This is it. The final moments before the final showdown. I have two endings, the official and the alternate. If you want me to post the alternate BEFORE the epilogue, tell me. The epilogue will still be following the official ending, but I figured since I have another one, I might as well share it. Otherwise, we can settle for the one.

...

~Asami~

"Hello, Asami."

"Dad?"

"I'm...sorry for all of this." Dad said, circling around the desk before me to come to my side. His arms were folded behind his back. "It was supposed to be much more simple."

"What are you talking about?" I said through my teeth to mask my fright and anger. "What is going on? Where are my friends? Where is Korra?"

"I'm afraid Korra is...not here..." He pulled his right hand out. In it was Korra's black hoodie. He dropped it onto the table and I gasped, looking up at him.

"What did you do with her?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"Asami," he began, completely discarding my question. "You have to understand that everything I've done, I've done for you."

"Bullshit." I growled. My hands gripped the arms of the chair.

He ignored my outburst. "Had things of gone as planned that first night...had that damned freak not of intervened-"

"Freak?" I said, automatically knowing who he meant. "Korra's as normal as you and I are!"

"She wasn't meant to be there!" Dad said, turning to me with anger in his eyes. "The whole point of the ambush was to see if you were ready!"

"Ready for what?" I said.

"Ready to join me." he clarified. "I didn't put you in those self-defense classes for nothing, sweetie-"

"Don't call me that." I said.

I saw a flash of hurt in his eyes, but he didn't address it. He turned away from me. "The whole point of this was to ensure that you would understand why I'm doing this."

"Well, cuffing me to a chair and having me attacked by Equalists is a great start." I said.

"Your mother was killed by your friends' kind." My father said. "Benders."

"Yeah, I already know the story. What does that have to do with everything?" I questioned.

"We can finally gain our equality, Asami." Dad said. "We can avenge your mother and get the respect we, like all non-benders, deserve!"

"I think you're delusional." I said. In all honesty, it was surprising how easy it was to instantly talk back to my father. Like it was nothing. "What kind of father tries to have his own daughter attacked and kidnapped just so he can show her some kind of greatness that will only be pointless in the end?"

"Asami-"

"I thought you loved me, Dad!" I said. "Why would you do this?!"

Dad slammed his hands down on the desks in front of me and glared. I flinched inwardly at his gaze, but I wasn't going to back down. "I did this so you wouldn't end up like your mother!" he yelled.

My face fell slightly. "What do you mean end up like my mother?"

"There are benders everywhere, Asami." Dad said. "You think I don't fear for you every time you leave, wondering if you're going to come back the same way you left me?"

"That's not the point." I said. "Not every bender is bad. My best friends are benders and Korra is the Avatar-"

"Which is another reason why you need to see my side of things! She's more capable of causing you harm than anyone else!" he said.

"Korra treats me with more respect than I deserve!" I said. "She's never done anything to hurt me!"

My father walked around the left side of the desk towards me and pulled my hair back away from my neck, tugging down my collar in the process, the side without the imprint much to my relief. By that point in time, the hickeys had already started to fade, almost a yellowish color by then.

"Is this what you consider okay?!" My father said. "She caused these, right?!"

I bit my lip and turned away, my hair falling from his hand in the process. "Those weren't on purpose..." I muttered. There was no way I would tell him those occurred during sex. "How do you even know about them?"

"It doesn't matter how I know, the point is that she did that to you." Dad said.

"What if I wanted her to?!" I shot back. "What if I wanted her to hurt me?! Then what would you say?!"

He stood straight and stared at me, but didn't say anything. I kept talking. "You've been so stuck in the past that you can't see things have changed! Do you really think mom would want you to be doing this? Do you think she'd accept you ruining my happiness just to force yours upon me?"

Just as he opened his mouth to reply, the doors busted open and an Equalist came through. "Sir!" It was the first guy.

"Not now, Josou!" My father said, turning to him.

"But, sir, the Avatar and her friends have escaped!" Josou said.

My heart skipped. Korra was here. Korra was alive. My father had lied. He looked at me, then at the Equalists behind my chair. "Don't let her escape." he said, talking about me.

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison.

My father turned towards Josou and followed him out of the room, shutting the doors behind him.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. Of all the things I had known my father was capable of, I never expected one of them to be this. To betray me just because he couldn't let go of the past. To try and separate me from Korra. Not that he would've had much success, we were bound to each other. Regardless, it hurt me, killed me, to think that Dad had brought it to this. My eyes stung with the oncoming threat to cry and I shut my eyes hard, holding the urge back. There was no time to cry. Not while I needed to get to Korra.

I inspected the cuffs around my wrists. To my surprise, they weren't anything made by Future Industries. I could tell because of the weight and the look of the material metal. Given enough pull, they could surely break. If my father was smarter, he would have created a special pair of handcuffs in order to ensure my restraint. I curled my right hand into a fist and gave a gentle tug. I smiled inwardly. It was going to be too easy.

I looked over my shoulder at the guard to my left, an idea forming in my mind. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"No." he said gruffly.

"Aw, come on. Just one question." I said. "I swear I'll be quiet afterwards."

"Don't do anything." the guy on my right said. "She's just trying to bait us."

I put on a fake expression of astonishment. "Me? Baiting?" I said. "Do I really seem like the type of girl who would bait anyone?" They looked at each other, but didn't say anything. "Look, I just need one of you to shake out my boot. There's something in it and it's very uncomfortable."

"Fine." the second guy said, coming around to the front of the chair. I knew there had to be one dumb one out of the two.

When he knelt down to take off my boot I struck him in the face, sending him across the desk and onto the floor. The first guy barely had any time to react before I tilted the chair forward and threw it back. Both I and the chair landed on top of him. He grunted at the impact and I immediately gave the handcuff on my right hand a hard pull. The second guy was starting to recover and get to his feet. I pulled again, harder. The third try, it gave way and the chain broke. It was sad really, no cuffs should've been that easy to break.

The second guy started for me and I jumped to my feet, picking up the chair at an awkward angle and swinging it around at him, catching him in his side. He fell to the ground again and I bent down beside the first guy, grabbing a set of keys from his waist. I unlocked my left hand, then my right. The cuffs fell to the floor and I flexed my wrists, smiling.

"That is just shoddy workmanship." I said.

Without a second's hesitation, I ran out of the room in search of my friends and Korra.

~Korra~

"Where the hell are we?" Kuvira said as we made our way down a long hallway.

"I have no idea." I said. "But we need to hurry up and find Asami, then reunite with Mako and Bolin so we can get out of here. The sooner we're out of here, the sooner we can call the police."

"Yeah." Kuvira said.

We continued down the hall in silence, walking past locked door after locked door. My ears were on high alert, picking up the smallest sounds. From dripping water to the creaking pipes. It was becoming a lost cause. How did we know that Asami was even in the same general area as us? For all we knew, I could've found her in another building. For all we knew, she could've been miles away from where we were. All I focused on was her safety, not her location. My ears flattened against my head and I bit back a whine.

Kuvira saying my name broke me from my thoughts. "Huh?" I said, looking at her.

"I know it's not really the right time to be saying this...but I wanted to thank you." Kuvira said.

My head cocked to the side in confusion. "Thank me for what?"

"For making Asami happy again." Kuvira said. "It's been a long time since I've seen her as happy as she is with you. So thanks."

I blushed and averted my eyes to the next door. "Oh, um, you're welcome."

"And, if you don't mind me asking, what is up with those ears?" she said.

I didn't have time to answer. The next door opened and four Equalists came running out. Kuvira stomped the ground, raising a wall, then shot her fist forward, sending it back at a rapid speed. It slammed into one of the Equalists, the other three neatly dodging it. I raised a puddle of water from the floor and aimed it at the closest one. I threw him against the wall and turned the water to ice, freezing him in place. Using her metal bending, Kuvira tore a pipe from the wall and turned it towards the last two. Steam flew from the opening, blocking them from our sight. I saw flashes of light and my ears trembled. One of them came through the steam, an electric glove on his hand. He was going for Kuvira.

Thinking fast, I decided now wasn't the time to be playing it safe. I used my earthbending and slid a section of rock out of the wall before he could reach her. He slammed into it and hit the ground. I bit my lip and slid the rock back. Kuvira was gaping at me slightly.

"The motherfucking Avatar." she muttered.

"In the flesh." I said.

"Does Asami know?" Kuvira said. "Just how many more secrets are you keeping?"

My ear twitched. "Just a few." I answered, just as the last Equalist came at us. I heard his footsteps and ducked down last minute, pulling a swipe kick. I swept his leg out from under him and he fell. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pinned him against the wall. I created a fire dagger in my hand and held it up to his neck. "Where is Asami?" I questioned through my teeth.

"You're wasting your time, Avatar." he spat, laughing. "By the time you get to her, it'll already be done."

"What are you talking about?" Kuvira said, stepping forward.

He didn't say anything and I slammed him against the wall. "Answer her!" My voice was a low growl.

"She's going join us." he said finally. "And when she does, she's going to help us get back the respect we deserve."

The fire in my hand died out and my eyes widened. "Asami wouldn't do that..." I said.

He laughed again, the sound running down my spine. "You're so naive."

I gritted my teeth and used more earthbending to pin him to the wall my his wrists and ankles. He struggled as I backed away and I turned towards Kuvira.

"Let's go." I said a flat tone.

"Korra-" she began, but I stopped her.

"No, I know he's lying." I said. "So let's go."

I started up the hall with her behind me. Behind us, I could hear the guy yelling at us.

"You're too late!" he said. "She'll be one of us!"

I clenched my teeth and kept running.

~time skip~

I couldn't tell long we'd been running, but it was grating on my nerves. It was either an empty room or a locked door that made our search become more and more hopeless. My eyes stung and my hands turned into fists. I felt a fire building up inside of me and I almost opened my mouth to release it when Kuvira placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, calm down." she said. "We'll find her. We'll get out of here."

I wanted to believe her, I really did. But everything we'd faced so far said different. Maybe we weren't going to find her after all-

I heard footsteps scraping the ground fast behind us and turned on my heel. They were coming from the hall we'd passed. Kuvira and I took fighting stances as the steps drew closer. I could hear the person's heavy breathing. They slid into view and-

"Asami!" I said, grinning.

"Korra!" she said breathlessly.

We ran to each other and embraced tightly, our lips colliding feverishly. Asami's fingers curled against my tank top and she backed away slightly.

"I'm so glad you're okay..." she said, smiling.

"I'm glad you are, too." I said. "I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

Her hand went to head, behind my ears. "Your ears...I forgot to grab your hoodie when I saw it."

"It's alright, the secret had to come out eventually." I said.

Kuvira cleared her throat, interrupting the moment. I rolled my eyes jokingly, giving a half smile. "Uh, hello? I'm here, too." she said.

Asami looked over my shoulder, smiling wider. She let go of me and went to her, hugging her. "Thank god." she said. "How did you guys escape?"

"Kuvira used her metalbending to separate the bars of the cells we were in." I said.

"Then, where are Mako and Bolin?" Asami asked.

"They went to try and get some answers while we went to find you." Kuvira said. "We just have to find them now and-"

"Guys!"

This seemed like something out of a poorly timed show. Mako and Bolin came running up the hall. When they reached us, Bolin hunched over and rested his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Mako shook his head at him and looked at us. "You guys found Asami!" he said, smiling.

"More like found each other." Asami said, giggling.

"Did you guys find out anything?" Kuvira asked.

"Actually, yes." Mako said. "We had to threaten a few guys, but we got the answers we were looking for." His eyes settled on Asami, his expression becoming sympathetic. "Asami, I don't know how you say this, but-"

"I already know." Asami said. "My father is leading this whole thing."

"What?!" Kuvira and I exclaimed.

"He's the one organizing the ambushes and the kidnapping." Asami said. "All so he could see if I was worthy enough to join his...cause."

"That's not all." Bolin finally said when he caught his breath. "We know where we are. We're under your father's workshop, in some underground factory."

"So how do we get out of here?" I said.

"That's the only thing they wouldn't tell." Mako said. "But we think we found the way out."

"Lead the way then!" Kuvira said.

"Come on." Bolin said, already leaving up the way they came.

We glanced at each other and followed after him. They led us down two hallways before turning down another one that ended in double doors. I smiled. We ran through the doors, expecting to be met with fresh air and darkness of the night sky.

Instead, we were met with an army of Equalists and a huge robot suit.

~To be continued...~

Part 3 of 4! Sorry for the lack of pacing and stuff, I really want to get to the epic fight scene already! Trust me, it'll be great!

Thanks for reading!