Chapter 4: Revelations
Mako grit his teeth, angry at the sigh in front of him. It wasn't Korra bending water over his brother's slumped body, that made him kind of depressed since Korra had been at it for over an hour with no results. It wasn't the air bender looking down at his brother with worry in his eyes, Mako could at leas partially understand that guy's stance on everything…even if he disagreed with it. Heck, even his wife was here to give her sympathies.
However, that lousy chief of police waiting to get a statement from Bolin with that damn mask of regret on her face was driving him nuts! Now the big important chief of police wants to make us think she cares? Mako thought while huffing out a burst of steam from his nose. Where was your worry when my brother was being crippled while everyone in the whole city listened in, huh?
Before Mako's mouth could undergo permeate damage from his teeth grinding against one another, Korra pulled the water off of Bolin and put it back in a nearby jar. Everyone in the room waited while Bolin held out his arm towards a small rock in front him and lifted his arm and…
…got their hopes dashed when the earth didn't bend to his will.
Bolin tried again, and again, and again…seemingly straining his muscles with the last movement until he finally had to stop before he strained something. "Well…I think I may have moved it…a little."
But no one else agreed with him, Bolin slumped over. "So, that's it then," he mumbled in a voice barely loud enough to hear.
"Wait a second!" Mako almost yelled when Lin tried to come forward, probably wanting to ask Bolin some stupid questions that Mako knew would be nothing but a waste of time. He looked over to Korra, not caring if he looked like he was begging. "You're the Avatar…can't you, I don't know…use some special Avatar power to fix him?"
He didn't need to wait for Korra to tell him, Mako could tell by the look in her eyes that it was hopeless. "I tried every trick I know," she said before looking away. "I even ran over his whole body with healing water just to see if there was something I missed that would be fixed. But as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong."
For her part, Korra didn't even want to look at Bolin right now. What Amon could do…the thought of loosing her bending was terrifying. With the proof that he wasn't bluffing standing right in front of her like this…it took everything she had to keep from leaving the room.
Bolin blinked, then looked down and rubbed his belly. "Is that why my stomach feels better? I haven't eaten since they nabbed me and was really hungry, but…" He stopped and looked around the room. "Uh…never mind."
"I'll go make you something dear," Pema told him before she headed out the room's exit.
As soon as the woman was gone, Lin stepped forward. "And while she's doing that, I can get down to some real business. I need you to tell me what happened when Amon's men grabbed you. Every detail you can think of. If you can tell us something useful and we act quickly, we just might be able to-"
"Now you're interested?" Mako demanded. "Where the hell were you last night when my brother was on a stage getting his bending taken away?"
Lin frowned at the boy's attitude, as understandable as it was, but she remained calm. "For your information, I had several undercover agents in the crowd watching Amon during the incident."
If the information was supposed to calm Mako down, it ended up having the opposite effect. "And they didn't do anything? " he yelled. "No wait, I suppose they were there to protect the Equalists right to whatever the hell they wanted! You guys seem pretty good at that!"
"You may say what you will, the actions of my department are not under review by a child," Lin told him, her tone becoming a little defensive. The truth of it was, the boy was half right. She had learned of the Equalits so-called secret rally the same day as everyone else, and one of her detectives had found pieces of a map that fit together to explain where the rally was being held. The observes had been there to make sure none of the cities bending gangs didn't decide to get rid of what had been a peaceful protest movement, misguided as it was. Of course its peaceful status was a thing of the past now.
Tenzin chose that moment to step between them before things could get any more out of hand. He put his hands up to have them back up a bit more. "Okay that's enough," he said to them before glancing out a window at the light coming through, and let out a sigh. "Look, we've been up all night and we're all more than a bit on edge. Lin, can you at least wait till later today to collect the boy's statement? I know you're men must have rounded up the rest of Amon's victims and they'll be needed to be interrogated first."
The woman's mouth twisted to show the didn't like the idea, but she nodded. "Fine."
"Whatever, I got to get to the power plant," Mako grumbled. With what happened to Bolin, they'd be needing the cash since their days as pro-benders were now officially over. Which also means we'll have to find a new apartment, Mako realized. Bochaka wouldn't let someone stay at the arena if they didn't play on one of his teams…it helped the man cut down on the cost of paying his employees.
Korra let out a yawn. "I think I should be heading to bed," she mumbled. She looked at Bolin again, trying to think of anything that might at least help with his mood. "Look, just because I couldn't heal him doesn't mean its hopeless. We can send a message to Katara down at the South Pole and see if she can do anything."
Mako turned away from the exit and focused his attention on Korra. "Do you really think she'll be able to do anything when the Avatar couldn't?"
"Hey, just because I'm the Avatar doesn't mean I'm automatically the best bender of every element," Korra told him. "Although I can heal, I'm hardly anything approaching an expert. But Katara is the best healer in the world! If there's anyone who can fix this, its her."
Then there still might be a chance, the injured boy told himself. With his hopes restored, even if just a little, there was something else he needed taking care of. "So…where's the kitchen?" Bolin asked before the only person he knew that also knew the layout of the temple went to get her beauty sleep.
Korra looked back to Bolin, then motioned for him to follow her.
"Councilman! Councilman Tenzin!"
Bolin and Korra barely had time to step aside before the man dressed in some official-looking clothes barreled past them. "Councilman Tenzin, Councilman Tarrlok has called an emergency meeting of the Republic City Council."
Thanks to the fact he had been up all night with the Avatar, Tenzin was unable to hide his displeasure at the news and it slipped onto his face. He's doing it already huh? The monk would have thought his political opponent would have at least waited until after breakfast to cause the latest uproar in the chambers.
A second later, the messenger turned and bowed to Korra. "Avatar Korra, Councilman Tarrlok has requested your presence in the emergency council meeting."
"What?" Tenzin shouted before Korra could do more than open her mouth. "What in the world does that man want with Korra?"
As Korra looked over to give Tenzin a look that went from annoyed to confused, the messenger explained himself. "I'm not sure ma'am. I'm just the messenger. Still, you have been called to appear before the council. And this Amon thing really does seem up your alley, if you don't mind me saying so ma'am," the man told her.
"That's-"
"Let me get changed," Korra said before Tenzin could object. When he looked over to her, she spoke before he could this time. "Look, I am the Avatar, and this Tarrlok guy's right. If there's big time trouble in this city, I need to be the one to help deal with it."
Since it didn't seem as if Korra was going to stay home, Tenzin tried to make the best of the situation. "Very well, tell Tarrlok that we'll be there in an hour."
When the messenger had left, Korra turned her attention back on Tenzin. "An hour? Your bison can fly there in five minutes, and I only need about ten to get changed."
"But food always requires at least half an hour!" Bolin chimed in before he put his hand on Korra's back to guide her through the door. "And you aren't going to leave me here to eat breakfast all by my lonesome, are you Korra?"
The Avatar found herself quickly defeated by Bolin's puppy dog eyes, and motioned for him to follow her. Right as he left, Bolin looked back at the small stone that he had failed to move, and closed his eyes to keep the tears form coming as the weight of things started to settle down on him.
Still a chance, he reminded himself.
-Council Chambers-
Korra stood behind Tenzin as she watched the representative from the Northern Water Tribe, a man in rather elaborate light blue silks that made the furs she and her own tribe's representative were wearing seem a bit…underdressed. It didn't help that the guy had the charisma to match his clothes. It left Korra feeling a little intimidated just to be standing near him.
He packed back and forth across the room as he gave his speech. "Amon represents the greatest threat that Republic City has ever seen," the man told everyone. "We need to create a task force whose sole purpose is hunting down this man, and bringing him to justice."
"Absolutely not!" Tenzin said to Tarrlok before he looked over to the council. "A move like that will further divide benders and non-benders!" He didn't need to remind them of the small mob of people already outside the building demanding action against Amon that they had all seen on their way in. If things escalated, it wouldn't be just some extremist and a few of his goons attacking people in the middle of the night, there would be violence in the streets in broad daylight.
Tarrlok crossed his arms and frowned. "It's a drastic move," he consented before looking back towards the council. "But we tried it your way Tenzin. We just sat around while these people said and did whatever they wanted, and now almost half a dozen benders have had their bending taken away, and Amon has hundreds of followers! If it was just the triads we might have been able to talk to him, reason with him. But one of those people that Amon attacked was a loved and respected athlete, and those people still cheered when Amon did what he did!
"Make no mistake, this is a madman who wants all benders to be taken down. We need to respond to this threat now, before things get out of control."
The old woman who was representative of the Fire Nation leaned in. "While I am inclined to agree with you Tarlok, who would head up this task force?" she asked.
"For all intents and purposes, my friend Captian Saikahn of the police will be in charge of the tactical side of things," Tarrlok explained. "However, when it comes to the public eye, the Avatar and myself will be the head of the operation."
"WHAT?" Tenzin shouted.
"What?" Korra mumbled, a bit put off by the plan.
Tenzin slammed his fist down on the council's meeting table. "Absolutely not! This is just another one of your ploys to gain more power! And involving Korra in this… Are you trying to get her killed?"
After taking a moment to look at the Avatar, Tarrlok turned his attention back to Tenzin, then swept his gaze around the room to address everyone. "This madman Amon claims to have the spirits on his side; and the fact that he can take away a person's being is proof of that for a great many people. As long as he can claim that he is acting on their behalf, there is no way that we can hope to counter his arguments, as you seem to think we need to," Tarlok said, the last part addressing Tenzin directly before he went back to talking to the council.
"This is the only action we can take! Since our young Avatar isn't the type for public speaking, as we've all seen when she arrived…" Tarrlok paused for a moment to glance at the young girl out of the corner of his eye and watch her wince, "…and actions speak louder than words, she must join this group if we are to have any hope of cutting Amon's support among the non-bender population of this city."
"She is too young, and untrained in-"
Tarrlok looked down to Tenzin and spoke right on top of him. "Your own father fought in the great war when he was twelve, with only one element at his disposal. Our Avatar is sixteen, and has already mastered three elements when she should just now be starting to learn her second. But why am I even having to suggest this?"
He looked up to the girl and saw the hesitation in her eyes. "My sources tell me you noticed the danger of these fanatics and already attempted to deal with the threat of Equalists the way they needed to be taken care of before we ever even thought about it," he said to Korra directly. "Consider this our apology and pledge to assist you in your endeavors as much as we can. If, you will let us of course."
Tenzin flinched, but kept himself from looking to Korra. He had known Tarrlok would try to manipulate things, but this…
If the Avatar agreed with Tarrlok, then Tenzin knew that his days of being able to put a stop to the other man's actions on the council were over. The rest of the council didn't know Korra like Tenzin, or like Tarrlok did apparently. She was the Avatar, but she was also just a sixteen-year-old girl who had been raised inside a closed an controlled environment. She could be manipulated just as easily, if not more so, than any other young girl.
And Tarrlok was nothing, if not a master manipulator.
For a moment, Korra looked down at Tenzin, expecting him to tell her what to do. In all honesty, she did agree with Tarrlok's ideas, but…
What's with this hesitation? Korra asked herself. Am I…afraid of Amon?
She tried to clear her mind and think. The thought of loosing her bending was terrifying. Without bending, she wouldn't be…forget the Avatar, she wouldn't even be herself anymore. Bending was who Korra was. It would have been easier to chop off a limb than not bend.
But, when she thought of Bolin sitting there, and considered everyone else that was counting on her…
"Is there something wrong?" Tarrlok asked when the Avatar didn't respond to his invitation. He could see the conflicting emotions on her face, and decided to bait her into joining with him. "Of course, we will release that friend of yours, Sasuke Uchiha was it, from prison. Putting him in jail for fighting Equalists alongside the Avatar a day before we begin our own campaign against them…well I did say actions speak louder than words, and we wouldn't want anyone calling us hypocrites, now would we?"
-City Jail-
The thing Sasuke probably hated most about the prison he was in would have to be the restraints; even Orochimaru didn't use things as indignant as what Sasuke was shackled in on his prisoners. If he wasn't able to get out of the thing when he needed to, there probably would have been some real concerns, but the blow to Sasuke's self-image that the shackles gave was enough to put him into a perpetual bad mood.
The only reason he had them on at the moment was because the guard had just gotten word another visitor was coming to see him over the intercom, so it was better to use his real cuffs than just transform into himself wearing some like he did when it came time to feed the prisoners.
Footsteps came down the hallway. By the time they reached the door Sasuke could tell one pair of feet belonged to Korra with her fur boots, but her odd taste in clothes meant she was the only one who he could identify. When the door opened, Korra was grinning at him alongside a somber Tenzin, and a man in a light blue jacket that Sasuke couldn't identify who smelled like a perfume store.
"Good news!" Korra exclaimed when the metal bender behind her opened the door. "You're a free man. I met with the council and we had some words." She looked over to Tenzin with a small frown.
Tenzin cleared his throat and looked away to stroke his short pointed beard. "Korra explained to me that you have some problems controlling the…scope of your bending." He looked over to Korra and Tarrlok for a moment, then back to the boy. "While I don't think that this," he gestured to the open door to indicate Sasuke's release, "is entirely called for, if you are willing to learn control…I can approve of your release into my custody."
After picking the words apart and taking their tone into account, Sasuke could see there was more to it than just some simple release. The way the man talked screamed that something else was going on. He looked over to Korra, and frowned before talking to her evenly. "What'd you do?"
Korra looked away from the prisoner. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Shut the door, and go home. I'll stay in prison," Sasuke told them before lifting his legs to turn so his while body was on the bed then scooted back until he was up against the wall.
Tenzin frowned as he studied the boy. Although Tenzin hadn't seen it, Korra had assured them rather unconvincingly that Sasuke was remorseful over this actions. With the boy's actions put into the mix, he was starting to see Korra's point of view. The boy had the outward emotions of a stone, but…as much as he hated pulling something out of Tarrlok's philosophy, his actions did tell Tenzin the boy was at least willing to pay the price for what happened.
"WHAT?" Korra roared. She turned around and stuck her finger in the young man's face. "Hey listen pal, you have no idea what I had to agree to in order to get you released!"
With his plans about to be derailed by a stubborn fool. Tarrlok motioned for the guard to bend apart the boy's restraints. "Never the less, you are now free and can no longer stay here," Tarrlok told him right as the metal fell to the ground before he turned to nod at Korra. "Avatar, my task force will be assembling at eleven tonight in the police station's basement, room six. Please be on time."
Sasuke rubbed his wrists and glared at the disappearing stranger, then Korra for the latest wrench she had thrown into his own plans. "What did you do?"
-Air Temple Island-
The flight to the island had been a quiet and tense affair. Korra sat and scowled at the back of the brooding boy, while Tenzin did his best to ignore both of them. When they did land, Korra headed off to bed, with Tenzin going to his own room for what little sleep he could get before lunch and the duties of head monk called him back into the waking world.
Meanwhile, Sasuke went to get some food that wasn't the gruel they fed to the benders too dangerous to be trusted to move. He wanted to get off the island as soon as possible, but he needed to speak to Korra and didn't want to miss his chance. Korra's insane decision to join a group going after someone like Amon troubled him in more ways than one.
But the boy he saw coming from the opposite on the way there gave him pause. "You're Bolin?" he asked the younger boy in the brown clothes with the green cloth around his waist. It certainly looked like the picture Mako had shown him, just in color.
The boy looked up at Sasuke with heavy eyes. "Yeah, that's me," he mumbled in a depressed tone.
"Tell me everything that happened to you last night," Sasuke demanded, his tone turning less than civil.
For a moment, Bolin found himself stepping back, the weird feeling the guy in front of him gave of was just…creepy. But, it wasn't like he had anything to hide, and he needed to talk to somebody about the whole thing. Especially before he went to go meet with that Lin woman. Something told Bolin she wouldn't be very understanding if he messed the story up. "Okay well, they hauled me on stage and undid my ropes like the other guys…"
-Equalist Rally, Last Night-
Bolin gulped as the man in the tan and white mask with the large red circle on its forehead and black coloring around the eyes approached him. Bolin knew he was screwed, totally beyond any hope of salvation screwed. So, he tried the best approach he could think of to handle the situation.
"Hello Mr Amon, sir," he rambled while backing away from the man. "Look, uh…I know you got a thing against bad benders, but I'm not like them!" Bolin pointed towards the four other men. "They're criminals and gangsters, and I'm a…"
Fighter? No, too violent sounding…
Sportsman? Still that violence part to it…
"I…I'm just an entertainer!" Bolin shouted. "What did I ever do to you?"
Amon moved on him. The man was fast, impossibly fast. Like with the others he struck Bolin thrusting knife jab that turned to an iron claw right in his stomach. There was a burning sensation on his head, and the boy's world turned white as Amon's words reverberated in his ears to the cheers of the crowd. "You were born!"
-Air Temple Island, Present-
"About two seconds later, I could see again and I felt," Bolin rubbed his arms as if to fight the chill the memory gave him, and sighed. "I dunno…empty. I guess that's the best way to put it."
He looked back to Sasuke. "What's got you so interested about it anyway?"
Since he didn't really see the harm in it, Sasuke went and told him. "Korra's been roped into going after Amon by a man who sits on the city council in exchange for…"
Bolin blinked when Sasuke stopped talking mid sentence. "Something wrong?"
"Just déjà vu," Sasuke replied. "Never mind. I need to go find some food. Thanks for the information."
As the other boy raised his hand in farewell when he was halfway down the hallway, Bolin could only continue standing there in confusion. "Strange guy."
-Air Temple Island-
Korra had to admit, sleeping through most of the day had its perks. Even after a half day of intense training, she still had plenty of energy to go out Equalist hunting before sundown.
The reasons for her not pro-bending anymore aside, Korra knew that it was probably for the best. There was no way she would have been able to juggle Airbending training, Avatar duties, and playing professional sports…and she had a feeling that it would have been the Avatar stuff that would have suffered for it.
She double-checked the armor that Tarlok had sent over to make sure all her straps were in place. It was a little different from the armor the police wore, the shoulder guards were far bulkier and it didn't have any of the built in weapons that metal benders could use, but the badge of office was still there.
When she got out to her boat, she wasn't surprised to find Tenzin waiting for her, but Sasuke's presence was an oddity.
"Korra, I asking you to reconsider this," the Airbending master begged.
Korra shot him a look. "You know I can't do that. If I back out of my deal with Tarrlok, who knows what'll happen."
"I'll probably get sent back to jail," Sasuke told her. "I can live with that." There was also the damage to Korra's reputation, but he didn't really care about that at the moment.
"Well I can't!" she told him before clenching her fists and breaking eye contact. "Look, it was my idea to go looking for Bolin, and my idea to let you come along. What happened with you is an accident in the heat of the moment, but what I did was make the choices that brought us that far."
Tenzin cleared his throat to get her attention. "As happy as I am to see you're thinking things through and taking responsibility for your actions, your training-"
"I was born the Avatar Tenzin," Korra said, cutting him off. "It's not a job you train for, it's a destiny. Taking care of guys like Amon is part of it. End of story."
She shoved her way past the two men and got on her boat before propelling it towards the shore with her Waterbending as fast as she could. I can't believe those guys. Was it so wrong to ask for a little faith? Korra knew there was a risk in fighting Amon and his goons, but she had been training for stuff like this her whole life.
Back at the docks, Sasuke watched the Avatar speed off towards the mainland with a frown. "Tell me something, how many fights has Korra actually been in?"
"Well, she has been practicing bending her whole life, so-"
"So just the one against a street punk, got it" Sasuke said. He knew from personal experience that training and real life were too very different things. During his fist mission when the chunin had attacked, his training had kicked in before Sasuke had time to think. But, when Zabuza showed up and given him time to consider just how outclassed he had been, it was a whole different story.
Tenzin patted the young man on the shoulder to give him some reassurance. "Don't worry I doubt they'll be going against Amon on their very first night," Tenzin told him. "Tarrlok's a politician, and a rather seedy one at that. This Amon person gives him an excuse to do whatever he wants. I doubt the man will want to get rid of something like that until he's milked it for all it's worth."
The monk cleared his thoughts of he matter for tonight, and turned to face the boy. "Now, about your Firebending. Korra told me you might have some…control issues?" he asked.
"I thought you people were limited to a single element," Sasuke replied, not looking away from the shrinking form of Korra's canoe.
To show the boy he was listening, Tenzin nodded in response. "While I don't know much in the way of forms or mechanics when it comes to Firebending, the philosophy is another story. All too often, that is the source of problems when it comes to bending.
"Case in point: Korra. There's no physical or biological reason as to why her Airbending isn't working. The girl can't learn Airbending because she doesn't think like an air bender," he explained. "Now, shall we give it a try?"
-Republic City Streets-
Much later after she left Air Temple Island, Korra ran her fingers through her hair. The powdery…gunk the gas from that canister left behind clung to her hair and clothes no matter how hard she tried to rub it out. And the smell! "I am not paying for the cleaning bill," she told Tarrlok, who just chuckled at the girl's bad mood.
"Don't worry, I'll cover the cost. Eight out of ten isn't bad, you did good work tonight Avatar."
She looked over to the truckload of prisoners they had manage to collect to try and console herself. Everything had been going so perfect up until the end of the operation. Tarrlok's taskforce was comprised of water benders, so they had brought a tank of water with them to the bookstore that was their target. Well, it hadn't really been a bookstore. That was just a front for the Chi Blocker training camp that existed below it.
After confirming its existence, the taskforce had sent a wave of water through the basement windows and frozen more than half the trainees and teachers. Then Korra knocked out the wall, and led the charge inside, using her Earthbending to take out several more students. She would have gotten them all, except one of the criminals threw a canister in her face that exploded in a cloud of green gas that left the whole task force coughing.
By the time the police had recovered, the trainees had escaped through a secret tunnel that led into the sewers. Even Naga wouldn't have been able to track them through that stench.
After that, it was time for the photo op, a few words from Tarrlok, and everybody was heading home. Officially it was a win, but Korra still felt she could have done a lit better.
"That stupid gas of theirs isn't going to work a second time, I'll be ready," Korra told herself.
"That's the spirit!" Tarrlok assured her before their car came to a stop at the docks. "Now, we've got a press conference tomorrow morning, so don't be late. Don't worry though, I'll take care of the talking."
Korra got out of the satomobile with an even expression. Fighting terrorists till three AM, and an early morning press conference that she didn't even really need to be there for…it occurred to her they probably should have included something along the lines of public relations practice during her Avatar training.
"Thanks," the girl replied on instinct before heading to her boat. Right as she got on the bender-propelled craft, Korra put her body into autopilot and went through the motions of getting home, taking a much needed shower, and going to bed without a word to anyone that was still awake.
The morning found Korra just about as tired as she had been when she crawled into bed. Naga dragged her out for a walk. By the end of it and five cups of morning tea Korra's blood was pumping enough to keep her awake for a few hours. After the ride over to the mainland and some strange drink that Tarrlok's secretary gave her called a cappuccino, Korra stood next to the man in question as he answered all the questions.
Then night came, followed by another raid on an Equalist training camp that went better than the first with both the trainees and chi blockers arrested. When they left the bakery, the media was already waiting for them with microphones and cameras in hand.
The next morning found Korra in a better mood about the task force. She even got an audience of bender kids wanting to hear what happened.
"And this hideout actually had Chi Blockers," Korra said, bringing the tale of her second night on the taskforce to its climax. She took a moment to eat some of her breakfast and let the tension build for the air bender girls.
Unfortunately, before she could capitalize on the moment, Sasuke cut in. "Chi blockers?"
Tenzin was the one to give the explanation. "It's a fighting style developed during the war by non-benders meant to take on benders. People who use this fighting style strike certain points on the body. It allows them to paralyze the arms, legs, or cause intense pain if certain pressure points are struck."
"Hmm, well that's weird," Korra mumbled. When she notified everyone at the table looking at her. "I could still move after they hit me."
Ikki leaned forward onto the table. "Oh who cares about that, what happened next?"
"She got beat up and had to be saved by another one of the policemen," Sasuke explained rather bluntly, much to Korra's indignation.
"Wha…you…who told you that!" she demanded, a little angry the part of the story she had wanted to glossed over was just told. Then Korra learned down to get in Sasuke's face. "Are you following me?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, then pushed his empty plate aside. "No, and you just told me. Well, you and Tenzin."
To which Korra could only reply, "Huh?"
"A fighting style developed for fighting benders, and you saying that it didn't feel that way when you were struck," Sasuke explained. "That added to what I know about you, and…well, it's pretty obvious that you lost…badly."
Korra's irritation skyrocketed with the last comment. "And just what all do you know about me, huh smart guy?"
For the first time since the conversation started, Sasuke seemed to take a reading on the mood of the girl, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Oh boy…look, it'll be better if I just show you," he told her before looking over to Tenzin. "Can I borrow her from the morning meditation?"
Tenzin looked over to Korra, then back to the boy, and sighed in defeat. "I don't suppose why not. It's not like her mind is ever on meditating anyway."
Despite the fact that she was grateful for getting out of a meditation session that was just going to give her a stiff back and sore butt, Korra was still in a foul mood when Sasuke led her to the training area Korra used to go through her Airbending footwork.
She looked around to see that a few of the acolytes were watching her from the temple, but other than that, they were alone. "So, what'd you bring me out here for?"
"Your healing, can you use it on yourself?" Sasuke asked.
Korra raised an eyebrow at the odd question right out of the blue. "Yeah, it's a little harder. Why?"
"Because you'll probably have some bruising before I'm done, and I suppose there is some chance of your bones calcifying a little…but I doubt you'll be able to make me do that," Sasuke assured her.
The bones comment was lost on Korra, but the rest, it sounded like… "You wanna spar with me?" she asked.
Sasuke frowned, and Korra felt as if someone had kicked her in the gut. Wha…what the hell? The air felt heavier, harder to breathe; there was even a small part of her brain that was telling her it might have been a good idea to run away.
"No, I'm going to fight you. And, I can't believe I'm saying this but," he paused before becoming serious again. "Come at me with the intent to kill, or you'll never stand a chance."
Then he moved.
Korra knew Sasuke was fast. She had figured that much when they first arrived in Republic City and taken on that gang. But actually seeing it was another matter altogether.
With no water around, and since Sasuke didn't have any protective gear on, Korra planted her feet to bring up a rock…then fell back when he delivered a jab that poked her between the eyes. Of course, with someone going so close to a vital point, Korra had backed away on instinct, and ended up on her butt thanks to the extra force.
"Get up, we'll do it again," Sasuke told her.
And so they did, with the same result. The third time had Korra on the ground rubbing her ass.
The fourth time, Korra managed to deflect the blow to her face, only to end up on the ground when he pushed her chest. The fifth time had her on the ground again thanks to the near eye poke, and the sixth had her beaten with the palm shove again after she beat the eye poke.
"Do you get it now?" Sasuke asked while Korra glared at him, willing the boy to burst into flames to no effect.
"Fine, you can kick my ass without bending," she grumbled.
Sasuke shook his head and sighed. "I'll take that as a no. Now get up, and start using all your elements or this is going to take all day."
Thirty defeats and one victory later, Korra was livid as she threw fire, water, and earth at the slippery bastard to no avail. He avoided the sinkholes she created, the one thing that had managed to give her a single victory, with ease and steadily approached her between the flames, rocks, and shards of ice.
When Sasuke landed close to her, Korra flinched away and tried to light his hair on fire with a gout of flame that he merely avoided by stepping forward and cocking his head to go around her fist before it was fully extended. Thus getting past her fist before there was any fire shooting out. "Do you get it now?" he asked.
"That you're annoyingly fast?" she asked. The guy made the air bender babies seem slow! "Yes!" Korra told him as she plated her feet and…let out a yelp when they were both knocked out from under her.
He let out a sigh. "You're not exactly the self-discovery type, are you?"
As Korra found herself brought up back to a vertical position, she noticed that Sasuke was well within her personal boundary zone. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Again," he said before letting go and backing up only two steps this time.
When Korra attacked again, Sasuke simply sidestepped her as she punched, kicked, and even spat fire at him more than once. "Look, from what I've seen from you and Tenzin, all bending fighting styles are mid-range to long-range combat. I was trying to show you once someone gets within five feet of you, like someone who uses close quarters combat, you pretty much don't know what to do. There's a moment of hesitation, and that's all it takes."
With the explanation in place, Korra stopped fighting for a moment and looked back on what had just happened in a new light. Now that I think about it…every time Sasuke attacked, he used a set series of moves, she realized. It was usually three or four that she would get used to and block, then manage to knock him away.
"Your guard's down," Sasuke told her before he thrust his fist out and made Korra back up, only to have her legs swept out from under her again. When he caught her, Sasuke couched low and stopped Korra less than a second before impact. She was inches from the ground.
"So, you when through this whole thing just to tell me that?" Korra asked, still a little annoyed. She could have done with just an explanation instead of an explanation and a sore butt, a headache, and a bruised ego on top of it all.
Sasuke's expression went from his usual blank one to something that seemed a bit hard to Korra. "How many times were you struck last night? What happens when instead of a guy who's just trying to disable you, you get someone with a knife or sword intent on killing you? What happens when Amon shows up and decides he wants to seal your bending?"
As Korra found herself pulled back upright, the last bit of anger over this whole exercise faded. ""Okay…I see your point," she conceded. Amon had taken out five skilled benders of every element with ease. If she went up against him as she was now…
You're worried about me. "So uh…can you…help me with that?" Korra asked, a little unsure of how big a problem she was making for herself.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What kind of help?"
Korra stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Wait…what? I thought the whole point of this was for you to show me the merits of some non-bending fighting style! Then teach it to me!"
"You want to learn a completely new fighting style on top of what Tenzin is already having you do?" Sasuke asked in his back to normal monotone voice.
"Like I just said, that's what I though the whole point of this was!" she yelled.
Sasuke frowned and crossed his arm. "The whole point of this was to make you more aware of your weaknesses so you could figure out how to cover them up. I can't just give you an answer to a problem that has no real solution."
The explanation seemed a little like Bolin's instruction when it came to her Earthbending, only more…harsh.
"I just did this so I wouldn't have to worry about you walking around with obvious holes in your attack patterns every night until you didn't come back to the temple at all," he explained, irritation clearly showing on his face to Korra.
Korra stepped forward and frowned at Sasuke, a bit of her anger back. "Well…then why don't you do something to help me fix them?" she demanded.
"Like what?"
Thankfully, Korra's brain came up with a response fast enough that her anger wasn't set off course, and get moved forward again to get right in Sasuke's face. "Then we do this every day, every morning until I don't have to worry about some chi blacker getting in my face!"
It was then that she realized that she was right in Sasuke's face, inches away from his. Time seemed to stand still…
"Do it, kiss him hot and passionately on the lips, DO IT NOW!" a little version of Korra surrounded by fire yelled from her place on the Avatar's shoulder.
"No!" her inner water bender screamed as it appeared. "You're all hot a sweaty, wait till everything's perfect, THEN make out with him."
Then her inner earth bender chimed in. "Screw that! Grab his shirt, pull him into your arms, and shove your tongue down his throat! Show him you're the one in charge!"
…
…
…
Oh I guess no Airbending means no air bender Korra advice, she realized.
… and then Sasuke spoke before he turned around and walked away. "Okay. Pema said she wanted to take me into town for something today. I'll see you when I get back."
Korra could only stand their silently while she watched her chance to finally get somewhere with a guy disappeared.
"MORON!" the three embodiments of the bending philosophies yelled inside her head.
The days of the week blurred together with Korra's attendance at press conferences, hand to hand training followed by bending training, an afternoon of sleep, and then more Equalist hunting. It made her miss the days of training in the Pole. At least back then, she had time to be her own person. In Republic City, everything was always Avatar training or Avatar duties.
It really hit Korra just how out of the loop she was with everything when she came into the air temple one day after training to find Katara talking to Pema. Exhaustion even kept her from noticing the old woman until the was right behind the Avatar. When Katara raised her hand in greet, Korra jumped back and let out a yell of surprise.
"GAH!" Korra screamed as her mind registered the woman's presence and she jumped back in surprise. "Ka-Katara…what're you doing here?"
"Well, you did send for me," she reminded Korra. "Something about a boy who lost his bending?"
The letter, I completely forgot we sent for Katara to come and look at Bolin, she thought before smacking herself in the face. "Okay, I'll just go get Bolin. He'll be so happy to see you."
"He'll be meeting with us after the party," the old woman informed her.
Korra blinked, her train of thought completely derailed by Katara's words. "Uh, say what?"
Footsteps, rather loud footsteps for someone in an Air Temple, caught Korra's attention, and she looked behind her to see Tenzin dressed in rather elaborate air bender robes and shoes of all things. Real shoes, not the slippers the air benders and the acolytes wore. "The party that Tarrlok is hosting to welcome a hero of the great war to our city," her Airbending master explained. "The man never misses an opportunity to bask in the light of the photographers. Didn't he tell you about it?"
Doing her best not to look stupid, Korra could only mumbled her reply. "Well, he might have mentioned something a few nights ago. I don't really listen to him much when we're coming home."
"As much as I tend to advocate not listening to Tarrlok-" he grumbled before his wife jumped in. "Dear, you should go get washed up and changed. We're expected at Tarrlok's home in about an hour."
An hour? Korra thought, a little horrified at the thought. She needed rest, not a bunch of people yakking in her ear about things that would probably make her sleepy even with a full day's rest. That's something else they need to teach an Avatar, how to go without sleep.
After giving Katara a polite goodbye, Korra made her way across the compound to the girl's dormitory and got ready for the party. She was pleasantly surprised to find a dress waiting for her in her room; then a little put off over the fact it was from Tarrlok.
The guy seemed okay and all, but after a week with him Korra understood what Tenzin meant when he described the man as a politician. Everything he did just seemed so…fake. The guy always seemed to have a line for everything, and never went anywhere without a herd of his personal paparazzi a block behind to show up at just the right time and take pictures.
Still, he was helping the city by getting rid of the Equalists, so Korra cut him a little slack. Even if the dress he sent her would probably match up with whatever the heck he had on tonight as to make the perfect photo op.
Once she had gotten changed, the Avatar headed outside to find Sasuke walking over from the guy's side of the island in some new clothes that didn't fall into the same five shirt/pants combo the boy had worn every day since coming to Republic City. Instead, he was dressed in a black shirt with a high collar and short sleeves as well as matching pants. A jacket lay across his right shoulder.
Since he didn't have a councilman footing the bill…
"Where'd you get that?" Korra asked.
The question made him adjust the high neck of the suit with a grunt. "Pema took me shopping for clothes when we received the invitation, remember?" he reminded her. "Idiots couldn't get the collar right."
"So, you're going to the party?" she asked.
The man stopped messing with the collar and grit his teeth as he looked away. "Well, she did think you'd need a plus one."
Korra couldn't help but giggle at the sight. The boy's unapproachable demeanor didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the bother to the vast majority of the world's air benders. If anything, it seemed she intimidated him. Which still made absolutely no sense to Korra.
The past several days actually training with him had revealed a lot about Sasuke that had previously been unknown to her. Like the fact that whoever had taught him bending had first shown him how to fight without it, and that bending should only be used as a trump card. Even with innovation, bending moves were rather easy to read once someone had a grasp on the style…and Korra remembered Sasuke had watched her for days on end.
Then there was his reactions to anything fun. He just didn't do it. But with the proper amount of coaxing, Korra found herself able to at least get him involved with certain things like playing with the older two air bender kids…or at least stand around in the general vicinity of the children while Korra and the children threw snowballs at each other and tried to tag him every once in awhile.
The other thing was that the guy really did know absolutely nothing about women. She dropped hints, made vague comments, and even ended up in a few risqué positions when they were training…and got nothing out of it. Nothing! Not even a stupid raise of an eyebrow to show he was annoyed or thought something was questionable.
But tonight was going to be different.
They were going to a party for crying out loud!
Okay, it was a 'social gala' to welcome Katara to the city, but it was still a party. They'd eat, dance, get close to each other under the night's sky and Korra would finally, finally get somewhere in her love life…which had taken a rather crippling blow since she joined the task force.
"Well in that case, Mr Uchiha, would you like to accompany me to tonight's formal affair," Korra asked, which got her a 'you've got to be kidding me' look for the other boy that only made her giggle a little more. "Oh come on, you can at least play along."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I liked it better when you took offense to me being reluctant." When Korra didn't respond, Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Fine…I'd be…honored to accept the invitation."
The response made Korra smirk. "Honored huh? Geeze you sound like an old man or something," she told him jokingly. "Next time, you might try happy, it works better."
"I'm never happy," he told her evenly before turning towards the temple and walking away.
Korra just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I noticed," she drawled out before looking at the boy's hair.
Aang fought the restraints that held him down on the table as the man with the orange mask stood over him in the dark room, the clamp on the Avatar's mouth preventing him form even using his breath to knock the man out.
The man gazed down at Aang with his odd eye, and the Avatar grit his teeth. All at once, something flowed into him. It was…he didn't know what it was, but he knew it was coming from the man with the red eye. A dull ache in Aang's head became a pounding, and then it felt like someone had driven a spike right into his brain. He let out a scream, and everything went black.
When light returned to his eyes, Aang noticed he was in a different position. He was still clamped down to a table. Only this time, he was laying with his chest on the metallic surface, and his head resting in an oval that had been cut out of the surface.
"I trust you can understand me now?" the man in the mask's voice echoed in his ears.
Aang gasped, or tried to. It was rather difficult with the gag still in his mouth. It wasn't just that he heard the man speak, it was the language. It wasn't something Aang had ever heard, and yet he understood the meaning behind the words all the same.
"What?… Who are you?"
"I'll take that as a yes," the man said. Aang felt the man slide his finger along the Avatar's back, coming to a rest on his lightning burn scar that Azuela had given him many years ago. "Try to hold still, surgery on a chakra gate is rather delicate. I don't really care if you lose the use of your legs, but I'm betting that you do."
Korra blinked when she noticed that she was staring at the ground, supported by a pair of arms. From the looks of things, someone had caught her when the memory had nearly made her loose consciousness.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
Sasuke's words informed her just who kept the girl from falling flat on her nose and probably breaking the cartilage on the stones below. "Yeah, I just…that was weird."
"Hm?"
After pulling herself up, Korra rubbed her temple. It wasn't fair that Aang's headache had become her own. "Nothing, just one of those Avatar memory things," she explained. "I…I'll be fine. Just need some aspirin."
"We'll take some with us, it probably isn't going to be the first headache you'll be getting tonight," he told her.
The statement made Korra blink. "Wait… Please don't tell me that was some kind of attempt at humor."
Sasuke's eye twitched, telling her that it indeed was. "No."
"Good," Korra replied. "Because it sucked. You got a long way to go before you can just make humorous observations." Once the splitting pain in her brain had dulled a little, Korra looked her…sort of date over with a frown. "You could have at least cut your hair."
"My hair's fine."
The statement of false fact gave Korra an irritated twitch in her left eye. "It's down to your shoulders! You haven't cut it since I found you at the South Pole for crying out loud!"
"Come on, we're going to miss our ride."
-Tarrlok's Estate-
The social gala of the decade was everything Korra had thought, and feared, it would be. The second her party was announced, everyone clapped and swarmed over both her and Katara. While the old water bender seemed to be able to make her way though the people with ease and get out of conversations after just a few words, Korra found herself shackled to the most boring, fake, and utterly pointless people for what seemed like hours at a time.
As she had expected, Tarrlok was dressed in a jacket that went with Korra's dress so well they might as well have been cut from the same cloth…which they probably were. But he did manage to navigate her away from the sycophants after finding her.
But, there were some people that even Tarrlok couldn't avoid…
One of such people was a mustached man with glasses dressed in extreme modern clothing of a buttoned up coat and shirt that didn't hint at any nation of origin with its reddish-brown coloring. However, Korra found herself excited to meet this man once he had been introduced.
"This is Hiroshi Sato, Republic City's most famous industrialist," Tarrlok said.
The man smiled at the introduction and bowed his head to Korra. "And may I also introduce my daughter Asami," he said before stepping aide to wave a girl and the guy on her arm over.
"It's so lovely to meet you, Mako's mentioned he knew you," she said.
The guy on her arm needed no introduction.
"Mako?" Korra asked, extremely dumbfounded by his appearance, both in the way of his clothes and the fact he was at a party like this one. "But, it…you…how?" While athletes were pretty respected, this hoity affair seemed way above the man's pay grade.
"Asami ran over him on her moped, now they're dating," Bolin volunteered, zipping in with a plate full of food. "Have you guy seen the spread here? They even have guys walking around with food and drinks."
Looking at the brother's, Korra realized that she hadn't seen hide nor hair of them for days. And seeing Mako with Asami on his arm…Korra felt…oddly relieved? What? the Avatar asked herself. Did you honestly think that a hot young sports star was going to stay single for more than a week when he was done with pro-bending?
The fire bender nodded to the other guy who could fling flames around. "Sasuke. I see you're out of jail."
Sasuke sighed and looked around at the party. "Unfortunately."
Apparently sensing the mood, Tarrlok called over another one of his guests and made Korra wonder if he had lost his mind in the process. "Ah Chief Beifong, I believe you and Avatar Korra have already met."
The woman's not even out of her armor, Korra thought while she got an icy stare from the green-eyed police chief.
"Avatar," Lin greeted with open hostility. She took one look at the people assembled, then moved her gaze back to Korra. "Judging by your company…planning another murder tonight?"
"Lin, I thought that was you!" The group parted as Katara walked up with Tenzin and his wife in tow. Pema was holding Meelo's sleeping form over her shoulder.
Thankfully, the woman's anger seemed to take a back seat to her social skills when Katara came around. Then, the old woman nodded to Tarrlok and was introduced to the Satos. She made a little small talk with the bending brothers, and turned her attention over to Korra's date. "So, Tenzin tells me you want to see the giant lion turtle Aang met once."
"Yes well…the oldest creature in the world…it would be interesting to see," Sasuke replied, not seeming all that interested in the thing.
Katara frowned at the statement. "The oldest…well, I don't think the lion turtle could be called the oldest creature in the world."
That caught Sasuke's attention. "What?" he demanded in a harsh whisper.
Tarrlok cleared his throat. "Oh my I'm parched, anyone for a drink?" he asked before motioning over one of the men carrying a tray full of champagne fresh from the back that had just come out with several of his co-workers.
As soon as he guy got to them, Sasuke cocked his eyebrow at the man. "We're underage."
"I'm on duty," Lin told him.
Hiroshi looked at the glasses, almost fearfully. "I uh, I'm afraid I haven't had a taste for the stuff since my wife passed away."
On the edge of hear vision, Korra could see Asami lean in close to whisper something to Mako she wouldn't have heard unless she had been paying attention. "Ex-alcoholic."
"I'm a monk," Tenzin replied.
"Pregnant," Pema told him while patting her stomach.
Katara shook her head. "I don't drink."
"Yes well…if you please excuse me, I must be getting to my duties as host," Tarrlok told the mismatched group before escaping with a drink in his hand. He moved through the crowd, and disappeared for a few minutes before reappearing on the stairs at the back of the room.
"Welcome everyone to my home, and a special welcome to Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, who we are here to welcome back to Republic City," Tarrlok announced before tipping his head towards the older woman. "You know, I can hardly imagine what this city would be without this woman. A member of the council, a mother to a councilman, the wife of an Avatar…I have to say that no one woman has ever done more than Katara. So, as a member of the new generation that you passed the burden and privilege of carrying on this piece of her legacy to, allow me to say thank you, and compliment you on your wonderful job. I can only hope to aspire to your example."
Finally, the man raised his glass to the woman, and took a drink, with the rest of the room doing the same. Then, the people went back to talking amongst themselves.
And they say I'm bad at public speaking, Korra thought to herself. Maybe just giving other people credit isn't in Tarrlok's nature. After working with the guy for a few nights and always being the one standing in the background during the media's congratulations despite the fact Korra usually led the charge, she knew he was a limelight hog. But to be like this when giving credit to someone like Katara…
Korra's thoughts on the matter were ended when Ikki made her way into the center of their little group, dragging her older sister behind her. "Daddy, daddy, Jinora's acting weird."
"Hm?" The air bender looked away from a private conversation with Pema, and down at the children. "What're you talking about-" he stopped talking when he saw the empty glass in the older girl's hand. "Jinora! Have you been drinking?" her father demanded.
Fighting to keep upright, the eldest of the air bender children looked up at her father with half-laden eyes. "Just…one, for…Gran-Gran's…toast." Then, the girl collapsed on the floor.
"JINORA!" Pema shrieked before she bent down to try and grab her daughter, or tried to at least thanks to her pregnancy and other child in her arms. Tenzin was the one to pick her up, then took them back towards the kitchens to avoid causing a scene, with all but the Satos and Mako following along.
On their way out, Korra couldn't help but think it was a little creepy that the party-goers weren't taking an interest in the unconscious child. Once they were in the hallway, both Korra and Katara were immediately looking the girl over while someone closed one of the double door behind them to give the family a little privacy.
Bolin rubbed his chin. "Yeah…uh, I don't think champagne is supposed to get you passed out drunk after one glass."
"It's not just her," Sasuke said in a serious tone, his head turned towards the open door to the ballroom.
Korra looked up from the kid, and into the ballroom. The scene made her gasp. Everyone in the room was stumbling around, clutching their heads and trying to stay on their feet. The only exception being a few of the older guests, Mako's group, and the servers that had been carrying the drinks that were now moving towards the windows and doors.
"I'm guessing the drinks were poisoned," he surmised.
At the startled gasps of Jinora's parents, Katara was quick to add, "She's not unconscious, just…I'm not sure," the woman said after examining the child. "Jinora dear, blink if you can still hear me."
When the girl did as instructed between labored breaths, Pema sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."
"Thirty to forty seconds," Sasuke mumbled, getting Korra's attention, "and judging by everyone else's reaction…" He looked around the room at the people falling over and the few still fighting to stay on their feet. And no one's unconscious, so…"
"If I had to guess, I'd say your daughter just drank a muscle relaxant strong enough to bring down a grown man," he explained. "Considering her size, its probably why she collapsed first and can barely move while everyone else is just having trouble standing."
Tenzin looked down at the little girl in his arms for a moment, then back up to the boy. "Then, she'll be alright?"
The question got a disturbed sigh from Sasuke as he looked away from the man. "I'm nowhere near an expert, but…" From his expression, Korra could tell the news wasn't going to be good. "It depends on the dose. Either she'll just have a hard time breathing for the next few hours, or her heart will be unable to pump enough blood to the rest of her body and she'll die."
A chill ran down Korra's spine at the news. "You can't be serious," she whispered.
"And just how does someone like you know so much about poisons?" Lin demanded quietly with a dangerous scowl.
"So-called ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention please."
Korra blinked at the unfamiliar voice, then looked back in at the room. One of the servers was now standing on the top of the stairs where Tarrlok had been standing just moments before. Just looking at the man gave Korra weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was something…unnatural about him.
"Allow me to introduce a special surprise guest for this evenings festivities," he said loudly before two small round balls dropped to the ground and exploded to create a cloud of smoke. A second later, the smoke was gone and a man in a hooded coat wearing a mask with a red circle on its forehead was standing in the server's place.
Korra easily recognized him from Bolin's descriptions, the wanted posters, and the more accurate flyers that Equalists handed out on the street as well as he banners in the chi blocker training centers.
"You'll have to pardon the display. I always did like a touch of theatricality in my entrances," Amon said as he stood over the barely moving crowd.
If anything, the weird feeling Korra felt radiating from the man only increased. It was almost as if she could feel waves of rage and hatred coming from the man with the hood on.
"Was that…no, I didn't see any movement in or out of the smoke," Sasuke mumbled from behind the girl with his eyebrows narrowed in thought.
"Daddy, I'm scared," Ikki whimpered.
"AMON!"
The attention of everyone in the room was taken off of the terrorist leader, and towards the boy with the golden eyes standing near the center of the room. Mako stepped forward and drew back a punch, but didn't see the chi blocker behind him throw out a hand. Thanks to the distance, Korra couldn't see the thin wire the man wrapped around Mako's wrist, but its effects were evident when the fire bender was yanked off his feet to land on his back.
"Now, if there are no other interruptions?" the masked man asked before putting his hands behind his back.
Korra started to step forward, but she found herself held back by Katara. "What're you doing?" the younger water bender whispered. "We need to do something!"
In response, Katara shook her head, then looked at the group before she turned her attention back to Korra. Think before you act girl," Katara told her. "This man knows what he's doing. This room has no easy access to water, or earth, and throwing fire around in a room where people can barely move is just asking for trouble.
"At the moment, we need to get my grandchildren and daughter-in-law to safety," she said before looking over to Lin. "How long will it take for you to get a police unit over here?"
Lin frowned. "Once I get to a phone? Five minutes or less, and I can have every airship in the city on top of this place in an instant."
The old woman looked over to Sasuke. "Do you know if this poison of theirs is treatable?"
"No, I know about poisons, not how to counter them," he explained simply, getting him a glare from Lin.
"You must know something," Pema begged, adjusting the child in her care that was thankfully still asleep.
Katara held her hand up to calm the frantic woman. "It's alright. If this toxin works the way Sasuke says it does…I might be able to keep Jinora alive until it wears off. But we need to get out of here first."
"Okay, so what do-"
Korra's question was cut off by someone shouting from inside the main room. "Amon, what're you doing here?" Hiroshi Sato demanded. A brave action considering the man didn't seem the fighting type.
She peeked back through the half-open double doors as the man moved down the stairs. "A room full of the city's bending elites, all of the councilmen, and every single air bender in the world?" the masked man asked. "What better place to spread equality is there?
"Tonight, I shall rid this city of it's oppressive upper class in a single blow," Amon shouted. "It's almost ironic that this was all possible because you fools ignored the actions of-"
Katara turned the group's attention away from the ballroom. "It's good to see megalomaniacal maniacs still like to make long speeches," she said. "We can get out of here before he actually notices we're gone. Boy, take my granddaughter from my son, would you?"
Bolin blinked when the old war hero addressed him. "What? Uh, not that I mind, but, why me?"
"This was the only door the Equalists aren't bothering to guard," Sasuke told him. "And they're all dressed like waiters…so take a wild guess where the rest of them are." As if to nail the fact home, seven men in chi blocker uniforms came out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
However, the chi blockers didn't interest Korra at the moment. "We can't just leave Amon in there with all those people!"
"Agreed," Tenzin added while he handed Jinora off to Bolin. "Since there hasn't been an air bender other than my father and myself in a hundred years, I doubt Amon and his goons will be ready to fight one. I'll stay here and buy time for you to get out of here with the kids."
Pema took in a breath. "Tenzin no!"
"I'll stay, chi blockers can't hurt me in my armor," Lin volunteered.
The monk shook his head. "No, I may be a councilman, but the chief of police can rally the troops faster than anyone from the government. You need to get your men down here."
Korra took a second to look back out at the room. She could still feel the wrongness coming from the masked man. To be honest, it scared her even more than when she had heard him on the radio. Still, she managed to swallow her fear all the same. "I'll stay too."
"Korra!"
She shook her head at Tenzin's words. "I'm the Avatar Tenzin, this is my job. Besides, there's plenty of water left in the punch bowl for me to get off an attack, and considering Tarrlok's a water bender, he's got to have pipes running all through his house, not just the bathrooms. I just have to blow one open with lighting and I'll have a source for my bending."
"If you're all done talking, I think it's time for us to get going," Sasuke said as he made his way to the front of the group and turned his back against the side of the hallway to lower his profile. "Lin, I'll lead the charge, you keep any of them from getting behind me, and hold off any other men that come up behind us once everyone passes the kitchen."
The police woman stepped up behind him. "And you're supposed to be the one in charge here?" she asked in her usual gruff manner.
"Just keep your mouths shut and run out the hole in the wall," Sasuke told everyone behind him, ignoring Lin's comment. "And considering the circumstances, I really don't want to hear you people whining if one of these guys ends up dead."
Pema raised an eyebrow. "Ikki, close your eyes dear."
He held out his hands like a pair of claws, then looked over at them with a frown. "Geeze, I can't believe its been so long I actually need to make hand signs to focus this jutsu."
Technique, Korra's mind supplied, leaving her in a state of confusion.
Sasuke clapped his hands together in rapid succession so fast his arms seemed to disappear in a blur before he held out his arm again. A second later, lightning blazed in his hands, completely dumbfounding the Avatar.
"What the hell?" Korra yelled. She looked at the crackling electricity in complete confusion. That's impossible…you can't HOLD LIGHTNING!
Keeping lighting stationary went against everything she had ever learned when it came to the stuff. It was creating by separating and the Yin and Yang elements of a person's chi and letting them slam back together. Then the power released by the collusion had to be guided and released. If someone didn't release that power, it would flow back into their heart and kill them.
Before she could ask just how the hell he was doing the impossible, Sasuke disappeared in a blur of motion that moved from chi blocker to chi blocker and crashed into the wall on the far end of the hallway before there was a bright flash and an explosion rang in Korra's ears.
Wait a second, Korra thought as she replayed the last five second in her mind. That's…
"All bending fighting styles are mid-range, to long-range combat…once someone gets within five feet of you, like someone who uses close quarters combat, you pretty much don't know what to do," Sasuke's voice echoed in her head.
Korra frowned. "No wonder he always acted so damn superior. He has a freaking bending style that works in close quarters combat!"
"Well, that's our cue," Tenzin told Korra before he kicked open the door to the main room and walked inside.
"Come along everyone," Lin said as she had everyone else running towards the new exit.
Korra turned her back on the hallway and followed Tenzin into the large room. Apparently while Amon had been making his speech, the poison had been doing its job on the party goers, who were now barely able to crawl around on the floor.
Amon's men were tying people up and setting them on two side of the room. Since Mako and the Satos were separated, Korra was guessing one half held benders, and the other half held non-benders.
The masked man turned his attention towards Korra, and she felt that familiar feeling of being kicked in the gut as he glared at her. "So, are you done trying to save the rest of the air benders?" he asked.
"Trying?" Korra grumbled as she glanced back to the hole in the wall, then saw Tenzin's family standing outside, surrounded by several more chi blockers then had been inside. "Crap."
Tenzin charged the man and threw out his hands to blast a concentrated gale towards Amon. For his part, Amon turned sideways to limit his profile, then thrust out an empty palm towards Tenzin. There was an explosion of compressed air that blew the man's coat around, ruffled the curtains, and sent some of the chi blocker waiters ducking for better footing, but Amon remained unmoved, and unharmed.
"Is that it?" Amon asked.
The exchange left the air bender dumfounded. "What? How did you…"
Okay, don't think about that right now, Korra told herself before she looked up at the ceiling. The Avatar threw her hands and water bending abilities out in a wide net, then tried to pull every bit of water in the vicinity above her down. She heard a pair of creeks to her right and left, then separated her chi and went through the steps for weaving lightening. A second later, she s rewarded with a lighting bolt from each hand.
The attack tore through the wood, and Korra pulled at the water in the pipes again, being rewarded with a light shower of water coming from above. Not much, but I suppose it's enough.
She wove her hands to pull the water down towards her, then collected it in a sphere above her head and hurled it at Amon, freezing the tip water as the movement turned it into a spear shape. Amon jumped to the left to avoid the attack, and Korra turned the ice drill tipped water serpent around to make another pass at Amon, who dodged it by jumping to the right.
With the masked man now surrounded by water on both sides, Korra collected more water that had from the pipes and sent it careening at him in all directions. She closed her hands together and the water hit the man from all around him, trapping Amon in a ball of water before Korra stopped all movement, and froze the liquid solid.
"Got you!" Korra shouted before dropping her arms, and letting the ice ball fall to the floor. "Now, everyone else give up, and I'll let Amon out before he suffocates!"
Everything was silent as Tenzin walked up to stand beside Korra. He looked at the criminals surrounding them with a worried look on his face. "They don't seem like a group of men who just saw their leader defeated."
A crack resounded throughout the room, and Korra's head whipped back around to look on as the ice ball exploded outward, and Amon stood up from a crouched position.
"Are you kidding me?" Korra whispered.
The ice prison was a move Katara had taught Korra during her Waterbending training. She had originally invented the move during the war in a fight with some fire bender during the day when Sozen's Comet had passed overhead. Over the years Katara had refined it into one of the most effective water bending techniques to subdue an opponent; she even bragged once about how she added a bit of artistry to it, making the perfected form look like the glacier Aang had been frozen in. The technique stopped all movement within. Even a fire bender hadn't been able to escape when they were said to be one hundred times as powerful as they normally were.
But Amon had just shattered it while trapped inside, and he couldn't even bend!
"Hey Tenzin, if you've go some super secret bending move that sucks the air out of his lungs or something, now would definitely be the time to use it," Korra told her teacher.
But Tenzin could only disappoint her. "Sorry, I'm afraid my father didn't show me anything like that."
"So, is it my turn now?" Amon asked, almost smug.
Korra did wonder why he hadn't attacked already, but she didn't waste too long on those thoughts.
No choice then, the girl told herself. Korra thrust her hands forward to shatter the ice surrounding Amon into deadly sharp shards, then clasped her hands together again to send the ice flying towards the man in the center.
"Wha-Korra no!" Tenzin shouted, seeing what she had done and reached out his hands to stop her a second too late.
Hundred of tiny shards of ice assaulted him from every direction. While a strong fire bender might have been able to melt the ice before it reached him, or an earth bender could have risen walls in defense to stop the attack, Amon didn't have any bending to call on. To someone like him, the move was fatal.
All he could do was dodge, parry, jump and spin around as he worked to shatter the pieces of ice one by one…until the attack was finished, and he was left standing in the center of the mass of ice…completely unharmed. While there were some holes in his coat here and there, the man himself didn't have a single drop of blood falling to the floor.
Korra had to fight to stay on her feet, the impossibility of such a feat nearly crushing her spirit completely. "But…that's…how did he…" she whispered.
"I see," Tenzin mumbled, his eyes narrowing a moment after the rather awesome display. "That's very…unfortunate, Amon. I'm sorry for your loss."
Korra looked over to Tenzin. "Huh?"
In response, Tenzin motioned his chin towards Amon. "Look at his mask Korra. Notice something wrong with it?"
The question was thankfully confusing, and Korra looked over to Amon, really studying him for the first time. The mask didn't seem to be all that special, and was probably made from a cheap substitute instead of real porcelain. It had a weird white and tan color scheme, with a big red circle at the top and black coloring around the eye holes…
Wait a second, Kora thought as she narrowed her eyes and examined the black part more closely. Then, she noticed it. The mask covered his whole face. "There's no eye holes," she said. "But…how can you see?"
"Remember Amon's first broadcast?" Tenzin reminded her without taking his eyes off the man. "He said a fire bender had 'taken his face' I believe those were the exact words. Anyone who'd been scarred like that…I doubt they would have much in the way of vision."
Amon started to move forward on them. "Oh, I see more than you could ever imagine. For instance, the despair that the two of you are drowning in. I was a little hesitant to go up against an air bender at first, but if all you can do is throw around gusts of wind…I think I'll to go on the attack now."
Tenzin summoned up anther gale and launched it at the man, who simply crouched low, and remained in place despite being hit with a wind strong enough to send him flying into the sky even with the way he was standing.
When Amon moved, it was in a burst of speed Korra could barely follow. If not for her training in hand to hand combat, she probably wouldn't have even seen him coming at all. Korra jumped back to avoid the hand that lashed out at her, but Tenzin wasn't so lucky. Amon caught him right in the chest, then proceeded with two more strikes to his stomach before he spun around to strike Tenzin on his back as the man stumbled back.
Tenzin flew through the air, not by his own volition, and landed in the middle of the reception hall. He let out a groan and tried to rise, then coughed violently and fell to the floor. A moan told Korra he was still alive, but that was all it seemed he could do.
Then Amon came at her. His first strike came at her head, which she managed to block, but as soon ass he did Korra nearly doubled over from a palm strike to her stomach that Amon had launched at the same time. The attack to my head…was a feint? Korra realized much too late.
She almost fell down, but Amon struck both of Korra's shoulders at the same time with knife jabs before drawing his hands back and giving a final blow with both palms that knocked Korra through the air in a similar fashion to Tenzin before she hit the ground rolling to try and lessen the damage and ran into the wall.
Korra struggled to stand up, and got to her knees before the pain made Korra use her hands to catch herself to keep her face from smacking into the ground. Then, Korra felt something well up in her throat and she coughed a few times before red bile was forced out of her mouth.
I… The Avatar's vision wavered, and she willed herself to focus. I'm bleeding internally, from that? A few slaps to the stomach had her coughing blood?
Get up, Korra told herself, fighting off the pain and blurred vision. GET UP! She sucked in a breath of air, and forced herself to stand.
"My, you can still move after that?" Amon asked from across the room.
Then, he was in front of her again. Korra didn't have him to react before his fingers dug into her arms and sent a wave of pain along her muscles. A second later he struck her legs, and the Avatar fell to her knees. She started to fall forward, but Amon's boot propped up against her shoulder, and pushed her back up against the wall.
"Well, if we don't have any further interruptions…it's time to start with the equalizing," Amon said.
She tried to raise her arms, but a wave of crippling pain from her biceps and shoulders stopped Korra from going anything other than bending them at the elbows, and her legs might as well of been jelly.
All she could do was lay back and watch as Amon brought his hands together, and drew them apart, then clapped them together again, and again, and again another time.
Wait a second… Korra thought, thinking of the signs the man's hands made when he brought them together as Amon's fingers started to glow. "That's just like…"
-Outside-
A second after he crashed through the wall, Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and glanced around. Not far off to his left, the catering vans parked near the kitchen's back entrance let out half a dozen men dressed in the same attire of the men he'd left on the floor inside.
By the time they moved to halfway surround him, Lin and the others had caught up. "Stopped to check how many of the people trying to beat us up I killed?" he asked with a smirk.
"Don't be foolish," the policewoman responded. "Although, I don't think the last two will be getting up anytime soon."
Sasuke took a second look back in the hallway at the last two goons he's gotten past. Most of their upper torsos were missing where he struck them with his Chidori. "In my defense, I needed the extra power to blow a hole in the wall, and didn't know how long it'd take to build up."
"Well I'd ay you've got a good self-defense argument…I'd go with that when it comes time for your hearing," Lin told him. "I'll be happy to back you up on that one."
The ridiculous statement brought a smirk to Sasuke's mouth. "With everything that's going on, you're sill going to drag me to court over this?"
Lin frowned at him. "It's the law boy."
"Inflexible and unmoving no matter what huh?" Sasuke asked. He continued without waiting for a response. "You remind me of an idiot I used to know… I think I might actually start to respect you if this keeps up."
Lin cut the banter short as she studied the six men in front of them. "How many do you want?"
"Seeing as how we need to make this quick?" Sasuke asked before he brought his hands together for a fire jutsu. "I'll kill the four in the middle, then go after the one on the left."
He took in a deep breath, and brought his fingers up below his mouth. Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation. The gout of flame that Sasuke breathed spread out to become a wall and rushed forward to engulf all of the chi blockers except the two on the end, who managed to get away from the flames.
The men screamed before being consumed by the flames completely.
"Mommy, I smell barbecue," a young boy mumbled.
"Go back to sleep Meelo," Pema told her son.
"I smell barbecue too," Ikki added.
Pema sighed. "Hold your nose Ikki."
"Close my eyes, hold my nose, you know I can hear people screaming," she replied.
Not wasting a second, Sasuke formed the hand signs for his Chidori, then charged one of the last two chi blockers. The man was good, he actually saw Sasuke coming and dove to the right just in time to avoid the lightning while launching an attack of his own. A light strike clipped Sasuke in the shoulder, but the spasm of pain it caused made him stumble.
What the…
Sasuke caught himself and spun around, the jumped back. The damaged caused was negligible, but… There's no way a glancing blow like that should have caused any damage at all.
Since his back was to the benders, Sasuke activated his Sharingan andcharged the man again. When the chi blocker thrust his hand forward in a punch, Sasuke let the man get within a millimeter of contact to see what he needed to, then attached one of his feet to the ground to help counteract his own momentum as he spun around the man and twisted the captured arm while grabbing the other one. After that, he planted his foot on the man's back, and applied pressure to the fighter's forearms.
"Who taught you that little trick?" Sasuke demanded before turning off his Sharingan. "Tell me, or I'll rip off your arms." To help encourage the man a bit, Sasuke pushed down with this foot and pulled back with his arm.
"SASUKE!" Lin shouted. "What do you think you're doing? Let the man go and I'll tie him up."
"It's a chi blocking move boy," Katara informed him. "I've seen and felt them before. They use precise strikes to nerve clusters to disable someone's arms and legs. It can even disrupt a person's bending."
He glowered, then flung the man aside so Lin could bind him. "I'm going to go deal with Amon," Sasuke said before turning back to look inside the ballroom, and saw the mass of water come to surround the man before freezing.
"Well, so much for that," Lin said.
"Hey Miss Katara, uh…the little girl's not looking so good," Bolin called out.
Everyone's attention was drawn away from anything except Jinora, who did look much paler than she had just a minute ago. Katara was immediately by Pema's side as they both looked the girl over. Katara grabbed the girl's wrist, and put a finger to her neck. "I'm not feeling a pulse."
The statement made the pregnant woman go almost as pale as her eldest daughter. "Then do something!" she demanded.
Katara looked around, then sighed. "Put the girl on the ground boy, I'll need her to be completely level if I want this to work." Once Jinora had been put down, Katara knelt over her and placed her hand on the girl's chest before looking up into the sky. "It's not a full moon yet, but I'm not exactly trying to move her whole body either."
"Wait, you mean… you're going to blood bend my daughter!" Pema shouted.
"If you have a better idea of how to get her blood flowing again, please enlighten me," Katara replied.
While the old woman tried…whatever the hell she was doing to the kid, Sasuke looked back up into the ballroom to watch the fight for a few more seconds. Since everyone's attention was on the child, his curiosity got the best of him, and he took a second to glance down at Katara's actions with his Sharingan.
Oh I get it, she's using her water manipulation on the liquid in the girl's own body. That, combined with the limited knowledge he got from his years at the academy and simply being around Kabuto for three years while undergoing body enhancement surgeries told him what they were doing, and why it was doomed to fail.
Sasuke looked up at Amon as he dodged through dozens of ice daggers with impossible precision to prove what Sasuke had suspected since seeing the chi blocker's technique, then back down to the little girl on the street.
He sighed, and rubbed his head. "Figures," he mumbled before turning off his eyes and moving towards the concerned group. "That isn't going to work."
Katara looked up at the boy for a moment, a frown on her face. "And you have a better idea?"
Instead of replying, Sasuke got down near the girl's head, and tilted it back before opening her mouth. "You're pumping blood, but there's no oxygen in it. Someone has to breathe air into the girl's lungs before you send it through her body. I'll deal with the breathing, you handle the blood flow after I'm done."
-Inside-
With nothing else she could do, Korra closed he eyes, and waited for the man holding her to take her bending…
…and waited…
… and waited…
Then, she opened her eyes to see the man's hand had stopped inches from her face. It shook, but didn't move any closer. A second later, Amon went flying across the room when a wave of water crashed into him from the side.
She looked over to where the attack had come from, and raised her eyebrows in suprise. "Tarrlok?"
The man was standing, panting heavily, but standing nonetheless. Two unconscious chi blockers at his feet decorated the ground at his feet. There was a large red stain on the front of his shirt that he was clutching, but he seemed fine otherwise. And of course, he could move.
"How are you not down on the ground like the others?" Korra demanded.
"I see, you moved the parlaying toxin around in your body, then forced it out a cut you gave yourself," Amon's voice cut in over Korra's confusion. "And the way your stopped my arm… A blood bender, and its not even a full moon. Tell me, are you related to a man named Noatak? Or does some other family also possess that bloodline trait?"
Tarrlok stood there with surprise appearing on his face. "What did you just say?" he mumbled barely loud enough to be heard.
"Well, no matter," Amon responded. "You don't seem to be nearly as skilled as he was. Although I will admit, moving the poisons through your own body without them soaking into anything else was quite a feat."
Korra took her eyes off the scene to concentrate on her own problems. She pulled some of the water that now covered the floor over to her using her fingers, then wrapped her hands in water to begin healing her legs. A sharp stab of pain when she moved her should broke the girl's concentration and caused the water to fall, but she called it back up a few seconds later and got back to work.
Crap, with my muscles and shoulders hurt like this…I can't heal the higher part of my arms, the Avatar thought before slowly raising her hands to start on her stomach.
When a cry of pain reached her ears, she looked up to see Amon had gotten to Tarrlok. The water bender bent over, coughing up blood. "You…how did…my bending."
Amon interrupted him before the man could get any further. "You people, you can work your abilities, but you have no idea how your abilities work." He stepped back, and Korra watched as the man's hands blurred, striking Tarrlok several times in his arms and legs before the man fell to the ground.
He turned back towards Korra, and brought his hands together again before his fingers glowed with an odd light, like before. "Now, where were we Avatar?"
Korra got back to her feet, taking stock of herself while she tore her dress down the seams to give her greater mobility. The thing was hardly something meant to fight in. Fingers, lower arms, and legs. That's all I've got to bend with. Against someone like Amon…it wasn't enough. Nowhere near enough.
He charged forward in a blur, and Korra performed a high roundhouse kick that sent a small wave of flame at the man that that he simply ducked under before lashing out with his hand as if it were a claw…
Korra closed her eyes, tears beginning to form. No…I can't lose my bending…
…
…
…
…and got the wind knocked out of her when the man's whole body crashed into stomach. Then something tugged on her dress from behind, and Korra's whole body lurched with motion that left her head spinning as her body was tossed around.
When everything stopped, she was laying on her chest with her arms dangling in the air, and someone had there hands on her legs that were kicking in the air.
When she opened her eyes, Korra looked strait ahead at the…ground? Well, it looked like the ground with the carpet, and Tenzin's unconscious body laying there.
Then, up at the wall that was…above her…while the ceiling with its chandelier attached further down was…behind her?
The realization of her location and fear that followed the confusion made Korra wrap her legs around the person supporting her. Then she asked the weirdest question in her entire life. "Uh…Sasuke, are we standing on a wall?"
"I'm standing on a wall," he corrected her evenly, "you're laying on my back."
Korra blinked, and looked forward at the ground. "Okay…why are you standing on a wall?"
"Because I couldn't hold you and fight at the same time, and these guys haven't been taught to adhere to surfaces," he explained.
Below them, Korra watched as a chi blocker looked up at the pair while another ran over to the middle of the room where Amon was laying facedown on the ground…with a short stick of some kind sticking out of his back…that seemed to be sparkling.
"Can you do something about those two?" Sasuke asked. "I can't let go to attack, or you might slip off."
The reminder made Korra look down at her thighs that Sasuke was holding, and brought a blush to her cheeks when she realized just how close he was to touching her butt. Hell, he probably had been just to get us up here, she realized. Not to mention there was the fact her dress was torn and the guy looking up at Korra had a clear view of her underwear. "Well, I can't move my shoulders…but from this angle, I guess I don't really have to," she realized.
Korra wiggled her fingers to collect the water still on the ground into a mass big enough to be used in the attack she needed outside the chi blocker's line of sight, then flung the glob of liquid to cover his head and quickly froze it. The man beat at the ice for a moment, then fell to his knees and finally to the ground. Once he was unconscious, Korra melted the water to let him breathe.
"Hurry and get the other one!" Sasuke told her.
After looking at the man's location, crouching next to Amon, Korra shook her head. "I can't without moving my upper arms."
The chi blocker reached forward and pulled out the glowing metal stick from his leader's back.
Sasuke clenched his teeth. "Damnit!"
He started to move, but Korra urged him to stop. "Wait, laying down like this…I can reach my biceps and shoulders. Just stand still for a minute," she told him before pulling the water up to her and getting to work on healing the rest of her injuries.
As the healing energies washed over her, Korra couldn't help but be amazed at how the atmosphere had changed so quickly. One moment, she had been so scared she could hardly breathe, but now…
"A hairpin?" Amon's voice cut through the air. "You disabled my nervous system with a FUCKING HAIRPIN?" Down on the ground, the man snapped the object in question in two.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "How are you still alive? Even a blunt object like that should have severed your spine you after I charged it with my Chidori and hit you where you couldn't see it coming."
The word made Korra blink. "What do birds have to do with anything?" she asked.
Sasuke took a moment to give her an odd look, then turned his attention back to Amon when the man spoke again. "How did you-"
"Your goons release a small burst of chakra when they attack an opponent, it's not much, but it's enough to disrupt people whose chakra system is underdeveloped as a bender's. Then there was the time when Korra's multi-directional attack didn't work. The only way someone would have been able to do what you did is if they had a field of vision that covered all three-hundred and sixty degrees…excluding that blind spot above your third thoracic vertebra where I hit you."
Amon stood silent for a moment before he responded. "That symbol on your back…and that hair… Judging by your age…you must be Itachi's younger brother. Sasuke, wasn't it? What're you doing on this side of the world, you pampered brat? Don't your mommy and daddy miss you?"
Pressed up against him as she was, Korra could feel Sasuke's body tense at the mention of the other person's name. What had been a feeling of safety faded away, and Korra found the unease in the atmosphere begin to rise again. The hands supporting her disappeared, and lighting blazed again.
"YOU CAN ASK THEM WHEN I SEND YOU TO HELL!"
Sasuke simply disappeared from underneath Korra, and the Avatar let out a yelp before she used Firebending to slow her descent and landed safely. A second after she did, an explosion drew her attention and she saw the large cloud of dust in the middle of the dance floor.
Amon jumped out of the dust cloud high into the air, away from the impact. "That's Kakashi's technique, right? Sorry boy, but I'm not stupid enough to go head to head against a mirror wheel eye user who can wield the lighting blade technique."
"You know about me, but not about my clan? When did you leave the village?" Sasuke asked as she clapped his hands together several more times, then took a deep breath to blow out a fire attack. The flames to the shape of a trio of dragon heads the size of the genuine article on their way towards Amon.
The masked man threw out his hands right as the first dragon came close, then somehow slid around the attack before it passed by him with the other two attacks going far to the left and right.
Seeing where this was headed, Korra reached out to gather some water in order to put out the fire the bending attack would cause…only to freeze and stare when the dragons hit the ceiling, tore through the top floor, and kept going until most of the upper eastern side of the house was gone. The water she gathered dropped to the ground.
Since it looked like Sasuke was holding his own, Korra moved to take care of more important business. She ran over to Tenzin, and soaked his body in healing waters. "Tenzin, can you hear me?"
"If you must know, it was right after our glorious leaders decided to murder a man to keep an agreement with lying foreigners," Amon called out from across the room. "Then, that very same man let his own brother take his place to get out of it!
"But why are you here boy?" he demanded much calmer than he was a moment ago. "I doubt very much that the village leaders even know I'm alive. Which means…you've gone rouge as well? Is that it?"
"There's no reason to answer a dead man's questions," Sasuke said as thunder crashed overhead.
A groan came form Tenzin, and Korra looked down at the man. "Tenzin, you there?"
Thankfully, the monk opened his eyes. "Korra? I…behind you!"
Korra spun around just in time to see the chi blocking waiter approaching from her blind spot. She threw out her fists in a fire blast that caught him in the chest and sent him flying. The man screamed, and slid his body along the wet ground to try and smother the flames.
Meanwhile, Korra gathered water over the man's head and froze it before dropping the ice block with enough force to knock the guy out.
With the distraction taken care of, Korra helped Tenzin to his feet and supported the old man by placing his arm over her shoulder. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Uh…" Korra looked over to Amon, then the boy with the red and white symbol on his back.
Aang looked around the dark room. Finally left alone, he tried to think of how to escape. Firstly, he needed to get a feel of his surroundings beyond the little bit of light provided by a candle placed somewhere behind him. He took in a deep breath, then blew out fire.
The flames illuminated the small room, which looked to be little more than a cave. Aside from the table he was pinned down on, there was a wall with several coffers built into it, each one with a mostly completed red circle above a 3rd of a white circle that had a thick line extending from the bottom.
"Ah, you're awake," the deep voice said in strange words. Still, Aang knew what they meant.
Aang cut the flames, then looked up as another light source came closer to his bed. The masked man was holding a candle in one of his hands. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"
"You don't know? I was told the Avatar could remember his past lives," The Mask replied. "Very well, you are here for the same reasons that my forebear came to the…Earth Kingdom I think it's called. As to your first question…well, that answer is more complicated than you might think. But you may call me…Madara Uchiha."
Korra shut her eyes and willed the vision away. What was… She looked back up at the paper fan symbol on Sasuke's back that matched the one on the walls of that room.
"Korra?" Tenzin asked before the world faded out again.
The man in the red armor with the long spiky hair walked up to Kyoshi and gazed upon her with his unnatural red eyes, his giant fan with the red and white symbol still on his back.
"I am truly sorry its come to this cousin," he told her in the language of the four nations. "I should warn you. I've undergone a similar process, so I know this will be quite painful."
Fear ran through Kyoshi's mind at the prospect of what was about to happen. Still, she did her duty and accepted her fate. Then she entered the Avatar state. "Let's just get this over with Sir Uchiha."
The vision ended, and Korra fought to keep on her feet under Tenzin's weight. "I'm fine," she insisted between the pounding aches in her head. What the hell is all this? Korra demanded from her other selves.
Why were her past lives giving her visions now? Didn't they know a fight was going on? …Or a staring contest at any rate? Amon and Sasuke hadn't actually moved for over a minute now.
"Are you trying to use illusion techniques on me boy?" Amon said. "I should tell you now, it's not going to work. Even if we did see face to face, my white eyes work differently than a normal person's vision. Trying to trap me with sight is a waste of time."
Sasuke raised his hand, and was struck by a lightning bolt. The crackling energy stayed connected to his hand. "No, I was just waiting for the charge in the clouds to build up enough to fuel my attack. This jutsu is called Kirin, and it can't be dodged, blocked, or canceled out."
Clouds? Korra asked herself before looking up at the sky. The black storm above them crackled with lightning in an unnatural way. Then, she saw the movement of a strange serpentine creature darting amongst the clouds. "You…you've got to be kidding me."
Amon didn't even move before he spoke. "That attack from before, the dragons that tore through the roof… you were using them to create a rising air current in order to form cumulonimbus clouds?"
An instant later, the shape Korra had glimpsed in the clouds came down to float in the sky above them. It might have been her imagination, but she was certain she actually heard it roar. "Tenzin…I may have to go back to learning Firebending after this…I think I missed the lessons on how to do that!"
"I didn't think you could," the air bender mumbled in awe.
"YOU CAN COMBINE ELEMENTAL CONTROL WITH SHAPE MANIPULATION?" Amon shouted.
Sasuke motioned his hand forward, as if signaling the creature to attack. "Disappear with the thunderclap."
It really was over in an instant. One moment the lightning construct was just floating there, and next came a bright flash along with a resounding boom that rattled Korra's teeth. When her vision cleared, Korra traced the path of destruction that cut the building in two all the way to Tarrlok's back yard, which was now a big smoldering crater in the ground.
Sasuke le out a sigh, and looked over to Korra as rain started to pour down from the sky on the unprotected party goers. "Are you two alright?"
The symbol on his back, family name, and man in red armor who bore a disturbing resemblance to the boy in front of her were pushed aside for the moment as Korra made her way over to him.
"Fine," she told the boy with dark eyes. Not red, Korra told her past lives.
"What in the name of the spirits was all that racket!" Pema shouted as she made her way inside the ballroom with half a dozen of Lin's police force came in before her along with their leader.
Lin immediately started barking orders to her men to start helping the people out of the destroyed house that seemed like it could collapse any moment, then looked over to Sasuke. "Hey, where's my mother's hairpin?"
"Daddy, Daddy! Mommy made me kiss Jinora," Ikki told the older man, then proceed to try and spit the taste of her sister out of her mouth.
Tenzin blinked. "What?" he asked his wife.
"Sasuke did it too!" Ikki added.
"What?" Korra asked, completely dumbfounded he looked over at the raven-haired young man, who covered his face with his palm and groaned.
With Meelo in tow, Katara made her way over to the group. Behind her, Bolin was carrying Jinora on his back, who looked tired, but apparently fine. "She's fine just needs some rest."
"And food," Jinora added in a tired voice. "I-"
"Bro!" Bolin shouted before dropping Jinora, who let out a tiny scream when she fell, and ran over to his unconscious brother that had been tied up in the corner next to some of the other benders. "Geeze what is this stuff, metal fishing line?"
"I trust everyone is alright then?"
Korra blinked, then looked over to Tarrlok as he limped over to the group. "Uh…you okay?" she asked.
The man coughed, and waved away the policemen who tried to office him assistance. "I'm fine," he assured her. "You're not the only water bender who can heal themselves Avatar."
Yeah but… The image of Amon standing over her with his arm immobilized flashed through Korra's mind. He can blood bend without a full moon, she reminded herself. Just knowing the art was supposed to be illegal. But when it came down to it…the man had saved her bendingwith that skill.
"Well if you can heal, then help me with the wounded," Katara told the younger waterbender. "Most of it doesn't look serious, so it shouldn't take that long."
"Oh very well. But first…" Tarrlok looked over to Sasuke. "I must say that was quite an amazing spectacle, I had no idea that a fire bender could control lightning like that. Tell me, does it have something to do with your eyes changing color?"
"YOU'RE TOO SOFT BOY!"
Korra's breath caught as she felt an ominous force in the air. She looked up, and her mouth dropped open at the sight. A man was standing on the edge of the crater that Sasuke's attack had created, covered in a black aura of energy that seemed to be made of nothing but pain and hatred. The feeling was overwhelming compared to what she had sensed coming from the man before.
As for the man himself, Amon was covered in burnt skin that was slowly returning to a healthy state. Long black hair danced wildly above him every which way, caught in the swirl of his power. Eyes that were indeed white looked at everyone around him, dozens of tiny veins pulsing at their sides while the man's face was twisted into an evil grin. Other than that, the only other thing on his body were two tattoos: the first a green one that consisted of two lines and an X on his forehead, and black tattoo on his stomach of a spiral pattern with squiggles around it.
"Daddy I'm scared again," Ikki whimpered ass he clutched onto her father.
"Me too," Jinora agreed.
"…that makes three of us children," Tenzin mumbled.
"But…you…how?" Sasuke demanded incoherently.
Amon laughed at the question. "That attack of yours, if you had simply detonated it on impact, there really wouldn't have been anything left of me. Instead, you had your Kirin push me out of the building and blew it up when we were in an open area. Because of that, I had time to put on my demon cloak."
"That's not what I'm talking about! That's an eight trigrams seal." Sasuke shouted. "BUT YOU CAN'T BE A JINCHUURIKI! THERE AREN'T ANY TAILED BEASTS LEFT!"
Apparently ignoring Sasuke for a moment, Amon brought his hands together. "How little you know of the world boy," the man with the white eyes said. "And don't call my partner a beast, you'll hurt his feelings. Now come out, Hei Bei!"
"What did he just say?" Tenzin whispered.
"Dear, isn't Hei Bei that spirit you said your father…"
Amon's body took on an almost animalistic appearance, with dark circles appearing around his eyes, and his teeth becoming fangs. His fingers growing curled claws, and even the man's hair seemed to grow more wild. The energy around him condensed, and began to bubble as it formed the outline of a bear around Amon, who had gotten down on his hands and knees.
The police that Lin had brought with her charged the spirit-man creature, and were knocked aside when it flung an arm that somehow extended to slash five of them at the same time. Lin crashed into the wall behind all of them, and the rest of her force was laying around what was left of the building. They were injured, and weren't moving.
Sasuke stepped forward. "You should all probably start running away now."
"Good advice, come on bro," Bolin told his brother, who was still pretty out of it, but moving. Pema and led her children out the front door that was the opposite direction from the creature. Tenzin and Tarrlok, who were both in no condition to fight limped after them.
"What the hell is that thing?" Korra demanded as she walked up stand beside Sasuke.
The thing in question was sprouting another pair of arms, and the feeling of oppressive energy Korra felt coming from him doubled while its shape altered, becoming a giant four-armed monster of black and white the size of a one story building.
"Oh, I get it now. It's one of those nature spirits…so they really are nothing more than chakra manifestations," Sasuke said, with a bit of an edge to his voice. "Still, you're nothing compared to the eight and nine-tails. I can't believe I was a little worried for a second there."
Korra smirked at his gallows humor. "Your jokes still suc-" Korra's words caught in her throat when she looked over to Sasuke and saw his eyes glowing red and bleeding. "What"
The surrounding temperature shot up in seconds…
"Amaterasu."
"Wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The spirit beast screeched in pain as black flames appeared to cover his body in fire that the rain evaporated from before it even touched. It writhed on the ground, spreading the flames on the rugs, the stone, even the dirt seemed to catch fire as the panda creature rolled around in pain, desperately trying to put out the fires covering its body.
When that didn't work, the creature sunk all its claws into the floor, and held its head up to suck in a breath. It lurched forward, and shot a dark sphere of energy at the two benders.
Korra leaped to the left.
Sasuke jumped right.
And the blast sailed through the front wall of Tarrlok's house before it curved upwards and Korra lost sight of it in the night sky.
She spun back around to face the creature…that was laying on the ground and…evaporating?
"Don't bother, the host was in that sphere the beast shot out its mouth," Sasuke explained. "Without its power source, the manifestation just crumbles."
More than a little on edge, Korra whipped her head over to face Sasuke. "You… What… What the hell was that thing?" she shouted while putting up her arms in a guard. He really does have red eyes.
When Sasuke looked at her, Korra couldn't stop herself from flinching from having his eyes trained on her. Wait a second…they're different, she realized. The man in red armor had three circles inside his iris connected to the edge of his eyes by a trio thick lines, and the masked man's eyes looked like they had three teardrops circling around the center. Sasuke's looked almost like a flower with a tri-pointed star in the center.
"In this land, you people worship the spirits like gods and turn to them to try and gain power," Sasuke told her. "But in my homeland, it's different. There, what you call gods, we call demons. We shackle and bind these creatures into human bodies, then turn these people in weapons of mass destruction."
Korra didn't know what was more disturbing, what Sasuke said, or the fact that he was able to say it with such little emotion. The shiver she felt run down her back had nothing to do with the freezing cold rain. "What do you mean, where you come from?" she demanded. "I thought you were from the Earth Kingdom, or the Fire Nation. And how are you a black fire bender?"
"You mean you never figured it out? I'm not from your lands," he told her.
"Far to the east of the Earth Kingdom there is a storm that never ends. You people call it The Sea of Storms. But in my homeland, we call it The End of the World, because it surrounds our countries with a nearly impassable barrier of wind, rain, and lightning. That's where I come from."
"And the flames of the Amaterasu are the inheritance of my bloodline." Then, Sasuke closed his eyes, and when he opened them, they had turned back to normal. "So, anything else you want to ask?"
Korra gulped, afraid of the next question on her mind. "You…all this time…you have the same eyes as that man." The inheritance of his bloodline, he had called it. "Do you know him? Do you know what he did to the last Avatar?"
Then Korra took a deep breath as she got to what she really wanted to know. "Why are you here?" she demanded in a shrill voice over the sound of the falling rain.
Sasuke held up a pair of fingers in front of him. "Judging by your fear…I'm guessing you already know." A whirlwind of leafs surrounded Sasuke, and the next moment…Korra was standing alone in the ruins of Tarrlok's mansion.
It took her a moment to realize the black flames had also disappeared.
-Air Temple-
Katara walked into the waiting room where her family and Bolin's brother were sitting. After drying her hands, she looked over to the others. "I tried everything I know, but I couldn't restore Bolin's bending," she told them.
"But…you're supposed to be the greatest healer in the world!" Mako shouted as he threw out his hand to point at Katara. "You were supposed to heal him!"
The statement only served to bring Katara down. "I'm sorry. As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with your brother."
Mako stared at the woman for a moment, anger written on his face. He let out a long breath of air and crossed his arms before turning his had away from her. "Sorry, it's just…nothing?"
As Boling walked into the room, putting his clothes back on, Katara nodded and returned to looking downcast. "It's ironic. All those years ago when Aang did this to Ozai, and then later Yakome, we all just accepted it and went about our lives. Now, I wish I had taken a look at them. If I had bothered to investigate a severed connection to the elements when I was in my prime, I might have been able to discern how to fix it. But I'm old, and my skills aren't what they use to be."
"There's no need to get yourself so worked up over this mother," Tenzin assured the water bender. "No one could have foreseen-"
"I should have," Katara said. "One day long ago, your father told me where he gained the power to cut off someone's connection to the elements. It doesn't come from being the Avatar, it's an ancient knowledge, so old that one of the oldest creatures in the world was the only thing around who knew how to do it, and the spirits are even older than that. We've seen that Amon truly has a spirit on his side. Such information would have been well within his grasp."
Tenzin scratched his beard. "So, do you think Korra might be able to undo it if she awakens as an Avatar and gains access to the knowledge of her past lives?"
Looking around the room and finding the water tribe girl absent, Bolin scratched the back of his head. "Where is Korra anyway?"
"Out on the island. She wanted to be left alone," Tenzin answered.
The girl hadn't told anyone what had happened after the bending family and the brothers left, but most everyone in the room could easy guess when she came out of the ruins of Tarrlok's house, dragging the unconscious bodies of Lin and Saikahn behind her.
"So…uh, you guys think…"
Bolin's unfinished question was answered by Katara. "The last time I met that spirit, it was kidnapping people because a few trees got burned down," she said. "Now we're in the middle of a place where you can't even see the normal ground except for a few parks. I'm just wondering how its manifesting itself physically away from its totem and at this time of the year. We're still a long time away from the solstice."
"Sasuke seemed to know, he called Amon a… jin-chu-riki? Tenzin asked himself. "It's probably why he's missing, and Korra's still here."
"Poor girl, we really should send someone to speak with her," Pema told them.
-Sato Estate-
Hiroshi Sato had just finished his designs when the door to his office opened to admit his daughter. The man turned off the light shining on his desk to keep the blueprints in the dark, and looked up at the girl. "Asami, is something wrong?"
The girl rubbed her eyes, and covered a yawn. "I was just going to…ahem, I saw the light in your study on and wondered what you were doing up."
"Oh, you know me," he told her. "First it was the adrenaline rush from the party, and then I got an idea in my head, and well…you've heard it all before."
Asami gave him a chuckle. "Anything cool?" she asked before trying to move closer to get a peek.
Acting as fast as he could, Hiroshi stood up to block the girl's way. "Now now dear, you know the rules. No peeking till it's on the market."
In response, the girl let out an annoyed groan, but stopped trying to get closer. "I'm not five anymore dad, I'm not going to doodle on your blueprints."
"Sir, there's a Mr Hyuga here to see you sir. He's waiting in the libary."
The interruption quickly put an end to the conversation, and Asami turned to their nighttime security guard. "Now? It's past ten!"
Hiroshi clamed his daughter down by rubbing her shoulders. "It's alright dear, I had a prior appointment with him. The man's a new investor with a few…quirks. One of which being he's a real night owl. Now, run along to bed, I promise I'll be done here in less than an hour."
Once he had gotten rid of his daughter, Hiroshi made his way downstairs to the library to find a man waiting for him. As soon as they were alone, the man…changed. One moment Hiroshi was looking at a non-descript individual he could have passed on the street without notice, and the next, Amon was standing in the room with him.
"You know, I read in one of the Aang biographies that the Avatar could do that as well." But Hiroshi understood that had been Aang changing into other Avatars, and only for a short time, this man seemed to become anyone he choose. It wasn't a form of bending, Hiroshi was certain of that much, but it was still rather disturbing.
Amon placed his hands behind his back. "Are you calling me an Avatar then?"
"You performed your part well tonight, standing up to me as you did while giving me an opening for my speech," the masked man told him. "Are you certain no one can trace the employees back to you?"
A shake of his head was all Hiroshi gave. The catering company was owned by one of his shell corporations. He had originally used it to help with his tax evasion, although it had become a far more useful tool since the revolution began.
"Unfortunately, that seems that's all that went well tonight," the businessman countered. "We were supposed to take care of everything in one fell swoop. Instead, we've been handed a public defeat and the Avatar has slipped through our fingers.
"And that other boy who nearly killed you…it seemed the two of you knew each other." Although, seeing that boy use lightning in his hand as a weapon had given Hiroshi a new idea for an invention.
Amon raised a hand to silence him. "It makes no matter. I had only planned to use the hostages as a counter balance to the Avatar to ensure she didn't interfere with us any further. But after tonight's performance, I can see she is no real threat to me. It's time to accelerate the plan to its final phase."
"Then…we're taking Republic City?" Hiroshi asked. "We don't have the manpower yet, and I only have one squad of mecha tanks ready for-"
"Republic City?" Amon asked in a confused tone. "That's right, you were from the old Amon's inner circle, weren't you? I'm afraid that plan is nothing but a waste of time."
Hiroshi frowned. "What does that mean?"
In response, Amon crossed his arms, and chuckled. "Noatak was a good man, but his vision was far too limited. He actually thought he could remove bending from the world by doing it one person at a time. Even if every bender in the world lined up for him, the man would be dead from old age before it actually came about. And that's not even putting into account the children that would be born.
"No, my plan is much grand than Noatak's in both size and efficiency. In less than five days, I shall bring about the end of bending."
-Republic City Docks-
"Is my resolve really so weak?"
Sasuke sat on the top of a warehouse, looking across the bay at the air temple on its island. He replayed the scene from earlier that night in his head. After he had seen Amon forming the signs for the Five Element Seal jutsu, Sasuke could have simply backed off and let it happen. Whatever the man claimed, it seemed he couldn't actually take someone's bending away, only seal their chakra network. But Sasuke supposed it would have the same effect on someone who didn't know what was going on.
"I should have just sat back and watched the show."
But I didn't, he reminded himself. When Amon came at Korra, he struck the Hyuga in the blind spot that he's learned about as a child when he commented to his father that Hyuga's eyes might have been better than the Sharingan in some ways, and rushed in to save the girl.
"But why, why did you save me?" Naruto asked as he lay on the ground.
"My body just-"
Sasuke banished the unbidden memory to the back of his mind. He wasn't a weak willed child anymore, under the control of Leaf propaganda that was nothing more than a mound of hypocritical shit.
"Enough of this," he grumbled, taking a moment to look at the symbol on his jacket to reaffirm his resolve.
In truth, the past weeks had been nothing but a distraction. If a pleasant one, he admitted. But then, this place was full of distractions and falsehoods that had tried to make Sasuke doubt himself.
Sasuke frowned. He needed to speak with Katara. Apparently, the old woman knew something Tenzin didn't. After that, he would be able to rid himself of these fools and continue with his plans.
-Air Temple Island-
It was odd. Despite everything that happened, Republic City looked the exact same as the first night she had seen it from her bedroom. The waves still crashed against the rocks below her, and the stars were still out shinning.
Korra pulled her legs back towards her face, and rested her chin on her knees. What am I supposed to do?
She needed to talk to someone about what happened, but once she did the cat would be out of the bag. As it was, people just thought that Hei Bei thing had dragged Sasuke into the spirit world.
But…she didn't know if that would be a good thing to tell someone, or a bad one. There was definitely something weird going on, and it was defiantly connected to what had happened to Aang, and that former Avatar Kyoshi from around two-hundred years ago.
Both Avatars had run-ins with people with the glowing red eyes, and both had ended up…dead.
But…
Memories played through her mind of the past months, of finding Sasuke in the snow, teaching him to read, talking with him, training with him…of him saving her from Amon. If he had wanted to get rid of her, it could have been done easily enough tons of times by now, with no one being the wiser.
Then there was the black fire. It as supposed to burn for days, but disappeared before Sasuke had also vanished. Korra knew how to quell flames with Firebending, so it stood to reason that Sasuke could too.
If he had left the black fire going, Republic City would had been gone inside a week.
But on the other hand…
He watched me for days, Korra told herself.
He knew her every move, and could now counter every single one of her techniques with nothing more than his hands and feet. What if it was all just some elaborate trick for some devious plan?
He always kept her at arms length after coming to Republic City, despite the fact they could communicate freely. And then there had been that feeling in Tarrlok's home, when he and Amon had spoken to one another. For a moment, the young man had felt just as bad as Amon.
She moaned in despair. What am I supposed to do? Korra asked herself. SOMEBODY PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO!
"Hey, you don't have to yell."
After letting out a sign, Korra stood up and brushed the new fallen snow off her coat. "Not now Tenzin," she told the man standing behind her, having glimpsed the air bender robes out of he corner of her eye. "I want to be alone."
"But, you were the one calling for help, remember?"
Korra looked up, and her eyes widened. The man in front of her was wearing air bender robes, and there was some resemblance, but it was most definitely not Tenzin. "Aang?" she realized.
The spirit of the last Avatar smiled at her, and bowed his head in greeting. "Hello Korra."
"But…you…how did I? I've never been able to talk to you before…and there've been plenty of times when I needed to, believe me!"
Aang seemed to chuckle at her confusion. "Well, I'll agree with you there But…this is the first time you've reached out for help with all your heart," he explained. "And I gotta say it's about time, you have no idea how much of a headache it is to send you those visions into that thick skull of yours!"
The expression on Aang's face and his whiney tone made Korra giggle. "Uh…sorry?" She got herself under control, and became a bit more serious. "But, I get it now. You were trying to warn me about…" She couldn't finish the sentence.
Hesitation crossed Aang's face for a moment, then he looked away from her. "Well…warn is a little strong. I'd say inform…maybe prepare would be better."
Korra steeled herself what she knew was coming. "So start informing."
Still iffy, Aang looked her over. "Are you sure you want to know? I can promise, it's not going to be good news."
"Counting you and every other Avatar in the cycle, we have had three run-ins with people who bear the name Uchiha," he began.
-Chapter End-
Author's notes: And that's that… the chapter turned out to be much, MUCH longer than I expected to get from one point to the other, and I will admit to making some minor plot changes here and there once LoK ended. Next chapter be the last of the Sasuke book…and maybe a short epilogue, and then we'll begin part 2.
And before you all ask if Avatar version Korra can heal Bolin…you'll just have to wait and see…
And this sentence is to try and put the word count at twenty two thousand, two hundred, twenty two
