Summary: Korraattempts to understand her visions, while Tenzin and Beifong search with the rest of team avatar to save her.

The entire ride in the back of the truck, Korra was only able to think about how she had just been bloodbended, and the stories Katara had told her about the ability. The first time she had used it was as a young girl against an elderly woman named Hama.

She was the person who had told Katara about bloodbending, as Hama learned how while being imprisoned in the fire nation, for the crime of being a waterbender from the southern tribe. Katara had been horrified by the idea of controlling people like that, only doing so to save Aang's life, and stopping Hama from kidnapping and imprisoning innocent people.

The second and last time she bloodbended was on a man she thought had killed her mother. In her own words, Katara had been like Hama in that moment, blinded by grief and rage enough to use someone's own body against them. Afterwards, she promised herself that she would never bloodbend again, and used her influence to make sure the act became illegal. And as Korra was lifted out of the truck by her own blood, she fully understood why.

Once Korra regained control of her body inside of a metal box in a basement in the middle of nowhere, she banged against the walls, telling Tarrlok he couldn't keep her locked up forever. Korra continued trying to yell for help and do everything she could to try and get the box open, but after a few minutes she realized it was futile.

Wondering what she should do instead, she remembered Tenzin telling her to meditate on her visions of Aang. "Well, since I can't think of anything else to do", Korra thought as she resumed the position taught to her and took a deep breath.

(-)

"We need to talk", Mako spoke, breaking the silence of their prison cell. The two brothers hadn't said a word to each other since being put in their cell in a very ungentle fashion, and afterwards Bolin's thoughts were focused on Korra, and it was an easy guess that Mako was doing the same in regards to his girlfriend. Bolin knew things between them couldn't continue like this, but he wasn't feeling like he should be the one making the effort.

"Ok, so...talk."

"You haven't spoken to me since the whole mess with Asami's dad. Are seriously still mad that I believed him over Korra?"

Bolin turned to look at Mako, trying to contain his frustration. "Is that what you think I'm upset about?"

"Well, what else could it be?"

Spirits, is he actually that dense or does he hope I don't know about it? Bolin was partially tempted to end the conversation right there, but he remembered that this was something they needed to move past. "Oh, I don't know, maybe I'm mad because you told Korra that she was only looking into Mr. Sato because she was jealous of you and Asami? Or, maybe I'm mad because you told Korra that you'd stop being friends with her if she didn't drop the investigation!"

Mako seemed to be taken off guard by how direct Bolin had been, but returned to his normal demeanor. "Is that what Korra told you?"

"No, I asked her if you had told her that because I thought you would think something like that, and she said you did, so don't you dare act like she's lying!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, alright?" Mako was clearly trying to calm him down, but Bolin wasn't in the mood.

"It's not alright! First of all, the fact that you think Korra's the kind of person that would accuse someone of working with terrorists just because their daughter is dating someone she likes. Second, that you think Korra's more focused on you even though she's dating me. Do you think she's only dating me because of you or something? Do you think I'm that unappealing to girls? Do you think she's that shallow? And as for ending your friendship, did you expect me to break up with her just because you were mad at her? Or was that another decision you thought you could make for both of us?"

"What? Bo, I...no...no...I...I'm sorry." He looked to Mako to see guilt and regret on his face, apparently not realizing until now how what he said before had affected him, and the thoughts that had been put in his head. Bolin felt slightly calmed by the sincerity in his brother's apology, but noticed that Mako had just taken a deep breath, which he usually did before trying to confess something. "Bolin, look, back during the tournament-"

He cut his brother off. "Before I asked Korra out, she told you that she thought you two were meant for each other, and you turned her down?"

Bolin had clearly surprised him, and the look on his face probably would have made him laugh if the situation were different. "She, uhhh, she told you?"

"Yeah, we talked about it when we had lunch before the final against the wolfbats. She thought I deserved to know the truth." Bolin was glad that he'd been told what happened by Korra instead of Mako, but his tendency to keep things from him had put a strain on their relationship previously, although the same could be said for Bolin's own inability to keep his mouth shut.

"Are you mad that I didn't tell you about what happened?"

"Not about this, no."

Fortunately Mako seemed to catch on to what he had meant. "Bolin, you know I only do that to protect you, right?"

"That's another thing, Mako. I'm not six years old anymore. I can look after myself better than you think."

"I want to believe that bro, but what happened before, with the triads..."

"Well, if I had thought there was a chance of a bunch of equalists that knew chi blocking with crazy new tech no one knew about showing up, I would have asked Shady Shin for more money! Pabu's tricks weren't the draw I was hoping for, ok?"

What Bolin had just heard felt like a cheap shot. Mako wouldn't have done any better against that ambush than himself or anyone else in that warehouse. He hadn't talked about it much, but it felt it had been made clear how scary the experience had been for him, at least enough not to have it brought up like that.

"You didn't have to do that Bolin. I told you, I would've figured something out."

"I know, I know. You always do. But what exactly was your plan? Keep walking out into traffic until someone rich runs you over, and hope they'll give you money for the tournament?"

"I don't know! But you shouldn't have put yourself at risk like that."

"Just stop it! If you had done that it would have been selfless and brave, but since I did, it was stupid and reckless, right?"

"I don't think you're st-"

Bolin interrupted his brother again. "Maybe I just wanted to be able to take care of us for once, instead of you doing everything all the time with me being a burden." His voice lowered in volume throughout the outburst, until he slumped down against the wall, finally getting everything off his chest.

"You're not...is that what you feel like?"

"Sometimes, yeah", Bolin confessed. After a few moments of silence, he felt the need to clarify. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful. I know it was hard to look after both of us growing up. You were the one that had to take the most risks and make the hard choices, but I feel like we're both old enough now that I can start doing more. I'm only two years younger than you, and if you can do all this hard and important stuff. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I don't like how things are between us right now and I want them to be different."

"Alright, Bolin", Mako placated. "I can't promise I'll start treating you differently right away, but we'll work through it."

"Thanks, bro. I'd give you a hug right now, but I just realized I seriously need to use the bathroom."

"You do realize there's no toilet in here, right?"

"Well, I'll just go in the corner then. And cover your ears, I can't go with you listening."

"I don't want to listen", Mako argued.

"Good. Then don't."

His brother gave an annoyed groan, but Bolin was then able to do his business in silence. He was just finishing up when he heard their cell door being opened.

"Asami!"

"Ahh!" Bolin could feel himself turning red realizing the identity of the intruder. "Could I get a little privacy, please?"

"Are you alright?", Mako asked. I guess I can't.

"I'm fine, the chief busted me out."

"Hate to interrupt the lover's reunion and potty break", Lin spoke up. "But Korra's in trouble. Amon captured her."

"What?" Bolin turned around, in shock at what he had just heard. He was about to inquire further when he let out a squeak, as his zipper had apparently taken on a life of its own.

"Your fly was down", Lin explained indifferently, as if she was telling him what time it was. Fortunately, she then said they needed to go to Tenzin's office at city hall to find out more, so that he could concentrate on that, instead of the horrific fate he had barely avoided.

When they arrived, Tenzin had given them all lectures on not being in bed or in prison, but once he had gotten past that, the man repeated Tarrlok's account of how Korra had been taken, leaving them all to ponder what their next move should be.

Bolin asked Tenzin if he had any leads, but the man was despondent. Saying that calling all morning hadn't yielded anything yet. Bolin then suggested that they should use Naga to track Korra, but apparently she was missing as well.

Lin then offered a theory that Korra was being held underground in equalists tunnels, which Bolin supported, saying when he had gotten kidnapped it had sounded like the truck entered a tunnel. Mako recalled chasing after him and led them all to an alley that had a familiar smell, according to Bolin.

The chief then did the same maneuver as she did in Hiroshi Sato's workshop, and told them there was a tunnel nearby.

"How did you do that?", Bolin asked. Find out there was a tunnel just by stomping with your foot."

"Seismic sense", the chief explained. "It's how my mother sees with her feet. She taught me how to use it so I could learn how to metalbend".

"That's so cool! Think you would teach me how t-"

"No."

"Okay", Bolin responded, a little disrespected that she wasn't even willing to give some excuse or let him down easy, but arriving at the tunnel entrance and noticing motorcycle tracks, reminding him that they needed to find Korra as quickly as possible.

After she metalbent the gate open, they walked to an intersection of tunnels.

"Should we split up to cover more ground?"

"Nah", Bolin told Asami. "We don't know what we're walking into. There's a good chance they'll try to ambush us", going back to his own abduction again. "Better we stay together and go down one tunnel so they can't pick us off", he suggested while pointing towards the one furthest to the right.

"What if Korra's not down there?", Mako asked.

"Then we'll go down the other tunnels until we find her!"

The look on Mako's face made Bolin regret snapping at his brother. It wasn't an unreasonable question. "Come on, you should be walking in front. You're our only light source." Mako then stepped forward with a flame in his hand, making eye contact with a nod to show that he recognized the unspoken apology.

After a few moments of walking, they had to hide to avoid equalists patrolling on motorcycles. However, they unknowingly revealed a secret entrance that Lin was able to open herself after watching the men enter.

Eavesdropping on two other equalists talk about prison deliveries. Tenzin figured that was where Korra was being held, and they then used a tram to surprise two guards, who ended up unconscious and tied up by Lin. She then told Bolin and Asami to keep an eye on them, but he decided to object.

"No. You're not leaving me behind again." He then looked over to Mako. "Can you make sure those guys don't cause any trouble?"

"Uh, sure", he quietly responded, noticing the former chief looked ready to break Bolin in two.

Before she could make him regret being born though, Tenzin placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to calm her down, as she gave an angry sigh before doing her seismic sense maneuver again. "My officers are inside, but I don't see Korra."

Bolin decided to follow them into the corridor full of cells anyway, and ran into two more equalists that Tenzin was able to defeat rather easily, blasting them into the wall with air. As he and Lin continued through the halls, Bolin noticed one of the henchmen was still conscious.

Remembering that they still had no idea where Korra was, and that she was probably running out of time, he acted in desperation, picking the man up by his collar, tearing off his mask and slamming him into the wall.

"Avatar Korra! Where are you keeping her?"

The demand for answers didn't get a response though,only a cold stare. An uncomfortable feeling settled over Bolin, dwelling on what he might need to do next. We don't have any other leads. Korra would do this for me if I needed help.

He used one hand to keep the equalist against the wall and off the floor, while pointing his free arm toward the ground, summoning rock to encase a closed fist. When it was completely covered, he raised it back up, making his intentions clear to the man.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, just tell me where Korra is!"

"We don't have her", the man weakly replied. "And Tarrlok's lying, we didn't attack city hall."

Bolin was about to interrogate further, when Lin reappeared with her metalbending officers. "I scanned the entire prison. Korra's not here."

He let the man and rock on his arm fall to the ground. "Why would Tarrlok lie about being attacked by equalists?" Then it dawned on him, and he felt like the biggest idiot in the world. "Because-"

"He has Korra", Tenzin finished angrily. "He fooled us all!"

Right after their realization, an alarm went off, and they all hurried back to Mako and Asami.

"Let's go, people", Mako challenged as everyone hopped on the tram.

Equalists were quick to chase them afterwards, but Bolin was able to earthbend the wall of the tunnel into their pursuers path, and he couldn't help but enjoy the sound of them hitting his obstruction.

"Try to chi block that, fools!"

The satisfaction was short-lived though, as Lin noticed the weird-mustached equalist at the other end of the tunnel, along with several other unhappy looking fellows. Fortunately, she was able to avoid them by using the tram rail on the ceiling as a ramp out of the base. This did cause groaning from the other passengers though, from the rough landing and the sunlight pouring through the exit she created back to street level.

Once they were all back on street level, Lin sent her officers home, while Tenzin requested Tarrlok and the rest of the council to meet him and Lin at city hall, unaware of their true intentions, with the present members of team avatar tagging along.

After they all arrived, Lin and Saikan shared a cold acknowledgement before Tarrlok burst through the doors. "Do you have news of Avatar Korra?"

"Drop the act, Tarrlok. You took her, didn't you", Tenzin accused.

"I am shocked you would accuse me of such an act! I already explained: Equalists attacked us last night and took her!"

"There weren't any chi blockers here last night, were there? You just planted weapons seized by the task force as evidence, didn't you?"

"That is a ridiculous accusation!"

"It's true!" A squeaky voice came out of nowhere, and they looked up on the second floor balcony and saw the council page. "He took her! I was here when Avatar Korra arrived last night, but Councilman Tarrlok ordered me to leave. I was on my way out when I saw Tarrlok bring her down to the garage."

"That is nonsense",Tarllok yelled full of rage. "Everyone knows you're nothing but a squeaky-voiced liar!"

"Why'd you wait until now to 'fess up", Lin asked while folding her arms and looking at the man skeptically.

"I was terrified to tell because...because Tarrlok is a bloodbender! He bloodbent Avatar Korra!

"Of course", Bolin thought. "Korra would have fed him his own teeth if he couldn't use bloodbending on her".

"Don't make this worse for yourself", Tenzin threatened as he, Lin, Mako, and Bolin took fighting stances. "Tell us where you have Korra".

Bolin was about to send a boulder right at Tarrlok's smug face when he lost control of his own body. As he fell to his knees in pain, he looked around to Mako and everoneelse in the same state of agony before he blacked out".

When he regained consciousness, Bolin felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Repeatedly. Lin explained they'd only been out for a few minutes, and that they could still pick up Tarrlok's trail, which Tenzin said they could do on Oogi.

(-)

"It's over".

As Aang spoke, the vision Korra had been watching ended, and she opened her eyes to see she was still trapped in the metal box, and realized what her past life had been trying to warn her about.

Tarrlok was a bloodbender, and he'd gotten the power from his father, Yakone. The man was apparently a gang leader, using the ability to bloodbend at any time to control the underworld. He was apparently powerful enough to control an entire courtroom of people without even moving, including the avatar.

Yakone had nearly killed Aang while trying to escape, and had only been able to defeat the mob boss with...the avatar state...and taking away his bending. Korra wanted to ponder if there was anything else her past life was trying to tell her when she heard Tarrlok return, muttering how everything was ruined now.

He confirmed the message of Aang's vision, but asserted that bloodbending was the only thing he had in common with his father. Tarrlok said he wanted to be the savior of the city rather than its ruler, but Korra had to mess it all up, and he had to go start a new life, with her as a hostage.

"This is crazy, you know you won't get away with this!"

Her warning was ignored as Tarrlok walked away, but when he eventually spoke, his voice was full of fear, and what he said gave Korra the same emotion.

"Amon."

She gasped. How did he find us here?

The equalist leader said it was time for Tarrlok to be equalized, and based on the scream she heard several moments later, it was a safe assumption that Amon followed through on his threat. But it didn't make sense. Tarrlok had to have used bloodbending against him, how was he still able to take away his bending?

"I'll take care of the councilman. You four retrieve the Avatar. Do not underestimate her. Electrocute the box to knock her out before you open it."

Korra looked around, hoping for an idea when she noticed that the top of the box had bars, and she was able to use one of her armbands to insulate herself from any shock.

Korra was able to take the equalists by surprise when they opened up the box, using a fire kick and a rock wave to stun them, using the chance to escape outside, where she saw Amon putting Tarrlok in the back of a truck.

She knew she wouldn't be able to defeat him in her current state, so she used nearby snow to waterbend ice spears to slow him down enough for her to escape down the side of the mountain. Her improvised snowboarding came to a stop though when she tripped on a tree root and slid into the base of a different tree unconscious.

She woke up to Naga licking her face, feeling relief that she'd been able to track her down. Korra then summoned just enough strength to climb onto Naga's back before passing out again.

A howl stirred her from sleep this time, and she realized Naga had been able to get her back into Republic city. Korra then heard Tenzin and Lin call out to her, trying to figure out what happened.

"Give her some space, guys."

She was surprised to hear Bolin be so assertive, and that only increased as she felt him take her off Naga and start carrying her towards Oogi.

"You okay, Korra?" She could tell Bolin was staring at the cut on her cheek, and she enjoyed the clear relief he showed when she said she was alright.

"Can't believe you actually had me worried, he responded, looking like his normal self again. Should have known you'd save us all the trouble and break yourself out. Really couldn't let me be the one to rescue you this time?"

"Be grateful", she joked back. "At least I'm letting you carry me all romantic and stuff."

"You're too kind."

Korra playfully stuck out her tongue hearing that, but right afterwards she closed her eyes, feeling Bolin set her down in the saddle, brush the hair out of her eyes, put his arm around her shoulders, and kiss her on the cheek.

"You're safe now", he whispered. "Just get some rest, okay?"

Notes: I wanted to delve into the dynamic Mako and Bolin had on the show previously, and use this chapter/episode to show Bolin was capable of being a little more mature. I know I didn't really write much about Aang's vision here, mostly because I wasn't really sure how I wanted to do it, but I do plan to write about happier times for the Gaang, don't worry!

PSA: I'm going to be going back to school soon, so chapter updates won't be as frequent as they were before, but I'll do my best to keep up with this. Really appreciate you reading this, it means a lot!