A/N: This'll be the last update for awhile yet, but this is NOT the end, more details at the end of the chapter.
"The time has come, ready the zeppelins!" Ordered Iroh, as the final preparations were made.
"I've devised a plan to destroy the base, but we have to act quickly, and we're operating at zero hour, that is, we can't make any mistakes, the last broadcast indicated the attack will be launched in a few hours, so we have to keep them from launching it by then." Explained Asami, who was carrying a first aid box into one of the airships with Korra's help.
"Thank you for that, Miss Sato." Said Iroh.
"Remember, The Avatar and I will attack Amon directly, the rest of the force should focus on defeating Amon's soldiers, and then go for the man himself if you can." Instructed Asami.
"Don't forget, if you're a bender, fight Amon from a distance; he can't de-bend you unless you're in close." Reminded Korra.
"Is there anything else either of you would like to say?" Asked Iroh, taking the microphone from Korra.
"No, thank you." Korra and Asami agreed.
"Good, let's move out." Declared Iroh. Entering one of the airships.
"Ready Korra?" Asked Asami as the UF Zeppelin touched down just of the sights of the Equalist base. "As ready as I'll ever be..." Muttered Korra. Normally, she loved to fight, Amon was different though... Just the thought, the power to take away bending like that. It spoke to a very primal and very scared part of her psyche.
"If you're nervous, here's a little something for you, a courage boost." Responded Asami, before kissing Korra's cheek softly and proceeding to whisper words of reassurance into Korra's ear. "I believe in you, and together, we can beat Amon."
"I promise to win this for us!" Assured Korra, the confidence in her voice restored.
"Alright, to recount our plan: The first wave comes in, and distract the Equalist troops with long range attacks, while another force attacks from the air; they're in the ships overhead. Then another wave comes in and launch a second wave of attack, and hopefully overwhelms the Equalist forces on account of them being distracted. Finally, if you're an earthbender, work on making the ground uneven." Explained Asami. "Iroh's readying the air team, and Korra and I will be leading the ground team."
"Now, perhaps you two can prove yourselves useful." Sighed Lin, as she led Mako and Bolin, out from the camp, with several UF troops behind them. "United Forces Commander Bumi and his division will join us in the city, from there, we'll get a more coherent assignment."
"Hell yeah! I can't wait to see some real action!" Shouted Bolin.
"Don't get cocky, this is dangerous, we could get killed out there." Reprimanded Mako.
"But the spectacle! Just imagine Shiro Shinobi calling us 'The Battle-Tested, Victorious Fire Ferrets!'" Argued Bolin.
"We can worry about next season when we're done fighting for our lives, I'm sure this commander we're meeting will agree on that much." Sighed Mako.
"These are the two I discussed, they, as well as myself, know more about Tarrlok's methods than anyone else of whom I am aware, excepting, of course, Tarrlok himself and those loyal to him." Explained Lin.
"That's great! Looking forward to smacking these bastards around! More for my war stories!" Laughed Bumi.
"Awesome! Let's do something badass!" Agreed Bolin.
"I love your attitude son!" Shouted Bumi.
"Suck it Mako!" Laughed Bolin. "Did you not say something like 'this commander will agree with me'?"
"Well, whatever optimism I had is now thoroughly gone." Sighed Mako.
"Don't be so sure, Bumi may seem... carefree, but he's 100% ready to take Tarrlok on; he's one of the United Forces' best, don't ever forget that. Assured Lin. "In fact, he isn't far behind either of his siblings, Tenzin and Kya.
"You're Tenzin's brother!?" Shouted Bolin, in shock.
"Yeah, guess who got dad's looks!" Said Bumi, striking a cheesy pose.
"Speaking of Tenzin, we're probably looking at an invasion of Air Temple Island, seeing as it's the only area of Republic City not currently under Tarrlok's control." Noted Lin, desperate to establish some coherent thought in the chaos.
"Oh, right, I'll radio my little brother ASAP!" Agreed Bumi, as he picked up his receiver and searched for the appropriate signal.
"There's too many!" Cried an Equalist footsoldier, as the second wave of UF soldiers descended upon the battlefield, finally breaking the Equalist formation, and the aerial stones, blades of water, and flames began to become overwhelming. The earth beneath them cracked, and formed sharp crags, spearing some, and disrupting the balance of the rest, who quickly fell victim to stone, fire, ice, or swords.
"Alright, we have our chance." Noted Asami, as she and Korra bolted for the hangar, with two or three Equalist troopers on their tail, hoping to stop them.
"Nice try." Groaned Korra, as she effortlessly pushed them back with a solid wall of earth, allowing Korra and Asami to go after Amon himself.
"Lord Amon is not going to lose to either of you, and I'll make damn sure of this!" Declared The Lieutenant.
"I'll take this one, you go on Korra." Promised Asami.
Korra ran up the staircase near the entrance to the base, hoping to find Amon, while simultaneously entertaining the thought in the back of her mind that The Equalist Leader had already left. Made his escape. Something like that. Of course, Korra's luck was never that good.
"I see The Avatar has finally come to confront her natural enemy in his element. Pity, I was looking forward to end the Avatar's era, before the cameras of all the Republic City Papers, but this is certainly an adequate venue for your defeat.
"Big talk, put your money where your mouth is!" Shouted Korra, thoroughly fed up with Amon, and shooting fire from her fist, which veered several inches off target at the last second. "What the hell?" Korra responded with a block of stone fired at the masked man, but just as she was about to let it fly, she was pinned against the ground, unable to move as the block fell in front of her.
"B-bloodbender!?" Gasped Korra.
"Indeed, would you like my story recounted?" Laughed Amon, as he walked toward Korra, prepared to remove her bending.
"Well, that's the last of it, not even an army of badgermoles could break that!" Declared Bumi, proudly, as he sat back to admire the work he and his squadron had done. The fortification they'd built on the bridge to Air Temple Island was indeed a sight to behold, its steel spires and wooden ramparts would certainly serve their purpose and keep the island safe, and if Tarrlok made it through, the forces stationed there could hold him off, at least long enough to get the airbenders to safety.
"You should know that an entire police force worth of metalbenders are at Tarrlok's disposal, and I can say with certainty they'll not only be able to break through the wall, but use it as a weapon." Sighed Lin.
"Not to mention the firebenders will burn the scaffolding." Agreed Mako.
"Well then, you two can keep it under control right?" Asked Bumi, grasping at straws.
"Yes..." The two groaned in unison.
"Great! Then hop to it, look, they're coming!" Declared Bumi. Sure enough, Tarrlok's forces had begun to come across the bridge, with the man himself leading the charge.
"Take this!" Shouted Lin, as she used Bumi's wall as ammo, raining the metal scraps across the field of soldiers, made of a ragtag group of metalbenders, standard police, and bending triads. The scraps collided with the enemy lines, and ripped through several bodies; it seemed the average metalbender couldn't counter the sheer chi emanating from the former chief of metalbenders. "My spirits." Sighed Lin. "Those were good men, but what else could I do?" Lin thought, as she continued on her assault, now joined by Mako, Bolin, and UF troopers.
"Well, this certainly has been fun, but the time has come to end this pathetic display." Sighed Tarrlok, as he calmly walked up to the United Forces frontlines, countering any attack with quick blasts of water, bloodbending the UF soldiers out of the way, and using his powers to take control of Mako and Lin. "Now, let's see how you fare with two of your best now working for me!" Tarrlok laughed, as Bolin and Bumi got into position to fight Tarrlok's now-puppets.
"Miss Sato, you are a disgrace!" Shouted The Lieutenant, jumping into the air and bringing his baton down, aiming for Asami's head.
Asami ducked him, and punched him hard with her shock glove. "You don't understand! Our economy, our industry, our cultural identity. Bending has its share of all of those things; we can't just get rid of it, and even then, sooner or later, enough benders will be born that the same problems will arise; you can't catch all of them." Asami protested, as her opponent got back up, injured, but still very much in the fight.
"Just die!" He shouted, running at Asami with the baton outstretched, but not nearly quick enough. Asami sidestepped him easily, and kneed his side hard. The Lieutenant fell unconscious to the ground.
"Now to help Korra." Sighed Asami, as she ran up the staircase.
"Now, the end has come for you. It was a valiant effort, but the fact of the matter is, your time is over, now all shall hail Amon!" Amon declared as he lowered his thumb, prepared to debend the essentially immobile Korra.
"Never!" Shouted Asami, as she shocked Amon in the back with a sharp jab from her gloved hand.
"Asami, he's a bloodbender!" Warned Korra, as Amon stood back up, and took hold of Asami with his bending powers.
"I suppose you can die first, The Avatar will be little concern alone..." Amon mused, as he tightened his grip on the former heiress, slowly choking her.
"Asami!" Korra shouted as she shot a blast of fire at Amon, which the latter avoided by forcing Korra's arm to the side.
"I can very well control two people at once, thank you very much." Sighed Amon, annoyed at Korra's attempt.
Korra couldn't move; she simply couldn't think of anything to do, all that clicked was that the girl who had stolen her heart was being choked to death by her mortal enemy, and before she knew what she was doing, found herself using the motions Tenzin taught her, and managed to, while Amon was distracted, hit him with a strong blast of air. "I-I unlocked airbending?" Korra wondered aloud, barely noticing Amon's counterattack until she fell to the ground once again, and Amon ran at her, ready to finish what he'd started.
"Not on my watch!" Ordered Asami, as she clocked Amon in the head with an electrified fist, sengin him to the ground, and forcing his mask off.
Korra drew water from the air and forced it around Amon, shackling him, and the Equalist Leader simply stared at her, giving Korra her first good look at her nemesis' face; he seemed very similar to Tarrlok.
Metal broke Bolin's boisterous stone barrier as Tarrlok forced Lin's arms. Bolin himself was struck once again, and against Mako, Bumi fared little better.
"You were truly fools." Muttered Tarrlok. "A bloodbender is certainly nothing to be trifled with."
"How do we get to him?" Moaned Bolin, narrowly avoiding another steel cable.
"I don't know! I didn't think he was that strong!" Protested Bumi.
Bolin started to say something, but was promptly floored by another cable.
"Just great! Now I have to take care of them alone!" Sighed Bumi, as he rushed in with his sword, hoping for purchase, but instead being struck by a blast of lightning thanks to Mako.
"This island is everything the once-proud Air Nation has left! You will not take it." Shouted Tenzin, who flew in on a glider, angrier than anyone had ever seen him. Tenzin launched a blast of air at the councilman, who staggered, but retained control of Lin and Mako, who launched a volley of their respective elements at Tenzin.
"It is a pity, such a man must die today, but there is no other option." Sighed Tarrlok, as Bumi rushed him with his sword again, only to be once again electrocuted.
Bolin got onto his hands and knees, taking advantage of Tarrlok's preoccupation with the two sons of Avatar Aang, and began to formulate a plan. It was simple enough, just throw Tarrlok with a quick earth wall, and go from there. He got to work, but just before the earth was to rise, he heard a shout in the distance, and while it didn't stop him, instead of raising a panel of earth, the yard's stone floor... melted?
"Wha-" Managed Tarrlok, before falling into the lava, and burning up.
"What was that?" Asked Lin, bewildered at what she'd just seen.
"I'm not really sure." Said Bolin.
"For services to the free world, all four of you will be honored with The United Republic's highest honor, the fourfold cross." Explained President Raiko, at the victory ceremony as he gave four medals, with green, red, blue, and white sections divided by two silver lines across the center and extending to the edge of the metal. "In addition, you are all granted the honorary rank of major in the United Forces, and may be given a division to come to your aid upon request. The thanks we owe you is immeasurable. With Tarrlok dead, and Amon, or rather Noatak in our custody, our great nightmare concludes."
After the ceremony, Asami decided it was high time she and Korra have a proper date, and so she took The Avatar to an opulent restaurant that had been a favorite of hers when she was younger.
"I still can't believe Amon and Tarrlok were brothers, and what happened to them is sad really, that'd drive anyone to that." Said Asami.
"I don't know..." Muttered Korra, from the adjacent seat, seemingly trying to say more, but deciding against it.
"What's got you so scared, Korra?" Asked Asami. She'd noticed an uneasiness in Korra's demeanor, and especially in her voice since Amon went down. "You don't regret breaking up with Mako, do you?" She teased.
"No! I worry... I'm worried I'll let you down, that I'll be a bad girlfriend; I don't understand this stuff, and I like you so much. I'm afraid I'll screw up." Korra sighed, downcast.
"Korra, let me tell you something. You've done more for me than I ever could have asked for. Thanks to you, Future Industries still has a chance. Thanks to you, I don't have to live in fear. Thanks to you, my future is bright. You're already the best girlfriend I could ask for, you don't have to worry." She promised.
Korra smiled. "That's so sweet..." She returned, pulling Asami in for a kiss, which lasted a fair bit of time (both of them lost count). "I love you." Korra confessed after the kiss.
"I love you too." Asami said with a smile.
A/N: The other seasons will be done as well... Eventually, and I should say that, to avoid confusion, all scenes that end up in the context of the AU more or less the same as canon will be omitted (Not all that many though), and the rest, well, you'll just have to wait and see. See you all once Book 4 has concluded and I get some of my running OC stories done, and as always, until next time!
