Korra and the Gaang had all settled into what looked like an abandoned building. Since they were still relatively close to the Market area, which lie somewhere between the inner and outer rings, this particular building might have been an emptied storefront which the Earth Kingdom's government had yet to figure out what to do with it. For now, it would be a perfect spot to gather their bearings and decide on what to do with the unconscious Equalist soldiers. Katara and Toph sat nearby the downed mercenaries.

Sokka and Aang were situated near Korra, the former tying the Equalists' wrists together with rope. Although, Katara protested initially, Aang undid the earth shackles on Jet, the young Avatar insisting he wasn't a threat, to which Katara reluctantly relented.

"So," Sokka said as he checked over the ropes securing their prisoners. He'd found it lying all around the building and put it to good use. "Mind telling us who these weirdos are?"

"They're Equalists. It's a group of extremists who want to segregate Republic City." Korra paused after she'd said that. She didn't mean to volunteer that bit of info. She sighed, taking a seat by a wall. There were no chairs, or any furniture for that matter. This building was stripped of whatever it used to house. Looking ahead, she could tell Sokka was curious about the name Reoublic City, but he didn't seem particularly interested in pressing her about it.

"So those portal thingies are the work of-" Sokka paused glancing over to Aang. "What'd you say his name was?"

"Hundun."

"Yeah, that guy?" Sokka continued, glancing back towards Korra.

Korra nodded, folding her hands. "It would have to be. Before I was sent here, I was told that Hundun was manipulating the physical and spirit world," she shared. "He must be transporting them here with some sort of spirit magic."

But what were Equalists doing working for an evil spirit? The whole situation was odd and didn't make sense. How was a spirit even interacting with humans in a way that it could recruit them? Well, there was no use trying to rack her brain around it right now.

Sokka pulled her away from her thoughts by sighing. "Man...I thought fighting a war was hard enough," he said plopping to the floor as well. "Now we have to worry about malevolent spirits and their henchmen?"

"Don't worry, Sokka," Aang offered. "If it's anything like Hei Bai, I'm sure it could just be a big misunderstanding."

"I'm sure we can stop them," Korra assured. "I was sent here for a reason. We can figure out how to destroy the guy somehow."

Aang cleared his throat. "I'm sure we won't have to do anything that drastic..."

Korra gave him an odd look, to which he replied "What?"

"Nothing."

Sokka nodded his acknowledgement to the two, then turned towards Katara, Toph, and Jet, who sat awkwardly at a distance.

"You guys okay over there? And Jet, you know you can leave, right?"

The messy-haired boy nodded jn understanding. "I know, but before...that," Jet ventured, pointing towards the mercenaries. "I came to say I might know where to find Appa."

Aang jumped at the declaration. "Really?! Where?" he asked, quickly standing up. Katara dusted herself off as she stood up as well.

"Aang we can't trust anything he says," she commented. "And he showed up right before we were ambushed!" she pushed, stepping towards the former freedom fighter, who retreated back a step.

"I'm telling the truth!" Jet insisted. "Yes, I was a troubled person and I let my anger get the better of me, but I've changed. I don't even have the gang anymore, let alone knowing who those maniacs were!"

Silence followed this declaration,and the group looked at each other. "He's trying to get us to drop our guard," Katara countered, still unconvinced, although it seemed she was doubting her statement. Korra stood up, shuffling over to Katara.

"How about I keep an eye on him? I know the timing of everything that just happened is suspicious," she said looking Jet over. "But I think they're unrelated."

Katara sighed. The logic was sound, but she was hesitant to give the go ahead.

"Katara," Aang spoke up. "He's the only lead we have. If he says he can help, we should at least check it out."

Katara rubbed her forehead then pinched the bridge of her nose with the same hand. "You're right," she finally gave in. "You're both right." She stepped away from Jet. "Finding Appa is our first priority."

"But we're not letting you out of our sight," Katara warned, pointing directly at Jet.

"So what do we about these clowns?" Toph asked, pointing to the tied up attackers. Sokka, Korra, and Aang looked at each other.

"Guess we just leave 'em there," the water tribe boy answered. "They can't do much tied up, and we should be long gone by the time they can escape and regroup." Sokka ran some math in his head. "Besides, there's nowhere we can take them, and we know they aren't from the city."

"Sounds good to me," Toph replied, the first to make her way towards the door. "I am not dragging the circus around everywhere."

Korra walked over to Jet, drawing his attention, as the rest of the gang filed out of the abandoned structure. She noticed the depressed demeanor of his and decided to greet him.

"I'm...new to the team," Korra introduced herself, offering a hand. Jet shook it.

"Korra."

"Jet."

Jet regarded her for a second, looking dejected. "You're not immediately suspicious of me. I guess Katara hasn't told you why she doesn't like me."

Korra waved it off. "I can probably guess. I don't know what you guys' history is, so I'm not judging," she explained, beckoning him through the door. "Come on, let's catch up."

Yes, it was pretty obvious; Jet was apparently an old flame of Katara's. It actually reminded Korra a lot of her recent disagreements with Mako. She wished her last time having seen Mako wasn't accusing Asami's father of being associated with the Equalists.

She still believed it, but thinking back, there were so many ways, she could have approached it differently. Realizing her thoughts were wandering, she cleared her throat before the other teen could notice.

"Thanks, Korra," Jet said sincerely, following her outside.

"So where do we go from here?" Aang addressed Jet.

"Follow me," he said, leading the way deeper into the outer ring area of the city.

So the Gaang did, following Jet, they passed several blocks of shops, markets, central squares, and other assortments of buildings. The Sun had already reached it's Zenith now, and the day was as bright as it would get. In just a few hours, dusk would come, making it more difficult to navigate through the city, especially with Dai Li roaming about.

Finally, Jet stopped at a large storehouse, and opened the large double doors. Korra pitched in, opening the oppisite end. Each half of the door was about as large as your average person, the doors easily dwarfing Sokka and Korra, the tallest of the group, in height.

The crew roamed inside, looking around. There were definitely structures that looked like stables present, but the building was too quiet.

"This place is empty," Aang observed, noting a distinct lack of flying bison anywhere in the building. Besides the stables, the building was empty, save for an old man sweeping the floor. Katara immediately whirled around on Jet, water snaking out of her satchel.

"If this is a trap," she warned with a thinly veiled threat. Jet raised his arms placatingly, eyes wide.

"I work not too far from here!" he atteempted to explain. "Some guys were talking about having found a large furry creature, I figured it must be Appa!"

Aang returned to the group after apparently having been looking around. He had clumps of fur in his hand, holding them while his eyes held some wistful aura about them. He looked more hopeful than he'd been in the past several days.

"Appa was here!" he presented his findings to the group. His enthusiasm dampened almost immediately. "We missed him..."

An old man shuffled by, broom in hand.

"That big thing?" he leaned on the handle of his broom. "They took it out yesterday," he added, scratching his chin. Aang turned quickly at the new stranger. The employee shook his head. "About time, too. Had to clean up so much fur and various...leavings," the old man sighed.

"Took him? Where?" the young airbender questioned.

"Foreman mentioned something about Whaletail Island," he answered, shrugging. "I figure for a Zoo or something? Could be the meat that'd be good."

"Where's Whaletail Island?" Korra asked for the team.

"It can't be far!" Aang assured, then immediately turned to Sokka, unsure. "Right?"

Sokka already had the map taken out of his satchel and was beginning to spread it flat on the ground. The rest of the team gathered around.

"Far. Very Far," Sokka pointed to the Island on the map, his finger having trailed from the Earth Kingdom all the way to a spot near the South Pole.

"It'll take weeks to get to the South Pole, let alone barely leaving the tip of the Earth Kingdom," Korra reasoned. "Is there even enough time to go there and back?"

Aang brushed off her concern. "I don't care. We have a chance to find Appa," he declared, already turning to leave toward the door.

Korra couldn't really blame him. Shs'd trek the ends of the Earth to find her Naga.

"Appa should be our first priority," Katara agreed, Aang giving an appreciative sad smile. "We can always come back later."

The old man spoke again, and the team was reminded that he was still standing there. "Must be nice to visit an Island. Haven't had a vacation in years."

Korra and Katara spoke at the same time.

"Don't you have more floors to sweep?"

The old man repositioned his broom, continuing to sweep and headed away from them. "I get it," he intoned sadly. "No more need for 'Old Sweepy'," his voice faded as he shuffled off.

So it was decided they would make their way back to the inner ring, take the fastest train available, and hope for the best.

"I want to come with you guys," Jet summoned the courage to express. They were all passing the storefronts and shops, and the Sun was already beginning to set. Jet's proposal was immediately shot down.

"No," Katara answered immediately, not having so much as turned around to look at him.

"Why won't you trust me?!"

Katara seemed barely able to contain her anger all over again, if the rise of her shoulders were any indication.

"Gee, I wonder," she retorted, some venom in her voice. Korra patted Jet's shoulder sympathetically.

--

Even though Katara made it clear that Jet wasn't welcome, he still trailed behind. Eventually, the group was approached by a girl wearing what looked like light armor an archer would use. Jet didn't recongize her to the girl, Smellerbee's confusion.

Apparently, Jet had been brainwashed, his memories manipulated. The Dai Li chose what Jet would remember and what he would forget.

The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth even after finding themselves in the underground tunnel network known as Lake Laogai. Smellerbee accompanied them, along with a silent archer known as Longshot.

"Charming place," Korra uttered, just loud enough for the team to hear. She hoped Ba Sing Se wasn't this corrupt in the present. The place seemed like a totalitarian government trying to pretend otherwise. Her observation was only enforced as they quietly snuck past what she assumed was an interrogation or 'brainwashing' room. There was a whole line of women who looked extremely similar to Joo Dee whom she'd seen earlier.

Once the Gaang reached a large door, Jet stepped forward. With Katara's help, his memories had been recovered and reorganized. The experience left Katara interacting with Jet with less animosity.

"This must be it," he murmured, grabbing the large door's handle.

The room was empty. No sign of life anywhere.

All that was present was a large staircase at the far end of the room, each step wide enough for the whole crew to stand side by side on. Shadows splayed all over the steps, enforcing some indescribable sense of foreboding. There were pillars along either side of the steps containing engravings of what looked like dragons that were faded with age.

"He was in here, I know I saw him," Jet insisted, stepping inside, looking around.

"We now have you where we want you," a voice echoed from across the room.

The other end of the room the voice originated from was covered in shadow.

Long Feng emerged from the shadows like a badgermole emerging from a dark tunnel.

There were two loud noises. Large chunks of rock fell from the ceiling, revealing a mass of Dai Li agents in waiting along the ceiling. From such a high distance, they looked like spiders, preparing yo pounce on their prey. As they dropped down to the ground with a practiced grace, they landed in formation in front of the Grand Secretariat.

The second loud noise was the door behind them. With a long groan of metal, it was drowned out further by the massive doors sealing shut.

Team Avatar and the Freedom Fighters were trapped inside with the Dai Li.

"Long Feng's eyes scanned the unlikely group of exciters of the public.

The children slipped into fighting stances.

His gaze fell on one in particular, a newcomer that the Dai Li reported to him. A second waterbender. He wasn't concerned, however, one sxtra manipulator of water would do nothing to alter his and his men's advantage here. His snake-like gaze returned to the bald, airbending monk.

"Let us negotiate, Avatar."

--

A/N: The next chapter is where canon will begin to diverge. The chapters up to now were mostly set up. Along with the alterations come the next chapter, Korra's presence will take more of a front seat along with the others. 'Till next chapter,

Exigence