Spin the Rails

Part 4 - Faith and Pragmatism

Section 13: Spirit Breach, Part II

"Crack the Sky"

Varrick smacked his script and took a long hard look at all of his veteran, hard boiled and most likely stellar actors. From Bolin to that...one lady who was playing Asami, they were all fantastic. Except for when they weren't. Or asked too many questions. Which they did way more often when they shot 'on location'.

Because apparently the docks were so much more interesting than his mover.

"I just don't see what the problem is!" he said, putting his hands on his hips. "You guys read the earlier drafts, and you didn't have any complaints. Said it was brilliant! Unparalleled in the field of artistic expression!" He wrinkled his nose. "Zhu Li, were they lying, or did that actually happen, or, third option, am I remembering that wrong?"

"The second one, dear."

"Fantastic!"

"Okay, yes, that's true but…" said Bolin, flipping through the script. "...the ones you showed us didn't have a scene where Asami sets herself on fire, which gives her super strength somehow, and then beats up a talking catgator with a doctorate in chemistry." He shrugged. "It just seems really...weird and forced and out of place, and I don't, uh, really understand the point of it?"

Varrick raised a brow. "It's called an allegory."

"For what?"

"What?"

"What's it an allegory for?"

"Well, obviously it's about, uh…" Varrick pinched his brow and spun in a circle. He held out his hand and closed his eyes. "Here, Bolin, give me the line."

Bolin huffed. "Which one? The catgator just keeps going for over ten pages!"

"The long one about the noodles!"

"Uh, all right." Bolin cleared his throat and, in a very confused tone, said the following words, exactly as most likely written and/or designed: "I'm a scientist. Therefore I can measure quality. Also, your research is both obvious and invisible at once. You know what I mean. I am a scientist, not a poet. I don't know what proper metaphors are. Or similes. Also, I'm from the bottom of the ocean. Actually, I'm a flying saltwater catgator. I am a flying saltwater catgator scientist. I test things by biting them, and I bit your manifesto. I can taste the research. In the meat. Noodles? Anyway: science."

Varrick rubbed his chin. "I'm going to be completely honest with you. I do not remember writing that at all, but I love it! It's probably exactly what I wanted it to be! No, wait..." He pulled back and widened his eyes. "...is this before or after Asami punches the reality bubble so hard that we do the color bleed thing with the overexposed film?"

Bolin smacked his forehead. "Okay, clearly there is a lot that we need to discuss because I thought this was supposed to be realistic!" He waved his arms. "Nothing even close to this happened when the Equalists were still around!"

"Of course not! That's why it's called an adaptation. And you can still use the VarriMethod, trademark, in the most extreme of situations!" He grinned. "Think of it like a big, fancy, expensive stress test!"

"I don't know, Varrick. It feels like this whole thing is about to fall apart." Bolin slumped forward and and gestured behind Varrick. "See? Now, I know for a fact that Beifong gave you a permit to blow up airships next week, not today. And that's not even the scene we're filming!"

Varrick wrinkled his nose and did a small spin, bending over and squinting at the airships across the bay. "Hey, I didn't do that." Which were exploding and falling from the sky seemingly at random. "We don't even have cameras over there! What idiot messed with our scheduling?!" He snapped his fingers. "Also, feel like I've seen this somewhere before. Zhu Li?"

Zhu Li took a small breath. "It is...very similar to our arrival in Ba Sing Se."

"That was it! Perfect!" He clapped his hands together in a grin, which quickly vanished. "No, wait, that was a bad thing. We almost died, right?"

Zhu Li was sweating. Zhu Li did not sweat. Or get nervous. "Yes. We almost did."

Bolin started to pale. "Uhm, Varrick, did you rewrite it so that Satohawks were also exploding in the streets when the Equalists attacked because if you didn't…"

"Then I have quite a few lawyers to call." Varrick shook out his script and kept flipping pages until he got to the one he was looking for. Blatant plagiarism. "Whoever had the guts to steal from my unreleased mover script has got another thing coming to them!"

Bolin frowned and forced him to look a little closer. With his fingers and pointing. At the shimmering streams of brown and beige flying through the sky and shearing metal like it was wet paper.

Varrick threw his hands into the air. "Oh, so they stole the sandbender from me, too?!"

Kuvira was too late. She'd driven down the mountain in a roadster, and she still hadn't been fast enough. The sandstorm at the edge of the bay raged on, swatting Satohawks out of the sky like flies and forcing the airships to pull back. A feeling of dread washed over her as she watched it happen all over again. Artana had all but destroyed her campaign before she'd even touched the ground in Ba Sing Se, and now she was doing the same to Republic City. Because she was the one that got away. The one she failed to track and kill.

Kuvira had been able to match Artana's power at the Boiling Rock, barely, but back then she didn't have an entire beach to draw from. Going in was suicide, and a fool's errand at that. Still, she needed to even the odds—-

A red flare shot out an office building and into the smog, drawing the attention of her and everyone else stuck in traffic. Green, she's down. Red, Korra's down. And for her to be down… Kuvira hopped out of the car and sprinted toward the hole in the building, keeping one eye on the battle still in full swing down the street. She used her cables to climb through the gap in the wall and rolled to a stop, ignoring the bewildered and angry looks the occupants of the building shot at her.

"Where is the Avatar?" she asked no one in particular, her voice booming with authority.

The workers all took one large step back to reveal a particularly gruesome hole in the floor. She peered down it and stiffened in surprise. Three shards in her gut and chest, far too much blood pooling around her, not to mention down her neck and chest. Kuvira hopped down into the pit and knelt down beside her. "You're bleeding out. I don't think I can move you."

Korra winced in pain as she tried to pull out one of the glass shards. She let go and coughed out a bloody "I noticed." She weakly gestured to herself. "Too deep." Korra tried to look angry, but she just came off as exhausted. "Help me get the glass out. I can do the rest."

Kuvira nodded and took a deep breath. She focused on the slow, melodic hum radiating from the glass embedded in Korra. The larger shards and the tiny pieces, they all felt close. Malleable. "I can get the glass out, but you need to heal yourself as I do. Can you do that?"

"Yes," grunted Korra. "Get it out. Now."

Twisting her hands in a manner that still felt unfamiliar, Kuvira reached out to the glass, all of it, and slowly threaded it out the same way it came in. Piece by piece, she removed the bloody shards, Korra's healing glow following each one, and cast them aside in a dark corner of the basement.

Kuvira removed the last piece, a sliver the size of her fingernail that had barely missed Korra's heart, and relaxed, releasing her grasp on the glass. She wiped sweat off of her brow and frowned at the few open wounds that had yet to heal. "You missed those."

"Didn't." Korra shivered, her body sweating profusely, and gestured weakly to the ceiling. "Close."

Kuvira sealed the opening above them, shrouding them in darkness. Not a moment later, Korra's eyes ignited in white fire, followed by the sound of gurgling blood and rushing water. Korra's entire body contorted in way that felt inhuman and she rolled to her side, the veins in her neck and arms pulsating. She ground her teeth and spasmed, her knuckles turning white. Then, just as the tension seemed to reach its peak, everything stopped. Korra gasped, her eyes faded to blue and her body relaxed, her chest rising and falling in time with her breath once more. And the blood was….all of the blood…

Gone. Korra's blood was gone. With the exception of her torn clothing, one would have no idea she was wounded in the first place. It was two in the afternoon, and the sun was still high in the sky.

Korra pushed herself back on her haunches and stared up at the ceiling, her breathing still labored. Her eyes were slightly glazed. "Thanks," she said between heavy breaths.

"You're welcome." Kuvira helped her to her feet. "I had no idea you could do that."

"Neither did I, honestly. But it worked. I feel like I want to vomit now, though." Korra poked a finger through the larger tear in her top. "And I didn't know you could bend glass."

"A recent development."

Korra grunted and tenderly rested a hand on her lower ribs. "Figured."

Kuvira looked up at the ceiling. "We should leave."

"Yeah. She can't have gotten far."

Kuvira reopened the earth above them. "And if she has?"

"Then I'll just track her spirit." Korra hopped out of the basement. "Even she's got one of those." she called down. She slowly clambered down back into the street and rested her hands on her knees, feeling almost completely drained. Breathing was hard and she was already sweating through her clothes.

Kuvira followed shortly after, making a quick repair of the exterior damage as she reached the ground.

Korra slowly rose to her feet and looked down the street, taking in the horrific sight of the beachhead. The mangled frames of airships littered the area, still smoldering and filling the air with smog. Sirens blared as police cruisers zipped past them and down to the wreckage. "They know what city they live in."

Asami's blue roadster skidded up beside them and Asami cocked her head, motioning for them to hop in. Korra vaulted into the front seat and Kuvira made her way into the back. The engine roared and they sped off down the street, following closely behind one the police cruisers.

Korra slumped back in her seat and gave Asami a lazy glance. "Arm's okay?"

"Yes, but what about you? You just fell through a building!"

"And you just fell out of a building. So, uh..." Korra closed her eyes, suddenly feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Her stomach lurched. "Think I'm gonna vomit." It jumped again and she covered her mouth with her hand. "Yup. Gonna vomit."

"Why? What's wrong?" Asami drifted the car to a screeching halt just before the beach.

Korra sprinted out the door the moment the wheels came to a stop, but didn't make it far before stumbling to her knees and emptying her stomach over the burnt sand and ash around her. Filled gurnees, medics, and police officers sprinted by and around her, a few of them bumping into her in their haste. Fire trucks blared and worked to extinguish the smoldering remains. Korra grunted as her head began to pound. She dug her fingers into the ground.

"Here, come on," said Asami, wrapping her arm around Korra's waist. "Up." She pulled her up to standing and used her crumpled shawl to wipe the sweat from her face. "Let's get out of the way and find you a place to sit." Asami grabbed her hand and lead her back to the car.

Korra begrudgingly sat on top of the trunk, and remembered to keep her boots on the bumper, not the paint. "I'll be fine in a minute," she said heavily. Talking was hard, too. "Need to help these people."

"We've got it under control. No thanks to you." said Lin, basically punching her in the back before circling around to her front. Aside from a few obvious scrapes on her armor, she looked fine. Even her scowl was intact. "As frustrating as the reality is, this is hardly the first time we've had airships falling from the sky."

"And yet you're unscathed," said Kuvira.

"Not the first time I've been in one of those airships, either." Lin crossed her arms. "So. You three mind telling me what the hell happened and why all of this planning amounted to nothing?" she seethed.

Korra managed a nod. "Artana—-"

Asami grabbed Korra's arm and squeezed it. "We need time to piece that together. A lot of new information has come to light, and Korra just fell through a building."

"Yeah, I noticed. Give her some time, she'll walk it off." Lin pinched the bridge of her nose. "We're going to have to cancel Raiko's press conference. There's no way we can just cover this up."

Kuvira shook her head. "A bad move. This is the perfect opportunity to claim victory over the Red Lotus. If you cancel the conference, you indicate to them that you're now living in fear. Deny them that pleasure and declare victory to the public before making it a reality."

Lin frowned. "And if it doesn't?"

"Then we'll take care of it," said Korra. "Like we always do."

"Just try not to blow up the city this time, all right?" Lin walked back into the crowd.

Korra turned to Asami. "...what did you mean by new information?"

Asami's eyes darkened. "The Red Lotus aren't dead. Everything we've done so far is what they wanted us to do. We've been playing right into their hands since the day we stopped those trucks."

"And Artana told you this?" asked Kuvira. "How can you be sure she was telling the truth?"

"I wasn't. But, just before she kicked me out of the window, she said something that convinced me." She licked her lips and stared at Korra. "She said, and these are her exact words: 'Don't worry, noodles. It's 1:30. She'll catch you.'"

Korra's breath caught in her throat and every hair on her body seemed to stand on edge. It was impossible for her to know about that. They'd never made it public knowledge. It was understood. Something to work towards. "If she knows about that, then..."

"She may as well know everything about all of us."

"Yeah."

"Did she say anything else? Anything that might point us in the right direction? If the Red Lotus are still in play, we're still at war," said Kuvira.

Asami sighed. "She...wouldn't stop talking. I remember all of it. Much of it was uncomfortably specific. Whatever Artana has set in motion…" She swallowed. "...I have a very strong feeling that it's far worse than anything we could comprehend. We can't do this alone."

"We don't have to. We never do." Korra set her jaw and hopped off of the trunk. "We're gonna bring everyone together, lay it all out on the table, and put her and her plan down before it even has a chance to succeed." She furrowed her brow and looked between Kuvira and Asami. "She slept fifty feet away from Ikki and Jinora. You don't get to do that and just walk away."

Asami nodded solemnly. "Where do we start?"

"From the very...the, uh..." Korra's stomach growled and her headache grew stronger. Her knees wobbled and she stumbled backward into the car. Bloodbending herself back from the brink of death had taken more out of her than just morality. "...very beginning. After we pick up some take out."

"How about a drive-in? There's that new place on sixth."

"Even better."

Kuvira raised a brow. "That is not a wise use of our time."

"Hey, I just got thrown out of a forty story window!" snapped Asami. "I think I'm entitled to a short break before we start drowning ourselves in even more paranoia than usual."

Artana pulled off her tattered jacket and tossed it on to her small bed. The quarters that her submarine offered were humble, but more than enough to accommodate her for whatever length of voyage was necessary. The ship was cramped and she had to duck through the narrow hatches to go from one room to the next, but it had an industrial charm that most things lacked.

She slipped out of her top and, in time with her breath, undid the latches on her upper arms, disabling the booster suit. The effect was almost immediate. Tiny pin pricks retracted out of her body in sequence, leaving coiled and burning muscle as it went. The warm hum of energy that traveled through her spine, arms, legs and belly vanished and she was struck with a sudden dose of fatigue. Her eyes were heavy and she fell backwards on to her bunk.

Hard as a rock, but just as stable.

She checked her watch. It would be a some time before they would reach the staging area. Accelerating the timetable wasn't quite—-well, that wasn't true. Everything had been in place for months. She'd just needed to make the order. And she already had.

The air shimmered and warped out of the corner of her eye and Jinora materialized, floating, in the middle of her room. Still semi-translucent and glowing blue, just as she had been in Asami's office. Such an odd ability.

Jinora glared at her, a vein beneath her forehead's arrow bulging. There was something so fitting about an airbending master fueled by anger. "I don't even know what to say to you."

Artana slowly sat up and shrugged, ignoring the burn in her shoulders. "I can't imagine you would. There isn't exactly precedent for a situation like this." She studied Jinora's blue form from top to bottom. Meditative posture when she arrived, but transitioned to free moving, as if she were swimming. "How are you doing this?"

Jinora curled her lips into a snarl and her hands twitched, flexing in and out of a fist. "You broke Ikki's heart. You hurt my sister. Not that you'd care, but she thought you were her friend."

Artana frowned and her eyes sank into her head. It was regrettable. No, more than that. It was cruel to have done that to Ikki. She should have kept her distance to save her the inevitable harm. "I know." She ran a hand through her matted, dirty hair and sighed deeply.

"That's it? That's all you have to say? 'I know'?"

"What would you have me say?"

"You could apologize! That would be a good place to start!"

"Apologize…" Artana sighed and made her way over to her locker. She pulled out her finely pressed Earth Empire uniform and set it out on the bed. "For hurting her? Or betraying all of you?" she asked absently. She pulled off her top and began changing into her officer uniform. Jinora looked away once she seemed to realize what was happening. "I have a schedule to keep, you must understand. All of you, who are undoubtedly gathered around your friend."

"They can't see or hear you," said Jinora. She rolled her eyes. "But I'll tell them that you're too busy to have a simple conversation."

"That would be the truth." Artana put on the rest of her uniform over the booster suit. "Though, if I might ask a question, why haven't you checked the bridge to discover where I am?"

"Because I don't need instruments to figure that out."

"Interesting…" Artana buttoned her cufflinks. "Of course, Korra could simply discover my position in mere moments, but if you're here, I suspect this is some sort of ploy to keep me 'distracted'." She shrugged. "Nothing I say will help you. You have more important things to do."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"...because they're terrorists! Because they're fear mongers! Because they slaughter thousands to further some sick, twisted agenda!" roared Asami, her voice filling her packed drawing room. She shoved Varrick out of the way and stomped toward Kuvira. "Maybe you don't have a line you won't cross to 'do what's necessary', but I do. Even if there were more research to be done on the vines, I wouldn't work with them."

They'd gathered quickly, but then, they were all conditioned to drop everything in case of something like this. It also helped that it was virtually understood what was to be done should the world fall in peril again, since three occurrences established a pattern. Converge on Asami's and work from there.

Of course, everyone had a different definition of working. Jinora's was to meditate on the couch. Mako, Baatar Jr., Varrick and Zhu Li's was to organize every bit of information they had on the Red Lotus. Bolin's was to stay positive. Opal's was to keep a close ear to the radio. And apparently Kuvira's was to be speak in pragmatically infuriating insane sentences.

"You are putting millions of lives at risk to preserve your own ideals." Kuvira said stonily. "You're either deliberately obtuse and selfish, or moronically childish. You had and still have an opportunity to crush these terrorists, and you let your 'ideals' outweigh what is necessary to the survival of nations?"

"That's enough!" Korra stepped between them and pushed Kuvira away. She held out her palms, attempting to placate them both. "We have no idea what's going on, and arguing will get us nowhere." She glared at Kuvira and her voice dropped into a low growl. "And as for you, back off."

"...and in other news the Wolfbats are on track to take home the championship again this year…" said Shiro Shinobi, his bombastic voice softened with the low volume of the radio.

Bolin cleared his throat.

"Submarine. Heading north. Not alone," said Jinora. She was still projecting her spirit, but that didn't stop her from relaying information. Somehow.

"Okay, that might be something." Mako scribbled that down on a piece of paper and pinned it to the growing series of cork boards that spanned the length of her drawing room. Everything from intelligence reports to pictures to news articles were organized in a very tight, methodical system that Asami couldn't quite parse herself. But he had assured everyone that it was the only way to solve the mystery. "I would have thought west, towards the Fire Nation, but hiding may not be her priority if she's heading north. Unless they have some sort of underwater base."

A vein throbbed on Varrick's forehead and he tore several pages out of his script. "They had better not!"

Asami took a few steps back and furrowed her brow. There would be time to debate the rationality of her actions once all was said and done. "She's not hiding. She said several times that whether or not she dies doesn't matter. And that it hasn't for quite some time."

"If she isn't hiding, then I doubt she's running either."

"A tactical retreat?" said Kuvira. "It's possible, but that would suggest that this is more a military operation than an insurgency."

"With what military?" said Korra. "Even if the Red Lotus aren't done, there's no way they have the numbers to pose that threat to anyone." She grunted. "They can just toss spirit bombs everywhere! Blow up cities. They don't even need a military to do that."

"Right. That's true." Mako looked back at the board and frowned. "I think we should be asking ourselves why they haven't tried to do that in every major city. They clearly have, or had, the capability to do that. Omashu and the Fire Nation capitol were warnings, but they didn't follow through."

Asami crossed her arms. "Artana said that everything we know about the Red Lotus is what she wanted us to know. Excluding Zaheer's ideology, though that is still inaccurate. If we assume that they're simple anarchists who want to destroy us, we defend against exactly that."

"Yes, we were all pawns," said Kuvira. "We have established that. She effectively wrote the script, and we followed it to the letter."

"But now we can go off script," said Bolin. "If we know it's all a crazy scheme, then we can do stuff that isn't part of that. Besides, Korra's alive. So she failed—-"

"She didn't think she could kill Korra. Assumed she'd survive," said Jinora. Her eyes were still closed, and her posture still straight. It was a little unsettling.

"—-or maybe she didn't fail, that's also possible."

Artana looked up from her book and right into the hateful eyes of Jinora. She'd just been floating there. Still. Unyielding. It was starting to become frustrating. "You're not going to let me have a moment to myself are you?"

Jinora floated up to her so that they were nose to nose. "No chance. If you want to pass the time, you're going to talk to me."

Artana raised a brow and carefully closed her book. "Very well." She set it off on the nightstand and cleared her throat. "Have I ever told you the one about my entire life story?"

"...what?"

"My life story. That's what you're after, isn't it?"

"Unless we can skip ahead to the part where you started being a terrorist, no—-"

Artana clapped her hands. Perfect. Perhaps she might even enjoy telling that story. Remembering things she'd once forgotten. At the very least, it wouldn't be boring. "It all started just over forty-two years ago, in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se..."

Asami took a hard look at Jinora. It was risk-free reconnaissance. Artana couldn't possibly hurt her when she wasn't there to begin with. "Keep her talking. She's bound to let more slip."

"Won't be a problem." Jinora frowned. "She is literally telling me her life story."

"Sorry."

Korra crossed her arms. "Look, point is…Artana lured me right into a trap. She knew exactly how to do it, too." She tapped her ear. "Took out my hearing and angled the glass so I couldn't see the sun's reflection. If I had been flying just a little bit lower, I'd have been hit in the forehead, my heart and my lungs."

Varrick perked up and inspected Korra far too closely. "Wait, what? I thought she was an earthbender."

"Uh, she is?"

"Then how is she glassblowing?!"

"Glassbending, Varrick," said Baatar.

"Yeah, like that couple in the Fire Nation, I know the rumors. Zhu Li and I met 'em years ago, nice people, the best glass blowers you'll ever meet—-"

"She can turn sand into glass! Glassbending! How do you not know this?"

"That's real? You have any idea how much money I could've saved on mover cameras—-nevermind doesn't matter, but also how am I supposed to know something if you people don't tell me?!"

"That was rather inconsiderate not to inform us," said Zhu Li.

"What she said!"

Asami pinched the bridge of her nose. "I hardly think it matters whether or not you were told, but the fact is that Artana can glassbend and—-" It was a farce. The window in her office. "...she can only generate glass. Not manipulate it."

"What are you talking about?" asked Mako.

"She didn't just shatter the window in my office. She used my table to break it and then threw me out. There's no reason for her to do that unless she's unable to actually move glass once she's made it."

Kuvira nodded. "That would also explain why I was able to stop her on the Boiling Rock. In attempting to stop her from bending sand, and thus phase shifting it into more glass, the glass she'd made fell to the ground. Additionally..." Kuvira made an odd gesture with her hand and Baatar's glasses flew into her palm. "I figured out what seems to have eluded her."

Asami watched in shock as Baatar retrieved his glasses. "How? I don't understand."

"Once a discovery is made, and something proved possible, it's simply a matter of finding the right perspective and approach. The same was true with metalbending."

Korra nodded. "She's even got the fine control down already." She patted her chest. "I'm living proof."

Asami raised her brows and looked at Korra. She hadn't even considered how she'd managed to survive such a mortal wound like that, simply chalking it up to 'Avatar powers', but to think that Kuvira had effectively performed life saving surgery… "That's why you're all right."

Korra stared at her boots. "Part of it, yeah. Look, Artana tried to kill me, but I guess somehow knew Kuvira could do something she couldn't and gambled that...wait…" She screwed up her face. "That doesn't make sense."

"There's no way she could have taken that into account. Surely you would have survived if Kuvira hadn't been there."

"Oh, sure. But it would have been extremely painful."

"So she...still tried to kill you, even though she knew she couldn't…" The blood drained from Asami's face and her mouth hung open. Her heart slammed into her chest. "She...she tried to kill you, but knew she couldn't." They were going about this the wrong way. "She removed you from the equation just long enough to do what she wanted. Just like she said she would."

"Right, she slowed me down."

"No, not just that." Asami took a deep breath. "It's exactly what she said she'd do. She said she'd never lied to me as well. Hates lying. What if…" She chewed on her lip. "What if that was true? What if every threat she made and every word she'd spoken were actually true? Cold, hard facts."

"Isn't that a bit of a leap?" asked Opal. "She got one thing right, and she planned for it."

Mako shook his head. "No, Asami's right. The police and government take all threats to civilians as credible until proven otherwise. We should do the same."

"I agree, but there's something more that I find worrisome. If I'm understanding this correctly," said Baatar Jr., "we're dealing with an enemy who not only knows how we operate on an intimate level, but has seemingly planned everything around that as well."

"Specificity to this degree doesn't benefit a tactician with goals as large as hers, whatever they may be." said Kuvira. "It leaves little room for adaptability and secondary measures. I agree with Baatar, it's too clinical an approach."

Asami tilted her head. Was it? It's how she'd try to take somebody down, not that she ever would. Study her enemy and take them apart, piece by piece. Strike at every weakness simultaneously. Counter everything before they have a chance to retaliate and overwhelm them. Maybe it was just the engineer...in her… "She's not a general. She's an engineer," blurted Asami.

"Yeah, we know. That's how she swindled you people!" said Varrick.

"I'm talking about her perspective! She knows our limits, and how far we can probably push them. Maybe even break them. All except for Korra," she said. "She's the 'unquantifiable variable', but you can account for that. You can slow her down, even if you can't stop her."

"How does that help us?" asked Kuvira.

"Because that's how she thinks. And if that's how she thinks, then the first thing she'll try to do, no matter her plan, is to cripple the only people in the world she sees as a threat."

Korra frowned. "Us."

"A preemptive strike," said Kuvira. "Then why not do so sooner, before she was discovered?"

"It's just like Asami said. We've been treating the Red Lotus like anarchists, and keeping our guard up against those kinds of threats." Korra slammed her palm on to the table. "But they want spirit weapons gone, true freedom and all of that other stuff. They're smarter than we thought. Since they're obviously not trying to destroy every city in the world, which is what we've been prepared for, then..." She trailed off and turned to Asami. "...how would you do it? How would you take us down?"

"Why are you asking me?!"

"Because you're the engineer."

Asami grunted and rubbed her temples. "Fine, well, I guess I would just copy my dad and use your strengths against you. Your weapons, your military, your infrastructure." She crossed her arms and her eyes glazed over. "What the Equalists did, but on a massive scale. Cut the power, communications, support systems, and have people on the inside manipulating others to my own ends without them even realizing it. But before all of that, I'd make sure you fought amongst yourselves to distract you from the real, far larger threat. Because that's what he did. And it worked."

"Almost," added Bolin. "It almost worked."

Mako shook his head. "They took over the city. We weren't their targets back then, Bo."

Kuvira glanced between Asami, Baatar and the large cork boards. "Do you believe the Red Lotus is really so large as to accomplish something like that? On a global scale?"

"I don't know," said Asami. "She said that they were 'formless and essentially autonomous'. And they're big enough to take a loss like the Boiling Rock and not have it impact their plans, apparently."

Kuvira exchanged a look with Baatar. "Were those her exact words? She said formless and autonomous?"

"Yes. Why? I'm not even sure what that means."

"She thinks it unlikely that we can face them directly," Kuvira said, her expression tightening. "I posit that the Red Lotus operates in separate, isolated cells, with very few aware of what the other teams are doing. That way the leader, presumably Artana, can control critical information."

Mako nodded. "And those teams might not be bigger than one person. The chain of command could be long enough that sleeper agents could be in place without them even realizing who they're working for."

Asami shook out her head, baffled. "Wait, hold on…" She paced halfway around the room. "All of this paranoia about the Red Lotus being potentially anyone? Our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers? That was all justified?"

"If we assume my theory is correct, then yes," said Kuvira. "It appears so."

"But why? Why draw attention to themselves like that?"

Korra sighed and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Because the best place to hide is in plain sight. Just like Artana. How many times did we ignore this idea? That someone we knew could be a part of them?"

Asami bowed her head and closed her eyes. Almost constantly. She had denied the possibility nearly every day and at every opportunity. Trust was too important to simply shrug off. The threat of spirit weapons were immediate and tangible. The Red Lotus were not. Or, had lead them to believe that was the case. "Even after Lee, none of us stopped to think if there could have been more."

"We all share that failure, then," said Kuvira. "But I think everyone here has established him or herself as opponents of the Red Lotus, so further interrogation and investigation would be a waste of time."

"Yeah, that'd be just...weird," said Bolin. "I mean, Korra, well, that goes without saying. Asami, Mako and I fought them, and Opal was there and saw that because she was kidnapped. So was Jinora. Kuvira, you saved Korra's dad, and Baatar, uh...you're…" He shrugged. "Probably not a terrorist?"

"I'm not a terrorist, Bolin."

"Yeah, neither am I!" said Varrick, jabbing his thumb into his chest.

Mako shot him an unamused look. "Yes. You are."

"...what this means for your weekend after a short commercial break…"

"Since when?"

Zhu Li whispered something into his ear and Varrick's expression rapidly shifted from frustrated to hurt to confused to amused and finally to...something resembling humility. Or regret. Or indigestion.

"...I revoke my previous objection," mumbled Varrick.

"Good," said Kuvira. "While I don't disagree with the possibility of unwitting agents, I still think the more likely threat lies in a larger, organized cell. A Red Lotus cell may be led to believe it is working towards a common goal, but in reality it only serves a greater purpose." She gestured to the Fire Nation on one of the large maps. "Perhaps one extremist group is being influenced by the Red Lotus to overthrow the monarchy in the Fire Nation, but they believe that it is their own choice. Perhaps another wishes to depose the Chiefs of the Northern Water Tribe."

Varrick scoffed and rolled his eyes. "...what a big loss that would be."

Officer Song blew his whistle and waved down the approaching group of well stocked mechanics. They didn't seem to notice or care about the large yellow signs that clearly read 'No Entry Under Penalty Of Treason'. Getting relegated to guard duty for one of Republic City's defense things wasn't exactly his idea of an ideal position, but it was important work.

Important, boring work. At least there was a good dumpling place down the street.

"You guys can't come in here! Back it up!" he shouted. The group looked amongst one another, very confused. "What? Can't you read the signs?"

One of them stepped forward, a shorter man with balding brown hair. "Yeah, we can, but we're the maintenance crew. We're scheduled for a routine check."

"That so? Well, you guys have got your dates mixed up, because we get these bi-weekly and a bunch of you passed through here a few days a go."

The man raised a brow and flipped through his clipboard. "No, no, there's no record of that on here. How about we take a look, anyway? Better safe than sorry."

Officer Song shook his head. "Sorry, can't do that. I've got strict orders from Chief Beifong not to let anyone outside of authorized personnel perform an inspection, or get close to this thing, under any circumstances—-" Bolas twisted around his midsection and pinned his arms to his sides. A metal hand covered his mouth before he could scream. Electricity surged into him painfully and he writhed in his bindings. He collapsed to the ground and was dragged into the alley.

Again. It was happening again. Glowing green goggles stared down at him with all too familiar disgust. The edges of his vision became darker and darker so that the one and only thing he saw before the end were those damned goggles.

Green and vengeful.

"But, in a way, it would be their choice. These anti-establishment sentiments are far from new, though many are specific." Asami stared at the map of the world. Little symbols denoting Unity Defense System points dotted the landscape everywhere except within Earth Empire territory, the only exception being Zaofu. "They could just be stoking the flames." Asami furrowed her brow. "And on a massive enough scale, it wouldn't matter if the entirety of the Red Lotus is aligned with their leader's ideals. It's entirely irrelevant if only those at the top are aware of their true intentions."

"It's like a perfect storm of everything probably going wrong at once," groaned Korra.

"So, in other words, Artana can do whatever she wants," said Opal. "And nobody would have any idea what that is until it's too late."

"Pretty much."

"Great."

"But, guys, this is all just one big 'what if', right?" said Bolin. He smiled weakly. "...right? We have no idea what Artana even wants."

"...reporting live from just outside Jingdao. It looks like the commotion earlier today isn't going to stop President Raiko's press conference from going forward, which should be starting within the hour…" said Shiro.

"That's not entirely accurate." Asami chewed on her lip. "I'm not sure how this could factor in, but she said she wanted a world without borders. Where government was constructive, rather than restrictive. Honestly, I'm surprised that she's okay with government at all."

Korra shrugged. "Well, the original White Lotus didn't so much as not believe in government, but more that they...just didn't care about borders themselves. They didn't see the nations or people as separate."

"Because it's an illusion," she said reflexively. What?

"Uh, right. Yeah. So, it's not that weird for the Red Lotus, who apparently are trying to be more like those who came before them, to think like that. Thing is, to get rid of those borders, you'd need a lot of diplomacy, since we already know they're not going to just bomb everyone until there's no one left to even enforce those borders."

"Oh, that's kinda funny." Bolin chuckled.

Korra wrinkled her nose and tilted her head. "How is that funny?"

"I just realized that spirit portals and national borders are total opposites. You can blow something up enough to make a portal, but doing that here will just get everybody angry. And you can't talk a new portal into existing."

Korra snickered and covered her face with her hand. "Bolin, I...I think that's more weird than funny." She bit her lip. "Okay, it's a little funny."

"Right?"

War, famine, millions of civilian casualties. My own death. The complete annihilation of civilization itself, both ours and the spirits. Even if I have to tear the barrier that binds our worlds apart to convince you, I will.

Asami's heart dropped into her stomach and her breath became heavy. No. She wouldn't. No one was that insane. She looked at the map on the cork board and—-there were two. Why were there two? "Guys, why do we have two topographical maps of defense pillar installations?" The color drained from her face. "And why does one of them have dozens scattered throughout Earth Empire territory?"

Opal gave her a strange look. "That one? I picked it up in the Boiling Rock control room. Aren't those projections for when then things get less violent?"

"No. No, no, no, we never ran those projections."

Kuvira and Baatar exchanged a worried look.

Korra's eyes widened. "Mind filling me in on what's got you so spooked?"

"I think I just figured out what she's trying to do."

Artana walked back to the helm, the sound of her steel-toed boots echoing throughout the small hull. She double-checked the instruments in front of the helmsman. "We should be arriving at the rally point soon, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am. We'll surface in the next few minutes."

Artana nodded and made her way back to the access ladder. She looked up at the hatch and took a small breath. "I believe we're going to have to save the rest of that story for another time, Jinora. We're out of time."

"You didn't even get past nine years old!" she said.

"It is unfortunate." She smirked up at the floating girl. "It gets very interesting after I turned sixteen." The klaxon blared and the hallway lit up with red lighting. She felt the submarine rise from the depths, pitching at a slight angle, and kept herself grounded. "You should stay for this part, though. It's exactly what you've been here for."

Jinora's hard visage cracked into one of concern. Her eyes wide and full of fear. Just as they should be. She 'flew' upward and phased through the ship just as it crested the surface. Oh, what a surprise she would be in for.

"You're clear, ma'am!" called the helmsman.

Artana climbed the ladder and turned the well-oiled hatch. She pushed it open, the top hitting the hull with a loud clank, and looked away from the blinding sun as it shone through. She pulled herself up the rest of the way and blinked several times, allowing her eyes to adjust to the light.

The bullhorns of battleships and carriers, dozens of them, sounded off around her in every direction. Massive naval vessels, the Earth Empire flag at full mast above them, all of them top-of-the-line with the most advanced weaponry available, flanked her submarine. Their enormous wakes splashed up against her boots. The roar of Satohawks and airplanes filled the sky as they flew by in formation.

"How...how is this possible?" asked Jinora, her voice wavering. "How did you do this?"

Artana took a deep breath and savored the sea air. Fresh, except for the distinct trace of ash from the naval engines. "That's the beauty of all this, Jinora. I didn't. I merely showed them the right path."

A long metal ramp came cascading down from the closest carrie,r and Artana rode it back up to the main deck. She stepped on to the ship and was greeted by a very familiar face. General Yao.

Yao gave her hand a firm shake, a tiny nervous smile creeping across his full beard and stretched features. "Good to have you aboard, Rear Admiral Artana."

"Good to be back, General. I'm happy to see rapid deployment procedures have gone well." She narrowed her eyes, but only slightly. "I trust the winterized equipment passed inspection? And that there haven't been any more...infractions since the first incident."

"Everything is ahead of schedule, ma'am. We wouldn't be here if it weren't," he said anxiously. "I saw to it that those responsible for the incident at the Sato estate were punished accordingly."

"Excellent." Artana started towards the edge of the carrier's runway and motioned for Yao to follow. "Any news on our infiltration teams?"

Yao nodded and walked beside her. "All but three are reporting in with confirmation of mission success."

Artana approached the edge of the carrier and looked out over the bow. The fleet was even larger from her elevated position. Landing craft, destroyers, ice breakers, small attack ships and frigates filled the sea. And, of course, one of her two dreadnoughts. She could see their crews, dotted across hardened steel hulls, begin final preparations.

"Then, General, I believe we have a war to win."

Asami took a deep breath and calmed her mind. Focus on the problem at hand. The rest will come later. "Destroying the barrier between our world and the spirit world," she asked Korra, her eyes hardening. "Not a new portal, but removing the barrier completely. Is that possible?"

Korra looked at her like she'd just grown a second head. "I—-that's not something I think anyone has ever thought of doing. But…" She ran a hand through her hair. "Sort of, but not in a way that wouldn't kill everything. The amount of energy just to create one portal is, well, you've seen that up close. To remove the barrier completely would need so much energy that it'd destroy the entire world. And probably the spirit world, too. So it's not even worth considering." Korra's eyes widened. "Unless that's what she's trying to do."

Kuvira shook her head. "Unlikely. They haven't wiped us out with spirit bombs, so we can remove that as a possibility."

"But her goal—-it has to be the destruction of that barrier. It was an explicit threat. Is there any other way to break that barrier?" said Asami. "Perhaps not all at once, but over time?"

"Look, if...and I'm just going with my gut here, or I guess Raava's gut, if you were somehow able to create several hundred spirit portals, and none of them stable, simultaneously, across the entire planet, then...yeah, maybe it could happen. It'd merge the worlds together, and it wouldn't be pretty."

"What would happen?" asked Mako.

"It'd kinda be like the solstice, but instead of the spirit and material worlds being closer, they'd be smashed together." Korra chewed on her lip. "Let's just say that, if anything were to survive, it wouldn't be human. Or spirit. Whatever comes after would be...unknowable."

Opal shook her head. "The infrastructure to accomplish that doesn't exist. We'd know about it. You can't hide something that big." She snapped her fingers. "That's probably what the generator on the Boiling Rock was for."

Korra held out her palm. "No, Opal, that's barely enough to create two portals. And that's a big maybe. You'd need to siphon energy out of the spirit world itself to make this happen. And you'd need to do it just the right way."

"And what if we did?" said Kuvira. "The Unity Defense System already uses co-opted micro-portals to counter spirit weapons. What needs to happen keep them open and make them larger?"

Asami pinched the bridge of her nose. Ugh. Why did she let Varrick write that bomb defusal manual? "You're referring to that one tiny passage in—-"

Kuvira tossed several copies of Rudimentary Spirit Bomb Defusal on to the table. "Page 217 and 302, appendix 178."

"I hate that thing," grumbled Mako.

Asami picked up the book and skimmed to the pages in question. "Yes, yes, I remember. It's pure conjecture. Varrick came up with it after he didn't sleep for five days in a row. It's nonsense."

"Hey, I do some of my best thinking when I'm sleep deprived!" protested Varrick.

"If this is right it means the end of the world," snapped Asami.

"On second thought, why are even reading this? This is completely insane!"

Kuvira kept her gaze focused on Asami. "For the sake of argument, let's say that it isn't. That this is an exploitable weakness."

Asami shook her head. "It's not. That's not even how they work. No matter how you detonated a bomb, and no matter how large the explosive yield, it wouldn't change how it operates. You'd have to modify the pillar itself, but even then…" she trailed off and licked the inside of her lips. It was possible. Incredibly unlikely and the timing would have to be more than perfect.

But it was possible.

"How difficult would it be to sabotage the defense pillars so that they perform this function?" asked Kuvira.

"It wouldn't be easy by any means," Asami furrowed her brow and briefly looked away."The amount of redundancies and security measures we installed in those things—-It's fitted with a thermite charge. If you make one wrong move, no matter how small, the entire device will melt itself and everything else within a ten foot radius."

"Unless the person working is preternaturally brilliant, you would need the design documents to succeed," added Zhu LI.

Baatar sighed. "I think we can all but guarantee that the Red Lotus, among others, have those designs. It would be easier to catalog what Artana didn't steal."

Asami crooked her lips to the side. She didn't take everything. Nothing from deep storage. She'd know. "Even then, rigging hundreds of them to activate simultaneously is next to impossible. Timers could break, batteries could fail."

Bolin wiped sweat off his brow. "Good! Glad we don't have to worry about—-"

"Then again, in theory, if you had a strong enough radio signal and enough repeater units scattered around the globe, you could detonate them remotely with effectively perfect timing."

Bolin frowned. "You guys have got to stop pulling my heart in every direction. Are we in trouble, or not?"

Jinora leaped to her feet in a panic and sweat started to pour profusely down her face. "Guys! We're in trouble! Really big trouble!"

"What is wrong with me?"

Korra practically leaped over the table to get to Jinora. She slid to a stop and wrapped her into a tight hug. It was easy to forget how overprotective she was of them sometimes. "Shhhh, you're all right. Everything's gonna fine."

"Korra, I'm okay, just very scared and I've got something I need to say."

Korra perked up and slowly let Jinora go. "Right, of course." She blushed and stepped away. "Sorry. How are we in trouble?"

"Artana has control of the Earth Empire military! She surfaced in the center of an enormous naval fleet with ships large enough to launch airplanes, and they only had one wing—-"

Asami clenched her teeth. Her designs. Her creations.

"—-and they're heading straight for the Northern Water Tribe. There were Satohawks there, too! Dozens of them!"

Korra threw her arms up into the air. "But why? All of that metal equipment will just freeze!"

"Did they have ice breakers?" asked Kuvira.

"I think so," said Jinora.

Mako rested his hands on the table. "Then we can assume they have winterized equipment—-"

"Since when did you have a navy?!" said Opal.

"We didn't," said Baatar. "I planned to build one after we took the United Republic, so as to better defend our borders, but…" He shrugged. "They must have skipped that part."

"Clearly."

Asami collapsed on to the couch. It was exactly as she had said. What Artana had said. What she herself had said. They'd had the same ideas, all of which stemmed from her father's twisted inspiration. "She said she would start a war and she's using my own creations against us all."

"We'll stop her," said Korra, reaching for the phone.

"That doesn't make me feel less horrible. If I'm right about how she's doing this, and I am nearly positive that I am, then this war, all of this bloodshed she's about to cause, it's a ruse. A distraction."

"...yes, operator, please connect me to the Northern Water Tribe Palace. Because I'm the Avatar. Thank you."

Kuvira tilted her head and leaned over the table. "A distraction from her plan to destroy the barrier."

"Eska? Hey, it's Korra, look, there's no time to—-yes, I'm sorry we couldn't come to visit, but—-" Korra's entire face twitched. "Listen to me! You are about to be invaded by the Earth Empire! With a navy! I don't know how just—-well, excuse me for caring!" She hung up the phone.

"Hey, how about we stop jumping to that conclusion?" said Varrick "Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't!"

"...if you're just tuning in, President Raiko is about to start his conference. Let's listen in!"

Opal turned up the volume dial.

"Today, we were assaulted by the last, desperate remnant of the Red Lotus. Many of Republic City's finest lost their lives in the battle, and their service will remembered for as long as this country stands. I'm sure the intent of these terrorists was to invoke fear in us all. To keep us paranoid about those who lurk in the shadows and plot the destruction of everything we hold dear. Well, I am here today, still, to tell you all that I, nor anyone in my city or country, will be held hostage by that fear anymore! The threat of spirit vine weapons, thanks to the tireless efforts of Future Industries and Varrick Industries International, are a thing of the past—-"

Everyone covered their ears as a screeching sound came out of the radio.

"What was that?" asked Bolin.

"An encrypted signal?" said Baatar.

"—-United Forces have liberated nearly half of the former Earth Kingdom states. That is why I have decided to tear down this wall and open our borders once again in order to foster greater trust and community between us all. If we do not need to live in fear, then there is no reason that we should live separate from one another."

Korra turned to Jinora. "Did you just…"

"I felt it too," whispered Jinora.

Korra took a few heavy breaths and looked around the room. "No windows. Okay, we need to get outside. Right now."

Asami gave her a confused look. "What? Why—-"

"Outside! Now!"

Raiko smiled and waved as the large crowd's cheering and applause washed over him. It was a refreshing change of pace. Camera bulbs flashed in rapid succession as he turned his head toward Lin. "Would you do the honors, Chief Beifong?"

Lin stomped her foot into the ground lowered the large section of wall behind him into the earth. It slid into place so perfectly Raiko wondered what had been keeping it in place at all. He turned around to greet the crowd of refugees when the ground began to shake. No, not just the ground. The air. Everything.

Raiko balanced himself on the podium and saw several dozen flashes of light burst out of the corner of his eyes. He spun back around and saw mangled strands of purple energy shoot into the sky with a distorted horn. They writhed and split apart, stretching in the middle and bending the horizon itself. The tears above grew larger and larger, revealing swathes of a new, unknowable sky.

Lin sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "...every time…"

"I have a bad feeling about this."

General Iroh stared blankly up at the vacant palace of Ba Sing Se. The entirety of the now metal walled city had been all but abandoned of military presence, save for the few non-combat officers who were overseeing the lower ring's many factories. The long staircase was spotless and the palace itself was reinforced with stylized steel engravings.

His battalion commanders were at a loss for words and simply stood beside him.

And then he looked up a little higher to watch the sky rip apart, lines of purple flying across like shooting stars, and a tornado erupt downward and on to the palace, bursting through the ornate and ancient roof. The earth opened up beneath him and his commanders, and General Iroh barely managed to catch one of them and...the other side before falling too far. He looked down and saw what appeared to be an endless field of purple and white flowers perfectly perpendicular to him.

Perhaps they hadn't liberated Ba Sing Se after all.

Lord Zuko stared in awe as the dawn was split apart into hundreds of little pieces. One had blotted out the sun and darkness fell over the palace. Spirits fell and flew out of the cracks in reality, bringing with them an avalanche of stone and lava. A few portals collapsed under their own weight and covered a section of the capitol like a tarp.

"Lord Zuko!" said one of the guards, breaking him from his trance. "Insurgents are assaulting the palace! They've already breached the walls with explosives!"

"Of all the moments for them to choose…" he grumbled.

"It's not just that, sir. I've been informed that half of the first fleet has been disabled."

Zuko's eyes widened, though he did not turn around. "What? How?!"

"Sabotage. Please, sir, we have to get you to safety."

"Of course." Zuko centered his breathing. "What was your name again, soldier?"

"Lee, Lord Zuko."

"Really? There are a million Lees." Zuko slowly turned around and give the guard a curious look. "So many, in fact, that I removed them all from my guard rotation."

The guard paled. "...why?"

"To route out spies who attempt to infiltrate my palace."

Druk swooped down from the sky and smacked the imposter dead center in the chest with his tail. The man went flying over the balcony and into the courtyard below. The dragon roared and stretched out his neck along the ground.

"Thank you, old friend." Zuko mounted his dragon and gave him an affectionate rub on his side. "Now aren't you glad we rehearsed that?"

Druk exhaled smoke and clicked his tongue.

Iroh had spilled his tea. He hadn't spilled tea in over forty years. His table was shaking and so was the ground. Which was really quite odd, since the Spirit World didn't exactly have earthquakes. The orange sky above him splintered into fragments, and the material world bled through. The clouds. The blue and midmorning sun.

Another portal opened near the edge of the forest and released a flood of seawater, dragging a large battleship along with it. It slammed into the grass, displacing dirt and mud just as it would the ocean. Soldiers in green uniforms began screaming at one another in a panic, and not a moment later, once that fear and extreme anger had been sensed, the grass consumed the ship whole, dragging it down to the depths of the abstract.

Water continued to burst out of the crack in the barrier and created a rather pleasing, if not roaring, riverbed around his cottage.

Wan Shi Tong landed beside him in a burst of wind and hopped over to the river. He inspected it carefully and puffed out his chest. He turned around and glared at Iroh. "Not a word from you."

"You know, there is no shame in admitting ignorance—-"

"I said not a word!"

Artana frowned as she watched the sky bleed from blue to purple from the helm of her dreadnought. To red, to green, and everything else. Swirling around itself and distorting the spectrum entirely. She had done everything she could to avoid this singular moment, before it had become inevitable, but it still pained her to watch.

Even so, a small chance of survival was better than none at all.

"Admiral?" said her XO. "We've lost the Senlin. The sea swallowed her whole."

"Continue on course, but inform the fleet to steer away from rapid changes in sea level." She folded her hands behind her back. "And inform them of the truth. The Red Lotus are in the final stages of their master plan, so we must act quickly."

And it was the truth. Asami would discover the singular method to thwarting her efforts, if she hadn't already. Of course, Artana had planned for that.

She had planned for everything.

Asami fell to her knees and looked to the shattered sky. It was her fault. It was all her fault. Every effort she'd made, every move she'd taken, everything she'd sacrificed to stop something far less horrifying had all lead to this. Exactly what the swamp had tried to warn her of. Even worse, she'd predicted it. She may as well be fighting herself.

She waited for her heart to burst and her stomach to contort in pain. For the ache of guilt and self-hatred to flow through her and bring tears to her eyes. But they didn't come. None of it did. And then she realized why it would never come. It was her fault. A cataclysm of her own creation. Which meant she knew exactly how to fix it.

"Fine." Asami rose to her feet. "If that's how Artana wants this to go, then we'll just have to beat her at her own game." She looked between the terrified eyes of her family and Kuvira. And Baatar. And Varrick and Zhu Li. "We don't have time to panic. We know her endgame. Now, we figure out how to stop it."

"...even the dialog…" Varrick tore his script in half and tossed the pages into the air.

"Even if we manage that, and I'm not saying that we won't," said Kuvira. "We lack the resources necessary to mount a counteroffensive."

Asami took a very deep breath and looked over her shoulder, toward her father's old workshop. Deep storage. "No. We have more than enough."

A/N: Just wanna get something off my chest first: This reveal of how the Red Lotus works was never intended to be as topical as it is right now, with all the similarities to ISIL and what's happening in our world today. I went for Cold War Sleeper Cells (and inspired a bit by Mass Effect's Cerberus) and forgot that, since the Red Lotus are an "Army without a Nation", it was gonna end up like this. But nothing is created in a vacuum, and all things are products of their time. Now that that's out of the way...

iviscrit, thejmpr and beech27 have all told me that the thought process and deconstruction of what the Red Lotus had managed to do over the course of the story (and even before it) makes sense. I want to believe them, because this entire sequence is the single most complicated part of the story. After that, everything gets narrowed down to clear objectives and concepts. Well. Mostly. But if this doesn't work, or you're confused about any aspect at all, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments or send me a message on tumblr. I'll answer any and all questions to the best of my ability.

Yeah, so. Here we are. All but one of the cards is on the table and everyone's exactly where they're supposed to be. The End of Everything. Hey, remember when Kuvira said that waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in Chapter 9? Yeah, this was NOT what she was talking about. Way I saw it was this: Avatar finales either top the previous one, or make it a personal battle with a smaller scope. TLOK only had the 'save the world' ending for Book 2, and topping that was going to be...all but impossible. And since I'm not gonna do another Kaiju battle, I thought, why not have both types of finales? Why not up the stakes to their logical (or illogical) extreme and make how it happens incredibly personal for our heroes/protagonist? Thus, "Spirit Breach".

General notes:

-Kuvira's glassbending revelation was seeded back in Ch21/22. Originally, it was going to be much more explicit during the Bopal Wedding, but due to scheduling conflicts with iviscrit I had to think on my feet. That's why every glass object was acting wonky in that chapter.

-Drive-ins were invented in 1921, down in Texas. Carhops followed shortly after, so no, this was not anachronistic :P

-Shiro Shinobi's "What this means for your weekend..." is a nod towards lokgifsandmusings' "Arrested Avatar" parody series, as well as "Arrested Development" itself. Needed something for him to say to remind you that the radio was still on, and it just fit. As for why he's the radio announcer...because reason.

-Varrick's completely incoherent 'Catgator' monologue that he has no recollection of writing was actually an adaptation of something RuminantMonk said while mocking a certain piece of feedback that I couldn't help but show her. It was too hilarious not to use. For the sake of privacy, I will not be sharing the original feedback.

-Additionally, Varrick's mover script being so similar to the actual events of the plot is a play on his Nuktuk movers, which...actually predicted Unalaq's plot in a very B-Movie way. I wanted to do it again, but in full "Ember Island Players" style, but realized it wasn't worth a massive chapter just for that one joke. And that it'd be much funnier if he's just bitching about it in the background the entire time. Especially since he went so off the rails that his mover is barely about Book 1 anymore.

-Varrick's frustration about glassbending actually being real is a reference to, you guessed it, "Icarus and the Sea", where they do in fact meet master glassblowers in the Fire Nation in a house made of glass. That couple goes on to make the first mover camera lens.

-To clarify, some of those tears in reality aren't directly tied to a sabotaged UDS pillar. Some are just a result of the fucked up imbalance of spiritual energy. Cracks in the Sky, or rather the barrier, if you will. The one in the floor that nearly swallows General Iroh, for example. We'll get into the specifics (briefly) in Part III, but on the whole the rest of the finale will move much faster than the first half.

-iviscrit figured out the 'Spirit Breach' idea as a totally unrelated joke months and months ago.

I'll leave you folks with this: Do you think Asami did the right thing by refusing to work with Artana/the Red Lotus, even if it meant delaying/avoiding this disaster? I'm genuinely curious as to what your opinions are. And don't forget to share your theories on how our heroes are going try and beat this! :D