Ch24. It feels like I just updated, but it has been a whole day already. My schedule is all screwed up right now. Either way, I hope you like it and it is not my stuff.
Chapter Twenty Four
Korra relaxed on the veranda for the third time that day. She had been meditating on and off all day, trying to build a spiritual connection with Aang. So far, nothing was working at all. She sat cross legged and started to inhale deeply. She didn't notice the "shooting star" entering the atmosphere miles away, but instead focused on what Tenzin had taught her. She sat there inhaling and exhaling for nearly an hour with no results.
Finally Korra tugged at her hair in irritation as she fell back onto the wooden floor. "What's wrong with me!" She sighed loudly as she smashed her fist into the wood. "Aang, would you please just show up!" A set of footsteps echoed across the floor a moment later. "Not now Tenzin." She sighed.
"But you called me here." A voice said from above her. "All you had to do was ask."
Korra opened her eyes to see the former Avatar, Aang of the Air Nation standing over her grinning. Even in his older days, he had still kept much of a youthful look. His smile tugged at his beard, but Korra was instantly glad to see him. "YES!" She shouted as she jumped to her feet and pumped her fist into the air.
Aang laughed a bit. "You have finally connected with your spiritual self." He informed her.
Korra finally relaxed a bit. "How?" She asked.
"Part of it is simply because you finally asked. That shows that you understand that you cannot do it all on your own." Aang took a seat on a bench and motioned for Korra to do the same. "Another is the fact that a great evil is about to take place, this knowledge was in you subconsciously and greatly helped in calling me here."
"What is going to happen?" Korra asked.
"The Solstice is coming up tomorrow." Aang said solemnly.
"So?" Korra knit her brow in confusion.
Aang chuckled once more. "You really didn't pay attention in any of your spiritual classes, did you?" Korra shook her head proudly before Aang continued. "The Solstice is the time when the Spirit world and physical world are closest together. A certain Spirit may be attempting to enter the physical world to wreak havoc."
"Why would he want to do such a thing?" Korra asked.
"It is Koh, the face stealer." Korra remembered bits and pieces from learning about him. "The last Water Tribe born Avatar, Kuruk lost his wife to Koh. He tirelessly went after the Spirit, but to no avail. It is my belief, that Koh views you in the same light as Kuruk. After all, you are the same person."
"So what does that mean" Korra inquired.
Aang stroked his beard in thought. "I believe Koh will attempt to put you through the same struggle Kuruk had. He is going to try to steal Roland's face."
"No!" Korra jumped to her feet. "He won't be able to. Roland is on a mission to clear out a cult group."
Aang nodded solemnly. "That cult worships Koh as god. The cave they use is an active portal into the Spirit world. Koh has been receiving sacrifices from the cult, and on the Solstice, he may choose to remain here as long as he can."
Korra looked around. "I need to get there to warn him."
Aang stood up as well. He placed his hand onto her forehead and held it for a moment. "I'll help you even more. You're bending is restored to its fullest."
Korra felt as if she was completed for a moment before she shot a flame out of her fist to affirm that her bending was really back. "Thank you." She whispered.
"Remember, Koh has to see expression to steal a face, but he can cause pain in the physical world. Few people can handle an attack from him."
Korra nodded. "One last thing." She said. "How did Roland get here?"
Aang smiled yet again. "That young Avatar, you will discover soon enough." As the last words left his lips, he vanished. Korra looked at where he had been standing for a moment before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.
She quickly ran back towards the Temple, passing by Bolin and Ikki in a heated game of Pai Sho. Korra nearly ran Tenzin into the ground as she rounded a corner. "Tenzin I need to go!" She said.
"Hold on now, what is wrong." Tenzin said, taking her by the shoulders.
Korra sighed loudly and produced fire from her right hand while drawing water out of a fountain with her left. "My bending is back, but I have to go help Roland."
Tenzin was overjoyed, but wanted answers. "Why do you need to go?"
Korra pulled away slightly. "Aang warned me about Koh and Roland." She said quickly before breaking Tenzin's grasp.
"Be careful!" He shouted after her.
Korra grabbed a glider and prayed that the one practice session she had was enough. Taking a running start, she jumped off a cliff high about the water and started to air bend as she had been shown. Within moments, she was not just gliding, but flying through the air and gaining altitude. She knew the general vicinity of where Roland was, and trusted her instincts to locate him.
Back in the mountains.
Roland enjoyed having another Spartan alongside him as he moved forward into the darkness. He had never crossed paths with a Spartan II, but the knowledge that the man next to him was actually better trained than himself was quite comforting. His VISR cast everything into the odd colors he had grown accustom to and he kept the shotgun shouldered and ready to fire.
Slowly, he noticed a light deep inside of the cave. The two Spartans, three Marines, and four Raiders moved stealthily into what became a massive cavern and took cover behind several large stalagmites. Dozens of people dressed in black were at the far side facing a small passage that seemed to lead deeper into the mountain. Roland glanced around and noticed that it looked like a fight had broken out where they were hiding. Chunks of rock were gone and scorch marks pocketed the walls.
"What happen here?" Jorge whispered as he felt a damp spot on the ground from where a water bender had used an attack.
Roland looked at Dar. "Looks like the first team was compromised."
Dar nodded, but Leton was the one to speak up. "Good thing we brought friends." He motioned to Jorge and the three Marines.
Roland nodded in agreement before he moved along the wall. As they closed in on the group, he noticed the members of team one tied or restrained in different ways. Each man was surrounded by at least three of the black clad cult members. The rest of the cult had gathered around an altar of sorts that they had laid one of the Raiders on. Every one of them wore a mask that showed nothing but their eyes, very similar to the one Amon had worn.
The one who looked to be the leader raised his hands and a chant was started. The people circled the altar, waving snake like cylinders and chanting in some unknown language. "What is going on?" One of the Marines whispered.
Roland shrugged, but Sehdon was able to answer. "They are calling out some type of spirit." He listened for a few more seconds. "I can't tell who or why, but they are definitely trying to call a spirit out of the spirit world."
Jorge looked back at the metalbender. "What in the heck are you talking about?" He asked.
As Sehdon opened his mouth to reply, the ground started to tremble. A faint light started to grow brighter from the dark end of the cavern. Slowly it grew, until it was the size of a tank, at that point, a shadow appeared, blocking most of the light, but allowing some to bleed around it.
Roland slid the shotgun onto the magnetic plate on his back and withdrew his M7S. "What the heck it that thing?" He hissed. His VISR flickered and outline the looming object with flashing red. His HUD read "TARGET UNKNOWN : LIKELY HOSTILE."
Krok sat there with his mouth agape. "It can't be…" He whispered.
"What is it?" Roland depolarized his visor and glared at the water bender.
"They called out a spirit…" Sehdon made sure he was crouched as low as he could.
"Don't show emotion!" Zhang shouted over the rumbling of the cavern. The Raider who was sprawled across the altar forced his face to go blank. All of the cult members had fallen face first toward the massive object. They continued to moan and chant in the ancient tongue as a centipede like body that was at least six feet wide and fifty feet long crawled forward. The exoskeleton was jet black and covered with ridges and spines. It continued to move forward and wrapped around the altar once. The "head" reared back, but Roland couldn't see any type of face or mouth.
"Yet another soldier, but still not the one of the Avatar's affection." Said the beast. It's voice dripped with venom and echoed menacingly around the cavern, mixing in with the continuous chanting of the cult members. The cult leader said something different and Koh seemed to nod his head.
The Spartan III felt several eyes resting on him and turned to see the Raiders glaring at him. "The Avatar's affection?" Krok hissed. "He wants you!"
Roland shuddered a bit and turned back to Koh. He could now see a dreadful face of a man, but it looked completely out of place on the rest of the body. The location of the face was framed by dozens of short spikes and Roland almost couldn't believe his eyes as the entire face seemed to blink and the dreadful man's face was replaced with that of a beautiful woman.
"What's the matter soldier?" The voice now sounded as smooth as silk, completely opposite to the beast that it was attached to. "Afraid to show a little emotion?" The Raider kept a straight face, but his body was quivering in fear.
"So what do we do?" Roland asked to others.
"That is Koh. Legend is that if you show emotion, he can steal your face…" Krok remembered. "I have never heard of anyone trying to kill him or defeat him though."
Roland nodded. "You three." He pointed to the Marines. "Maximum polarization on your helmets. If he can't see ya, it should be fine."
"AHH!" Everyone looked as the Raider screamed. Koh had smashed one of his spine like legs into the man's stomach. He screamed, but it was cut off as Koh's head enveloped his own. The man's legs kicked and thrashed, but a few moments later, Koh backed away. He now wore the face of the Raider with an evil smile plastered across it, and the body continued to jolt back and forth like a man who was choking to death.
"Perfect." Koh sighed. His voice was now that of the dead warrior below him. "Who is next?"
A pair of cult members grabbed Sergeant Zhang next and dragged him forward. Instead of trying him to the altar, they just held him between them. "A perfect specimen, but still not the one." Koh looked the man over.
"Alright, we need to go now." Roland detached the sniper rifle from Jorge's back. "You three, set up a base of fire. Make sure to cover each other's reloads." The Marines nodded. "Raiders, send whatever attacks you can from distance. I don't want you closing in and getting killed."
Jorge hefted the SPNKr tube onto his shoulder. "You remind me of Thom." He said. "Taking charge on the spot. I'm guess we're gonna close with and destroy?"
Roland nodded. "Exactly. Try to aim for the face, that seems like a weak spot." Jorge nodded and clicked off the manual safety. Roland leveled the sniper rifle on the face of Koh. He now wore the face of a serpent, trying to scare an emotion out of Zhang. He cranked his helmet speakers up to the highest possible and took a deep breath. He leveled the crosshair on the eye of the serpent face and started to apply pressure to the trigger. "ON THE GROUND!" He shouted as he fired the first shot off.
Zhang went limp and dropped as low as he could. The three Marines darted from cover and started cranking rounds off into the crowd of cult members in short controlled bursts. The Marines had been trained well and didn't panic and fire aimlessly into the people, but instead their accurately fired 7.62mm bullets cut through the people like they were paper. The cult leader shouted some sort of profanity in their ancient tongue and started trying to direct a counter attack.
A chunk of rock impacted him in the chest and knocked him to the ground. Dar and Sehdon were both launching a barrage of small projectiles into the crowd. Jorge had darted off to the right and took aim with the rocket. With a loud woosh, the rocket left the tube and sped towards Koh. He was reeling back in pain from Roland's first sniper rifle bullet ruining his face. He switched to the one of the torn up man just before the rocket impacted just behind his head, slightly cracking his exoskeleton.
"What is this!" He shouted. Jorge sent another rocket into the beast. This time, he reacted by sacrificing one of his legs to detonate the rocket prematurely. At this point, Roland had emptied the sniper rifles magazine and so he dropped it and rolled out of cover. He withdrew his M7S and sprayed a burst towards Koh.
"Loading!" One of the Marines cried as he slammed a new magazine into his MA5B. The three had set themselves in an arrow formation, firing into whatever moved ahead of them. Koh looked at them and sprinted forward. Roland couldn't believe how fast the beast could move, but within seconds, he had smashed into the trio of Marines. Two managed to dodge out of the way, but the third was trampled by multiple spiked legs, killing him.
At this point, the surviving cult members also started to retaliate. They charged towards the Raiders, using bending of their own. One of the Marines engaged them from the ground as Roland also sprayed into the crowd. Koh looked and saw one of the tied men from team one. He was making a face of irritation as he tried to remove his bonds. He glanced up and realized his error just as Koh removed his face as well.
As Koh relaxed back, Jorge grabbed onto his mid section. He was unable to get his arms around the spirit, but instead forced his hands into one of the layers of the exoskeleton. He pried it back much to Koh's irritation. The black scale like substance oozed as it was pried away, causing Koh to buck and thrash, but the Spartan II held on easily. He pulled one hand back and primed a plasma grenade. As he prepared to thrust it into opening, Koh smashed his head into the Spartan's armor, finally dislodging him. The plasma grenade flew out of his hand and through the air. It settled on the ground next to the Raiders who were still fighting. Dar kicked up the ground around it and launched it way from them as it detonated harmlessly in the air.
Jorge removed an MA5B as he stood and started hosing down the exoskeleton but the bullets skipped off as if it was titanium plating. Koh used his back end of his body to wrap the Spartan in thick coil. Jorge tried kicking with his knee or anything to get free, but to no avail.
At the same time, Roland had the two surviving Marines start to evac out of the cave. Dar and Sehdon ran forward and grabbed Zhang and the other man from team one as Leton fired past them. He withdrew a small explosive charge from his satchel, lit it and tossed it towards several cult members who were earth bending towards them. The explosion brought down part of the ceiling on top of them.
Even while holding Jorge, Koh lunged out and pinned both Sehdon and the other man to the ground with his legs. Sehdon tried to throw an earth shield around his fellow warrior, but Koh smashed it aside. The man was already in pain, and the addition of two more legs caused a small facial expression. It was enough and Koh stole his face. He quickly turned his attention to Sehdon.
The metal bender kept his face straight, until Koh pulled the faceless and bloody body on top of him. The man was still thrashing from not being able to breathe. Koh's face hovered over Sehdon and finally, he gagged a bit. Koh wasted no time in harvesting his face as well. Roland turned from directing everyone out to see the two lifeless bodies.
Leton grabbed Zhang's arm and Dar grabbed the other as they ran out. Krok followed flanked by both Marine's who continued to fire into the cavern. Once Roland was sure they would be clear, he ran towards the spirit. Koh had now turned his attention to Jorge. He was attempting to use his legs to remove Jorge's helmet, but it wasn't working.
Roland emptied his M7S to attract Koh's attention. He turned and slid the face of a strange blue beast into place before lashing out. Roland had time to drop his M7S and pull the shotgun from his back. As Koh lunged forward, Roland fired, removing one of his legs. He continued firing, pressing Koh back slightly with each blast until a dreadful sound came from the shotgun. Click Roland released the shotgun and reached for his pistol, but Koh finally grabbed him. His body bled from a few places where the shotgun had removed legs, but the Spirit was more than capable of giving a good fight.
As Roland was squeezed, some of the black blood smeared across his armor and body suit. Immediately, a burning sensation like acid could be felt through the body suit. Koh blinked Sehdon's face into place as he restrained the Spartan. Roland felt one of the legs touch the chin of his helmet and felt it start to be lifted away. "Come now…" Koh hissed. His breath was putrid and nearly caused Roland to vomit. "Just show me a little face."
"Easy Spartan." Jorge shouted. "Just like formation."
Roland smiled in his mind. If his instructors couldn't do anything, the beast couldn't either. Instead of just submitting, Roland started to speak. "Why are you even here?" He asked. His voice was completely monotone, and he glared off into infinity.
"Face's…" Koh sighed. He switched to one of an earthbender and two seconds later he switched to the woman again. "The Spirit world has avoided me with a passion." Koh dragged one of his legs across Roland's jaw line, but didn't get the expression he desired. "The Spartan…" Koh drawled. "You are the one that this new Avatar loves so much." He switched to the face of some sort of large bird before continuing. "Your face would be a wonderful addition to my collection. So strong and hard, it could be of great use to me." Roland shuddered, but still no expression came to his face.
"Koh!" A voice shouted from the entrance. Korra stood defiantly before them. "Put him down." Her voice was filled with rage and anticipation of a fight.
"Korra, I have it under control." Roland said with a glance in her direction.
"The Avatar…" Koh sized her up from a distance. "It has been many years since I added an Avatar to my collection."
Korra raised her fists. "It's gonna be even longer." She grinned broadly before running forward and launching a blast of fire at Koh's face.
Roland nearly made an expression of joy when he saw that her bending was back, but continued to hold it back. Koh had dedicated nearly half of his body to restraining the two Spartans, but still moved to fight the Avatar.
He simply absorbed her attacks as if they were nothing, and pinned her to the ground. Roland kicked his knee and tried to wriggle out but still Koh leaned down to take Korra's face as well. "No!" Roland managed to free one hand and his M6C. He riddled Koh's legs with it, but he could see Korra thrashing under Koh.
Roland was sure it was over, but a strange wind started to blow. A blue light appeared from under Koh, and the beast jumped away. Roland watched as Korra started to rise up. Wind blew around her and several rocks and boulders were shaken loose and joined in the mix. A small pool of water from nearby was sucked in as well, and Korra shot a blast of fire out. Her eyes were glowing blue and her movements seemed fluid and powerful.
Koh hissed and backed away from the Avatar. He knew what he had started, and wanted nothing to do with it. Korra had entered the Avatar state. This connected her to every previous Avatar through one mind. Her first attack of air was increased tenfold from what she could usually do.
The blast impacted Koh in the face and sent him flying. His coils loosened allowing Jorge to drop free. He grabbed the MA5B and continued to hose Koh down with fire, pausing only to reload.
Korra dropped part of the ceiling down on top of Koh's mid section, causing him to loosen enough for Roland to get completely free. However, instead of falling away, Roland started to move along the exoskeleton towards the kink in the armor Jorge had formed. The Spartan III didn't think even with his strength he could have separated the armored plates, but Spartan II's were more powerful than any others. Koh started to move back to the portal back to the spirit world, encouraged by Korra's fire and ice attacks. As Koh started to enter the spirit world, Roland reached the gap in the armor.
Korra brought an earthen spike down, pinning Koh momentarily so Roland could continue. As he fought to hold on, Korra sent a flamethrower like blast of fire into Koh's head. The balst lasted for several seconds and smoke rose off the armor when she relented.
At this point, Roland grabbed a plasma grenade, primed it, and shoved it into the gap. The Spartan simply let go and allowed Koh to knock him free. The grenade detonated, taking a chunk out of Koh's body. The plasma burned and started to cauterize the wound it had caused. The Spirit managed to get free of the spike as Roland and Jorge both started to riddle the location with bullets, causing Koh to move that much faster to retreat into the spirit world. As the last of him disappeared, Roland kept his M6C trained on the entrance as he side stepped towards his M7S.
Korra was slowly lowering to the ground. As her feet landed, she took a deep breath and her eyes returned to normal. Her legs fluttered a bit, but she remained standing and looked to Roland as reached the shotgun and started loading shells into the magazine. "I was in the Avatar State!" She said shouted with glee.
Roland walked towards her and hugged her. It felt weird to be hugged by a person in cold hard armor, but Korra was to elated to care and returned it anyway. "Now what do we do?" Roland asked her.
She looked at the portal as it started to close, and then back at Roland. "He already hates me because of one of my past lives. I think we need to go kill him or at least make it so he can never return."
Roland sighed. "Jorge… we need to go in." Jorge had already reloaded the rocket and grabbed as much ammo for his assault rifle as he could.
"I thought you'd never ask…" He said confidently. "Never fought something like this before, but it'll be a heck of a tale to tell. My helmets been recording this hole time." Roland could tell the Spartan was smiling as he spoke.
Roland grabbed his helmet and slid it into place as the three of them walked towards the portal. He looked at the massive Spartan to his left adorned with green and red armor and the Avatar to his right in her blue water tribe colors. He glanced down at his dull red armor and thought of the interesting colors they all wore. Him like the Fire Nation in red, Jorge almost like Earth, and Korra in her Water Tribe colors. With a deep breath, he stepped into the portal, completely surrendering himself to whatever lied beyond.
So what do you think? I wanted to add more to the story than just finish where the series did. The idea for Koh came to me from a Zutara story called "I'll follow you home" I should link it, but I'm too lazy. I didn't copy it in any way other than him being the bad guy. Korra finally got her bending back AND used the Avatar State in a fight, and next we get to go to the Spirit World. Also, I have to say, I love seeing my email full of emails with reviews, so Read and Review!