Asami crouched behind a curtain at the west balcony and scanned the stadium. The seats were filled, both with citizens and uniformed soldiers. Amon stood on the opposite balcony flanked by four of his personal guard. He spread his arms wide as he addressed the cheering crowd, booming voice asserting declarations of victory and progress.
The Equalist mask clung to her face. Asami ran her thumb under the strap of the goggles and sighed. She could see Korra getting into position- the Avatar ran across the highest floors, little plumes of flame gong unnoticed as she jumped through a maintenance hatch.
_
"So Amon is a bloodbender." Asami sat on the floor. "Not only that, he can use his abilities without the full moon. His whole 'revolution' is built around demonizing benders, if the public were to find out-"
"Everyone would turn against him!" Korra grinned, "Asami you're a genius."
The engineer held up her hands. "Not quite, we can't just tell everyone." She sighed, "Amon is charismatic and he'd find a way around it, or worse- no one would believe us at all."
Korra thought for a moment. "Tarrlok, didn't you say he was at the arena?"
Tarrlok frowned at them from behind the bars of his cage. "Yes, but didn't you hear me? You can't-"
The Avatar gave him a look and he shut his mouth. "They never drain the pool under the pro-bending ring, they just cover it when the stadium is used for other stuff." Korra knelt in front of Asami, sketching her finger along the floorboards. "That's too big of a resource for any waterbender to ignore."
"...And if we forced the fight to happen in the arena, there'd be more than enough witnesses." the engineer's eyes lit up, "that might just work."
_
It was almost time. She swallowed, there were so many people here. Obviously that was what they wanted, but if anyone got hurt- Asami shook her head. That wouldn't happen. The arena was huge, with raised seating for the exact purpose of preventing crowd injuries. She refused to even consider the possibility.
Asami tensed, recognizing Korra's figure as she appeared behind Amon. The engineer could feel waves of heat rolling through her body. There was no time to wait out another chi block. Smoke poured from her mouth as she pulled off her gloves. This was it.
Over on the other balcony, Korra spun and sent a burst of fire from her kick. The explosive force rocketed out of the enclosed space and sent Amon flying. He twisted in the air, angling himself until he landed perfectly in the center of the arena.
Asami didn't wait for anyone to process the explosion. She jumped the railing and fell until her feet hit the back of cushioned seats. Shouts rippled through the crowd as she vaulted over the last few rows and rolled when she hit the ground.
Fire pushed to be free from her skin. The engineer was up in an instant. Barely a few meters away stood Amon, and Korra-
Shit. Korra was still on the balcony. Amon's second in command had reacted faster than the other guards and the Lieutenant was making it his personal mission to stop the Avatar from getting into the arena.
Of course Amon remained the pinnacle of composure. He looked up to where Korra was fighting then slowly turned his gaze back to Asami. She dropped into a defensive stance.
"Ah, so the Avatar finally makes an appearance." Amon's voice drowned out everything in the stadium. Clearly he had a second microphone built into his mask. "Attacking me like a coward, trying to silence me when all I speak is the truth. Is this the best the bending world has to offer?" He spread his arms wide, encouraging his audience as they grew more frenzied.
His words took a moment to process and when they did Asami almost laughed- they really thought she was Korra. She fumbled with the Equalist mask that clung to her face like a second skin and tore it off, throwing it to the ground. There was something deeply satisfying about the way the stadium fell silent after that. Clearly a Sato coming to fight him didn't fit Amon's carefully crafted narrative.
Korra was still locked in combat with the Lieutenant. The close-quarters fighting style of a chi blocker was designed to hinder the wide, sweeping motions required to bend. The matchup was a nightmare for the Avatar, and with more Equalists on the way, it looked like Asami wasn't getting help anytime soon.
"Ms Sato, I must say I'm surprised." Amon tilted his head. "Your father will be disappointed to see you fighting on the wrong side of history."
Asami scowled. "My father can be as disappointed as he likes- I don't want anything to do with him."
"A shame, truly. But I suppose every child has their rebellious phase."
Her fists clenched. A rebellious phase? The dismissive tone made her blood boil, he wasn't even looking at her anymore. The mask turned towards Korra as he slowly, leisurely made his way towards the balcony. Amon was the face of everything wrong with her life and he didn't even have the decency to see her as a threat.
Asami stepped forward, unsteady with heat that rose in anticipation. The fire swelled and pushed and roared and really, why was she trying so hard to hold it back? Anger overtook fear and she shoved her arms out.
A wall of flame erupted out of the engineer's palms and cut the arena in half. Like a bowl of water. She tipped forward and chi tore itself from her body through the only outlet her stance would allow.
The move was simple, the sort of thing firebender children taught each other in the back of the classroom. It was clumsy and her form was off, but the inferno that arced out was larger than she'd ever seen.
Amon barely managed to dodge to the side. He was looking at her now, oh yes- they all were. The Equalist leader ran to escape the torrent of flame that pursued him in a circle around the arena. Asami was vaguely aware she was yelling. Firebenders were only ever supposed to use their chi in short bursts. Whatever this was, it felt huge and unfocused- too big for simple technique to control.
Even as he ran to the side, Amon was rapidly closing the gap between them. When her cone of fire closed to a small enough point he jumped, arcing over the blaze with the grace of a professional athlete. Asami stumbled away, narrowly avoiding his grasping hand as he reached for her face.
She yanked her arms up, cutting off the inferno as she tipped backward. Everything in the engineer was screaming at her to get in close and incapacitate him. But Amon was a better martial fighter than her, and even if she won- there were hundreds of Equalists already running to support their leader. This was a battle that had to be fought with bending, which meant fighting at range.
Asami ducked a punch and ran in the opposite direction. Golden flame twisted through her hair and pushed at the balls of her feet. Sweat rolled down her neck. Her body was rapidly becoming a furnace and every burst of fire only seemed to make it worse.
She needed to end this quickly. Attack in a way Amon couldn't dodge and hope Korra could handle the rest while she tried not to explode. Asami sprinted towards the edge of the arena and jumped, barely managing to grab the railings and haul herself up. Not stopping to reconsider, she launched herself off the new height and above Amon.
Twisting in midair the engineer swung her fist back. The momentum propelled the chi through her arm and out towards the colossal ball of fire forming in her hand. Spirits, that was a lot. More than enough to cover an inescapable area.
Amon's eyes widened and he threw up his hands. Asami jerked, frozen above the ground. Blood snapped into position and the rest of her body was forced to follow suit. It was horrifically painful. She grinned.
Checkmate.
Voices rippled through the stadium. Shouts, whispers, crying- confusion and anger. She'd been tuning it all out and now the noise came back tenfold. They'd done it.
But this was life, not chess- and people don't concede nicely when you outwit them. Amon stared around the stadium for a moment before whipping his head back to Asami. "You planned this."
She didn't speak, the defiance in her eyes said more than enough. Amon growled, clenched one hand into a fist and twisted something in the engineer. Blood spurted from her mouth and she let out a strangled gasp.
Korra was off the balcony and running, but she was on the other side of the stadium. Asami would be dead by the time Avatar reached her. The engineer's body twisted in the air, limbs contorting in ways they shouldn't.
She was dangerously close to passing out. Fire still surged in her core but without moving there was no way to release it. Everything burned. Asami needed to think but it was so hard; her chest thrummed like an overheated engine.
Oh- something clicked.
Her core was an engine, a battery. Engines didn't need to move; fire was already running through her body on a set course. Chi pathways weren't some uncontrollable bowl of water, they were ley-lines; pipes and circuits. Circuits ran by shutting off parts of the system until energy was focused where it needed to go. Her eyes closed, this really was her power.
Time seemed to slow down. Asami pulled the heat from her legs first, then her hands and arms. Her limbs cooled and fueled the rolling furnace in her chest. Firebending was about directing that power into a single point, even with a different method the principle hadn't changed. Her hands jerked and trembled- still under the control of Amon.
The head then. Asami opened her chi pathways and felt that burning, searing focus enter her mind. Bending was all curves and rounded edges, but not this- this was raw accuracy, burning lines of precision. She opened her eyes.
A single white, scorching ray shot from the engineer's forehead. The air around her superheated as Asami Sato- combustion bender- annihilated the Equalist leader.