Chapter 10: The Avatar Cycle
"Amon!" Korra snarled, breathing blue fire from her mouth in a vicious attempt to burn the Equalist leaders to a crisp. All five backed up just in time to avoid the flames, and Korra cried out in agony as electricity coursed through her body via the chains.
The Avatar desperately attempted to metal bend the chains, but unfortunately, nothing happened. Meaning they were made of the same material as the grapple-arms and mechanical suit. Korra felt all of her muscles seize up from the electrical surge until finally, the horrible sensation ended, and she went limp.
Yet even as her vision blurred, Korra looked around to get a better idea of her current location. The building almost resembled an empty warehouse with machinery along the bottom and several walkways with more Equalists moving about than she could count.
However, all of them stopped and stared intensely at Korra as the sound of footsteps filled her ears. Just raising her head proved difficult, but Korra did so just enough to see Amon with his hand over her forehead. Only then did she realize what he was about to do.
"No! No, please!" Korra begged, her face breaking down in unrelenting terror.
"Observe, my fellow Equalists, as I cleanse the Avatar of her impurity."
"To the end of bending!" Amon's Lieutenants roared, earning an echo from the others.
Korra felt tears and sweat cover her face as Amon's fingers met her forehead.
"And so it ends." Korra felt a strange sensation, but also somehow a bit familiar. Amon seemed to try and bend the very spiritual essence inside Korra, but the moment he did so, Amon realized he'd gone off the deep end and entered dangerous waters.
The Equalist leader convulsed for a moment as a strange figure, and every previous Avatar appeared before him.
"You are not worthy of this power!"
Korra's eyes flashed white for a moment, and Amon stumbled backward, holding his hand as if on fire.
"Gaaah!" Amon fell onto his back, doubled over in pain while the other Equalists went silent, at least at first.
"Amon!" The Chi-Blocker ran over to check on him with the Lieutenant.
"Did it work?" The grapple-arms asked as she approached Korra.
"Grauu!" Korra roared, more blue fire bursting from her mouth. The grapple-arms tried to back up, but Korra immediately blew a gust of wind into the fire, forcing her to grapple away.
"Amon, what happened!?" The Lieutenant almost muttered, fear filling him and the other Equalists like a plague. Amon regained his composure and stood up. For a brief moment, Korra felt immense relief across her entire being. Amon couldn't take her bending away. Raava and the previous Avatars protected her.
Yet this sensation didn't last long, for Amon approached just close enough to avoid Korra's fire-breath. His cold, emotionless expression behind the mask sending a chill down Korra's spine.
"This just means we'll have to do things the hard way. Commence shock, but end it at my command and not a moment later."
"Ahhhh!" The horrible electricity returned, coursing through Korra's body in horrific pain. She began to lose a sense of sight and feeling, and for a brief moment, almost entered the Avatar state, yet just before doing so, Korra noticed something beyond Amon's mask. A glimmer of hope and anticipation in his eyes.
Curious and disturbed, Korra forced herself to suppress the Avatar state and then lost consciousness. However, just before fainting, she heard Amon shout.
"Enough!"
An hour later, she awoke to terrible pain across her body but didn't enjoy much of a reprieve, for Amon immediately went back to shocking her. The process continued just like last time, Amon electrifying the Avatar then stopping just before it got fatal.
As Korra twinged and smelled her skin sizzle, she finally began to understand. That was it then. The horrible truth, which meant there was only one thing she could do. Korra clenched her eyes shut and saw herself before Raava and the other Avatars.
"Korra, you need to stop resisting the Avatar State. If you don't break free soon, he'll kill you." Raava spoke in a motherly manner.
"Let us help you, Korra, you're not alone!" Kyoshi cried. All of the other Avatars joined in, and Korra felt ready to cry.
"You can't. That's what he wants!" Raava and the others went silent.
"I figured it out. Amon wants me to enter the Avatar State so he can kill me then. He wants to end the Avatar forever!" A look of unimaginable horror overcame the past Avatars.
"Please, no matter what happens. I can't enter the Avatar State. I won't let the Avatar cycle end."
"Korra, if you don't enter the Avatar State, you'll die." Aang pleaded, putting his hand on her shoulders as tears swelled Korra's eyes.
"I won't let the Avatar cycle end, even if it costs me my life. Please, whatever happens. Don't let me enter the Avatar State."
Raava flew around Korra, caressing her in a warm embrace.
"You are a true Avatar, Korra. We will stay with you until the end."
Korra opened her eyes, dull to the pain, and looked up at Amon.
"Do you're worst. You will never destroy the Avatar."
"We'll see. Again!" Korra thrashed about, the electricity getting worse and worse. Each flash of her sight, she saw a previous Avatar watching her on the verge of tears. She had to resist the urge. She had to save the Avatar cycle, she had to-
"Gaaaaahh!" The electricity stopped, Korra fell forward, allowing her shackles to keep her upright. An explosion rocked the ground floor, with machinery bursting into pieces, including the shocker's generator.
"What's happening!?" The Lieutenant roared. But as a few Equalists moved in to investigate the explosion, a tidal wave of water engulfed them. Diago charged out of the breach on Naga's back, hurling entire groups of Equalists back with his water bending while Naga brutally slammed combatants into the ground with her mighty paws.
Before anyone knew what hit them, a cyclone of wind swallowed up four more Equalists. Tenzin flew out from the hole riding an air sphere before leaping up to a walkway and practically clearing it with another burst of air.
Kya and Lin raced out next, both mixing their bending against approaching Equalist squads and showing no mercy as they did so.
"Here comes Team Avatar!" Bolin rode out from another hole melted by his lava, followed by Opal, Asami, and Mako. Yet they didn't come alone, for close behind came none other than Yahiro, Tonraq, Senna, twenty-police officers, and Diago's platoon, now led by Iroh himself.
"Lieutenant, there she is!" Iroh roared as he spotted Korra on one of the walkways.
"Korra!" Diago's heart soared higher than any bird when he saw her. However, he wasn't alone. Tonraq and Senna viciously forced their way through any Equalists between them and their daughter. At one point, Senna even decapitated an Equalist who tried to hurl a bomb their way.
Amon watched the chaos below as his combatants swarmed in only to get swallowed up by Team Avatar and the United Forces.
"No! Not when we're so close! Get down there and distract them!" Amon barked out to his Lieutenants. All three nodded and made their way down as Amon himself walked over and began unlocking Korra's shackles.
Tenzin soared across the walkway, trying desperately to reach her, only to grunt in pain as a mighty fist struck his stomach and hurled him onto another platform. The air bending master got up and saw it. Now bigger than before, the mechanical suit retracted its right grapple-arm and then leaped onto his platform.
Despite its overwhelming stature, Tenzin narrowed his eyes and got into a fighting stance.
"You won't stop me from reaching Korra." The machine answered by revealing two electrified palms and unleashing bursts towards him. Tenzin masterfully evaded them and tried to get past the mecha, but just like before, it leaped up and swatted him down onto another walkway.
Tenzin did everything in his power to try and bring the mecha down, yet his air bending had no impact. Luckily, he didn't fight alone for long. Lin used her chains to fling herself and Kya up beside Tenzin.
"We've got this, little brother." Kya bent crushing bursts of water into the mecha, trying desperately to find a gap in the joints. However, this time, the flaw was corrected. It blasted electricity at the three, with Tenzin easily dodging it and the others doing so with difficulty.
"When I find out who's in that damn suit, I'm going to rip your arms and legs off!" Lin declares. She furiously bent pieces of metal from the walls and walkway into the mecha, yet its firm exterior shell only dented and scratched against them.
The mecha lashed out, launched its grapple arms, and fired bursts of electricity. Kya did her best to form ice shields while Tenzin carried them safely back each time.
"This isn't working!" Kya grunted.
"We need to damage its interior!" Lin shouted, and Tenzin's eyes widened slightly when he saw how the mecha leaned forward when it lashed out.
"That's it, get ready to go on my mark!" When the mecha lunged forward, Tenzin slid himself between its legs coming up behind the machine and blasting its back with a gust of wind. With its weight forward, the mecha lost its balance and slammed onto the walkway face first.
"Lin!"
"On it!" The metal bender shouted. She leaped up and bent two pieces of metal from the walkway with her, then blasted them down into a pair of weakened sections within the mecha's exterior, embedding them inside.
When the machine tried to get up, its gauntlets surging to strike at Kya. The water bender guided water around both gauntlets and then into the metal beams. All three covered their eyes from the resulting surge that overcame the mecha, frying its circuitry and causing the suit to stumble about before crashing onto another walkway.
Lin looked over the edge and saw a figure emerge from the suit before quickly retreating down a hallway. She considered pursuing them, but another dozen uniformed Equalists began swarming their positions armed with bolas and electric gauntlets.
Back on the ground, Opal and Bolin grunted in agony after both enduring a harsh blow from the grapple-arms' now electrified gauntlets.
"What's wrong, can't handle the power of technology!" She laughed maniacally.
"Handle this!" Bolin thrust his hands up, sending a wave of lava around him, careful to avoid any friendly combatants nearby. This move scattered a dozen Equalists before Opal combined her air bending with it, knocking the extremists out.
She then bent up a series of gusts, trying to direct small bursts of lava onto the extended grapples on the Equalist's mechanical arms. However, the new upgrades allowed her to move faster than ever before. Despite Opal's best attempts, the elite Equalist evaded her even in the air and managed to knock her back towards the ground.
Bolin quickly bent himself up, catching Opal in his arms, but struggled to maintain his stance after a burst of electricity from the grapple-arms struck him.
"Ahhhh! Damn it, that hurts!" The lava bender groaned.
"That's nothing!" The grapple-arms launched one gauntlet right for Bolin's back, but Opal quickly forced it down into his rock pillar with a burst of air.
"Bolin!" She shouted, realizing the opportunity they had.
"On it!" Bolin leaped off with Opal still in his arms and turned the rock into lava as he did so. The grapple-arms eyes widened, and she frantically detached her left gauntlet before the heat could spread. Now down to one gauntlet, she tried to move away, but Opal wouldn't give her a chance.
The air bender furiously unleashed a cyclone of wind that embedded the gauntlet into another wall, allowing Bolin to bent up more lava into it.
"Looks like you're disarmed!" Bolin laughed.
"Oh, baby." Opal chuckled while shaking her head. The two tried to press their advantage, but another squad of Equalists attacked them first.
Mako and Asami kept moving to avoid the Lieutenant's new arsenal. His batons now carried electricity like great whips, and he could even hurl bursts across the chamber. Mako grunted with each lash that struck him, leaving a series of burn marks on his police uniform and undoubtedly the skin beneath.
Much to his frustration, the Lieutenant's new suit proved fire-resistant as the last, and his power-pack didn't waver to fire either.
"Mako, go for his legs!" Asami aimed two arrows at the Lieutenant's eyes, both only hitting electric whips as he lashed them around himself. Following his girlfriend's instructions, Mako spun himself on the ground, kicking around a wave of fire.
The Lieutenant acrobatically leaped up and launched two electric bursts as he did so. Mako dove forward, narrowly avoiding it, but Asami made no such attempt.
"Asami!" He cried, the young woman loosing two arrows just when the electricity struck and caused her body to seize up. However, in staying put, her arrows struck home, hitting the Lieutenant's goggles.
"Gahhh!" The goggles shattered, though the material proved sturdy enough to bounce both arrows back after impact. The Lieutenant thrashed about on the ground, trying desperately to remove shards from his eyes. With this opening, Mako set both fists ablaze and sprinted over, punching the elite Equalist with two successive blows and then delivering a fiery kick to his face, splattering blood and saliva through the air.
The Lieutenant tumbled across the ground, moaning. Yet Mako couldn't pursue him as a few Equalists tried to seize Asami, who still struggled to recover from the electricity. As such, he rushed over and forced all three Equalists back with a wave of flames.
Naga and Diago continued to maul their way through groups of Equalists when they saw Amon and some of his henchmen reading to leave with Korra.
"Come on, Naga!" The polar bear dog barked louder and tried to reach the walkway when their path became blocked by the Chi-Blocker Lieutenant and four Equalists with electric gauntlets.
"I'm afraid I can't let you pass."
"Move or face the consequences." Diago didn't shout, but his words carried greater weight than Naga's snarls, four of the Equalists backing up before him, all except the Chi-Blocker Lieutenant who got into a fighting stance.
"Here's the problem, bender. The only thing you have to threaten us with is your bending, and I'll be taking care of that very soo-" Diago didn't even let her finish before two jets of water flew around the Equalists from pouches on his belt.
The Chi-Blocker acrobatically avoided one but felt the second slam into her back, engulfing her. As the Equalist looked into Diago's eyes through the water and shivered in fear.
Diago slammed the Equalist into another walkway, a few nearby fighters on both sides heard a cracking noise upon impact. When she landed, the Chi-blocker clutched her right arm in horrific agony. The other four lasted even less time, for Diago and Naga tore through them like paper.
Back on the upper walkway, Amon carefully observed the situation with growing impatience.
"We need to leave, now."
"One moment, sir, finishing her bind, yaaahhh!" The Amon saw his henchemen jump backward as Naga snapped her jaws around the nearest one's head, a wet cracking noise following as she flung his body around in her powerful jaws.
"Get away from her!" Diago's roar matched Naga's, and he leaped down, sweeping two more Equalists over the edge while Naga did the same. Diago saw Korra lying there, her eyes open slightly and her body twinging a little, clearly alive. It took everything the Lieutenant had not to sweep her up in his arms right there and then, but he remained focused on Amon, who stared back with a cold gaze.
"I'll kill you if you touch her again!" Diago snarled, Nage re-emphasizing this point as she stood over Korra defensively, slashing and biting at a few more Equalists who tried to recover the Avatar.
"Try your best, bender." When Amon took a single step forward, Diago unleashed the full fury of his water bending. The soldier's northern style still maintained its strategic and defensive nature, but that didn't make it any less dangerous.
Amon avoided the blades of ice, spinning water spouts, and other forms. As usual, the way he dodged the water bending appeared almost unnatural, and it infuriated Diago to no end, particularly as Amon closed the distance between them. He looked back at Korra, still guarded by Naga, yet with more Equalists rushing in from behind, her attention remained on them.
"You can't stop me." Amon spoke with an unsettling calmness, even as he masterfully dodged more of Diago's water bending.
"You can't protect her from me." Diago almost felt like a fire bender from the explosion of rage inside him ready to engulf among, yet no matter how hard he tried, somehow none of his water seemed to make contact.
"The Avatar will end, tonigh-" Diago had enough, going for broke, he bent water in two directions, coming at himself and Amon. This seemed to catch the Equalist leader off-guard, and the water engulfed both. However, having expected this to happen, Diago remained in control even as he bent the water and slammed his fist across Amon's head so hard it nearly knocked him out of the water.
Diago brought the water down and back, slamming it into a now disoriented Amon and pinning him into the walkway before freezing him in place. A rush of adrenaline now flooded Diago. He had him, he had Amon, Korra would be safe! He-
"Gahh!" Diago didn't know what happened, but somehow, his entire body seized up for a moment, making all his muscles spasm. It lasted less than a few seconds, but it proved decisive. Amon freed himself from the now melted water and seized Diago by the arm. Despite his best efforts, the soldier couldn't stop Amon from submitting him to his knees. Diago grit his teeth and stared up at Amon's eyes through the mask.
"Even if you take my bending, I'll never stop fighting!"
Amon remained silent for a moment.
"I believe you." He finally spoke, taking out a knife.
"Diago!" Yahiro screeched from across the chamber.
Korra felt a warm tongue lick against her face. With her visions slowly returning, the Avatar saw her beloved polar bear dog's who panted, overjoyed upon seeing Korra again.
"Naga." She muttered, still barely able to move. However, as Korra looked over, she just saw Amon holding Diago, a knife in his hand.
"No."
Diago closed his eyes yet felt no steel, only air. Amon bounced across the walkway like a ragdoll. All eyes now turned to Korra, her eyes glowing white as she floated up above Naga.
"Korra." Diago muttered, struggling to his feet.
"She's in the Avatar State! Kill her now! Kill her!" Amon's calm demeanor transformed into near desperation. Every Equalist now engaged with Team Avatar or the United Forces threw everything they had at her. Bombs, bolas, knives, electric bursts, and more.
However, Korra now bent the elements beyond any typical bender's capabilities. Earth, fire, air, and water surrounded her in circling rings, ready to strike. First, she ripped an entire walkway into small pieces with a barrage of rocks. From there, she bent water around herself in the shape of a dragon, which absorbed every device intending to do her harm.
"Alright, Korra!" Bolin cried alongside Opal on the ground. Many other soldiers joining in. With the Avatar State empowering her, Korra's blue fire bending engulfed virtually every Equalist on one half of the chamber. Those that remained found themselves lifted up by a hurricane of wind, almost embedding the extremists into any wall or metal.
Amon saw Korra's white eyes turn upon him.
"I'm not afraid-"
Without words, Korra slammed Amon through the building walls utilizing all four elements. The Equalist leader's attempts to dodge her bending proving useless.
Amon bounced across the streets, feeling drops of rainwater fall upon him as he landed outside his hideout on the waterfront. Korra loomed over Amon, who tried to get up again.
"Be gone!" All four elements struck Amon, sending him skipping across the water like a stone before he sank beneath the waves, his mask remaining behind at the surface. With Amon gone, Korra slowly lowered herself to the street and collapsed into the rain.
The young Avatar groaned in agony, every bit of her stamina drained. She didn't even feel bothered by her increasingly soaked clothes.
"Korra!" Diago sprinted out and knelt down, lifting her up into his arms. Even with her vision slightly blurred, she couldn't miss the sheer flood of emotions overwhelming her boyfriend.
"Diago." She muttered, quite overcome herself. The rain washed away their flow of tears, Korra savoring Diago's strong arms around her.
"I thought I lost you." Diago nearly choked on his words. But Korra's smile grew. Mustering her remaining strength, she leaned up and passionately kissed him. The two remained locked together for what felt like an eternity.
However, both noticed two more figures racing over. Diago helped Korra up and guided her into Tonraq and Senna's arms.
"Korra!" Her parents broke down into more emotion than even Diago. Opal, Bolin, Mako, and Asami wanted to join in, but Kya and Diago stopped them.
"Leave them be." Kya said, her eyes swelling with tears of joy.