A Cog in the Machine – Book Two, Intermission: Worlds
Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own The Legend of Korra. All Avatar-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Viacom, Bryan Konietzko, and Michael Dante DiMartino.
[-]
Things were very quickly spiraling out of control.
To be clear, Asami wasn't referring to the political climate surrounding Republic City. Even though the tensions between the Tarrlok regime, the Equalist Movement, and the other world powers chomping at their borders threatened to explode into a new world war at any moment.
No…even though by all logic that should have been the matter occupying her every waking thought, Amon's trusted Lieutenant was far more fixated on an entirely different problem.
Namely that she had, somehow, completely by accident, wound up dating the Avatar.
At least, that's how she was referring to it in her head. She didn't actually know whether Korra felt the same way. By the spirits, she still didn't even know if Korra was into girls.
But they were certainly doing a fair amount of "date-like" activities. Tarrlok wanted to keep his "honored guest" in Republic City for as long as possible, and so he paid a handsome sum to make sure she was well taken care of. A sum that Korra, who had very little experience with money in general, was spending lavishly on her new companion.
Going out to restaurants, taking in music shows, sitting in a cramped turtle-duck boat and slowly paddling around the lake beneath the pale moonlight…
(Okay, yeah…some activities were easier than others to rationalize away as "not a date.")
Asami, for her part, hadn't the slightest idea why she was continuing to carry forward with this charade. It had long since stopped being about pumping the girl for information, or subtly manipulating her to take actions beneficial to the Equalists – if indeed it'd ever been.
No, if she was being honest with herself, then the one and only reason she kept going out with Korra…
Was because she wanted to.
Every time she saw the Avatar's face, or listened to her snorting laugh, or brushed her fingers against hers, Asami's world just felt…brighter, somehow. Brighter than it'd ever been in the five years since she lost her mother.
It didn't make any kind of sense. Dating a bender would've been hard enough for her to reconcile. But the girl she couldn't stop thinking about these days was essentially the embodiment of the bending oppression she so despised.
Besides which, this…dalliance had been doomed to fail from the outset. Sooner or later the Avatar was going to figure out that she wasn't Kurumu, sweet and innocent university student.
But Asami Sato, cold and ruthless assassin for the Equalist cause.
And on that day, they would become enemies. On that day, only one of them would be left alive.
That day, however, did not appear to be today.
It was the eve of the Glacier Spirits Festival, and Korra had taken her to the district surrounding the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center, which'd been transformed into a long line of food stalls and carnival games for the occasion. While nowhere near as grand as the displays in the polar cities, it still made for a marvelous sight.
One which Korra was eagerly dragging her through, darting from stall to stall as if she was five years old.
"Look, Kurumu! They have steamed sea prunes over there! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get good sea prunes in this city?" she chattered excitedly. "Oh, and right next to it…is that Whack-a-Badgermole? Not to brag, but I am preeeetty good at those kinds of games. Want me to win you something?"
She accompanied this by flexing her bicep and wiggling her eyebrows confidently.
If it were anyone else, Asami would've rolled her eyes and left. Instead she found herself unable to tear her gaze away from the bicep in question, her imagination running wild with ideas for other ways it could be put to use…
The non-bender shook her head vigorously, to wrench it forcibly out of that particular gutter. To cover for it, she said to her companion, "Can you tell me more about this Festival? I don't really know all that much about Water Tribe culture."
Korra let out an awkward chuckle, and reached to scratch the back of her head.
"To be honest, I'm probably not the best person to ask either. I know that sounds kinda bad, given…y'know. Avatar and all," she answered, pointing both thumbs at herself. "What I do know is that it was created to honor the spirits around the South Pole. My Uncle Unalaq was all about it – came down to join us every Solstice."
Asami's blood briefly ran as cold as the cup of shaved ice she'd been absently munching.
The Avatar let out a sigh. "I know he was a jerk. My dad's never told me the full story, but I could tell there was always some bad blood there," she continued on. "So is it weird to say I still kinda miss him? And my cousins, too. They were weird as all get out, but…I dunno. In an endearing way. At least sometimes."
Part of Asami wanted to shout, They were vicious monsters and they got what they deserved! Put them in front of me right now and I'd do it all over again!
But instead what she said was, "You…can't choose your family. Just how you feel about them."
"Huh…that's not bad. I've learned from a lot of hoity-toity gurus and spiritualists over the years, but you've got most of 'em beat in terms of advice I can actually use," Korra told her with a smile. That smile was enough to melt the frostiness that'd just surrounded her heart in an instant.
"Anyway, sorry to be a downer. And for acting like a rabid hog-monkey all night. This place just gets me so excited – reminds of home, y'know?" she added, after a few moments. "Say, any of the booths over there catch your eye? Whatever you want next, Kurumu, I'm in."
The Water Tribe girl looked so eager to treat Asami to something that she didn't have the heart to deny her. Even though none of this stuff was really her cup of tea, to tell the truth, her eyes searched quickly for whatever seemed the least objectionable.
Finally, she found it. One of the booths featured a man flipping over a series of large postcards, with a trivia question written on the back of each. Five stations were set up with buzzers, used to ring in and offer the answer. From the display behind the host, it looked like the first to ten points was the winner.
Asami rubbed her palms together. Now this was more like it. After an entire night spent with Korra using her physical prowess to win her prizes…
Now was her chance to return the favor.
[-]
"Who was the waterbending teacher of Avatar Kamado?"
~BZZT~
"Master Giyu!" Asami said confidently.
"What is the proper term for a group of raccoon-crows?"
~BZZT~
"A murder-gaze!" exclaimed Asami, her finger so fast on the buzzer that it gave all four of her opponents whiplash.
"The actor with the lifetime record for most Inferno Awards for his lead role in Love Amongst th…"
~BZZT~
"Mutat!" Asami answered, not even waiting for the question to finish.
She crossed her arms and grinned smugly as the tenth bulb above her seat lit up. None of the others had even scored once.
"Well, after a performance like that, I've got no choice but to give you the grand prize," said the host, his large belly shaking with laughter. "Here you go, little lady."
That was how Asami wound up walking out of the festival with a platypus-bear plushie nearly as tall as she was. She pressed it into Korra's arms as soon as the Avatar finished the bag of fire-gummies she'd bought "for the road."
"You paid for everything, so don't even think about turning this down," she told the younger girl, forestalling the objection she knew was coming. "I know it's not much, but…consider it a token. Of how much I enjoyed myself tonight."
"No idea where I'm gonna put it, but…okay. If it makes you happy, Kurumu," replied Korra with a wink. "And, as a token of how much fun I had…"
Without further warning, she leaned over, and pecked Asami on the cheek.
That one bold action seemed to have exhausted the normally boisterous Avatar's entire supply of courage in a single swoop, because she immediately turned away and cast her gaze downward, her face growing just as red as Asami's was rapidly becoming.
"Oh…Oh spirits. I actually did that, didn't I?" she said in a small voice, nervously pressing the tips of her pointer fingers against one another. "I mean…it was okay, right? You didn't mind it? I have no idea what I'm actually doing here…"
Asami lightly touched the spot on her cheek where Korra had kissed her. It was still burning hot, like the Avatar had lit it aflame with her firebending.
She was having difficulty forming words, but she managed to gasp out, "No. Umm. I mean…I didn't mind it."
Korra let out a long sigh of relief. "Okay, good. I've been obsessing over the right way to do this for weeks, to tell you the truth," she admitted. "Kurumu, I…I really like you. In a way I'm not sure I've ever liked anyone. Couldn't exactly get a lot of dating experience at the White Lotus compound."
Asami also let out a sigh, but "relief" was the farthest thing from what she was currently feeling. A great big ball of…something was welling up in her heart, threatening to overwhelm her.
"Can we…talk about this another time?" she asked, her voice tiny and strained. "After I've had a chance to think a bit?"
"O…Of course! Take all the time you need!" Korra said quickly. "Maybe…meet back up tomorrow, around eight? At Harmony Tower? It's closed for renovations, but I could use my Avatar connections to get us in – just the two of us."
Asami didn't trust herself to say much else, so she just nodded her agreement to the plan. Then she slipped off, into the night.
At the time, she had no idea that would turn out to be the last "normal" date they ever went on.
[-]
"Ah, there you are. Where in Azulon's blue blazes have you been disappearing to, Asami?" asked Amon, as soon as she entered the door of their hideout. "Actually…don't answer that, we don't have time. Just suit up and get ready."
It was a testier tone than he usually took with her, so she knew it must be important. "I'm guessing whatever this mission is, it can't wait?" she called back, as she entered her room and began changing.
"We won't get another opportunity like this. If we don't move now, we'll lose the chance," said Amon. "Tonight, we finally end this."
Her hands froze in the middle of slipping on her goggles as he coldly added, "Tonight, we take Tarrlok's bending."
Within five minutes, Amon, Asami, and an entire platoon of chi-blockers were piled into a transport, and rolling through the streets of Republic City.
They'd all agreed, during multiple heated strategy meetings, that assassinating Tarrlok wasn't a good option. Seeing the power vacuum that Yasuko's death had left behind, one of his first acts had been to unilaterally amend the United Republic's charter, creating a "Vice-President" position who would automatically assume the presidency if their predecessor was dead or incapacitated.
Tarrlok's Vice-President was an incredibly severe metalbender named Guan, whose strength and charisma was matched only by his infamous cruelty. A history of ethics violations and abusive behavior toward his subordinates had gotten him drummed out of the Earth Kingdom military, but Tarrlok didn't especially care about "little things" like that.
If they eliminated Tarrlok, Guan had the potential to be an even worse tyrant – especially if he had the chance to make the waterbender into a martyr. He'd already publicly floated a proposal to place non-benders into "reeducation camps," which even Tarrlok seemed to realize was an abhorrent idea.
But if they simply removed Tarrlok's bending, that would be a different story. It was certain that, so long as he was left alive, Tarrlok would cling to power as long as humanly possible.
And it was equally clear that if his boss could no longer challenge him physically, Guan would seize the opportunity to try and force him to step down. Playing each man against the other would weaken both.
Which brought them to tonight's mission. Tarrlok was being driven to a photo op at the Yasuko Sato Memorial Statue, in order to commemorate the five-year anniversary of her passing. He would get up to a podium, say some empty words, pledge a hefty donation to a nice-sounding charity in her name, and then leave.
The very idea of it made Asami's blood boil until steam was practically coming out of her ears…but it also presented an unmatched opportunity.
Tarrlok never traveled anywhere without at least three powerful benders as guards. But two of them had called out sick at the last minute, leaving only a man named Keze.
Who just so happened to be Amon's inside man.
A skilled firebender, Keze had very little interest in politics, and far more in the substantial bribes Amon was willing to provide. He'd called up the masked man the moment the duty roster changed, and given him the route they planned to take to the event.
"After everything he's put us through, it's weird to think Tarrlok's downfall is going to come from complete coincidence," said Asami, peering out a small peephole in the side of their transport.
It was an armored tank, disguised to look like an ordinary delivery truck, and they'd been using it to tail Tarrlok at a safe distance for the past twelve blocks.
"Many historical victories can be chalked up to coincidence. If Chief Sokka had stayed five more minutes to greet the visiting 'Kyoshi Warriors,' Ba Sing Se would never have fallen to the Fire Nation," crackled Sho in her ear. "A good leader is one who knows how to make the coincidences tilt their way, more often than not."
"They've just taken a turn onto Jet Boulevard," Amon spoke into his own radio. "How long before we can strike?"
"About twenty seconds. They should be entering a tunnel at that point. Cramped, low-visibility," Sho answered, after consulting his map.
"You heard him. Everyone, get ready," Amon ordered the rest of the Equalists, before turning to the driver. "Give it ten seconds, then start speeding up. We want to be right on top of them the moment they're in the tunnel."
The plan went off without a hitch. As soon as both vehicles were inside the tunnel, they fired a cable from a cannon hidden in the undercarriage. The hook at the end wedged into the rear tire of Tarrlok's car, stopping it dead.
At that point, all of the Equalists began pouring out of the disguised tank. They'd come out in-force, with a total of eighteen of Amon's best chi-blockers.
Keze dragged Tarrlok out of the wrecked Satomobile, feigning a look of shock. He fired several large fire-blasts, intentionally missing by just a hair.
One of the chi-blockers swiftly countered with a pair of electrified bolas, which wrapped around the firebender and caused him to bellow in pain. To make it look good and ensure he could keep his cover, he'd agreed to take the shock at full-blast, until he slumped over and fell into unconsciousness.
Amon had already made it plenty worth his while.
Tarrlok, however, didn't look nearly as fazed as they'd expected him to be. He just shook his head and sighed in dismay.
"Absolutely useless. Though I'm not sure whether or not that means he's the hyena-mole," he said, cracking his neck and assuming a waterbending stance. "But just in case, I elected not to tell him about my contingency plan."
That was the cue for the hood of Tarrlok's trunk to be blasted off its hinges, and a human figure to leap out from within.
"Alright, Equalists!" Korra shouted, pointing her finger directly at Amon and staring him down cold. "I'm the Avatar, and you've gotta deal with it!"
"Oh, monkeyfeathers…" Asami whispered under her breath.
[-]
Somehow, despite the fact that she'd been engaging in anti-Equalist activities for well over a month now, Asami had miraculously avoided ever having to confront Korra on the battlefield.
Part of it was influence from Tenzin – who was still mentoring the Avatar in spiritual matters, even if he could no longer teach her airbending – so that her tactics tended more toward investigation and detective work, rather than running in with fists and elements flying. Asami knew this, because Korra had complained about it at length during their dates.
But otherwise, she'd just gotten lucky. The few skirmishes Korra had gotten into with chi-blocker squads hadn't included Asami. Nor Amon, for that matter.
This was the first night all three of them were in the same place together, and she could hear in the masked man's voice just how much he'd been waiting for this moment.
"I'll try to take Tarrlok down quickly," he said, just loudly enough for her to hear. "Can you hold off the Avatar until then?"
He was already leaping into battle before she could answer.
Tarrlok spread out his arms with his palms facing down, summoning up enough water pressure to break through the pavement below. Gallons upon gallons of liquid from the sewage system – gross, but effective – poured out at his command, forming a protective sphere around himself.
This wasn't a purely defensive technique, however. He began strategically freezing small bits of the water sphere, and sending them flying at Amon like arrows.
But of course, he was hardly the first waterbending master Amon had ever tussled with. The masked man deftly dodged the rain of razor-sharp icicles, working to close the distance between himself and his prey.
Soon enough, he was in melee range, and Tarrlok was forced to switch up his style. He dissipated the sphere and then formed a disc of ice beneath his feet, using the liquid now covering the ground to beat a hasty retreat. Meanwhile he was rapidly circling his arms, sending out waves thin and sharp enough to cut through stone.
Asami forced herself to avert her eyes. She'd just have to trust that her leader knew what he was doing. He had his job to do, and she had hers.
Of course, that was easier said than done.
Avatar Korra was in the midst of taking on eighteen Equalists at once, and it became clear at a glance that the fight was nowhere near an even match. She was tossing chi-blockers left and right like ragdolls, showing them the full force of what being a master of three separate elements really met.
Whirlpools and ice pillars; boulders and earthquakes; infernos and firestorms. Korra made each element dance for her in turn, switching seamlessly from one to the next like they were instruments in a symphony. In this dark tunnel, she had no reason to hold anything back.
It was enough to leave Asami feeling almost impressed, in spite of herself. And it was also enough to have her swallowing audibly.
Leaving aside all other factors…this was the juggernaut that Amon wanted her to "hold off"?
But doubting her capabilities wouldn't bring them any closer to victory. Asami took a long, calm breath to steady herself, and then began activating just about every gadget on her suit at once.
What'd started off as a standard-issue Equalist bodysuit had, over the years, been modified with dozens of attachments and additional features. She didn't release equipment to her fellow Equalists until it'd been thoroughly tested for bugs, and the best way she knew to test a prototype was to slap it on her armor and use it herself.
This was just one such prototype. With a few taps of her finger, a pair of faux-wings popped out of her backpack, and exhaust from a miniaturized combustion engine began to pour out.
Another tap, and she was hovering in the air. So far, so good with this "jetting pack" (better name pending).
"Okay, Korra," she muttered to herself. "I was meaning to ask you to dance, anyway."
Then she shot off toward the Avatar like a rocket.
Fortunately, Korra was still occupied putting down a particularly nimble chi-blocker with a series of concentrated fire blasts. As a result, Asami was able to strike her right in her blind spot, seizing her with both of her electrified gloves.
The scream that Korra let out in that moment would burn itself into Asami's memory for weeks. She felt an immense spike of guilt, shame, and…something else, even as she forced herself to tighten her grip.
But the Avatar was a hard person to hold onto for long. Her thrashing caused columns of stone to erupt from the ground at random angles, and one caught Asami square in the gut. She veered off-course, desperately adjusting the settings on her suit to regain control.
Seeing that she was rapidly about to be sandwiched against a wall, Asami elected to jettison the "jetting pack" altogether. It slammed into the wall at full speed and detonated. Another promising prototype up in smoke…
She didn't have time to think about that, however. She turned back to her opponent, readying a new set of weapons.
A miniature cannon that shot canisters of poisonous gas. An electrified longsword, that cauterized wounds at the same time it cut them open. Even a device that dispensed scalding hot soup, for good measure.
(She'd originally invented it to efficiently serve meals in the field, but after the disastrous first test, had repurposed it as a weapon instead.)
But none of them wound up getting used. Because in the heat of the moment, she hadn't realized that the impact from Korra's earthbending had shattered the goggles she was wearing.
Exposing her distinctive, olive-green eyes.
"Kurumu…" said Korra, the water-whip she'd been preparing dropping to the ground. Her expression was utterly unreadable. "That's you, isn't it?"
Asami tried to harden her glare against the girl who was now her enemy, but found that she couldn't maintain it for more than a few seconds. Her face turned askance.
"You don't know anything about me," she mumbled. "You never really have."
But before Korra could ask any follow-up questions, both of their attentions were drawn to a sharp cry erupting from Tarrlok's throat. He fell to his knees before Amon, who had his hand extended forward.
"How…?" he gasped out, his voice breathless and guttural. "How…could you possibly resist my…?"
"You'll find that I'm full of surprises," was all Amon offered in answer, before turning away from the now-helpless President. "Equalists, we have won! Retrieve our wounded and retreat. There's no longer any point in battling here."
"Ooooooh no you don't! You're not getting away that easily, you masked freak!" exclaimed Korra. But in doing so, she'd turned her back on Asami.
The Equalists' Lieutenant looked back at her armaments. Her fingers hesitated around one of the poison gas canisters. After a few seconds, she grabbed the one next to it, and tossed it at Korra's feet.
The Avatar began to cough as knockout gas filled her lungs. Asami nodded to Amon, grabbed the nearest unconscious chi-blocker, and then – for the second time that night – left Korra behind.
[-]
Asami wasn't sure what had possessed her to think that keeping their date at Harmony Tower was a good idea.
She was even less sure of why Korra would possibly do so.
And yet, here they were. Eight o' clock sharp at the foot of Harmony Tower, looking upon signs and caution tape that all said, in about a dozen different ways, not to proceed further. If this was the universe trying to send her a hint, it wasn't being very subtle.
Korra effortlessly cut through it all with a single slash of her firebending. Then she turned back to Asami.
"C'mon. Let's go to the top," she said. "No one will bother us there."
The elevator ride up to the peak of the towering metal structure was nerve-wracking, and not just because it took them past several sections that were currently under reconstruction, so that one wrong step could send them careening to their deaths.
Asami fidgeted over and over, trying and failing to come up with a good way to start this conversation. In the end, the best she could come up with was, "I know it must've been a shock, to find out I was…"
"Asami Sato, faithful Lieutenant of the Equalists?" Korra finished for her. "No, I've known that part since the beginning."
The non-bender's eyes practically bulged out of her skull. "What…?!" she exclaimed. "H…How? And why didn't you ever say anything?"
"I figured you had a good reason. Wanted to give you the chance to come clean on your own time," answered Korra. "As for how…c'mon, Asami. I may be kinda dense, but I'm not that stupid. Your face is plastered on wanted posters all over the city. I'm actually more impressed you have the stones to go out in public so much."
Asami shrugged her shoulders. "Comes down to how you carry yourself, mostly," she said. "Tall, black hair, green eyes? That could describe a million girls in the United Republic or Earth Kingdom. If I keep my head down and just act like I'm a 'normal' girl, the cops usually don't blink twice at me."
A tinny bell rang out as the elevator reached the top level. Asami found herself struck momentarily speechless as they stepped out onto the observation deck.
"It…It's been so long since I've been up here. Since I've seen the city like this," she murmured, walking right up to the edge of the railing. "Last time…"
Her voice fell away, but the sentence completed itself in her head: Last time, we were all together. Mom and Dad and me.
"I've never been up here, to be honest. Everyone kept talking it up since I came to Republic City, but I never got around to it," Korra told her. "That's why I wanted you to be here. So I could…y'know. Share the view with someone."
And what a view it was. Harmony Tower was the tallest point in the entire city, and so from the deck they could see from one end of the sprawling metropolis to the other. A sweeping sea of steel, glass, and stone, all illuminated by lights in a thousand different shades.
"I look at all this, and…I get it. At least I think I do," she went on, still not looking Asami in the eye. "You Equalists have lived in Republic City all your lives. You just want to protect it. Even if you're really going about it the wrong way."
A vein pulsed in the non-bender's temple. "What makes you think you can say that?" she demanded. "You've been a bender your entire life. More of a bender than anyone else. You can't know what we go through."
"No, I can't. But I want to try," said Korra. "I'm your Avatar, too. Or at least I should be."
The Water Tribe girl let out a long sigh. "That was one of the other reasons I kept quiet," she continued to whisper. "When I realized who you were…I thought this might be my chance. To end the so-called 'Equalist crisis' without spilling any blood. But you guys made that a lot harder last night."
"Tell me Tarrlok didn't deserve it," Asami shot back fiercely. "Tell me that weasel-snake hasn't done so much worse, to countless innocents. All we did was bring him down to our level."
"Tenzin told me an old Air Nomad proverb once: Revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself," Korra spoke softly. "And unlike most of his proverbs, I get that one. By the spirits, I wish solving every problem was as simple as barreling in and punching some jerks. But I know now that's not how the world works."
"Then make it work that way. You're the Avatar, dammit," said Asami insistently, her words squeezing through gritted teeth. "If you can't punish the monsters who took my father and mother away from me, then what good are you? Everyone always says the Avatar's supposed to bring balance to the world. Well, what's the point in 'balance' if it leaves people like me behind?"
Korra's eyes turned downcast again.
"I…I did read up. On what happened to Hiroshi, and to Yasuko," she breathed out, choosing every word carefully. "There's nothing I can say that'll make that pain go away. But…this path won't do it, either. You have to know that."
"You have no right to speak their names," Asami practically growled. "Neither of us can really know, anyway. Maybe if Dad was still alive, he'd be an even bigger Equalist than me. Maybe Mom would be horrified at what we've turned the Movement into. Or maybe just the opposite. It's pointless to speculate."
"So what, then?" asked Korra, now staring pointedly at the other girl. "Will you keep doing this for the rest of your life? Lashing out at every bender who stands in your way? Do you even have an endgame, Asami?"
"Not that it's any of your business…but of course we do," replied the non-bender. "Amon's ability is the ultimate weapon in asymmetrical warfare. It has no counter, no cure. Eventually, after enough of these high-profile attacks, the other nations will have no choice but to deal with us directly."
Korra nodded mutedly. "I guess that makes some sense. Y'know…in a super-horrible way," she said. "I mean, do you realize just how terrifying that power of his is?"
"And do you realize? That apparently, the scariest thing you can possibly imagine…" Asami muttered, her brow raised. "Is to be just as weak and powerless as me?"
The Avatar didn't seem to have any way to respond to that. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, and she closed it soon after. Instead she spent the next several moments staring back at the city below, twiddling her thumbs.
Eventually, unable to stand this awkward silence any longer, Asami added in a very small voice, "So, I guess this is the end to…whatever we had."
She surprised herself by how weak and pitiful the words sounded as they came out. Despite how much she was trying to maintain her mask of cold indifference, it couldn't have been more obvious how much a part of her dreaded the inevitable answer.
Which is what made it all the more surprising when Korra remarked, "What makes you say that?"
Asami rounded on the Water Tribe girl, staring at her like she'd just sprouted two heads.
"Are…Are you kidding me?" she said in a strained whisper. "The two of us are mortal enemies! I have to destroy you, I don't have any choice!"
"There's always a choice!" Korra exclaimed in return, her expression turning fierce. She drew closer to the other girl, and despite their height difference, the look of fire in her eyes almost forced Asami to shrink back. "And none of that changes how I feel, okay! How we both feel!"
She was practically on top of the non-bender now, their faces mere inches from one another.
"Tell me, right to my face, that you don't want this!" were the last words out of her mouth, before she crashed it straight into Asami's.
The non-bender had several potential options in that moment. She could have pushed the other girl off of her. She could have accepted the kiss, but broken it off after a few seconds – especially since the Avatar clearly had no idea what she was doing, and had her eyes screwed up as tightly as a badgermole's.
Asami did not choose to do any of those things. She didn't really "choose" anything, in the strictest sense.
She just did the only thing every one of her senses was screaming for her to do, and returned the kiss with her entire being.
The next few seconds (minutes? hours?) passed by in a blur. She pressed her whole body into Korra's, sending them careening to the deck's surface, their lips remaining firmly glued together all the while.
Their mouths captured one another in turn, hungry and desperate. Hands roamed freely over each girl's body, clutching onto hair and clothes and skin, trying to find release for the outpouring of emotion they'd both been bottling up for so long.
It was no longer a matter of "wanting" what they were providing for each other. They both needed it, just as equally, and just as much as they needed water or air.
When they finally separated – which could have been decades later, for all Asami knew or cared – the pair were panting heavily, their faces covered with sweat and their hair a complete, tangled mess. Asami was still straddling Korra, the plates of her bodysuit pressed firmly against the other girl's well-toned muscles, and she could tell from the dazed expression on the Avatar's face that all she'd have to do to get things started again was lean forward a bit.
Frankly, the reverse was probably true as well.
But as tempting as that prospect was, Asami ultimately rolled off of the Water Tribe girl instead, her lungs taking in deep, heady breaths of the cold night air.
"Okay…" she said, between gasps. "You win that argument."
Korra rolled over as well, landing on her side so she could look straight at the girl she'd just embraced.
"So…umm…" she mumbled, all her earlier bravado utterly evaporated. The headstrong Avatar suddenly sounded as meek and nervous as a needy owlet-kitten. "So we can still be…y'know…"
Asami let out a sigh. "I don't know how long this can last. I'm too logical a person to put that completely out of my mind," she told the other girl. "But I'm willing to give it a try. I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't."
The Avatar sighed as well, though hers was full of contentment and relief. Her face twisted in a goofy kind of grin that Asami would at any other time deride – if her heart wasn't busy filling with flutter bats at the sight.
"You know I'm gonna keep trying to convince you that you're wrong," she declared, her hand tentatively reaching out to grasp Asami's.
She accepted it firmly, her fingers lacing around those of Avatar Korra.
"Likewise," she said, matching her lover's smile.
[-]
That was the beginning to what could only be described as a very strange relationship.
By day, many of their activities remained the same. They'd still go out to restaurants, or for picnics in the park, or to concerts and circus acts and poetry readings. All the normal things you'd expect two young girlfriends (was that what they were now?) to do together.
But then, at night, if neither of them happened to have an urgent mission to complete…
They would meet up, in a secret and secluded location…
And debate.
There were ground rules for these near-nightly discussions. They were supposed to keep their points grounded firmly in the realm of logic and reason, so that things didn't get too heated. Obviously that was easier said than done, given the severity of the subject matter and the fact that neither of them was exactly a paragon of emotionless detachment, but they did their best to make it work.
Their shared end goal was as simple as it was impossible: to convince the other that their entire political and moral philosophy was wrong.
"Okay, sure, you take away all bending somehow and the current Triads would collapse," Korra admitted. That was another ground rule – always acknowledge when the other girl made a good point. "But how long do you think it'd take before a new one rises up that uses…I dunno. Swords or bows or something?"
"Swords and bows can't kill a hundred people with one flick of the wrist. A master bender can," said Asami. "Scale matters, Korra. When someone invents a bomb that can do the same amount of damage as a single firebender with a bad attitude, then we can talk."
"But isn't that pretty much exactly what you guys are doing?" the Avatar pointed out. "You're outfitting your Equalists with all sorts of cutting-edge tech…and don't get me wrong, I think most of your inventions are really cool! But isn't it only a matter of time before you hit on something that blows bending out of the water?"
"I…guess that's a possibility," Asami responded, forced by the rules to concede the point. "A few generations ago, nobody could've even imagined humans flying through the air. Amon says he's heard legends of an airbender who could do it, but otherwise it was the Mechanist, a non-bender, who finally cracked the puzzle."
Korra raised her palm. "Quick sidebar question. What is Amon like, anyway? I mean when he isn't in full 'muahaha, I shall remove your impurity and laugh maniacally' mode?" she asked.
"Pretty sure I've never seen Amon laughed maniacally. Actually, pretty sure I've never seen Amon laugh, period," Asami told her, though she couldn't resist rolling her eyes a bit. "Anyway, he's…well, he's a good guy. It's buried down deep sometimes, but it's there. He just doesn't like to show his real face to most people – figuratively and literally."
"But he has to you?" said Korra.
Asami nodded briefly. "I've known him since I was knee-high to your polar bear dog," she answered, a bit of wistfulness leaking into her voice. Those had been happier times. "He was never exactly the best at…showing affection. It's just not what he's built for. But I know he loves me. He and Sho are probably the closest thing I've had to dads in…in a while."
"And…" Korra's next words came with a sharp inhalation of breath. "You're sure there's no way you could arrange…"
The non-bender placed a hand on her shoulder to forestall her. They'd had this conversation, many times before.
"He may be a good man. But he's ruthless, Korra. He's had to be, given what we face every day," she declared. "If I get you two in the same room together, it won't matter how much I vouch for you. He will take your bending. Without a second's hesitation."
"But shouldn't you want the all-powerful Avatar to get de-bended?" Korra shot back, probably more bitingly than she'd been intending. "Sorry…that was probably too personal. You know I'm no good dancing around this stuff."
"No, it's fine," said Asami with a sigh. The objection was entirely fair, if she was being honest; she'd just been determinedly trying not to think about it. "There's a part of me that doesn't want you to lose your bending, not for any logical reason…but simply because it's important to you, and you're important to me. But of course, every bender has someone who cares for them. I'm being a base hypocrite."
She bent her head down, rubbing at her temples with her thumbs.
"Look…you know I don't think most benders are bad people. Even though I've seen how much damage it can wreak in the wrong hands," she went on, in a quieter voice. "And I know Amon's 'solution' isn't a panacea. I think even he knows that, deep-down."
"So why do you still fight for it?" asked Korra. "You know innocent people get caught in the crossfire – benders and non-benders alike. So why not just…stop?"
"Because then, there'll be even more innocents who won't have anyone fighting for them at all," spoke Asami, softly but with conviction. "Non-benders have spent ten millennia at the bottom of the pile. That they're turning out for Amon's speeches in record numbers should tell you something."
"It does, okay? That's why I'm here, in this city. I may be no good at it, but I'm trying to be a good peacemaker. The way Aang would," said Korra. "Even if it has to happen one person at a time."
She accompanied those words with a brief brush of her fingertips along Asami's pale cheek.
The non-bender's lip curled upward, in spite of herself. "I suppose I should feel a little flattered that I'm your first," she quipped, before stifling a yawn.
Simultaneously, they both turned to the clock. They'd been going at it longer than expected – it was nearly midnight.
"I know it's kinda abrupt…" Korra murmured, her voice suddenly small and hesitant. "But it's getting late, and…maybe we could switch to the 'after' part…umm, y'know, only if you want to…"
Asami tried not to let her immediate reaction show on her face, largely by closing her mouth so no drool could slip out. That simple little word promised so much, even though it was as much a routine as the discussions themselves now.
"After" a day of fun and laughter together.
"After" they'd exhausted themselves debating philosophy back-and-forth.
"After" they turned out the lights.
Still, Asami couldn't help from teasing the Avatar. Her Avatar. "Oh, I don't know," she said, with a tone of mock-disinterest. "I'm still a little fired up from our argument."
But to her surprise, that just made Korra grin from ear to ear.
"Good," she replied. "The last time you went to bed angry, it was the best we ever had."
This time, Asami couldn't keep from returning the smile. "Oh, you are going to pay for that comment," she whispered, as she gently but firmly pushed Korra onto the bed behind them. "You are going to pay so hard."
[-]
Of course, the fact that she was disappearing at all hours of the day and night for these…liaisons wasn't going to escape the raven-eagle eyes of Sho or Amon.
"Look, it's none of my business," said Sho as she walked into his makeshift office later that night. "But I hope you're at least using protection."
Asami practically spit out the ash banana smoothie she'd been sipping on.
"I…I'm not…" she sputtered. "I mean…"
"Come now, Asami, it's me. No need to be coy. I've seen that walk before," added the mustachioed man, eyeing her not-entirely-steady gait. "You want to get yourself a boyfriend, more power to you. But it'd be a damn fine sight if Amon's trusted Lieutenant went and got herself pregnant. I don't mean to be insensitive, but the Equalists don't exactly have a maternity leave policy."
She took several deep breaths to steady herself before muttering back, "Trust me. That's not a problem."
Sho slowly looked her up and down, before nodding once. "Oh, I see," he said, his voice low and neutral. "Who's she, then?"
The fact that she dropped the remains of her smoothie all over her shirt made it impossible to deny he was on the right track.
Weighing her options, Asami ultimately decided she might as well share at least part of the truth.
"She's…nice," she told him coolly. "I know it's not going to work out. But I'm trying to make the most of it while I can."
Sho swiveled his chair around, now giving her his full attention. "And why are you so certain?" he asked.
Here, Asami needed to be evasive. She couldn't exactly tell him the real reason their relationship had been doomed from the start.
"We just have…different places we're trying to take our lives," was what she settled on, after a few seconds of silence. "And I don't have time for romance. Not long-term, at least. The mission is more important. The mission is always more important."
"I won't disagree with that," said Sho. "But that's me speaking as an Equalist. As your sifu…I just want you to be happy. And I notice you've been smiling a lot more lately."
She didn't do it often, but it seemed the right time. She leaned down and placed her arms around his crippled shoulders, careful not to squeeze too hard.
"Thank you," she breathed out. "But let's just drop it, okay? We need to…"
"…Begin preparations immediately," Amon finished for her, as he strode into the room. "Yes, I quite agree."
Asami glanced at the clock on Sho's desk; it was nearly three in the morning. "Don't tell me it's time for another last-minute mission," she asked of him, even though she knew she would've dropped everything and headed out in her pajamas if he asked.
He shook his head once, slipping off his mask and sinking into a chair. As he wearily rubbed at his face, Asami had the silent thought that she'd never seen him look so tired.
"Not right now. But soon," he said. "I just heard from our spy in the Earth Kingdom army. What little patience Hou-Ting may have ever had has run out. She's going to march troops into Republic City in three days."
"With Tarrlok and Guan still squabbling like elephant-rats over succession, she must've decided now is her opportunity. The Queen has always wanted to reclaim the colonies that became the United Republic," Sho mused, now consulting over his entire wall of intricately detailed maps and charts. "Worst case scenario…Nazrin responds to this with her own show of force. She's stupid enough that it's a real possibility."
"Which leaves the people of Republic City trapped in the middle. Earth Kingdom armies from the land, and the Fire Navy by sea," Asami let out her own groan. "This city's been a tinderbox for five years. Just waiting for the right spark to send it up in flames."
Amon folded his hands across his lap. As he always did with his mask off, he looked so much younger than his voice and mannerisms suggested.
"There will be no avoiding at least some bloodshed. That much is inevitable," he stated with a sigh. "But this isn't just an opportunity for Hou-Ting and Nazrin. We can take just as much advantage of the coming war."
Asami thought she had a pretty good idea where he was trying to lead them, and she wasn't sure whether or not she liked it.
"The Equalist Nation?" she said incredulously. "You think now is the time?"
The Equalist Nation: a name cooked up by Amon himself during one of their regular brainstorming sessions for his rallies. A dream, at best – that one day the Movement might rise up in such great numbers that they'd overthrow the Tarrlok regime by force, and install a new government in its place.
One that would protect the liberties of all peoples. One that would stand as a true equal to the other Four Nations…and a haven for non-benders of any creed.
It was as wonderful as it was impossible. They simply lacked the resources to marshal anything close to a full response to the United Forces, much less if the militaries of the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, or Northern Water Tribe decided to get involved.
If only they still had the resources of the Sato empire. After Yasuko's death and her own classification as a terrorist, Asami's personal assets had been frozen, and Future Industries seized from her by its investors. It'd taken Iknik Varrick less than a week to swoop in and absorb what remained.
She'd done her best to give her Equalists weapons and vehicles, in as great a quantity as she and her apprentices could personally manufacture. But that was nothing compared to the logistics of a whole army.
And though she'd talked Amon's ability up to Korra, the truth of the matter was that he was only a single man. As terrifying as his power was, the fact that he could only "de-bend" one person at a time, and only at close range, drastically limited how much he could affect the course of battle.
All in all, entering the fray that was to come would surely be suicide.
"We have nothing to lose but our chains, Asami," declared Amon. "The fact of the matter is…if Hou-Ting or Nazrin wind up with Republic City in the end, they'll crush the Equalist Movement either way. This is our only choice."
"Either we die ignominiously, in the ashes of the city we love…or, at least, we go down swinging," said Sho, summing things up. "I don't much like any of this. But I'll accept it."
"Fortunately, we aren't completely alone in this," Amon added after a few moments. "My apologies for being away so frequently as of late, but I've been working with a…silent partner, of sorts. One who has agreed to aid us with our resource issues. You can come in now."
It was an older man who strode in, with a shaved head and weathered face. He wore robes of dull gray, indistinct from any one nation – although the glider staff in his left hand was a different story.
"Thank you for welcoming me," he spoke, his voice remarkably soft for someone who looked so intimidating. "My name is Zaheer, and I'm here to help."
[-]
Zaheer was an odd man, and Asami would never have been able to say she trusted him. But he certainly got results.
He only ever conferred with Amon directly, and behind closed doors. From the resources he was able to place at their disposal, he clearly represented some sort of larger organization, but if Amon knew who it was then he was keeping that particular detail close to the chest.
What mattered was that, thanks to Zaheer, they suddenly had an almost unlimited budget for research and development. Whether it was refined platinum or flax oil or cold hard cash, there didn't seem to be any limit to what this mysterious foreigner could acquire.
Of course, in and of itself, that only increased Asami's suspicions. She knew the phrase was to never look a gift ostrich-horse in the mouth, but her upbringing hadn't done much to install her with confidence in the kindness of strangers.
What was motivating this taciturn man, with a face like it was made of stone and a body like iron? Was it truly as simple as he, himself, being a non-bender?
On the one occasion she'd gotten a chance to ask, his only reply had been:
"I want to prove that this can work. Before I try it where it counts."
Her mind filled in the blanks, since he refused to elaborate. So his group – whoever they might be – were radicals of some other stripe. And they were covertly funding their revolution, as a "test case" for whether such a thing could succeed on the scale of an entire nation?
If so…well, Asami didn't exactly like the idea of being some shadowy organization's guinea pig-chicken. But she'd accept it, if it meant victory for the Equalist cause.
And to be clear, they were starting to rack up a lot of victories.
True to their intelligence, Hou-Ting's army marched right into downtown Republic City at the crack of dawn three days later. Only for every single senior officer to realize their earthbending had been stolen – Zaheer having somehow managed to sneak Amon into each of their tents within a single night.
Even though the troops could probably still have taken the city with spears, tanks, and sheer numbers, the utter blow to morale was enough to turn the attack into a route. The United Forces, dispersed across the city by the embattled Tarrlok, managed to turn away the initial wave with minimal losses.
That was the opportunity Fire Lord Nazrin had apparently been waiting for. Underneath the stresses of a throne she was nowhere near ready for, the young woman had turned to heavy alcohol and substance abuse, and as a result her mind was quite addled when she ordered the Fire Navy to open fire on Republic City's ports.
She hadn't realized that Zaheer had provided the Equalists with the means to sabotage her cannons remotely. Not until they all detonated at once, taking out her entire fleet in the process.
While that took care of the invaders, the United Republic's own military were hardly spared the scarred man's wrath. As they celebrated that night over their unexpected victory against the Earth Army, the revelry was cut short by a tinny voice playing over every loudspeaker in the city.
It was a recording of Guan, secretly plotting to assassinate Tarrlok and take full command once and for all. Asami would never learn whether Zaheer had managed to obtain the genuine article, or if it was simply a clever forgery – either was entirely possible, given Guan's character.
Regardless, this was the last straw for the United Forces, which had already begun splitting into pro-Tarrlok and pro-Guan factions as the power struggle between the President and Vice-President grew more heated.
Supporters of the former waterbender began to shout that the metalbender was a traitor, as were his followers. Guan's bloc countered that Tarrlok was a weak man who should've stepped aside the moment he lost his bending, and had forced his successor's hand by refusing to do so.
No one knew who threw the first stone – literally, for it was definitely an earthbender. All that mattered was that by the end of the fracas, a teenaged Tarrlok supporter was lying dead on the ground.
And that was how, with the single push of a button, Zaheer managed to start the United Republic of Nations Civil War.
When the regrouped Earth Kingdom military returned a week later, bolstered by earthbender reinforcements straight from Ba Sing Se, it was to find the city they wished to conquer in the grip of chaos.
Instead of facing a united enemy they expected to roll over with overwhelming might, they wound up being just one faction in an all-out, four-party melee: fighting against Tarrlok's supporters, Guan's followers, and remnants of the Fire Navy who'd survived the loss of their fleet.
Or rather, five parties…as the Equalists worked behind the scenes, undermining all the other factions and playing them against each other. This was clearly one area in which Zaheer's talent was an equal for Amon's, and together, they manipulated each group like a puppetmaster expertly tugging on a marionette's strings.
There was only the small price that in order to do so, they had to let a great deal of Republic City burn.
Obviously, civil wars weren't generally very kind to infrastructure, nor to innocent bystanders. Within a matter of days, the city she'd loved all of her life had become a warzone. A sea of flame and explosions and smoldering rubble.
The shift happened so quickly that she wasn't really sure how to process it all. Elation at the sight of bender armies scurrying away with their tails between their legs turned to deep horror in the pit of her stomach, as stores and restaurants she'd known since she was a child were reduced to ash.
And the human cost…that was something else entirely. Every day the United Daily News printed a new list, names of those who'd been caught in the crossfire. Asami read it each morning with a palpable sense of dread, praying she wouldn't recognize any of the victims.
In any event, she didn't have the luxury of watching the war from the sidelines. Every single Equalist, herself included, was ordered to be out in the thick of things, disrupting supply lines or taking out key figures in ways that would ensure the conflict continued to escalate.
Asami tried to bury herself in her assigned tasks, pushing out everything else. But that was difficult when the results of her actions were all around her.
Her years of commitment to a measured response, to only targeting those individuals who really, truly deserved her revenge, evaporated in an instant the first time she saw a child's corpse half-buried in debris.
And unfortunately…
That was when the last person she wanted to see her right now finally caught up with her.
[-]
"Asami, what the fuck is going on?!"
It was the strongest swear Korra had ever used against her. The harshest language she'd ever heard the somewhat sheltered Avatar use, period.
But there was none of the kindness she was used to in her lover's eyes, when they were alone. None of the compassion or gentle humor. Only pure fire.
Asami couldn't honestly blame the girl. It's how she would be looking at herself now, if she could.
"I knew we were on opposite sides of this stuff. I knew we never fully saw eye to eye," Korra went on, advancing on Asami with her finger raised accusingly. "But I thought you'd at least give me a head's up before you burned the city to the ground!"
The Avatar was matted in sweat and dried blood, and her clothes were ripped in several places; she'd clearly been in some kind of fight, or several. Nevertheless, her gait was purposeful and unwavering as she made her approach.
"You…You can't blame this all on us," said Asami. "We didn't make any of those soldiers go nuts! We didn't tell Guan's goons to start pulling Tarrlok supporters from their homes, or…or…"
She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. It was a weak argument, and they both knew it.
"But you fanned the flames. Every chance you got. You think I didn't notice?" Korra immediately called her out. "Sure, there's blame to go around. But I don't expect anything but heartlessness from Tarrlok, or Guan, or the queen. You, though…"
A low, choking noise came out of the Avatar's throat, and it took Asami a few seconds to realize that she was crying. She'd never seen Korra cry before.
The sight of it felt like a sword straight through the chest.
"I thought I could trust you," she eventually finished, after the tears started flowing freely. "I thought what we had…meant something. Not enough for you to stop. Not enough to make you leave the Equalists. But…something."
"It does, okay!" she found herself exclaiming, before she could stop herself. "You think I wanted…all this?"
Asami moved her arm in a wide arc, gesturing to the ruined city square around them. A fire was still actively burning some distance away – no doubt exacerbated by the feelings of anger and betrayal emanating in waves from the most powerful firebender on the planet.
"It just…it happened so fast," she said, desperately grasping for some explanation that would make the other girl stop staring at her with such wrath in her eyes. "By the time I realized how bad things were getting, it was too late to stop it."
"Don't give me excuses!" yelled Korra, now right up in her face. "Tell me how you're going to help me fix this!"
Asami's next words died in her throat. Whatever she'd been expecting Korra to say next, it hadn't been that.
"W…Wait. What?" she stammered. "You want me to…"
"I can't do this alone. Even for the Avatar, it's too much. And…" responded Korra, before her voice broke completely. Suddenly all her earlier bravado had been drained out of her expression, leaving only the scared, sixteen-year-old girl she was. "And I don't have anyone else to turn to."
Hesitantly, she extended her fingers forward, but stopped a few inches short. Asami got the message – if she still wanted to salvage anything with the other girl, then she needed to meet her halfway.
And she needed to do it now.
An eternity seemed to pass in the space of just a few seconds. Asami's fist clenched and unclenched several times, her face twisted with uncertainty.
Finally, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and took the other girl's hand in her own.
"Let's find somewhere else to talk," she said.
[-]
Kwong's Cuisine. Asami remembered dining her regularly as a child, her young eyes always fascinated by the lavish décor and the fancily dressed waiters.
But that'd been a long time ago. Now, the high-class restaurant was missing two of its walls, a third was covered with severe burn marks, and looters had stripped it down to the floorboards of anything remotely valuable.
And yet, miraculously, one of the signature heart-shaped tables in the back had survived intact. There was no food being served, or live music being played for ambiance, but it was quiet and secluded and that was enough for Asami.
Still, it made for a slightly awkward place to discuss anti-war countermeasures.
"Everything changed when he came onboard. He isn't an Equalist himself; I guess you could call him a…consultant?" Asami explained. "He calls himself Zaheer."
Korra frowned in confusion. "Zaheer, huh? Never heard of him," she said. "But he certainly sounds like bad news. Any idea what he wants?"
"No clue. He's been incredibly cagey on that point," answered the non-bender. "He's set off red flags with me since the night he walked into our base. Amon, though…he's dug in his heels too deep. He got so desperate for results that he didn't care where they came from."
She let out a heavy sigh, before murmuring, "We all did, honestly. But I know now what we have to do. Zaheer needs to go. It won't stop all the fighting, but…"
"But it'll keep him from making it worse," Korra finished for her. "Based on everything you've told me, I don't think any of our other plans will work unless we take him out first. No killing, though."
Asami had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at the Avatar's naivety. But for the sake of moving things forward, she nodded.
"Of course, that's easier said than done. Zaheer comes and goes as he pleases, like the wind," she said after a few beats. "No one has any clue where he lives, or even where he came from. The only time we could catch him is while he's at headquarters."
"Which you could sneak me into," added Korra, the statement halfway between a question and an instruction.
"Technically…yes," Asami replied hesitantly. "I could get you in, easily enough. But there's no place on the planet more dangerous for you. If they realize you're the Avatar…"
"They'll either take my bending, kill me, or both. And who knows what they'll do to you if they realize you were involved," Korra interjected, staring pointedly at the older girl. "I know the risks. That's why I'm not gonna get caught."
"Let…Let's just be clear, here," Asami told her. "I'm not betraying the Equalists as a whole, okay? Just Zaheer. I'm still all-in for the cause. They raised me, they love me."
"And you love them too. I know. I respect that, even if I don't get it," said Korra. "This is gonna be quick – sneak in, grab him, get out. Once he's all tied up, I'll take him to…no, the police have their hands full right now with everything else. Maybe the White Lotus? They should know what to do with a guy like him."
"In that case…" Asami breathed out, fiddling anxiously with her thumbs. "I think I might have a plan. But it's going to require you to trust me. And…I know that might be a step too far right now."
"Well…hmmm. Hold that thought," Korra spoke in a low voice. "Let me try something."
Then she leaned forward, and kissed Asami full on the mouth.
The two girls had kissed many times before, but this was by far one of the best. So many unspoken feelings – of loneliness, of desperation, of longing – passed between them in that moment, a feedback loop of pure emotion that burned away everything else.
Korra exhaled deeply as they parted, though she kept one hand planted firmly upon the back of Asami's head, softly stroking her silky black hair.
"Yeah, I trust you. Maybe some people would say that makes me an idiot, but I don't care. I'm your idiot, and that's what counts," she said. "So…what's this plan of yours?"
Asami, for her part, was still struggling to return to the realm of coherent thought. She wondered idly if Korra was using waterbending on her, since she could all but feel steam coming out of her ears.
But this wasn't the time for that. With great effort, the engineer wrenched her brilliant mind back into overdrive, and began to lay things out.
"Okay, first, we'll have to time this just right…"
[-]
They went over the plan a dozen times before even thinking about implementing it. Over and over they repeated the steps, trying to look for holes or obstacles they hadn't considered.
By the end of it all, Asami could've recited all forty-seven steps in her sleep. But at last, when the date they'd agreed upon rolled around, she felt prepared. There was just one problem.
Zaheer was nowhere to be found.
It'd been difficult to plan their scheme around Zaheer's schedule, because the mysterious man hardly seemed to have one. As she'd told Korra, no one seemed to know when or if Zaheer might show up on a given day, apart perhaps from Amon.
That's why she'd elected to sweet-talk her leader. There was a spider-rat infestation in his office, she lied, and she needed to know a good time for a few of the men to play exterminator.
"Tomorrow might be best," he said casually. "I'll be out all day purifying a contingent of waterbenders Chief Malina sent from the North. Tarrlok called in an old favor. Thankfully, Zaheer found out exactly where they're hiding between hits on Guan's forces."
Then, without thinking, he spoke the words she'd been hoping for: "The day after might also work, as long as it's in the afternoon. I have a debrief with Zaheer at ten."
Except that Zaheer turned out to be a no-show for the debrief in question. Asami and a masked chi-blocker had been waiting out in the hallway for fifteen minutes now, leaning against the wall and trying to look nonchalant.
Inwardly, though, she was screaming her head off. Because the chi-blocker was no chi-blocker at all, but in fact Avatar Korra in a spare suit she'd stolen from the laundry room, and every extra minute they spent here was another minute they risked discovery.
She glanced over at the disguised Avatar, suddenly thankful that the standard-issue Equalist bodysuits covered so much. Before she'd put on the mask, seeing Korra in the tight leather of an Equalist uniform had sent her mind careening in decidedly…impure directions.
"We might just have to give this up as a bad job. Get out and try again another day," Asami whispered, as quietly as she could. "We haven't done anything yet that anyone's going to notice."
But Korra shook her head minutely in both directions. "Just give it a little more time," she said. "I don't know how to explain it, but I feel it in my bones. He's here."
Asami was about to quip about her "Avatar senses tingling," but thought better of it; no sense in using the "A" word any more than was absolutely necessary.
Instead, she suggested, "How about this. I'll go in and start up small talk with Amon. With any luck, I'll be able to coax out some more info about Zaheer without him getting suspicious."
"Should I go in with you?" Korra asked.
"No, too risky. Amon knows every single Equalist by name. If he tries to include you in the conversation, we're screwed," she told the other girl. Her eyes darted around the hallway, trying to come up with an alternative plan. "You should…let's see. Okay, this should work. Go into that bathroom, lock yourself in a stall, and wait five minutes."
"Got it," Korra responded at once. "But I hope you guys keep your toilets clean!"
And with that parting quip, the savior of the world dipped into a dingy underground restroom, which Asami knew from ample experience were not kept especially clean at all.
The corner of her mouth twitching at the notion, Asami took a deep breath and then rapped twice on the door with her knuckles. She did not expect it to swing open readily.
It turned out that the office was, in fact, empty. That was puzzling. Had Amon moved some things around to better accommodate her attempts to fix his fake pest problem?
Feeling a little guilty – but then, he'd left the door unlocked, hadn't he? – she began leafing through the papers on his desk, searching for some kind of clue. But most of it was incredibly dry and boring; receipts and packing slips and the like. Leading a terrorist organization required a lot more paperwork than one might think.
Finally, she found something that she thought might be promising. A small, handwritten note, etched in a tiny scrawl that Asami knew to be Zaheer's.
Then she read what it actually said, and her blood ran cold as ice.
You can't trust your Lieutenant. Let me handle it.
At that moment, she heard an incredibly loud noise, like an entire cupboard full of fine pottery had crashed to the ground. Her heart nearly stopped when she realized it'd come from the same direction as the bathrooms.
Asami sped out of the office just in time to see a blur of motion disappear around the next corner. But she recognized the trailing ends of the man's gray robes.
Throwing caution to the wind, Asami gave chase, bowling over a couple of chi-blockers who were on their way to a tea break. She muttered an apology, but did not break stride.
Fortunately, she'd had a direct hand in building this base. She knew its every nook and cranny, including shortcuts most Equalists didn't even know existed. Soon enough, she managed to catch up to Zaheer.
Unfortunately, that was right at the moment that they both emerged back onto the surface. Asami squinted and held up a hand as a shield, briefly blinded by the midday sunlight.
Still, she could make out Zaheer, standing in profile against the sun, his staff at the ready. Strapped to his back was one of her newly improved jetting packs, which he'd just activated. And underneath his right arm…
"You did a very good job, Miss Sato. Delivering her right to me," he said, nodding to the disguised girl. She was limp and unmoving in his grip – clearly unconscious, probably from a drug or poison of some sort. "You won't believe how long I've waited for this."
He tapped several buttons on her invention, which he'd clearly taken some time to study. The rockets fired off, propelling him upward. Soon he was hovering ten feet in the air.
"I do truly wish I could stick around, and see your revolution through to its conclusion. Nothing brings me greater pleasure than watching people exercise the full extent of their freedom," he continued on, his voice raised to be heard over the roar of the exhaust. "But Korra and I are overdue for some business. Very overdue."
He expertly twirled his staff through the air, almost as if he was a real airbender using it as a glider. It ended in a sharp wave in her direction, as if he was saluting her.
"Until the next time we meet, Miss Sato," he called out, now turning in midair so that he faced away from her. "Once we've restored balance to the world."
Asami, meanwhile, could only watch from below as he sped away along the winds. Carrying with him the girl who, against all reason, meant more to her than anything else on the planet.
All subtlety, all secrecy was forgotten in that moment, as Asami Sato looked into the clear blue sky, and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Kooooorraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"