Opal soared higher into the sky, pushing her wingsuit as fast as she could take it. Wind whipped at her face, stung her eyes, but she didn't slow. Zaheer hadn't yet realized she was following him. She could catch up to him if she went just a little faster. Too fast, she knew. At this speed, slowing down and stopping would be a challenge, even with her level of airbending skill. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was stopping her mother's murderer.

She lifted herself higher, soaring above the fleeing Zaheer. Buildings and streets of Ba Sing Se's Middle Ring raced beneath her, a mere blur to her tunneling vision. She inched closer. A little more. Just a little more... With a twist and spin of her body, she pointed herself straight downward. She fell into a dive, pulling the wings of her suit closed. Her speed of descent doubled. Like a dive-bombing eagle hawk, she plummeted towards her target.

"Zaheer!"

The flying Red Lotus leader glanced back in time to see Opal dive past him. The wind stream that tore in her wake pulled Zaheer forward with a violent jerk, but he quickly steadied himself before falling out of control. Pushing himself backwards through the air, he watched as Opal spread her wings again and soared back around for another pass.

Opal spun at him like a drill, creating a whirling cyclone of air around herself. Zaheer waited until the moment before impact and flew sideways to avoid the attack. He countered with a simple push of his palm, releasing a wind gust that blasted against her backside. Opal stabilized herself, twisting her body straight and holding her wings open. The suit caught another air current, and once again she lifted skyward.

She swooped around yet again to dive at Zaheer. Her gut lifted, weightless with the sharp change of altitude She was being reckless, uncontrolled, completely the opposite of how an airbender should act. Didn't matter. One way or another, she was going to hurt this man, consequences be damned. Zaheer didn't wait for her this time. He darted forward through the sky, rapidly gathering speed. He raced by her, pulling a powerful jet stream in his wake.

With a recoiling shout, Opal raised her hands to shield herself from the air. Wind thudded against her chest, tearing her out of her dive. The sky whirled around her. She was falling, spinning—wild, out of control, unable to slow her descent. The harder she struggled, the more violently she tumbled. She made a desperate grab, trying to catch hold of something. Ba Sing Se spun into view, buildings racing upward to greet her. Panic surged into her chest. She couldn't stop.

"I got you!"

A pair of arms caught hold of her. Her descent slowed and became more controlled, before finally stopping altogether. She gently collided with the rooftop of one of the city buildings below, the impact cushioned by a swirling bubble of air bursting beneath her. When the world stopped spinning, Opal sat up on the roof to see the person who had caught her. "Bumi?"

"Looks like I got here just in time," said her fellow airbender. "You alright?"

Opal gave the older man an appreciative nod. "Yeah, thanks. But where's Zaheer?" Not a moment after she asked the question, the Red Lotus leader floated into view above the rooftop.

"Uh, I think I found him," Bumi said, jumping back to his feet. "Come on, we can take him together! I got a few moves I learned in the United Forces that I bet he's never seen before."

Zaheer lowered himself closer to the rooftop, glaring at the two. "I see the Avatar brought along a couple of airbenders with her. And it seems you've since attempted to mimic my achievement of flight. An interesting concept, those suits, but yours is a false flight, easy broken."

"I'm not interested in what you think!" Opal flipped to her feet, fists shaking at her side. "You killed my mother, and you're going to pay for it!"

"Ah, I see." Zaheer's brow lifted, his demeanor softening ever so slightly. "You must be Suyin's daughter, the airbender. It's been a while, hasn't it? I want you to know that what I did to your mother wasn't personal. It was merely a necessary step in returning the world to its natural order."

"You can take your natural order bisoncrap and shove it!" Heat raged through her chest, tears stinging her eyes. "I don't care about your philosophical delusions! You took my mother from me! You took my family!"

"Rest assured, the other members of your family haven't been harmed," Zaheer replied. "We're merely keeping them to assure they can't return order to Zaofu. When the Red Lotus has finally achieved its goals, and the world descends into disorder, we will release them."

Opal choked back a bubbling sob. The heat burned hotter. "No! You're going to tell me where they are, now!"

She lunged at him, lifting herself skyward with a rush of wind beneath her feet. He floated backward to avoid her whirling kick, and the arcing blast of air that followed. As soon as the attack missed, he launched himself forward and tackled her, shoulder driving into her ribs. He dove with her, plummeted towards the rooftop. Seconds before impact, he released her and stopped himself. Opal kept going. A flash of pain exploded through her body, as she bounced across the tiled roof. She grunted to retain her focus, and whirled herself back to her feet.

"Hey, why don't you try picking on someone in your own weight class!" Bumi said, firing off a pair of wind blasts from his palms. "I got more than enough for you right here!"

Zaheer glided around the attacks and countered with an arcing kick. A whirlwind exploded from his foot across the entire rooftop, lifting both Bumi and Opal from their feet. "I admire your determination, both of you, but I'm afraid you can't win this, nor do I have time to waste with you. I must conclude this encounter."

"No, you don't!" Opal sprang back to her feet and spread her wingsuit. With a rising draft of wind, she soared again through the sky straight at him. "I'm not letting you get away!"

Zaheer spun above her, countering with a swift kick to her backside. The strike knocked her askew, blown wildly back down at the rooftop. In mid-fall, she twisted herself and regained control of her flight. With another guiding rush of air, she soared back around for another pass at him. Once again, Zaheer darted out of the way. A single thrusting palm of wind rocketed her down into the rooftop below.

"That's it, you need to learn a thing or two about manners!" Bumi surrounded himself with a wheel of air and raced across the ground, launching himself upwards at Zaheer when he got into range.

Zaheer flew over him and pushed another wind blast downward. Bumi crashed next to Opal with a painful thud. In the same motion, Zaheer whirled his arms in a circle, causing a cushion of air to rise beneath both opposing airbenders. They lifted skyward, unable to escape. The wind stormed across the rooftop, guided them towards the edge, and with a final spin of Zaheer's arms dropped them into empty air, high above the city streets below. The instant they disappeared, he flew off at top speed.

A panicked cry lurched into Opal's throat as they fell. With a desperate kick, she managed to break their fall with a spiral of air to catch them, seconds before they slammed into the ground. Not enough to break their fall entirely, but enough to keep the impact from killing them. Opal coughed out a sharp gasp when she struck the ground, a flash of colors exploding into her vision. Bumi landed somewhere next to her with a dull grunt. Instinct drove her to sit up, to continue pursuing Zaheer. Her vision went dark the moment she moved. The world spun, and she collapsed, consciousness fading.

Asami ducked behind one of Korra's earth walls to avoid a spinning chunk of concrete. "There are too many of them!"

Korra widened the wall and kicked the entire structure forward to scatter a group of Red Lotus attackers. She raised another wall in front of them to block the countering barrage. "What happened to Opal and Bumi?"

"Opal took off after Zaheer!" Bolin said, falling back to the other two. He raised another wall behind them, to cover their rear. "And Bumi went to back her up."

"What?" Korra raised her brow, a sharp pulse lurching through her chest. "Damn it, Zaheer is too strong to face like that!"

Not only had Zaheer already been a master combatant, but now with airbending and the ability to fly, he had been able to go toe-to-toe with Korra in the Avatar State. She may have been poisoned at the time, but that was not a feat to take lightly. As improved as both Opal and Bumi had become over the past several years, they'd be in for the fight of their lives trying to take on Zaheer by themselves. Not to mention, they'd left Korra, Asami, and Bolin alone with the remaining horde of Red Lotus underlings.

"I know! I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen!" Bolin stood up from behind the wall and spread his fists out to his sides. A stream of lava erupted across the ground. He quickly spread it around them in a circle. The lava moat held off the Red Lotus from getting close, at least forcing them to attack from a distance. "Can you blame her, though?"

"No, I know," Korra said. Had their situations been reversed, she would have chased after Zaheer the same as Opal had. "But that doesn't make this any better."

"Tell me about it." Asami ducked low against the earth wall, as a jet of flames blazed above her. "It's just the two of you against all these guys. If I can't get close to them, I can't help."

"Yeah, we could really use some backup right about now," Bolin said. "Where are the others?"

Korra peered over the top of the wall, watching as the Red Lotus regrouped to attack from a different angle. "Probably in the same predicament we are. We might be on our own here."

Bolin covered his head, shielding himself from an explosion of stone and concrete above his head. "Well, we need to figure out something fast or we're toast!"

"Looks like there's no other choice." Korra exhaled a deep breath and moved towards the center of their defensive circle. "Stand back, you two."

Asami and Bolin moved to the sides, giving her space. With a long inhale, Korra closed her eyes and concentrated her spiritual energy. A sudden burst of power erupted from her body, concussive waves of energy surging outward with a howling roar of wind. When she opened her eyes, they glowed a bright, searing white. A whirling cyclone of air lifted her skyward and propelled her across the bubbling moat of lava. With a furious shout, she punched jets of flame down at her enemies.

"Oh yeah, Avatar State!" Bolin shouted, with a triumphant laugh. "Have a taste of that you Red Lotus jerks!"

The Red Lotus did attempt to put up a fight against the Avatar State enraged Korra, for all the good it did. Nothing they threw at her had any effect. Earth, fire, water—she redirected it all back at them, and countered with far more devastating attacks of all four elements. The lucky ones realized their predicament and ran away before Korra could set her sights on them. The more unfortunate ones found themselves the subjects of easy target practice. Boulders, shards of ice, gale force winds, and plumes of fire descended upon them in an explosive cacophony that drowned out their screams. Within moments, any remaining enemies had either been incapacitated or had fled as fast as possible away from the state house.

As the funnel of air descended and set her back down on the ground, Korra's glowing eyes faded to normal. With an easy breath, she looked around at the devastation that littered the sprawling courtyard. "Alright, looks like that's everyone."

"Uh, yeah, I'd say that definitely worked," Asami said, with a raised eyebrow. About two dozen Red Lotus underlings lay scattered across the ground, either unconscious or rolling around in pain.

"Yeah, you know what, how about next time we open with that?" Bolin said.

"The Avatar State is as dangerous as it is useful. I try only to use it when I have to. Like now." Korra huffed a deep breath and hurried towards the state house entrance. "Now, come on, we have to help the others. They could be in trouble."

"You guys go on ahead," Bolin replied, heading in the opposite direction. "I'm going after Opal and Bumi. They'll need help, too."

Korra nodded. "Be careful. Zaheer is no pushover."

"I know, I will." He shifted a slab of earth beneath his feet, and with a push of his fists the earth rocketed across the ground. "Give any other Red Lotus you find a nice big boulder to the face from me!"

"Come on, Annie, you can do better than that!"

Yuruk sidestepped the incoming water whip and countered with a slash of the frozen blade around his arm. Anraq spun out of the way, making room for Kya to rage forward with a spiraling wheel of water. Yuruk shifted his stance. He bent the water around his body, froze it, and expelled it outward in a torrential explosion of icy shards.

"Give it up, Yuruk!" Anraq raised an ice wall in front of himself and Kya. The frozen projectiles pelted harmlessly against it. "You're the one outnumbered this time."

"Doesn't mean I'm outmatched. Besides, are you forgetting my insurance?" Yuruk dragged his arms through the air. The frozen cocoon encasing Toph further hardened, threatening to crush the old woman.

"We just need to put him down for a second," Kya said, with a cautious glance around the side of their wall. "Just one clean shot and we can free Toph."

Anraq swirled a pair of water tendrils around his arms. "Easier said than done."

He ran at Yuruk with a shout, swiping with his water whips. Yuruk ducked out of the way, countering with a deft flick of his wrist. Frozen bricks exploded through the air. Anraq blocked the first two. The third struck his chest, forcing his breath out with a sharp cough. He lifted from his feet. Dull pain cracked through his ribs when he hit the ground, water splashing around him.

"I'll admit, you've gotten better, Annie," Yuruk said, with a mocking grin. "But still not good enough, even with your help."

Kya lunged forward, spinning herself through the air with a powerful wave coiling behind her. The wave crashed overhead. Yuruk swiped his arms, parting the water around himself. In the same motion, he took control of the wave and reformed it into a protective bubble. Any attack they threw at him, he countered in the same manner. Either he dodged, or he redirected their attacks to protect himself, in perfect fluidity.

Yuruk had always been skilled, a veritable prodigy growing up in the Northern Water Tribe. By age fifteen, he'd been able to put the local masters to shame. Right now, he displayed that prowess in full. He didn't make many attacks of his own, instead remaining on the defensive. That was by design. As he'd already said, he didn't need to beat them. He only needed to stall them, whatever it took to keep them from helping their friends. So long as he focused on defending himself, Anraq and Kya had little hope of touching him.

Anraq sprang back up to his feet and pulled a glob of water around his hand. Another twitch of his fingers and the globule expanded into a frozen spear. "I've had just about enough of you!"

He sprinted at Yuruk in a dead charge. Reckless, wild, no regard for his own defenses. If they kept this up, they'd never beat him. They wouldn't even come close. Had to put an end to this. Now. He jumped into the air with his arm-spear pulled back, ready to strike. When he came in range, he thrust at his cousin's chest. Yuruk shifted, stepped away. So fast. He waited until the last possible moment before evading, pooling water on the ground in the same motion. The water cooled into a thin film of ice. Anraq landed atop the ice and lost his footing, legs flying out from underneath him. He hit the ground with a grunting cough.

"Oh, that was a close one," Yuruk said, spreading a smug grin across his face. Anraq rolled over onto his elbows and scowled, a spark of fury burning in his eyes. Yuruk threw his head back with a delighted cackle. "That's it, get angry! You were always at your best when you were angry." His gaze narrowed, grin spreading wide. "Remember Kanna?"

Anraq's face burned, scorching the last of his restraint into cinders. Red flashed in front of his eyes, and the entire hall blurred around him, blood pumping so loud through his skull the only thing he heard was thunder between his ears. He jumped upright with a swipe of his arm, blasting a thin stream of water at his cousin. "Don't you ever say her name!"

The water solidified into an icy spear, aimed at Yuruk's chest. Yuruk raised his hands and caught it in place, bending the spear around to turn it back at his opponent. Anraq pulled his arm back while whipping his other hand forward, causing the spear to split in two. Yuruk lost control over the top half for only a moment. A moment was all it took. With another swipe of his arm, Anraq sent the spear point through Yuruk's shoulder and out the other side.

"Fuck!" Yuruk fell back a step, one of his legs giving out with a trembling shudder, falling to one knee. Blood poured down his arm.

Anraq shot a look over his shoulder "Kya, now!"

Kya sprang forward the instant Yuruk fell. With a guiding whirl of her arms, she liquefied the ice encasing Toph to free her.

When the old earthbender dropped to her feet, she recoiled with a fierce shiver, teeth chattering. The scowl that descended across her wrinkled face could have sent a jolt of terror through a ten ton flying bison. "F-freeze an o-old w-woman, will y-you? Have a lesson in m-manners!"

With a single stomp of her foot, a pillar erupted out of the ground and smashed directly into Yuruk, knocking him clear down the other end of the hall. Yuruk crashed to the floor with a heaving grunt. Blood sprayed from his lips. His arms twitched a few times, as though making an attempt to get up, but he remained flat on the ground.

A loud bang thundered through the corridor, as the state house doors slammed inward. Yuruk glanced upward to see who was standing there. Any fight left in his eyes faded, sinking in defeat. "Well, shit."

Korra lifted her arms, causing the floor beneath Yuruk to lift him upright in an earthen prison, trapping him up to his neck. "Sit tight there for me."

"Korra!" Kya called, running towards the Avatar. "Asami! You guys are alright!"

"Barely," Asami said, as she stepped inside next to Korra. "Glad to see you're alright, too."

"F-for the most part," Toph muttered, still shivering with arms wrapped around herself.

Anraq heaved an exhausted sigh. "Here, take this." He removed the outermost layer of his warrior uniform and wrapped it around the old woman's shoulders.

"Ahhh..." Toph's shivering soon ceased, as she hugged the warm fabric tight around herself. "Thanks. I knew I liked you for a reason."

"Where are the others?" Kya asked.

"They went after Zaheer," Korra replied, looking past them. "What about Lin and Kuvira?"

Anraq pointed his thumb down at the other end of the hall. "In the meeting chamber. Turns out the Red Lotus were distracting us, while they made another attack inside."

Korra's eyes flared, and she sprinted down the corridor. "What are you standing around talking for? Let's get moving!"

"Don't bother. You're already too late, Avatar!" Yuruk tilted his head back and laughed. "By now, they've been fried nice and crispy!"

Anraq swiveled a heated glare towards his cousin. With a simple flick of his hand, he bent a bubble of water at the man's face. The water cooled into ice, freezing squarely over Yuruk's mouth. "Shut up."

Kuvira narrowed a glare at the Red Lotus girl standing atop the rocky precipice. "I swear, if you hurt her..."

"Yes, yes, you'll fly into a rage and kill me for revenge," Aoi said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "At least, you'd try. Never fear, Great Uniter. As long as you do what I tell you, she won't be harmed."

"Kuvira, don't listen to her!" Yula exclaimed, struggling in Avan's grip. "Don't—!"

The former Dai Li commander silenced her, pressing his hand over her mouth. "Quiet, brat."

Standing at the edge of her raised earth pillar, Kuvira clenched her hands into fists. "What do you want?"

"I want you, of course." Aoi paused, with a mocking roll of her eyes. "Or at least Zaheer does. With all the things you did, Great Uniter, oh you really put yourself on the Red Lotus' bad side. And now that you're roaming free? Well, can't have that. It's only a matter of time before you pick up where you left off."

"No," she countered, a fierce bite in her tone. "That isn't me anymore. I made mistakes and now I'm paying for them. I've acknowledged that, I've accepted it, and I'm not going to hurt anyone else."

"Mhm." Again, Aoi waved off the comment. "That's easy to say, of course, and quite frankly I personally don't care either way. Fact remains, you have to die. So, give yourself up, accept your fate, and pretty little Yula here goes free."

Still dangling from her police cable in the middle of the cavern, Lin glanced at Kuvira with an urgent spark in her eyes. "You can't trust a word she says, Kuvira! You let her kill you, and I guarantee she kills Yula next. And then probably me, too."

"Oh, that hurts, really," Aoi said, with a pout. "I can keep my word, you know. I'm not entirely untrustworthy."

Kuvira clenched her jaw tight. Lin was probably right. Aoi would never let Yula and Lin just walk out of here, even if Kuvira did give herself up. But if she tried something to free Yula, or made any other attack, Avan would kill her. She needed a plan. Something. Anything.

Her gaze swiveled back to Yula. The poor woman was terrified, panic wild in her eyes. Her chest heaved with frantic, rapid breaths, uncontrolled. Kuvira's brow lifted, a spark igniting in the back of her mind. That was it. That was the plan.

"Okay," she said, with a quiet sigh.

"Oh? Really?" Aoi raised her brow in genuine surprise. "So you are going to give yourself up for this scrawny little girl you just met? Huh, looks like I owe you a thousand yuans, Avan. Very good, though." She took a step forward atop the rocky precipice and pointed downward. "Get in the water."

"Kuvira, wait a minute!" Lin called. "Think about this for a second. There has to be another way!"

She ignored the older woman's pleas, instead jumping down from her pillar into the shallow water below. The moment she landed, Yula squealed out a muffled scream behind Avan's hand. The younger woman struggled and pulled against his hold. He tightened his grip.

"Everything will be okay, Yula." Kuvira looked to her, expression calm. "Just relax. Control your breathing, remember? Everything will be just fine if you control your breathing."

Yula blinked. Her eyes flashed with a flicker of recognition, and she managed to calm herself with several deep, slow breaths.

Aoi chuckled."You can try to console her all you want, Great Uniter, it won't help her when she watches you die!" She lowered into her signature lightningbending pose, one arm pointed forward, another back, each hand with two fingers extended.

Yula thrust up with her fist. A flame leaped from her knuckles in the shape of a dagger and stabbed into Avan's forearm. The former Dai Li commander shouted, releasing her as he fell back patting at his burning robes. Aoi's eyes flared, gaze shifting towards the released firebender. Not enough time to stop her. Yula swept her leg upward with a brilliant stream of fire trailing behind her heel. Lightning sparked at Aoi's fingertips. The trailing blast of flame kicked her arm off target, sizzling the air as the bolt sprang free.

Instead of firing into the water below, lightning ripped into the cavern ceiling with a thunderous blast, spewing rocks and fractured crystals in all directions. Massive fissures ruptured outward from the point of impact. The cavern shook and quaked, threatening to collapse as chunks of stone fell free into the open air below.

"Lin, grab her!" Kuvira called.

The former police chief released her cable from the ceiling, sending her into a freefall towards the ground. In mid-fall, she fired out the cable again towards the other end of the cavern. It latched into the wall above Yula's head, and reeled herself forward like a rocket. Lin hooked her arm around the younger and released the cable one more time. Forward momentum carried her into the wall feet first. The stone beneath her boots shifted, sliding her down to the floor next to Kuvira.

"I got her, now let's get out of here!" Lin raised a flat slab of earth above their heads. The quaking grew stronger, as larger chunks of rubble collapsed from the cavern ceiling. "The whole damn place is coming down!"

"No!" Aoi shrieked, as she ran to the edge of the precipice. She charged another blast of lightning at her fingertips. "You aren't going anywhere!"

Kuvira stomped her foot against the ground and shot up a towering wall of stone directly in front of the girl, blocking the blast of lightning with an explosion of earth and rubble.

"Come on," Kuvira said, wrapping her arms around Lin and Yula. The earth churned beneath her feet, and they sank into the ground. "Let's move."