We're approaching our endgame.

NINE

Korra remained held excruciatingly uncomfortably on the floor, her muscles screaming at her. Tarrlok was growing visibly impatient. "Make a decision," he repeated, sounding increasingly irritable. "I don't want to have to push you any further, Korra, but if you don't accept my offer then you're going to have to… be removed, shall we say—" He stopped. She remained frozen, trying to make a very important decision very quickly, all too aware of the threats. "You—" he began, frustrated, abruptly cut off as he heard the sound of footsteps coming softly down the corridor. He cursed quietly, and released her very suddenly. She fell to the floor with an impact that she knew would be bruising, and hoped desperately that it was Asami coming down the corridor.

Truthfully, she knew it wasn't. That sinisterly soft tread couldn't be Asami.

Tarrlok looked around like an animal looking to flee. After a moment of visible resolution, he smoothed down his clothing fussily and stood up very proudly, putting on his councilman façade. There was no time for either of them to run now, however incriminating and strange this looked.

Amon came to stand in the open doorway, resting a powerful hand on the frame. Korra's mouth went dry at the sight of him, and she pulled herself to sitting from her place on the ground, and very nervously waited for what he would say. This had all just got doubly awful.

"Well," he said, cool and controlled. "This is odd company." Korra swallowed, knowing that calm exterior masked boiling anger, fury that would be taken out on her later. She didn't move to say anything, and Tarrlok stirred to fill in the silence.

"Great leader," he said, making a deep bow. "I hope you don't mind that Korra and I were having a little chat." She choked back hysterical laughter. Were they going to pretend to be polite to each other? Oh, this was going to painfully full of tension, this was ridiculous and unbearable.

"Why was my wife on the floor?" Amon asked, still cool. His tone was almost possessive, of all the things, and Korra scowled before managing to school her expression into something neutral. His wife. As if. But of course Amon was possessive. It must have looked strange, though, her being on the floor… but she wasn't his wife, not in any way that counted, and that was that.

Tarrlok must have been thinking fast, because his reply was smooth and quick. "Korra was getting up to talk, of course, but she seemed a little weak—she fell." The bastard knew that she was supposed to be in isolation without food. He knew a bit too much. "I was going to help her up, but I heard you coming, and I didn't want the situation to be, ah, misconstrued. I hope you understand." His voice dripped with overdone courtesy. "But if I might ask, she is your wife, what is Avatar Korra doing all alone in a cell?" The stony, angry silence that greeted this served as a tip that he'd gone too far. Tarrlok bowed again. "No, never mind, it's none of my business, I'm sorry for asking. Should I leave you two alone for now?"

"The ex would be best," Amon said icily. As Tarrlok passed him in the doorframe, he turned just as there were inches between them. "Tell anyone and you know that there will be dire consequences. Is that clear?"

The other man nodded. "It's clear." He hurried off as fast as he could without actively scurrying, and disappeared from view. Korra remained sitting on the ground, waiting for the dam to burst. Her heart so fast it was drumming in her ears, and that horrible lack of breath had returned. Her chest hurt so much on top of it that it was all she could do to breathe.

"Get up." The words were absolutely poisonous. Korra got to her feet, stumbling theatrically, remembering that she was meant to be starved. Her hands dug into the slat that served as her bed, and she levered herself up, keeping a hand curled against the wall. She was as far away from him as she could get. "Would you care to explain? No feeble excuses, I won't believe them for a second."

"Councilman—um, ex-councilman Tarrlok came to see me," she said quietly. She was no good at lying. She'd have to stick to the truth as far as possible, but if she took Tarrlok down now he'd take her down with him. He'd actively promised to. "He threatened me. I was trying to tell him to back off, but he wasn't listening to me. He… pushed me down." I was afraid, she thought of adding, I was afraid of him because of you, when I've never ever been afraid of him before and now suddenly he comes within a metre and I'm panicking because he could push me down and he could have done what you do. I was scared and it's all your fault.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Amon murmured, moving in closer. She instinctively tried to move away, but the wall stopped her. There was nowhere to go. "What were you doing all alone with him?"

He doesn't—? "You don't think that—?" she blurted out, before she clapped her hands over her mouth. Don't say anything without thinking it through, idiot. "I—no—I'd never—" With Tarrlok, she thought, stifling the urge to cackle. The exact thing that I was so scared of the whole time. She was so tired. She was so, so tired of these games and this power play… all this.

He moved in and slammed her against the wall so hard her head connected and cracked audibly. She managed to stifle the cry of pain, much to her satisfaction, and refused to look at him. Now that he was here, the urge to burn him or bury him was overwhelming. He couldn't know, not yet, or everything would be ruined… But knowing that she could push him off now, that this didn't have to happen was a siren song that it pained her physically to stop up her ears to.

"I don't believe you," he said, angry. "I thought I could leave you here to come to your senses, and I come back to find you on the floor with… him. What does that say about trust, Korra?" She wanted everybody to stop using her name. It was dirty in their mouths.

"Nothing happened," she said dully, not sure if she'd only make him angrier by protesting. "I was… scared. I didn't want him here."

"You were frightened of a common bully like that," he said contemptuously. Yes, she thought. I'm going to be frightened of common bullies like that forever now, because of you. He leaned in too close to her face, his breath coming through the mask down onto her cheek. Both of them, intimidating her using the same tactics. She hadn't been aware of things like this, not really, until she'd become powerless. "Ask and you can return to my rooms." How was she supposed to answer that? She had much more freedom in this cell; Asami could visit, she could sneak out, but after this he'd probably post guards, which he would be unlikely to at his own rooms… Which was the better option to retain her newly found, precious, precious stab at autonomy? When she didn't answer, he actually hissed. His hands went around her throat and then she found her voice, struggling to speak through the crushing grip, panicking.

"I won't have you cavorting with other men," he said, cool again on the surface despite that hold on her windpipe. "You want to stay here, do you? Want to stay here so your friend can come visit again?" In a moment of dizzied panic, her mind leapt to Asami and her expression registered genuine worry. He took that as proof, leaning in all the remaining space until the hooked nose of his mask touched her forehead. He wasn't letting go of her throat. Desperately, she kicked at his legs. It was pathetically feeble. He didn't move at all. Korra choked, sure that this time he was really going to kill her. She was really going to die here, alone, because of Tarrlok.

Blessedly, one hand left her throat, and she breathed in glorious air urgently just in case he decided to strangle her again. "You make everything… difficult," he muttered, breath on the bridge of her nose. She blinked, trying to stay as still as possible. "I don't require you to be a dull, docile mouse, Korra, but if you keep testing my patience then eventually I am going to snap." She swallowed in a throat as dry as the desert. The snapping had yet to come? Perhaps they should advance their plan somewhat further if he was threatening to snap.

His hand slid smoothly up her tattered shirt. "No," she said quietly. "No," she said louder, wavering between making the decision to fight now or to keep her bending a secret—the plan would all go to hell if she revealed it now, but if she didn't—if she didn't—it would happen all over again—

"Shush," he whispered, and she let go.

Endure. Endure.

Asami found her on the floor. On the damned floor. She rushed over, but Korra rose by herself, burning with anger. Angry that this time she could have stopped it, but she knew that she couldn't. She was tired of being powerless and afraid... so tired. She would bury the fear under anger.

"Do we have a date?" she asked. Asami nodded, still looking worried.

"Korra—" she began, clearly worried. Korra cut her off.

"When is it?"

"They said two weeks. It would have been longer, but the Dai Li are already in the city; they were smuggled in over a period of time, I don't know how much you know, but the city is in lockdown, there are severe restrictions on who's allowed in and out. They're all here, and there are so many of them." Asami took her hand and guided her over to the slat. The gentleness was rubbing Korra raw, but she didn't ever want to let go of that hand. "They've already begun work—organising districts, specific places for uprisings, training the Dai Li to face the mecha, the Dai Li training earthbenders more traditional forms—Korra, it's all amazing. And you're right at the centre of it. You are so important, Korra," she said, heartfelt. "I know hope is difficult right now, when he's—when—but the city loves you. I care about you. Everyone cares about you." The kindness was going to make her cry, and Korra couldn't cry right now. The end was just, distantly in sight, and she couldn't afford to break down now.

"We have a problem," she said shortly, and she filled Asami in on Tarrlok. "We need him out of the way… maybe have him disappear somehow…" She looked up to see Asami's expression carefully blank with just a hint of horror. "Not in a dead way," she added hastily, "in a really just disappearing way. He's dangerous wandering around ruining our plans, but… no, maybe that's not the best idea. He might get violent if we try to make him disappear. Asami, he can bloodbend. That's serious, and it means he'll be difficult to take down. If he approaches you accept his offer. Try and put him off. Tell him information that isn't important and say that we're not ready yet; the plans are still getting made. And be careful with his bloodbending—he doesn't need a full moon."

"Sounds like a piece of work," Asami muttered, running her fingers through her hair. "I never met him, but I heard about him from my dad. I thought he was working for the good of the city…" She sighed. "Then again, I thought the same thing about my dad, so…"

Korra patted Asami's hand awkwardly. "Your dad isn't your fault."

"I know," she said wryly, "it just seems—how you can be so wrong about someone you've known your whole life… it's just a bit hard." Then she jumped up a little, and turned to Korra. "Not that it's that hard, I didn't mean to make it sound like my situation is worse than yours because I know it isn't, I'm sorry, I didn't think—"

"It's okay," Korra interrupted, still not prepared to talk about it. "What other plans have we made?"

"The prison break is going to be five days before the main attack, so that there's enough to hide the people, get them where they can't be found, enough time that they will have stopped expecting an after-attack. There's a special group working on it, it's pretty complex and the higher-ups have made it so that nobody knows everything, in case people are caught. I supervise, sort of, I know none of the details." She paused, looking down. "I don't mean to keep bringing this up, but this is important in relevance to the counter-revolution… Korra, I'm worried about what Amon will do to you once he learns about the prison break. We mean to break out everyone in this complex, everyone in City Hall, everyone in the police jails. It's going to be a massive blow to the Equalists. The commanders of the underground thought that you'd be able to handle yourself, but they haven't seen you, they haven't seen how he treats you and what he does to you. Korra," she said, after a long pause, "I'm worried for you. I don't want you to just be strong about this because of the city. If you need a business reason besides your own well-being, which is the most important, you're the Avatar and this city can't afford to lose you.

"Korra, there are bruises on your neck. Has he tried to… kill you? If he has, that time frame of five days is unacceptable, because it gives him so much time to hurt you. Maybe to kill you."

"I'll be all right," Korra said huskily, refusing to look at her.

"That sounds like being strong to me." Asami put her arms around Korra. "I mean it when I say that I care about you, Korra. I don't want anyone to die in this rebellion, but I don't want you getting hurt any more than you already have been."

Korra opened her mouth and closed it, trying to find the words. She repeated the process several times, and then made a frustrated noise, scratching at her face absent-mindedly. "Sometimes," she began haltingly, "I think—it might be better if I died. I'd be… a martyr, like he said when I challenged him to a duel, and I… I wouldn't have to… any more. But I want to live. I want to live so bad. But I don't know what kind of life I… can have after this."

"I can't imagine how hard this is for you, Korra," Asami said, furious grief in every line of her body, "but if you're worried about what comes after this, I will always be here for you. Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, Lin, Pema, the kids, everyone, we love you."

"But... I'm dirty," Korra said, her voice tiny and afraid. Asami had to crane in to hear. Angrily, helplessly, she began to tear up, wanting to hold Korra until everything washed away, as if it was that simple.

"You're not dirty," she said. "We love you. We'll always love you. Amon hasn't made you dirty. You're still our Korra regardless of how much you've changed. Whatever that man's done to you, you'll survive and heal and have a life still. Nobody will pressure you or hurt you or make you do things you don't want to do. You don't need to be strong for us, because you're you, and that's enough. You are not, you will never be dirty because of that man."

"Asami," Korra said, and her voice broke altogether from the effort of not crying. "I— thanks, I… needed that. I think… honestly… that if they need five days they should have five days. He won't kill me, and bruises—they heal."

"It's not just bruises, though," Asami said.

"No… it's not… but if I know that the rebellion's just around the corner I think I can do. It's nothing that's happened before, I can deal with it. I'd rather… endure a couple of times than have the rebellion fail because of me. After all, if it fails then I'm stuck forever anyway. Five days is fine." She cracked a weak smile. "It all seems so close now anyway, what's five more days?"

She sat up straighter and gave Asami's hand another squeeze. "I can do five more days. The rebellion's coming, and I need to be ready."

"The rebellion's coming," Asami echoed. "And we'll be free…"