Raiko Surrenders.
The headline was in hundred point print across the front page of all the papers, above an old picture of the president clasping hands with Kuvira. Few of them touched on the truth of the matter, their prose almost frantic in its praise of the Great Uniter. Hiroshi could almost smell the underlying fear.
On the inside pages they printed lists of wanted individuals. The Avatar, of course, and the escaped equalists, plus some of the airbenders who were unaccounted for. And Asami, her name printed neatly next to his own.
Hiroshi ran his finger over his daughter's name, smudging the cheap newspaper ink. Asami was smart enough to not get caught, but Future Industries was likely going to be government control soon, seized as the assets of an enemy of the state. He couldn't decide whether he was angry or proud. Future Industries was something he had built up from a rickety prototype in a shed, but Asami was the best thing he had ever made. Still, the heart of the company wasn't the money or the equipment but the staff; the engineers and scientists he had employed over the years, and many of those men and women would be loyal to him over any interim director the government put in place. He could salvage something from the wreckage.
After the escape, the equalists had split up, each cell going its own way to lessen the odds of being rounded up. Many equalists had been jailed in the aftermath of Amon's unmasking, but thousands of people in the city had supported them. He and Takumi were holed up in a loft above a textile mill. The owner was a man called Li, an engineer he had trained back in the early days. It was no Sato mansion, but it was better than jail. The tall, grimy windows made for good ventilation, and afforded them a good view of the area.
Factory workers spilled out onto the streets below him, their grey uniforms swarming past the green of the Earth Empire troops that now patrolled the city, and Hiroshi folded his paper, tucking it under one arm. There were two Agni Kai loitering on the corner, recognisable by their orange coats. They seemed unflustered as the imperial troops passed them by.
It made sense that the firebenders had been spared- they were critical to the city's infrastructure, after all. Raiko would have fought hard to get some sort of exception in place for the city's power plants. But the Agni Kai? Hiroshi stroked his beard.
Behind him, Takumi practised his chi-blocker kata, his bare feet almost silent on the smooth wooden floor. It was a routine he had practiced almost every night in his cell, and Hiroshi was familiar with the rhythm. Step-step-strike, step-turn-strike. He moved in a tight rectangle, as if still constrained by his cell walls, and sometimes he would stop himself and repeat a movement, as if correcting a strike no longer obstructed by furniture. Finally, he stepped outside his imaginary cell and let loose, launching himself into a series of twisting handsprings and landing a few feet from Hiroshi with a mock salute as he grinned.
"If you're expecting me to be impressed," said Hiroshi, quietly. "You're going to have to do better. My daughter has been able to do that since she was fourteen."
"Oh, relax." Takumi cracked his neck, pulling a face. "I was just getting warmed up."
"Good. We're going out."
"Already?" Takumi tilted his head, his face doubtful. "I thought the plan was to sit tight until the dust settled."
"We would," said Hiroshi, "Except for this." He handed the newspaper to his friend, open at the list of names.
"Your daughter," Takumi breathed, his brow furrowing.
"More to the point, my company is about to be seized," explained Hiroshi. "And it holds the single largest stockpile of platinum anywhere in the United Republic." Or it had, before Asami had taken over. He doubted she would have sold it off- she was too prudent for that. "We can't let anyone confiscate it- we need it if we want to build anything that stands a chance against the benders."
"So what? You're just going to stroll in there and reclaim your rightful place as CEO?" Takumi tapped the paper. "You're on this damn list too."
"No," said Hiroshi. "We're going to steal it."
The wind ruffled Zaheer's hair as he floated along behind the Avatar. She stomped forwards, her shoulders hunched anxiously. They had taken the steepest trails through the mountain range, neither of them afraid of falling, and now the rising sun was low and orange on the horizon, casting their surroundings in a dim, sallow light. His former prison was still visible in the distance, still smoking, and in the other direction, the ugly expanse of Republic City sprawled from its harbour.
Korra seemed to brighten when she saw it, her eyes going to air temple island. She stepped forward, her demeanour hopeful, but Zaheer's attention was caught by the mass of green and grey proceeding into the city from the north.
"Stop," grated Zaheer, alighting on the ground next to the Avatar. "They've taken the city." he said, gesturing towards the roads.
Korra stopped in her tracks and squinted in the direction he had pointed. "Kuvira," she said, an edge of disappointment in her voice. "Why is no-one fighting her?"
"It doesn't matter," said Zaheer. "Republic City is no longer safe. For either of us."
Korra shook her head. "We can't know that for sure," she said, her eyes still on the island in the harbour. "We need to get closer."
It was foolhardy, but then so was Korra. Zaheer sighed. "We should take precautions, then. Kuvira will be searching for us, and I have no great love of prisons."
Korra made a face. "Yeah, me neither," she said, narrowing her eyes at him.
They walked towards the shore, the stones on the path digging uncomfortably into Zaheer's feet. Kuvira would be looking for a floating man, after all. He didn't bother to ask the Avatar if she was satisfied as they stood on the beach; the shadows under her eyes told him that she was not. She bent the seawater around her, making room in the bubble for him as she walked into the bay. They flew through the water, the pale light of the dawn making Korra's dark skin seem ashen.
The last time Zaheer had been on air temple island, he had come as both supplicant and spy, his head freshly shaved and his powers newly awakened. Even as he'd worked his mission, he'd let himself be moved by how much Aang had preserved of their culture, by the poems carved into the floors of the pagodas, bidding the reader to be the leaf. Now, he came, as what? A guru, or a prisoner? He looked down at his shackles as he followed Korra through the complex. The sleeping quarters had been abandoned in a hurry, air nomad robes and coarse bedding left discarded over the floors. Even the kitchens had been deserted, a half-eaten meal left festering in the lacquer tableware.
"They're gone," said Korra. She ran a hand over one of the place mats, despondent, and Zaheer wondered what had happened in this place, to make her care for it so.
"I don't see any signs of a struggle," he said.
Korra looked up. "Is that meant to be comforting?"
"They've probably gone to one of the other temples." Zaheer spread his hands. "It's what I would do."
She made a face. "Yeah. Probably," she agreed. She looked as if she was about to say something else, but she was interrupted by the solid metallic thunk of an airship mooring cable, followed by the sounds of soldiers and mecha disembarking.
Zaheer scowled. "We should leave."
They made it through the courtyard by the time the enemy spotted them, a shout of Avatar! from on high, and Korra growled, turning to face her opponents as she sank into a bending stance. "Don't get in the way," she warned, and Zaheer nodded, floating into place at her side.
A dozen earthbenders in Kuvira's colours closed on them from the stairs above, a few of them already tearing white stone blocks from the walls around them.
Korra gave a roar of indignation, the barely-healed burn on her face stinging sharply. "Don't-" she huffed, sending fire in an arc with her fist- "Touch. My. Air Temple!"
Despite three years he'd spent locked in the White Lotus' basement, Zaheer was still irritatingly good. He avoided the first few air temple blocks easily, his arms folded behind his back as he floated from side to side, keeping the chain slack. Part of it was that he was fresher than her; he hadn't walked through the night like she had, but there was more to it than that. He was utterly in his element, in a way that she had never been with air. And just as they had at Laghima's peak, when he had drawn the air from her lungs, his eyes held nothing but conviction. It was terrifying.
"Avatar!" Zaheer's voice broke through just in time for her to deflect a stone block away from her head. "Much as I support your introspection, this is not the time!"
"That was your fault!" Korra snapped, pushing more fire into the air, this time fueled by her anger.
"Blaming me is a crutch!" Zaheer pulled a face as a spike of earth grazed him, drawing blood. He was no newcomer to fighting soldiers, either. He delivered a strike to the solar plexus of one soldier, knocking the air from her lungs before bending it away with a twist of his palm.
"Well, you just said no introspecting!" Korra rolled under a flying stone block, picked the earthbender who had sent it up and threw him backwards.
Spinning, Zaheer whipped the chain around him, keeping it at neck height as he clotheslined a third soldier. Korra felt the chain go tight, and braced reflexively, her eyes widening as she realised too late what Zaheer was doing.
"No!" she shouted, yanking the chain down with a metalbending gesture. Zaheer grunted as he was yanked to the floor by the arm, and the soldier pulled the chain from his neck.
But the eyes of the squad leader widened, his stance shifting subtly into a metalbending one. He must have been assuming the chain was platinum until Korra had bent it. The cuff round Korra's arm shot to the ground, hauling her with it, and the chain rose up, coiling round her neck.
With a scream of rage, Korra reached out her free hand, spreading her fingers and willing the chain to dismantle. It broke into slivers and she flung them out in every direction with a sweep of her arm, prompting hasty earth walls from the remaining earthbenders. It was only when Zaheer rose to his feet, unchained, that she realised her mistake.
Her ears hummed with the rapid change in pressure as the airbender launched himself into the air.
Zaheer was free.
Not merely outside, not merely tasting the morning air, but really, truly free. He closed his eyes, and for a moment, his heart soared. He was free. But if he remained free, he had nothing.
He looked down at the exhausted Avatar, her movements slowing as she sent gouts of fire at her attackers, the avatar state shining briefly before it guttered out. The soldiers were forming a ring, and closing it around her, building their defenses as quickly as she could tear them down. Why had he saved her, back in the mountain? Was it really for some higher purpose, or an excuse to preserve his own sorry life?
Time seemed to slow as he watched the battle play out, watched the Avatar stumble, taking a rock to her side as the earthbenders closed on her.
A man who fights for freedom, spends his life in chains.
Zaheer took one last breath, savouring the sweetness of the air before he dropped. He landed with his back to the Avatar, the rush of wind he brought with him knocking their opponents backwards and blasting up a cloud of dust.
"Zaheer. You came back."
"You sound surprised, Avatar," said Zaheer, flatly. He held out his arm. "I think we should get out of here."
"This doesn't mean I forgive you," growled Korra as she hooked an arm around his neck, her grip on his shoulder painfully tight.
Zaheer looked her in the eye as they rose from the ground. Her fear of him was plain on her face. "I would never ask that of you."
