Chapter 21

Karnak's vision swims and distorts as the figure of Naga and Korra move farther and farther away. He allows himself to collapse to the ground, his resolve finally fading and with it whatever kept him standing. He takes off his mask and takes greedy gulps of air. He can feel his wounds still throbbing, especially the ones in his thigh and his midsection. Blood is still pouring out and with it comes the cold. Cold like he hasn't felt in a long time. The cold embrace of death. He knows if he allows his eyes to close right now and do nothing to treat himself; he'll fall into the cold embrace of death. Is… is that such a bad thing? Korra is safe and with her around, they can stop Amon. They don't need me, not anymore. Maybe… maybe I can rest. He dares to let his eyes droop slightly but then,

"Are you really gonna let yourself die like this?"

Karnak's eyes open again. He knows that voice, "Jon Yin. Heh. Been a while since I hallucinated you."

"Yep, turns out your guilty conscience/unstable mental state is still one hell of a combo." The delusion of his victim answers snarkily.

"Karnak groans as the throbbing from his wounds worsen and worsen. "Engh, what're you here for, remind me of damnation before I finally croak?"

"As much as I would love to do that, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to remind you that you're not finish. Your penance isn't paid."

The former Assassin laughs bitterly, "What else can I do? I did my best against Amon, I got Korra away, figured this is as good a time to die as any."

"But Amon isn't finished is he? If he felt comfortbale enough to attack Tarrlok and take his bending, what does that tell you?"

Karnak lets out a strangled breath, "He's reaching his endgame."

Jon nods, "That means all you're good will and deeds' will be for shit cause Republic City is gonna descend into war and chaos. Blood is gonna paint the town red and instead of doing something to stop it your just gonna lay here and day."

His anger awakened, Karnak glares at the mirage despite the pain his in, "Have you not noticed the gaping holes in my stomach!"

But that doesn't deter Jon, "You know for a fact that if you stop the bleeding, your body can heal just enough for you to stand and get back to the bike you stole. If you were still serious about making up for killing me and traumatizing my kids and leaving them without a father, then you wouldn't let a fucking cut take you down."

Jon kneels down to get close and personal with karnak, scowling into his eyes, "Underneath all the fucked up issues and blood you have on your hands; you're still a warrior. And this death," he motions over his body, "Isn't a fitting warriors death. You let yourself go now and what honor you had left will be wasted."

Karnak watches as the delusion of his victim slowly fades into the snowy winds. He can't deny it. Everything he said was true. He thinks back to everything that lead him to this moment. His parents dying, the abusive orphanage. The Red Lotus. Everyone he's killed. He thinks about everything he's done wrong in his life. And he knows… he knows there's still too much to be done. He can't let it end here. Have to stop the bleeding.

With great effort, Karnak reaches for his black powder bombs. He lifts his shirt to uncover the wound in his midsection. Ok it's deep but not deep enough to reach my organs, meaning this is still gonna hurt like a mother fucker. HE also rips off the section of his pant leg where he was shot through by the harpoon. He opens the black powder bombs and pours the powder over each opening of his leg the uses the remaining bombs to pour all over the wound in his stomach. He bites his lip as it stings horribly. But it's easy compared to what he has to do next. He takes out a lighter and takes several deep breaths, trying to keep his heartrate under control and level. Just before he lights it, he grabs a stock nearby and places it in his mouth. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck this is gonna hurt so goddamn bad. He steels himself then places the lighter at his leg. He takes one more deep breath and lights it. The small flames lick the blackpowder and it ignites, burning its way through his leg. The tree branch snaps as his teeth clench and he growls in pain while his wound is cauterized. It burns for another minute before it dies out. Thankfully the bleeding has stopped but an angry burn is left on either side of his thigh.

Karnak takes a few more deep breaths a he prepares to cauterize his stomach. He grabs another branch and places it in his mouth once more. This one will be much worse. He places the lighter by the edge of the black powder and closes his eyes. He lights it. His stomach is engulfed in a small flame and he can't stop the scream of agony that escaped his mouth as his wound is burned. The agony is overwhelming and this time he truly can't keep himself from slipping from the grip of reality and he falls into a comatose state.

Air Temple Island

Lin paces while Tenzin clutches the bloodied trenchcoat still in hand.

"There's no way that he could be dead. He's been put through the ringer a few times and he always comes back form it." Lin states reassuringly.

"But that doesn't mean he's invulnerable. Yes he's stronger than most but he's still human. He can still…" Tenzin doesn't allow himself to finish that sentence.

The thought of karnak possibly being dead… it unsettles him more than he thought it would. He will go so far as to say he might actually care for him and his wellbeing.

"You know you're really worried for him like as if you know him." Lin stops pacing and crosses her arms.

Tenzin closes his eyes and sighs exasperatedly. "Lin please-"

She holds up a hand, "It's ok. Right now there's more important things to worry about than our mutual "ally's" illegal antics. Sides I hate to admit it but, I'm a little worried too."

Tenzin smirks a little with a chuckle, "He kinda has that affect on people strangely enough."

"No matter how much of a cheeky bastard he acts like." She replies while returning that smirk. But then she drops it.

"We should go searching for him, just in case."

Tenzin shakes his head, "I would like to more than anything but with Amon tking Tarrlok captive the council will need me especially to coordinate a plan. An attack by the Equalists is imminent and it falls on us to prepare or else Amon will win. We have too many responsibilities to shoulder for us to drop them right now no matter how much we would like to." He says with a mournful tone.

Lin hates to admit it but her former flame is right. They can't afford to go searching for The Red Spirit now. The two end their conversation and head to the dining hall where they've all gathered around to eat the wonderful meal Pema has cooked for everyone.

"The food tastes amazing Pema. I'm finally starting to feel like myself again." Korra says as she scarfs down all the food in front of her.

"We're so thankful you're home safe." Pema tells her as she gets up to clear the table with Asami's help.

"Korra I realize you've been through a lot, but I need to know everything that happened."

"Well first off, Tarrlok isn't who he says he is. He's Yakone's son."

This leaves everyone stunned. "It all makes sense now" says Lin; "That's how Tarrlok was able to bloodbend us without a full moon."

"But how did you escape? And where's Tarrlok?"

"Amon captured him and took his bending, but then the red Spirit came in and fought him off."

"Did he defeat Amon?" Lin questioned, worried about what state her unofficial ally is in.

Korra looks down gloomily, "No, The Liuetenant had some kind of power suit, we beat him but the Red Spirit… he was really hurt when I saw him. You should've seen it, he was covered in so much blood. I-I think Amon would've killed him."

"Did he escape? Is he still alive?" Lin presses.

"Yes, he's actually the one who got me to Naga I don't know if he made it back to the city though, I was way too out of it."

Lin presses her lips into a thin line. She wants to ask more but now isn't the time.

"Well we are all grateful for his help but this is all very disturbing news. Amon is becoming emboldened. Taking out a councilman, almost capturing the Avatar, nearly killing the Red Spirit. I fear Amon is entering his end game." Everyone looks at each other worried, the air thick with the building tension. Korra asks Mako to get her some more tea. As he gets up to leave, Bolin excuses himself from the table. Lin and Tenzin both decide to leave as well. But Korra stops Tenzin.

"Hey, Tenzin?"

"What is it Korra?" he asks kindly.

"What do you think about him? "

That's a question that Tenzin asks himself each day. And everyday, it's a different answer. For the longest time it was always something negative, hoe could it not? Karnak represented everything and Air nomad stands against. And yet, as much as he kills, Tenzin sees how much he values the lives of others. He saw how he didn't hesitate to save Korra when she fell during the battle in the probending arena, or the reports of all the people he's rescued during his active nights. He seems sure of himself yet also lost. Tenzin can't truly place him.

"I… I think he's a man who tries. Why do you ask?"

Korra takes on a pensive look, "He crosses so many lines, lines I know we shouldn't cross and yet when he was in that cabin and we fought Amon's men, I saw him as an ally, a good guy even. It's confusing because I shouldn't trust him at all and yet when it was time for me to rely on him I did it without a seconds thought. What does that make him, or me?"

Tenzin remembers the conversation he had with Pema some time ago: I think he's a good man. And one day, if we're lucky and with the right help; he can be a good one. pulls korra into a fatherly hug, "It makes you a good person, because you can see something in him that he may not even see in himself."

"What's that?"

"The embers of virtue."

He hopes that was enough for her and seeing the small smile adorned on her face lets him know it was.

Karnak's opens his eyes but shuts them just as quick, the brightness of the sun stinging them. He slowly opens his eyes, waiting until they adjust before taking in his surroundings. Where am I again? He sees that he's at the base of a tree half covered in snow. A trail from the top of them mountain leading down towards him. He gets up but gets back down with a groan as his body aches terribly. He looks down to his stomach and sees an angry burn along it. Memories of the previous night come rushing back. Well, glad to see I'm not dead, hurts like I'm about to die though. He slowly gets himself into a sitting position, careful not to allow himself to reopen his wound or else this would've been for nothing. He sees that his mask is by his hand and he takes a moment to hold it, facing towards him. He gazes at the faceless red mask, sadly reminding himself of his promise and puts it on. It took another 10 minutes before he got himself standing though he was leaning against the tree.

Ok I'm up. Now I got to get the motorcycle and back to the city. No telling how long I was out or what happened to the city while I was. He begins limping towards the area that he left the bike in. Eventually he was able to ignore the aches and stings that panged all over and got into a good walking pace when he finally reached the bike. He gets on and revvs the engine up and rapidly travels back to Republic City. Sometime later Karnak does a double take as pillars of smoke creep onto the horizon. Alarmed, Karnak hopes that it isn't what he thinks it is. But he was wrong. It's coming from Republic City. He stops the motorcycle as he comes into full view of the city he placed under his protection and looks in horror at what has become of it. The city is under attack. Smoke and fire and debris is everywhere and the skies are filled with Equalist airships and falling police airships. Explosions and screams of innocent people can be heard from even there. Karnak tightens his hands into fists so hard his knuckles turn white. Amon will pay for this. He hits the throttle and the bikes zooms him closer and closer to the city. He's a few blocks in when he picks up on the sounds of a scream nearby. Without faltering, Karnak does a donut and drives towards it. When he rounds the corner, he sees a mech tank advancing towards a small family with whom he suspects to be the father held unconscious in the grip of the tank. Anger surges through him and he hits the gas and uses the smashed remains of a car as a ramp and jumps off at the last second as the motorcycle hits a mecha tank head on knocked it off its feet. He throws is last black powder bomb attached to a throwing knife into the arm of the mecha tank, piercing it's armor and blowing up from the inside. This makes the arm blow off and it releases its prisoner.

The remaining mecha tanks turns around and rapidly advance on Karnak and surround him. He yells at the family to the leave for safety and he jumps out the way of the cables and runs across the wall while throwing a smoke pellet at the Tanks. He lands on the ground and collapses, his body having not had any chance to heal. He looks up and swiftly rolls to the side as the mech slams the ground leaving a crater.

Too injured, can't fight them like I usually do. Have to improvise. He forces himself not to limp and runs towards all 4 tanks, miraculously dodging all their attacks and making it towards the center of the four. They all prepare to shoot their electrified cables at him, intent on killing him. He puts his uninjured leg under him ready to spring. Have to time this right. One…two…three! With all the strength he could muster, The Red Spirit lifts himself into the air well over the mechas. They try to shoot their prey but only end up shooting each other. Each cable breaking through the protective glass and hitting each pilot. All tanks fall to the ground. He drops to his knees holding his torso. Ah! I think I just ripped open my torso! He wheezes as he tries to regain his breath. He lifts his shirt and sees that thankfully, only part of his wound has opened, at the moment he's not in danger of bleeding out.

He hears a bike approach and looks to see 3 Equalists in bikes heading straight towards him with their bolas ready for deployment. He sighs, then throws two knives that kill two of the Equalists and throws one that only cuts the lone Equalist's weapon. He looks at his hand in surprise and turns back to face forward only for a fist to hit his face, flinging him off the bike. The vigilante takes this opportunity to steal his downed opponents still running bike and is about to ride off until he notices a single airship heading towards Air Temple Island. Oh shit, they're going after Tenzin's family! He kicks his bike into gear and races towards the island, willing himself tog et there on time.

After stealing s speedboat Karnak gets to the Island just in time to see the White lotus guards be defeated with way too much ease for 'specially trained soldiers' handpicked to protect the Avatar. These guys are fucking useless. They couldn't even last a full 10 seconds before biting it! What the hell are they even here for?! He doesn't ponder on it too much as he struggles to get himself to the top for the stairs. But a group of 5 equalist descend towards their new opponent. They all attack him at once and he dodges as best he can all their attacks but his injuries impede him greatly and many of their strikes actually land. One of them plants a firm sidekick to his injured ribs and he's sure that a bone is sticking out of his skin now. He drops down and stabs two of them in the knee while deflecting the next kick towards the abdomen of another. He springs up and uppercuts one while twisting and elbowing another right in the collarbone, shattering it.

The Ex Assassin jumps up and roundhouse kicks them both at the same time and crouches on the ground in time to miss the attacks the two wounded Equalists through at him. He takes out another knife and stabs one right in the groin, taking him out of the 'equation'. The other he stabs in the leg again and hurls him into the air and kicks him into the water far below. With all his enemies down, he continues on his journey towards the courtyard just in time to see Lin taking on a small army of Equalists. Lets see, there's about fifty thugs. And I've got (he checks his ammo), one sticky bomb and 7 knives left. I should've restocked before I left. He jumps into the fray and Lin sees him and a wave of relief comes over her. She smiles because now, she has an edge over the Equalists. She begins using her cables to throw around some of her enemies and heaves one towards Karnak who jumps up, catches him and throws him towards 3 others. He lands on them and knocks them all out and rolls over to escape a swipe from an Equalist using a sword. Now down to his last knife, Karnak lifts it towards his face in a reverse grip, daring him to attack. The Equalist hesitates before he swings his sword in a flurry. The Red Spirit dodges most of them, but two swings end up slicing him superficially and he grits his teeth. The Equalist smirks and raises his sword for the killing stroke, but the Vigilante sidesteps him then swiftly cuts the tendons in his hands, making his opponent drop the sword. He then stabs him in the ankle, and headbutts him as he comes down, knocking him out.

Out of breathe and completely exhausted he looks up to see that Lin is down as well and there are still ten more Equalists left. He gets up on one knee intent on going out fighting. But just as they loom over him he hears,

"Get away from my dads ex girlfriend!"

Jinora swoops in and uses her staff to airbend gusts of wind that blow a few thugs into he air while she yells at them to stay away from her fathers ex. Ikki comes in with her air scooter and knocks them off their feet while she yells,

"Get off our island!"

And finally Meelo jumps down and actually 'fartbends' his attackers away. Karnak just stares dumbfounded. "This has got to be the most embarrassing backup I've ever gotten."

The three kids leave to check on the guards and find something to tie the Equalists with. Lin goes to the Red Spirit and offers her hand, which he gratefully accepts. "You look like shit."

"You're welcome."

"Tenzin asked me to look after his family and Korra and her friends went off to help as well." She explains.

Speaking of the devil, Tenzin and company arrive riding on Tenzin's flying bison Oogi. At this point the Equalists are hogtied and are being taken into the Temple's basement.

Tenzin jumps down and wraps his kids in a big hug, "Oh thank goodness your alright!"

"We caught the Bad guys!" Meelo exclaimed from on top Tenzin's head.

"You let them fight?! Do you realize what could've happened?!" he looks accusingly at Lin.

But stares back defiantly, "We would've been toast if it weren't for your kids. You should be proud. You taught them well."

Karnak butts in, "Besides, they're safe right now. That's all that should matter." Lin elbows him and he has to bite his tongue to keep the scream at bay. He can feel the blood pouring out of him and the bones of his ribs piercing his skin. He feels a pair of eyes on him and notices that Korra is looking at him curiously. "Why are you here?"

"I couldn't let Amon or his men get his hands on the last airbenders in the world. I tried my best out there if that's what you're wondering."

Tenzin comes up to the Red Spirit who tilts his head curiously.

"You saved Korra, you saved Lin, and you saved my children. You have no idea how grateful I am, the only thing I can offer you is my thanks." He bowed which the Red Spirit returned.

"No thanks is needed master Tenzin."

"But an apology is." He continues before Karnak can say anything, "I've let my biases to blind me from the good that's in you and the good that you do. But what you did today, it has opened my eyes. You have earned my trust."

Everyone present is shocked by what Tenzin has just said, none more so than Karnak. The older man ahs always been at odds with the person he was(is?) and the actions he's taken. But him saying that he can comfortably place his trust in Karnak? That awakens a feeling of happiness that Karnak never thought he would experience.

Before anyone can say a thing, one of the Air Acolytes burst open the door, "Master Tenzin, your baby!"

They all rush in and everyone gathers around as Tenzin reunites with his wife and welcomes their new son into the world. Despite the devastation going on, no one can help but feel happiness at the scene in front of them. Tears well up in Karnaks eyes at the beauty of the scene in front of him. A family. A family that loves and cares for each other with a renewed scene of hope brought to them by way of their baby boy. This is what I'm gonna fight to protect, he swears to himself. He blinks the tears away as he starts feeling lightheaded once more. His body feels heavy like his limbs are full of lead. He can practically hear his blood drip to the floor. He feels his torso and confirms that the wound has opened up entirely and blood is seeping out. But he holds himself together as Korra announces that more airships are on their way and they cannot stay any longer. They all walk outside to see but Karnak starts to sway the affects of the night before and today begins to take its toll on him. He keeps himself up using the wall but continues to struggle. He can hear voices and bits of the conversation being held but they echo and seem so far away. Soon enough his vision starts to blur for the second time today and he falls to a heap on. He sees blobs dance around in his vision getting closer to him. His breathing slow, the light in his vision dims until he slips into a world of darkness again. Not this shit again.

Karnak opens his eyes very slowly, aware to not does so quickly or else he'll be blinded again. He can really feel the damage that's been done to him. His entire body just feels like hes been pummeled by a stampede of porcuhogs. Still karnak tries to sit up but a gentle hand stops him.

"Now hold it right there mister! We don't want you ripping out those stitches now do we?"

The injured vigilante looks at the man in front of him. He's a short fellow with long wild grey hair sticking up with a short beard. He has a friendly yet crazy smile and a few missing teeth and one gold tooth. His clothes a worn and torn all over and very dirty[AN]. Karnak recognizes him instantly.

"Gommu, how'd I get here and did you stitch me up?"

"Yessir I did and your friends were the ones who brought you down here! That's right, you almost didn't make it but luckily for you, Gommu was nearby to help you out!" He poses with one thumb up, proud of himself. The young man looks at his patchwork and sees his messily stitched wounds. Not having the heart to tell such a happy old soul how terrible of a job he's done, he instead thanks him but then stops.

"wait, friends?"

"Yea them!" he points to Karnaks right and sees Asami, Bolin, Mako, and a angry looking Korra holding his Red mask.

"… oh…shit."

No one moves or makes a sound. Karnak is frozen in his spot on the makeshift bed. Korra looks to be an almost calm angry, though she's gripping the mask like as if she's imagining it was Karnak's neck. Mako is standing behind her with a narrow eyed expression as well while every now and then sending Korra worried glances. Asami's just sporting a friendly small smile while Bolin is silently hopping up and down, grinning like a mad man.

"… I can explain."

"Please do, please explain to me how we all end up finding out that the guy we've hung out with a few times, the guy who even treated me like a friend and came over to my island to have dinner was secretly a murderous vigilante!" Korra angrily screams.

"Look-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?! How could you do any of this?! Was it all just a ploy to get closer to me and Tenzin so you can kill us in our sleep!?"

Gommu takes that moment to start heading to the door, "Welp! It's very clear that this is a private conversation that does not need my input, so I'll leave you to it!" and he slams the door on his way out.

This does break the tension a little and gives everyone a chance to catch their breath. Karnak looks at everyone behind korra and says, "Can you leave for a bit? This is a conversation to have between me and Korra."

"NO! They stay! I want people I can trust to have my back."

Karnak sighs frustratedly but complies. "I wouldn't try anything."

"How can I know that!? Mako and I have seen what you dp as the Red Spirit! You break bones without a second thought, hwo can we not suspect you'll do the same to us!"

Karnak stands up fully, "Because I've had many chances to do so before but never did so. I don't want to kill you or hurt you. Hell I told Tenzin I wanted nothing to do with you!"

Korra is taken aback with a hurt expression, "tenzin… knew?"

Karnak closes his eyes and curses for letting it slip. "Wait Korra—"

"No! no, you need to tell me everything! You owe me that much."

The ex assassin looks at her incredulously, "Owe you!? I don't owe jackshit! We barely speak to each other, we don't hang out, we aren't friends and I've betrayed you trust for years."

"But you seem to be connected to every other part of my life! Everywhere I go you're there, the same island I live in, hell it's thanks to you that we found out about Hiroshi's involvement with the Equalists!"

Asami is shocked, "what?"

"Long story, the point is you've been a part of my life in so many ways that I wasn't even aware of. I deserve to know why!"

They glare at each other for a long time, neither one moving a muscle. But eventually, Karnaks guilty conscious won out.

"fine. What do you want to know?"

"Eveyrthing, start with =why you're doing this and how you're connected to tenzin!"

"Well the reason that I'm a vigilante is kinda cause of my parents."

Mako cuts in, "what did you parents raise you as a psychopath?"

"No…"Karnak hisses, "They were slaughtered right in front of me when I was a kid."

Everyone's eyes widen in horror. "Afirebender cut down my parents right in front of me. From then on, I had to survive. I was sent to places as a kid, no one should ever step foot in. I became a street rat in omashu before I was picked up by a guy who saved me from some thugs trying to rough me up. Hes the one who helped make me… how I am. Brought me into an organization that trained me to be the ultimate assassin." He says with a self-loathing tone.

"Who was he?" Asami asks, her voice heavy with sadness, wondering what kind man, no monster, would turn a child into a killer.

Karnak looks away, he doesn't want to even say their names, "It doesn't matter. I defected from them and found my way to Republic city, tried to lay low but they found me again."

"How did they find you?" Bolin asks.

The ex assassin grits his teeth in shame, "I killed two toed ping."

Mako looks at him in shock and takes a step back, "That was you?"

Korra's lost, "Who's that?"

"He was a notorious mobster working under Lightning bolt zolt. It was reported that he was killed… by having trachea ripped out of his throat."

Korra looks at Karnak with disgust all over her face. "how could you do something so terrible?"

Karnak glares angrily, "He killed a little girl, no older than 5 in cold blood! I did everything I could to get him the right way! I had the fucking evidence to put it away but this city," he scoffs offendedly, "it's rotten to the core. He was gonna be set free. And that little girl would've be dead for nothing, her parents would've followed suit. The law couldn't do anything it was powerless… but I wasn't."

Silence envelops the group, all the disgust Korra had left as her body was filled with righteous rage. How dare he?! How dare he kill someone so innoncent, a child that didn't even get a chance to see adulthood or experience her childhood. But that doesn't mean he had to die did he?"

"That- that 's horrible. But that doesn't excuse your actions. You can't decide who lives and who dies!" Then Karnak says something that really catches her off guard.

"You're right. It doesn't. I'm no saint I know that. But I've done things. A lot of things that I'm not proud of. I've ripped families apart, I've killed people who were deserving…" he looks down at his hands like as if he could see fresh blood on it, "And many who were not."

He looks at her in her eyes, "I'm a monster, I've accepted that long ago. But I don't want anyone else to be like me. So if that means I gotta keep losing more and more of my soul to prevent anyone to lose theirs, then so be it. I'll be the monster that hunts other monsters."

Korra's heart can't help but break at the sight of the man and what he's just said. No one should feel like that no matter what they've done. No one should resign themselves to be what they've been made to be, they should have the chance to be better.

"You you really know how to make people hate you and feel sorry for you."

"I don't want your pity."

"Well you got it, don't know what to tell you." She sits down, still holding his mask.

"What was this organization?"

"It doesn't matter, it's been completely destroyed."

They all share a look, "What do you mean?" Mako asks.

"When they found me I went to Tenzin and told him everything, he got the White lotus and the United forces together and they lead a surprise attack that dismantled the whole operation. But the heads of the White Lotus didn't want the public to know that they let a maniacal secret society grow under their nose and infiltrate most of the worlds governments. So they hid the truth. That's the only reason I wasn't sent to the deepest pits of hell. They didn't want questions to be asked that ruined their image. I've been confined to the city and Tenzin is my 'probation officer'. Don't blame him, he was forced to keep it a secret or else they would've taken him down too. He was worried about his family."

Korra nods, hating being lied to but understanding what was at stake for Tenzin. "why don't you tell me more about this 'organization'?"

Karnak bites his cheek, "It wasn't all sunshine and roses growing up with them. They did things to me, they… they broke me. I hate to even think about them, I still have nightmares. Besides, I have to keep it a secret too. Just telling you this much could still get Tenzin in trouble."

Korra growls but she relents. She doesn't want to ruin things for Tenzin especially since he just got a new son.

"So what happens now?" Karnak asks nervously.

Korra shakes her head, "I don't know. We have to wait for the united forces to send reinforcements but still, as much as it pains me to say this, trust me it really does, we have to work with each other to beat Amon."

Karnak raises an eyebrow, "You just went on a spiel about how wrong it is for me to kill people and hen say you want my help?"

She glares at him, "I don't have a lot of options! And I did see that for the most part you kept your promise to Lin, you kept form killing people."

"Except for the guys on the temple." Bolin points out ducks sheepishly as he's sent two glares. "Sorry."

"And despite all that, you're heart does seem to be for protecting innoncent people. I have to hope that that means you'll stay on our side."

"Fine, we work together on this—"

"Then deal with this shit storm later." Korra finishes.

She extends her hand and Karnak shakes it firmly. She then leaves, with Mako following suit. Asami comes up to him and surprisingly hugs him. He awkwardly hugs her back and she lets go.

"What was that for?"

"One of the girls you saved from being sex trafficked was the daughter of the maid who raised me… when my mom wasn't around. She's like a sister to me and I've been a supporter of you ever since." She smiles at him and nods to where Korra was, "Give her some time she'll come around."

Bolin claps his back, "Same here! Always thought you were a cool dude! Besides Korra's always seen the good in people and yea it sucks that you've killed people but you've done a lot of good for the city! Seriously you have a lot more fans than you think!"

"Uh thanks?"

"No problem! So about the whole vigilante thing… an I be your sidekick!"

"…Hell No."

Authors note: Gommu is the homeless man that Korra ran into on her first day in Republic city in case anyone was wondering. Anyway i hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I tried to make everyone's reactions as in character as i could so hopefully i succeeded here. If anyone is wondering why Karnak didn't tell Korra everything about the Red Lotus, it's because he's obviously not the most open person in the world and he doesn't feel like he needs to tell Korra all of this, yes The Red Lotus does affect her since they tried to kidnap her but to Karnak's knowledge, they're dismantled and if anything it's Tenzins responsibility to tell her not him. And if Korra seems to let it go, it's only because 1) it's a lot that she has to process, 2) she's still more focused on amon than an organization that isn't laying siege to Republic city and 3) she's gonna bring it up later on. Like i said i'm gonna right a small adventure between book 1 and 2 that'll start the trust and friendship between the two and Karnak will feel more inclined to tell Korra more of the truth.

I would also like to thank everyone who's reviewed my story! i truly appreciate it all and can't wait to hear more form you!

rainfallMyth: Thank you! Hope you liked this one!

Guest: ... I honest to god did not know that Tarrlok's aide was a woman. I thought she was supposed to be a squeaky voiced scrawny guy as a joke. Well thank you for notifying me XD it was a mistake on my part but i feel like it's funnier if his aide remained a guy because of how much Korr scared her. Still I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and i hope you like this one too!

Guest: Yea i noticed I've been using a lot of cliffhangers lol, but I'm glad you liked this one and hopefully it was somewhat realistic how Karnak survived this. I would've had lin or Tenzin look for him but realistically, they both had a lot to deal with that unfortunately would be more important than looking for Karnak at the time, they knew Amon was gonna attack soon so they would have to stay on guard for that.

I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter!