Earth

Fire

Air

Water

Only the Dual Avatars master of all four elements can bring balance to the world.

Book III: Change

Chapter III: In Harm's Way

Wan looks out at the airship as they approach Ba Sing Se below. Wan has heard many things about the city; being dead for ten thousand years he had to catch up with cites such as Omashu. The group watches as they approach the inner wall. "I wonder how many airbenders are down there?" Korra says joining Wan, while he looks down. The first avatar sighs, a bit uninterested, "Plenty from what I heard, it's a huge city."

"What's wrong?" Korra asks, knowing that something is bothering him. Wan closes his eyes, "This city, it reminds me too much of the lion turtle city I was banished from- the division between classes, the walls. It's the modern-day caste system." Wan admits as he looks at the lower rings, he can smell the stench but chooses to say nothing while everyone else closes their noses.

Wan shuts his eyes as the wind braces his hair and blows it over slightly. They finally make it to the most upper ring and the royal palace. The airship lands with a slight cloud of dust. Wan sighs, as they walk down the ramp. "Let's just get out of here as soon as possible," He mumbles.

As the party walks off from the ramp they are welcomed by a well-dressed Earth Kingdom man, who bows deeply, "Avatar Korra, Avatar Wan, Master Tenzin, it is a pleasure to welcome you and your party to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. I'm Grand Secretariat Gun."

Korra bows in respect, while Wan crosses his arms with an annoyed frown. "Thank you," Korra replies, Bolin strolls up with his hands in his pockets and Pabu on his shoulder with Naga close behind. Gun panics at this, "Oh no, the queen hates animals. You'll have to get them out of sight."

"The Queen hates Animals? Sounds like a real wonderful person," Wan sarcastically mumbles, Gun begins to walk away urging them to follow, "Come with me, hurry, I'll take you to your quarters." The group follows as Bolin lets Pabu into his shirt, Gun begins to explain the rules "Now, when you meet the queen make sure you bow low enough, that's very important, and don't look her in the eye, she can't stand that. If any food is served, don't eat before she eats. Well actually, I have to taste her food first, then she eats, then you can eat. Better yet, just don't eat."

Wan grunts, not only does this place sicken him but the queen sounds like the worst human to possibly exist. Walls and excessive rules, that's all he hears from this man. It's almost sad to him. The party finally makes it to the house, it's a two story house made of white marble with a golden roof top.

"And here we are!" Gun exclaims with his arms up. "Ooh, very swanky," Bolin says excitedly. "Wow, and I thought this place couldn't get more elitist," Wan scoffs. The party enters the house, looking around in the various rooms. Gun, after telling Bolin to keep Pabu out of sight, turns to Wan and Korra, "Dual Avatars, if you'll follow me. We don't want to keep Her Majesty waiting." Wan begrudgingly follows, Korra places her hand on his shoulder. "Wan, relax."

"How can I be when this place is dreadful?" Wan argues firmly.

"Look, I know this isn't the greatest city to you, but we are only going to be here for a short time and it's diplomatic. We need to find more airbenders and we have to do our part, please, for me Wan." Korra holds his hand, comforting the man, her voice sweet and calming to him. Wan blushes for a split second as he looks the other way, coughing. "I-I Ugh, yeah okay, but only for you. Since you're my partner and all," Wan stutters as he awkwardly looks away. Korra grins softly. They finally make it to where the Earth Queen is; she is screaming at the top of her lungs at the people below. Wan's sweetness soon turns to annoyance in a matter of seconds.

Gun bows as he introduces the dual Avatars, "Your Majesty, may I present The Dual Avatars, Avatar Korra and Avatar Wan."

The duo bows, as the queen looks at them. Only after turning away and screaming about how something isn't right does she finally acknowledge Wan and Korra, who glance at each other awkwardly. "So, I finally get a visit from the Dual Avatars. Let me guess, you want something." she mouths. Wan glares at her tone, Korra awkwardly responds to this, "Well, actually Your Majesty, I was hoping you could-" The earth queen cuts her off immediately, "I hardly think you're in a position to ask me for favors after everything the last Avatar did to the Earth Kingdom. He and Fire Lord Zuko took advantage of my father's weakness and stole our lands to make their own little empire. The United Republic is Earth Kingdom territory!" She yells.

"Sorry, but that's not exactly our problem," Wan mouths back, "We can't do anything about that." The earth queen does a double take at Wan, who just looks rather angry. The queen turns away looking at the courtyard, ignoring what Wan said at that moment. "What's left of my kingdom is falling to ruin. Roving bands of barbarians are raiding villages in the countryside. And now, some of my subjects are refusing to pay their taxes."

"I wonder why?" Wan lowly says, dismissively, but before Wan can add another insult, Korra intervenes quickly. "Sorry for your troubles but, Your Majesty, the reason for our visit is that we're trying to gather all of the new airbenders who are popping up in the Earth Kingdom, and we'd like your help finding the ones in Ba Sing Se."

"Airbenders in Ba Sing Se. Where did you hear that?"

Wan quickly notices the Queen's tone, it's as if she's hiding something. Wan looks at her with suspicion, as Korra continues to explain herself. "Before we left Republic City we got some reports."

The Queen hums, then replies with her hand up, "Hmm. Well, before I even consider helping you, I'll need you two to do something for me.I have a vault full of tax money sitting in a town south of here. Barbarians have stolen my past two shipments. Go collect my money and bring it back here."

Korra and Wan bow. "Yes, Your Majesty." Korra says. The Queen waves her hand, Gun quickly rushes them out of her sight as she continues to overview the garden reconstruction.


Wan huffs, crossing his arms as he looks out the window. "Are you sure we shouldn't have brought more people to collect the tax money?" Asami says while piloting the airship to where the earth queen assigned them. "Well, there will be guards, and I doubt anything would really happen," Korra responds. Wan scoffs at this whole ordeal, "The queen justs wants her stupid taxes so she can spend it for herself and the rich." Wan's eyes narrow, the two girls look at Wan and at each other. "I mean, Wan is right" Korra shrugs, "The queen doesn't seem like the kindest person."

"She expects taxes but then treats the people like garbage!?" Wan gets on his feet ranting, his face slowly turning red. "She has no regard for her people or her nation!"

"Wan, calm down." Korra puts a hand on his shoulder, "We have to buy our time." Wan takes a few deep breaths, and sits back down. They finally make it to the small town, it's small and a bit barren. Asami lands the airship, Wan decides he'd rather not get in that mess. "Get the tax money, I'll wait here."

Asami and Korra nod and understand, they walk out and the first avatar waits in the airship. Wan watches them from the window, after some commands the royal guards begin to load up the money, however, only until a group of bikers come and the truck stops. The bikers circle the two women, holding weapons. Wan grunts to himself, he now has to intervene. He quickly gets up and rushes outside.

"Step away from the gold, ladies, and you won't get hurt," The leader barbarian says. Korra clenches her fist replying with, "Sorry to disappoint you, but we're taking this gold back to Ba Sing Se."

"Aww, we love gals with spirit-"

"Is there room for one more?" Wan says, walking out of the air ship. "I don't want to fight, but you might wanna leave." The first avatar cracks his fists, the leader smirks, "Humph, looks like we got a tough guy!" he laughs, "Suit yourselves, gals and guys." The men begin to attack the trio, Wan easily evades one man, driving towards him and earthbending them out of the way, sending them flying, while Korra and Asami handle their own. The leader is defected and yells, "Retreat, retreat!" The men quickly go back on their motorcycles and rush off, not before yelling to the dual avatars, "You're on the wrong side of this fight, Dual Avatars. That gold belongs to the people, not the Queen!"

Wan sighs, closing his eyes, knowing that the man was right- the gold does belong to the people instead of her, but Wan has to play the part in order to get out of Ba Sing Se with new airbenders.


Meanwhile in the Northern Water Tribe, deep in the northern tundra, Eska and Desna walk in as the prison doors open by the white lotus. "Why didn't anyone tell us we have a secret prison we could have been throwing people in?" Eska mumbles, Desna sighs as he looks at his cuffs, "I'd like to put my tailor in here. He never gets my cuffs right. They're so ... crease-y." The lift comes up and the group walks into the elevator with Chief Tonraq and Lord Zuko. The lift lowers itself.

"We built this place secretly with your father to hold a very special prisoner. She's a powerful firebender named P'Li who can create explosions with her mind," Zuko explains. "Ironically, I hired a guy with a similar ability to kill the Avatar myself once."

Silence.

The two chiefs look at the old firebender, Tonraq just glances at Zuko. The old man glances back at Tonraq, "Didn't work." Eska then tries to be sympathetic but fails miserably, "Don't feel bad. I tried to kill Korra and Wan after they ruined my wedding. It happens." Tonraq glances at his niece in silence then sighs, "Let's just focus on keeping this woman in prison." The lift door opens, and Tonraq is the first to walk out followed by the rest of the foursome. They stand on an expandable metal bridge that slowly extends to the other side.

"The intense cold prevents her from firebending," Zuko once more explains as the metal bridge gets closer to the cell. "There's certainly no way anyone's breaking out of here.' Desna says, small clouds of puff form as he speaks. "That's what we thought about the other three prisons..." Zuko says as the bridge finally stops. P'Li simply smirks as she shivers, "There must be something exciting going on. No one interesting has visited me in thirteen years… He's out, isn't he? I'm feeling warmer already."

"You're not getting out, so don't get too excited," Tonraq argues.

"Oh, i doubt that...I have a feeling that he will… Soon."


Wan and Korra are out in the courtyard sparing with each other. Though aggressive, it is not meant to hurt one another. After they got the queen the money she simply lied to them, saying there were no airbenders in Ba Sing Se, which Wan knows is a lie due to the fact that almost a half of the nonbender population are now facts are too much to ignore.

Wan attacks, he punches a blast of air while Korra dodges. "That stupid insenstive Chou! I know she's lying to us!" Wan yells, "She's using us for her own selfish gain, you wanna know how I can tell?"

"How Wan?" Korra responds while attacking with fire. Wan with a circular motion of his hands dissipates the flames. "Because she's completely imcompetent."

"I know! She has that queeny smirk of hers! I can't believe we helped her. And she was yelling about her stupid garden!" Korra then mocks the Queen, her voice loud and hoarse, pointing, "NO! That's supposed to be an eil swan, not a turtle duck, you're beheaded!" Wan bursts out laughing at her impression, Korra continues with a smile, "Like don't you have better things to do, like ruling an entire country?"

"No wonder the earth kingdom is falling apart, because she's a tyrant screaming about flowers," Wan smirks. Pabu rushes up to them, chattering, the dual Avatars turn to see Mako and Bolin running toward them, panting. "Mako. Bolin. You're okay. Where have you been?" Wan asks, Bolin gasps for breath then begins his explanation, "We chased Kai. Train. Slipped away. Lower Ring. Slept in a trash pile. Met our family. Grandma tears. Mako scarf. Earth Queen. Lying." Bolin slumps onto the ground. Wan blinks for a second, "Okay, can I get a clearer explanation?" Wan turns to Mako.

"The Earth Queen's been secretly taking away airbenders and forcing them into her army." Mako explains, Wan breathes a bit of fire in his nostrils. "I knew it." Korra grunts as her anger begins to overtake her as well, "She was lying. I knew it! I swear, the next time I see her-"

"The Queen." Bolin whispers, Wan and Korra quickly turn to see the queen who is carried in a sedan with Gun, Pabu rushes into Bolin's shirt. "Good. You're here. Gun, tell them the news." The Queen says glaring at Gun who then speaks, "We've received word from the Yang Province. There have been reports of airbenders there."

"Wonderful, isn't it? It's the very thing you've both been looking for."

"Yay, Oh I am so gleeful for this, thank you," Wan sasses with a bit of a sarcastic undertone, "So, I assume you and your friends here will be leaving immediately." She suddenly begins to sneeze excessively, Wan has a small subtle smirk on his face, "Is there an animal in my presence?" Gun gasps nervously as the Queen begins to sneeze even more "N-no, Your Majesty. I would never allow an animal near you."

"If I find one within fifty feet of me, it's your head." The queen's attention turns back to the Dual Avatars, "Anyway, if you need any assistance packing, let Gun know. He'll see to it that you're on your way by evening."

"Uhh, this evening? I'm not sure about leaving so soon-" Korra starts, Wan quickly backs her up, saying, "Because our airship is having engine trouble. It'll take Asami until tomorrow to finish the repairs." The Queen looks at Wan, her lips thinning, then she closes her eyes as she sneezes, and Gun walks away. Korra smiles at Wan, "Always know when to back me up huh?"

"Always" Wan grins.


Tonraq and the chief twins wait outside of P'Li's prison. Druk lands with Zuko on top of the dragon. "Did you see Zaheer?" Tonraq asks, Zuko points behind him, "The only thing I saw was a snowstorm heading our way!" Tonraq looks at the snow storm ahead, his eyes glares at it.

"That's no snow storm, that's him."

Meanwhile inside the man made snow storm, Zaheer bends the air around the snowcat for cover, which inside is his group, Ming-Ha and Ghazan, who were recently freed from their prisons. The cover dissipates, and the new Airbender and the armless waterbender begin their attack. Tonraq attacks with blocks of ice saying, "I put you away once, Zaheer, and I'm going to do it again!"

Zaheer evades with ease, and sweeps Tonraq out. The chief twins attack Ming-Ha with ice shards but she knocks them out. She jumps up and breaks the ice on the ground, going under to get P'li. Zaheer takes care of the rest until P'li and Ming-Ha reach the surface, Druk breaths fire at the criminals but P'li tames the fire, she breathes deeply. With a smirk, she says, "I've never felt so warm." She then combust bends at the dragon, who flees at the attack. Ghazan defeats Lord Zuko with a couple of hits of rock that the older man can't deflect due to the cold.

Tonraq tries to attack one more time, but the fight easily ends by P'li's blasts. The red lotus make their escape back to the Snowcap. P'li kisses Zaheer passionately, "I thought I'd never see you again." Her voice wavers from being away from her love for so long. "I've never doubted it," Zaheer replies with a kiss on the cheek, Ghazan huffs as he continues to focus on driving. "Right now?"


Dual Team Avatar sits on a table inside their temporary house. Wan's legs bounce as he tries to calm himself, he knew the queen was hiding something. Tenzin is upset, Korra is upset, Wan on the other hand is furious…Wan closes his eyes as he hears the confrontation unfold, he remains silent as he begins to think.

Where could she be hiding them?

"Don't worry, Jinora. We'll find him. We just need to figure out where to look." Korra says to the young airbender, Wan then finally enters the conversation, "How about Lake Laogai?" The room turns to him, "I read that they used to train the Dai Li agents. It was like their secret fortress beneath the lake. Honestly one of the reasons why I hate Ba Sing Se."

Jinora smiles, "Wan's right! It's the perfect spot to hide airbenders, and I know how to check it out without being caught. I can project my spirit into it! It's not as powerful as it was during Harmonic Convergence, but if I can get close enough, I think I can do it."

"Well then, Let's go get Kai out. Let's get all the airbenders out." Wan announces, "Let's show this tyrant whose she's messing with."


After failing to find anything at Lake Laogai, and Jinora's new spiritual projection technique that's a mixture of high level airbending along with spiritual things, Wan is very surprised that the queen was actually smart enough to go under their noses, the airbenders are under the earth queen's temple that is currently under construction. "I can't believe Miss Queenie Smug Face had them right under our noses the whole time!" Korra is now fuming with anger as she paces left and right. "We have to get into that compound tonight and get those airbenders out," Tenzin adds. Bumi joins in with the plan, "All right. We go in under the cover of darkness: two small insertion teams and a third on the outside. Then all we'll need is twelve tons of blasting jelly, a medium-sized bulldozer and ... does anyone have a badgermole that knows Morse code?"

"Honestly, why is everyone having these ridiculous-" Wan and the group hears a knock on the door. Asami stands up quickly from her chair, irritated, "Oh great, not the Queen again."

"Everyone act natural, Bolin." Wan says, Bolin opens his shirt and Pabu jumps in, hiding the fire ferret. Tenzin opens the door and gasps, the police chief enters the building. "Lin?" Tenzin gasps as she walks in, turning to Tenzin. "We need to get Korra and Wan out of here immediately. Their lives are in danger." Wan blinks awkwardly as the dual avatars walk up to Tenzin and Lin, "What's going on?" The female avatar asks confused, the two adults glance at each other and back at the dual avatars. "I just got word from Lord Zuko and Tonraq. Zaheer and the others have escaped and Zaheer's an Airbender."

Korra's head begins to spin as she hears these sudden names and topics, "Zaheer? Lord Zuko, Dad?"

"No," Tenzin whispers, his silver eyes broaden, now horrified at this new revelation. Meanwhile, Wan begins to get even more confused and now irritated. "Wait- Hold up! Can you stop ignoring us please!" Wan yells, the two adults look at Wan, Wan pinches his nose taking long exhales then asks, "Okay, what in the world is going on? Who is Zaheer, what does he want?" Wan simmers down from his yelling earlier. Tenzin exchanges a small glance at Lin then walks up to the Dual Avatars, "Shortly after we found out Korra is the Avatar, Zaheer and three others attempted to kidnap her. Luckily, her father, Lord Zuko, Chief Sokka and I were there to stop them. We apprehended the criminals and locked them away in prisons designed to impair their abilities."

Korra glacees at Wan, in shock, "So that's why Tenzin and my dad sheltered me away."

"Now that there's two Avatars...Both of your lives are at risk…" Tenzin then looks at Wan. "Why were they trying to kidnap Korra?" Wan asks, almost protective of the female avatar. Lin answers this, "We spent thirteen years interrogating them, but they never broke. To this day, no one knows what their motive was. Now we need to get you two back to Republic City, where I can protect you both."

Wan downcasts for a moment, thinking, even if they sound dangerous, he and Korra are strong. They can take just about anything. Then he looks up, "No, We're not running from anything or anyone."

"Wan, you haven't been alive for quite some time, but these criminals are like nothing you've ever faced before," Lin argues. Wan then spits back, "I'm the first Avatar, I fought the embodiment of darkness and chaos twice and won. Whatever these criminals have, I can take. Me and Korra, can take. We don't need to be handled."

"Right," Korra joins in, "Look, I'm not a little kid anymore. You don't need to protect me or Wan. We came here for one thing: to find airbenders. And I'm not leaving without them."

Lin sighs then asks, "Fine. Let's get them and get out of here. Where are they?"

"Under the Earth Queen's Temple." Wan answers.


After successfully busting into a military compound, Wan opens the cell, waking the new airbenders, behind him are Korra, Tenzin and Bumi. Wan steps forward, "I'm Avatar Wan, and we're getting you all out of here." The group begins to whisper among themselves, Tenzin adds on trying to calm the frightened airbenders, "Everyone, please! You must stay calm and quiet if we want this to work."

A man's eyes widen slightly as he stands up, "We're sneaking out?" Korra nods slightly, "Yes, and we must leave now."

"We're going to get you away from the Earth Queen and out of the city." Tenzin assures them, the airbenders turn to each other and promptly run out of the cell. Except a man, who turns to Wan, Korra and Tenzin. "There's an airbender that's not here. His name is Kai. We need to get him." He explains, Tenzin nods, "We're already taking care of it."

Bumi kneels down, in his hand is a walkie-talkie, speaking in some type of code. Wan simply lets out a long sigh. "Let's just get out of this horrible city."

The trio and the airbenders run off into the courtyard, Wan glances around then turns to the rest, "Come on! It's clear." While running out, the Dai Li begins to surround them in front of the temple, and the agents move to the side to reveal the queen walking in front of them. "So, you've discovered my elite army. I see their loyalty still needs some work." She mouths off at the airbenders, Wan steps up, "You know, I've seen a lot of atrocious leaders but you are by far the worst- incompetent, lazy and comeptely tyrannical. These people have the freedom to choose what their path is, and you as a leader should respect that. People shouldn't be used as a weapon for your selfish gain!"

"How dare you, Avatar! These airbenders are Earth Kingdom citizens, and I am their queen. Taking them will constitute an act of war. If you and Avatar Korra disobey me, I will bear down on you with the entire force of my kingdom!" She hollers. Wan's eyes narrow at the Queen, "No, These people are going to choose their path and come with us, maybe you should be a more gracious leader than one that just screams about flowers." Wan sasses, "Maybe, you'll have a little more loyalty from your subjects, you hippo cow."

"Arrest them!" The Queen shrieks at the Dai Li while pointing her finger at Wan, she turns her back, walking away as the first row of Dai Li agents bend rock gloves towards Dual Team Avatar. The airbenders have had enough and begin bending a gust of air back at the Dai Li, who begin to be pushed back. The airship ladder above the temple pulls down the ladder. Wan joins in holding the agents off as everyone gets on the airship. Bumi then screams, as the last two gets in then himself, "Everyone's in. Let's go!"

The Dual Avatars and Tenzin attack the Agents who try to stop the escape, "We need to go now!" Wan screams as he airbends a Dai Li agent off of the building they were up top of. Tenzin digs to grab his whistle and blow it. "Oogi!" Tenzin calls out, the sky bison rushes in and the trio hops on. "Wait, where are the others?" Korra's eyes widen, as she sharply turns her head to look down as one rock hand tries to hit Korra. Wan instantly gets in control of the air bison, steering him away from the airship and back to where Mako, Bolin, Kai and Jinora are running away from the agents. Bolin earthbends him and the rest up to land on the sky bison's saddle. Wan quickly steers Oogi back, flying away.

The Queen enraged by this screams at a man, but a small bit of fur makes her sneeze excessively.


"Finally, free at last," Wan smiles, watching Oogi from the window of the airship. Now fully escaped, they are flying away from Ba Sing Se. Korra walks up now looking a bit dismayed. Wan turns to her, "You okay Kor?" The water tribe Avatar sighs, "Seems like wherever I go, I make a new enemy." Wan embraces her by the shoulder, trying his hardest to cheer her up. "But, we got each other."

"Yeah, we always do. I told Tenzin that we'll send more airbenders his way." Korra smiles softly at this, looking out of the window. Wan does the same.