wrapped her hands up in Asami's and Lin's happily. "thank you!" Asami exclaimed again trying to stem the flow of tears running down her face.
*
They had been waiting for nearly fourteen hours before Korra groaned and moved her hand slightly. Asami heard her and ran to be with her best friend again, a friend she hadn't spoken to for many years. "Korra" she whispered
"ugh" the dark skinned woman groaned, opening her eyes slightly
"Korra!" Asami called and gently touched her cheek
"Sssss..." Korra tried to speak but due to the surgical incision in her throat, she was unable to do so, much to her frustration
"hush Korra" Asami whispered, "it's me, Asami, I'm here Korra" Korra blinked and turned her head weakly to look at Asami, "don't try to talk, I'm here." she looked up at Lin, "can we get this thing out of her?" she indicated the tube into Korra's neck
"I'm not sure, Asami" Lin began, "if Korra is awake enough to understand us explain then we could try I guess"
"Korra? Korra?" Asami smiled gently down at the woman, "do you know who I am?"
Lin took Asami's hand carefully and put it in Korra's, "one squeeze for yes" she explained quietly, "do you understand?"
"She does!" Asami exclaimed after one squeeze. "do you know who I am?" she asked and got one squeeze in reply. Asami breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, "do you know who you are?" one squeeze. "do you know who she is?" Asami indicated Lin, one squeeze. "do you know what happened?" Lin asked quietly, no squeeze and Asami shook her head. Korra then pointed at her mouth, "you want to know why you can't talk?" one squeeze so Asami took Korra's hand and guided it up to the tube in her neck, "you're on a ventilator, Korra" Asami explained, "you were heavily unconscious so you couldn't breathe on your own" Korra's eyes widened in panic and she attempted to pull the tube out weakly. "no, Korra!" Asami exclaimed and took Korra's hands into her hands to stop her struggling. "you have to have it in to breathe" Asami explained, "if I turn it off you may not be able to breathe, do you understand?" Korra squeezed her hand once, "do you want to try it?" Korra squeezed her hand again, "alright, if you're struggling to breathe I want you to hold my hand tightly, not a single short squeeze but a long continuous one, do you understand?" Korra squeezed her hand one last time. "right, Lin, turn it off" Lin did so, she reached behind Korra's prison bed and switched a switch. "Korra, breathe" Asami commanded and Korra tried her hardest to breathe, her muscles fatigued from years of disuse, after a few seconds she shook her head and frowned, squeezing Asami's hand tightly. Lin sighed and flicked the switch once again.
"I'm sorry, Korra" Lin sighed and put her hand on the sulking woman's shoulder.
"the only way to get them working again is to use them, Korra" Asami whispered kindly, "is it possible to turn that thing down so Korra is less dependent upon it?"
Lin nodded, "i think so, Asami"
"hey! What about us?!" Mako called
"We never invited you in" Lin growled
"Lin!"
"sorry, Asami. Sorry, kid" Lin waved her hand and freed the mutants from the metal that encased their feet, they ran to Laura and started jabbering away in their native language. Asami heard her name mentioned a few times as well as Lin's and Korra's.
"trust them" Asami whispered, "they're in the same boat as us"
Lin nodded slowly, "but if they harm you or Korra in any way, I'll snap their necks"
"Deal." Korra got Asami's attention by squeezing her hand again. "what's wrong, sweetie?" Korra blushed then pointed to her mouth. "you're hungry?" one squeeze. "Lin, do we have any of that gloop left over?" Lin nodded and walked away, half the mutants watched her while the others watched Asami and Korra share a moment of reunion. "i missed you, Korra" Asami said while she stroked the girl's cheek and got a squeeze in reply
Lin returned with a plastic bottle of creamy looking liquid, Korra's eyes widened and she shook her head weakly, trying to express her distaste. Lin only laughed, "don't worry Korra you won't have to taste this crap, it's for tube feeds" Korra's eyes widened and she held her hand up to her face looking for a tube, "no Korra, it's not up there" Lin explained kindly before she lifted Korra's top a little while Asami lifted Korra's head gently so she could see the tube in her stomach. Korra's eyes widened again and she fought back tears. "oh Korra!" Lin exclaimed, quickly pushed the tube formula into Laura's hands and hugged her tight. Seconds later, Asami joined the hug and the only noise was the whooshing from the ventilator
"Korra... You're alright" Asami whispered while wiping Korra's eyes
Laura handed the formula back to Lin as Asami led her forward to Korra's bedside. "hola" she whispered timidly
"Korra, this is Laura, she helped break you out of this machine" she indicated the remains of the machine that Korra was surrounded by
Korra smiled weakly at Laura who lost her fear nearly immediately, she was surrounded by friendly people, even Lin whom she could tell was only tough on the exterior, on the interior she was as kind and as caring as Asami. Korra, who radiated power, had a kind face and Laura knew she'd be safe with them. "Korra?" she whispered, which caught the woman's attention immediately, "tienes hermosos ojos." Korra smiled widely before she turned her head to watch what Lin was doing, she was hanging the bottle of formula on a hook on what had been the outside of the capsule before she hooked it up to the tube that trailed into Korra's stomach and pressed a few buttons on an electronic device.
"There you go Korra" Lin whispered kindly. Korra pouted slightly, "sorry, Korra, it's not safe for you to eat with that in" she indicated the tracheostomy
Asami suddenly had an idea, she pulled a notepad out of one of her bags and handed it to Korra, "here"
Korra scribbled down two words and showed Asami and Lin, 'fuck's sake'. "I know Korra, I know" Lin sighed.
She scribbled on the notepad again, 'how long was I in that thing?'. Asami and Lin shared a look, trying to decide whether to tell her or not. "you were asleep for sixteen years, Korra" Asami sighed. Korra blinked once then closed her eyes. "Think she fell unconscious" Asami muttered
"Asami..." Lin began, "get everyone back. Now! Do it now!" she yelled and threw herself at Laura, pushing her back away from Korra who's eyes began to glow and she was surrounded by a ball of air. The table under her warped and the adimantium began to glow as the air heated up. "shit!" Lin yelled, "run!"
"No" Asami whispered before she moved closer to Korra and grabbed her hands, pulling the weakened girl into her arms. "Korra" she whispered. "Korra" she wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend and felt tears running on to her back, soaking her clothes. "Korra" she repeated until she eventually calmed down, her eyes stopped glowing and Lin looked at Asami dumbfounded.
"Last time that happened she nearly killed everyone within a hundred feet and wrecked the brothers' lab" Lin muttered astounded
There was a slight snoring noise coming from Asami's shoulder, Korra had fallen asleep on Asami. She led Korra down but placed her head on her chest. "she's fallen asleep" Asami squeaked with adoration, the last time Korra had fallen asleep on her was when she was three, after she had had a nightmare. "she's so adorable!!" Asami squeaked quietly