The physical world came rushing back in a stream of glowing white and yellow, as Korra stepped out of the spirit portal in the center of downtown Republic City. She took a moment to pause, breathing in deep through her nose. The smell of fresh air calmed her nerves. Not that there wasn't fresh air in the Spirit World, but spirit air was different. Heavy, almost electric, far different from the crisp breeze now fluttering around her.
"Spirits, it's good to be back," she said, with a subtle smile.
"Tell me about it." P'Li emerged from the spirit portal with a glare over her shoulder. "If I never enter the Spirit World again, it'll be too soon."
Jinora offered a reassuring look. "It's usually not that bad, really."
"Uh huh." P'Li turned away, wholly unamused. "I'll take your word for it."
Korra enjoyed the breeze a moment longer, during which time her hand strayed and found Kuvira's. Strength and reassurance welled inside her, as their fingers interlaced and tightened around each other's. While part of her would have given everything to stay there a bit longer, she knew the moment couldn't last. Too much to do, too much to prepare. They were running out of time.
"Alright," she said, giving a nod back at the entire group behind her, "we should all meet up with Asami and the others, let them know what we found. We've lost way too much time already."
As she turned to lead the way, a heavy thudding bounded across the ground towards her. Korra caught a brief blur of white fur before the massive form lunged at her, tore her away from Kuvira, and pinned her to the ground. Her heart jumped in fleeting panic before melting away with relief when she felt a wet tongue licking across her entire face, while the sounds of excited panting and whining spurred her with a delighted laugh.
"Naga!" Korra reached up and wrapped her arms around the snout of the polar bear dog in a tight hug. "Hey, I missed you, girl."
The polar bear dog gave Korra a few more friendly licks before turning her sights onto the Zaofu matriarch. Kuvira blinked at the animal, only becoming aware of what was about to happen when it was too late to escape. With a lunging tackle, Naga knocked Kuvira flat on her back with an eager showing of similar affection, which meant a giant wet tongue lapping across her face.
"Ugh, yes, Naga—ack, that's my tongue!—I missed you too." With a few squirms and a little earthbending, Kuvira slipped out from underneath the giant dog and returned to her feet. Naga promptly sat down and wagged her tail, tongue hanging out with happy panting. Kuvira returned the look with a raised eyebrow, and started to wipe the slobber off her face. "What's she doing here, anyway? Last I remember, she was down at the South Pole for our wedding."
"We found her on our way out," Jinora stated, giving the polar bear dog a gentle rub on the head. "We decided we should bring her along, instead of leaving her all alone down there. I guess Sen doesn't care as much about animal essences."
Hari nodded in agreement, and took a quick look around the spirit portal. "She must have been waiting here for you to come back."
"Thanks," Korra replied, with a smile. Naga approached her and gave a few gentle nudges, prompting another laugh from the former Avatar. "Alright, alright, enough. We can play later, promise."
Naga pouted with a quiet whine, and started circling around the group. When she came to P'Li and Azula, a defensive growl began to rumble in her throat. She paced back and forth in front of the two firebenders, lips curled back to expose her teeth.
P'Li glared at the polar bear dog with a raised eyebrow. Leaning towards Azula, she asked, "Is that thing growling at you, or at me?"
"Both of us?" Azula took a step backwards, keeping a careful watch on the angry animal. "Either way, keep that mangy mutt away from me, please."
The reaction wasn't entirely unexpected. After all, Naga had only ever had negative experiences with either woman, given their hostile pasts. Korra hurried forward and gently tugged Naga backwards by the neck, to quell any impending altercation before it happened. "It's okay Naga, they're friends. Friends."
At the mention of friends, Naga's demeanor immediately shifted. Her threatening posture sank back into one of playfulness, and her tail began to wag. The instant Korra's arms loosened from her neck, she lunged forward, too quick for either woman to get out of the way. With a loud thud, both firebenders fell pinned beneath the weight of the polar bear dog, one under either front paw. With her victims trapped, Naga greeted them the way she greeted all her friends: by licking their faces.
"Ack!" P'Li squirmed, turning her face away from Naga's tongue. "No, get it off! Off!"
"Hey, that's my hair!" Azula wriggled beneath the massive furry paw, and tried to push the polar bear dog away to no avail. "Get your slimy tongue out of my hair!"
Naga allowed them up a few moments later, by which time they were both drenched in polar bear dog saliva. They both grimaced at each other in utter disgust and disdain, only worsened by the muffled laughter everyone else failed to stifle.
"I guess she likes you," Korra insisted, fighting through her snickering.
P'Li's glare shifted briefly towards the former Avatar before falling down at herself. She held her arms up and groaned, as the slobber started running down her sleeves. "Ugh, I need a shower."
"Let's just go now," Azula muttered, furiously trying to fix her hair back into place. "Please."
Bolin exhaled a deep sigh of relief as he looked around the apartment, taking in the familiarity of his home. Opal wandered next to him and leaned against his shoulder. She closed her eyes and sighed, while gently rocking San back and forth in her arms. The baby had been fast asleep for a few hours now, but Opal continued rocking regardless. From experience, they both knew if she stopped for even a moment, the fussy child would wake up and start crying.
The trains from Zaofu had arrived in Republic City nearly twelve hours ago, but between spending time with the Beifongs and helping Zaofu's citizens get settled in, they had only now returned to their apartment. After all that, they were exhausted, with the events of Sen's attack still fresh in their minds.
"It's good to be home," Bolin said, as he made his way to the living room couch.
Opal followed and plopped herself down next to her husband. Still, she continued rocking their son. "I just wish the circumstances were a little better."
"Tell me about it. This thing with Sen has gotten way out of hand. He might be the worst thing we've ever faced." And that wasn't an exaggeration. Other than Vaatu, he couldn't recall a foe they'd gone up against who threatened the world on such a massive scale. "Do you think we can stop him?"
"Of course we can. We have to stop him, no matter what it takes. We can't let him hurt anymore innocent people. He'll destroy everything. Everyone." Opal breathed deep and hugged San closer to her chest. The look on the baby's face was calm. Peaceful, even. Something that wouldn't last if they lost to the dark spirit that plagued their world.
Bolin leaned closer, resting a tender hand on his wife's shoulder. "We won't let anything happen to our son, Opal. I promise."
A stern knock thudded against the apartment door, prompting Bolin to straighten himself. Opal gave him a silent nod of her head, urging him to push himself off the couch and make his way to the door. A second knock came before he got his eye to the peephole. When he saw who was standing on the other side, his face lit up with a smile and he pulled the door open.
"Hey, little bro," Mako said, with a wave of his hand. "Heard you guys just got back."
"Mako!" Bolin lunged forward and pulled his brother in for a hug, although his arms didn't quite make it all the way around the extra bulk of Mako's police chief armor. Admittedly, seeing Mako in the same uniform that had once belonged to Lin was still bizarre. Bizarre, and yet oddly fitting at the same time. "It's good to see you."
"Likewise," Mako said, shifting a glance down towards the floor. "And I brought someone else who I think will agree."
A shrill chitter called out, followed by a sudden blur of red and orange that ran in a coil up along Bolin's legs and body, until it finally stopped atop his shoulder. With a delighted laugh, Bolin reached out to grab hold of the fuzzy animal. "Pabu! Oh I missed you so much! How have you been?" The fire ferret responded with another happy chitter. "Aw, that's great!" With a look to his brother, he added, "Thanks for looking after him while we were gone."
Mako nodded. "Don't mention it. That's what I'm here for. Although, my wallet doesn't quite agree. He eats a lot for such a little guy."
Bolin hugged Pabu tighter, offering a big grin. "Oh I know, believe me."
"It's good to see you, Mako." Opal approached them with a smile, still rocking San back and forth in her arms. Pabu immediately jumped out of Bolin's arms and landed on her shoulder, settling down with a few gentle licks of greeting to her cheek. Her smile grew. "You too, Pabu."
"It's good to see you, Opal," Mako said. "Glad you all made it out of Zaofu alright."
"Thanks." Opal's demeanor sank, twisting a deep frown across her face. "It was really close. Mom and the rest of my family are over on Air Temple Island right now though, so they're fine."
"That's good, I'm glad to hear it. Anyway, I came here to let you know that Korra and the others just got back from the Spirit World. They'll be having a briefing over at Asami's workshop soon for how we're going to deal with Sen, if you want to join us."
Opal and Bolin exchanged a brief but stern look, a wordless communication of agreement. Opal's gaze steeled, and she turned back to Mako with a firm nod. "We'll be right there, count on it."
Back in Asami's workshop, the team of engineering geniuses remained hard at work on the Spirit Conductor. A few more last minute adjustments and they could run another test to see if they'd made any progress. A chunk of spirit vine sat on the table nearby, a pair of electrodes and an electronic meter hooked up to it to measure its level of spirit energy. Unlike previous work with spirit vines, which had been harvested with malicious intent, these samples had been freely donated by the spirits of the Wilds. The spirits wanted Sen gone as badly as any human, and by whatever means they had to take.
Varrick took a step in front of the video camera. He made sure to line himself up in the shot so the Spirit Conductor was still visible, and with a clear of his throat he said, "Alright, this is test number twenty-three. I have a good feeling about this one."
"Assuming we made the correct adjustments since the last test," Asami stated, as she closed the front panel on the machine.
"We'll only know if we try." Varrick pulled his goggles over his eyes and hurried towards the master switch. "Alright, let's fire it up!"
When the others joined him and put on their own goggles, Varrick pulled the switch down and watched. A low hum emanated from the conductor's base, followed by a bright spark near the tapered end of the head. The hum soon grew to a high pitched whirring as the head began to spin. A flurry of sparks erupted above the tip of the siphon, with arcing bolts of electricity flowing between each of the nodes. For a moment, everything seemed to be in working order. Varrick prepared to jump in triumph, a wide grin spread across his face.
The moment vanished. A secondary flurry of sparks burst from the front panel in an electric shower, as a plume of smoke belched outward. The scent of charred wires followed, choking the air of the workshop so thick they could almost taste it on their tongues.
"Turn if off!" Baatar shouted, burying his nose against his arm.
Asami hurried towards the master switch and pushed it upright. Within a few moments, the Spirit Conductor died down. Not long after, the showering sparks faded away, leaving only a heavy cloud of smoke that she made futile attempts in waving away from her face. "Damn, what went wrong this time?"
Varrick was already at the machine, plying apart the panel to examine the contents within. "Hmm, my initial look leads me to believe it's something with the oscillator. I'll need to run a few diagnostics before we try again. Zhu Li, I could use a hand removing the calibrator."
"Careful not to burn yourself this time," his wife said, moving next to him.
"Oh, I'll be fine, don't worry so much," Varrick declared. He jabbed a screwdriver into the panel and started prying at the resistor to give enough room for Zhu Li to reach the screws on the calibrator. "That was one time."
Zhu Li hummed with amusement, using her own screwdriver to remove the screws. "It was three times, actually."
"It was?" Varrick paused a moment, counting quietly to himself with the aid of his fingers. When the realization hit, his eyebrows lifted. "Huh, I guess it was."
With a slow smirk curling across her face, Zhu Li leaned in to give her husband a kiss. "Anyway, it's my job to worry. And to correct your mistakes."
"Ssshhh," he insisted, with a quick look over his shoulder. "Do you want the whole world to know?"
Baatar scoffed, rolling his eyes. "The 'whole world' seems like a bit of an exaggeration, considering it's just the four of us. Besides, we already know."
"Hey, zip it, Junior. Every brilliant man has a brilliant woman to complement him." Varrick paused, and with a challenging smirk he added, "Well, most of us."
Baatar's eyes narrowed. "Not funny."
While Varrick and Zhu Li continued to work on the machine, the door to the workshop opened to an entire procession of new arrivals. Korra and Kuvira led the group, followed close behind by Azula, Katara, P'Li, Jinora, Hari, Mako, Bolin with Pabu curled around his shoulders, and Opal carrying San. Naga brought up the rear, barely squeezing her massive frame through the doorway.
"Korra!" Asami dropped her tools and ran forward, wrapping her arms around the former Avatar in a tight, welcoming embrace. "It's so good to see you again."
"Hey, Asami," Korra said, with a small laugh. She returned the hug and looked towards Varrick, Zhu Li, and Baatar. "Good to see you all."
Asami eased a sigh of relief and turned to face the others. "I was worried when you guys took so long in the Spirit World. Did you run into trouble?"
"That's one way of putting it," Korra said. "We actually might not have made it out at all if Jinora and the others hadn't shown up."
Jinora waved off the acknowledgment with a gentle smile. "It was nothing."
"Well, I'm just glad you're all okay," Asami said. "Were you successful? Did you find something?"
"We did. That's what we're here to talk to you all about." Korra reached down the front of her shirt and pulled out the pair of scrolls they had recovered from the Spirit World. "We found a method to stop Sen and hopefully save his victims. It won't be easy, and it'll require a team effort."
Opal leaned forward, eyeing the rolls of parchment curiously. "What are they?"
"Ancient bending scrolls, kept deep in the Spirit Library. Wan Shi Tong gave them to us, believe it or not." Making her way over to the nearby workbench, Korra cleared a space and set down the scrolls. She unrolled one of them in particular, so everyone could gather around and see the illustrations and words written on the parchment. "It describes different bending forms, one in each of the four elements. These forms were developed specifically to alter and control spirits, much like the spiritbending I already know. In order to get it to work on someone of Sen's power, all four forms need to be performed together in unison. It's the only hope we'll have of removing his essence and all those from the people he's hurt."
Jinora studied the images with a contemplative hum, focusing specifically on the airbending form. "They don't seem too difficult. Some of these movements are ones I've already studied with my dad."
"Yes, the motions seem simple enough," Azula said, folding her arms. "I've studied far more complex forms before. I could do these in my sleep."
Korra pointed to the descriptions written alongside the images. "It's not just the movements. It's also the inner control of your own spiritual energy, and combining that in the right way. These forms require complete inner harmony and focus."
Azula scoffed and gave a shrug. "I'll have it memorized in an hour."
Korra raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. If anyone could master one of these forms that quickly, it was Azula. Instead, she rolled up the scroll again and handed it to Asami. "Can you have some copies made? Enough to give it out to as many benders as possible. If something goes wrong, we need as many people as we can knowing how to do these forms."
Asami nodded. "Not a problem."
"You can count on us, Korra," Katara said. "We'll do whatever you need."
"Thanks." Korra managed a brief smile of appreciation before her demeanor hardened again. "In the meantime, we should come up with some kind of battle plan. Beating Sen isn't going to be as easy as simply confronting and bending at him. It'll be a struggle."
"Well, hopefully this thing will help!" Varrick looked up from his work on the machine, raising his screwdriver like some kind of victory torch. This prompted a sudden spark from the control panel, and a squeal of surprise from Zhu Li to fix the outburst. "I'm sure someone's already told you about our Spirit Conductor, but I can give you the rundown on the details later if you want."
Korra nodded. "Definitely. We'll need every advantage we can get."
"So, how exactly are we going to find Sen once we're prepared?" Bolin asked. "We had a hard enough time trying to hunt him down in the South Pole."
"We won't need to find him," Mako said, with a shake of his head. "He'll find us. Right now, he's going around and attacking highly populated areas. I got a distress call earlier from Ba Sing Se. Sen already got to it. As far as I can tell, Republic City should be one of his next targets."
"But there's no telling when that will be," Jinora insisted. "Could be tomorrow, could be a week. We only have a couple of days left at most before his first victims start to expire, if they haven't already."
A brief silence descended over the workshop, as the young airbender's expression drooped. Within moments, that same expression was shared between almost everyone else in the room. So many people had already been affected by Sen. Friends, family... far too many.
"I know, but there's nothing else we can do," Korra said, with a heavy exhale. "We have a plan, and we have to stick to it. If it works, we'll deal with what comes after when it's over. If it doesn't, then it won't matter."
Kuvira looked to her wife, and for a single, quiet moment they shared a mutual look of comfort. Reaching out, she rested a gentle hand on Korra's shoulder. The reassuring squeeze she gave visibly calmed the former Avatar, lifting a smile to her face once again. "Then we should start preparing."
"Right, I'll go make those copies," Asami said, hurrying out of the workshop.
Mako turned to leave as well. "I'll ready the police force and make sure the United Forces are up to speed. With General Iroh unavailable, I've had to more heavily coordinate things myself."
"Mind if I tag along?" P'Li stepped into stride next to him, following towards the exit. When everyone else stopped to stare at her, she rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Well, I need something to do instead of standing around."
"Uh, yeah, sure," Mako said, with a slow nod. If he meant to hide the caution in his tone, he did a miserable job of it. "I guess I could use the help."
Hari hurried after them. "I'll come as well."
"And we'll keep working on the Spirit Conductor!" Varrick announced. "We're so close to getting it working, I can almost taste it!"
Zhu Li glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. "I imagine that would not be a pleasant flavor."
As Asami neared the exit to the workshop, Azula looked to her and called out. "By the way, be sure to hurry with those copies. I want to have my form perfected by dinner." The only response she received was a flippant wave as Asami disappeared through the doorway.
"Actually, Azula, do you mind coming with me first?" Korra asked.
Azula furrowed her brow, turning a curious glance towards the former Avatar. "What for?"
"There's something else we need to do." Korra grabbed the second scroll they had recovered from the Spirit World, and held it out for Azula to take. "And I think you're the only one who can."
