A/N: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review! Thank you again to InsanelyHappy for reading this chapter over for me. Everyone should check out her stories because they are awesome! Finally, I do not own the Legend of Korra.

CHAPTER 4: ESCAPING

"Are there no backdoors out of this place?" Mako hissed, as they trotted down a deserted back alley on Naga's back.

"Yeah, if I could still water bend I could just open a hole in any part of the wall no problem," Korra whispered back in frustration.

"So, why not give it a try?" Mako asked.

"Because in case you forgot Amon took my bending away!" Korra snapped a little more loudly than was necessary. Mako winced from his spot behind Korra.

"I just thought it wouldn't hurt to try again," he replied calmly.

"Well if it worked there wouldn't be any point in us leaving now would there?" She snapped back, obviously quite miffed at him.

"Okay, okay," Mako said putting his hands up in defeat, though he wasn't sure Korra could see the gesture since he was sitting behind her in Naga's saddle. "Maybe I can melt a hole in the wall with my fire bending," he finally suggested when it was obvious Korra wasn't going to attempt to try to water bend.

"The walls are too thick for that. The guards would notice us before you got even half way through and then we'd have some explaining to do." Mako rolled his eyes in annoyance. Was she really just going to shoot down all of his ideas now because she was annoyed with him?

"Isn't there some sort of air bending trick you could use? Maybe you could just air bend us over the top of the walls?"

"I might know all of the air bending stances and manoeuvers, but I haven't actually practiced them using actual air bending, since before a couple of days ago I couldn't air bend."

"So is that a no?" Mako asked raising an eyebrow.

"I could probably get us over the wall, but there's no way I could get Naga safely over too. At least not without alerting the guards and then they'd wake up Katara and everyone would want to come along-"

"Okay okay," Mako interceded to stop Korra's rambling. Korra sighed as she slowed Naga's pace. They were nearing the exit now and still had no solid plan for escape.

"Man this sucks, being a prisoner in your own village!" Mako huffed.

"It's a safety precaution," Korra began to lecture, but Mako waved her off uninterested.

"What if we just walk up to the gate and I ask to leave? Surely they won't deny me the right to leave."

"They'll recognize Naga," Korra pointed out.

"Well then what we need is a distraction. I can try to pass you off as Bolin and if they're distracted they won't be able to investigate into your identity too carefully" Mako replied simply, as if this plan had been obvious all along.

"Huh?" Korra asked turning in the saddle to face Mako now. The fire bender was grinning widely now.

"I have an idea. Let's go this way," Mako said as he reached around Korra for Naga's reins.


A LITTLE LATER

"Hey! I need you to open the gate!" Mako shouted from his seat atop Naga.

"What's your business?" one of the guards shouted back from his post at the top of the gate. There were two men stationed there currently.

"My name is Mako. I'm a friend of the avatar's. She's lent me her polar bear dog so my brother and I could go and lead the members of the White Lotus to the village. We received word earlier this evening that they will be arriving at the southern port at dawn and we want to be ready and waiting," Mako explained.

"We weren't informed about anyone arriving at dawn," the guard replied back.

"They're concerned that some of Amon's equalists are planning to attack the convoy because of their high important among benders and their connection to the avatar, so things have been kept pretty quiet. I'm sure master Katara must have just forgotten to pass the message along to your higher-ups. She is pretty old after all," Mako replied easily.

The two guards began to converse with each other in hushed voices before the taller of the two finally spoke. "We'll have to clear this with our Captain," he said at last.

"Oh come on, he's got to be asleep by now and if he wasn't informed he'll have to wake master Katara. It's just going to be a lot of trouble for nothing. All my brother and I want to do is go greet the White Lotus members to ensure they arrive safely and don't have any trouble from Amon's followers."

The taller of the two water bending guards held his lamp further out to try and get a better look at Mako's face and his companion's. Korra, who had taken a seat behind Mako on Naga, pulled her hood further over her face to block it from the view of the guard and tried to use Mako's body as a shield too. The guard gave his companion a nod and the man slid easily down the wall using water bending to create a gentle icy ramp down to the ground where Mako and Korra were.

"Let's see your brother's face. I'm not sure I recognize him," the guard said gruffly a lamp in his hands. Korra sunk lower behind Mako in response. However, at that moment, there was a loud booming sound as a giant boulder of snow, ice and earth suddenly hit the wall not far from where the group was standing.

"What the-" the guard began, but was cut off by the sound of another boulder hitting the wall. Suddenly, from the shadows a masked figure emerged and ran towards the group.

The guard on the ground shot a stream of water at the figure, but the person dodged, rolling to the side, and then was back on their feet in seconds. The figure then held out their right hand showing off their glowing glove as it sizzled with electricity.

"Equalists!" Mako shouted and jumped off of Naga. He sent a large blast of fire in the direction of the equalist, but the masked figure dodged again, flipping easily into the air and sailing over the fire bending attack.

Before the water bending guard could unleash another attack, the equalist grabbed him with their deadly gloved hand, mildly electrocuting the man.

"Open the gate!" Mako shouted to the guard above.

Another earth boulder came pummelling towards Mako and Korra now. Naga growled as she dodged the attack easily, but it hit the tower the guard was on top of and he grabbed the edge of the tower to regain his balance.

"That must be Beifong holding off more equalists! Hurry and let us out, we have to warn the White Lotus that we've been infiltrated!" Mako shouted urgently. The water bender didn't need to be told twice. He jumped forward raising his arms as he did so and swung them forward. The icy gates obeyed his command and began to slowly slide open.

"Go Naga!" Korra hissed quietly to her polar bear dog. The animal let out a growl and ran forward.

"I can't believe that worked," Korra whispered in amazement as she held onto Mako's waist loosely as Naga began to run out into the snowy tundra.

"Hey, it's a good thing everyone's been so secretive about what happened in Republic City. It worked to our advantage here. I mean, did you see that guard? He was freaking right out!" Mako let out a chuckle.

Korra smiled. It was rare to actually see Mako thoroughly enjoying himself and it had been awhile since either of them had had any fun and Korra had to admit it was a little fun pulling that prank on the stuffy guards.

"Do you think Asami and Bolin will be alright?" Korra asked as she glanced backwards towards the village.

"They can handle that pesky guard no problem," Mako assured her.

"Ya, but surely they woke some people up."

"I'm sure Katara can get them out of any trouble they get into with the local authorities," Mako replied unconcerned.

"What happened to the big brother who always protected his little brother?" Korra asked eyebrows raised now, but a smile pulled at her lips indicating she was only teasing him.

"What?" Mako asked in confusion, momentarily afraid he had just thrown Bolin to the wolves, as it were. He glanced back at Korra and saw her expression and let out a laugh realizing she was only teasing him.

"Come on, Bolin and Asami aren't in any real danger. It was just a prank," he finally offered in response.

"Yeah, but you just don't seem like the prank pulling type, that's more Bolin's style," Korra pointed out.

"Well it just goes to show that you don't know me all that well," Mako said mischievously. Korra laughed genuinely now.

"Well then I look forward to getting to know you better. Now let me take over! We have to go faster. We need to put some distance between ourselves and the village in case we're pursued," Korra said as she expertly slid around Mako, her body brushing past his closely. Mako slid back in the saddle to give Korra her seat in the front of the saddle and then he grabbed the back of the saddle to keep himself in place.

"You're gonna want to hold onto me!" Korra instructed. Mako gave a cough and then reluctantly slid his arms around Korra. She really had no idea how she affected him. He was beginning to think maybe he should have let Bolin come along to chaperone; at least it would give him something else to think about than how close he was currently to Korra.

"Go Naga!" Korra shouted to her companion and suddenly the polar bear dog broke out into a sprint and Mako was jerked backwards. His hold on Korra tightened in response as he tried to stay in the saddle.

"Told you to you hang onto me," Korra called as she clutched Naga's reins tightly.


A/N: Well a short update, but I hope you enjoyed it!