When Lin came back Opal and I started getting ready to leave. I'd already filled up a water pouch and snapped it onto my belt so that I'd have water with me wherever I went. Reaching up to my neck I touched at my mother's necklace, taking a deep breath before I nodded to Fang who shifted sizes so that he was much smaller and wouldn't take up so much room on Opal's bison, Juicy. Just as we'd climbed up, Bolin came towards us, looking at Opal with worry. "Where are you going?"
"We've got some family business to take care of." Opal informed him curtly, making Bolin sadden before he clasped his hands together earnestly, wanting to talk to Opal one more time before she left.
"Alright listen, before you go, I just want to tell you that I understand how you feel. I know there's nothing I could do or no big gesture that can make up for all my mistakes, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop trying to win you back, because…I love you." Unable to help but smile at the sweet scene below me, I rested my chin on my hand to observe.
"Thanks for saying all of that." Blushing at Bolin's words, Opal turned towards Bolin who had started to walk away. "You know, there is one thing you could do to win me back."
"What is it? Yes, I'll do anything!" Immediately eager to prove himself and win back Opal's favour, Bolin waited as I heard Lin click her tongue and roll her eyes so I flicked my hand at her to make her stay quiet. This was too adorable, how could she not be enjoying this?
"Come on a secret mission with us."
"Where to?"
"Zaofu." Opal informed him, giving Bolin a severe yet determined look as she faced him. "We're going to rescue my family." At first Bolin was taken aback but quickly recovered himself, nodding his head and accepting the task, wanting nothing more than to prove to his girlfriend that he was sincerely sorry about his mistakes. I had to hand it to Opal, I admired her for not just accepting Bolin back just with a single apology. I knew she was mad, but I also knew how she felt about Bolin. She wanted to forgive him, but she wouldn't let herself until Bolin had learned that he could only correct his mistake with action.
So that's how we all ended up flying to Zaofu together, Fang sleeping in my lap like a puppy. Bolin talked most of the way there, clearly getting on Lin's nerves but she held it in until finally, we were at Zaofu, or at least, as close as we can get. We landed on a mountain near to the city which was different than when I'd last seen it, and it took me a while to figure out that it was because the domes had been removed. "Alright, let's do this!" Bolin said enthusiastically as we all got off Juicy. "Saving the Beifongs and saving our love because I vow to repair the rift that has grown between us and make us whole again!" Such a goofball, gotta love him.
"You, zip it now. I had enough of your babble on the ride in." Nodding his head obediently Bolin then fell quiet as Opal hid her smirk of amusement. Fang and I stood at the edge of a vantage point on the mountain, looking over the city as Lin and the others joined us.
"Kuvira tore down all the domes. Why would she do that?" Using a spyglass to check out the city, Lin focused on it closely.
"She's got a whole battalion of troops stationed there. There's no way we'll be able to spot anything useful from here. We'll have to go in for a closer look."
"Don't bother." Hearing a familiar voice that I hadn't heard in over fifteen years, everybody turned quickly to see none other than Toph Beifong walking towards us from under the shade of the trees, looking small and ancient but still Toph. "All the prisoners have been moved." Lin started and stared at her mother, awkwardly greeting her as chief to which Toph did the same as Opal rushed to her with a bright smile.
"Grandma Toph!" She hugged her grandmother who smiled back at her fondly as I followed, also overjoyed to see Toph again.
"You were only up to my waist the last time we were together." She said before her head turned towards me. "Those feet sound heavier than when I last heard them. You've grown too, Kanna."
"Hey Auntie Toph, it's great to see you again! I can't believe you remember me." I said to her and quickly went in for a hug before she could reject me, never having been the hugging type but she let me loop my arms around her neck for a quick squeeze before I pulled back.
"I'm old, not senile. Not yet anyway. Of course I'd remember a little scamp like you." Toph said to me as Bolin started to freak out, flapping his hands around Toph as he squealed.
"Oh, man! Oh, I can't! This can't be happening!" He celebrated with glee as Lin face palmed herself in exasperation.
"What? Do you have to pee or something?" With her same no nonsense, standoffish attitude, Toph frowned as Bolin continued to freak out.
"No! Well, now maybe. You're my hero! My name is Bolin. I'm dating your granddaughter, I mean, kind of. I may have screwed that up, but that's why I'm here, and you're my hero! Oh, I said that. Can I have a hug too?" Unimpressed with Bolin's excessive excitement, Toph turned away from him.
"What's up with him?"
"He's an actor." Lin explained simply before focusing on her mother as Opal and I stood together, her hand on my shoulder as I had my arms folded and leaned into my hip. "So you already checked the city for Su? How did you know she was captured?"
"I've been living in the swamp and keeping watch on Zaofu through the vines." I'm guessing that was some spirit vine talk, though I didn't have a clue how that worked.
"Sure, okay, makes sense." Bolin frowned, looking at me for further explanation but I just shrugged, telling him I didn't have an answer for that one.
"By the time I got here, they were gone. I snooped around town and heard that they were taken away to some nearby prison camp." Now we all looked at Bolin and Opal asked him where the prison camp would be, which made him look down with shame as he answered that there was a factory and re-education centre not too far away from here, which made Toph frown again. "How do you know that?"
"Bolin used to work for Kuvira." Opal answered, making Toph pull a face.
"How did you end up dating the kind of dipstick who works for Kuvira?" I couldn't help it, I chuckled a little as I reached up to Fang to rub his chin as he sat down next to me, having left to go investigate the area for us.
"Used to!" Bolin quickly interjected, though I don't think anybody took any notice. Poor Bolin, the guy was trying his best.
"It's not his silver tongue, I can tell you that." One by one all the Beifongs started to walk away, making Bolin rush up to Opal in order to whisper to her.
"Please tell me this attitude isn't hereditary." Choosing not to answer him as if Opal hadn't yet decided on her own attitude, we all returned to Juicy who was panting heavily and snorting, snot and gunk flowing out of his nose which he licked at, making Toph grimace at him as Opal introduced him as Juicy.
"And I thought Appa was smelly. Why would you choose this leaky, nasty thing?"
"You don't choose your bison. He chooses you, and once he chooses you, you can't change. Believe me. I checked." Although she said that, I knew that Opal really loved her bison, even if he was a little snotty. With introductions done, we all got back into the saddle so that Juicy could fly us to where they were keeping Su and the others, though Bolin was clearly still extremely happy to have met Toph, though his face suddenly frowned in thought before he then looked at me.
"Wait, how come you know Toph already Kanna? Did you meet before?"
"I met Toph when I was really young. About four or five, just before I met Korra actually. She'd come on a visit to see my gran-gran and that's when I met Toph for the first time." I explained before thinking. "Actually, I think that makes me the only person in our generation who met everyone from the original Team Avatar. There's my gran-gran, obviously, Auntie Toph, Great Uncle Sokka, Uncle Zuko and I even met Grandpa Aang when I was a baby. I'm a few months older than Korra, so he was still alive when I was born. I have just one memory of him which I still remember. Aang is holding me and although it's a little fuzzy, I can see his face and his arrow tattoo." Bolin's jaw went slack.
"That…is…awesome! I can't believe it, you've met everybody from the original Team Avatar?! That's insane! You just become way cooler Kanna." I laughed freely as I brushed back my hair.
"Maybe don't say that to another girl when you're right next to your 'sort of' girlfriend." I pointed out to him so Bolin smiled feebly, looking hopefully at Opal who merely turned her face away with a huff. Those two. They're adorable, really, but I can't wait for Opal to forgive Bolin so that he doesn't have to look so beat up about himself. Bolin then made conversation with Lin and Toph, asking them how long it had been since they'd last seen each other but that was clearly the wrong topic to choose, since it only made Lin prickly towards Toph who was completely casual about not having seen her for twenty years, like it didn't even matter.
I guess I could understand why Lin walked around with that chip on her shoulder, and the atmosphere only got worse when Toph mentioned that she was surprised Lin was here to save Su considering they didn't get along. "Su and I finally worked out our old grievances." Lin ground out as Toph tucked her hands behind her head, smiling as she relaxed.
"Good, glad we can put all that behind us." Lin became even more pissed off at her mother.
"Right. We." Guess I wasn't the only one with a complicated family history. Juicy landed at Opal's direction behind a few columns of rock to keep us hidden, all of us jumping down and I reached out to Fang beside me, whispering for him to stay out of sight for now but to stay closed and let us know if anyone was coming. He dipped his head like a nod before following my instructions, his spiritual essence moving closer to me as Bolin spoke quietly.
"Okay, there's the factory." It looked like a military compound, with big warehouses and barbed wire fences, seriously. How could people not see just how suspicious this all was? Toph opened a metal wall which allowed us all to sneak inside, staying out of sight so that we wouldn't get spotted by a mecha-tank that strolled past us a few moments later, patrolling the area. "Whoa, that's one big…thing." Bolin breathed so I looked out from where I was hiding to take a look, wanting to see what had made him sound so freaked out only to see that we'd entered the warehouse where Kuvira's main weapon was being housed, and clearly it was finished.
Was this what Varrick had been building before? It looked like a gigantic cannon, I could only assume that they'd succeeded in harnessing the spirit vines' power and now, we were totally screwed. Behind me, Toph had stomped her foot down onto the ground to survey the area both above and below us, focusing with her eyes closed before she then spoke. "I think I know where they are. Feel that cavern a few stories down? It seems empty, but it's guarded by an awful lot of mech." Lin copied her mother by slamming her foot on the ground, feeling the open cavern below.
"Right. Why would you need soldiers guarding an empty cavern? They must have them in some kind of suspended prison, so they can't use their earth bending." Suddenly the doors began to slide open, opening up the front of the warehouse so I quickly signalled for Bolin and Opal to get down as I hid back, Toph putting her hand on my shoulder to listen and observe with her other senses as Kuvira along with a few mechs. She came to admire her new weapon, standing there and just observing it until Baatar Jr. walked towards her with a team of mechanics behind him.
"I didn't expect you until tomorrow." He said to Kuvira who didn't look towards her supposed fiancé but continued to admire her weapon.
"I just wanted to check in to make sure everything was on track. It looks wonderful."
"We've had a few minor malfunctions, but we should be ready for the test tomorrow." Kuvira turned around then and I caught a glimpse of a frown before she then looked to a woman who was standing with the mechanics.
"You've been working on this the entire time, Zhu Li. What do you think the problem is?" Zhu Li…where have I heard that name before? I'm pretty sure Bolin mentioned something of a Zhu Li who used to work for Varrick, but then she changed sides and chose to work for Kuvira instead. Was that her?
"It's a very complex machine. There are bound to be some bugs to work out." Zhu Li informed Kuvira who continued to tower over her rather intimidatingly.
"But you're doing everything you can to fix those, correct?"
"Of course, Your Eminence." Zhu Li said to a bow and on my shoulder, I felt Toph's hand twitch slightly.
"She's lying." I glanced behind me and caught sight of Bolin's happy face. Huh. Guess Zhu Li was playing a double cross game. Let's hope it works.
"Tell the troops and factory workers to attend tomorrow's demonstration. I want them all to witness this incredible new weapon in action." We heard Kuvira say before they all left, leaving us alone in the factory with the giant deadly weapon of mass destruction.
"Let's get out of here." Lin suggested, and we all agreed it wasn't a good idea to stick around. We left with Toph guiding us as she was able to feel everyone's movement all around her, and eventually we put the factory at a safe distance behind us where we could all hide for a while to figure out our next move.
"We should be thinking of a way to take out Kuvira while we have the chance." Opal said firmly as Bolin then suggested that destroying the cannon was also a good idea, since if that cannon reached Republic City then it would destroy everything.
"I didn't come to fight with Kuvira or destroy a cannon. I'm here to save my family." Toph announced rather stubbornly as she frowned. "It will take everything we have just to get out alive." At that, Bolin hummed in thought so I looked at him, seeing him with his hand on his chin.
"What's on your mind Bolin?"
"Kuvira wants every single one of her people to see the weapon test tomorrow, so the factory will be mostly empty then. That's our best chance to sneak in and free Su without being spotted." He reasoned, much to everyone's shock. Bolin really came up with that? Wow, our boy really was growing up.
"Good thinking, Bolin."
"Thanks. I kind of have a headache now." And then he's back. Still, at least we had a plan now. All we needed to do was camp out for the night, then strike tomorrow whilst everyone's distracted with the weapons test. How hard can it be?
