"I've read about this swamp," Kuvira said, "they say it's one big tree. I don't think it'll miss having some it's edges removed." She turned and smiled at Baatar from the train platform on the edge of foggy bottom swamp.
He said, bending down to examine a vine, "We only need a small piece. We still have to figure out if this is going to work. If everything turns out well or better than expected, we'll be back here again."
They harvested a vine and brought it back onto the train. Using metalbending, Kuvira created a caboose car on the train for Baatar to work and have his own office. She wanted the spirit batter to be done by the time Prince Wu was supposed to be crowned King Wu of the earth kingdom, so he went to work immediately.
Days later, well on their way to Ba Sing Se, Miski opened a jar of ink to begin writing for Kuvira and BOOM! The entire train shook violently. The ink flew across Kuvira's body and up her face. She gave her an unimpressed look, "Oh, sorry," Miski said, "let me just clean that up for you." She used waterbending to put the ink back into the jar. "What happened?"
"We're about to find out," Kuvira said as she headed toward the back of the train.
When they reached the caboose, people were thrown in every direction. Baatar struggled to his feet, tossing his hair out of his face. He fixed his glasses as he looked around at the devastation. A massive hole had ripped through the back of the train, causing a wind tunnel effect inside the cabin.
"What happened?" Kuvira asked, "Are we under attack?"
"No," Baatar answered, near hysterical, "the spirit battery exploded and shot a huge beam of energy in that direction!" He gestured to the hole.
The assistant asked, "Wasn't there a mountain behind us a second ago?"
"Yes," he answered, shaking, "there was!"
Kuvira looked over at the battery and the damage carefully. She then turned to Baatar and asked, "Can this be turned into a weapon?"
Baatar said nervously, "Uh, maybe...why?"
She smiled and marveled at the hole. Then, her face suddenly twisted to horror as she gasped. Bolin walked in and asked, "What's going on?"
"Giant spirit monster!" Kuvira said, pointing at it.
"Where?" Miski asked.
A large black and white beast ran straight for the train. It had four legs, and two strange little arms coming out of its neck. They had no idea it was Hei Bei, the normally gentle panda spirit of the forest. At that moment it was a raging monster, ready to rip them and the train apart.
Hei Bei revealed itself to everyone else. It jumped and landed on what was left of the back of The Iron Maiden.
Bolin shouted, "What is that thing!?"
"A spirit we really shouldn't have pissed off!" Baatar yelled, running for his life.
Hei Bei tore open the top of the caboose. Kuvira yelled, "Give me back my train!" She used metalbending to force it out of its mouth and closed the top over again.
Meanwhile, Miski opened a window and leaned out of the train. She took the water out of the grass to cover the top of the train with ice. With his feet stuck, Hei Bei roared. The trees and vegetation alongside them disappeared with its spirit breath.
"Uh," she asked, terrified, "where did all that go?"
"We're not about to find out," Kuvira answered, "Stoke the engine! Full steam ahead!" She used metal bending to shake the entire car, hoping to dislodge the spirit, but it was to no avail.
Bolin leaned out the side of the train and created a massive pile of rocks and attacked Hei Bei with it. It did nothing.
As the train's speed picked up, Hei Bei couldn't keep up. It fell off of the train and rolled off to the side. The train disappeared around a mountain before the spirit breath could catch up to them. Kuvira sighed with relief as everyone caught their breaths.
"Okay," Baatar said, walking back over to the spirit battery, "I'm taking that as a sign from the universe to shut down this project."
Kuvira replied, "No you're not." Everyone turned to face her in shock. "The explosion this thing caused was the most incredible display of power ever! We can't walk away from that."
"You just saw what this thing did," Baatar said, "a giant angry spirit nearly killed us all! This thing destroyed an entire mountain! If that explosion had blown up toward front of the train instead of the back, it would have killed at least half the crew, maybe even you!" He walked up to her and said, "I don't want you to get hurt." He hugged her. She half reciprocated.
"But it didn't," she said, pulling away from him, "I'm fine. You're fine. We fought and angry spirit beast and won!"
He said, "No you fought off an angry spirit beast, I ran for my life."
"I too want it on the record that I to ran away like a coward," his assistant said, putting his hand up and then glancing at Miski. She shrugged and pulled out her paper and ink to write it down.
Bolin said, "Yeah we almost lost to that thing, whatever kind of monster that was. I couldn't even tell."
Kuvira said, "We're carrying on with the project." She dusted herself off. "We're also stopping at the next station and repairing all the damage it caused." On que, a cracked part of the ceiling fell next to her. When she left everyone looked at each other in shock.
"She can't be serious," one of the crewmembers said.
"I'll talk to her later," Baatar said, "once we've all had the chance to calm down."
"What a day," Baatar said, walking into their cabin hours later, "so much excitement. I think the adrenalin has finally worn off."
Kuvira replied, "I'd say so too." She used metalbending to get rid of the metal parts of her uniform. She had it specifically designed so no kidnappers could ever take her metal away from her again, it had to be taken off with metalbending.
"Good," he said, "because I've spent the last two hours thinking about your decision with the project. Have you been thinking about it too?" He massaged the back of her neck and shoulders.
"Of course," she said, "actually, I'm glad you walked in here now. Once you've made the weapon is more precise, I want at least 100 of our best soldiers to each have one."
Baatar's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "100 spirit weapons from a machine we haven't even figured out yet?" He stopped massaging her.
She confessed, "Actually I'd like everyone to have one, but I feel that's too unrealistic in such a short time span."
"Kuvira," he explained concisely, "it's completely unrealistic forever. There's no way to control that energy. I know, I've tried! The only thing I've figured out for sure is that the energy does whatever it wants."
"The impossible has been done before, Baatar," she replied, completely unconvinced, "and we'll do it again."
He looked her in the eye. She was determined, and he knew he long enough to know there was no way she was going to back down after being so determined to get what she wanted. He said, "How is creating a weapon supposed to help Republic City? I thought you wanted them to have clean energy."
"We can focus on clean energy later, once it's under our control," she explained, "Baatar, no one is going to take us seriously when we announce our true intentions. Over half of the regions we've united didn't sign on until we could prove our worth to them. I know what the world leaders see when they look at me, a naive little girl who was given the power to do what she wants from outside sources. We have to have something backing up our words, something to prove to other nations we're not to be messed with. Why not have an awesome force behind what we're doing?"
Baatar hesitated. "I don't know about this, that power isn't controllable, Kuvira."
Kuvira walked over to bed and confessed, "My own parents used to say the same thing about me. Uncontrollable. Not worth the trouble. Too much to deal with." The words hurt as she said them, and she remembered different adults echoing the same sentiment over the years.
He sat beside her and said, "That's different, Kuvira, you're a person. I can talk to you, and an earthbending master helped you control your abilities. I can't talk to the machine you want me to build. I can't help it through a difficult time." He caressed her hair.
"I still think we should use the power that vine possess," she said, turning to face him, "we have to make sure the earth empire is a force to be reconned with."
Baatar tried to hide his disappointment in not getting through to her. He tried every angle, and he had one more he hoped would work. "The real problem here is," he said, choosing his words carefully, "I don't think anyone can handle a weapon like that responsibly. Look at the devastation it caused by accident. Could you imagine 100 people harnessing that kind of power? I know I can't. It would be more than irresponsible to have so many people attempt to hold that power, only to hurt themselves or worse." He rubbed her upper back again, hoping she would hear what he was saying. "It would be unbecoming of a good leader."
She stopped and thought about what he said. "You're right, maybe we shouldn't trust so many people with it," just as he nearly breathed in relief she added, "I'll be the only one to wield it. Make one weapon specially fitted for me alone."
"You?" he asked, "But what if you blow up? I don't want to lose you." He hugged her.
She stayed cradled in his arms and said, "I don't want to blow up either, so I won't." She pulled away and caressed his face, "I promise."
"I don't think it works like that, Kuvira," Baatar said.
"Then make it work like that," she said, "I believe in you, Baatar. I love you."
"I love you too," he replied, smiling at her, desperate to hide the fact that he knew this was a bad idea.
