The chill of the basement seeped into her bones as Asami scanned the room. Metal fencing split it in half, reaching from floor to ceiling. Equalists stood on both sides.
"What the hell is going on?" Korra whispered in her ear.
Asami brought a finger to her mask, over her lips and shook her head. Both turned back to observe the masked men & women on the right side of the basement, lined up in front of a turnstile.
The contraption rotated counter-clockwise with a distinct click-clunk-click. Each time it offered its gaping maw to the room, an Equalist emerged from inside with a measured step backwards. On the other side of the fencing, an identical turnstile rotated clockwise at the same time. An Equalist stepped out, walking forwards. They all gave the procession on the opposite side of the fence a lingering look.
"That's everyone?"
Asami and Korra crouched low. A huddle of Equalists had grown on the left side of the room. One separated himself from the group, facing it.
"Yes, sir," an Equalist replied.
"Up, into the gym."
They began filing out passed the apparent leader. One cast a long look over the shoulder before moving.
"That's unnerving…"
"Agreed," said the man in charge. "Let's get out of here."
Asami watched them, breathing shallow. A fist bounced off the side of her leg and she glanced down.
Korra jabbed her finger towards the right side of the room. Asami looked – the last of the Equalists stepped backwards out of the turnstile. Now, several of them worked quickly at the fence while the rest began jogging out of the basement. They detached thick orange packets, unclipped wiring and kneeled beside the fence, stowing everything away into large rucksacks.
Asami grabbed Korra when she felt movement at her side.
"No!" she whispered.
"Those are the explosives," Korra hissed back.
Asami dragged her down. "Not yet."
"Why?!"
Asami gestured to both sides of the room. The Equalists were still clearing out. Korra's opaque goggles fixed on her; Asami glared back.
"Wait."
She did, until the last of the Equalists were gone. Then, Korra sprang to her feet like a jack-in-the-box, waving her hand at the room.
"What the fuck just happened, Asami?"
She straightened up, looking towards the pair of turnstiles at the end of the basement. "This is how the Equalists disappeared," she muttered. "They escaped into the past."
Korra grabbed her shoulder, spinning Asami around to face her. "Explain."
"Our perception of time is that it's always moving forward, one second after the next," Asami said, placing a hand in front of the other. "That is our 'now', our present. We can only experience what happens in our present."
Korra shook her. "Explain so I understand."
"I'm trying!" Asami said, knocking her hand away. "The Equalists inverted. They went from moving forward in the present to moving forwards into the past. That's why they seemed to just vanish. There is no way to see into the past while in the present."
Korra pressed knuckles against her temple. "Then how did we just watch inverted Equalists climb out of the basement?"
"Because we are also moving forwards into the past," Asami said. "Like them, the past is now our present."
"And why were there two sets of them?" Korra asked, gesturing to the fencing. "What is all of this?"
Asami moved further into the room, approaching the turnstiles. "It's to keep the present and the past separate."
"Otherwise?"
Asami brought her hands together until they touched, then sprang apart. "Annihilation."
"Excuse me?"
"Coming into skin-to-skin contact with your inverted self is fatal," Asami said, eyes roving over the tall fence. "You die."
"This all sounds awfully familiar to you."
Korra tilted her head as she fell silent. Under her mask, Asami swallowed.
"But of course, you're not going to tell me how. That's fine," Korra said, walking past her, "just tell me how we're going to stop the explosion."
Asami blinked. "The explosion?"
"In the present, the Equalists come down here, set up explosives and use the turnstile to go into the past. Correct?"
"Right."
"So if I follow you and we're moving backwards through time…" Korra said, eyeing the tall contraption she stood before, "it means that if we use the turnstile to go back into the present, we come out before the Equalists even get here. Doesn't it?"
Asami looked at the fence for a long moment. "No."
Korra turned around. "No?"
"No," Asami said, rubbing her temple. "Wait, wait…"
"What now?!"
Asami ran forward and grabbed her arm. "Think, Korra! The Equalists – did we see anything stop them from setting up the explosives and inverting?"
"What are you -?"
"Did we see it?"
"No," Korra said, pulling away. "How does that matter?"
Asami looked directly into her goggles. "What's happened, has happened."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"The Equalists always make it down here, plant the explosives and invert. They always get away. If something, or someone stopped them, we would have seen it. The explosion would never have happened!"
Korra snarled. "So we just stand here and do nothing?"
"We -"
The turnstiles started to groan. Asami's eyes snapped to the other side of the fencing as the turnstile began to rotate its maw to the room. Boots scuffed along the floor as an Equalist sprinted backwards into the basement towards it.
"Who's there?!" a voice called.
Asami jumped. Korra yanked out of her grip in the same moment.
She dashed forward into the left-hand turnstile. The Equalist on the opposite side met Asami's gaze before leaping backwards into the right-hand turnstile.
"No!"
"Hey!"
Asami leaned her forehead against the fence, fingers curling through the gaps as she swore under her breath. A man's hand grabbed her by the shoulder.
"What happened?" the Equalist asked, turning her around. "Why are you so far behind the rest of us?"
"Got knocked out during the attack," Asami said, speaking low in her throat. She pushed off the man's hand, took a step forward and let herself stumble.
"Woah! Are you okay?"
"Inverting threw me for a loop," Asami grumbled, hoisted onto her feet.
"I heard voices," the Equalist said, "that you?"
Asami nodded. "Screaming at myself. Spooked me. It's just so damn weird, you know?"
The man nodded. "Yeah. Let's move before we get left behind."
She cast a quick look over her shoulder at the silent turnstile.
Damn it, Korra.
Two heads are better than one. Put three together and they stand an even chance of turning around this whirlwind of an evening.
Korra sprints up through the Arena, a woman on a mission. Her mind's eye is fixed on the VIP box. If she can get there before the attack begins, confront herself and Asami – get the latter to just talk sense for once…
A scream suddenly rips through the halls, rising from a thousand lips.
Korra pushes harder, runs faster. Her heartbeat drums in her ears as she pumps her arms and legs. She turns a corner, coming onto the floor where their lounge is located. Thick smoke rolls out of the doorway.
Several uniformed bodies surge out of its midst.
Equalists.
Korra clenches her teeth and charges after them.
"Shit!" someone cries out ahead.
The Equalists launch themselves on top of the women.
Korra flies in feet first moments later.
Her boots catch the Equalist squarely in the ribs, kicking them into the wall. The side of their head smacks against it and the masked man crumples like paper.
Korra plants her hands to the floor. She can feel a pair of legs under her stomach, thrashing to be free of her weight. She looks up – directly into Asami's furious green eyes.
The weight of a shock-glove hammers into the crook of her neck.
Korra is blasted into the darkness behind her eyelids.
"...Are you okay?"
Korra groans from her stomach. Her mouth feels stuffed full of cotton. She hears a boot sliding across the floor, followed by something being pulled up and away.
"I'm fine," a woman says, somewhere above her. "Them though…"
She opens her eyes; one of her goggles is cracked. Her extremities are alight with pain as Korra lifts her elbow and plants a hand to the floor.
"Yeah," a voice says, close by. Very close. "Korra, we should -"
Boots scuff the floor, far, far away. Then another set pound away in the same direction. Korra lifts the leaden weight of her head off the ground.
"Wait!" Asami shouts.
Korra grunts and reaches forward, grabbing her ankle. Caught mid-stride, Asami falls flat on her face.
A red heel blasts backwards into Korra's face. She lets go of Asami to cover it, wincing as pain blooms sharply in her forearm.
"Hey!"
Asami flips over onto her butt, pushing herself backwards as Korra drags herself to hands and knees. She climbs over an unconscious Equalist.
"Hey!" she cries again when Asami lashes out, driving her heel towards Korra's goggles.
Pulling her head to the right, Korra pounces on her. Asami's hips drive upwards and Korra's arms flail through the air. They find Asami's shock-glove before it can smash into her face.
"Get...off!" the woman growls, swivelling her pinned arm under Korra's grip.
"Asami!"
She freezes, just for a second. Her eyes widen further when Korra tears off her mask.
They stare at each other, breathing hard. Korra lets go of Asami's arm, sitting back on her haunches. Her eyes find the end of the corridor. She closes them, rubbing at the corners with a finger and thumb.
"Damn it..."
When she looks down again, Asami has not moved an inch. Korra bends forward, pushes wild locks of hair out of her face, and gently captures Asami's lips.
"It's me," she murmurs.
"Korra…"
"I'm chasing myself. You have to stop us."
Asami shakes her head, whispering. "What?"
Beside them, an Equalist groans.
"You know the rules," Korra says, getting off Asami. "Annihilation."
Asami stares up at her. Then her eyes go round and she scrambles to her feet. Her heels clatter around the corner as the first Equalist wakes up.
"Where's the Avatar?"
"No time," Korra says, re-masked as the others start to rouse. "We need to get down to the basement."
She leads the way.
The explosives are being strapped to the fence by the time she gets there.
A throng of Equalists are gathered in the basement. A man is moving among them – the Captain.
"Single file!" he calls.
Korra stands on her tip-toes, peeking over a taller Equalist's shoulder. She burns with the need to know.
"Hey, isn't one explosion enough?"
The Equalist turns to look at her. "First temporal mission?"
Korra opens her mouth. Then, she closes it and nods quickly at the woman.
"We can't let the turnstile fall into enemy hands. It's our technological advantage, so we build and break them as necessary."
The Captain marches past, dragging Korra forward. "Single file!"
Click-clunk-click
Up ahead, the turnstile grinds its hidden gears, rotating clockwise to face its maw directly towards its neighbour. On the other side of the fence, a group of Equalists are gathered, walking backwards one by one into their turnstile.
"Freaky, isn't it?" the woman ahead of her says.
Korra nods, swallowing hard. She sweats under her mask as she breathes faster, eyes on the explosives as the line moves forward. One by one.
The Equalist in front slaps her arm. "See you on the other side."
Her fists clench and her knees lock as the turnstile rotates and the woman disappears into the past. Korra glances to her left when the machine resets, empty and inviting. She takes a deep breath and eyes the bulky orange packets waiting to blow the basement to bits.
Now, or never.
"We don't have all night. Move!"
The Captain plants his hand between Korra's shoulders and shoves her into the turnstile.