A/N: Kuvira is cooling her heels on a sub, Baatar Jr. is not a natural risk taker, and Korra is being deprived of sleep by an impatient president. Welcome to chapter 9 of a canon compliant korrasami story.
"How much longer?"
"Another hour," the Earth Empire soldier said quietly from behind Kuvira.
Ears popping for what felt like the hundredth time, the former emperor sighed and tried to fight off another wave of exhaustion. They'd been traveling for at least five hours underwater, careful to avoid the many fleets searching for their sub. Staying awake and alert was proving to be a formidable task - far more so than pretending to submit to the Empire to gain access to the treacherous General Zevon.
"Take the next watch - I need to stretch my legs," her guard said to a passing soldier. The young man grunted and took his seat outside of her tiny cell.
The platinum cuffs were beginning to chafe her wrists and ankles, making her long for the moment she could use the key hidden between her cheek and gums. Almost there, just be patient. Thoughts of her last goodbye to Baatar threatened to shake her stoic stance. Too soon, focus on something else. . .
Three years earlier:
Electricity seemed to buzz through the air of the private room above one of the swankier restaurants in Zaofu. The last wealthy sponsor had finally sauntered tipsily out the door, leaving her alone with Baatar, Varrik, and his assistant.
"Well that couldn't have gone better," the maverick said with a devilish grin. "We have everything we need - unless you're having second thoughts."
"Of course not." Kuvira walked to the floor to ceiling window and contemplated their next move. "We'll need to act quickly, something this big will be discovered sooner or later - especially given how much some of our patrons like to drink."
"With the security force, we'll be able to take the Zaofu's airships and head straight for Ba Sing Se," Baatar said, standing next to her. "No need to recruit troops or search for transportation. We'll still need to gather intel on the situation beyond the walls before we get there. We know about the fires and looting, but otherwise we're going in blind."
"Agreed." She turned to Varrik. "Since you and your assistant seem so gifted at spycraft, perhaps you'd like the honor of trying to make contact with the Dai Li agent who visited us three weeks ago. Ghashiun was his name."
"Way ahead of you, kid." He pulled a letter from his coat pocket and handed it to her. "He's anxious for our arrival."
"But we only just got financial backing for the endeavor tonight!" Baatar said exasperatedly. "There was no guarantee we'd be able to help him."
"Junior, in life you have to take certain risks," he said putting an arm around his shoulders. "Take what we're doing tonight, if your mother caught wind of this, we'd all be thrown in prison - well not you, I'm sure mother would have mercy on you. This meeting was merely a formality - a chance to personally meet our fearless leader."
Kuvira folded the letter back up. "Inform our patrons they have five days to square away their obligations if they intend to travel with us. We leave at dawn six days from now."
"What?! So soon?"
"On it!" Varrik shouted as he led Zhu Li from the room. "Let's go ruffle some drunken feathers!"
"We're leaving in less than a week?"
"Yes," she said handing him the letter. "The situation is worsening, waiting will only cost more people their lives."
"That is grim reading," he agreed tentatively after a time, "but can we gather everything and everyone we need that quickly?"
"Think of it as a test of our troops' dedication to the cause. Those that believe in it as firmly as we do will be ready in time." She paused and searched his downcast eyes. "You do still want to go through with it, right?"
"Of course," Baatar said quickly. "I'm just realizing how little time I have left with my family. There won't be any coming back from this - we'll be labeled as traitors to the clan."
"Probably." Kuvira stepped closer to him and took his hands. "But we aren't doing this for us, we're doing this for those who can't help themselves. We're doing this to save our people. We can't stand by any longer, not when we're finally in a position to help."
He stared down at their hands with a blush coloring his face. "You're right, I'm just getting a bit of cold feet. I'll be ready and I'll alert you immediately if my mother catches wind of our plans."
"Good, I don't think I can do this without you," she admitted quietly. "I'll need someone I can trust, someone I can rely on when the fighting gets tough, when I need a genus to engineer a solution to an impossible problem."
"I think Varrik has me beat there. None of my own ideas have been good enough to actually construct."
"I think you'll find once you're free of your parents' tight hold, the problem isn't with your ideas but with their opinions. You've shown me your plans for modifications to the airships - they all look fantastic."
His face turned a deeper red. "We'll see I guess. I should get back to the estate before they start to wonder."
Kuvira rolled her eyes as he stepped away. "I imagine they assume you're on a date."
"Oh, right. Well, goodnight, Kuvira," he stammered nervously before quickly retreating from the room.
Left alone, she closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. At this rate we'll have Ba Sing Se liberated before he makes a move.
BONG, BONG, BONG!
"Nope, we're not getting up," Korra muttered tiredly as Asami tried to pull away.
"They're going to send someone to find us," she pointed out as she settled back into her arms.
"I don't care. We've only had three hours of sleep - we're in no condition to be helpful."
"Fine by me."
"It's been eight hours and we still don't know anything!" Raiko fumed as he and Tenzin entered the dining room.
"I'm sure it's only a matter of time," the airbender reassured him. "Perhaps Korra will be able track Kuvira's energy like she did for Prince Wu when he was kidnapped."
"Wait, what?!" The president stopped and stared accusingly at Mako as he entered the room with the prince. "When did Wu get kidnapped?!"
Mako shot Tenzin an irate glance. "It happened about three weeks ago, but was promptly handled. That was when we decided to move him to the Sato Estate."
"Why was I not told about the kidnapping?"
"I thought you had been - I put out an all points bulletin looking for him at the time. I guess in the excitement we overlooked informing your office about the situation. It wasn't meant to be a secret, sir."
"It was great, I mean Korra turned down my offer of a thank-you date for saving me, but otherwise everything worked out," Wu grinned.
Raiko pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, that's more than enough information. Where is the avatar? We should have had her do this last night."
"Her priority had been healing the wounded which took most, if not all night." He glanced around the room. "She's probably on her way."
"I doubt that," Bumi chuckled as he passed them with a plate of food.
"Why?"
"It was almost dawn by the time she and Asami finished up this morning - about the same time I finished my rounds of interrogation. I'm betting they're planning on sleeping in."
"You're not," the president pointed out.
"Because I have somewhere to be this morning. If you'll excuse me gentlemen, I have more Empire troops to visit with."
"We can't afford to lose anymore time," the president pointed out shortly.
Tenzin sighed sadly, "I'll send Pema to wake her."
"Well that's not surprising," Pema chuckled to herself when she came upon Korra's empty room. "No wonder Naga started sleeping with Meelo again."
She knocked lightly on Asami's door. "Girls, planning on getting up today?"
A moment passed. "No," Korra's muffled voice eventually said.
"I'm afraid President Raiko and Tenzin need you for something, Korra. You need to get up."
"Nooo- Hey!" Laughter and movement echoed behind the door. "Yeah, you were right. Don't rub it in. Pema, tell them I'll be at breakfast soon."
"Okay, but don't take too long. Raiko seems impatient this morning."
"When isn't he?"
Asami hit her upside the head with her pillow again.
"Hey! That is a legitimate question. He is always in a bad mood whenever I see him," Korra complained as she tried to disarm the engineer.
"The only time he ever needs to see you is when something bad is happening so I guess you don't ever really get to see him at his best." She let the avatar pull the pillow from her hands before using that momentum to climb on top of her and straddle her hips. "Before you go, we should probably talk about last night," she said bashfully.
"Oh no - you were serious about the teasing?"
"No, no! It was an empty threat, but-" She shook her head and bit her lip. "No, I wanted to apologize for being so forward-"
"Says the woman literally pinning me to the bed."
"That's not- I, um-"
"It's okay!" Korra sat up slowly and wrapped her arms around her. "It just surprised me . . . a lot. Is that going to happen every time you drink?"
Asami sighed and ran her fingers through Korra's hair. "I don't know. It's not like I haven't thought about doing that before, the alcohol just gave me a bit too much courage and I actually acted on it."
"So you spend your free time coming up with ways to sexually frustrate me?"
She shrugged and smiled. "Sometimes more than that."
Korra grinned and pulled her into a kiss. "I'm glad I'm not the only one."
"You need to get going," Asami whispered as she pulled away after another long kiss. "I hear you need to save the world again."
"The world can save itself."
"Come on, before they send Pema looking for you again."
Korra followed her out of bed and stretched. "I do have one question about last night still."
"Yeah?"
"You said you did all of that so that when we do this for real I'd be ready. You have it all planned out, don't you? Our first time?"
Asami froze and chewed on her bottom lip. "Maybe."
"Do I get to know any of these details?" Korra asked before embracing her from behind.
"Just that it'll be at my apartment when we have at least eight, uninterrupted hours to ourselves."
"That sounds like a good start, but-"
"No, you need to get going," Asami insisted, slipping from her arms.
"Fine, but that's all I'm going to be thinking about the whole time they're talking to me," she pouted as she left.
Asami sighed and laughed to herself. I've created a monster. A very attractive monster I'm going to thoroughly enjoy having many, many times.
"There you are! Breakfast can wait. We need you to locate Kuvira now," Raiko ordered as Korra continued past him and sat at a table. "Did you hear-"
"I heard you," she said shortly, "but to do what you want me to requires me being able to clear my mind which I can't do if I'm thinking about breakfast."
"Fair enough," Tenzin interjected before the president could start a fight.
She poured herself a cup of tea. "Around two this morning she was still in a submersible if that helps."
"You already tried to find her?!" Raiko asked.
"Of course I did, but every time I checked last night she was in the same place on the sub - in a cell in cuffs."
"Could you figure out where-"
"All I could see was water," she said shaking her head before taking a bite of a sweet roll. "I'm still trying to figure out how to do the whole spirit tracking thing so my vision isn't very wide. Have you tried Jinora?"
"She wasn't around Kuvira long enough to get a feel for her spirit," Tenzin said.
"I'll tell you what her spirit is like," Varrik said as he plopped down next to Korra. "It's a mixture of black like her heart and grey like her sense of humor."
"So it's grey?"
"It's dark grey."
"I'll keep that in mind when I'm searching for her again."
"Varrik, what do you want?" Raiko asked impatiently.
"I just needed to check in with our esteemed host that we'll be able to get the repairs to the courtyard done by the wedding."
"I'm sure we will," Tenzin reassured.
"Good because the first guests should be arriving today."
"So soon?"
"Soon? The wedding is the day after tomorrow!"
"What?!" Tenzin's face had surpassed its usual shade of angry crimson. "We talked about this! You said you'd push it to the end of next week!"
"The honeymoon, not the wedding. I thought you needed me around for the reconstruction."
"We'll deal with this later," Raiko interrupted. "I'll have contractors brought over immediately, but the Kuvira situation needs to be dealt with first!"
"Yeah, let's do that," Korra agreed, quickly finishing her tea. She led them out to the ruined courtyard to find Jinora. "Jinora, I need your help!" she called to her.
"Good morning, sleepyhead. Dad already tried to have me find her - I'm not sure how much help I can be."
"I can find her, but I can't get a good look around when I do. Do you think you can follow me when I find her?"
"I'll try."
"Okay, you all need to take about five steps back," Korra said turning to Raiko, Tenzin, and Varrik. She and Jinora sat side by side in the lotus position. "You'll have to give me a second - I'm having a hard time focusing this morning," she said to the younger airbender.
"I can tell. Your energy has been all over the place," she said with a sly grin.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Like right now, with Asami waving at you as she's talking to Raiko."
"Okay, I get it." Korra chuckled. "I'm as ready as I'm going to get."
"Now remember, we're looking for Kuvira, not Asami-"
"Thank you," Korra said dryly before elbowing her.
"Sure," Jinora said elbowing her back.
"They aren't getting much done, are they?" Raiko said dully.
"As amazing and limitless as Korra's abilities seem to be sometimes, they do require a small bit of patience to work," Asami said taking another bite of her peach.
"Time isn't something we have an excess of today. Kuvira already has an eight hour head start."
"Something I'm well aware of. I'm just as anxious to put her back in her cell as you are," she said darkly.
"Hopefully we can get this all sorted out this morning so we can focus on repairing the temple," Tenzin growled. "Did you know the wedding is in two days?"
Asami paused and frowned. "Of course, that's all Varrik talks about when we aren't working. Why?"
"Our master airbender had the dates switched," Varrik practically shouted. "He thought it was when we're leaving for the honeymoon! But I don't know what we'll do if we can't straighten this mess out. Su and her boys did a number on this place!"
"Because the Empire troops didn't contribute to it at all," Asami said sarcastically. "Worst case scenario we level the ground and put down decorative rugs to hide the damage."
"Sure, but it's the principle! I'm already having to import snow and pelts, I even had a backdrop commissioned to look like the mountains around the Southern Water Tribe! I was hoping at least the ground would be usable!"
"When are the first guests scheduled to arrive?" Tenzin asked sighing tiredly.
Varrik checked his pocket watch. "About two hours, but I heard Tonraq was planning on racing my yacht so maybe sooner."
"Does Korra know?" Asami asked.
"Not yet," Tenzin said quietly. "We wanted to focus on finding Kuvira."
"I say let her hunt down her own people," Varrik spat. "It'll save us the-"
Asami pushed past him. Across the courtyard, Jinora had left her meditative stance and was hugging her knees to her chest fearfully. "Jinora, what did you see?" she asked as she put an arm around her shaking shoulders.
"Blood. A lot of blood," she said quietly. The young airbender looked up at the others as they approached. "I was able to follow Korra and find Kuvira, but . . ."
"She found the general?"
Jinora nodded. "I think so."
A/N: A shorter chapter for y'all this time around. I had planned on taking a couple of weekends off writing to finish Fallout 4, but the damn game wouldn't stop crashing on me and I was too lazy to try to figure out which of my 90+ mods was causing the problem. So instead I wrote and spent too much time on tumblr browsing fanart again. The next chapter is in the works so hopefully the little cliffhanger won't last too long. Thanks for reading!
