"what the flameo happened here?!" Lin exclaimed, looking around at the decimated lower level of the police station, she and Kya noted the giant hole in the floor which had obviously been metalbent
"Looks like it was some fight" Kya muttered before she noticed two limp bodies sitting in chairs at their desks, she moved over to them and shook her head at Lin.
The chief of police growled angrily before she heard a desperate sounding voice, "no! No! Mako!"
Another voice intermingled with Bolin's desperate cries, "no Bolin, stay still! If you keep moving you'll lose even more blood. I'm sorry, he's most likely gone"
"MAKO!!"
Lin dropped down in a fighting stance, she, of course, recognised the woman's voice. "stand down!" she growled before she stopped, realising she was kneeling at Bolin's side and putting as much pressure on his wound as she could.
"Help him!" the woman called desperately
"Kya?" Lin called to her companion who had just dropped down by her side
"Lin, it has to be you"
"I suppose you're right" Lin admitted
"I'll go look at Mako"
"alright" Lin moved over to Bolin and held her arms out in front of her. After a few seconds the blood flowing out of his neck had lessened and a few seconds later it had stopped. "wrap his neck up!" Lin ordered, Bolin was hovering somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness while the woman continued to have her head bowed over him, fumbling with some of her prison uniform which she had torn to make a makeshift bandage.
"shit" she panted
"what were you doing?!" Lin exclaimed, "how did you get out of your cell?!"
For a few moments, nobody spoke, then Bolin groaned, "Kuvira?"
"yes, Bolin?"
"thank you for saving my life and thank you for trying to save my brother's"
"You're welcome" Kuvira smiled down at the young man
"you... You saved them?" Lin whispered, nearly disbelievingly
"yes. Someone attacked them but ended up throwing them through my cell wall. She was advancing on them explaining how Korra would be next so I acted on instinct, I moved the entire wall and smashed her into the wall. She ran before I could stop her so I busied myself trying to save Bolin and Mako" she looked up hopefully towards Kya
"he's gone" she whispered
"no!" Bolin sighed, "NO!!"
"Can we be of assistance?" Tenzin poked his head through the hole in the ceiling, joined seconds later by Opal and Jinora
"Tenzin" Lin acknowledged
"Bolin!" Opal cried and dropped down next to him, "who did this to you?" she looked at Kuvira, "it wasn't, HER, was it?"
Lin and Kya shared a look, wondering how much the brothers, and Kuvira, had learned. "no" Bolin whispered weakly, "she SAVED me"
"Kuvira?" Opal whispered quietly
"I saved him, Opal" Kuvira confirmed and found herself in Opal's tight embrace, "it's otay, Opal" Kuvira wheezed
"I'm so sorry, Kuvira!" Opal whispered, tears running down her face and her throat burning. She had been so intent on hating Kuvira that she hadn't come to visit the whole six years she had been in jail and hadn't intended to visit for the rest of her twenty year to life sentence. Kuvira's cell bore the hallmarks of a more permanent prison cell, there were a few personal items here and there as well as the platinum walls
"we'd better get these two to a hospital" Tenzin sighed, Korra was not going to like this. "any idea who attacked them?"
Before Bolin or Kuvira could speak, Lin interrupted, "no" she replied flatly
"alright, load then up on Oogi" Tenzin muttered and Lin and Kya did so, Lin carried her fallen subordinate and Kya carried Bolin carefully, Opal tagging alongside her
"I'm going to stay here" Jinora whispered
"Why?"
"I want to talk to Kuvira"
"No, Jinora"
"dad!!"
"fine. But have officers with you at all times" he turned to Lin
"it will be done" Lin signalled and several officers ran towards them
"Wait outside please" Jinora asked once her father had left
"Why do you want to spend your time with a murderer like me?" Kuvira asked bluntly
"because I can see you're struggling, and your actions earlier convinced me you've always tried to do the right thing, even if you got led astray"
"Thank you" Kuvira let out a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding. Jinora certainly was more forgiving than the judge and jury that had sentenced her
"Kuvira, who attacked them? It's important, more important than you currently know"
"A young woman attacked them" Kuvira began, "she was pretty ruthless, she attacked them without provocation and the brothers seemed to be on the back foot from the start, I heard mainly screams and yelps from the brothers until they flew through my cell, Mako was bleeding heavily and Bolin didn't look much better. She advanced through the now broken cell wall and I got my first good look at her..."
"and?"
"Are you sure you want to hear this?"
"Yes!"
"she looked like Korra"
Jinora felt like she was unable to breathe, she began to panic until she felt strong hands on her arms. "breathe" Kuvira reminded her
"KORRA did this?!" Jinora breathed once she had calmed down enough
"I said she looked like Korra, unless Korra has ripped her own eyes out, then this was not Korra"
"no, I would've known if she had, Asami would've told people, and Lin and Kya would know because they have seen her in the past few days"
"exactly"
"did she use a name?"
"not that I heard"
"Korra's past is so shrouded in mystery, I don't think even my dad knows it all"
"wouldn't surprise me..."
"Jinora"
"Wouldn't surprise me, Jinora"
"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to go and speak to Lin and aunt Kya"
"Thank you for staying for a while, I don't get any visitors"
"You're welcome" Jinora smiled and walked out, confident that she had helped nurture the seed of good in Kuvira. Kuvira sighed and sat down in her ruined cell
*
"is Bolin going to be alright?" Opal whispered
"He should be alright, Opal"
"thank you for helping him, aunt Lin"
"i couldn't stand by and do nothing, Opal" she turned to look at Tenzin "Tenzin, I need to speak to my niece"
"I understand, Lin" he leant back
"Alone" her eyes narrowed
"Of course" he airbent himself to his feet and hurried off
"Opal" Lin began cautiously
"out with it, Lin" Opal whispered, staring at the older woman
"you sure?"
"yes!!" Opal growled, "i want to know who attacked my Bolin, and I want to have revenge!"
"you're still a Beifong through and through" another voice called
"Jinora!" Opal ran to her and hugged her best friend
"I'm here, Opal, please don't let me stop you, Lin"
"you already know, don't you?"
"I spoke with Kuvira, so I know what she knows"
"Well, Korra has... A twin"
"What?!" Opal gasped but Jinora didn't look overly surprised
"until very recently we thought she was dead, or at least that's what Senna and Tonraq told us"
"Us?"
"Me and Kya, and later Asami"
"Korra doesn't know? Makes sense" Jinora pondered
"well after the incident in the South Pole..."
"What incident in the South Pole?"
"the compound there was attacked"
"Gran-Gran?" Jinora inquired timidly and Lin shook her head
"no..." Jinora's eyes filled with tears but she nodded for Lin to continue, Opal wrapped her arms around her best friend and hugged her tightly
"the compound attack had certain similarities to other attacks that had been occurring sporadically across the coast of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, a black haired woman was behind these attacks, but it wasn't until Zaofu was attacked" it was Opal's turn to go white, "did we have a face to match the hair"
"mom? Dad? Wing? Wei? Huan?" Opal whispered
"All still alive, fortunately" Opal sighed and let a few tears fall, "your mom is hurt, as are Wing and Wei, but I guess the woman thought she was dead"
"And this woman's name? And true identity?"
"her name is Kylia. She was Korra's twin, but was taken from Senna and Tonraq's house by two of the Red Lotus." Jinora looked appalled and Opal looked angry
"Didn't realise kidnapping was part of even their resume" Opal growled
"they tried the same on Korra when she was revealed as the avatar" Lin added
"Fuck them...!" Jinora scowled
"Ghazan and Ming-Hua raised Kylia as Cupunko and their own. Naturally she was badly affected when Ghazan and Ming-Hua, as well as P'Li died and Zaheer was imprisoned so she started her killing spree"
Opal and Jinora didn't speak for several minutes, they were hugging and crying for Korra, crying for Senna and Tonraq, as well as Kylia's lost childhood and all the experiences she missed. "poor girl" Jinora cried
"aunt Lin, you can't blame Kylia..."
"And why not?"
"because it's the Red Lotus' fault what has happened to her and what she's doing is as a result of their brainwashing"
if only it would be that easy to convince a juryLin thought to herself, "You're pretty wise, Opal" Lin admittedwouldn't be surprised if you get your tattoos soon
*
Kya knocked on the door and opened it, with Senna and Tonraq in tow. "hey, sweetie" Kya whispered and kissed her girlfriend
"You wanted to see us?" Senna whispered, conscious of Bolin who was asleep
"yes. Please, take a seat..."
Senna and Tonraq sat and waited expectantly but it was Kya who broke the silence. "Senna, Tonraq, I'm afraid we have some good and some bad news"
"oh?"
"your daughter is alive..."
"really...?! T..." Senna was interrupted by Lin
"And she's the one who's been attacking people"
"no" Tonraq growled, he looked less human and more wolf or polar bear dog in those few seconds
"I'm sorry Tonraq, there's no other explanation"
"I can't believe it!" Senna cried
"the night she disappeared, she was taken from your home by the Red Lotus"
"Those fucking c..." Tonraq was interrupted by a slap on his wrist from Senna
"Language, Tonraq, there's children here"
"Trust me, I hear worse from uncle Bumi" Jinora giggled, Opal rolled her eyes and joined in with the giggling
"Why am I not surprised?" Senna rolled her eyes
"Ghazan and Ming-Hua raised her as their own after they took her and nurtured her bending abilities, she's like your daughter in at least one sense, she can bend all four elements"
"but Korra is the Avatar"
"don't ask me to explain it" Lin replied
"Does Korra know?" Senna asked
"no"
"Asami?"
"yes. She came to Zaheer's cell with us"
"That bastard" Tonraq growled before the door opened again, much to everyone's surprise
*
"Bolin!!" Asami cried and ran forward, closely followed by Korra, Toph and Suyin, who brought up the rear supported by her sons.
"shit. Bo, I'm sorry!" Korra sobbed before everything went black
"uh... Korra?" Asami turned to her and went white when Korra fell to her knees and passed out without so much as a whimper. "Korra!" she ran to her side and picked her up gently
Korra was tossing and turning even though she was out of it, she screamed and screamed and screamed. One of the nurses ran up with a needle only to find herself encased in metal. "no you don't" Lin seethed
"It's sedative" the nurse replied
"I don't give a damn" Lin leered menacingly, she turned her back on the nurse and knelt next to Korra. "she's still alive..."
"No shit, Lin" Asami grimaced. "she hasn't stopped screaming"
"Oh yeah" Lin yelled back, her ears covered and her eyes filled with tears
"I think she's remembering" Senna yelled
"remembering what?" Opal, Bolin, Toph, Suyin, Wing, Wei and Jinora asked together. Kuvira had also entered the room flanked by several police officers, much to the distaste of Suyin and her boys but Opal ran to her and hugged her
"The worst day of her life" Asami sighed softly and sobbed uncontrollably
