Tempest – Chapter 3

Loose Ends

Eastern Region – Nanda Parbat – July 4th, 2010; 1:12AM

Jade spent most of her life fending for herself, whether from a ruthless abusive father figure or the dangers of the streets she ran through to escape him. After everything she had been through, she was as fearless as she was loyal, kneeling before the demon's head with her eyes focused on the stone temple platform they stood on. She spent nearly a decade as a part of the League of Shadows, so it came naturally to her to act as a weapon they could aim at anyone that needed discrete termination. Though sometimes she felt as though she enjoyed it a bit too much. She knelt before Ra's Al Ghul whom stood amongst his most powerful disciple who happened to be the deadliest mercenary on Earth. The elder sage kept his hands hidden within the sleeves of his ancient robe, walking down the steps of the temple to stand before the dark-haired woman, whose face was hidden entirely by a white and red mask. The grin plastered over the mask was misleading, finding her to be one of the coldest and most efficient of his female assassins. For now, at least.

Ra's looked down on her as he spoke to her with an alluring voice, taking his index finger and pressing up against her chin, pulling her gaze upwards towards his own. His crimson eyes would almost swirl as she caught sight of them, capturing her attention as she immediately found herself mesmerized. She wasn't sure how long she had been influenced by the magic artifact that hung around his neck, the ruby-red jewel sparkled in the moonlight, contrasting against his green robes. Whenever he spoke to her with that glimmering diamond projecting red light over her face, she lost her free will in favor of blind obedience. Jade was already indoctrinated into the league prior to ever meeting Ra's but, two or three years prior he sauntered into their temple and… then she would follow his every order along with her entire dojo class. Using their best students to mold into killers which he could dispatch on various missions. She had killed before the League of Shadows, so she knew it was always a part of her but, these past few years have been nothing but a fog to her, memories that would fade in and out in the wrong order.

"Listen to me closely, Cheshire," Ra's spoke up reaching down and holding up the shimmering ruby by the chain, dangling it in front of Jade's mask. The light encompassed her face completely as it caught her full attention immediately, the mercenary standing behind him scoffed, his mask was orange and black with only a single eyehole, watching someone call themselves a professional and still be hypnotized by such magic? It was downright pathetic. Jade was putty in his hands as Ra's pulled a tablet phone device from within his robe, "You have two targets this time, my pet, one of them is a powerful new meta-human and the other a skilled archer to which you should be quite familiar." The screen was projecting an image of the docks where he would usually be smuggling large quantities of narcotics into the city through. Ra's swiped down on the screen, and she could see the images that scrolled by her tinted mask eye slits of a blonde wielding an emerald bow joined by a taller, tan woman putting a crater in an alleyway with just a stomp of her boots. "They are attempting to intervene in a colleague's business venture, you're going to be placed at the docks where the next shipment is likely to be targeted, ensure that they will not be a problem in the future, is that understood?" He turned and handed her the portable touchpad screen, she hesitated only for a second as she caught a closer look at the face of Artemis on the screen labeled under her next victim. She wanted to break free and scream but it was as though all of her resistance and mental fortitude had been drained away, she was so exhausted of being compliant and docile all the time, the only thing she wanted to do was cut his damned head off.

"Yes, Ra's Al Ghul…" Jade responded through clenched teeth, without another word she grabbed the pad from him and bowed once more in his direction before turning around, walking through a short garden path on her way towards a private fairy which would take her from the remote island the temple was laid on, all the way to her hometown in Gotham City.

…

Gotham City – July 7th, 2010.

After joining her beautiful blonde friend for several more nights of patrolling the inner-city streets and beating down on criminal scum, the young Avatar found herself having a hard time staying asleep through the night. Plagued by strange visions that felt like memories but, she couldn't tell if they were even real or not, even visions of people she'd never met before.

Not wanting to wake or worry Artemis, she ignored the flashes of unfamiliar people and places that would pop into her head as she tried to fall asleep. Once she did manage to drift off into slumber though, she knew she was asleep but also felt incredibly lucid as well, in her memory-dream, she was sitting in a hut of some kind, and it was incredibly cold with piles of snow littered around the corners of the room. What was more perplexing was that she was sitting in a wheelchair for some reason which she also couldn't remember; the most concerning part of this 'dream' was that she couldn't move her legs, not even slightly, feeling bound to the chair itself. Korra was staring out a window from her wheelchair, she felt an unbelievable sadness welling up inside of her, the origin of said emotions also being unclear to her.

As she stared out at the drifting snow that danced in the morning sunlight around whatever hut she was in, she felt another presence in her mind, and suddenly it manifested as a silhouette that stood next to her chair. Korra glanced up and noticed that it looked just like her, completely shrouded in darkness aside from the white outlines of her body and the fact that it could stand.

"Do you blame yourself?" the voice asked with a deeper voice that wasn't her own, as though there were two people speaking in unison, or perhaps multiple peoples.

Korra looked back out at the snow, narrowing her eyes at the question without giving her attention to the shadowy figure still standing next to her, she hesitated before responding, "W-What?" she stuttered her answer out. She felt the paralysis growing across her body as images of a vortex of air around her head forcibly sucking out the oxygen from her lungs flashed briefly in her vision.

The figure knelt down next to her chair, putting a hand on her armrest, and leaning in a bit closer so that Korra could look into her own eyes, they were glowing in a way she had never seen before, shrouding her pupils in light, "Well, it's quite common for a patient in this situation to feel a sort of… guilt." It still sounded as though dozens of people were attempting to speak at once but, they all said the exact same thing, at the exact same time.

Still confused, she only responded with the first question that popped into her head, "What situation?" with no memory to speak of, the only situation she could recall would be her getting shot in the head and losing her memories.

The figure draped in darkness shifted her position, putting its hands on her knees which still felt numb to the touch, she watched as it leaned in closer to her, looking into her blue eyes with its own glowing white, "the accident." This echoed in her head, the words bringing back distant memories that she could have sworn she had lost; she battled an evil organization bent on breaking down society into pure anarchy and they poisoned her with a liquid metal which temporarily paralyzed her from the waist down.

She could see herself sitting in the wheelchair, surrounded by people who felt familiar but, still feeling totally helpless she quickly reached for her thighs, clenching whatever pair of pants she had on in the palm of her hand as tears slipped down her cheeks. The dream couldn't be just a dream because it just feels too real.

…

Shooting up in bed with a cold sweat, Korra immediately tossed the covers off of her, reaching for her legs to make certain that she could still feel them. The nightmare had been so incredibly vivid that she was afraid it might've been true in the midst of waking up. She wiped her brow and noticed the pools of sweat that drenched the mattress she laid in, glancing over at the twin bed across from hers where a long mop of blonde hair was strewn about over Artemis' face. Stepping out of bed and holding her head in discomfort, Korra stood up noticing the very real tears that were streaming over her face, how much of that was just a nightmare?

Korra walked over to the bathroom, turning on the light and looking in the mirror at her own sweaty reflection, feeling understandably gross, she reasoned to run her hand through the sink water. Quickly splashing the water into her own face, grabbing a towel from the rack above the toilet, she wiped her face which obscured her view of the mirror briefly.

She hung the rag back on the rack, glancing up at the mirror again, she was shocked by a sudden apparition that stood directly behind her with its hands on her shoulders, it being that silhouette version of herself. The surprise sent her stumbling back first into the door which creaked open in response, gasping heavily, she looked around but found nothing and nobody around.

These experiences frightened her more than she cared to admit, turning around again, she shut off the bathroom light. As she walked through the narrow corridor between the bathroom and the nightstand that separated their beds, Korra noticed how comfortable Artemis seemed as she slumbered peacefully. Feeling like a child, she didn't think she could fall back asleep by herself, so she resolved to approach the blonde's bunk, poking her once or twice in the shoulder.

Receiving no response aside from a moaned grumble, she whispered instead while giving her shoulder a light shove, "Artemis," she shouted in whisper, "Psst…"

"Huh? What?" Artemis just barely opened her eyes, looking up into Korra's bright blue pupils, they were the first things she noticed. "Korra? What's wrong?" she yawned and rubbed one of her eyes, pulling some of her hair out of her mouth.

Artemis couldn't really see much of anything in this darkness and was clouded between being asleep and awake, she couldn't see the quivering nor the fear in her eyes, "N-Nothing, really I just… is it okay if I slept with you? Just for tonight?"

Artemis shook herself a bit, sat up and noticed the dried tears that had obviously streaked down her cheeks at some point through the night, "Are you okay?" she asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

Korra chuckled as another tear rolled down her cheek at the same time, "I'm not totally sure but, I don't want to sleep alone," waiting for her response, Korra gave a small smile and wiped the tear away as Artemis simply shrugged and shifted her weight.

"Sure, hop in…" Pulling up her covers to make space on her bunk, she didn't think about the ramifications of having someone else in her bed until she felt Korra's warm skin press up against her arm.

She knew that they'd shared a few intimate moments in the past few days but, she wasn't expecting Korra to wrap her arms around her waist. Feeling her firm hands gently caressing against her hips, it made the archer blush a deep passionate red, though suddenly being very thankful that the room was void of light. At least she could be sure that even Korra wouldn't be able to see how satisfied this made her. Finally finding a position that was the most comfortable, nestling her face into Artemis' shoulder, "Thank you," she felt Korra's grip on her waist tighten just a bit as she said this.

…

Gotham City – July 8th, 2010.

Finally getting a good night's rest sleeping most of the night in Artemis' bed, it was the most peaceful she'd felt since she arrived in this new city. Korra bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, waiting for her roommate to finish up in the bathroom, needing badly to use the restroom at this point, "Artemis! What's the hold up!?" she shouted standing outside the door, awaiting an answer.

She quickly turned on the faucet to make it sound as though she was on her way out already, "Just a sec!" though she certainly wasn't.

The blonde hadn't necessarily been sleeping well either, if not because of the stress she received from knowing her Father was back in her life at some capacity or it was the guilt of knowing she was still holding on to the pills he gave her. Her eyes had bags under them, but it was nothing that a little makeup couldn't fix, she managed to get her hair back into a straight ponytail, she tied it up as she heard Korra knock a bit harder on the door to get her friends attention, "Are you okay?" the Avatar asked with a slightly concerned tone of voice.

"I'm fine!" Artemis shouted, opening the medicine cabinet where her pills were still sitting exactly where she had left them, if she were strong enough, she would have flushed them by now. But, part of her knew she was weak, succumbing to the inevitability that was the addiction and her return to it. As though she knew that everything would be okay so long as she had her Oxycodone in her pocket, she popped open the lid and let one or two slide out onto her phone screen. If she couldn't get to sleep tonight, then she just couldn't get to sleep, period. Using her debit card to crush the blue powder into a neat line, it took seconds to pull out a cut drinking straw from her pocket. Turning on the water and flushing the toilet at the same time as she would when her Mother was home through the day, drowning out the sound of the snorting she was about to do. She lowered her head and inhaled through her nose, shaking her head as a rush of dopamine and euphoria flooded her senses, every stressful thing in her life felt like it melted away in that moment as every muscle was numb to a certain degree. She quickly rubbed her nose and took a few inhales through the nostril she used, finding herself staring out into her own reflection. Feeling a bit disoriented at first, she regained her composure quickly enough.

Another few seconds went by, and another knock came at the door, bringing her back to her senses she realized she had been standing in front of the sink after taking her line for nearly two or three minutes now. Things were a bit blurry at first but, she rubbed her eyes and grabbed her phone, unlocking the door and, facing a gorgeous, toned elemental wrapped in nothing but a thin white towel. "What took you so long?" Korra giggled a bit as Artemis walked passed her, still feeling a little out of it, her senses just needed a few seconds to adjust.

"N-Nothing, just taking a few minutes to groom myself, this doesn't happen overnight, ya know?" The blonde gestured to her hair and outfit, before glided her fingers over Korra's exposed shoulders on her way out of the bathroom. This prompted her to giggle, especially as she felt a pair of soft lips pressing up against the nape of her neck, and every so slightly the giggle turned into a pleasant moan.

Artemis continued by rubbing Korra's shoulders, her skin was smooth to the touch almost daring her to continue layering her neck in sweet kisses. The opioid flowing through her system made every touch rush with a flood of dopamine, "I still have to take a shower, I know you don't want me to miss our plans tonight of all nights, do you?"

Korra presented a good point, the blonde placed one last smooch on her neck, closer to her chin, before stepping away and putting a hand on her lower back. As she walked into the bathroom, Artemis giggled and bit her bottom lip, taking the opportunity to spank her brown cheeks that poked out from the bottom of her towel.

Korra turned with a beet red heat creeping over the bridge of her nose, the blush spreading across her face as she looked into Artemis' lustful gaze sheepishly, "How many times have I told you not to do that!" Korra shouted jokingly, she would have flailed her arms like a child but, there was no need, already having backed into the bathroom again.

Just as she shut the door with a huff, the front doorknob jiggled with an audible clank as someone swung the door open casually; Artemis didn't hesitate to grab a knife from the kitchen-set and hide behind the door as the woman in a wheelchair rolled through the entrance. Without looking, Paula Crock kept her eyes on the mail in her hands and lap before announcing, "How many times have I taught you to be more careful than this? I could see you through the doorframe you know…" the blonde unfolded her arms, setting the knife down as she knelt down to give her mother a hug.

Paula suddenly heard the water running from the shower, prompting her to look up at her daughter for answers, "Who's here? Is it a boy?" she said almost too enthusiastically.

"No… its not a boy," Artemis muttered in response, she had never really been attracted to them that way, though she had her fair share of high school crushes. Unfortunately for them, Artemis had neglected to tell her mother the good news, though she wasn't really sure what to expect when Korra walked out of the bathroom sobbing wet, dressed in the long-sleeved grey cotton hoodie and a pair of jeans, "This is my friend… Korra, she's new in town and needed a place to stay and we have the spare bed so…" Artemis let her sentence trail off as Paula wheeled herself forward, holding her hand out with a casual smile.

"Nice to meet you, Korra, was it? Is that a foreign name, I don't recognize it at all," she questioned having been to dozens of countries across the world during her time as an assassin, never hearing a dialect where the name would be indigenous.

Korra looked towards the ceiling attempting to think of a good excuse as to why she had no idea what nationality could have picked such a name, "It's an original name, my mother wanted something unique…" she shrugged as Artemis gave her a short smile. "You have a lovely home, Paula," like most mothers, she had a hard time keeping from gossiping even when it wasn't very appropriate and about her own daughter.

Paula spoke up not noticing the looks her daughter kept giving her, "She could use a nice friend like you in her life, she struggled quite a bit after my accident," she knew how to keep up the lie that she'd been dancing around for years, that she simply slipped down a flight of stairs.

Korra raised a brow with a bit of confusion on her expression, for more reasons than one, "Well, I'm not just her friend…" glancing up at Artemis, the Avatar noticed her mortified expression of embarrassment as she shook her head as a sign for her to change the subject, "I'm her roommate! I've never had one of those before," trying her best to remain as nonchalant as she could, the blonde backed away from them, ducking into her room where she pulled a duffle bag out from under her bed.

Artemis swung the bag over her shoulder, turning the corner where she spotted her face in the medicine cabinet reflection, feeling the craving of the next high whispering in her ear. Ignoring the voices calling out to her, she shut the bathroom door suddenly exiting the bedroom and walking between Korra and her mother. "Where are you going, Artemis?" Paula asked with an almost concerned tone. "It's the almost the middle of the night."

"Exactly, we were going to go to the gym and work out… don't wait up," she smacked the side of her bag as she backed out the door. Korra began to follow her out unsure of how she should respond, not wanting to be left in her house without her.

"It was, uhm, very nice meeting you…"

As Artemis darted up the stairs rather than down them, Korra tried to question her about what just happened, the conversation was a bit weird given the visual signals the blonde kept sending, "What was-" the Avatar tried asking.

"Shh…" Artemis placed her index finger over her lips, turning to face Korra for just a second as they approached the roof access panel.

"Why are you shushing me?" Artemis turned and opened the door, pushing Korra by the shoulders out and closing it behind her.

"My mom has hearing aids, like really good ones… like illegally good ones," Artemis was still paranoid enough to turn and glance through the rooftop spinning on her heels to find Korra staring at her oddly, "So… my Mom might not know I'm gay, okay she definitely doesn't know I'm gay," this only prompted more questions than it answered.

Another confused expression crossed her face, narrowing her eyes and folding her arms, "Is that a big deal here?"

"Not for everyone but, a little bit… yea," it wasn't totally unusual to find out that a foreigner from another world didn't understand the issue with widespread homophobia that had only recently become acceptable in society at all.

Korra frowned, tucking her hands into her hoodie pockets, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make a scene then, I just…" she trailed off when Artemis intercepted the sentence anyways.

"No! No, you didn't do anything, it's me okay, I'm just terrified on how they'll react," Artemis ran her hands over her tightened pony-tail, almost starting to hyperventilate at the thought of having that conversation.

Korra placed her hand on her shoulder, comforting her and realigning the blonde's attention to herself, "You don't have to tell her, right? What are you doing?" she cut herself off as she watched Artemis pull out an apparatus to which extended into a compound bow.

"We're gonna zipline to the building across the block, that's how I sneak away from my Mom when I need to do my vigilante stuff, ya know?" Artemis seemed unusually rattled, usually far more composed even as she unzipped the duffle pulling out her quiver, her hands shook a bit.

As Artemis prepared to pull an arrow back on the drawstring of her bow, her perspective blurred and even doubled as she tried to focus her vision. Korra placed a hand on her extended arm, prompting her to lower it, "Or… I could just air-bend us over the street, without firing projectiles of any kind," she noticed the droplet of sweat forming on her brow, something was wrong with her, and it felt wrong to let her fire an arrow in her current condition. Maybe she was sick? Or just off her game? Korra had vigorously analyzed her new roommate throughout their encounters, and she had never seen her hand quake on the bow like that.

Artemis lowered the bow completely and disengaged it, as it compounded into a smaller device which she tossed back into the duffle, "Well, that's way less fun but, okay," seemingly relieved on some level that she didn't have to make that shot, Artemis was on board to be in the woman's arms as she propelled them off the building. "So, how do we do this?" she asked.

Korra didn't respond and instead scooped her legs out from underneath her, one hand under her knees and the other supporting her neck. "Like this," Artemis immediately felt the heat rising into her cheeks once again as she felt the firm grip on her leg. Korra sprinted for the edge before leaping off the five-story building, but instead of falling, they were rotating slowly; the wind supported them as they glided in each other's arms over the city street. Landing on the rooftop adjacent to them, Artemis dropped her bag as soon as her feet touched ground though, Korra was still looking down on her with narrowed eyes.

"You look out of sorts, you okay?"

Artemis was immediately defensive as her golden blonde hair started to splay a bit into her face, out of her smooth pony-tail, "I'm fine, really!" she adjusted herself and reached for her duffle bag, pulling out a round blue pill.

Korra noticed it and once again found herself narrowing her eyes, watching as she pulled out a bottle of water and popped it with no regard for the Avatar watching her three feet away. "What are those things?"

Artemis chuckled, hoping desperately that she wouldn't ask that question, yet going out of her way to take it right in front of her, "It's an allergy medication… that's all," Korra watched her regain her composure as she looked over the edge of the building.

"Okay…" It was an odd response but, she decided to let it slide as it clearly wasn't just for allergies, or her eyes wouldn't be so dilated. How did she know these things? How could someone with no memory be so observant without tipping her hand? Korra wanted to trust Artemis but, had she fired that arrow earlier, who knows where it would have landed. "We know when the next buy is going down, now all we have to do is wait for them to show at the docks to transport the girls…" Korra turned and found Artemis staring out at the city, muttering in response.

"Yea…" Artemis chuckled suddenly and turned to face her, "Before I couldn't even touch these guys but, now I have you… you're like a tank!" she exaggerated as she noted Korra's exceptional physique and super-human strength. "You can tear right through them, no mercy style!" clearly in her own fantasy, Korra took a step forward and looked over the city below as the cars and people made their way about their lives.

"Is that all I am to you?" Korra asked out loud to cut the tension that Artemis was too high to notice, "A weapon? A tank?" with a serious attitude Korra glared at the blonde guilting her into taking it back.

Artemis turned around and noticed the hurt and irritated expression on the Avatar's face, obviously concerned with her well-being, "No… No, of course not, I just meant that with you by my side…" she reached out and forced their hands to interlock, "We can take down these bad guys, crack some skulls."

Korra tore her hand back, "I thought the plan was to intercept the transport and free the women, why are you so fixated on kicking the hell out people?" using new words she'd learned mostly from the blonde in front of her, she had never been one to swear out of frustration but.

"I'm totally not! Why are you asking so many questions?! Let's just go, the meeting takes place in forty-five minutes," Artemis was not only off her game but, she was sweating profusely and looked like she might pass out. Still, she was invigorated and the adrenaline she felt kept her high stable.

Korra scoffed, turning around and reaching into the duffle and pulling out a pill bottle, orange and see through, "This isn't allergy medication, they're pain killers… why?" Korra posed the question.

Artemis stammered as she was too busy pacing to notice Korra's rummaging until it was too late, trying to explain herself, "You've been way off since this morning, and these pills could get someone killed if you start firing arrows on them." Posing a good point, Artemis defended herself.

"It's not what it looks like… the pills are just for-"

Korra rolled her eyes, "I don't care about the drugs, we can work that out later, you just lied to me right to my face; I cant do this with someone who I cant trust," pulling the hoodie up over her head, she air bent a wave of wind beneath her feet, lifting a few feet off the ground, "You can fight them on your own," using pressurized air she pushed herself up rapidly hundreds of feet, showing her true airbending prowess, dancing between buildings until she was out of sight.

Korra let a tear roll down her right cheek, sniffling a bit until she was on one of the tallest buildings in Gotham City, she landed on a stone gargoyle and tucked her knees up into her chest. Sobbing into her jeans, she didn't know how to process those feelings, it wasn't until she heard someone land behind her that she turned. One fist a blaze with orange flames and the tears glistening in the light, though all that was there was a man in a black armored suit. A symbol on his chest was grey and in the shape of a bat while the rest of his suit followed the theme of black and grey, "How did a girl like you get all the way up here?" the man asked genuinely, his voice was modified by a device that hid his true identity.

"I used my powers but, I got hurt really bad," rubbing her temple where the wound had healed well enough to hardly leave a scar, "And now I can't remember how to control them properly… not all the time at least," Korra explained as the man leapt down to take a seat next to her, prompting her to ask, "Who're you?"

He didn't say a word, pointing up at a symbol from a skylight with the matching insignia of the bat, indicating he was indeed the one they were signaling for. "Oh, wow, you're him…"

The Batman nodded, looking around and watching the city from such a vantage point allowed them both to share a different perspective, "Your chakras have been blocked." Without warning Batman struck Korra in the forehead with his knuckle, lightly enough to not knock her over before in quick succession using two fingers to tap directly over her heart. "You aren't a meta-human, you're something much more…" he finished by reaching out and placing his thumb against her forehead.

This might as well have knocked her unconscious, seeing hundreds of lifetimes flashing before her eyes, each one giving her more experience and more knowledge on her powers until finally reaching her own memories. Seeing her friends, family, and most importantly how exactly she got to this place, this Universe of differences. More lucid than she'd ever been, her eyes flashed white with a holy luminosity, rapidly absorbing every single memory from the day she was declared Avatar to her final fight with Kuvira and everything in between.

Korra gasped as the light faded and the Batman was gone, it had only been a few seconds real time so, his sudden vanishment was astounding to her still. All of her memories had returned, she could feel Raava's energy coursing through her as her eyes flashes so did a unique symbol across her torso that was so bright it shun through her clothes.

"It's nice to see you all again, I didn't think I ever would…" Korra chuckled with a short tear of joy, feeling the connections to her past lives resurfacing.

A bald man with a blue arrow tattooed across his scalp appeared in orange and yellow robes appeared before her, "I've said it before, when we reach our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change." Aang gave her a heartfelt smile as she felt dozens of others crowding her with joy to see that the lineage of the Avatar would continue.

As the others vanished, Aang took a seat next to Korra, he wasn't used to conversing with his future self but, he gave it his best shot, "I grew up with a lot of responsibility that I wasn't sure I was ready to face, but my friends needed me… the world needed me, and I'm sure this world needs you too," he glanced at Korra who matched his gaze. "My advice to you is to trust those who've been kind to you, understand their grievances, and reconcile… dividing doesn't always conquer." With that, Aang dissipated into a blue hue of energy, blowing away in the wind as Korra expected now.

…