Hey guys, I'm back with Part Two of the Revelation. As of this chapter, we've broken seventy reviews. Holy shit, guys, I can't thank you enough for your support. And now, on with the story:

"Equality now! Equality now! We want Equality now!" The shouting of the protester was enough to make me crack my eyes open and look around to see what was going on. It appeared to be mid to late morning, based on the position of the sun. The fog was gone, and the shade of the tree was just the right temperature.

Sitting a short distance away, I noticed Mako looking at me with an amused look on his face. I frowned at that as I started to stretch, only to notice something weighing my shoulder down. Turning my head, I found myself face to face with Korra's dark brown hair. The Avatar had fallen asleep while leaning against me.

I rolled my shoulder, causing enough movement to bring her out of her sleep. She blinked as the sleep slowly left her head and she had a content look on her face, making it clear that she was enjoying this.

"Comfy?" I asked. She looked up at me, then down at the position we were in. Blood rushed to her cheeks as it dawned on her what was going on. I just cocked my eyebrow down at her.

Three.

Two.

One.

"AH!" she gasped as she sprung backward in surprise. This earned a laugh from Mako. I would have been inclined to join him, but the constant yelling of the protester was giving me a headache.

"Come on, you two, we got an earthbender to find," I said as I pulled myself to my feet and popped my back. Korra led the way over to where the protester was set up. There was a large banner with a hooded man wearing a mask along with the symbol for equality in the center of a blood red circle. The protester himself was a young man, just out of college with pale skin, brown hair and sideburns, and amber colored eyes.

"Non benders of Republic City, Amon calls you to action! Take back your city!" the man yelled into a bullhorn. Korra started to walk forward, but I put my hand on her shoulder and held her back. She looked back at me with her eyebrow cocked in confusion. I simply gave her a smile before walking forward myself. I came to a halt directly in front of the man and folded my arms, waiting for him to take notice of me.

"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the Equalists! Together we can take back what is rightfully ours!" he screamed into his horn, which was directly in my face. I cringed at the noise level, but otherwise kept my cool.

"Could you not do that, please?" I asked.

"The message of Amon must be heard!" he yelled before trailing off, looking over my shoulder and noticing Korra. His eyes bugged out of his head for a moment in recognition before they narrowed again. He'd just found his next target to yell at.

"It's her! You cannot silence me, Avatar!" he yelled, widening his stance and pointing at her. Having the bullhorn being used directly in my face for the third time was enough for me to finally snap. I grabbed his outstretched and twisted, causing him to yelp as he dropped his device and his body twisted in pain.

"Do that again, and I'll make sure no one ever hears you speak," I warned before releasing him. He rolled his wrist a few times and rubbed it, trying to get the pain to wear off.

"I should have known the Avatar would go to such lengths to keep the voice of the Revolution silent. Typical bender tactic," he said.

"Not a bender, so your point is invalid," I replied. He looked at me with pure contempt in his eyes.

"You're nothing more then a slave to her, and a traitor to your own kind," he said with venom in his voice.

"Alright, lets just skip over the whole exchange of insults and get to the reason we're here. Someone was taken by the Equalists last night, I want to know where they were taken," I said.

"I wouldn't know about that. And if this person was a bender, then they'll get what's coming to them," he replied. I glanced down at the posters that were being handed out at this guy's feet. A few of them had been turned over by the morning breeze, showing off a map image on the back.

I grabbed a small stack of the fliers and began to walk off, leaving the protester confused. Apparently the other two were just as confused, looking at each other before coming after me. The protester apparently wasn't flabbergasted for long as he soon was shouting again, his voice fading as we went further and further away.

"Is there a reason why we just left him?" Korra asked.

"He may be spouting bullshit, but the guy still has the right to free speech," I replied.

"But we didn't get any information out of him," Mako said.

"Wrong. These fliers are for something called the Revelation," I said, holding up the fliers I had grabbed, "and each one of them has a different map piece on the back."

"So it's like a puzzle," Korra said as she took a few of the fliers and looked them over.

"Exactly."

It was evening, almost nine to be exact. A fog had rolled in and covered the industrial district, where we currently were at. The three of us were wearing trench coats and hats as disguises as we headed toward the warehouse where the Revelation was being held. Mako and Korra were famous and had been in the limelight, so the chances of someone recognizing them were high. I, on the other hand, was a virtual no body, and a non bender to boot, so I could have easily just walked in without a single complaint.

Still, that didn't stop me from looking like something from one of those dime detective novels. As we drew closer, I tugged my fedora down a little lower on my head before sticking my hands in my jacket pockets. Hey, when this was over, maybe I could open a shop as a private eye. I mean I had five hundred years of experience in dealing with the various harshness of life, plus I made this look good.

When we arrived at the location the map had shown us, we ducked into a small alley and looked toward the entrance. There was a rather large man standing in front of the door with his arms folded. Everything about him just screamed bouncer. We watched for about ten minutes as several people went inside.

"Alright, here's what we'll do. We'll split up and head in at different times so we don't draw attention and then regroup on the inside," Mako said.

"Ryou and I will go at the same time so it doesn't take as long," Korra said. Rather then speak up against it, I went along with it. Personally I would have liked to have just gone in by myself, but this was Korra's show so I was following her lead. As we walked toward the bouncer, the Avatar took a moment to loop her arm with mine, making it seem like I was escorting her. I had to admit I was proud. If the bouncer thought we were a couple, we'd be less suspicious to him. She was learning quick how to adapt to all kinds of situations.

"You're learning well," I complemented out the corner of my mouth. Her cap did a decent job of hiding her face, but I didn't doubt for a second that she wasn't blushing.

"This is a private event, no one gets in without an invitation," the bouncer said, holding up his hand to stop us.

"Invitation?" Korra asked, looking at the bouncer and then at me with a cocked eyebrow. He looked at me as well, his expression clearly stating that I should show what he asked for or get lost. I held up one of the fliers between my middle and index finger.

"This?" I asked, handing it to him. He took it and looked it over before giving us a smile and standing aside.

"The Revelation is upon us, my brother and sister," he said. I returned his smile and tipped the brim of my hat to him as we walked in. Hopefully that lug of a firebender was paying attention and wouldn't cause a scene. The inside was dark, and we found ourselves on a balcony overlooking a large wide open area, packed full with a crowd of people easily numbering in the hundreds.

"Wow, I knew a lot of people hated benders, but I've never seen so many in one place," Mako said as he appeared beside us.

"Alright, let's blend in and see if we can find out where Bolin is," I said. We walked down and joined with the crowd. By the time we reached the center of the crowd, some kind of smoke effect was being used up on the stage. Any lights that had been in the place dimmed, turning all attention toward it.

"Please welcome your hero, your savor, AMON!" came the voice of some unseen announcer. In the center of the stage rose a platform carrying seven figures. All of them were wearing the standard Equalist uniforms, while the two in the center were wearing modified versions. It was the one in the very center that held all attention with a hood up and a porcelain mask with a red circle in the center of the forehead covering his face.

This was the great Amon, the man who's likeness we'd seen plastered all over every little bit of Equalist propaganda we had come across. The man himself stepped forward and took a microphone.

"My quest for Equality began many years ago. When I was a boy, I lived on a small farm. We we weren't rich, and none of us were benders," he began. I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. If I had known that I was going to have to sit though another sob story about how someone started on their 'noble crusade' or whatever, I would have brought a flask.

Seriously, when you get to be my age, you've pretty much heard them all. I've even considered starting to keep a check list, just to see which of the usual tropes get used the most. Of course, this guy did it all. The typical story about how he'd lost his family and been scarred by a bender and that was why he was on his quest, everything wrong in history was the fault of bending, the Avatar is wrong, blah blah blah.

"Now I'm sure you're all wondering, 'what is the Revelation?', well you are about to get your answer," the masked man said. Finally we were getting to the interesting part.

"Since the beginning of time, the Spirits have acted as the guardians of our world. They have spoken to me, and they say that the Avatar has failed humanity," he said. Korra started forward with her fists balled, but I put a hand on her shoulder and held her back. Now was not the time for her to lose her temper.

"That is why the spirits have chosen me to usher in a new era of balance. In order to achieve true equality, they have granted me the power take away a person's bending. Permanently," Amon claimed. Shocked and excited whispers ran throughout the crowd. I folded my arms, skeptical at best.

"That's impossible, there's no way," Korra whispered.

"This guy is insane," Mako replied.

"And now for a demonstration. Please welcome Lightning Bolt Zolt, leader of the Triple Threat Triad and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City," Amon said, sweeping his arm to the side where two Equalists led a tied up man with gray hair. Behind them, another line of men, all of varying ages and restrained with rope, were forced to kneel.

At the very end of the line up was a young man in his late teens with black hair and green eyes. He looked absolutely terrified as he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

"There's Bolin," Korra said. Oh great, we were here to rescue the one that looked like he was a jump scare away from pissing himself.

"Zolt has amassed a fortune extorting from the good people of Republic City. Now, in the interest of fairness, I will give him a chance to fight to keep his bending," Amon said as Zolt's restraints were removed.

"You're gonna regret doin that, pal!" Zolt shouted before he began to shoot fireballs at him. I had to admit, the man had skill with the way he moved. Not a single bolt made contact as he got closer to his target. At the last second, Zolt unleashed the skill that had earned him his nickname, firing a powerful bolt of lightning at the Equalist leader.

But Amon was quick, much quicker then the Triad leader had accounted for. He ducked beneath the firebender's outstretched arm, grabbing it and twisting him around so that he was kneeling with his back to him. Then, he raised his free hand and pressed his thumb into the middle of Zolt's forehead.

The bolt of lightning that had been flaring all over the place like an out of control light show devolved into a massive gout of fire. After another moment, the flames fizzled out all together, and Amon released his grip on the Triad leader. Zolt fell forward onto his hands and knees. He pushed himself up and threw his fist out, trying to blast Amon at point blank range. But nothing came out, and he fell back to his knees in a weakened state.

"What..what did you do to me?" Zolt asked.

"Your firebending is gone. Forever," Amon said before he turned back to the crowd, "The era of bending is over, a new era of Equality has begun!" People roared in approval as Amon turned his attention to the other Triad members. Mako and Korra began to discuss how they were going to get to Bolin. I, on the other hand, was watching this masked man's every move with my arms folded and my fingers curled up next to my lips in thought.

I was using every single one of my years of experience to figure out what exactly was going on here. The position Amon was using suggested that he was using energybending, but I quickly ruled that out as energybending had a glow to it. The only other way to disable a person's bending was to scramble the chi pathways in their bodies. Whatever technique he was using still allowed for the person to move around unrestricted, so it wasn't chi blocking. That meant he was manipulating the chakras in some way, probably through water or bloodbending.

"Ryou, are you listening?" Korra asked, bringing me out of my thoughts and back to the situation at hand.

"No. What's going on?" I asked.

"We need to get to Bolin, and fast, but we have no way of getting him away from all these people," Mako said. I turned my attention to Korra.

"Think tactically. What's the first thing you do when a numerically superior force is baring down on you?" I asked. The Avatar's eyebrows came together in the center of her forehead as she thought back over her lessons.

"You blind them," she said, her eyes growing in realization.

"Those machines are powered by water and steam," Mako said, motioning to the wall behind me, "if Korra can make a cloud big enough, I can get Bolin."

"Let's go before we think too much," I said, and with that we split up. I went with Korra, snaking our way through the crowd to the far wall. We slipped into a side hallway away from the crowd and came across some pipes and valves. Without a second thought, she began to spin one of the valves, releasing a jet of steam into the air.

"That's not enough," she said before she began to turn another.

"How much do you need?" I asked.

"A decent sized cloud, enough to fill the hallway halfway," she answered. I drew my sword hilt from beneath my coat and extended the blade. With a quick twirl and then strike, I sliced through all the pipes, allowing steam to burst into the hallway with us.

"What are you two doing back here?" It was the bouncer from the door, and he didn't look very happy. Before Korra could speak, I stepped forward, placing myself between him and her.

"This is your only warning. Go and act like you didn't see us," I warned. Now I stand at about six foot even, but this guy had at least a head in height and a hundred pounds in muscle build on me. My warning must have fallen on deaf ears, as he drew a wrench from his belt and swung it at my head.

I ducked, allowing the tool to sail over my head and smash into the pipes I had just cut. They were dislodged from their place, allowing a steadier flow of steam into the hall. With his arm still extended, I brought my sword up, cutting the hand that was holding the wrench clean off. Before he could react, or even scream I was upon him, my left hand clamping down over his mouth.

The sudden shift in weight caused him to fall onto his back, and the momentum carried my sword point forward into his throat. He struggled a little, a gurgling sound escaping from beneath my hand as he drowned in his own blood. After a moment his eyes rolled back and his struggling ceased. I yanked my sword free of him before closing his eyes with my spare hand.

"You should have listened to me and just walked away," I whispered to his body before standing. Korra was looking on, her eyes wide with horror. I couldn't blame her, I'd had a similar look the first time I'd witnessed death. But, we were still on a time limit.

"Korra, we need to finish the job," I reminded her. She blinked and looked away from the body as my words registered.

"Um, right," she said before assuming a bending stance. She bent the steam in the air around her, causing it to twist around her body like a flying snake. Then she threw her hand forward, and the machine on the far side of the wall exploded. The crowd began to scream and panic as the whole building was flooded with steam.

We began to run, twisting through the confusing corridors as we looked for both a way out and the brothers. As we went, Korra shed her coat and hat, clearly not liking being in disguise. Suddenly, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I turned and dropped, extending my leg so that I tripped Korra as well.

The Avatar fell and landed face first, but the tip of her back ponytail was sliced off by the blade that passed through the air where her head had been just a moment earlier. I brought my sword up and caught two blades in a lock. For the first time I got a good look at our attacker.

It was a woman, wearing a modified Equalist uniform and holding a pair of ninjato. A scarf covered the lower half of her face from her nose down. Her skin was a pale color, and her eyes were an emerald green, her hair was a fiery red color and pulled back into a top knot. I cocked my head to the side as I studied her. She seemed familiar somehow.

Suddenly the woman ducked as a blast of fire sailed over her head, breaking the blade lock with me. Korra came after her, blasting fire as she went. The woman was acrobatic, performing back flips and cartwheels as she dodged Korra's attacks. At the last second, she suddenly changed directions, bringing her swords forward and intending to run Korra through.

I was between them in the blink of an eye, bringing my own sword up to off set her. She reeled back from the strike, and I pressed the attack, bringing my sword down with the intention of burying it in her skull. But she quickly countered, bringing both of her swords up in a crossed fashion in order to catch mine.

She kicked out with her foot, striking me in the stomach and causing me to stagger. Going on the offensive again, she swung her blades upward, intending to remove my head from it's perch atop my shoulders. I ducked, feeling the wind from the blades as the passed less then a breath away. My own sword came up with an upward slice, forcing her to lean back in order to dodge it.

The tip managed to catch onto her makeshift mask, however, slicing it and yanking it free. Her mask fell away, revealing the entirety of her face. I was up with my blade held at the ready when I finally got a good look at her, and I froze in place. Now I knew why she seemed familiar, it was because she was familiar. Images flashed in my mind, events that had long since past.

"Takeko," I breathed, stunned. Her eyes went wide as she realized that I knew her name. She wasted no time, reaching down to her belt and producing a smoke grenade and pulling the pin. The canister went off, allowing her to vanish in a cloud of smoke and steam mixture.

"We need to go," Korra reminded as I stood there, staring after the woman who had just left. I nodded, snapping myself out of the trance and running with her. We finally found a side exit which let out into an alley, along with Mako and Bolin. The brothers were on the ground, having been electrocuted by a man holding a pair of electrified batons.

"You benders need to understand, there's no place for you in the world anymore," the man said. Korra responded by bending a pillar of earth beneath his feet, launching him into the far wall of the alley.

"I wouldn't count us out just yet," she said as he landed face down. We quickly got the brothers to their feet and began to run. Several Equalists began to swarm the alleyway, descending upon us like a human wave.

"The Avatar, that's her!" the man Korra had launched shouted, pointing toward us. I stopped and turned, facing the oncoming wave with my blade at the ready. Winning wasn't going to happen, I knew that just by glancing at the situation. But I knew I could slow them down long enough for Korra and the others to get away. And I might just take enough of them with me to break the back of this so called Revolution.

"Let them go!" a commanding voice called. We all looked up to find Amon standing on a balcony overhead with his arms clasped behind his back. The Equalists all came to a halt, staring at us from behind their gas masks. I retreated with the others, keeping my sword up and not daring to turn my back. Once we were a safe distance away, we turned and ran, and we didn't stop until we got back to the Pro Bending Arena.

"So you're the Ryou Korra talks about so much," Bolin said. We were sitting in the brothers' apartment above the Arena. I had removed the jacket and fedora disguise, and was currently wiping my sword down. It was custom for me to clean and inspect a weapon after a fight. Leaving blood on it while it was collapsed into the hilt would cause the mechanisms and blade itself to rust.

"Is there another?" I asked, directing the question both at him and Korra.

"Its just that, after everything I've heard I was expecting you to be...well..."

"Older? Taller? More handsome?" I supplied.

"All of the above," he said. I smirked as I collapsed the blade and returned the hilt to my belt. My youthful appearance was both a blessing and a curse, depending on the situation and my mood.

"He claims that he's five hundred years old," Mako said from across the room. Bolin looked at his brother and then back at Korra and me with a look of disbelief. This slowly faded when he realized that none of us were laughing about it.

"Seriously?"

"Hey, I still have a hard time believing it, bro," Mako said.

"Is it true? How do you do it? What's your work out routine? Your diet? I need to know, man!" Bolin said, firing off rapid questions and leaning further and further into my personal space as he went.

"You see, this is why I don't like telling people," I said to Korra as I place three fingers in the middle of the earthbender's forehead and pushed him back. She simply snickered in response and I turned my focus back to Bolin.

"Look, I'm not telling tonight, we've been through a lot, and we got a lot of other stuff to talk about," I said.

"Right. That woman, how do you know her?" Korra asked.

"What woman?" Mako asked.

"There was this red haired woman that attacked us right after I set off the steam blast. Ryou made it seem like he knew her," Korra explained.

"I do know her. Well, not on a personal level, but I do know her," I said.

"How?"

"Takeko was...an adversary at one point. I thought she was dead, which is why I was surprised to see her tonight," I said. Korra narrowed her eyes at me. Clearly she knew that I wasn't telling everything, but she didn't press the matter.

"So Ryou, have you seen anything like tonight before?" Mako asked. I cupped my chin in thought.

"Not exactly like it, no. I sure don't by the Spirit back story," I said.

"Really? It seemed pretty realistic to me," Bolin said.

"Let's just say I've had experience with Spirits before, and he doesn't really have the signs," I said, rubbing my Mark absentmindedly.

"So what do you think it is?" Korra asked.

"I'm not sure. I've got some research to do. Speaking of which, we should get back to Air Temple Island and tell Tenzin about this," I said. The others nodded tiredly in agreement. It was getting late, and we were all exhausted. We bade the brothers farewell before we began the long trip back to the Island.

"How do you know that woman?" Korra asked after we had walked a short distance. I sighed, knowing that there was no way I was going to get out of this.

"Takeko Nakano was once known by another title, the Red Archer," I said.

"The Red Archer? Where have I heard that?" she asked.

"The Red Archer was the best archer in the Fire Nation Army during the War," I said. Korra came to a complete halt as my words registered in her mind.

"Wait, are you saying this woman was alive during the Hundred Year War?"

"Now you get why I wasn't overly eager to talk about her more," I said.

"Do you think she's like you?" I was silent for the longest time as we walked. Part of me was thrilled at the concept of not being alone after all this time. The other part was now deeply concerned regarding the fact that she was with the Equalists.

"I don't know. I've got a lot of digging to do," I answered.

And that's a wrap for this chapter. What do you guys think about these new developments? Let me know. Drop a review, leave a PM, ask a question or ten, and I'll see you all next time.