As Korra approached the South Pole, she saw a column of light luminating the dark sky of the night. Jinora told her the spirit portals were closed by Wan the first avatar during the Harmonic Convergence. That was no problem for her though, since she, the avatar, can open the portals according to her will, and she didn't hesitate to do so. As her hand touched the light of the portal, she felt a part of her deep down in her unconscious was being brought out to their surface, indeed, she thought, it was Raava the avatar spirit. Her eyes glowed up as a forest fell into her sight. Without a word, she walked through the portal. It's the third time she entered Spirit World.
The avatar had no clue where to begin, so she had no option but to ask the spirits. But by far the spirits she met were too young to have knowledge about the whereabouts of such a powerful spirit. As she walked deeper into the forest, she saw a Baboon spirits in monk clothing meditating on a tree trunk.
"Spirit," Korra spoke, "do you know what kind of being has the ability to take people's faces away?"
The spirit didn't even open his eyes, completely ignoring the avatar, "Ooooooommmm…"
Korra shot a lightning at the spirit, inches away from hitting the spirit's head, the Baboon shrieked as smoke came out of his hair, "now you have my attention?" she asked.
"It was you, again!" the spirit's voice full of anger, "you are so much more disrespectful than your past life, avatar!"
Aang has been there? Korra thought, but she didn't flinch, "now answer my question," she responded, a cruel smile arose on her face, "or I will show you I can do way more than just disrespecting you." There were already sparks of electricity between her index and middle fingers.
"Okay, just chill, I will tell you, alright?" annoyed and terrified at the same time, the spirit answered to the avatar, "it's Koh The Face Stealer, his realm is just over there," as he pointed to a swamp, "now just be gone!"
"Do you think I'm stupid?" the Avatar mocked, she was still charging the lightning on the tip of her fingers, "tell me, how to prevent him from taking away my face?"
"You must not show any sign of emotion in front of him, not even the slightest hint," the Baboon spirit sighed. His plan didn't work, apparently the avatar was far more cool-headed than she appears, "now hold back your lightning and leave me alone."
"Good," Korra cancelled her strike, "you have made the wise decision." She didn't look back as she walk into Koh's realm.
…
"It's nice to see you again, Avatar," an enormous centipede the size of a tram crawled its way out of the cave, it had head of a man, painted in white, but the areas around his eyes were coloured with red paint, "what brings you here?"
"You know why I'm here," said the muscular young woman with the classic wolf-tail hairstyle of the Southern Water Tribe, her face was covered by a mask, only her blue eyes can be seen. "why do you take my people's faces away?"
"Ah… straight to the business," the gigantic centipedes switched to the face of a gentle woman, "but first, shouldn't you show some sincerity?" he continued, this time, switching to the face of an angry man with a full beard, "your past life dared to show his face when he was merely a boy, and you don't even have the guts to do it as a fully realized avatar? You are the same coward as Kuruk." He was referring to the last waterbending Avatar.
"Reverse what you have done on these people, or else." Korra knew Koh was taunting her, but he is going to be disappointed, she thought, she was known for not showing her emotions. As she drew a circle with her hand, she had already generated a powerful lightning, "I don't have time for all the small talk."
"Unfortunately," Koh replied, as he changed his face into a sorrowful old woman, "what's done cannot be undone."
"Then tell me who can fix this." Korra's voice was cold, her eyes looked dangerous.
"Well, no."
Without a word, the avatar released her lightning. The spirit didn't move. The Avatar felt a subtle but familiar tingling on her arm, and the cold-blooded fire missed its target. "Amon…" Korra spoke while consciously suppressing her facial expression.
"It's been quite a while since we meet each other, avatar," the bloodbender came out of his hiding, his hair grew longer and was braided into four strands, it reminded Korra of Tarrlok, the ex-Northern Water Tribe councilman who who's currently in charge of the government's propaganda machine back in the United Republics. "it's just Noatak now."
…
Ba Sing Se.
"Commander Guan said our navy didn't encounter any resistance in retaking the Inland Sea. He already arrived at the Serpent Pass now." Major Opal put down the radio, "for one reason or another, all the United Forces' navy is gone."
"That's quite unusual," Colonel Kuvira responded, "considering they have been putting blockades on the water since they officially declared war on us. Besides, they have halted their attack on ground forces as well since their defeat at Ba Sing Se. What are they up to?"
"This is indeed very unusual, considering they had just signed Peace Treaties with the Northern and the Southern Water Tribes, do they want to start another war?" Suyin suggested, "like what they did to us back after the summit?"
"No," the Colonel objected, "that will leave them fighting from two fronts. They have less economic power than us, and that will be a suicide." As she as was inspecting the mechanical parts of her Platinum arm, "the avatar might be crazy, but she surely isn't stupid."
"What if they are designing a new weapon?" General Bataar spoke.
"That might actually be the case," Suyin replied to her husband, "we can't let this happen." Using her bending, The Great Uniter moved the metal pieces on the map, "We need to drive them back as fast as we can, overwhelm them and capture Republic City to end this madness."
"That's a great point," Bataar said, as he moved a metal piece with the shape of a ship near to the red mark on the map, "first, let's take back Omashu."
(Note: The Baboon spirit was the one who lead Aang to Koh The Face Stealer in the ATLA series; and commander Guan is the main antagonist in Ruins of The Empire Comics, apparently, he worked under Great Uniter Suyin in this timeline. And yes, Amon the famous bloodbender is back.)