Chapter 5 – The Revelation Part 2
Mako, Korra and Thor walked towards the Equalist supporter who was speaking loudly through his megaphone. "Hey you!" Korra yelled as they approached him.
"Its you again!" The Equalist supporter yelled once he spotted Korra. "You cannot silence me Avatar!"
Korra was not in the mood to play around, she slapped the guy's hand rapidly making him drop the megaphone into the ground.
"Shut your yappering and listen up. My friend got captured by some chi-blockers where did they take him?!" She asked with a irritated tone.
"She's rough." Thor whispered to Mako. "I like it."
"You sure you're a prince?" Mako responded.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The Equalist sympathizer replied as he backed off. Korra knew he was hiding something.
"Oh I think you do!" Korra said as she earthbended the ground making a pillar of earth to pop up from beneath the man's stand. Making him fall on the ground quite forcefully...dozens of flyers began to fall from the sky as the stand he stood on fell broken on the ground.
Mako grabbed one of the falling fliers. "Witness the Revelation tonight none o' clock."
"Hey I've seen one of those." Thor told his friend.
"What's this revelation?" Mako asked the sympathizer as he collected his papers together.
"Nothing that concerns the likes of you two." After saying that the man was grabbed by the collar by Korra.
"You better believe it concerns us." She spat out in anger. Thor smirked at her direct approach to interrogations. "Spill it."
"No one knows what the revelation is and I have no idea what happened to your friend. But if he's a bender then my bet is that he is getting what he deserves!" He answered.
"Where is it happening?" Mako added. But then the whistle of a park guard was heard.
"Hey what's going on over there!?" The park guard asked.
"The Avatar is oppressing us! Help!" The sympathizer yelled.
"Let's scram!" Korra yelled as she dropped the man on the ground and ran towards Naga being quickly followed by Mako and Thor, the former grabbing several of the fliers before leaving.
After some running, they stopped by a bus stop and relaxed a bit before continuing with the search. Korra looked at the flier twice, front and back.
"Why didn't they put a location in these?" Korra asked as she looked confusedly at the piece of paper.
"Its probable for secretive reasons." Thor replied. "Whatever they are planning it doesn't sound good."
"Hey look at the backs." Mako said as he flipped them. "There are four different images."
"Like a puzzle?" Korra asked. Thor then took out his flier, the one that he had been given days ago, on his there was a golden star on one of the squares.
"More like a map." Thor said as he placed his piece with the rest, making a map of downtown Republic City. He then grabbed the four pieces of the map and placed them over the bus stop's map of the Republic City and looked where it fit. "Here."
"That must be where its going down." Mako said as he pointed towards the star. The trio looked at each other.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Korra asked with a sly smile on her face.
Night fell once more, three people walked out of a alleyway and into an empty street. "This is the place." Mako said as he looked at several people showing the flier to enter the building, a guard stood in the entrance receiving them. "I'll go around and look for an entrance, you two must find a way to enter."
"Got it." Thor and Korra replied in unison. Mako nodded and walked back into the alley.
"So any ideas in how to get in?" Korra asked the young prince as he looked for something inside the bag he found on the way there.
"Hmm...here put these on." Thor said as he gave Korra a jacket, a blue scarf and a hat.
"What are these for?" She asked.
"Disguises."
They walked towards the guard and the entrance, Thor knew that his plan would work but he had never actually done this type of thing before. Usually he relied on his fists to open the way for him. Then he felt someone pull his arm around and hug the left side of his chest.
He turned to see..."We'll draw less attention this way." It was Korra, she had pulled his arm over her shoulders on purpose. Suddenly the mighty son of Odin began to feel his heart beat faster, his forehead sweaty and his face extremely hot.
"Yeah...uhh...of course." The nervous prince responded as they reached the entrance of the building. The tall and muscled front man looked at them.
"No one gets in without an invitation." The front man said.
"Uh...invitation?" Korra said as she looked at Thor worryingly.
"You're talking about this?" Thor asked as he took out one of the fliers out of his pocket and showed it to the front man. He smiled as he took the flier off his hand and stepped aside from the entrance.
"The revelation is upon us my brother and sister." He said as he invited them in. The duo walked inside, Thor sighed in relief. Once they reached the end of the corridor they were met with an enormous warehouse-like room, dozens of people stood inside waiting for the big revelation.
"Wow...those are a lot of bender haters." Thor said as he gaze upon the crowd. "We have to look sharp for Bolin."
"What about Mako?" Korra asked, this made Thor stopped on his tracks a little to suddenly.
"He will have to get in on his own like he said. We have to look for Bolin." He responded quite coldly, surprising Korra but she nodded anyway and followed the golden-haired prince. As they moved into the crowd, Thor grabbed Korra's hand so she wouldn't get lost in the multitude.
They made it to the front, with only two rows behind the theatrical stand on the front. The lights were turned and the voice of an announcer was heard. "Please welcome your hero, your savior...Amon!"
Amon, the Equalist leader himself and his chi-blocking henchmen appeared, coming out of the stand. The masked man was intimidating, the eyes behind the mask only adding to the aggressiveness of his appearance.
Korra felt a little scared once she sat eyes on the Equalist leader, something in him was not human at all. The people around Korra and Thor cheered as Amon walked towards the microphone. It was disappointing...
"My quest for equality began many years ago, when I was a boy my family and I lived on a small farm. We weren't rich and none of us were benders." Amon's voice boomed across the theater making everyone in it quiet. "This made us very easy targets for the firebender who extorted my father. One day my father confronted this man, but when he did...that firebender took my family from me. Then...he took my face."
The crowed booed as they heard how tyrannical and evil the bender in Amon's story was. "I've been forced to hide behind a mask ever since. As you know, the Avatar has recently arrived on Republic City..."
Before Amon could finish his sentence the crowd exploded with disgust at the mere mention of the word Avatar. Korra hid her face behind her scarf out of the complete disapproval from the people around her, Thor on the other hand grew quite furious. "...if she were here, she would tell you that bending brings balance to the world...but she is wrong. The only thing bending has brought to the world is suffering, it has been the caused of every war in every era!"
Korra was not liking what she was hearing. "We have to stay calm until we find Bolin." Thor reminded her.
"But that is about to change. I know you have been wondering 'what is the revelation?' You are about to get your answer." Amon said. "Since the beginning of time. The Spirits have acted as guardians of our world and they have spoken to me...they say that the Avatar has failed humanity."
Korra was about to snap but she tried to not bend a giant fireball at Amon. "That is why the Spirits have chosen me to usher a new era of balance! They have granted me a power that will make equality a reality! The power to take a person's bending away...permanently."
The people in the crowd were taking by surprise but none more than Korra. "That's impossible...there's no way." She said with extreme confusion and surprise.
"I'm starting to not like this." Thor said as the crowd then cheered once more.
"Now for a demonstration." Amon then signaled the chi-blockers to bring out the prisoners. "Please welcome, Lightning Bolt Zolt, leader of the Triple Threat Triad and one of the most notorious criminals in Republic City."
The crowd began boo at the crime boss. "Aw boo yourself!" Zolt yelled back.
The other chi-blockers brought the other members of the triad out and forced them to seat on the floor next to Amon. There was Bolin among them.
"There's Bolin." Korra whispered to Thor.
"Hold on, we can't rush towards him they are too many too handle. We have to wait." Thor said as he stopped Korra from doing something extremely risky.
"We can't wait for too long. We have to do something." Korra responded.
"Zolt has amassed a fortune extorting and abusing non-benders but his reign of terror is about to come to an end! Now in the interest of fairness I will give Zolt the chance to fight for his bending." Amon said as he ordered his Lieutenant to release Zolt from his bindings.
"You're going to regret doing that pal!" Zolt yelled as he bended fire against Amon. The Equalist leader easily avoided the fireballs thrown at him. Zolt then resorted to bend lightning at the swift Amon but he then quickly ducked down from the electrical attack.
Amon appeared behind Zolt's guard and proceeded to twist his bending arm up and force him to kneel into the floor. Electricity flew into the air hitting the ceiling with force! Amon grabbed the back of Zolt's neck and then placed his thumb on the center of his forehead. Zolt then gasped, his lightning turning into fire and then his fire slowly dying off. Ending with Zolt falling on the floor...he tried to bend again but couldn't. "What...what did you do to me?" Zolt asked with a frightened voice.
"Your firebending is gone...forever." Amon proudly responded and the crowd exploded with cheer. Korra was now struck with fear...her eyes widened by what she had just seen. "The era of bending is over! A new era of equality has began!"
This was getting out of hand and fast. The Equalist were not a simple radical group any more...they had evolved into something completely different now. A chi-blocker then grabbed Shady Shin and pulled him towards Amon.
"We have to do it now." Korra whispered.
"Wait...Mako must be doing something." Thor said as he began to smell the scent of burning metal. He then turned to look at some nearby machines, with tubes coming out of it and spreading every where inside this warehouse turned theater.
Bolin was grabbed next and pulled towards Amon. "Uh...hello Amon sir...I think there has been a big misunderstanding." Bolin nervously said.
"Thor!" Korra yelled at the young prince while the people cheered loudly.
"Hold..." Thor replied. Amon walked towards Bolin, Korra looked at Thor as he waited...and then...
BOOOOOMM! The machine that Thor had pointed out before exploded! The people around them began to panic as hot steam was thrown into the stage. The steam acted as a fog and made everything harder to see.
Amon quickly retreated into the shadows, and his chi-blockers trying to look for the one responsible for this. Unluckily for them, someone punched one of the chi-blockers in the face, breaking the goggles on his mask.
The others were pushed away by two rocks and the one behind Bolin was knocked out by a fiery fist. "Mako!" Bolin yelled as he found his brother.
"Let's get out of here before back-up arrives!" Thor told them. Mako grabbed Bolin and ran towards where Thor and Korra stood. The group followed Mako to the back entrance, they quickly went down the ladder but where met with the Lieutenant.
"Going somewhere?" He asked.
"Yes, and you are on our way!" Thor responded as he took a fighting stance.
"You are not a bender are you? I can see it from the way you stand." The Lieutenant said as he too prepared for battle. "Such a shame you ally yourself with bending scum."
"And is a shame that you are outnumbered." Thor responded as Mako threw a lightning bolt at their opponent. The Lieutenant narrowly avoided the attack but was then met with a rock to the face. He landed on his back rubbing his head.
He was then imprisoned with earth. "Agh! Err..." He grunted.
"We just rocked you! Get it? Ha!" Bolin joked.
"Shut up Bolin, lets go!" Mako responded as Korra whistled and Naga showed up.
"We can't all fit on Naga!" Korra said as Naga could only carry three passengers at most. "Someone has to go at it on foot!"
"I will! Going to buy you enough time to get out of here!" Thor replied as he heard the nearing footsteps of several chi-blockers.
"Thor..." Korra said.
"Get moving, they are coming." Thor replied. "If I don't make it...its been an honor Korra."
Korra wanted to grab the young prince and pull him with her towards Naga but then realized that this was something he wanted to do. She could see it from the smile on his face as he waited for the Equalist to show up. "Korra!" Mako shouted as Bolin and him were already on Naga's back.
She ran towards them and climbed on Naga. Korra looked at Thor one last time before turning and leaving to safety.
Thor took a breath of air and sighed. He could see them coming, he readied his dagger and then looked at the incoming enemy wave. He ran and shouted...
"FOR ASGARD!"
Once back to the safety of Air Temple Island, Bolin was taken by Mako to the small clinic to tend to his wounds. Korra on the other hand stood on the pier looking at the city.
"I heard what happened to your friend." Tenzin said as he walked towards her.
"He just stood there...he knew that this was going to happen somehow." Korra replied as she thought about what Thor did. "Thor could have escaped but chose to stay there alone..."
"He has given us time and knowledge...Amon is more dangerous than we ever thought. No bender is safe..." Tenzin said. Korra then looked at the scarf he had given her.
"Why did you let him go? We had him." The Lieutenant said as he rubbed his chin.
"He knows the Avatar, he will deliver our message." Amon said as he joined his defeated chi-blockers. "The Revelation has been a major victory, benders will think twice before abusing of a non-bender ever again."
Thor walked alone in the dark streets of the city. He had a chi-blocked left arm, a fractured shoulder, two broken ribs and a bloodied nose. He had been out-numbered in more ways than one but his attackers fell back on the moment that seemed that he was going to succumb to their attacks.
He decided that a tactical-retreat was for the best and ran towards the alley. But his broken rib forced him to kneel on the dirty ground, he was struggling to breathe correctly. Thor then passed out from exhaustion and his wounds.
Then a dark red figure appeared over him, it picked up the unconscious Thor from the ground. Its red eyes looked at the young man who had been beaten by the Equalists, his brows deepened in anger. It felt what had occurred but didn't intervene...now it regrets haven't done so. It then carried the young Asgardian away to safety.