Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. Here we are with the end of Book One. As always, I can't thank you guys enough for your support. Now, let's get on with it:

You know, last stands are often something that are romanticized. It's a highly honorable act to hold off a horde of foot soldiers for your friends. Songs have been sung and tales have been told about such acts since humans could first tell stories. However, if you ever find yourself in this situation, I have a recommendation for you.

Don't.

Seriously, last stands work out best when the person making the stand dies. If not, they usually wind up wounded to the point that death would be preferred. I'll give you all three guesses as to what state I found myself in.

Don't ask me how I managed to escape the onslaught of the Equalists, or got back to the mainland. All of that is a blur. What I do know is that when I came to, I was bruised and battered to the point that I could barely walk. Somehow, I'd managed to find my way into the tunnels beneath the city before I collapsed.

When I came to again, it was because there was something rough and wet being drug repeatedly across my face. I opened my eyes to find a black triangular face looking down at me. It was a dragon, a hatchling to be exact. It's large golden eyes looked down on me with curiosity as it cocked it's head to the side.

"Hey, get off him," came a female voice off to my side. I turned my head to the side and found Korra crouched over me. She shooed the hatchling away with a wave of her hand. The dragon snapped it's jaws at her playfully before leaping off my chest. With that, she bent a large blob of water from a bucket and began to apply it to my bruises.

"Spirits, Ryou, what did you get yourself into?" she asked.

"Nice to see you too, beautiful," I answered.

"Why is it that every time I turn around I seem to be patching you up?" she asked. I tried to shrug, but grimaced in pain at the attempt.

"Guess we're just that lucky," I said before turning my attention to the hatchling that was in the corner. It was diving through a pile of rags like a cat playing with a mouse. At last, Korra finished with her healing and I was able to sit up without too much pain.

"How did you get your hands on a dragon egg, of all things?" she asked, watching as the dragon came up with a rat tail hanging out of its mouth. Like it was slurping a noodle, the hatchling swallowed it whole before licking its chops.

"A few centuries of wandering around looking for adventure? You'd be surprised what I have stashed out in the far flung corners of the world," I answered. She gave a small smile at that. I held out my hand and the hatchling came over and sniffed my outstretched fingers. After a short moment, it scampered up my arm and settled into a roosting spot on my shoulder.

"What are you going to name him?" she asked.

"Her," I corrected. It may have been a long time, but I still knew dragon anatomy.

"Okay, her. What are you going to name her?"

"Ashe," I answered. For the first time, I took a good look at our surroundings. We were in a makeshift construction, a hut built from various bits of building material that had been found. There was no way it would pass any kind of building code, which meant we were in a hobo commune of some sort.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Somewhere beneath Dragon Flats, I think," Korra answered, "we stumbled across them the first night after we left Air Temple Island."

"How long have I been out?"

"About a week. You were in pretty bad shape when we found you." I got to my feet and felt the muscles pop in my back. Making sure that my sword hilt was strapped to my hip, I stepped outside of the makeshift shack and looked around. Homeless people, men and women in rags, were all over the place. Yet, despite the state of clothing and building material, they were a happy sort. Unlike things up on the surface, where the tension had gotten so thick that you could cut it with a knife, here things were peaceful. It was like the war on the surface didn't exist.

The others in the Team were there. Mako and Asami were cuddled up near a fire, while Bolin fed Pabu some nuts. At the sight of Korra and I, they all perked up.

"You're awake," Asami said as they got to their feet.

"I'm fine. Not the worst thing I've had happen to me," I said, absentmindedly rubbing the scars next to my eyes from where Takeko's blade had struck me. We all sat around the fire and began to think about what to do next.

"So what do we do now?" Korra asked.

"The United Forces should arrive in the morning. We need to be ready to help them," Mako said.

"And if that fails?" I asked.

"What do you mean 'if that fails?' This is the United Forces we're talking about, they can handle a few chi blockers," Bolin said.

"Amon has demonstrated that he is a master tactician thus far. You'd better believe that he has a plan, because he's not going to let Republic City go without a fight," I warned.

"We need to have a way to take Amon down if attacking him directly won't work," Korra realized.

"But we don't even have that," Bolin said, "we still don't know how that masked psycho does what he does." Korra looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, as if expecting me to know the answer.

"What?"

"I know you think you have it figured it out," she said.

"You think because I have walked this Earth longer then almost anyone, that I will know what sort of parlor trick Amon is playing?" I asked.

"You know more then anyone I have ever met," she answered. I let out a sigh and lowered my head. She knew me better then I would have liked to admit.

"It's just that, a parlor trick. Amon is using bloodbending to rewrite a bender's chakuras so that they can't bend," I said.

"How do you know that?" Mako asked.

"Taking a person's bending is done in one of three ways: chi blocking, energybending, and manipulation of the energy pathways in the body. The first is temporary, the second has a glow to it, that leaves only the third," I explained.

"So what will you do?" Korra asked.

"My focus is not on Amon, but Takeko. She is well trained as an assassin, and is more of a threat then the masked man," I said.

"So you'll go after the woman who blinded you."

"And if Amon crosses path with me, I'll take his head as well," I finished.

Sleep evaded me. Not surprising, considering I had just spent the past week being dead to the world. So while the others slept, I saw up next to the fire, poking it lightly with a stick. Ashe played in the shadows for a while, hunting mice and other rodents. Eventually she settled into a slumber while perched on my shoulder. I didn't mind, the hatchling was a welcome ball of warmth.

It was later into the night when I realized that I had company sitting by the fire. Asami was on the other side, her knees folded into her chest as she watched the flames dance. The heiress looked lost, forlorn almost. Honestly I couldn't blame her. She'd lost everything she'd known within the span of a few weeks.

"Can't sleep either?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I've got a lot on my mind." I reached into my pack and produced something I hadn't had a need for in months. A small tin pot, along with a few cups.

"Isn't it a little late for tea?" Asami asked when she saw me getting things together.

"I'm not making tea. You ask me, tea is terrible when it's steaming hot. A drink best served cold," I said as I finished mixing the various grounds together and placed the pot over the fire.

"What are you making then?"

"Coffee." She got a confused look on her face.

"Coffee?"

"Yes, coffee."

"What is coffee?" she asked.

"It's a drink similar to tea, but stronger. It's quite popular in the villages and trading centers lining the Si Wong Desert," I explained. I'd first encountered the drink in my travels shortly after Kyoshi's passing. Back then, it had been limited to the desert regions. Over time though, it had spread over much of the southern Earth Kingdom. The royal court in Omashu enjoyed highly refined versions of it, usually with large amounts of cream, sugar, or other additives. Trading caravans preferred a more grotesque version like I was making now.

"It smells good," Asami commented as the pot began to come to a boil. I gave a smile and began to pour us both a cup.

"So tell me, what troubles you?" I inquired.

"I don't want to bother you with my personal issues," she said, trying to wave me off.

"We have time, might as well spill," I countered, offering her a cup. She took it, being careful not to burn herself on the warm metal sides.

"It's just...I knew that my mother's death effected my father, but I never knew just how much of his anger had consumed him," she said.

"Life is about loss. We all must deal with it at some point or another. It's how we deal with it that defines us," I said. Asami's posture didn't change, but rather she continued to stare at the fire, only now she had a steaming cup in her hands.

"I forgot. You're an immortal, you must know loss more then anyone," she said.

"Ageless, not immortal," I corrected.

"Whatever," she said sullenly.

"You don't believe me."

"Of course I don't believe you. The whole thing sounds ludicrous at best," she dismissed. I sat in silence for a while, contemplating how to go forward from here.

"Thirty odd years ago, I was visiting the city after a long bout of traveling and decided to get my boots shined. There was this eighteen year old kid, bright, enthusiastic, and as dirt poor as you could get. He kept chatting me up about this idea he had, to create a more efficient way to produce things. Finally I got so tired of listening to him that I paid him a thousand yuan tip just so he'd shut up. And you know what he did with that money? He built a virtual empire out of it." Asami had sat up during the story and was staring at me wide eyed.

"I've never heard a new person having heard that story, much less them telling it. My father loved telling that story," she said.

"We are all capable of many things. Sometimes all we need is a little push," I said. I don't know if I managed to convince her I was telling the truth. At that moment, we settled into a comfortable silence, just happy to have someone else to lean on.

I wasn't there for when Sato and his new flying machines bombed the First Fleet into oblivion. Even for all of my skills, the way of the sword has limits in modern combat. I wouldn't have been any use to them even if things had gone smoothly. Instead, I focused on infiltrating the Equalist ranks and tracking down my old foe.

Tracking Takeko proved to be more difficult then I originally thought. The Red Archer was always on the move, and yet never straying very far from Amon himself. Amon was smart enough to keep moving should someone try to assassinate him, but he would have to show himself to his followers eventually in order to announce his victory to the world. That was how he would be able to secure his Revolution.

It was also how we were going to take him down. At this point, killing Amon without exposing him as the falsehood he was wouldn't do much in terms of slowing down the Revolution. It was already going at full steam, and his death would just make him a martyr to rally behind. However, if spared, the damage he alone could do was almost irreparable. Sure the Revolution would continue without him, but it would be severally weakened.

And that was how I found myself wearing an Equalist uniform, marching on patrol in the Pro Bending Arena overlooking a crowd that had gathered to watch Amon give his victory speech. I'd tracked Takeko here, which meant she was providing some kind of security to the Equalist Leader. Walking around like I was a foot soldier on patrol was actually a good way of scouting the place out. If you looked like you were busy, no one bothered you.

I eventually found Takeko. She was wearing her uniform again, complete with the face mask and everything. But she was observant, studying each foot soldier she past with a deep gaze, as if she could see their souls. Eventually I was able to work out a sort of path she was following. Although she changed her route, she passed through three separate rooms regularly; the main arena, a hastily constructed prison area below the stage, and the gym which had been converted into a storage room.

I chose the gym as my place to strike. Unlike the other two, it was quiet and almost always deserted. I would take her down here quickly, without any interruptions or distractions. Hiding beneath a table, I awaited for her arrival. It seemed like hours passed, and given the fact that there was a crowd of almost a thousand out in the main arena, I wasn't surprised.

So you can imagine my relief when I finally heard footsteps approaching. Before I moved though, I realized that there was not one, but two other people in the room. And they were coming from opposite ends, which meant they had not entered together.

"Master. Everything is in place," Takeko said. I peaked out of my hiding place to see a rather large pair of leather boots come to a halt in my view.

"Excellent. Everything is proceeding as planned," a deep male voice replied.

"Should I continue to entertain our host?" she asked.

"No. Amon's usefulness has run it's course. I will handle him personally. As for you, I want you to track down this supposed immortal and bring him to me. He may yet prove to be a valuable asset."

"Yes, Master." With that, the man in the leather boots turned and left, leaving Takeko by herself. So that was the mysterious Master she spoke of. Meeting him later was going to be interesting. Right now, I had the Red Archer to deal with.

Drawing my sword hilt, I blinked so that I was now crouched in the middle of the room. Takeko was standing a short distance away, looking over her equipment. Her head snapped up at the sound of my blade extending from the hilt. When she saw me, her eyes narrowed and she drew her own swords.

"Whomever you are, I would advise against your current course of action," she said. I stood to my full height, removing the Equalist gas mask in the process. She was visibly stunned at this, but she was still a professional and quickly got over it, hunkering down into a more agile stance.

"Back for a rematch?" she asked. Her victory over me last time had made her cocky. I was going to correct that.

"Trust me, Takeko, it's not going to be much of a match." I blinked so that I was at her side, driving a few quick jabs into her arm before blinking again and repeating the process on the other arm. Both of her swords clattered to the floor as her arms dangled useless at her sides. I blinked for a third time, appearing directly in front of her and pressing the tip of my blade into her throat.

Her eyes were wide with surprise and disbelief, as all of this had happened in the span of about three seconds. She didn't dare move a muscle as she was fearful she would accidentally cut herself on the razor sharp blade.

"What..how?" she asked.

"There's still so much you don't understand," I answered. With that, I applied a few extra jabs, and she collapsed to the floor completely paralyzed. I collapsed my sword and returned it to it's place on my hip before I grabbed a length of rope and gagged her. Dragging her across the room to the corner, I sat her upright and made sure she was looking at me.

"I'm letting you go, Takeko. I'm sparing you because I don't believe you are operating under your own free will. Maybe it's some kind of drug or hypnotism your Master is using, I don't know. Whatever it is, break yourself free from it. Because if we cross blades again, it will be your end," I promised. At that, I delivered a final jab into her neck, knocking her out cold.

Picking up her discarded swords, I hid them within a crate before sliding the gas mask back on and heading out again. Rather then head back into the main arena, I made my way down into the building's underbelly. What was I doing down here? The answer is I was looking for prisoners. A victory rally surely would have some kind of high ranking or well known bender to show off as a prize.

What I found was an utter surprise. There were several cells, hastily constructed, but well built none the less. However they were all empty, save one. She had been beaten into submission, but I could tell just by the way she lay, she was still defiant as ever.

"I don't know what more you think you'll get out of me, but whatever it is, get it over with," she muttered in annoyance.

"Funny. I didn't think a Beifong would take any of this lying down," I replied. Lin sat up and looked at me with a stunned look on her face. I pulled my gas mask off and showed her my grin. To think, a few months ago it was I who was in the cell, and her determining my fate. Now, the roles were reversed.

"Ryou?!"

"Hello Lin. My how the mighty have fallen," I said.

"You're going to rub this in my face, aren't you," she deadpanned.

"Ordinary I would, but given the fact that this cell door is typical steel and it's still on it's hinges, I'd say that Amon got to you as well," I said. She didn't answer, but rather looked at the floor. That told me all I needed to know.

"I thought as much. Right, let's get moving," I said before extending my blade and slicing the lock. The door swung open and she stood.

"What's the plan?" she asked.

"Get out of here with our heads still attached to our shoulders," I answered. We made our way as quietly as we could to the back entrance of this place.

"You know, you move pretty quiet for an old man," she said.

"For an experienced Detective, you sure make a lot of noise," I shot back. Just as we opened the door, the sounds of fighting reached us. Blasts of fire and air, as well as their impacts. I froze. The airbenders had escaped. I'd seen it with my own eyes.

"I thought that Tenzin got away," I said, turning to Lin.

"He did, I saw it. That's how I got captured, making sure he got away," she countered. She was just as genuine in her confusion as I was. We'd both seen them get away. Yet the sounds of battle stated otherwise.

"Get out of here, I'll see what's going on," I ordered.

"You're not going without me."

"Lin, you don't have your bending or a disguise, you'd be vulnerable up there and you know it." She looked frustrated, even more so then when I had first come back to this place all those months ago.

"Be safe, grandfather," she said, placing her hand on my shoulder before slipping out the door. I waited for a moment before turning and running toward the sounds of battle, pulling the gas mask down as I went. The Arena itself had cleared out of civilians, all of them running in terror because of the battle unfolding.

I ran past a pile of Equalist bodies on the floor by the stage. That should have been my first clue about what I was talking into. I rounded the corner onto the main stage, only to walk straight into a blast of air which launched me off the stage and into the wall itself. The air was forced from my lungs as I landed in a heap at the base of the wall, gasping and feeling to see if any ribs had been shattered.

Thankfully no bones were broken. But my current state meant that I was in no position to alert my comrades to my presence. They ran past me, thinking I was just another Equalist soldier. My vision pulsed as I struggled to get my breathing back under control. Airbenders may have been pacifists, but people tended to forget that when cornered, they could hold their own alongside or even out do the other bending arts.

Tenzin trying to break my ribs was a testament to this. After several minutes of collecting myself, I managed to get to my feet and stumble after them. Shaking my head in order to clear it, I pushed open the swinging door that led into the hallway I had just come from. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I leaned backwards just in time to avoid another blast of air rushing past.

"I can airbend? I can airbend!" It was Korra, standing proud and tall at one end of the hallway while Amon stood at the other. Mako was laying sprawled out across the hall from me, looking back and forth between the two. I couldn't help but smile. Finally she had beaten that block of hers. Amon noticed me in the doorway.

"Help me defeat the Avatar, soldier," he said. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. Why would I bother to help him? Then I remembered, I was still wearing the gas mask. Reaching up, I pulled it from my head and let it fall to the floor.

"Ryou?" Korra asked, relief in her voice.

"Kick his ass." She didn't need to be told twice as she started sending blasts of air into him. Amon was sent tumbling down the hallway like a rag doll. Finally he landed on his hands and knees just before a window at the end of the hall. He began to push himself to his feet, and I watched as his legs and arms tensed, he was getting ready to bend again.

I blinked and was suddenly behind the masked man, just as he raised his hand and caught Korra in a bloodbending hold. The Avatar, who was in the middle of throwing another air blast, was stopped dead in her tracks. I glanced out the window behind me and saw blue. We were overlooking the walkway that connected the Arena to the mainland.

Throwing my arm around Amon, I yanked his head back and pulled him into a choke hold. He gasped as my forearm crushed his windpipe, preventing him from breathing. His hold on Korra visibly weakened, as she was able to start to break free of it. She tensed up, ready to throw the final blow, but hesitated because I was in the way. Our eyes met, and I found I had only one thing to say to her.

"Do it!" With a yell, she kicked her foot out, sending a blast of air into Amon's chest. We were both launched backwards through the window and into the waiting harbor. Darkness and bubbles surrounded us and all noise was muffled. Amon's mask had been knocked away during the fall, leaving me with the view of a man who had some burn scars on his face. As we sank, I watched as the scars began to vanish, washed away with the water. The sly bastard was wearing makeup.

Suddenly his eyes burst open and he threw his hands around my neck. A struggle erupted between us as he tried to both strangle and drown me at the same time. My hand managed to grasp my sword hilt and extend the blade. His eyes went wide and his mouth fell open as the weapon ran him through. I put my boot in the middle of his chest and kicked off, pulling the sword free and separating us.

Instinct took over, and Amon bent the water around him and shot toward the surface. I kicked and followed him. When my head broke the water, I realized that Amon was above me on a pillar of water he was bending around himself, in broad view of several hundred of his followers. The former leader looked about in shock and terror as he clutched his wound, realizing that he had been exposed for the fraud he was.

I blinked so that my free hand was grasping the edge of the dock. Planting my foot against a support beam, I twirled my sword once before throwing it like a harpoon. It sailed true like an arrow and impaled Amon directly in the heart. He looked down at the weapon in shock, one of his hands grasping it like he couldn't believe it existed. Then he looked from it to me, a look of defeat in his eyes. I watched as the pillar of water gave out from beneath him, and the leader of the Equalists fell into the waiting water below. People were left pointing, watching as his body floated face down and the water around it began to turn red.

I breathed a sigh of relief. This insanity with Amon was had finally reached it's conclusion. With him exposed like this, his movement and following would fall apart, or at least be reduced as a significant threat. Just hanging there, I could already hear the word spreading amongst the crowd. The Revolution was over.

Dawn brought the Second Fleet, and with it a reestablished stability as the United Forces cleared out any remaining Equalist holdouts. Despite our victory, Korra was depressed. Amon had gotten to her and severed her connection to the three elements she had mastered. It was by sheer luck that her airbending had become unblocked when it did. Still, bending was something she had been able to do her whole life, and then to have that suddenly gone was jarring to say the least.

I kept silent the majority of the time, cleaning my sword or feeding Ashe. But I made it a point to never be very far from her in case she needed me. Lin was far more sympathetic with her then I would have initially thought. I guess the mutual loss of their bending was something they could connect over. We all stood on the docks of Air Temple Island, watching as the main bulk of the Second Fleet sailed into the bay.

"You saved Republic City," Tenzin said to Korra in an effort to make her feel better.

"But there's still so much to do," she replied. The tasks laid out before her were overwhelming, which wasn't helped at all by the fact that she had only one element now. Tenzin placed his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner, and Korra looked at her boots in a downcast manner.

"Yay, Uncle Bumi's here!" Ikki yelled in excitement. As if to answer the airbending child, a figure standing on the bow of the battleship sailing past let out an excited bellow before slamming his fist into his palm. The airbending master visibly deflated at the sight.

"Great, now I have to entertain my brother," he grumbled. I smiled at the sight. Bumi, the eldest of Aang and Katara's three children, had always been something of a mad genus like his namesake. He always came back with another crazy story to tell. But the thing is, no matter how outlandish or absurd it was, it was always the truth. I'd found that out the hard way some years ago.

Turning away from the family reunion, I went back to my room and began to pack my lone bag. After being a wanderer for so long, I was starting to feel that itch again. The need to get out there and travel the wide world. There was so much to do, and after the insanity of the past few months, frankly a vacation of some kind was needed.

"You're leaving." I looked up to find Korra standing in the doorway. She looked even more depressed now.

"It's a wide world out there, Korra. I've been in one place far too long for my liking," I said.

"I was hoping you would come with us to the South Pole. Katara is going to see if she can restore my bending," she said, looking at her boots.

"Your chakras are blocked. Healing isn't going to work in this case," I said bluntly.

"Gee, thanks for the reassurance," she muttered. I just gave her a look. Her mood was starting to annoy me.

"I would think that a student of mine who has advanced such as yourself would have learned by now to pull herself up by her bootstraps," I said.

"You just said that Healing isn't going to fix my problem. I can't be the Avatar if I can't bend all four elements. What's the point then?" she asked.

"I said that Healing wouldn't work, I didn't say it was your only solution." That got her attention. She perked up a little and narrowed her eyes at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, it's a wide world out there. You can go south, waste your time running back home with your tail between your legs," I said as I finished stuffing some clothing in my pack, "or you can come with me."

"Wait, you mean you want me to go traveling with you?" she asked. Her mood had done a one eighty, and she actually sounded excited now.

"What do you say, Avatar Korra? Just you and me on the road again," I offered. She gave a huge smile before pulling me into a bear hug and a kiss.

"I say I like that idea."

And cut. That's the end of Book One. The next few chapters will stray away from established canon, so you all have some original content to look forward to. As always, remember to read, review, or drop a PM and let me know what you guys liked or didn't like, and I'll see you all next time.