Earth

Fire

Air

Water

Only the Avatar master of all four elements can bring balance, however, something unprecedented occurred, two Avatars exist at the same time. Wan and Korra, Wan, however, lost his memory and must relearn what it means to be the Avatar at this time and find who he is.

Book I: Air

Chapter IX: Skeletons in the Closet

"It is a glorious day, my Equalist brothers and sisters! Amon has torn down the tyrannical bending government! He has declared bending illegal, and he has the Dual Avatars on the run. Our great leader has a vision for the future. One day soon, bending will no longer exist and we will live in a world where everyone is finally equal! The United Forces are on their way right now to try and stop that dream. But we will prevail!" Hiroshi's fists go into the air and the crowd swells up, near the back three chi blockers, they walk towards a clump of bushes. The female earth bends the rock revealing the hole; each one jumps in and the woman closes it back. Wan pulls off his mask. "The nerve of that man," Wan hisses, Korra nods then adds on, "The Dual Avatars on the run. We're not running from anyone! Let's go back up there and knock some heads; they'll never know what hit 'em." Korra punches her own palms, the other avatar shakes his head, "No, we need to strike at the right time."

"Wan's right, General Iroh's coming with an entire fleet of battleships. Then Amon will be the one who's running."

"Yeah and soon this whole thing will be over."

Korra frowns at the two men, "I hate this 'being patient' stuff." Wan smiles a bit, "Hay me too, but we have to, it's the only way we're going to really win this fight." Korra sighs as they continue to walk through the tunnel to a hidden camp. Asami smiles as Bolin plays with Pabu, the women turn to see the trio approaching. Asami glares at Mako up and down, spitefully saying, "You were gone a while."

Wan awkwardly moves out of the non bender's range of fury as Mako rolls his eyes. "We were doing reconnaissance." Asami crosses her arms and turns away from the fire bender. "Whatever, you can have Korra if you want."

Korra does the same as Wan, backing away from Asami's wrath. Mako is startled for a moment, "What do you mean?" he asks. Asami rolls her eyes, "We're done. Go have Korra, seems you love her more than me."

"What? Look, can we talk about this later?" Mako rubs his temples, then looks at Asami who glares at him with anger.

"There is nothing to talk about. We. Are. Finished."

"Ouch." Wan mumbles to himself, Gommu then pops up unexpectedly between Wan and Korra, making the Dual Avatars nearly scream. "Welcome back! I hope you worked up an appetite, 'cause dinner is served."

Later on, the group is sitting in a circle with bowls in their hands. As Gommu pours stew into the empty bowls, Korra glances at the brown liquid with chunks, she still smiles but a bit awkwardly from the food. "Thanks so much for letting us hide out with you the past few days."

"Honored to oblige. My associates and I heartily oppose Amon's so-called 'Equalist' policies. We got benders and nonbenders living together down here, but do you see us fightin'? No siree; we've figured out how to harmoniously co-exist." Wan gives a gentle smile as he sips some of the stew, he is still for a moment his eyes bulge in shock. He gulps it down hard, fighting the urge to throw it up.

Bolin completely eats it up. "Mmmm. This is the best-tasting street gruel I've ever had. Seriously!"

"I culled it from the finest dumpsters the city has to offer!" Gommu smiles, Wan runs off, his stomach can't help but rumble, meanwhile, Asami spits it out and places it on the ground. Pabu begins to eat it.


The next morning, Dual team Avatar waits outside of the drainage pipe; Bolin scans the area with the telescope. Wan crosses his arms waiting as the wind blows his hair. "Once the United Forces arrive, we need to be ready to help in any way we can," Korra says. Mako spots a few battleships, "They're here!" Bolin rushes to put the telescope back on his eye. Wan squints his eyes, as he scans for any weapons. Wan ponders for a moment, he is, well... confused.

"Wait a second, where are the Equalist airships?" Korra ponders as well, Wan strokes his goatee. "Wan, any theories?" Korra turns to her Avatar partner who is baffled by this. "I don't understand, they should fight back." Wan paces back and forward still thinking. "Please don't tell me they outwitted you," Mako says.

"I can't figure out their move okay?" Wan retorts as he continues to pace around in a circle and then a light bulb turns on, but not in a good way. "Oh no."

"What's an 'Oh no'?" Korra says nervously. "They must have planned this perfectly, if they have Hiroshi on their side then-" the team hears a buzzing sound, Wan sighs exasperatedly- behind the skyscrapers is a group of airplanes. Wan throws his hands up. "How does this man find the time to invent this!?"

The planes drop bombs on the ships, bombarding them all over, Korra rushes to the water and dives in. Wan air bends a cloud under his feet to help in the sky. Wan fire bends at the wings of the planes forcing them to crash into the water, Korra meanwhile water bends a massive waterspout and bends out large ice spikes to take a plane down, but the damaged plane hits Korra, Wan hears her scream and rushes down to catch her. They both end up falling in the water by a bomb that was thrown in the water, lucky for the dual avatars they make it out. They both emerge and swim towards a nearby ship which is also being destroyed with bombs. General Iroh II falls, crashing into the water, Korra and Wan grab him on each side and swim him to safety. The man coughs and looks up. "We gotcha, don't worry," Wan says. Iroh smiles weakly, "Dual Avatars? You saved my life. Thank you." Korra and Wan water bend away from the wreck.

Later on, Korra heals the general's wound. "I was prepared to deal with Sato's mecha tanks, but not these new high-speed aircraft," he mentions. Wan crosses his arms. "I didn't expect that either," Korra closes her eyes as she finishes ,"Every time we think we have an advantage, Amon outsmarts us."

"No matter what our plan is, he always has a better one," Bolin adds; Wan simply nods in agreement. "Amon is winning so far, but we're not out of the fight yet," Iroh says confidently, as he stands up holding his wound. "The second wave of reinforcements is on the way, but I need to warn them. Do you still have a way to get a message out?" Korra winks, grinning, "I know the perfect man."

Gommu begins to set up the telegraph message, behind him is Dual Team Avatar and Iroh. "And who is the recipient of this top-secret message?"

"Commander Bumi. The second division of the United Forces," Iroh replies. Korra glances at Iroh, "Tenzin's brother?" Gommu stretches his forearms and cracks his fingers, Iroh nods. "Yes, a bit of a wild man, but the bravest commander you'll ever meet."

"Tenzin's brother...wild? That's not what I expected but alright," Wan closes his eyes, shrugging, "Ready, sir." Gommu taps the telegraph as Iroh speaks, "Fleet ambushed and destroyed by Equalist aircraft. Retreat to Red Sand Island until my signal. Do not approach the city until you receive the all-clear." Gommu finishes the telegram. Iroh pulls out a Republic City Map and places it on the table.

"Now comes the hard part. We need to ground those aircrafts. Otherwise, Bumi's fleet will never be able to retake the city."

Mako points near the mountains. "They flew in from this direction. The airfield must be somewhere over this mountain range." Wan and Korra glance at each other. "Everyone get ready, we leave at dawn." The group leaves, Asami lingers, then she looks up bitterly saying, "It's time to face my father." She then follows behind them, Korra and Wan stop. "Wait, I'm sorry, but we're not going with you tomorrow." Korra says, "We are sick and tired of Amon playing cat and mouse with us, we should end this on our terms."

"We've already talked about it" Wan adds, as he looks at the team, "We need to do this alone."

"That's not a good plan. We need to stick together," Iroh argues.

"I'm not waiting for him to hunt us down. Our guts tell me it's time to end this, on our terms." Korra retorts.

"Korra, Wan, this is not a mission you two should be handling alone."

"They won't be alone, I'm coming with them," Mako declares to Korra and Wan's shock, Iroh puts his hand on his chin in deep thought. "Hmm ... My grandfather would respect the Avatar's instinct. So will I." Wan smiles and bows, "Thank you."


The sun rises above the horizon once more, Wan changes to his equalist gear, pulling the glove, his nerves are wild but the amnesic avatar keeps his cool. Today is the day that he'll fight back. He watches everyone say their goodbyes, unsure if it's their last. Wan says goodbye as well. Asami, Bolin, Iroh, Naga, and Pabu go their separate ways while the trio go theirs. The Trio swim underwater with an added water bubble thanks to Korra, they arrive on the shores of air temple island; they put on their masks and climb up the rocky shores. They see an equalist airship that Amon boards. "There he is," Wan mumbles.

"We need to get into the temple. Then, when he returns," Mako says.

"We ambush him," Korra finishes. They walk towards the temple but they stop when they hear a voice behind them. "What are you three doing here?" Wan turns his head to see Lieutenant and chuckles a bit, "We just got transferred, sorry if we alarmed you."

"Well, you're all getting transferred again. Amon wants extra security at the Arena today."

"Ah! the Arena, sorry I have a horrible memory, but what is that again?"

"The rally," Lieutenant says annoyed. Wan points his finger at the man. "Right!" Korra interrupts Wan, then she bows, "We'll be there, sir." Lieutenant walks away and Korra arm bumps Wan, who winces. Korra whispers, "There's another way in." The three sneak away and walk to another part of the island, Korra lifts a wooden panel on a wall and they climb in. "How do you know this, yet I don't?" Wan asks with a sassy undertone. Korra sighs, "Maybe because you don't explore enough. Let's hide in the attic." They climb up through the attic's trapdoor, Wan is the one who comes out first, once he turns his head, he says, "You've got to be kidding."

Tarrlok is sitting behind the bars, his hair all over the place, the rest crawl and out Korra's eyes widen "Tarrlok?" The three take off their masks, Wan huffs, now officially done with nearly everything. "I don't suppose you're here to rescue me," Tarrlok says. Wan rolls his eyes as he says, "Well we had no idea that you were here."

"Are there other prisoners on the island?" Korra asks, Tarrlok simply shakes his head. "I'm the only one." Wan puts his hands out, waving his arms saying in a sarcastic tone. "What makes you so special?" Tarrlok lifts his head up and replies, "I'm Amon's brother."

Wan's jaw drops, Korra gasps at this reveal. "Amon is from the Northern Water Tribe, he's a waterbender and a bloodbender, just like I was."

"How do you know exactly? For all we know you could be lying. You have a very long track record for it," Wan retorts, pointing at him accusingly. Tarrlok sighs, "His blood bending, it felt exactly like his."

"So, how did a bender become the most anti-bending person in the world?"

"It all began with my father, Yakone. With the help of his former gang member, he escaped prison and underwent surgery to change his appearance. He assumed a new identity and settled down in the Northern Water Tribe. That's where he met my mother, a warm, caring woman. Before long, they started a family together. Amon was the firstborn, under the name Noatak. I was born three years later. Noatak was a good-natured kid, always looking out for me. Those were the good years. Before my brother and I discovered we were waterbenders. At first we were excited by our new abilities, but our training brought out a different side of my father. Even back then, my brother wanted everyone to be treated fairly and equally. When I was seven, my father took me and Noatak on a hunting trip far away from our home. He told us his true identity was Yakone, Republic City's most notorious crime boss, and that he was once a bloodbender of rare skill."

Tarrlok goes on, "The good days were behind us from that moment, Every full moon, our father took us on another supposed "hunting trip," where he secretly trained us in bloodbending. We kept the truth from my mother. A few years later, my father taught us to bloodbend anytime, without the need for the full moon. We practiced constantly, and I hated every minute of it. I had no stomach for manipulating helpless animals. My brother, however, seemed to revel in this newfound power. He was a prodigy, mastering my father's psychic bloodbending technique by the time he was fourteen. Even though Noatak was my father's favorite, it wasn't any easier for him. He carried the burden of all Yakone's expectations and demands. Something changed in Noatak over the years; the loving brother I once knew became cold and detached. Our father pushed us to extremes, and one day, he made us bloodbend each other."

"My brother ran away, My father and I searched for days, but we never found a sign of Noatak. We thought he perished in that storm. My mother was never the same after the loss of my brother. My father stopped training me. With Noatak gone, his hopes for revenge withered. And he passed away, a few years later," Tarrlok finishes. Wan is speechless, he has no words to say at that moment. Korra is the same but she manages to say something, "That's one of the saddest stories I've ever heard."

"Avatar Korra, Avatar Wan, I am truly sorry for all that I did to you both. I thought I was better than my father, but his ghost still shaped me. I became a soldier of revenge, just like he wanted me to be. And so did my brother. The revolution may be built on a lie, but I think Amon truly believes bending is the source of all evil in the world."

"I forgive you, but I won't forget," Wan says, a bit sternly," You may have a sad story but that should not be an excuse for your actions."

"That, I can understand."

"So, he somehow uses bloodbending to take people's bending," Korra ponders. "I don't know how he does it, but then again, I've never encountered a bender as strong as Noatak," Tarrlok says. "Welp, so much for the ambush plan, but I've got something better," Wan says, with a sly smile on his face. "All this time, he's been lying about spirits and his past, but now that we know the truth, we can call him out on it."

"At the rally," Mako adds on, making Korra smile with glee. "We could take away his true power!"

"And the revolution is over," Wan finishes, then he turns to Tarrlok. "Thank you, your help really changed things." Tarrlok simply nods, Mako starts to leave but Wan stops him. "We can't just leave him here."

Tarrlok stands for the first time within his cage. "Go, Amon can't know that anyone spoke with me." He grabs the cell bars. "Defeat him. Put an end to this sad story."

The dual avatars nod, then they run towards the trap door and close it.