Author's Note: The second half of Chapter One has been rewritten. Unless this is your first time experiencing the story, I encourage re-reading it.

"Chief, wait! Chief!"

Lin marches into the press of bodies. The wise get out of her way before she shoulders through them.

"Damn you, Beifong!"

A hand grabs her arm. Lin spins around on her heel, lip curled.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man staggers on the spot after she bats away his grip. A bottle slips out of a brown paper bag, clattering to the ground at Lin's feet. She glances at it, then glares at the man in front of her.

"Don't waste my time," Lin growls, looking at one of the officers flanking her. "Deal with him."

"Come on," the officer says, hooking her arms under one of the man's. "Spirits, how much have you had to drink?"

"I saw them! I saw them, Chief!"

She looks over her shoulder. "You saw them?"

"The Equalists," the man slurs, "and their...their trucks!"

Lin's eyes narrow. "Go on."

"The trucks," the man says, blinking hard, "the trucks were driving backwards."

"What?"

"Backwards!" he shouts, leaning in. "Three of them."

Lin pinches her nose and steps back. "For goodness' sake..."

"I saw them!" the man shouts, jabbing his crumpled paper bag at her. "They stopped right in front of me. Equalists got out, loads of 'em...were running backwards…"

"They were moving backwards."

"Exactly!"

Lin glares at her officer. "Why is this drunkard still in my sight?"

The woman flinches. "Yes, Chief. Right away!"

The Chief marches over to one of half a dozen police trucks haphazardly parked in the Arena's plaza. Behind them, waterbenders reach into Yue Bay to quell the flames chewing away at the building's roof. Walking around to the back of the police truck, Lin finds two young women soaked through their clothes.

"Korra. When was I going to find out you were back in Republic City?"

The Avatar looks up, tugging a thick towel around her shoulders. "I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"I'm sorry, Lin," Asami says quickly. "I picked Korra up from the port pretty much the moment she arrived."

"Romantic," the Chief replies. She looks between them both. "I'm told my men fished you out of the bay. What happened?"

Korra shivers. "You probably know more than we do."

Lin stares at her for a long moment. "You're cold? I thought firebenders solved that problem."

"Chi-blocked," Korra says simply. Asami rubs her shoulders.

"When?"

"Fighting a damn Equalist. How else?"

"Before the explosion?"

"Yes."

Lin turns her eyes to the Arena. Rubble and glass litter the plaza, blown clear from its domed roof.

"Listen, both of you," she says, folding her arms. "You seem shaken, but I'm glad you're okay. However, what has happened here isn't making a lick of sense to me. As far as I understand right now the Equalists attacked the Arena, laid explosives and then vanished. I need you to tell me what you know, what you saw, what you did."

"We were in one of the VIP boxes," Asami begins, threading her fingers through Korra's and holding her hand in both her own. "The Fire Ferrets were being brought onto the field when the Equalists attacked. They rappelled down from an airship and smoked out the whole Arena."

"The whole Arena?"

"There were a lot of them, Lin. It was as if we didn't beat the revolution four years ago."

"And then?"

"The VIP box was smoke-bombed. Korra and I were attacked. We managed to get out of there, but more Equalists chased us down."

"We took them out," Korra chimes in. "Unmasked one of the bastards."

"Recognise them?"

Korra shakes her head. "I chased two more down after we dealt with the ones that cornered us."

"Where?" Lin asks. "What happened?"

"One of them jumped off the pier behind the Arena before I could catch up," Korra says. "The other I grappled with until Asami pulled me away."

The Chief holds up her hand. "Wait. One of them jumped off the pier?"

Korra closes her eyes for a moment. "Both of them did, eventually. Onto a motorboat."

"A motorboat? Where was it headed?"

She holds her head in her hands. "It was dark. I can't be sure."

Lin crosses her arms. "Korra."

She sighs heavily. "This is going to sound crazy."

"I'm listening."

Korra looks up at Lin. "The motorboat...I think it was headed for Memorial Island, but it was moving backwards."

The Chief slowly unfolds her arms. "What did you say?"

"The boat was moving backwards."

"Korra, are you certain?" Asami asks.

"I'm certain you have a concussion," Lin says.

"I know what I saw," she snaps, shrugging off Asami's hand. "It was as if the boat was...retracing its steps. Erasing its own wake, rather than creating it. And the Equalists – before I caught up to them they were running backwards."

"Right."

"I know it sounds strange –"

"A little bit more than strange, Korra," Lin interjects, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"– but I felt it when I fought one of the bastards."

"You felt it?" Asami asks.

"It was like...I punched because they blocked first. It should be the other way around. Does that make any sense?"

"Listen to what you just said, Korra."

"Even so, aren't you going to send people to check out the island?"

Lin looks at Asami, lowering her hands and carefully interlacing her fingers.

"I don't have resources to chase geese, not tonight. Understand?"

Korra looks between them as Asami folds her hands together and eventually nods.

"I don't," she says.

"There was a second explosion," Lin tells them, "under the Arena."

"Under it?" Asami asks.

"There is a gym – Korra would be familiar with it, I imagine," Lin says, glancing at her. "You trained here once, didn't you?"

"Yes, but what -"

Lin cut across her. "According to plans of the building, there is a basement underneath that gym. Figure out what happened and why."

Her attention is called by a passing officer. Korra stands up as the Chief walks away.

"I said I don't understand!"

She rounds on Asami, fists clenched. "What the hell is going on?"

Asami gets to her feet. "We can't talk here."

"We damn well can!"

"Look," Asami hisses, pointing furtively.

Korra glances to the left and blinks against the glare of a camera flash.

"We can't talk here," Asami repeats, grabbing her elbow. She pulls her around the opposite side of the police truck.

"You know more than you're letting on," Korra says.

"I know I believe what you saw," Asami fires back, "and in order for all of this to make sense, we need to follow the breadcrumbs."

"...the island."

"Yes."

Korra looks at her long and hard. "You're still not telling me everything."

Asami bites the inside of her cheek. Eventually, she speaks.

"We need to find a boat."

Asami's teeth chatter as she steers towards Memorial Island. "Spirits, it's cold..."

"Take this back," Korra says, draped in her heavy, fur-lined coat.

"Has the chi-block wore off?" Asami asks, glancing down at Korra.

She shakes her head. "Doesn't matter. You're not exactly dressed for the occasion."

"I was," Asami says, the wind picking at the hem of her red evening dress, "then the occasion changed."

Memorial Island looms into view, the statue of Aang pointing out into the distance. Korra looks back in the direction they've come, watching black smoke curl from the Arena into the night sky.

"We're here," Asami says then, pulling back on the throttle.

Korra finds her feet, balancing against the rocking of the boat. "What's the plan?"

"You saw Equalists heading in this direction, but I don't see any other boats..."

"Might be moored on the other side of the island," Korra says, shrugging off Asami's coat. "Do you want this or not?"

Asami looks back at her. "Leave it. We don't know what we're going to find up there."

"Might not be anything," Korra says after a long moment.

"Possibly," Asami says. "Let's see."

Korra shivers when they step into the museum under Aang's memorial statue. Asami glances at her.

"Perhaps you should've kept the coat on."

"It's not that," Korra says, coming to a stop. "I haven't been here since…"

The clack-clack of red heels pauses, a few steps ahead of her. "Since?"

Korra swallows. "The Equalists ambushed me here. Remember? I challenged Amon to face me, one-on-one. He got the better of me."

Asami walks back to her, stroking Korra's arm. "Which one of you is still around to talk about it?"

Korra half-smiles. "Comforting thought."

They move deeper into the museum, more cautiously with each step. The entrance opens up to face Yue Bay under the night sky and little moonlight reaches far into the darkness. Korra cups her hands together and tries to breathe fire into life. Pain shoots through her wrists and blooms at the tip of her fingers. She shakes her hands, wincing.

"Wait," Asami says then, peeking around a corner, "I think I see light…"

Korra looks her over shoulder. The museum is lined wall to wall with the history of the Avatar lineage, and before them stands a stone-carved likeness of Aang's predecessor. In his hand, Roku holds a blazing torch. Shadows dance across his beard as the signal flame licks the air.

On closer inspection, as the two women step out in front of the exhibition, they find that his stone fist has been wrapped around a stick of spitting red light. Korra shades her eyes from the intense, artificial brightness.

"I don't think flares were an invention to Roku's name."

Asami touches her shoulder. "Korra, look…"

More flares, cast to the ground at intervals and burning with fresh intensity. The harsh red light marks a path – this time to an imposing statue of Roku's predecessor.

She is fierce in her likeness, determination etched into Kiyoshi's sharp features. As Asami and Korra move towards her, they realise her statue has been pulled away from the wall.

There is a chamber behind it.

Korra picks up a pair of flares and hands one in silence to Asami. They share a long look, then nod. Korra steps into the unknown first.

"Mmm! Mmmmm!"

Korra snaps around, brandishing her flare like a weapon. Blazing red light throws a man's face into sharp contrast. Korra jumps.

"Spirits!"

"What is it?" Asami calls, darting in after her. "Shit!"

Korra catches her arm as Asami almost falls over her own feet in shock.

"Mmmm!"

Both of them stare at the man affixed to the chamber wall with earth-bent bonds. Then Korra turns the light of her flare on two women equally restrained to a perpendicular wall. All three of them wear red-hot glares, voices locked behind the cloth pushed between their teeth. At their feet, thick stone binding their ankles to the ground, lie two bundles of folded clothes.

An Equalist mask sits on top of each.

"What in the world…"

"Mmmm!"

Korra jumps again when the man in front of her lunges forward. Tries to, at least. He is practically cocooned against the wall. His teeth are bared like a wolf's, saliva spraying from peeled back lips.

"Korra," Asami calls from behind her. "Come here…"

She turns around eventually, moving deeper into the chamber. Only after a few steps does Korra pause her stride.

The light of both their flares together reveals a large, cylindrical pod seemingly set into the back wall. It looks like the tin cans Korra has seen homeless men scoop lukewarm soup out of, except a chunk of the side has been cut away.

That gaping metal maw invites the women to step inside.

"What is this?"

"A turnstile," Asami mutters, her eyes roving over it. "How..."

"Turnstile?" Korra says. "This looks nothing like the ones I've seen in railway stations."

Asami, brow furrowed, doesn't appear to hear her. She wears the look of a woman for whom nothing else matters except the contraption in front of her.

"They're here! Find them!"

Asami startles. Korra swings around, tensed like a compressed spring. Her flare light illuminates the chamber entrance in red.

"Who is that?" she hisses.

Asami darts passed her, scooping the Equalist masks and uniforms off the ground. "Let's not find out."

Korra drops her flare when the bundle is tossed into her arms. Asami hooks her hand under Korra's elbow and pulls her towards the turnstile.

"Wait, what is -?"

"No time!" Asami tells her.

They pile into the turnstile, hearing a torrent of boot heels beyond the chamber entrance.

The floor lurches under their feet as the contraption begins to rotate with a metallic click-clunk-click, the teeth of unseen gears gnashing at each other. The unmasked Equalists trapped in the walls disappear behind the turnstile's curved wall. Asami finds Korra's shaking hand, holding it tight.

"It will make sense on the other side."