Korra felt a frantic anxiety start gnawing at her insides. Ginger and company were in the city, appearing intent on going after Asami. "Where is the nearest phone Iroh?" He pointed towards a doorway "There's one in there that you can..." The Avatar didn't wait for him to finish, bolting towards the door as soon as he had pointed. "...use."
A pair of soldiers stumbled into her way only to be shoved aside by a blast of air as she sprinted by "Sorry! Kinda busy right now!" They looked at each other, unsure about how to react "Was that the?...should we?...screw it, let's go get another drink, I'm not starting anything with her."
Korra slammed the door open with her shoulder as she rushed inside. She turned towards the phone grabbing the handset as she started spinning the dial around. "Three four, two six two five." The phone started ringing, each consecutive ring making her heart sink further.
After the fourth ring someone picked up "Hello?" "This is Avatar Korra, is Asami Sato there? I need to speak to her." "I'm sorry, she's currently in a meeting right now. Can you leave a number so she can call you when she gets out?" "Did you hear me! Put Asami on the phone! Now!"
"I can't do that. If you leave a number, we'll call you back. Otherwise I'm hanging up now."
Korra nearly dropped the phone. What was the number to this thing? Iroh reached over taking the phone away from her "Eight three, six two eight nine. After the operator answers, ask for room two." "Thank you sir, we'll be calling you back in just a few minutes."
The man on the other end of the line hung up. Iroh turned towards Korra "What did he say?" "That she was in a meeting, nothing else. Maybe we're just worrying about nothing? I know you said there's no companies over here, but how would you know?"
"Any companies that intend to work with international companies have to file for a license. It's mainly a taxation issue, but it also lets us keep track of what companies are presently abroad. Right now, there aren't any in Republic City. I don't like the idea, but my gut instinct is telling me this group is Ginger and her house."
Korra didn't respond as they sat and waited for the phone to ring. She was hoping that Iroh was wrong, but couldn't shake the suspicion that he was right. After a couple of tense minutes, she stood up "I'm not sitting around anymore. I'll go see if she's there or not."
The phone rang.
Korra picked it up "Hello? Asami?"
"Hello Korra." It was Ginger. "I wanted to thank you for the souvenir you left for me in the lab before I had to leave so suddenly. This glove is such a useful little device. Asami used it to ruin everything I've been working on. And now a little demonstration of what it's going to do for me."
There was a thud as Ginger set her handset down. After a few seconds, there was a sharp scream. The sound raked at her heart as she recognized the voice as Asami's. Ginger picked the phone back up "I wonder how long it'll take for Asami to join her parents."
The phone went dead.
Korra stared at the handset in disbelief before breaking it in half against the desk. She grabbed the base of the phone hurling it at the wall. It cracked on the impact leaving a noticeable dent. Iroh looked at her uneasily as she slammed her fists on the desk leaving a pair of impressions in the solid oak surface. "What's going on? Talk to me Korra."
The Avatar was motionless for a long moment before turning to look at him. Iroh involuntarily stepped back despite himself. Her eyes had turned white and her posture was that of a wild animal whose decided there was only one way out of the corner they had been trapped in. "Ginger has her!"
He put his hands up as he began backing up towards the door hoping to get out before she began to vent the fury in her eyes. "Most of these soldiers here are people who served under me or friends of mine. If you'll be patient-."
Korra instantly hit him in the chest with a gust of air sending him flying through the doorway leaving him sprawled on the floor. She stalked out after him as a man sized boulder crashed upwards through the floor to float in the air above them "Patient! She's being tortured to death and you're asking me to be patient!"
She threw one fist forward in a punch towards Iroh sending the rock plummeting at him. The general tried to block or divert it with a blast of flame, but he knew it was futile. A gust of air rushed over his head striking the rock hard enough to slow it down for Iroh to scramble out of the way.
Iroh glanced towards the air's source. It had only been a single air-blast, but the sheer effort Bumi had put into it was enough to exhaust him anyways. His chest heaved as he gasped down air "I'm too old for this nonsense."
Bumi glanced around at the soldiers around him. The attack on the man of the hour hadn't gone unnoticed and the crowd looked like it was getting ready to riot. Some of the soldiers set their drinks down and started moving towards Korra. She turned to stare at them as the wind began to pick up, whispering around their feet. The floor began shaking as more rocks started breaking loose from the ground and floating all over the room. She let out an inhuman shriek and began floating into the air on a pair of flames emitting from her feet.
He turned his attention back to Korra who looked to still be growing angrier by the second. When he was a child, his uncle Sokka had liked to try and scare him with tales of how terrifying and dangerous an out of control Aang had been. He had never truly believed the stories. Until now.
Bumi started looking for a way to avoid the approaching brawl. These men were soldiers, but they were drunk and facing a very, very angry looking Avatar. He glanced at the myriad of cups holding , it was a long shot, but they had been drinking and it might work.
He straightened up to his full height assuming an old military stance that he hadn't worn in years. "Some of the remaining factions of Kuvira's army have grouped together and are marching on Republic City. All available forces are to report to their their unit's location to await further orders!
Some of the soldiers were sober enough for that to have no effect and glanced at each other then at Korra realizing what Bumi was trying to do. Those with sufficient rank started yelling at the other drunken soldiers to get them to begin moving toward the exit.
Iroh took advantage of the exodus to try and divert Korra from the people present "I'm not responsible for what's happened to Asami and neither is anyone else here. Take your anger out on her, not us!" Korra gave them a baleful stare before smashing a hole through the ceiling with the floating boulders and vanishing into the night on a pair of fiery jets.
There was a building not far away entangled in a morass of vines that had grown through windows before beginning to fracture the stone around them. She glided downwards to place a hand on one particularly large branch.
It took her a moment to find what she was looking for. It was still there, but starting to grow weaker. Korra turned and accelerated back upwards into the sky, flames at the end of each limb pushing her even faster then before.
All of the lights from below began to disappear behind her as she approached the parts of Republic City that had been surrendered to the wilds. A dark maze of eyeless skyscrapers and shattered buildings as they were consumed by a mass of gluttonous vines. The building she was looking for came into view. A short squat building with thick stone walls and no windows.
Ginger may not have expected to be found but she still hadn't neglected to have someone watching though. One of the combustion benders started firing on her as she drew closer. Korra formed a circle of air around herself letting it deflect the blasts as she dropped onto the roof.
She rolled forward and up to her knees as she ripped a chunk of the roof free before using it to knock the combustion bender off the side of the stone structure. The people inside had tried to prepare for the possibility of facing her as best as they could have.
She couldn't bend weapons made of platinum, but one couldn't wield them when the floor you stood upon was ripped away. Or when pipes hidden in the walls and ceiling burst free to ensnare their victims before dragging them back from whence they came.
People began to throw down their weapons and flee in terror. Korra ignored them as she approached her goal, a single door barring her way. She pushed on it with one hand only for it to stop short against some kind of barrier on the other side.
One punch to throw a burst of air severed the door from it's hinges and sent it crashing into the far wall.
Asami was there, her hands raised above her hand and chained to the ceiling. Her legs had given way beneath her leaving her to dangle from the chain and her hair hung downward as her head drooped towards the floor. In addition, there were numerous smoking holes scattered about her jacket and pants.
Ginger stood behind Asami, one hand wearing the electro-gauntlet and pressed against the back of Asami's head. "If you-"
Korra didn't give her the chance to finish as she grabbed a hold of the metal in the glove using it to drag Ginger to the middle of the room and away from her hostage. The glove and hand within smashed downwards onto the floor. The metal on the outside flowed downward driving spikes into the floor and the cuff tightened about the wrist inside leaving no room for escape.
Ginger tried pulling at the glove once before settling into as comfortable a kneeling position as she could. She took one deep breath and closed her eyes, preparing for the end. The Avatar ignited a dagger shaped flame above her fist and began moving forward.
"Kor...ra."
Asami's voice was weak and the single word sapped most of what strength she still had. It was still enough to halt Korra's rampage. The flame flickered out and her eyes returned to normal. She immediately strode over, forgetting about Ginger as she put one arm around Asami to support her before releasing the chain. Asami instantly sagged into Korra, unable to stand on her own.
Korra laid her down on the floor as gently as she could, but even that much drew a whimper. Water, she needed water. She looked about in vain before taking a deep breath trying to calm herself. Her eyes flashed white before fading. There. A copper pipe burst free of the wall and began pouring water onto the floor. The water was rancid and filled with filth from sitting in the pipe for so long. It took her a minute to sift the debris free before having enough to work with.
The lessons from Katara's book came flooding back. The first step in healing to was diagnose the injury. She placed both hands, covered in water, onto Asami as she began feeling the flow of the injured woman's chi whilst trying to visually appraise her at the same time.
Small but violently red scorch marks were everywhere. Arms, legs, stomach, back, chest, the only area that hadn't been touched was Asami's face and neck. Korra could sense the damage everywhere else, not just on the skin, but all throughout her muscles and nerves.
Tears began forming in Korra's eyes as she saw the staggering extent of it all. "How are you still alive?" She didn't wait for an answer as she set about trying to heal as much as she could.
Time passed, how much she had no idea but Korra kept healing until she fell to the ground from exhaustion, unable to go any further. "I'm still alive because I knew you would come." Asami's voice was hoarse, but nowhere as feeble as it had been earlier.
Hearing Asami speak gave her another burst of strength and she used it to push herself up to her feet and approach Ginger. "A wise woman once told me that I can learn from my enemies. I doubt you can teach me anything, but you are going to explain what you're trying to accomplish with...everything you've done."
Ginger had watched Korra the entire time, her gaze unwavering as she worked to save her lovers life. Her gaze was as intense now but she surprised the Avatar with a bitter laugh "It doesn't truly matter now, you've ruined everything, but I'll humor you anyways."
"It was nearly four years ago, the night that the Nuktuk finale premiered. You probably don't remember but I was there when you approached Raiko asking for his help. At the time, I didn't believe you when you said Unalaq was going to destroy the world. But then the sky changed all over the world a few days later and that...thing attacked Republic City."
"After the crisis passed, I remembered you mentioning an event you called Harmonic Convergence. I spoke to scholars in the city but none of them could tell me anything. An event that threatened the world's existence and nobody I spoke to had even heard of the term."
"I spent the remainder of that year searching for answers. I visited the fire sages, browsed our most ancient libraries, searched the ruins of the Sun Warriors and all I found were rumors and faint traces of a long forgotten secret. Eventually though, I discovered something called the Tree of Time and it was there I learned everything."
"Wan, Raava, Vaatu, Lion Turtles and how spirits have been trying to destroy us for as long as we have existed. And what's worse, how close they've come. We would have been exterminated if not for the Lion Turtles and we escaped destruction by the narrowest of margins during the last two Harmonic Convergences."
"There's only one way for us to survive beings like Vaatu, destroy them before they kill us all. And Varrick provided us the means. All I had to reproduce his invention and use it in the Spirit World."
Korra stared in disbelief "You're insane, the spirit and material worlds are connected. You have no idea what that would do. Nobody does."
She turned away not wanting to hear anymore as she tentatively picked Asami up and headed outside. To her surprise, Naga was waiting there. "Naga! You followed me here?" The polar bear dog looked down at Asami before lowering herself to the ground so Korra could get on while holding Asami in her arms.
Ginger watched Korra depart before trying to pull her hand free once again to no avail. She glanced around looking for anything that she could use but nothing was within reach. Ginger sighed and settled back, hoping one of her supporters was still around and might be able to free her.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but by now the Avatar had to be far away. The sound of booted feet came to her ears. Ginger looked up, thinking that her rescue was at hand but those hopes were dashed in an instant.
Iroh was standing there in the doorway, his arms folded as he studied her carefully. She laughed bitterly once more "Not quite what I was looking for, but you'll do. I surrender, take me to prison General."
He reached into a satchel at his waist pulling out a small bundle of red cylinders. Iroh fished out a piece of string and began attaching it. "What are you doing? You can't kill me. You're part of the United Forces."
"I'm not a general anymore, now I'm just prince of our nation." He paused in preparing the bomb as he looked down at her. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, you really were one of our best agents." He knelt down placing the bomb on the floor making sure it was out of reach.
"Why didn't you just have the Avatar kill me then? You used her for everything else." "I did try, it would have tidied things up quite nicely, but she refused. I envy her idealism and I admire her for it. The world would be a better place if we were all like her, but that's not the case."
He lit the fuse before departing himself. Ginger watched the flame burn down as she began frantically trying to free her wrist. Her skin broke and red began to pour outwards as the building was consumed in a brilliant fireball as red as her hair.