*** Just want to say thanks for being so patient about the updates. You guys are the best :)
…..
Asami's face twisted with extreme worry as she asked, "What do you mean it's killing you?"
Korra explained about Vaatu, and Wan, and the headaches and the nosebleed and how she thought maybe the airbenders could help, and by the time she was done, the worry on Asami's face had shifted to genuine fear.
"Okay…" Asami said with concern. "So we'll leave the city this morning, and we'll go to the airbenders and see if they know anything."
"I can't leave yet, Asami," Korra answered guiltily. "We have to protect Raiko."
"Yeah, but if you're not here then there's no speech," Asami said urgently. "No speech and Raiko isn't in danger."
Korra shook her head, taking in the pained look on Asami's face. She hated doing this, hated making Asami worry about losing her when she'd already been through so much in her life. Korra was scared too, but if she was the Avatar, then she was going to have to start making hard choices. She had to get the people to calm down, that way the police could focus on protecting Raiko if the Triple Threats tried to attack him outside the speech. Then she could focus on helping herself.
"The Triple Threats will find him," Korra said. "The people need to know what's happening. They need to know that everything's going to be okay."
"They won't feel like everything's okay if they see Raiko get assassinated," Asami argued. "And if they find out it's because of you? What do you think they'll do then?"
"What else do you want me to do?" Korra asked desperately. "What are my options? All of this is because of me, and I have to do something."
Asami opened her mouth to reply, but Korra felt a familiar agony flare in her skull, and her cry of pain cut Asami off. Before the darkness could even get a chance to really try and take over, Korra went into the Avatar state. It was just like before, she fought for control while the Avatar state gave her an edge, and by the time it was over, she was tired and out of breath. She straightened out of her buckled-over pose and met Asami's gaze, and she could tell that they both knew she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. She didn't even know if she could keep it up for an entire day, because every time she went into the Avatar state, it sapped her of energy, and after a while she probably wouldn't even have the energy to keep fighting.
Asami sighed, concerned eyes scanning Korra's face. "You can't expect me to sit by and watch this destroy you."
"Then don't," Korra answered, reaching out to take Asami's hand pleadingly. "Help me put the peoples' minds at ease. Help me get Raiko out of the danger I put him in. Then we'll go and find a way to end this."
As Asami nodded her reluctant consent, the front door of the mansion opened, and they turned to see Mako. "There you are," he said, glancing past them at Naga with her saddle on. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Just got back," Korra answered. "Are Bolin and Opal awake?" Though Mako looked confused about where they'd been, and there was some unexplainable suspicion in his eyes, he nodded, and so Korra started up the stairs to meet him. "We need to talk."
She headed past him and into the house, and she and Asami waited in the foyer for Mako to retrieve Bolin and Opal. Eventually, they were all gathered, and Korra went through the details once more, telling them everything she'd told Asami. Telling them about Vaatu, and how one fusion with a spirit was dangerous and that this second one was probably killing her, and how she had to keep going into the Avatar state to fight it off. Each of them appeared deeply concerned by the time she'd finished, but she still hadn't even told them about Raiko.
"So where did you and Asami go?" Mako asked after she finished telling them about Vaatu. "Were you looking for a solution?"
Korra let out a heavy breath, shaking her head. "I wasn't in control the whole night," she explained. "I set something in motion, and now I need your help to stop it."
"Whatever it is," Opal offered, "We got you."
Korra didn't meet any of their gazes as she said, "I went to the Triple Threats." When there was no immediate response, she glanced up to look at them. Bolin's eyebrows converged with confusion, Opal appeared afraid, but Mako stiffened, eyes narrowing at Korra with some mix of anger and disappointment. She tried to ignore the pang of that look while she added, "My speech is in a few hours… they'll try to kill Raiko while he's on stage with me."
Jaws dropped, but Mako was the first to recover. "I'm calling Chief," he said, turning to head to another room and make the call.
"You can't," Korra said, feeling a mild panic as she rushed forward to stop him.
"I have to," he argued. "You put the president of Republic City in danger and we need police help to make sure he's safe."
The level of accusation in his tone made Korra glare. "That's why I'm asking you guys for help," she said in annoyance.
"We might not be enough," Mako said. "I'm calling Beifong and telling her what's going on."
"So they can lock me up for attempted murder?" Korra asked angrily, voice rising in volume. "What good will that do?"
"Maybe it'll do some good," Mako stated in frustration. "You've been acting weird, and I heard you and Asami fighting last night. You're unstable, Korra."
"I'm unstable because there's a dark spirit trying to control me!" she shouted. "It's killing me, and you want to throw me in a cell!"
"Guys," Asami tried to interject.
"That's not what I want!" Mako hollered in exasperation. "But I'm a cop, I can't just not say anything!"
"Guys!" Asami said again, slipping her electric glove on.
Korra turned with worry, about to tell her that she was under control and didn't need to get shocked. But then she saw what Asami was trying to say. Bolin had rushed to the window that looked out over the front of the estate, and through it, Korra could see a collecting group of cars and motorcycles. She recognized two of the people that had arrived – it was the Triple Threats, and there were at least twenty of them. A confused but concerned look passed between all five of them, and they hurried out the front door to meet the gathering gangsters.
The leader got off his motorcycle, taking a few steps forward while his lackeys dismounted their own bikes or got out of the couple cars. "Nice digs, Avatar," he said smugly, glancing around at the exterior of the mansion. "We might have to move in after we take the city."
"How'd you find me?" Korra asked sternly.
Before the leader could answer, from behind her, Bolin murmured, "Oh, no." They all glanced at him, but he was staring at one of the gang members in particular.
That particular gang member shrugged, saying with a world of insincerity, "Sorry, Bo."
Korra looked at Bolin again, and he explained to each of them, "Shady Shin called last night to ask if Mako and I wanted back in now that everyone has bending, and I was excited that Korra was the Avatar and we were staying in Asami's nice house and… I might've… told him all that…" In response to the scowls on their faces, he threw his hands up in exasperation. "How was I supposed to know Korra would go and make a deal with them?" And under his breath, he muttered, "I still can't even believe it…"
Korra sighed and turned back to the leader. "What do you want?"
"I was thinking more about your change of heart," he replied. "See, you made a real attractive proposition last night… and I was concerned you'd try to interfere since you changed your mind." He clicked his tongue, saying nonchalantly, "I couldn't let that happen." As he finished, all of the Triple Threats readied their elements and weapons. They'd come to kill Korra – that much was clear. "I saw what you did with the police cars, though. To show my gratitude, I'll let your friends live if they walk away."
Out of the corner of her eye, Korra saw Mako's head swivel to look at her. "What did you do to the police cars?" he asked in shocked irritation.
"Not a good time, Mako," Korra grumbled, eyes still locked on the Triple Threat's leader. They stared each other down for a long span of seconds, as if he was giving Korra time to accept his offer and let her friends walk away. But she knew they wouldn't even if she asked them to.
"Suit yourself," the leader said.
Korra reacted just fast enough to dodge the first rock that was hurled straight at her head. It crashed through a window of the house, and all five of them, and Naga, dove right into the skirmish. Korra stayed close to Asami to fight at her side. She dodged a ball of fire thrown by a woman a good distance away, and then stomped on the ground, lifting a pillar of rock that hit the woman in the gut. Hardly a moment later, she turned just in time to punch through a sharp shard of ice, and in the same instant, Naga went soaring over her head. The polar bear dog caught a chunk of rock like it was a tennis ball, whipped her head to the side to toss it away and then jumped straight onto the assailant who'd thrown it.
There was so much happening as each of them was outnumbered at least four to one, and every move Korra made was more instinct than conscious reaction. She bent up a small wall to protect herself from a hurled boulder, then punched it in half and kicked it at a waterbender who'd already streamed a jet in her direction. She didn't dodge the water in time, and it collided so hard with her chest that it sent her careening backward. The moment she hit the pavement, Asami's hand clasped around her forearm, yanking her back to her feet.
Asami ducked, lowering herself nearly to the ground and turning as she did, kicking a foot out to knock another nonbender's legs out from under him. While Asami grabbed the man with her glove to render him unconscious, Korra noticed an earthbender with a heavy rock poised above his head, getting ready to smash Asami in the back with it. His arms were raised to hold it, which left his entire abdomen exposed, and so before he could throw his earth at Asami, Korra collected a pool of water from the ground and surged it toward him. It hit him in the stomach, and the shock of it caused him to drop his hold on the rock and let it fall directly onto his head. He hit the ground instantly, but just as Korra turned to make sure Asami was okay, that electric glove shot right past her ribs. It zapped sparks into the torso of a woman who'd been about to burn Korra with a powerful blast, and the fire died in her hands as she dropped.
Korra gave Asami a shared smile, but there was no time to comment on how good of a team they made. They were still outnumbered, they'd both already taken hits and the other three weren't faring much better. They couldn't last like this, and the Triad wasn't here just to slow them down and knock them out. The goal was to kill. Korra had to do something before she couldn't do anything.
By now, going into the Avatar state was easy. She knew exactly how, and she did right as an airbender punched a blast directly at her. Her eyes glowed that bright white, and the air that the bender had tried to hit her with was like a breeze compared to the gusting that surrounded her, and that lifted her six feet off the earth. But she was only in the Avatar state for a moment before she felt it. Felt the flare of pain accompanied by the darkness trying to take control.
No, Korra thought, not now. Not when their lives were in danger. The pain was so severe that it cut through her control of the elements and she plummeted, only managing to catch herself right before she hit the ground, so that when she did, it was softly. Through the agony in her head, she saw a stream of water coming straight for her. She pushed away the pain, focused past it just long enough to redirect the water back at its sender. But that waterbender wasn't the only one who noticed Korra's sudden vulnerability.
As she struggled to her feet, fighting to keep control of herself, she watched every bender who wasn't preoccupied with fighting one of her friends zero in on her. She'd just become the prime target, and she knew she had to finish this fast or risk losing herself to either the darkness or death. Gathering every bit of strength and control she had, she focused intensely on two tasks – fighting the pain and fighting the benders. She shot into the air, eyes glowing bright as she dodged and retaliated for the sudden onslaught of elements being thrown at her.
Every piece of earth, every blast of fire or air or water, she manipulated, but every time she knocked a bender down, another got right back up. Nor could her friends come to help her, because they were in the same predicament. So the next time she knocked an earthbender down, she ripped a piece of metal veneer from the side of the house, wrapped it tight around their middle to trap their arms at their sides, and she turned to the next. Piece after piece of metal she curled around earthbenders, settling on using rock for the other remaining benders, until every single one of the Triad members was wriggling in their restraints.
It wasn't a call for celebration once she was done, because now that she could focus beyond self-defense, the pain was excruciating. She didn't even have the strength and focus to fall gently to the ground this time. She smacked down hard, rising to her knees to clutch at her head, trying to ease it so she could stay in control. Only, the pain wasn't just in her head anymore. It was in her chest, throbbing with every beat of her heart so that it didn't just feel like her head would explode, but like her heart would burst too.
Groaning, Korra curled into herself, hands falling from her head so she could wrap her arms around her middle. She felt her eyes start to flicker from white to red, but she wouldn't surrender to it, no matter how badly it hurt. As long as she had the strength, she wouldn't give up. It only lasted another minute, and then the darkness backed down and left her alone.
She was exhausted, gasping for air as the constricting pain left her chest. Her blue eyes were full of agonized tears, and she sniffled to rid the moisture that had spread into her sinuses, but it brought the coppery smell of blood. As she met the worried eyes of her friends, she wiped the back of her hand beneath her nose. The bleeding was worse than the first time. Not just a single drip, but enough that a spatter fell from her chin to the ground beneath her.
"Korra?" Asami asked quietly, maintaining a few feet's distance and tense with her glove still active.
"It's me," Korra panted reassuringly. Her shoulders slumped, head drooping tiredly as she continued to recover breath. She couldn't do that again, couldn't go into the Avatar state to fight two battles at once because, next time, she was certain she'd only win one of them. She stayed kneeling there for another minute while she recovered, and then struggled to her feet and staggered to the Triple Threat's leader. "Call off the attack," she ordered weakly.
"You don't look so good," he said amusedly, as if he hadn't just lost the fight and wasn't trapped. Still, Korra reached up to thumb the remaining blood from her nose. "It's happening, Avatar," the leader said in response to her order. "If not this morning, then later today. We'll take this city before it recovers."
"Have fun dreaming about it from prison," Korra countered, and immediately turned to her friends. "Mako," she said, loud enough for the Triple Threats to hear, "call the Chief."
She paced back to the front steps of the house, where her friends gathered so they could talk now without the gangsters hearing. As she did, she stole a look around the exterior of the estate. Everything was ruined. The ground was all torn up, she'd completely stripped the house of its metal, and rocks had been thrown through windows and smashed into the now-broken walls. This was her fault too. If it weren't for her, the Triple Threats never would've come here. Never would've destroyed parts of this expensive home that would take a lot of money to fix when Asami was already stressed about Future Industries' finances.
The thought was put from her mind when she reached her friends. "Are you sure?" Mako asked quietly. "I know I said maybe a cell wouldn't be that bad… but Viper's right. You don't look very good."
Korra glanced back at the leader, Viper. "Yeah," she answered. "The less Triple Threats on the streets today, the better. If Beifong has to know what I did, then so be it."
"She doesn't necessarily," Opal put in, receiving curious looks from each of them. She motioned to Mako and Bolin. "You guys used to be Triple Threats. Why can't you just tell my aunt that you got an anonymous tip from an old friend? Then Korra can still give her speech and protect Raiko."
"And what do we tell the police about why they tried to attack us?" Korra asked.
Asami nodded toward Korra, saying, "The Avatar's a threat to them no matter what. It makes sense that they'd want to take you out before trying to take over the city, especially if they thought we'd been tipped off about the assassination."
"Mako?" Korra prompted, because this plan still involved him lying, and that wasn't usually how he operated.
He gave a hesitant shrug. "If that's what I have to do." He paced into the house for a minute to make the call, and then came back out as he was putting his cell phone back into his pocket. "It's going to take a while for them to get a van or two out here to pick all these guys up." Mako shot a slightly exasperated look at Korra. "Apparently someone destroyed a bunch of police cars last night…"
"It wasn't me," Korra said defensively.
"Anyway," he said dismissively, clearly not wanting to argue anymore, which Korra was grateful for, seeing as she didn't have the energy for it. "If you want to go inside and rest, we can keep an eye out here until Chief Beifong comes."
Korra passed a smile around, feeling more than ready to get off her feet. "Thanks."
As she started heading back inside, she heard a pair of footsteps follow after her. It was Asami, who asked while walking at her side, "Are you hungry?"
"Starving, actually," Korra answered, and followed Asami into the kitchen. When they reached it, she dropped down on a stool at the island in the middle, grateful when Asami started pulling a large pizza out of the freezer.
"You know I can't cook, so…" Asami began as she started up the oven. "I hope this is okay."
"It's perfect," Korra said, propping her tired head up in her hands. She released a soft sigh, saying apologetically, "I'm sorry about the house." Asami simply shrugged as she put the pizza in the oven, though Korra knew it was just so she wouldn't feel guiltier than she already did. "I'll help you fix it."
Asami nodded, and Korra didn't know what else to say and she was too tired to try, so she folded her arms over the surface of the island and dropped her head onto them. There was the faint sound of footsteps as she assumed Asami was moving around to get a drink, but then a pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Asami leaned into her back and rested her chin over Korra's shoulder to nuzzle into her. After everything they'd been dealing with, the embrace was so soft and warm, and it felt so good that Asami was being affectionate again. It was forgiving and trusting, and Korra let out a deeply relieved breath, feeling exhausted tears flood her eyes.
"You have a few hours before your speech," Asami said gently, not releasing her hold. "Maybe you should sleep."
Sleep sounded amazing. She hadn't had a decent night of it in the two nights since the portal had been opened. "I can't," Korra answered disappointedly. "Last time I fell asleep, I wasn't myself when I woke up…"
Asami let go with one arm, bringing it between them to rub her hand over Korra's back. "You can't stay awake forever."
Korra shook her head with agreement. "I just have to stay awake long enough not to completely ruin the city." She paused, and then added gloomily, "Long enough not to completely ruin us."
"Korra," Asami said soothingly, leaning forward enough to press a soft kiss to Korra's cheek. "I don't know about you, but when I told you I loved you, I meant it."
Despite her tired state and the stress, an involuntary smile reached Korra's lips, and she picked up her head and turned enough to meet Asami's gaze. "I meant it too."
"Then it'll take more than some dark spirit to mess this up," she said. "I'm with you, and I've got your back, and we'll figure this all out before it's too late. Don't worry about us, okay? I'm not going anywhere."
Korra leaned in, pressing a slow, grateful kiss to Asami's lips, and it was comforting enough that she almost truly believed they'd fix everything before it was too late. "Thank you."
Asami's hand made one more soothing pass over Korra's back before she turned for a cupboard. "You want some tea?"
Korra nodded, and Asami made her tea and cut her some pizza when it was finished so she could eat. Only once during the next couple hours did she have to go into the Avatar state again, but it was getting more difficult. That fight had drained her of so much energy, energy she probably didn't have in the first place because she was sleep deprived, and she could only imagine what having two spirits in her was doing to her physically. That had to be why she wasn't recovering. Why her stamina was gone and going into the Avatar state left her completely out of breath and weak. Eventually they had to leave and head back into the city, and all Korra could hope was that she didn't have an episode while she was addressing the people.
If she were honest with herself, she'd admit she was a little surprised that Raiko still agreed she go through with the speech even knowing his life was in danger. Regardless, he was there when she and Asami showed up on Naga, with Mako, Bolin, and Opal on two of the Triple Threat's motorcycles behind them. At least half of Republic City's police force was there too, along with television crews and news reporters and a lot more civilians than Korra expected. She wasn't sure how word got out so quickly that she and Raiko had an important announcement, but there had to be at least a thousand people. It was good that there were so many police officers with that big of a crowd, because they'd need as many eyes as they could get to keep an eye out for Triple Threat assassins. Everyone else would probably be watching from whatever televisions in the city that hadn't been broken or looted. So much for a simple press conference…
When they were ready, she followed Raiko on stage, along with her friends so they could help her keep an eye out. She sat down in a chair near the podium, unable to entirely focus on what Raiko was saying because she was too preoccupied with scanning the crowd for threats and running through everything she'd prepared to say. He gave some shallow gratitude for everyone remaining calm overnight, which Korra tried not to roll her eyes at, told them he needed their help to get the city back in order and promised government officials were doing everything they could, and then he introduced Korra as the Avatar.
Recognizing that as her cue, she stood and wandered to the podium, trying not to think about how many pairs of eyes were on her or about the fact that Raiko would probably never trust her with anything public ever again if she screwed this up. "Hello, everyone," she said into the microphone, "I'm Korra." The blank stares caused her to swallow nervously, but she reminded herself to stick to what she'd rehearsed. To what Asami, who was practiced at public speeches, had helped her to prepare. "I want to start by explaining exactly what's going on," she continued. "I found the southern spirit portal a couple days ago, and when I touched it, it opened. That's what's given a lot of you bending, and what's made me the Avatar."
While she spoke, her eyes were constantly moving over the crowd, watching for weapons or bent elements or anyone who looked dangerous. "I know yesterday was frightening," Korra said to the people, feeling a cooling sweat dampen her forehead with the start of an ache behind her eyes. She was nervous, but she wasn't that distraught, and knowing where the tension was coming from, she silently pleaded for the darkness to hold off just a few more minutes. "None of us were prepared for what happened, but the world has been out of balance since the last Avatar died. If you all give this time, and trust in your city's leaders and we help each other adjust, things won't just return to normal. It'll be better than it was before."
She opened her mouth to say the last few lines of the speech she'd prepared, but from the front row, a reporter interrupted with, "How do you know for sure?"
Korra blinked at him for a moment, struggling to understand the unexpected question and then to come up with an answer. "With the state of the world," Korra said, "it couldn't get much worse. The return of bending and spirits will-"
"But it got worse yesterday," another reporter interjected. "When you opened the portal."
"What were you doing there anyway?" another one called from the back. "I thought all the portals were closed and wiped off the maps."
"I was out," Korra answered, and with the stress of the sudden onslaught, she felt the ache in her head intensify. "And I just… found it."
"And you decided to touch it?" another reporter asked in accusatory shock. "That seems kind of reckless. How do we know you won't be a reckless Avatar too?"
"I'm not reckless," Korra said, beginning to grow frustrated. "I just-"
"Who decided you get to be the Avatar, anyway?" one of the previous reporters asked.
"No one decides," Korra spat in annoyance. She knew it had been a long time since there'd been an Avatar, but did people really forget how it worked? "I didn't choose this."
As the first reporter asked, "What about spirits?" Korra noticed a man shoving through the crowd with a suspicious amount of urgency, and she started to panic. "How are we supposed to handle those?"
The ache was getting worse even though she was trying to fight it without having to go into the Avatar state, and the reporters were bombarding her with accusations and it looked like the attack was about to happen. Korra shot a look to her friends, nodding hastily toward the crowd to let them know.
"Look," Korra said impatiently. "We're not going to be able to have everything sorted out all at once."
Before she could continue, Raiko rose from his seat and paced over, setting a hand on her back to stop her. "What Avatar Korra is trying to say," he said into the microphone, but Korra tuned him out to search for the man that she'd seen in the crowd.
It took her a moment, but she found him, and she wasn't the only one who noticed. She could see police dodging through people to try and reach him, but they wouldn't get there in time. It didn't look like the man was preparing an element or like he had any weapons either, not until he reached into his coat pocket. Korra bent the water out of the cup on the inner shelf of the podium, preparing to hurl it at the man the moment he retrieved whatever weapon he had in his pocket. His hand came out, but he wasn't holding anything sharp or projectile. It was square, like a remote.
Like a detonator.
"Bomb!" Korra yelled.
She didn't even have time to think about it. She went into the Avatar state, grabbed Raiko and dove with him toward her friends as she bent a powerful shield of air around them. The moment she hit the ground, the explosion sounded from the podium. Fire engulfed the air bubble that protected them as the entire front of the stage was incinerated, and screams and panic erupted from the crowd.
The very second the fire died, Korra shot to her feet, eyes still glowing as she searched the chaotic crowd for the man who'd set the bomb off. There was no way she could see him through the smoke and the panic, and she didn't get to look for more than a moment before the pain reached excruciating. She screamed at the sudden agony, dropping to her knees and knowing already that she wouldn't be able to fight it this time. She was too tired, too weak, and though she stayed in the Avatar state, she felt her eyes start to flicker.
It was like the chaotic scene before her gave the darkness strength. It was pulling at her harder than it had yet, hurting her more than she thought possible. The constricting agony in her chest was a hundred times worse than it had been at the estate, and she could feel it rising. It wasn't just a physical pain that felt like it would explode. It was energy. The combined energy of the battle between light and dark inside her was reaching a proportion she couldn't contain, and though she had no idea how, she knew it would erupt if she didn't do something. It was swelling so erratically at her breast that she couldn't even curl into herself from pain. She couldn't keep her arms from tensing at her sides or every muscle in her body from clenching with the effort to hold it back. That thrumming energy would leave her chest if she didn't take action now.
"Korra?" Asami hollered over the screaming of the crowd and sirens and the fire on the stage. She had her glove on, blue sparks catching Korra's attention because Korra remembered what she'd asked. What she'd made Asami promise if she saw red.
"Do it," Korra muttered through gritted teeth. Asami reached for her shoulder. That painful static jolted through her veins for hardly a moment, and the last thing she saw before everything went black was the worry in Asami's soggy green eyes.