It felt good to be going back. Despite spending most of her life in the South Pole, her past few months in Republic City – barring the Equalist encounters – had been the happiest of her life. She made human friends. Not that Naga was a bad companion; far from it, but sometimes, growing up, Korra really wished there had been someone there to just listen to her and share her troubles rather than plague her with advice, most of which she hadn't understood anyway.
From the South Pole, they flew without any breaks. Everyone returned, along with Katara, who had come along wanting to spend time on the Island with both her sons and all her grandchildren. Oogi, unaccustomed to carrying so many passengers, drifted downwards after a few hours of flight to paddle sluggishly through the endless ocean. Next to him, Naga looked comically diminutive splashing about with her tongue lolling.
Korra's eyelids dropped; restoring Lin's bending had taken its toll. It was all worth it though, she thought, as she watched the metalbender across the saddle fiddling with a small black lump of rock in joyful reunion. A star, then an oddly spiked splat, and finally a bracelet, floated in the space between Lin's hands, the fluidity of its transformations making it almost liquid. Entranced, she stared at the black rock, noticing its strange glowing lustre and guessing that the rock must not be native to the Earth Kingdom…
'We're almost there,' Tenzin said, his voice carrying clearly over the sound of lapping water.
She sat upright, scanning the horizon eagerly for the familiar skylines and towering skyscrapers. Beside her, Mako gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. She leaned into him, relishing the comfort of their relationship finally out in the open. Asami and Bolin had both accepted it, and it relieved her greatly that she was still good friends with them.
'Look, people waving at us!' Bolin said.
Korra perched over the edge and looked to where he pointed. A troupe of people, specks in the distance, had gathered on the docks and waved to them vigorously. She waved back, too weary to bend and reassure them that she had returned to the city once again a full Avatar.
Still, they continued waving.
'Something's wrong,' Tenzin said from out the front. 'Oogi, let's go.' With a tired snort and a spray of bubbles the bison lifted its head from the water, all six legs kicking, tail pumping like a gigantic rudder. Naga howled indignantly as she was left behind.
As they approached the shore, the tang of burning sweat drenched the air. Pieces of metal from the destroyed United Forces Fleet, not yet cleaned up, drifted in foam like frazzled tin soldiers. The entourage waiting for them turned out to be a group of healers, and up close, their flailing arms looked less to be a signal of welcome and more like a plea for help.
Their urgency was not lost on her. She vaulted out the saddle and swum to them, almost dragged out the water by frantic hands when she reached the docks.
'Avatar we have a big problem! We would've contacted the police but most of them are powerless without their bending and both Generals Iroh and Bumi have their hands full trying to contain petty resistances and Triad –'
'Woah, woah!' Korra said, holding up her hands and silencing the healer that spoke. 'Slow down! What's the problem?'
'Amon. Amon is in our hospital. We found him and Tarrlok nearly dead in the sea and we couldn't just leave them there so we brought them back, but now that they're recovering we're not sure what to do with them, particularly Amon…'
Korra froze in mid-step. Whatever she expected, it was certainly not that. Shock and anger and fear flooded her. If she was honest with herself, she had been almost relieved when Amon escaped that day in the harbour. Those piercing blue eyes as they stared out at her had been filled with madness and hatred, full of an unspoken promise to return and destroy her. She swallowed, forcing air down her dry throat. 'He's here? Are you sure? And how can he be nearly dead?'
'We don't know. We saw an explosion at Mo Ce Sea. Their boat blew up. Someone must've tried to kill him and Tarrlok, but when we searched we couldn't find any other bodies.'
Korra tried to replay the scene in her mind – and couldn't. Amon and nearly-dead just didn't go together; even when Mako had fried him with lightning at point-blank range he was completely unharmed. Even when she had kicked him through a window and down into murky waters four storeys below he emerged unscathed.
'How are you keeping him without anyone getting hurt?'
The healer sighed. 'Right now he's too injured to really do much, and we've led him to believe that we think he's a soldier of the United Forces. He's been playing along, and I think so long as he doesn't realise we haven't fallen for it he won't attack. But at the rate he's recovering he'll be back to normal soon, and who knows what he might do when he's completely recovered.'
Her title made her bigger than she felt. Even the head healer of Yue Hospital, Jukatta, a fearsome and fearless woman almost as old, and just as experienced as Katara, looked up to her like she was some saviour. She wanted to tell them to just call her Korra and stop all the formal Avatar nonsense.
'Where is he?' she asked, painfully aware of how loud their footsteps sounded on the polished white tiles. Framed portraits of famous healers lining the hallways stared solemnly down at her as they walked past, their unsmiling eyes and thin lips only serving to remind her of the grim task ahead.
Jukatta paused in front of a heavy, ominous set of doors. 'There, along with Councilman Tarrlok,' she whispered. 'We have the advantage of surprise on our side. He still believes that we don't know his real identity, so maybe it's best if you're dressed as one of us, Avatar.'
Korra peered through the crack, but only a glimpse of an empty bed and shuttered windows mocked her. She straightened and faced the healer. 'No. No more deception. I'm not hiding from him.' And she meant it. She was not going to be caught cowering again while he prowled. If he wanted to drag her out and take her bending she'd go down fighting. She wasn't going to kneel on the hard floor while his cold hands clamped over her neck and descended down her face. The memory of those outstretched, spindly fingers looming over her eyes, stabbing into her forehead and ripping out her very identity...she shuddered. No, today was different. Today she would not let Amon get the better of her.
Korra's determination was as great as her fear. She might bend all four elements, but until she could prove to herself that she could take him down, he who was the very antithesis of the Avatar, in a fair one-on-one fight, she would never be confident in her title.
Ignoring the healer's alarmed look, she turned the key in its lock and pushed.
Her first thought was that this was a pleasant room. There was just the faintest smell of antiseptic, strong enough to smell clean and not abrasive enough to sting her nose. Then she noticed the two men. Two injured men cocooned in bandages.
Even the sight of loose hair hanging dejectedly outside its usual immaculate braids barely distinguished Tarrlok. His whole right side was a mass of white, his left a motley collection of bandages and bruised skin. An eyepatch covered one side, but in combination with his downcast eyes this did not make him look in any way frightening. His whole air bespoke of defeat; there was no danger from him.
Which meant that the other, almost as battered looking man sitting next to Tarrlok reading a book, must be Amon.
He turned his head as the door swung open, but made no other immediate move. Korra saw past all his layers and noted he was still the same. Still the same man, still the same glare promising that he held superior power. But when she tore her eyes away from his to stare in astonishment at his injuries, his cold trance over her broke.
For here, dressed in a generic hospital gown, his white bandages slowly staining yellow and red from festering burns oozing beneath, he was human. He was a mortal and not some untouchable wraith. And without his armour and mask he looked vulnerable, a being of flesh and bone. Somewhere out there was someone who had nearly killed him.
She took a tentative step forward, where he sat waiting, approaching him as one would approach a wounded beast. It was easier to read his movements without all his thick armour; there was just the smallest narrowing of his eyes and stiff set of shoulders, enough to tell her that he was completely tense and ready to fly.
'Amon,' she said, unable to think of anything else. Behind, she heard the rustle of rubbing cotton as Jukatta raised her arms in defense.
Amon stood slowly, every action exaggerated and deliberate. When he turned his awful gaze on her she acted on pure instinct – before he could so much as lift a finger to bloodbend she lunged and stomped the floor.
Crap.
The floor was timber, not tiles. Not earth. And now as she went sliding forward in her momentum, Amon snapped to the side and gripped her arms. Spirits, he was strong. She struggled and thrashed and kicked, but all he did was hold her out at an arm's length, completely unfazed.
Out of nowhere a thick whip of water whistled through the air, grazed her cheek and curled itself fiercely around Amon's middle. Distracted, he dropped her and she crashed to her knees, pulse wild from the after-effects of bloodbending. There was a splintering splash as Amon shrugged off the constricting coils of water, but she wasn't going to waste this opportunity, oh no. She punched the wall. Bricks splintered and burst onto the streets outside in a cloud of dust. Seconds later the ceiling collapsed. Forewarned by the slightest tremor, she dived and tackled Jukatta, and the two of them slid to safety as a massive slab ripped free and crashed to pieces where they stood.
Silence followed in the aftermath. Coughing, Korra blew away the dust that coated them, clearing the air with small puffs of wind. Jukatta picked herself up with a heavy scowl.
'You did not have to bring the roof down, Avatar Korra. Someone could've gotten killed. There has not been a single death in this hospital ever since I became head healer and I'd like to keep it that way.'
Korra flushed, but remained adamant. 'Believe me, Amon is much safer knocked out.'
'Are you bringing him to the police station then?'
'Later. I'm going to take away his bending first.'
Jukatta's eyebrows rose in incredulity. 'You can do that?'
'Yes.' She dug carefully through the pile of rubble, her senses keyed for any movement even as she set aside the crumbled bricks and cracked tiles. Her heart leapt when she unearthed a hand – but that only turned out to be Tarrlok. Even unconscious, bitter lines were etched deeply into his face. As she set him aside, however, something about him made her hesitate.
She had never really gotten around to properly thanking him, and hearing his confession in the attic on Air Temple Island, she was sure he would not have bloodbent again in his life even if he could. The loss of one's bending was a gut-wrenching pang, a frustrating phantom sensation of a lost connection, and while some like Lin had managed to move on, it was clear Tarrlok was not strong enough.
And really…if she wanted to take Amon's bending away, would it not make more sense to energybend another, less threatening bloodbender first, so she could prepare herself for anything unexpected?
'What are you doing?' Jukatta's shocked voice interrupted her.
'Giving Tarrlok his bending back,' she answered. Right thumb on his head, left over his heart, she tapped into the wounded man's chi and sought to reknit the broken bonds of his bending. His was a swirling whirlpool of anxiety, so much more different compared to Lin's, a steadfast mountain of determination. But there was no menace within him, none of the venom he displayed when the two of them had briefly fought.
Nerve endings sealed together, chi paths relinked and flowed freely again. Korra leaned back on her heels and sighed with relief, smiling slightly at the gift she'd left for Tarrlok when he woke up again. Amon would wake up to a much nastier surprise, but that was only fair after what he did to the whole city. Besides, it wasn't like she planned on killing him or anything.
Leaving Tarrlok in the care of Jukatta, she sifted through the rubble for Amon. He was equally easy to find, but unlike Tarrlok, he stirred when she dragged him out. A jolt of fear shot through her, but this she quickly swallowed. The sooner she took his bending, the sooner he would cease to become a monster and just another man facing the full wrath of justice.
Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she unwrapped the bandages from his head, wincing a little at the injuries he sustained. His skin was hot to the touch, almost feverish, the muscles toned and firm underneath, once again serving to remind her that he too was human. She wasn't sure why she was surprised by this – perhaps she had so often failed to even come close to striking him in the past, she lived under the illusion that he was perhaps not quite solid, and because she could never see any part of his skin barring his hands, one could almost imagine him to be a spirit inhabiting a suit of armour.
After a deep, long breath, she closed her eyes and drew upon the chi inside her head and heart and projected them outwards. The skin beneath her hands grew warm as Amon's responded in kind.
She opened her eyes, glowing brilliant white with the power of all past Avatars. It was time to take away Amon's bending, for good.