"Wha…?" Mako asked, his eyes widening. He watched Korra jump into the air, and swing her extended leg in a circle three times. Three thick, blunt slices of air flew at the firebender. He cried out as he was sent flying backwards, all of them connecting. Mako landed awkwardly as Korra kicked another four slices of air at him.
Use my power! Vaatu urged Korra, spurring her on. Go into the Avatar State!
I need to finish this myself, Korra replied as Mako scrambled out of the way. There are some things you can't leave to others.
Then use combustion bending, he told her. You want to kill him, don't you?
I'm too dizzy for that right now, Korra responded. Besides, I don't want to use that unless I have to, it's a trump card.
"Korra, what are you doing?!" Mako demanded, holding his hands out in confusion. His heart was pounding inside his chest, his senses on edge. Why did she just attack me so suddenly?
"What I've been planning to do for quite some time now!" Korra shouted, pointing her index and middle fingers out while she extended her only good arm. She unleashed a blue flamethrower, intent on incinerating Mako.
"What's the issue?!" Mako cried, then thrust both his fists forward. Twin flamethrowers roared out of his knuckles and clashed with Korra's at the mid-way point in between them, lighting up the area with a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. Mako was forced to pour all his concentration into it, but to his surprise, Korra's blue flamethrower was slowly mowing down both of his. He tried put more juice into his, but as her sizzling blue flames approached, Mako realised that he wasn't going to beat her with brawn. He spun away from Korra's blue flamethrower, just as it threatened to overpower him, into a fighting stance.
"What's the issue?!" he repeated. "If you want me gone, I'll leave, but why are you attacking me?!"
"You're a dirty liar!" Korra yelled, dragging some water out of a drain, and starting to twirl it in a loop around her body. "You'll never be a threat to Kalla again!"
"What do mean 'a threat'?" Mako asked, even more confused. "I know that I've been a shitty father, but I'd never, ever lay hands on her in that way!"
"I know that you just want to stab me in the back for taking Bolin's bending!" Korra retorted. "I'm not a fool, Mako!"
"How could I decide to do that in just half an hour?" Mako questioned, starting to get annoyed. Korra had every right to be angry, but now she was getting delusional.
"You didn't take long to reject Kalla!" Korra reminded him, and started jabbing at the water that was circling around her body. Mako instinctively dived into an alley as dozens of icicles started flying towards him, the edges razor-sharp. Mako waited for an opening, but for the next fifteen seconds, Korra didn't let up, hoping to catch him when he peeked out.
Then, the barrage of icicles stopped. Mako took a short breather, then replied:
"I just apologised for that!" he shouted. He waited for Korra's response, but nothing came. After about ten seconds of nail-biting silence, Mako decided to peek around, in case she had moved.
A stream of water smacked him in the mouth, rushing around to fill the whole alley, and Mako was helpless to do anything about it. He spluttered as water rushed down his lungs, carrying him down the alley and out over the ledge that it led to. He flailed helplessly in the air for a few moments, having no sense of space or time while his eyes were shut and he was in the middle of Korra's river.
Then, pain ripped him back into the real world as he hit his hip badly on some kind of rock. The water washed off of him, and Mako's eyes burst open. He coughed violently, then threw up a lot of the drain water that had entered down his throat. He stayed there for a few seconds vomiting, on his hands and knees, before looking around weakly.
Mako was in one of the chutes that Omashu sent their mail down using earthbending. Twenty metres below him, water lay splayed out on the ground.
I'd be dead if it weren't for this passageway, Mako thought. He saw Korra standing at the ledge where he had been washed off, fuming. Without a word, she hurled a volley of water at him.
"Stop it!" Mako urged as he started sprinting down the passageway, sending fireballs to cancel out the volleys of water that she sent after him. Korra didn't answer, frustrated that the job wasn't already done, and flew onto the passageway behind him. She bellowed blue fire, which closed the small gap in between them that Mako had created very quickly. The former commander saw no way of out-running it, and jumped off the passageway, just about avoiding her assault.
Mako thrust his fists downward, creating out as much fire as he possibly could to avoid breaking any bones. He managed to slow his descent considerably, and rolled as he landed hard on a roof. Mako kept on sprinting, his legs already feeling heavy due to the running he had done just to get up to Korra. Omashu was very steep, and he felt the effects of that now. He leapt across to another rooftop, and glanced back at Korra.
Mako didn't waste long looking at her, as he bounced to a different roof to evade the bolt of lightning that tried to smite him. He jumped away from three more, wondering why she hadn't used combustion bending yet, but then teetered dangerously as he nearly jumped off an edge. Mako spun around, realising that there was no time to dodge this next one, and pointed his fingers at the oncoming bolt. It zapped through his body, but didn't cause any damage as he gritted his teeth.
Mako knew that he couldn't just keep running while she tried to kill him without retaliation forever, so he redirected it at the cart passageway that Korra was still standing in. Korra flew out of harm's way easily, and hovered onto one of the blown-up rooftops, breathing a little heavily as it was blown up.
"Why are you destroying peoples' homes, Korra!?" Mako demanded, noticing the damage her short flurry of attacks had already caused. "This has nothing to do with them!"
"I'm just trying to get you," Korra growled, and was about to follow her response up with another witty comment when she suddenly clutched her head, and started to moan. Mako could've this opportunity to strike her down, but didn't, and waited patiently for her to recover. When her headache passed, he continued;
"I'm willing to forget that this ever happened, Korra," Mako told her, crossing his arms. "If you call it quits now, we can leave here on good terms. That's a promise."
"You're only saying that because I have you on the ropes," Korra accused him, baring her teeth.
"I could've killed you just there," Mako stated, ready to spring into action at any moment. He was pissed off now, his sorry mood from a few minutes ago gone. "But I let you recover so that we could talk. I don't want to fight, Korra, but if you keep this up, I won't hold back."
Don't let his poison seep into your mind, Vaatu urged as his energy begged to be let loose.
I know, Korra replied, but swallowed the Avatar State back down, almost fighting two battles at once.
"Well?" Mako asked.
"No!" Korra told him.
Fuck's sake! Mako cursed mentally, and jumped off the roof onto the street, using flamethrowers to slow his descent once again. They consumed a lot of energy, and Mako wasn't nearly as talented at using them as Korra, but he wasn't too shabby, either. Korra jumped off with him, landing flawlessly without a second thought. Mako started running away, not fancying a close-quarters fight with someone who could bloodbend, but jerked his head around when he heard rocks being ripped out of the ground.
Korra kicked five medium sized chunks of earth at Mako. While the firebender struggled to dodge them, resorting to blowing one up just before it hit his face, she hit him with another combo. Korra kicked blue fire at him with both of her feet, and then sent three straight fire jabs after those, adding a sneaky air-punch in with the last fire-jab. Mako scrambled to wave and part the onrushing flame, not seeing the air-punch in time. He flew back a few metres and was sent rolling as it hit him, but apart from that, the damage wasn't too bad.
She's really trying to kill me, Mako admitted with a heavy heart, then groggily pushed himself up.
"This is your last chance, Korra!" Mako offered. "Stop this now, and we can wake up tomorrow with a clean slate of each other! Otherwise, I won't hold back!"
"You're on the ropes!" Korra repeated. "I'm going to protect Kalla, no matter what lengths I have to go to!"
"What has gotten into you?" Mako demanded. He was furious with her.
"I'm not so gullible anymore!" she declared, with a forced smile, to convey confidence. "Your lies won't work on me!"
She's not fit to take care of Kalla, Mako realised. I don't know what's happened to her, but I can't let someone like this be responsible for the upbringing of my daughter.
Mako might have said something else, but then, Korra followed up her declaration by shoving her hand diagonally into the ground. A line of lava started spitting its way towards Mako, glowing menacingly. Mako jumped out of the way by fire-running across the face of the houses that lined each side of him. The windows were all boarded up, and all the doors bolted shut too, probably, so the inhabitants must have been trembling in fear at the commotion outside.
Korra kicked and punched seven blue fireballs at Mako, her good arm flopping around uselessly, but Mako just dove under them all, hearing them scorch against the houses. Korra punched a whirlwind at Mako, who only had half the street to maneuverer due to the line of lava splitting it in two. Mako faced the attack, brought his fist back and powered it at the whirlwind, a massive fireball coming out of his knuckles. It fired into the whirlwind, and they spun each other out harmlessly.
I'm going to have to be very careful with my attacks, Mako thought, and started running backwards. If I want to win, heck, if I want to get out alive, I can't waste a drop of energy.
Mako suddenly turned on his heel, diving into yet another alleyway. They waste so much space with all these alleys. Korra flew right after him, and skidded to a halt outside of it. She cooled the lava while she was at it, seeing no point to just letting it sit there.
Korra was caught off guard as Mako jumped out of the shadows, throwing a fire-hook. He followed this up with a low fire-kick to her heels, then finished the combo with a fire whip bearing down from above on her. Korra stumbled backwards as she barely managed to deal with all of these, as she only had one arm to defend herself with. She had to take the fire whip on her forearm to avoid have it hit her head. Mako saw his opportunity, and blasted a quick fire-backhand at Korra, who was helpless to do anything as it smashed into her chest. She started to fall over.
On her way down, Korra swept her leg wildly at Mako. A line of air made for Mako's shins, but he easily managed to jump over it, tucking his knees into his chest. He landed on one foot, extending his other to head-height. He swung his outstretched foot down, a fire-kick erupting out of his heel, which arrowed for Korra.
Korra landed painfully, her broken arm stinging particularly badly. Luckily though, as she saw the fire-kick approaching rapidly, Korra instinctively banged her heel against the ground. A block of earth rose up and exploded with the impact of the fire, but protected Korra.
He's not done yet! Vaatu warned as Mako prepared another fire-backhand, bringing his fist back as far as he could for maximum damage.
I know, Korra responded, and pointed her legs up in the air, then used them to swing into a standing position. She used her momentum to punch the ground, erecting a wall. But instead of being in front of Korra, it raised up just in front of Mako, as the first embers started to spark from his knuckles.
Shit! Mako thought, cursing his carelessness with such a big build-up to his attack. He couldn't stop as the embers turned into roaring flames, and connected with the wall.
Korra watched as the wall she had created exploded into dust and hundreds of small pebbles with a boom. Mako was thrown back like a ragdoll, crashing into a couple of bins. His hip, which he had hit on the cart passageway earlier and suspected to be chipped, flared up. Mako blinked furiously as he tried to locate Korra through the dust cloud. The explosion had temporarily blinded him, and now, whenever he closed his eyes, he just saw red. Through the haze, he swore that he saw Korra's figure walking through. He tried to get up, but all the aches and pains forced him back down.
How long are you going to play, Korra? Vaatu demanded. He's launched one real attack and landed you on your backside. Even if he's hurt now, there's definitely a possibility that he could land a sucker-punch on you.
You're right, Korra admitted, and cleared her foremost thoughts out of her head. She inhaled deeply, centring all her rage on the man just up ahead, his features covered by the cloud of dust that hung in the air between them. She tensed her body up, and glared at where Mako was lying. A bullet of compressed fire shot out of her the tattoo on her forehead.
Mako snapped back into the battle as he saw a small, yellow bullet of compressed fire zoom through the cloud of dust, parting it. He began to move, but then realised that he wouldn't be able to dodge this attack. The firebender also knew instantly that he wouldn't have any attacks nearly powerful enough to equal Korra's assault.
Is this it? Mako thought, as he stared down the barrel of the gun. A deer caught in the headlights.
Pain sparked up in Korra's elbow as she shot her bullet at Mako. She exhaled sharply, and her bullet exploded. It illuminated the entire alley as the flames erupted just before the bullet reached Mako. Korra clutched at her swollen elbow, then tugged her hand away as the contact made the pain worse. She fell to one knee, feeling faint again. Korra was exhausted mentally, and had forgotten to be prepared for any physical pain potentially interrupting the process.
Mako bounced up, not wanting to wait around for Korra's second shot. His clothes were torn in several places, and he had a bad burn on his entire good hand from the first explosion, not to mention countless other injuries, but he started jogging away as fast as he could, limping quite badly. Mako reckoned that he would be okay for this fight with his hip, but after that, would definitely need to get it looked at.
Only two things were keeping him going at the minute, one being the rush of adrenaline from such an intense fight like this. The other was the light at the end of the tunnel – the tunnel being this fight and the light being Kalla. If I can somehow manage to survive this, he thought, the reward will be worth a lifetime of injuries!
He's getting away! Vaatu commented as Mako turned the opposite end of the alley, onto another untouched street.
Will you ever shut up for one second? Korra jibed, standing up. She waved both the dust clouds away with a gust of air, then grunted. Two rockets roared out of her feet, and Korra sped forward, able to ignore the pain in her broken arm as it hung behind her limply.
For the next three minutes, Mako hobbled away from Korra as she combustion bent recklessly after him, tearing up the city. The general aches gradually subsided as time wore on, but Mako felt the pain in his hip just getting worse and worse. He could only try and evade Korra, who was seemingly tiring, but not nearly enough for Mako to try and confront her.
It was a game of cat-and-mouse taken to the extreme, but eventually, Mako's luck ran out. He had been going downhill the entire time, as uphill was too much for his leg to support. MakoMako burst out from the endless alleys that wove through Omashu, holding his hip. He doubted that it was chipped by now, as it was still supporting his weight to a degree, but it was definitely messed up. Mako turned left, another bullet exploding right where he had been two seconds before.
Mako ran to the end of the street, which was the great wall, but to his horror, there was no more alleys for him to run through. He spun to see Korra burst out of the alleyway that he had just come through, panting hard. Her efforts with the bullets had gotten quite lazy, but she couldn't possibly miss now.
"You rat!" Korra shouted, a malevolent grin appearing on her face. She pointed at him with her only good hand. "It's time to meet your maker!"
"Korra, stop this madness!" Mako urged desperately, backed up against the great wall. Korra stood thirty metres away from him, preparing herself for one big last blast. "You're not that type of person!"
"I'm the Avatar!" she responded. "Sometimes, you have to pull out the weed, rather than chop the top off." Although Korra seemed to be doing okay, on the inside, she was having a mental breakdown. So much hate and negativity was clouding Korra's thinking that she could only focus on the task at hand. Vaatu helped her through the chase, giving her clear instructions to follow.
Korra knew that him guiding her, and the fact that she was such a naturally talented bender as the Avatar, were the only things that had kept her from blowing herself up. Korra gritted her teeth, mustering all her remaining energy, and glared at Mako. She wouldn't be able to produce proper explosions with bullets of combustion bending after this, at least not for a day.
Korra pinpointed all of her hate of Mako, centring it on the terrified man, who was glued to the wall. She took one last deep breath in through her nostrils, opening her third eye. She tensed her body up, ignoring any niggles. Then, she severed the rope binding her hate to her mind, letting it blitz at Mako. The bullet travelled sluggishly, due to all the combustion bending she'd already done today, but was still rapid. All of Korra's surroundings became blurry as she focused on her target. Just before it reached the wall, she exhaled sharply.
A giant explosion occurred, shattering all the nearby windows and lighting up the surrounding area. A sizeable hole, enough to fit three mechasuits in, was blasted straight through the wall, opening up to the drop below. Korra dropped to one knee as she very nearly collapsed, struggling to stay conscious. She squinted at the hole, which had produced a huge dust cloud. There was no sign of Mako, as there shouldn't have been. Maybe his remains were falling down the canyon right now, but otherwise… she'd blasted him off the face of the earth.
Mako was dead.
"I've done it!" Korra declared out loud, raising a fist triumphantly. "I've done it! I've done it! That bastard is no more!"
She nearly fell unconscious, but managed to keep one eye open. Her thoughts were still jumbled, and the fact that he was dead didn't set in right away. That was okay. When her dad had been thrown off of a cliff by Zaheer, she'd never properly registered that he had been dead, and she'd seen him alive just a few hours later, so it would maybe take a day or two. Thinking of her dad led to thinking about Kalla.
I can't wait to see her again! Korra thought, her heart fluttering. Now that I've finally gotten rid of-
Above you, Korra! Vaatu interrupted, causing the Avatar to jerk her head up. A fireball was dropping down towards her from the sky. Korra jumped out of the way, safely watching it crash onto the ground beside her. She glanced at where the fireball had come from, and growled, her blood beginning to boil once again.
Mako was coming in towards her from above, fast too. He was using his flamethrowers as proper rockets, although he was being very wasteful with his energy. Korra tried to send another combustion bending bullet forwards him, but grimaced as she nearly blacked out. That last effort had really taken a lot of out of her, and she couldn't fire again right away.
Mako landed roughly, right behind Korra, and started throwing punches, kicks and elbows at her without restraint. There was no fire in these attacks, but Korra still had difficulty defending herself as he landed the odd hook to her liver, the knee to her inner thigh. Korra could only defend herself, having one arm, and Mako batted away any attempt of hers to bend at him.
Mako forced Korra to back away, towards the gaping hole in the wall. He had gone flat out to fly like that and avoid getting blown into another dimension. He needed a minute to re-gather his strength, and figured Korra was tired too. He was really motivated to fight now, the pain in his hip suddenly not too bad. In the distance, he heard soldiers shouting as they all rushed to see what had happened at their precious wall.
Shit, Mako thought. These guys will kill me if they get the chance. I'm lucky to have survived this fight so far, but if they see me, I've got no chance.
Mako had Korra twenty metres from the hole right now, and she was retreating all the time. He figured that he could maybe get her to fall off the edge, and that the Avatar State could save her from dying. But as he tried to think of a plan, Korra managed to get half a metre in between them. She brought her good hand back, her palm open. Mako knew that she was going to try and airbend him away, which would result in the same game of cat-and-mouse if he let up for a moment. So instead of trying dodge her attack, he grabbed her wrist and pressed Korra's palm against her own stomach.
Fuck! Korra thought as Mako redirected her own attack back at her. She belted backwards to just three metres in front of the drop below, tumbling most of the way. She staggered back onto her feet to see Mako sprinting towards her. Korra was too slow to attack him first, so she just held her hand out as he clapped a tunnel of fire towards her, the same move she had used against Bolin earlier.
Mako heard the Omashu soldiers come onto the street and spot him. He realised that unless he finished this fight instantly, they would capture him. He looked back and forth to where Korra was and the soldiers, a suicidal plan popping into his head.
That's crazy! he thought. I'll die, for sure. The shouts were getting closer. But I'll die for definite if they capture me! Mako glanced back and forth one more time, then made up his mind.
He can't keep this up for much longer, surely, Korra thought as the tunnel of flames kept on coming. He doesn't have that kind of stamina for-
Korra's thoughts were interrupted yet again as Mako burst through the flames. Korra didn't have any time to think rationally, only to react. She brought her hand up to protect her face, but then, Mako just bent over, still running. Korra didn't have a clue what he was doing, but then Mako rammed into her midriff with his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her knees, and lifted her up onto his shoulder. He still didn't stop running. Too late, Korra realised what the former commander intended to do.
"WHAT-" was all she got out before Mako jumped off the edge into the canyon that surrounded the inner city of Ba Sing Sae, taking her with him.
"I really hope you can still fly!" Mako shouted as they plummeted into the mile-long drop. Somehow, he could manage to be sarcastic in a situation like this.
Korra, let me out, you're going to die! Vaatu demanded as their velocity increased. She felt Mako clamber around onto her back while free-falling, holding on tight. It was clear what his plan was.
I can handle this on my own! Korra told the spirit, stubbornly resisting the Avatar State. I need to do this on my own!
You said that about Bolin, and look what happened there! Vaatu argued. As a result of your stubbornness beforehand, you've been handicapped in a fight that you've been itching to come for months!
I don't trust you yet! Korra responded.
"Uncle Bumi, I have to go now!" Jinora told the leader of the Air Nation's peace effort. "Vaatu has already slipped out once, and I can feel it happening again. Korra is falling off of a cliff right now!"
"Jinora, let's wait-" Bumi tried, but Jinora would not be denied this time.
"No!" Jinora declared. "I'm going, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Grandpa Aang told me himself!" With that, Jinora stomped off towards one of the tents. She already had all the strapping she needed attached to the chest of her wingsuit, and the marbles zipped up in her pocket.
"Jinora, please, let's wait until we know everything!" Bumi tried desperately, but his request fell on deaf ears as his niece parted the tent covering, then walked inside. She stood there, a lot less abrasive now.
"It's time," Jinora announced quietly. Tonraq and Senna both looked up with heavy hearts, Senna cradling Kalla. They had known this time would come for quite a while now, but that still didn't make it any easier.
"Can you sense Korra?" Tonraq whispered, not looking Jinora in the eye, instead looking at the ground.
"Yes," Jinora answered gently. She walked up politely to Senna, putting a hand on the grandmother's shoulder. "I wouldn't do this if there was any other way."
"What if-" Tonraq started hopefully, but his wife put a hand on his shoulder instantly. They looked each other in the eyes.
"Sweetheart, it'll be okay," Senna reassured her husband, even though she was shaking herself. "Korra will be delighted to see Kalla again, and Jinora has been the nicest person to us the entire time we were on Air Temple Island."
"I know," Tonraq admitted. He was silent for another few seconds, then took Kalla, and placed her in Jinora's motherly hands. He helped strap Kalla onto Jinora's chest, double-checking, then triple-checking that everything was secure.
"She'll be back within a flash," Jinora reassured the pained grandparents, then walked out the tent. She went over to the edge of the mountain that the Air Nation was camped on, taking deep breaths. She checked that Kalla was securely fastened one more time, then gazed into the deep cavern below. Jinora mustered all her courage, then jumped. She spread her wings out immediately, and started gliding down the cavern. Kalla slept contently while strapped to Jinora's chest.
Korra straightened her feet out and blasted as much fire as she possibly could at the ground, only two hundred metres away. She had given up on trying to get rid of Mako, just focusing on her survival. Their descent slowed a fair bit, but still not that much.
150 metres. A little slower, but still not enough to save her from an instant death.
100 metres. Considerably slower now, maybe a second or two of pain before dying.
50 metres. She might only be paralysed for life at this speed.
20 metres. A pair of broken legs would be the worst-case scenario, possibly.
Korra put all her energy into the last effort, and really lit up the ground underneath them. Fire roared out of her feet as their descent nearly came to a complete stop. They landed harshly, Mako being thrown off her back, but Korra only got a slight jolt. She immediately air-kicked Mako in the gut, sending him flying twenty metres away.
Mako groaned as he was tossed like a crunched-up piece of paper and hit the ground, but other than that, he was fine. He got up, shaking from the experience of falling straight down for what felt like a mile. He was definitely energised after that. Mako looked up at Omashu, the bass of which was eight hundred metres away. They had obviously drifted a lot in the air. He turned, and looked at his surroundings.
The plain was deserted apart from himself and Korra. A few hundred metres from him was an abandoned water-filtering plant, which sat on the edge of the great Omashu reservoir. The great Omashu reservoir was a lake that was sixteen miles long and eighteen miles wide. No-one knew the depth of it, supposedly. Up until about twenty years ago, it was where Omashu pumped all of its water up, but that had since been abandoned for more convenient methods. There were five other plants that Mako could make out, deserted as well, but they were all spread out far away.
"Admiring the view?" Korra asked, panting. "You should be dead, by all accounts!"
"I really should be!" Mako shouted back. "It's all thanks to you!" Mako could barely believe that he was alive. That was easily the stupidest thing he'd ever done. What if he hadn't been able to grab a hold of Korra? What if they had both died? What would've happened to Kalla then?
"I'll make sure of it now!" Korra retorted. She started gathering lightning, unable to focus hard enough for combustion bending. She shot it at Mako, but he jumped away, and started running to the plant.
What are you waiting for, Korra?! Vaatu questioned. He will have the upper hand in that place. Bloodbend him now!
No, Korra replied. He can't run forever. If I really need you, I'll give you a call. Now stay quiet!
Korra felt wired. After such an exhilarating fall, she couldn't possibly feel sleepy even just a tiny bit, even if she was exhausted. Korra began to blast rockets out from her feet, but after only a few seconds, she had to stop. The drain that landing had had on her energy was enormous. She couldn't afford to go flying around everywhere now. She started jogging instead, her broken arm flaring up with pain with every jolt.
After a few minutes, Mako reached the plant, Korra hot on his heels. She would've eaten for breakfast any other day in a race, but her legs felt like lead. Mako disappeared in through a pair of doors. Korra, who had been shooting lightning at him the entire time, shot the doors down. They were blasted off of their hinges, but Mako wasn't hit. Korra wanted to scream in frustration, but knew that would only give him a huge psychological advantage if she did that.
Don't wait for your other arm to get broken, Vaatu said.
"I know," Korra muttered, speaking out loud. She marched up to the doorway and barged in.