Chapter One: Paradise Lost
Indigo skies gave way to the soft rising of the sun, as Zaofu is greeted with the coming of another new day.
A woman in her late thirties, wearing a robe over her nightgown, looked over to the great breadth of the sea from her balcony, realizing how beautiful it looked with the sun seemingly coming out from beneath it. It dawned on her that this day was a special one.
A man plainly dressed in his pajamas and a plain shirt, followed her towards the balcony, wiping his eyeglasses clean before wearing them. His arms wrapped around her body.
"Happy Anniversary, my sweet," the man greeted her with a kiss on her cheek.
"Thank you, Bataar. And to you, as well," the woman smiled and kissed him back, her hands guiding his around her waist.
"To think we'd live peacefully, even if the fates never deemed us worthy of it. To think we'd be given a second chance, when the world thinks us undeserving. Do you ever think that this is too light a sentence for us?" She continued.
"You always did have a way with words, Kuvira," Bataar Jr. replied with a chuckle. "But I agree, closely-supervised house arrest does seem…light."
"Sometimes, we can never truly know why these things happen. But when they do, we realize that they are for some cosmic reason that is beyond any of us. Probably, even beyond the Avatars," Bataar went on as his gaze went from her face towards the vast horizon.
The couple took a moment's pause, savoring the warmth of their own company, before Kuvira was interrupted by a thought. A thought so disconcerting, that it caused her gentle smile to die down quickly.
"They still haven't found him yet, have they? It's been over three years now," she sadly asked.
"As of late, nothing," he answered with a sigh. "Not even in the most desolate places in the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, and the Air Temples. Every nook and cranny they could get their forces into, just nothing. It's not my place to say after everything we've done to them, but I couldn't help but think about how Korra and their children must feel. The pain they're going through."
"Unwarranted as it may be, I feel terrible for them, too," Kuvira responded as she raised Bataar's hand up to her stomach.
"I could not imagine what it must be like to have a part of your family missing. Out there, somewhere."
Her husband lifted his right hand, softly bracing her arm, as he attempted to reassure her. To comfort her.
"I'm sure Avatar Korra and her friends, her allies, are up and around the Four Nations looking for him, still. It should be a matter of time before they find him," Bataar said as he gently smiled at his wife. She smiled back and returned to the warmth of his person.
For a second, something caught Bataar's eye, as he saw two blimps in the open water, and one in the air. They made their way towards the island city, at great speeds.
"But maybe, they have an idea where he is," he said, making a quick nod to point Kuvira to their direction.
As she saw the incoming party, she noticed something peculiar with the airship making their approach. She squinted her eyes to whatever she found on it.
"What do you see, Kuvira?" He began to ask with concern, as he noticed that she freed herself for their embrace to get a clearer view, holding on the rails of their balcony as she did. What she had discovered, left her in a dreadful shock.
"No! This…this can't be," Kuvira whispered in fear.
One of the two grey ships seemed to have aeroplanes of sorts. A handful of them have seemingly left what looked to be a runway. The other looked like that was geared for battle against any force coming from land, the air, or the sea. It had a combination of batteries consisting of both large metallic barrels, and an even larger one. Both ships looked menacingly imposing, as they were more streamlined in design compared to the fleet of the United Forces.
The accompanying black airship was even more so, even though it had smaller barrels compared to the boats below it. Its menace came from the large symbol emblazoned on the face of its cone. It was a dark crimson that had domed shapes all over and around it, seemingly forming petals.
This was a symbol of an entity both Kuvira and Bataar, Jr. had heard, nearly took out one of the Avatars and managed to assassinate a head-of-state when no one expected it. An entity Kuvira had come across, fought first-hand, and successfully thwarted their plan in kidnapping the Avatars.
A loud hum came from the battleship as it halted its approach. One of the cannons had fixed itself upon Zaofu. This was a sound the stunned couple knew all too well.
And then, it hit. The flash of violet light came from within the cannon, hitting one of the metal structures on the island.
Seconds after he saw the attack carried out, one of the guards cried out, "It's the Red Lotus! Sound the alarm!"
Moments later, the alarm deafeningly blared from all speakers across the island city. Her inhabitants began to scatter and scramble out of fear, as it was something nobody was ever prepared for. Her defenders, confused as to what to do since they were ill-equipped to none in combatting a threat so unforeseeable and seemingly leaving them without a fight.
Some of them formed up, and moved out to the portions across the city, to what they consider to be an improptu defense that could at least buy its citizens time to abandon the island–or more time to call upon the spirits for aid.
"What would you want us to do, Kuvira?" Bataar worriedly asked, taking in the situation around him. He noticed the battleship inching in closer.
What once was a face of horror–slowly, yet surely–became a face of determination that came upon Kuvira's face. She knew she had to do something. Thoughts began to enter Kuvira's mind, trying to shake off the rust of the tactician she once was. She needed to defend the home she once tried to invade.
"We cannot allow them to set foot in Zaofu! We have to help in her defense!" Kuvira cried out as she angrily fixed her gaze upon the enemy at their shores. "Hold on to something!"
Bataar, Jr. quickly complied by firmly gripping the rails, having seen Kuvira bend a huge piece of metal they were standing on, making their way to the central hub of the island.
Beifong Residence
The house of Beifong was rudely awakened by the sound of a blast, which was then followed by the blaring alarm. This promptly raised the amount of panic the residents felt outside.
"What was that?" Suyin asked. She quickly bent her metal armor towards her.
"I have no idea," her husband Bataar answered as he wore his glasses. "But whatever that was, it was enough to drive Zaofu to quite the panic."
Through a narrow slit of the window, they saw people running away from something. Some of the metal-clad guards went the other way, to where the commotion was building up. To where the smoke was coming from.
"Mind the children for me, will you, dear? I'll see what's going on," Suyin said, bending a few rolls of metal cable to her hip.
Bataar nodded, and grabbed his wife by the hand, before gently grasping it, "Stay safe, Su. I love you."
"I love you," she responded, leaning in to kiss her husband before leaving.
Suyin was running towards the main door of their home when her twin sons spotted her leaving. Alongside them, was their aunt Lin. She was dressed for battle as well, donning the metal uniform she once wore when she was Republic City's chief of police.
"Mom? Where are you going?" Wing asked.
"We saw fire, smoke, and parts of what was once the Westwatch Tower. What's going on?" Wei followed up on his brother's question.
Lin caringly looked at her half-sister, expecting an answer.
Not one to sugarcoat on dire situations, and having known of where the smoke came from, Suyin breathed in and spoke, "I don't know why, but I think Zaofu might be under attack. I have yet to assess the situation with the guards. For now, I want both of you to go be with your father and Huan. Keep each other safe, and guide our people to safety."
"I'm coming with you. Let me help fight whatever this is, Su," Lin offered.
Su nodded and smiled in reply, "I thought you'd never ask, dear sister."
For her, fighting alongside Lin was both an honor and a joy. It reminded her of how they fought side-by-side against the Red Lotus at Laghima's Peak, and when Kuvira attempted to storm Republic City.
"Okay, Mom. You and Aunt Lin keep safe, as well," one of the twins answered, running off to find Huan and their father, as Su and Lin raced towards the chaos ensuing outside.
What the Beifong Sisters saw as they opened their doors was nothing short of shock and terror. The aeroplanes scrambling to harass Zaofu, with the Metalbending guards launching shard after shard, hoping to knock their assailants out of the sky. Buildings crumbling down from the attack. Medics tending to the wounded. Guards guiding families to safety.
Past the pestering of the planes, they saw the airship headed towards their city. The insignia of the Red Lotus visible for all to see.
"It's not…possible…" Su gasped in horror.
"They've grown bold since we last faced them," Lin widened her eyes at the sight above them, and ahead of them.
Three boats have been deployed from the one ship, and began to make their way towards the shores.
Lin looked back to her sister and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'll see what I can do to hold them off. You go find a way to solve this."
"No, I need you with me at the hall. There is no need for you to risk your life fighting them!" Su argued.
"I know you need me, I really do," Lin resolutely said, she held her sister by her arms. "But I'd be beside myself if I can't do something to buy you enough time to come up with a plan."
Su knew this to be true. She knew that her sister would not go out in the field. Not without having an unabashed sense of belief, or resolve wash over her. She knew her sister's actions were guided with conviction. Otherwise, Lin would not have said a word.
She resigned to this, having held Lin's hand. "Try not to get yourself killed before we can come up with something good. And without me coming to you, alright?"
Lin, for her part, knew her sister was always reliable and ever-caring of her. Traits she never thought she would see from Su in their youth, but there they were.
"Alright," she said as she stood back, metal cable at the ready. "Besides, I could use a good stretch," she continued as the police veteran zipped away towards the pier.
Su could only chuckle at that last remark as she readied her cable, taking her leave.
Governance Hall, at the heart of Zaofu
The guards had fashioned the hall into a makeshift war room, in response to what was happening around them.
Some of them were busy coming up with ways to keep the people of Zaofu, and their families safe. Some were calling on other guards to come fight with them on their city's behalf, against the terror at their doorstep. Others dabbled in communications, doing all they can to broadcast the plight of their situation to the other nations.
Most of them were driven to a halt, as Su came down from bending her way to the hall with her cables.
"Look alive, everyone! The Matriarch!" A guard signaled out to everyone across the hall.
Su looked around to see the men and women giving their all towards a just cause, despite the fact that it was suddenly laid out for them. She raised a hand, telling them to carry on with their duties.
"Please, as you were." With that, the room lit up with movement again.
She made her way to a long table, where blueprints and folders were laid before it. Surrounding the table were six captains tasked with the security and stability of Zaofu, if the pauldrons on their left shoulders were of any indication of rank.
"Give me the sit-rep," Su commanded.
"Ma'am. The enemy has crippled several of our shipyards and factories. Their planes did a number on the domes. We're basically sitting turtle-ducks in the open. The main pier, however, is what's left untouched–for now," one of them stated.
"Westwatch has fallen. Eastwatch is being pinned down, as we speak. Only the Northwatch is in the clear, but we have no idea how long it'll stay that way," another captain hastily followed.
"We've received word that more of the wounded are coming in. Some of the unharmed city centers are being turned into infirmaries to care for them. A few casualties have been noted, but still…" one of the female captains could barely continue her report as her voice began to crack, having known two of her sons fell in battle.
Su noticed the pain in her last statement, and placed a comforting hand on the arm of the female guard as she spoke, "My heart breaks for your loss, Captain Krung. But we must act to save what's left of Zaofu, its people, from a greater loss. I swear to you, we will honor our dead if we make out of this alive and well."
Krung reluctantly nodded in agreement, as did those on the table.
"For the Metal Clan," she sharply replied.
Su nodded at this. "We need to make sure our people leave this city. Take refuge in other lands that will take us at the very least."
The entire room fell silent at this statement. Some of them have made a new life in Zaofu, while others were born here, raised here, and grew up here. They would be leaving behind a city, their home, and losing it to the depths of the ocean.
Su contemplated on this, as well. The gravity of what they were about to do, the delicateness of the situation, weighed heavily in her mind.
But, in this instance, it was down to losing everything she worked hard to build throughout the years, or losing a people, friends, and family in an instant.
Struggling to regain her composure, she continued, "We may lose this city, our home. But hear me when I say that I choose to win you all with your life with you, than lose Zaofu to the Red Lotus for whatever purpose they may have here, that can only spell destruction."
Her guards–no, her people–were slowly starting to light up with hope at the words their leader, their surrogate mother, let out. Then and there, the resolve was clear: she would never abandon them to their deaths, and do whatever it takes to give them a fighting chance.
"When this is all over, when this threat has been dealt with, we will rebuild our home. Better and stronger than ever. And this can never be possible without your help, men and women of Zaofu."
Everyone rose from their seats. Her words stirred a renewed fervor in them. A renewed hope, a replenished strength.
Standing before their Matriarch, one of them cried out, in a strained yet hearty voice, "For the Metal Clan!"
"For the Metal Clan!" Su and the rest of the room repeated.
Having heard this, Kuvira and Bataar, Jr. emerged from the outside, much to the dismay of people, except Su, inside.
"Kuvira? Junior? What are you doing here?" Su asked in surprise.
The couple pressed on to approach her, ignoring the hateful stares that met them.
"We heard everything you've said, and we want to be of help to you," Bataar gently offered, "and to Zaofu."
One of the older captains stepped forward. "Why would we want your help, boy? After all the pain you, and your tyrant of a wife, put us through. To your family?"
"This is hardly the time, Zhin, please…" Su snapped back at him.
HIs confoundedness was not out of place. There were still a number of Zaofu's citizens who were in complete disagreement with how the couple had been sentenced, and were still not able to move on from what had happened back then.
"You are right, Captain Zhin," Kuvira began to speak to them, her head hung low. "I know we are well within our rights not to be here. We really shouldn't be here."
"Hah! You got that righ-" One of the guards handling a telegraph retorted, but Su held her hand up to signal anyone not to speak and let Kuvira say her piece.
"Please, go on…" she told Kuvira.
"We know our crime was, is, something unforgivable. We know it endangered lives, tore small towns apart, and laid waste to them," she recounted. Each act, dropping a weight upon her very being. She kept telling herself that whoever brought up their actions back at them were not wrong to do so. But having to hear them, time and time again, kept hurting her.
"But as it stands, you need more men and women to aid in the effort. Let us help you defend and push the enemy back. And help save what, and whoever can be saved from all this," she continued, trying to keep her tough exterior up.
"We do not expect any rewards or merit for our help today, or any of our crimes expunged. Personally, I see this as a stepping stone towards my own atonement, as well as my husband's. We want to try and do good by a city that once helped me belong. A home that once considered me…family. Please, Suyin…" Kuvira began to fall on her knees as she pleaded her case.
"Mother, we know we have done Zaofu wrong. We've done wrong by you, as well. We ask of you, here and now. Let us do this one, great right," Bataar respectfully interjected, and joined his spouse in her plea. "You can lock us away for good, this time, when this is all past us."
Su took everything in before looking at the room, surprised how no one shaked their head in disapproval. They were eagerly awaiting her judgement, as the attack intensified outside its walls.
Having come to a decision, she placed her hands on their shoulders, motioning them to rise.
"I'd know penitence when I see it. And I'm sure the room agrees with me when I say, it is not too late to still set some things right," Su said with a gentle, motherly smile on her.
Her gaze turned serious as she faced Kuvira, "Take some men with you, and help Lin hold the enemy off. She could use a skilled lady like you right about now."
She then turned to her son, "Bataar, we'll need help trying to lead these people out of Zaofu without being spotted. Can you do that?"
Hopeful smiles were on the couple's faces, nodding to the orders their mother gave them.
"We won't let you and the people down, Su," Kuvira replied, as she was about to aim for the door.
"I know you won't, this time. And Kuvira," This seemingly broke the former usurper from her walk out, facing Su again.
"Get yourself a uniform."
Honored to be brought out to wear her guard colours again, she nodded and left the room with a soft, relieved smile on her face.
"Come back safe, Kuvira," Her husband thought to himself as she left.
Su gestured her son to join her with the other captains on the table. "What can you tell us of the situation?"
"Our enemies have clearly outmatched us by sheer force, alone. What they haven't put into consideration is that we have a contingency plan in place," Bataar stated.
"We do?" A younger captain asked.
Bataar nodded and continued, "I recall my father and I creating a network of bunkers just below the city. Some few hundred meters below us, and they can withstand air assault. The thing is, we will need to detach the bunkers from the island, and mobilize them to lead people to safer lands…like a submarine."
"What about the pressure we will have to contend with while submerged?" Zhin asked, "We need enough oxygen in there to breathe, if we are to safely escape."
"And the mobility part? What do we do to keep moving in the water?" The young captain followed.
"How do we keep from sinking, and trying to get to surface?" Another captain chimed in.
"All valid concerns, captains. But if we are to succeed, we will have to deal with them, one at a time," Su interrupted. A bombardment of questions is the last thing they need, given their predicament and the limited time they have.
She looked back at Bataar, Jr. and asked, "So, what is the plan…son?"
Bataar gave a small smile at his mother's direction, having found contentment with being acknowledged as part of the family again.
He turned to face the table, with the captains in front of him, now eager to share his thoughts with them.
"Alright, here's what we need to do…"
Zaofu's Central Pier
Lin and a platoon of Zaofu guards were giving their all with bending both earth and metal, hurling them at the fighter planes closing in.
Just like the damage they inflicted to the buildings earlier, they began deploying bombs onto the pier, with the intent of wiping out their opposition below.
Just then, Kuvira, having changed into her combat gear, along with her reinforcements, came to Lin's aid, and her company's, as they bended the bombs in mid-air before sending them back up in the air.
They seem to have hit a few planes in the process, while others managed to evade them effortlessly.
Lin and Kuvira's eyes met. Lin's were that of a slight disdain, yet she saw the urgency in the woman opposite to her. She saw no hint of malice, no hidden agenda in her.
Before she could say a word to her, Kuvira spoke. Her commanding voice, although urgent, reached the troops nearby, "The shells they drop are metallic in nature. If they get close, redirect them to the planes they came from."
She then faced Lin, "Save the metal for when they make another spirit blast at us, or for when the boats are closing in. Create a shield that lessens its damage towards the city. We are defending it, are we not?"
"I can't believe I'm taking orders from a prisoner, much less a tyrant," Lin looked back at the speeding boats approaching the pier, and back to Kuvira. "But…if my sister is letting you help us fight, then I cannot refuse."
Kuvira promptly responded with a small smile, in gratitude to her help being accepted.
Readying themselves in offensive stances once more, the forces at the pier began to stand their ground. Once again, they bended the bombs and sent them flying straight back to their senders.
One of the guards managed to bend the tail of a plane, as they elevated themselves up with the earth on their feet. They bent it askew, and violently back, detaching a huge chunk of it from the plane. This forced the plane to plummet, and the pilot inside to eject from his cockpit, and land at sea.
Some of them gathered the shells, and threw them at the boats nearing the pier, hoping to reduce their small number into shrapnel.
Unfortunately for the guards, the boats saw the bombs coming, and seamlessly maneuvered their way through the explosions, staying their course towards the pier.
Stunned, the green-garbed troops doubled up on their efforts against the enemy.
One of them noticed something unusual in the water: a circle faintly beginning to take shape. She called out to Lin or Kuvira, or to whoever is closest can hear.
"Sirs, there's–" a tentacle of water quickly took hold of the guard before she could even finish, and slamming her body to one of the freight containers nearby, knocking her out cold.
Lin heard the sickening thud, and turned her gaze upon the surprise attacker inside her sphere of water, having ascended from the water nearby.
She was a bespectacled, tanned woman in her forties. A slender figure, sporting a braided bun of chestnut brown. Lin could only deduce her to be a woman of science, if her fitted, blue coat over her black pants was any indication.
From within her watery encasement, she started generating more tentacles whipping away the guards in her sights, effectively reducing the numbers between her and Lin and Kuvira's joint force.
Kuvira, for a split second, was shaken by the fact that the enemy had suddenly overwhelmed her and Lin, seeing her compatriots thrown off to the sea, and the surrounding containers and housing in the dockyard.
Their forces began to mount a counterattack against the woman in the blue coat, bending chunks of metal and earth, with the intention of disarming her.
She suddenly sank back down into the sea, and appeared in a new part of the docks, just a few seconds apart.
"Take away my hands now, would you?" She said with a sinister smirk. She began throwing blobs of water at those who attempted to take her down, suddenly forming into ice upon contact.
She followed up on her attack by launching a new batch at the same victims, turning into ice as they came into contact with their frozen hands, shattering them into bits and crippling them of their bending.
The guards were at a loss over this, unable to figure out what to do next. Before they even had the chance to contemplate further, they were sent flying by a huge whip by the woman, tossing them some great distance away from the battle.
The metalbenders dropped their jaws in terrified awe, unable to grasp the lengths this assailant would go to make quick work of them.
Lin began charging at the blue-coated woman, launching most of the cables attached to her waist, in an effort to put her down.
"Wait! Lin!" Kuvira only managed to mouth out, as her sister-in-arms sped away to face the enemy directly.
The former police chief thought she was way past taking her down, and taken in for questioning. She had done incomprehensible damage to justify this. It was clear, for her at least, that this woman needed to be stopped, right then and there.
As the cables made their way to Lin's target, they were met with creeping surges of water, freezing them therein.
Lin quickly detached the rolls from which the cables were attached to, making her way towards the waterbender through the frozen lines of metal rope, fleet-footedly running through them like a tightrope walker would. She was just a few feet away, as she launched a cable from one of the rolls on her wrist on one hand, and fashioned a blade from her arm guards on the other.
The woman summoned a raging torrent of water from below, stopping Lin's momentum before forming blade upon blade, upon punishing blade of water at her. This left the metalbender severely battered and bruised, her armor chipping away.
Before she could hit the water, the waterbender summoned a pillar of ice from her left side and sent it flying towards Lin's direction, knocking her off the field and towards the city beyond, leaving Kuvira and all that was left of the reinforcements she had.
"No earthbender, or metalbender stood close to landing a hit on me. That old wolf-bat seemed to have come close," the woman spitefully stated as she kept her gaze on Lin a while longer before looking back at the guards before her.
"Anyone care to beat that?" She motioned to her opposition.
A angered look upon her, Kuvira stepped forward to rise to the challenge, "With pleasure."
A gentle, but knowing smile dawned on the woman's face, as she readied herself in a stance, seemingly calculating her next move.
Kuvira summoned a small pillar of earth, launching thick discs from it on the waterbender's general direction.
In response, she crushed the incoming earth before her with her water-whips, in which at the same time, she dodged some of them headed her way.
The woman in the green uniform moved on to kicking huge chunks of earth and metal at the waterbender.
Much like the rest of what was thrown at her, she weaved through them like they were nothing to her, only to be greeted by a huge part of one of the docks.
Acting fast, she bended the water to prop her over the piece of concrete, leaping past the edge. To her surprise, Kuvira leapt up and suddenly hit her with a knee before spinning and hitting her with a concrete-covered fist, sending the woman straight back into the water.
To make sure she stayed down, she kicked the rest of the concrete towards the water, hoping it would weigh her adversary down to the depths of the sea.
The huge splash following it turned problematic for Kuvira, as a portion of it turned into thin strips of ice poised to fly past and injure her.
She stopped them on their tracks with the help of the metal bands attached to her, bending them to deflect the icicles meeting her. Some of them managed to graze her and her uniform. She then proceeded to bend the earth beneath her, landing her back to the safety of the dockyard.
Her brief respite is cut short, however, as the waterbender slowly emerged, and stood on a funnel of water. Strands of her hair stood in place of the sliver-rimmed glasses she once wore.
"I must admit, that stunt with the concrete was quite clever, Kuvira." The frustration apparent in her voice, but laced with amusement.
The last time she felt dread over what attack was to come, from someone who has more to give and is as unrelenting as her, was when she faced Korra in her Raava State on the fields outside Zaofu, over a decade ago. The same feeling from back then, was the same feeling she felt now.
"But, it is time to put an end to this–" The woman struck a large blade of water on a huddled bunch of earth coming at her.
"Kuvira is still an enemy to the city, but that does not mean she's not in dire need of our help! Rally to her, men and women of Zaofu!" A guard called to his comrades, giving her enough time to gather herself up again, only to be struck by an explosive fired from one of the nearby boats, waiting by the docks. This attack knocked them off, breaking the group apart.
The woman raised her one free arm and summoned a wave that speedingly headed towards the Zaofu troops and swept them away like a broom would on particles of dirt.
"Nuisances, the lot of them!" The waterbender muttered. Her focus was solely set on her metalbending prey.
She grunted in rage, as she summoned a rapid, violent jet of water in Kuvira's direction pushing her back before summoning a large wall of ice some meters behind the lone metalbender, slamming her on her back.
Kuvira felt the harshness of the wall behind her, wincing in pain, which was then followed by a sharp stab on her shoulder. Holding her pained breath, she noticed the bandaged right hand clamped on it, a piece of metal nailing the hand to her person. Her sight trailed to the length of her opponent's bandaged forearm, as it was riddled with the strips of metal thrown later into the fight.
"But, how?" The woman in green flinchingly asked.
"With the powers that walk with me, guide me, I feel no pain," The woman in blue confidently replied. Her right hand letting go of the shoulder it attached to. The sharp blades slowly separating themselves from the entirety of her forearm, falling on the earth of the dock.
This caused Kuvira to drop to her feet, nursing her wounded shoulder as she fell.
"Who are you?" She asked as she looked up at her attacker, seeing her stand back a few steps.
"I was to unite my brothers and sisters from the Northern and the Southern Water Tribes, and usher in a new era of progress for them," the woman said as she got to a stance, spinning her arms in a horizontal manner.
"But because of my zeal, they labelled me mad! A fanatic! A deserter," she continued, as swirls of water began to envelop around Kuvira, lifting her afloat. They began to turn violet as the ritual pressed on.
She then remembered the news droning from their radio, a few years back. She had heard of the horrifying work this woman before her had done. The experiments she performed to see if the person was born to be a bender, or not. Her inhumanity against benders and non-benders, alike. What she was capable of. Her near-successful attempt at assassinating the Northern Water Twins. Her eventual downfall at the hands of the Avatars, and taking away her bending from her. Her solitary confinement at Sand Worm Hold in Si Wong Desert, to her escape from it, the year past.
And now, having seen her face-to-face, she would never wish it upon anyone to have their fates cross paths with the woman standing before her.
"You're…Indira?!" Her eyes widened in horror, at the mere mention of the name. She began to look down at her feet, having felt a certain lightness to it. Or rather, the absence of sensation around it.
A shade of dark violet began to creep up to her, slowly consuming her lower limbs. The dread she felt a few moments ago, began to intensify. It was like a great weight pressing down on her, and that no force on Earth, or any amount of bending can take it off of her.
"You once used the power of the spirits, and harnessed them for your selfish movement, turning it into a weapon of great destruction. Now, you shall feel the very power course through you, and be consumed by it," Indira declared, as if passing down a sentence.
The people of Zaofu were beginning to lessen. Most of them were being led to safety, secured in the great metal bunkers beneath the city. As the last ones to head out, Suyin and her family, alongside an injured Lin in their arms, and everyone who was in the war room with her, made sure all their citizens were taken care of before reaching for the safety of what was his eldest son's initiative.
Looking for anyone else who might have been left behind, Krung scanned the entirety of Zaofu before giving the all-clear.
Just when she was about to call the coast clear, she spotted an incident by the docks that caught her attention.
What she saw, shocked her.
The younger Bataar caught sight of the distraught look upon the captain's face, her hands covering her mouth. He suddenly thought of his wife, and how she fared in the defense at the pier. He called to his parents' attention and gave him leave to come to his spouse's aid, as they went on their way to make their escape. He ran to Krung's side to weigh in on the situation below.
"How are they lo–" He stopped his questioning as his gaze turned to one of the docks, frightful. No one was left to defend them, no one except for the lone fighter on it. The lone fighter caught in a watery swirl of violet, being consumed by it. The lone ranger he came to immediately recognize as his wife.
"Kuvira," he whispered, turning to Krung. He was frantically shaking her off from the view before them, "Take me to her, NOW!"
The female captain turned to see Bataar, and hastily complied. She bended a platform of concrete at their feet, rushing them towards the scene, hoping to stop whatever it was the waterbender was doing to his wife.
The violet inched its way towards Kuvira's head, a tear flowed from her eye. Her thoughts were now of her husband looking over the serene mountains neighboring Zaofu. In his arms, an infant child peacefully sleeping.
"We were never meant to have that happy life like we hoped, my love," she thought to herself as she closed her eyes, seeming to have accepted her fate.
Just then, a voice calling out her name.
"KUVIRA!" Bataar called out within earshot of her. Her eyes fixed on the cliff him and Krung were descending on.
Krung began to hurl a boulder at Indira, in the hopes that it would distract her from harming the younger Bataar's wife, and halt the process entirely.
Indira's eyes fixed themselves upon the intruders on the cliff without turning her head away from her work, the boulder coming straight at her. She dodged it by quickly raising her water funnel, enough for the boulder to pass through it. The huge splash of water gave the waterbender enough ammunition to make a batch of icicles out of them, and tossed them to couple on the platform, who formed a wall of earth in reply.
Taking advantage of this, Indira bended a raging torrent and aimed it at the base of the earthen platform Bataar, Jr. and Krung were standing on, causing them to roll off of the cliff to the docks, sustaining bruises along the way. She continued to spin her arms around, her task nearing its end.
Bataar tried to regain his bearings, desperate to get to his beloved, somehow.
He kept calling out her name, "Kuvira! Kuvira!"
Kuvira, on the other hand, could hear him, but she could not see him anymore as she was completely engulfed by the energy Indira invoked.
"Bataar, I–" She held out her hand to whichever direction the voice came from and called out his name one last time, before slowly, like dust being blown away, she disappeared.
"Farewell, Great Uniter," Indira said in a passive, yet mocking manner.
Bataar fell to his knees in despair, at what he witnessed. His wife, his great love. Lost, forever.
There was nothing he can do. Nothing he could do. Tears began to stream down his face, as he sobbed in agony. He held his one hand to his eyes, wishing he could unsee what he just saw. The other, at his chest, tugging at the shirt he wore. Holding on to something that was no longer in his midst.
Like a well-guarded treasure, suddenly vanished into thin air. In its place, a void made its dwelling.
"Love," Indira looked down on Bataar as she began to make her descent, reaching the surface of the earth of the pier. "It truly is our great source of strength…of happiness."
She continued to make her way towards him. A swirl of water made its way to her arm, forming a blade.
"And consequently, our great source of weakness…"
She stopped on her walk, only inches away in front of the bereaved, broken man kneeling before her.
"…and sorrow," She raised her bladed hand, poised to strike down upon Bataar, a grieved look on him.
"Do you wish for me to spare you of your pain? I can give you the power to reunite with your beloved…for all eternity. Will you…accept?"
The man raised his head ever so slowly upon his supposed reaper, a grieved look etched upon his face. The thought building up in his mind, but with none of the courage to actually say it.
Not waiting for him to come up with a reply, Krung suddenly bended the earth beneath Bataar, bringing him towards her, and created a ball of earth to house them both, retreating into the safety of the cliff behind them.
"An eternity of suffering, it is," said the woman clad in blue, to herself. Her momentary contemplation interrupted by the call of the speaker on one of the boats.
"Indira…have you accomplished your work there?" A raspy, elderly voice asked.
She began to make her way towards her boat, answering the radio being handed to her by one of the soldiers.
"Yes, my Lord. The threat has been dealt with. Zaofu stands no longer. It is now at your disposal."
The Bridge of a Red Lotus Battleship
"Well done, my dear. Return to the ship, at once. Our next course awaits us, as is your student."
"Of course…my Lord." A sinister eagerness in her reply.
This frail, elderly mustached man, robed in red, placed the radio back into place. He walked back over to his seat at the helm, with the view of the island city before him.
"Do you really think its people can actually mount such an escape. We are about to sink their pitiable city to the depths, after all," a top-knotted young man of good build and fair skin, clad in a decent armor of crimson red and black, asked the seated elder.
"The younger Bataar's mind is an exceptional one, as is his father. He is capable of great many things, but what he is not, is an idiot," the elder answered.
"They have found a way to create a submarine out of their land's resources, and under great pressure. Once they reach the surface and distant lands, they will surely spread word of our deeds here. No better way to spread the fear upon the hearts of all peoples of the Four Nations," he continued, making no effort to hide his admiration of the man's resilience.
"This will inevitably catch the attention of all their governments, and find a way to combat this threat in Republic City," the young man turned to bow in reverence to his superior, "It is just as you had hoped, Grandmaster Kala."
The elder nodded in reply, amused, "We must not count our chicken-pigs before they hatch, my young Shino. There may come slight hindrances that may greatly alter our plans, for the worse. Remember this. Regardless, we have begun to make our voice heard with what we have achieved today. Open fire."
"All batteries on Zaofu! The Metal City falls this day!" Shino barked at the crew.
All at once, the cannons of the battleship launched a barrage of violet energy on Zaofu, pulsating and violent as they come, into oblivion.
Kala, with his head leaning down on his rested hands, seem pleased with the sight of destruction by the windows of the bridge. As did his esteemed underling.
Etched on his youthful, confident face was a smile. A smile over the idea that the pieces were coming together to fit. The plans being set in motion. A smile on the notion that greater things have yet to come.
A return to the world stage.
A dawning of a new age for the Red Lotus.
Sea of Zaofu
The sounds of cannon fire caused vibrations within the submarines in motion under the water, scaring the passengers inside.
Masses of families huddled together in consolation, while others prayed for protection and safe passage.
"Was that our home being taken down, Mama?" One of the children onboard asked.
"Just keep close to Papa and me, darling. We will be alright," the mother replied as she held her child close. The hopelessness apparent in her reassuring tone.
Su and her husband could only look up in crestfallen resignation. Their hands tightly clasped, over the fact that the city they have worked so hard to create, the home they have built for their children, where they lived and grew up in–gone, in an instant.
Their children, save for Junior and Opal, held on to each other for courage and strength.
"It is a grim reality to accept, this situation we're in. But, it is as you say, Su: we will rebuild Zaofu again. We swear it," Zhin said, in an effort to console her.
"Thank you, Captain Zhin," Su sadly responded.
"Amidst all the chaos, you managed to save everyone. There is some comfort in that knowledge, at the very least," Krung solemnly chimed in.
A somber moment of silence fell upon the watercraft, for a while. People looking back to what they have lost, and have grown to love, and have always loved about their home.
"How is Junior holding up?" The older Bataar worriedly asked Krung, looking on to his son who had a depressed, pained expression about him. His eyes, puffed red having cried them out.
"He…hasn't said anything since we brought him here. He has refused to speak with anyone, not even his brothers," the captain answered back with her head hung low, the sadness in her voice.
Su reached her hand out to her husband's shoulder as she softly, yet lovingly spoke, "I'll go talk to him. See if he can open up to me, for starters."
"He'd appreciate that," her husband replied. As his wife made her way towards her Junior, Bataar's reassuring smile turned into a disheartened frown.
He could not begin to comprehend the pain and loss his son just went through. All he and his wife could do, at the moment, was be the beacon of hope and comfort. For their Junior, and his siblings.
He took his seat, and solemnly looked over the charts and maps sprawled over a table, charting their next course.
Air Temple Island
A chill wind blew in the late afternoon at Air Temple Island.
The soothing bell of the wind chimes did little to ease the tenseness of the White Lotus soldier deciphering the message on the telegraph.
Having spelled out the code on print, he could not believe what his eyes had read. Another soldier got up from his chair, approached the machine and read the note, disturbed at the frozen look on his fellow soldier's face.
"Send this to Masters Tenzin and Jinora, quickly!" The seated soldier passed down the note to his comrade, the urgency falling heavy in his order.
The soldier-turned-messenger ran as fast as he could to the compound of the Airbending Masters like his life depended on it–even worse, the world depended on it–holding the note in his hand as firm and as tight as he could, putting into heart the gravity and the grim nature of the message written on it. A great deal of relief came over him as he made it to his intended destination.
At the gazebo, a bald man with thick, greyed beard, wrinkles beginning to form on his face, with a booklet in hand, turned to the soldier and greeted him with a smile on his face, "Pleasant afternoon we're having, don't you agree, Sanju?"
The panting man handed out the note to Tenzin, who immediately noted the urgent look on the soldier's face. He unfolded the note, puzzled with the manner it was brought to him.
To the soldier's dismay, Tenzin wore the same look of disbelief and dread both him, and his fellow soldier had upon reading it.
Tenzin took a moment to let the printed words sink in. His eyes were scanning the tiles on his feet, contemplating on the steps both he and the rest of the Nations will have to take in the days ahead.
"You received this message…just now?" Tenzin confirmed with the soldier.
Sanju finally caught his breath and replied, "Yes, Master Tenzin. The very second this was fully decoded."
"Just when one crisis wasn't concerning enough," Tenzin thought to himself, and turned to the soldier awaiting his orders.
"Relay this note to the rest of the leaders, and tell them we will see them in Republic City, in two days. Send word to President Shu and Avatar Korra, as well."
"Sir," Sanju sharply bowed and headed back to his post.
"Where could you be now, when we need you most, Bara?" Tenzin sadly spoke to himself, as he looked over the horizon, beyond his father's monument.
He turned back to the sheet of paper, and read over the message written on it once more:
"HIGH ALERT. ZAOFU HAS FALLEN. RED LOTUS."