CHAPTER 23: THE BATTLE OF REPUBLIC CITY (PART 4)
(Disclaimer: I do not own A:LOK. I only own my OCs)
"Grandpa Zuko, can I ask you something?" The ruler of the Fire Nation turned his attention to the boy who would one day sit on his throne, though far from concerning himself with succession lines and the inheritance of power, Zuko preferred to think of him simply as his grandson, young little Iroh.
The two of them were in the gardens of the Royal Palace feeding bread crumbs to the Turtle Ducks at the pond, an activity that Zuko and his mother Ursa used to do, and that turned into somewhat of a tradition that he carried on with his Izumi (at least until she entered her adolescent years and feeding the Turtle Ducks became "childish" and "lame" all of a sudden). Now that he had delegated some of his duties to his daughter, Zuko finally had more time for himself, which he usually spent fulfilling his role as a granddaddy. He wasn't planning on abdicating just yet, for there were things Izumi still needed to learn about leading a nation and she also had a kid to take care of, though he had a sneaking suspicion that his daughter would take the reins sooner than he had anticipated.
"What is it, Iroh?"
"Why did the Hundred Year War happen? And why were we the ones who started it?"
Upon hearing the question, Zuko began to stroke his long beard, a habit he had developed over the years. Despite his wisdom and experience, he still hadn't quite perfected the art of answering the questions of his grandson. It wasn't that these questions, such as the one at hand, were extremely difficult to respond to, but doing so in an age-appropriate manner was often challenging. In this case, much of the difficulty relied on the fact that the Hundred Year War was the product of their ancestors' ambition, of their desire to take by force that which wasn't theirs to control or govern.
"Where is this question coming from?" Zuko asked back, making sure not to use a scolding or reprimanding tone of voice. His grandson had every right to receive an honest answer, and getting to the root cause of Iroh's curiosity might help Zuko give him just that.
"Mom is always talking about it," Iroh said as he began picking at his nose, an action that would've earned the boy a slight reprimand on behalf of his mother if she were there to see him, but that Zuko was able to ignore thanks to his softened grandpa heart. "She says the Fire Nation did lotsa' bad things in the war and that it's our duty to make up for them. Is that true?"
"Sadly, yes, and had it not been for the Avatar and all those who fought to put an end to the war, our nation would've kept doing bad things for a long, long time. That is why I spent most of my years as Fire Lord fixing the damage we caused to the world as well as the damage I caused myself,"
Upon hearing that, the young boy stopped picking at his nose and stared at his mother's father with innocence shining brightly in his eyes. Zuko wished such innocence could last forever, and even though he knew that couldn't be, it would at least last longer than his. Of that, he would make certain of. "The damage you caused? But you're a good person, Grandpa Zuko! You only do good things,"
"Thank you, my sweet boy. I do try to do good… though that hasn't always been the case,"
"Why? What do you mean?"
"When you're older, I might tell you about the foolish mistakes I made as a foolish young man. For now, just worry about feeding the Turtle Ducks. They still seem hungry to me,"
|The Burrow|
Iroh woke up from his semi-comatose state and found himself lying barefoot on a table wearing only his pants and his shirt, surrounded by strangers in an underground construction. The pain in one of his limbs had pushed him to regain consciousness, and the man who was taking care of him, a doctor by the name of Hetunut, informed him of his broken left arm and pointed at the splint wrapped around it. Before Iroh could ask the doctor about it, the memories of his last moments aboard his ship rushed back to him, changing his question to "Where are my men? What happened to our fleet?"
Hetunut, who had experience being the bearer of bad tidings thanks to his profession, delivered the terrible news to him: The 1st Division suffered an ambush at the hands of the Equalists, an ambush that left no survivors except him. His unconscious body had been found lying on a wooden plank that had acted as an impromptu raft, bringing him close enough to the shore. As fate would have it, the person who spotted Iroh, swam up to him and took him to firm land had been none other than Avatar Korra.
A few hours had passed since then, hours that Iroh spent all alone inside a spacious tent that Hetunut himself had set up in case his patients at The Burrow ever required special assistance. He was still there, sitting on an elevated stretcher by himself in quiet contemplation, aware of the events that had transpired, yet unable to grasp them all the same.
They were dead. His men were dead, killed by an enemy ploy he had failed to anticipate. The 1st Division of the United Forces was no more.
His lack of foresight and inability to turn the tides around in time cost over a hundred people their lives, and while their corpses were floating aimlessly below the Mo Ce Sea, their leader was still breathing, having faced no consequences for his colossal failure other than a broken bone. An entire division of the United Forces, the one under his command, had been exterminated, eradicated, wiped off the face of the planet, and yet the only man who survived was the man who should've been the first to fall.
Rather than being overwhelmed with sadness or riddled with guilt as he should be, Iroh was in a state of mental shock, too stunned to process his emotions properly. Somehow, his head was still on the battlefield, still focused on winning the battle against Amon in spite of the odds. He recalled the conversations he once had with a few old veterans from the Hundred Year War, some of whom admitted to having experienced a similar sensation over the course of their military campaign. According to them, there were times when tragedy would befall their unit in the middle of a battle, such as the death of a comrade or even several of them at once, and they couldn't remember feeling much of anything until long after the fact.
This involuntary disconnection from his emotions was probably the only thing keeping the firebender from giving into despair, allowing him to retain a semblance of a clear mind during this time of utter crisis. Seeing as his mission wasn't over yet, perhaps it was for the best, but the young general dreaded to think how he would cope with his feelings once the fighting was over, or if he would even be capable of coping at all.
"General Iroh, may we come in?" A male voice from outside his tent snapped Iroh out of his trance-like state. He voiced out his consent and watched as a small group of young adults entered his tent, their ages ranging from seventeen to twenty at the most. After a quick glance, he identified the Avatar and the son of Lin Beifong, having seen their faces several times before in newspaper pictures and intelligence reports. However, the other three who were with them, two guys and a girl, were total strangers to him. "Sorry for interrupting your rest. We wanted to see how you're doing,"
"… Been better,"
"I don't doubt it. Allow me to introduce ourselves. My name is Kenai Beifong, First Commissar of Republic City. These are Asami Sato, Bolin, Mako, and Avatar Korra. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, though I wish it could've been under better circumstances," the metalbender said, displaying a hint of insecurity towards the end. He could only imagine what the man in front of him was going through right now, and he didn't feel comfortable asking him about it as that was unfamiliar territory he didn't want to step into. Better to be safe than sorry. "We're here because we need your help in order to defeat Amon,"
Iroh stared at him in silence for a moment. "You want my help to defeat Amon?" he asked. Somehow, he managed to sound surprised and nonplussed at the same time, which threw the members of Team Avatar off.
"It's not like we're asking you to fight alongside us. You're wounded enough as it is," Asami clarified. "The thing is… Well, we don't really have a plan. The Equalists have gained the upper hand and we can't seem to catch them by surprise. With your experience as a general, I'm sure we can work out a strategy,"
"… Correct me if I'm wrong, but other than Avatar Korra and First Commissar Beifong here, you three are regular civilians," Iroh said, looking at Asami, Mako, and Bolin. "Why have you gotten involved in this war? Is it because you're benders?"
Bolin, who had remained silent up until now, was the first to respond. "Honestly, we're way past worrying about that. I mean, sure, Mako and I don't fancy getting our bending taken away. That would suck big time. But that's not the point. Civilians or not, this city is and always has been our home, and we gotta do our part to protect it from those who are turning it into a scary and dictatorial hellhole. Sitting on the sidelines at this stage of the game simply wouldn't feel right,"
Mako nodded approvingly, proud to see his younger brother displaying this much maturity. Despite growing up as an orphan in the stone-cold streets of Republic City, Bolin always had a somewhat childish attitude about him. That didn't mean he used to be disobedient, bratty, or even cowardly as a kid, and he certainly hadn't become any of those things over time; he was just infantile and naïve beyond his years. For all the trouble it had caused them thus far, getting flung into this chaotic mess had helped the earthbender cultivate his own seed of adulthood, one that was starting to germinate and sprout.
"As for myself, my motivation is a lot more… personal, you could say," Asami admitted, lowering her gaze in bitter shame. "My father Hiroshi is responsible for a lot of what's going on. He's the one who supplied the Equalists with their vehicles, weapons, and devices. It's thanks to him that Amon managed to seize control of this city with so little resistance. He must be stopped. My father too… Even if I have to do it myself,"
"So, what do you say? Do we have your support, General Iroh?" Korra asked.
"You most certainly do, Avatar Korra. In fact, I was ready to lend you guys my support the moment you walked into this tent, and had you refused my help, I would've forced it upon you anyway," Iroh replied as he abandoned his makeshift bed and got on his feet. "Having said that, we won't be able to accomplish much of anything as long as our allies remain unaware of what has happened. We need to get the word out, but the enemy has complete control of the city's communication system, and even if we somehow managed to send a message via radio, I'm fairly certain the Equalists would intercept it. As much as I hate to say this, our opponents' technology puts ours to shame,"
…
"… General Iroh, you mentioned how pointless establishing contact via radio would be since any message we send would most likely be intercepted," the metalbender said. "Is that the only means of communication the United Forces have?"
"Not quite. Radios are without a doubt the most efficient messaging devices in this day and age. Thanks to them, military operations have changed in almost every way you can think of. Nevertheless, they're not infallible and we know it, so it's not like we have completely disregarded other methods of communication," the grandson of Zuko clarified, mildly confused by how his response seemed to have ignited an ember of optimism in Kenai's eyes. "Maybe I'm expecting too much, but beyond mere curiosity, is there a reason you're asking me this?"
"I'm not making any promises, but I've learned a bit about the lives of some of the local folks, and one of them might just be the answer to our prayers. Wait here, let me see if I can fetch him…"
000
|One hour later|
"Alrighty, who's the recipient of this message, sir?" Gommu asked, surrounded by Team Avatar and General Iroh. In front of him, a telegraph sat on a wooden box, one of the very few objects that could be said to be of Gommu's personal property.
According to the vagabond, he had found it while going through a store's trash some time ago, which brought back memories of his old profession. Victim of nostalgia, Gommu took possession of the telegraph and kept it as cherished memorabilia, yet he never thought the day would come when he would be requested to ply his long-forgotten trade once again. The face Gommu made when Kenai had asked him if they could borrow his services was not that of a kid in a candy store, but that of a kid who had been given ownership of a candy store.
Kenai didn't want to comment on it as he was hardly an expert on the field of communication devices, but judging by how old and rudimentary the telegraph appeared to be, it easily looked like something straight out of the Hundred Year War, which did raise some level of concern in regards to its operability. Nevertheless, this was the best they had to work with, and if Gommu was confident he could get the thing to perform its function, then Kenai was willing to deposit his faith in him.
"Commander Bumi of the 2nd Division," General Iroh replied.
"Wait a second. Bumi? We're contacting Tenzin's brother?" a surprised Kenai asked, gaining Iroh's attention.
"You know him?"
"Uncle Tenzin introduced me to him when I was a kid. I don't remember much about Bumi, only that he was kinda weird and barely more mature than I was, but he was also fun to be around. This was a long time ago and I haven't seen him in ages, so I can't really say I know him. It's more like I know about him,"
General Iroh nodded, finding the metalbender's description of Bumi to be fairly accurate. "Commander Bumi has garnered himself quite a reputation over the years. He's known for being an unconventional man with a penchant for atypical tactics. Be that as it may, his bravery cannot be called into question and his track record speaks for itself. In a situation like this, his bold unpredictability is precisely what we need to disorient our enemy,"
Bolin wrinkled his nose in skepticism and curiosity. "It's a bit ironic though, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"Just the fact that this Bumi fella, who's the son and brother of two peace-preaching monks, enlisted in the United Forces and became a badass army commander," Bolin's statement was met with incredulous stares on behalf of the rest of Team Avatar, almost chastising him for making such a needless observation at a moment like this. Kenai, however, was more surprised than annoyed, for he had never thought about that despite being closer to Tenzin and his family than anyone else in the group. "Fine, I'm sorry. No more comments like that from now on," Bolin said before closing his mouth and pulling his fingers across his lips in a zipping motion.
"It's not like you're wrong, Bo, but let's not lose focus here," his brother responded, noticing how the lights inside the telegraph's tiny bulbs flickered weakly. "Gommu, are you sure this thing still works?"
"Fear not, O ye of little faith. I've taken good care of this lady ever since I found her. Granted, she's on her last legs, but she´ll get the job done just fine. Ain't that right, my sweet honey pie?" Gommu masterfully failed to notice the weird looks he was getting from everyone around him and proceeded to get ready, cracking his knuckles and rotating his wrists so that his hands would loosen up. "Now then, before we begin, I oughta warn you this telegraph is an older model with a limit of ten words per sentence. Whatever message you wanna send, be sure to keep it short n' sweet, sir,"
"That won't be an issue. Let's do this,"
…
Fleet ambushed and destroyed by Equalist aircraft
..-. .-.. . . - / .- - -... ..- ... ... . -.. / .- -. -.. / -.. . ... - .-. - -.- . -.. / -... -.- / . -.- ..- .- .-.. .. ... - / .- .. .-. -.-. .-. .- ..-. -
Retreat to Red Sand Island and wait for my signal
.-. . - .-. . .- - / - - / .-. . -.. / ... .- -. -.. / .. ... .-.. .- -. -.. / .- -. -.. / .- .- .. - / ..-. - .-. / - -.- / ... .. -. -. .- .-..
Do not approach city until you receive the all-clear
-.. - / -. - - / .- .-. .-. .-. - .- -.-. ... / -.-. .. - -.- / ..- -. - .. .-.. / -.- - ..- / .-. . -.-. . .. ...- . / - ... . / .- .-.. .-.. -...- -.-. .-.. . .- .-.
…
"Done and done, sir," Gommu said with a smile of profound satisfaction, lifting his finger off the telegraph's knob as he got up from his seat. "It'll probably take a while for this message to reach the 2nd Division, but I'm sure they'll receive it in time," Iroh nodded in understanding, and as a sign of acknowledgment and respect, he straightened his back and gave Gommu a military salute as if the former telegraph operator were his superior officer. Feeling like he was reliving his younger years, Gommu eagerly returned the gesture before leaving the tent, whistling the old anthem of the navy on his way out.
Iroh then reached for his inner pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded and refolded several times. Since one of his arms was injured, he handed it to Kenai. The metalbender undid the folds and carefully smoothed out the creases of the paper, revealing a small-scale map of Republic City depicted from an aerial view. After the ambush at the harbor, the map wasn't in the best of conditions as water had leaked into Iroh's pocket, damaging the corners of the paper and making some of its content look blurry, but fortunately, most of it remained legible.
"Even before the ambush, we were already expecting the Equalists to approach us from the sky," Iroh confessed. "However, those biplanes models they attacked us with turned out to be far more superior than we could've anticipated. We must destroy them before the 2nd Division gets here, or else they too might…" The young general failed to finish the sentence, though he hardly needed to as the fate his fleet suffered spoke for itself.
"… So what can we do to destroy those biplanes?" Asami asked in a tone of voice gentle enough to not come across as insensitive, but also firm enough to pull Iroh out of his emotional state of trance.
Iroh took a deep breath and exhaled, mustering enough inner fortitude to push back the flood of emotion that threatened to drown him, even if just momentarily. "We must deal with them the same way we would deal with a swarm of Scorpion Bees. You don't try to burn them one by one but set their hive on fire instead. In other words, we must go to the base of operations where the Equalists store their biplanes and lay waste to it, along with every vehicle we're likely to find. That way, we'll get rid of Amon's biplanes in one fell swoop, and the biplanes that aren't at the base won't be able to land there anymore once it's destroyed,"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Mako commented. "Where is this base at?"
"It's hidden in the mountains. Getting there won't be easy, so we're gonna need-"
"Now wait a minute," the earthbender said, making the 'time out' gesture with his hands. "I'm not trying to discourage the team or anything, but you're not giving us too much to work with by saying the base is hidden in the mountains. The mountains that surround the city are huge and it's snowy up there. Where would we start looking, anyway? Unless we have more concrete information, we'll either starve or freeze to death before we ever get there,"
Narrowing his eyes, Iroh placed his index finger in the center of the city and drew an imaginary line across the map, mumbling numbers and calculations as he did so. A few moments later, his finger was encircling a specific section of the mountain range outside of Republic City. "The base we're searching for should be somewhere around here. There's a path that happens to be close to these mountains. It'll help us a great deal, but at some point, we're gonna have to rely on our eyes and our intuition. There's no other alternative,"
The members of Team Avatar stared at him in confusion, all of them wondering the obvious. "That's like nine-tenths of the search area ruled out," Republic City's First Commissar noted. "How do you know that's where the base is?"
"Tarrlok," the young general answered, to which Kenai could only blink owlishly at him, unable to understand what did that man had to do with anything. "Before his crimes were brought to light, he was waging his own personal battle against Amon with his task force. As they investigated their enemy, his spies came across a secluded compound with an airfield in the mountains, which they later identified as an Equalist post. Instead of reporting this finding to the Police Department at once, they kept it under wraps, maybe as a way to avoid external interference while Tarrlok decided how he'd deal with it. All of this was discovered by Chief Saikhan and his men after they conducted a raid on Tarrlok's office and private domicile following his escape. If not for him and his quick action, the United Forces would've never gotten this information,"
The metalbender nodded at Iroh's explanation, but even though he tried, he was unable to hide his sorrow. In a last-stand effort to stall the Equalists, Saikhan and his men had barricaded themselves at the edge of the city, determined to face their enemy to the bitter end. They hadn't seen or heard from them ever since, but Kenai doubted very strongly they were still around. They were probably locked up somewhere in the city right now after having their bending stripped away from them. None of those brave men deserved such an unjust fate, and the only thing Kenai could do for them was to honor their sacrifice and keep fighting on their behalf.
Once the overall structure of the plan had been laid bare and understood by everyone involved, the next portion of the conversation was dedicated to the finer details of their strategy, of which there were few. Finally, after everything was discussed, General Iroh addressed the members of Team Avatar one last time.
"I'm not going to lie to you or give you false hope. This might very well be the most dangerous thing we'll ever do in our lives. We could all die, and don't think for a second our deaths will necessarily ensure the outcome we want. If any of you wishes to walk away from this, don't be afraid to call it quits while you still can. There's no shame in that, not after everything you've endured, but I need to know your answer now. Are all of you in?"
…
"… No. Not me," Korra declared, catching everyone around her off-guard. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you guys. I just can't,"
"Huh? What do you mean you can't?" a perplexed Bolin asked. "Out of all of us, I thought you were the one who wanted to defeat Amon the most. Why are you backing down now?"
"I'm not backing down, Bolin. If anything, beating that lunatic is all I can think of. However, I'm done hiding like a coward while he's out there spreading chaos and destruction unchallenged. I'm going to confront Amon directly and put a stop to this madness once and for all, no matter what it takes… no matter how it ends for me,"
Those last words set off alarm bells in everyone's heads, and judging by the determination in her gaze, the members of Team Avatar could tell Korra wasn't bluffing in the slightest. Kenai stared at his friends with pleading eyes, silently begging them to help Korra see reason somehow. "I'm not saying you shouldn't bring the fight to Amon, Korra," Mako began to say. "But before you do that, wouldn't it be better to wait for backup? You heard what General Iroh said. It should only take Commander Bumi and the 2nd Division a day or two to get here,"
"And what will happen in the meantime? How many people will have to suffer until Commander Bumi and the 2nd Division arrive? And once they're here, how many of them will die before this war is over?" Korra retorted, to which the firebender fell silent. "Those soldiers, the ones who were ambushed, they wouldn't have been sent here had I stopped this conflict sooner. I'm done running away, and I'm not letting more people get dragged into this mess. Call me hasty or reckless if you want, but I've made up my mind and you're not talking me out of it,"
The tone in the Avatar's voice brooked no argument, though that didn't stop Asami from taking a crack at it, hoping to get through to her somehow. "Korra, please, just hear me out. I get why you feel this way, but we need to stick together now more than ever. Avatar or not, there are things you can't do alone, that no one can do alone. This is one of them,"
"She won't be alone," Kenai spoke up. "I'm going with her,"
And just like that, Asami's heart sank. Hearing those words caused Korra to turn to her boyfriend, frowning and looking at him with eyes that could almost be described as angry. "I said I'm not letting more people get dragged into this mess. That includes you, Kenai. I'm sorry, but I can't let you come with me,"
Unlike the Avatar, Kenai remained impassive, staring back at her with a look on his face that was as firm and as solid as a wall of steel. Asami recognized that expression right away: It was the countenance of a Beifong who had no intentions of letting up. "You don't wanna drag me into this mess? Korra, I've been a part of this mess long before you left the South Pole. No one here has fought the Equalists more than I have, and just like you, I'm tired of running away. If you're going after Amon, I won't try to stop you, but don't try to stop me either,"
000
Before parting ways, the members of Team Avatar conceded themselves a moment to bid each other farewell. Kenai gave both Mako and Bolin a firm forearm handshake followed by a one-armed hug, asking the brothers to protect Asami in his absence and wishing them the best of luck. It was agreed that Naga joining the expedition party was for the best, so the First Commissar made sure to show the Polar Bear Dog some love as well, petting the artic canine behind the ears and receiving a couple of slobbery kisses in return.
General Iroh was almost a complete stranger to him, so the metalbender didn't feel inclined to treat the man with as much familiarity and closeness as he did with the pair of brothers, a feeling he strongly believed was mutual. Instead, the two of them gave each other a standard hand salute, keeping it professional and respectful without coming across as uncaring or cold.
It was then time for the hardest goodbye of all as Kenai and Asami were now standing in front of each other. Before either of them spoke a word, Kenai took his cozy jacket off and draped it around her shoulders in true gentlemanly fashion. "Here, take this. It'll help you keep warm. You won't be able to put up much of a fight if you're shivering like jelly out there. It's one of my favorites, so try not to lose it,"
Asami slid her arms into the sleeves of the jacket and tried to get comfortable in it. As expected, the garment was a little too big to fit Asami and did nothing to compliment her looks, but at least it would serve its purpose. Kenai couldn't help but smile when he saw his friend wrinkling her nose upon smelling the musty interior of his jacket. "You had this on for days," she commented, a bittersweet smile adorning her lips. "Please tell me you've kept this thing clean, and if not, then at least have the decency to lie about it,"
"It's not clean. In fact, my nose has been running lately, so don't be surprised if you happen to find snot around the sleeves,"
A loud slap on the arm later, he and Asami started laughing together. Their laughs were louder and lasted longer than they should have, to the point where they almost felt forced, but neither of them cared. The two best friends were about to go their separate ways, and although it was best not to bring it up, they both knew they might never see each other again even if they managed to defeat the Equalists. With that in mind, Kenai chuckled and Asami giggled as much as they could, so that if anything were to happen to either one of them, at least they would have the memory of this silly moment between them forever.
Eventually, the two of them stopped, unable to squeeze any more laughter out of their guts. "You are such an idiot," Asami said, wiping away a tiny tear that had begun to form in one of her eyes. "I don't know why I even bother with you,"
"Neither do I, but you do it anyways, which makes you the bigger idiot out of the two," Kenai said, smirking teasingly at her.
Asami tried to laugh again, but she couldn't force it anymore, so she had to make do with a sigh. "… Yeah… I suppose I am, aren't I?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. A moment of silence befell them, during which the weak smile on the girl's face ceased to be, replaced by a look of utter consternation. Kenai opened his mouth, yet before he could say anything, Asami threw her arms around the metalbender and pulled him into a hug, one that he returned after a few seconds. "Oh Kenai, please don't die. I swear I'll never ask anything from you again, so promise me that you and Korra will make it out alive whether we win or lose,"
Overwhelmed by guilt, Kenai pressed his lips together and refused to respond right away. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to reassure Asami and tell her whatever she wanted to hear him say just to put her mind at ease… but he couldn't.
The son of Lin had been opposing the Equalist revolution for months, suffering multiple defeats in the process while merely scoring a few victories here and there. Throughout this ongoing conflict, he tried to preserve the city's trust in the Police Department as well as in himself, putting up his strongest fort and declaring to the masses that they would not submit to Amon, the terrorist who fancied himself a champion of the oppressed.
Kenai wasn't about to yield to that psycho. Not today, not ever. In spite of that, it would be quite beyond reasonable to say that the Police Department had fulfilled its promises to the public. The bigger the threat grew, the louder they swore they'd deal with it, only to wind up getting crushed into oblivion by what had always been a much more superior force, one that demonstrated its strength and didn't just boast about it.
'Enough of this,' the metalbender thought. 'No more lies. No more promises I might not be able to keep. This is gonna end however it's meant to end, and regardless of the outcome, the world will move on like it always has,' "I'll be as careful as I possibly can," he finally said.
Asami nodded at him, though not hearing Kenai promise what she had asked him to left a terribly bitter taste in her mouth, to the point where a small knot began to form inside her throat out of sheer dismay. "I… I know you will… That's what I'm worried about… You big dummy,"
|Later|
As far as experiences go, walking inside a giant bubble wasn't the most dangerous activity Kenai had ever participated in, though that certainly didn't exempt it from being a peculiar one in its own right. The young metalbender watched in poorly-hidden awe as his girlfriend performed traditional Waterbending motions with her arms, commanding the water around them and preventing the Mo Ce Sea from swallowing them whole. Both benders were wearing the standard Equalist uniform for chi-blockers as they made their way to Air Temple Island, though they had yet to put their masks on.
Kenai had to remain mindful of his steps due to the unstable surface they were walking on, which consisted of mud, wet sand, and stones of all sizes. Also, due to the change in ambient pressure, Kenai found himself feeling somewhat lightheaded and with a bit of nausea, as well as having some difficulty providing oxygen to his lungs. Luckily for them, the distance between their initial starting point and Air Temple Island was relatively short if one followed a straight line, which was precisely what they were doing right now. According to Korra, the trick was to breathe slowly and allow the body to adapt to the external changes at its own pace; encouraging it, yet not forcing it.
Between where they were treading right now, where they were going to, and what they would do once they got there, Kenai couldn't be blamed for having his mind all over the place. Questions such as 'How close can we get to Amon without raising suspicion?' and 'What if we're asked to take our masks off?' bounced off the inside of his head like a rubber ball, and despite his efforts, he was unable to stay focused long enough to answer them completely before switching to another question.
Even so, there was one particular thought that remained consistent. Amidst his mental unrest, the words of a certain Water Tribe fellow who was fond of his smoking pipe stalked him endlessly, unwilling to leave his head until he gave voice to them. "He will either perish before he achieves his goal, or he will be crushed under the boot of the power he has amassed…This might sound contradictory given that the purpose of my occupation is to preserve human lives, but I hope that the first outcome is the one that comes to pass. Amon has caused far too much damage to this city already,"
"Korra, there's something we need to discuss,"
The Avatar frowned, too focused on maintaining the water bubble in place to glance back at him. "Can't it wait? This isn't as easy as I'm making it seem,"
"I'm afraid not. Going forward, we might not have another opportunity to speak freely just the two of us, especially now that we're heading straight to the wolf's den,"
"… Alright, what is it you wanna talk about?"
'Here goes nothing,' Kenai thought, his innards shivering. "Let's say we manage to get inside the temple and find Amon. What then?"
"I'm not sure I understand what you're asking me, Kenai," Korra responded. "Just what do you mean by 'What then?'? The answer should be more than obvious to you. We fight the guy and subdue him before he can take away our bending. Once he's beaten, we'll hand him over to the authorities and let them handle the rest,"
"After every trick he's pulled on us, do you honestly believe beating him will be that simple? Amon is an insanely dangerous enemy, Korra, and we still have no idea how his bending-removing abilities work. His men are loyal and well-trained, and they all have Mister Sat-… I mean, Hiroshi's devices. Even with the element of surprise on our side, taking Amon down is… Well, it won't be easy, to put it mildly,"
"I never said this was gonna be a walk in the park. I'm well aware of what we're getting into, but it's not like we have much of a choice,"
Kenai took a deep breath, inhaling every molecule of oxygen available inside the bubble before releasing all of it in a prolonged, silent sigh. "… Maybe that's not true," he began to say. "Maybe this is a problem that requires a permanent solution. Anything short of that might not be enough to fix this mess, and if we don't do it ourselves, there's a good chance there'll be no one else left to try. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"
…
"... You're talking about killing Amon, aren't you?"
A fleeting, involuntary shudder shook the metalbender's body, and not because of the hydrostatic pressure or the coldness of the depths of the ocean. Being the son of Lin Beifong, Kenai had a fair bit of experience in the difficult conversations department, but this one was particularly unpleasant and tricky to navigate, especially because of how unprepared he was. "Trust me, I hate that it has come to this. I wish there was another way, but if we can save Republic City by ending his life, then it's a line worth crossing. What I'm suggesting might not be pleasant, but it's not unreasonable, is it?"
"If this suggestion came from somebody else, then I'd understand, but this is coming from you. That's the problem," the Avatar rebutted, her tone thick with disapproval. "Listen, I'm no Air Nomad. I'm not even an airbender yet for that matter, but that doesn't mean I can just go around killing people, not even human garbage such as Amon or Tarrlok. And you, Kenai, you should know there's a difference between stopping crime and murdering criminals. You're an officer of the law, not some stone-cold vigilante who's out for blood,"
"Normally, I'd agree with you, but let's be honest: What we're dealing with here has evolved into something far too big and dangerous to keep calling it a police matter. It might've started that way, but things have changed. Forget ranks and badges and all that other stuff. I'm not doing this as a police officer in the service of justice. I'm not here as the First Commissar of Republic City; I'm here as Kenai Beifong,"
It had taken him some time to come to that realization, and perhaps he never would've realized it had it not been for his conversation with Hetunut. The inexpressive but wise healer had taught him the difference between doing one's job and fulfilling one's calling, to throw his work schedule, salary, and badge out the window in favor of doing what was right. The time had come for Kenai to act, not because of any promises made to the public or any oaths of office sworn, not to prove the world wrong or to call himself his father's son. All those things, which had once mattered to the metalbender, were no longer important and made no difference to him or to anyone else.
It was the time for him to act, and act he would, because that is what was needed of him.
"… Can you do it?" Korra asked all of a sudden.
"Do what?"
"Live knowing that you've killed a person? A person who's done a lot of wrong and caused a lot of harm, yes, but who's still a human being at the end of the day. Are you willing to carry that burden for the rest of your life?"
The metalbender gaped for a moment before tightening his jaw, averting his gaze from Korra even though his girlfriend couldn't see him at the moment. It was a fair question to ask, but not an easy one to answer. He'd been asking himself the same thing as of late, and while he had no doubt the world was better off without the leader of the Equalists, there was a big difference between wishing for it to happen and making it happen. Maybe it was because he hated Amon's actions more than Amon himself, or perhaps he simply lacked enough conviction despite knowing what it was that needed to be done.
Whatever the case, one thing was for sure: Never before had he dreaded the thought of doing the right thing as much as he did right now.
"… I honestly don't know," Kenai said, and after a brief moment of consideration, he decided to finish the rest of his answer. "But if I can't bring myself to do this one thing and this city falls because of it, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself either. What about you?"
It was the Avatar's turn to fall silent. She didn't know what displeased her the most: The fact that Kenai had thrown her question back at her, the conversation in and of itself, or the place and the time in which they were having it, for she couldn't make eye contact nor stand still at the moment. If she failed to keep the water bubble going, the sea would crush them from all sides in the blink of an eye. And yet, something was telling the girl from the Southern Water Tribe that even if the two of them were to sit down and have the same discussion over tea and cookies, she'd still be unable to give Kenai a sincere response.
No, what really displeased Korra the most was something else: In spite of her words, in spite of how opposed to the whole thing she claimed to be, the truth was more complicated than that. She wasn't willing to kill Amon, that much she was certain of, and she absolutely didn't want Kenai to kill him either. However, after bearing witness to the decimation of the United Forces' fleet and the number of lives that were lost because of it, Korra couldn't help but question her own views on life and death in regards to her role as the Avatar.
Killing was bad, but was it worse than letting a man do all of this? Was the life of an evil, dangerous individual really worth preserving if it came at the expense of so many innocent people?
Kenai had the good sense to wait patiently for Korra to give him a response instead of pressing one out of her. At this point, all he really wanted was to be sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what was his girlfriend's stance on this. More precisely, he wanted to know how taking Amon's life would affect Korra's perception of him. As the one who would carry out the deed, the metalbender knew he should be more worried about himself, but he couldn't help it. Being seen as a hero by the people of Republic City didn't mean much if Korra saw him as a murderer, and if that ended up being the case, then killing Amon was going to be far more painful for Kenai than it already was.
It wasn't until the tension was palpable that the girl from the Southern Water Tribe finally gave him an answer. "I won't kill anyone for the sake of ending this, but if you truly believe that's the right thing to do, what absolutely needs to be done…" A sigh left her lips. "Look, all I'm asking for is this: Even though Amon already has us against the wall, don't go through with it the first chance you get, and don't go through with it at all if it can be avoided,"
"I'll… I'll do what I can. I will… But what if it can't be avoided?"
"… Then I won't get in your way, and I won't hold it against you,"
|Air Temple Island|
With their masks on and their identities concealed, Kenai and Korra made it to the island and home of the last airbenders alive, a home they'd been forced to abandon due to the nefarious actions of the Equalists.
There was something deeply unsettling about seeing Equalists walking around Air Temple Island, corrupting this sacred place of peace with their mere presence. So far, Kenai had only spotted a couple of them from afar in different locations on the island, all of whom had either failed to notice them back or were fooled by their disguises. Either way, it was easy to perceive the lack of Amon's men on the island as something good, and while it did make it easier for Kenai and Korra to sneak around, it also filled the metalbender with dread.
'No, this can't be right. Why is this place so empty?' he thought, needle-jabs of apprehension scratching at his mind. 'There's no way Amon would leave Air Temple Island this unguarded on a whim. It's not like him at all. Either he's lost more men than I thought, or there's something else going on, and Korra and I are out of the loop,'
They were halfway across the courtyard when they heard a voice behind them. "Halt,"
The metalbender and the girl from the Southern Water Tribe froze in their tracks before turning around with goose bumps all over their skin. It took them no small amount of self-control to stand in front of an Equalist without attacking him or running away, especially because the man before them was no run-of-the-mill lackey. In fact, it was Lieutenant Jie, Amon's right-hand man and second-in-command.
"What do you think you're doing here?"
Upon being questioned, the metalbender in disguise straightened his posture as if he were speaking to one of his superiors in the Police Department, with Korra imitating his reaction immediately after. Due to force of habit, he almost greeted the lieutenant with a hand salute that might've blown his cover, though luckily he managed to pass it off as an awkward jerk of his arm at the last second. "Just making the rounds, sir,"
"Making the rounds?" Lieutenant Jie repeated, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Seems to me you two are lying down on the job,"
"No, sir. Of course not,"
"In that case, why are you here and not in the Arena?" The question caught the pair of benders flat-footed. Both of them remained silent, not knowing what to reply to that or if they should even test their luck by giving an answer. "Amon's instructions were clear. He wants extra security at the rally. Even if victory is all but secured, the fact that you're not in the Arena with our leader right now speaks poorly of you. Did you not attend the briefing today?"
"Our apologies, sir. I'm afraid we lost track of time," Korra responded, playing it safe by giving the lieutenant an excuse that whilst lame, was also less likely to be used against them. She only hoped her tone had been convincing enough. "We'll be leaving at once,"
Lieutenant Jie kept giving them the stink eye, which caused Kenai to start sweating behind his mask. Fearing a potential altercation, he began to scan their surroundings as subtly as he could, trying to determine the number of Equalists in the near vicinity. He only spotted a handful of chi blockers, but there were enough of them to rule out the possibility of neutralizing the lieutenant without alerting anyone. If Jie continued to interrogate them or asked them to take their masks off, the chances of Kenai and Korra getting out of this one without resorting to violence would be reduced nearly to zero. "What are your names, comrades?"
After a split-second of hesitation, Kenai said the first name that popped into his head. "Hetunut,"
"Gommu,"
"I see. Well then, comrades Hetunut and Gommu, you better stop dawdling and head to the Arena at once. If for any reason you fail to show up in time, I'll know about it, and you can bet your carelessness won't go unpunished. Is that understood?" Jie asked, getting a 'Yes, sir,' on behalf of the Avatar and the First Commissar. "Good. You may leave now, and I suggest you make haste," With their breath still stuck in their throats, Kenai and Korra turned around and walked out of the scene at a hurried pace, feeling the lieutenant's gaze still upon them.
…
"Crap, that was too damn close," the Avatar said while placing a hand on her chest, almost feeling pain from how violently her heart was beating. "Thank the Spirits that guy didn't press any further. If he had, I think I might've folded,"
"Me too," Kenai admitted, his voice a bit shaky. Neither one of them had uttered a single word to each other up until now, as if Jie could somehow hear them all the way from the courtyard. "Truth be told, I'm not cut out for this undercover stuff. I'd feel way more comfortable and confident taking on one of those Mechatanks all by myself. Maybe it wouldn't be a fair fight, but at least I know how to fight,"
"What are we supposed to do now? The plan was to get inside the temple and take Amon by surprise, but we can't do that anymore, not with Lieutenant Nosy sniffing about. We already lucked out once. If we stick around and he spots us again, he's not gonna be very happy, by which I mean we'll most likely have to fight our way out of here. Our odds were never that good to begin with, but they just got even worse,"
"Don't worry, there's another way in. These goons might've taken control of the island, but this place is practically my second home. I know its secrets. Just stay close and keep your eyes peeled,"
000
One subterranean passageway later, a square opening in the floorboards was lifted up and the two benders found themselves inside the main building of the island, a pagoda-like tower several stories high, each of them with their own purpose and design. Despite being the building that gave Air Temple Island its name, nothing about it was particularly striking or special in Kenai's opinion save the first two stories, where most of the relics and artifacts of the Air Nomads were kept as well as where certain rituals and ceremonies were held.
"Good thing you're Tenzin's godson," Korra commented as she swept the room with her eyes while Kenai slid the trapdoor back into place, making sure its outlines matched the rest of the floorboards. "Okay, I'll admit it. Not letting you come along would've been a big mistake. There, I said it so that you don't have to,"
"I wasn't going to, but I appreciate it nevertheless," the metalbender replied as they both removed their sweat-covered masks. "Though in all honesty, I wasn't going to let you not let me come along, so you never really had much of a choice in the first place,"
"Oh, is that right?" Korra's rhetorical question was met with a light smile on behalf of Kenai, and she found herself responding in kind.
It truly felt like an eternity since the last time she and Kenai had shared a moment like this. They'd been together constantly for days now, but they hadn't actually been together, not in the way she would've preferred. In a way, it was as if the two of them were more like partners in action by now rather than a couple. It wasn't that the Avatar's feelings towards the young Beifong had changed or waned; she just hadn't been able to explore them or act upon them as of lately due to the tempest of danger that Republic City was being invaded by. Korra was still a newbie at romance and not one to back down from a good scrap, but not even she would consider taking down Mechatanks with Kenai as spending quality time together.
Nevertheless, Korra kept these thoughts to herself. Even though they were in need of one, this was hardly the time or the place to have a conversation on the subject. If their attempt at ambushing Amon failed, it would not be because one of his followers happened to catch them discussing the current state of their love life. Korra would first surrender to the leader of the Equalists before letting their efforts be thwarted by something so stupid.
"There's an attic upstairs," Kenai said all of a sudden, snapping the girl from the Southern Water Tribe back to reality. "We can wait there while Amon is gone. It's a good hiding place with a clear view of the city, so we'll see him coming once he returns," Korra nodded in agreement and the metalbender got up, only for him to yelp loudly and lose his balance halfway through, almost falling to his knees.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Korra asked as her boyfriend stood there with his back hunched forward, grunting and hugging the left side of his upper body.
"Sorry about that, my ribs are starting to hurt again. The effects of the morphine must be wearing off," he replied with some strain in his voice, though he quickly composed himself after noticing the growing look of concern on the Avatar's face. "No need to worry, the pain wasn't that bad. It's just that it came out of nowhere and caught me off guard. I'll take another morphine shot once we're safe in the attic. Come on, let's get going,"
…
…
…
After reaching the fifth story of the tower, only one more remained. Korra began to walk up the last set of stairs only for Kenai to grab her by the forearm and pull her back. The girl from the Southern Water Tribe opened her mouth, but the metalbender sealed her lips with two fingers as he made a shushing gesture with his free hand, frowning at the ceiling. At first, she thought Kenai had heard a noise or noticed a booby trap, but the room was as silent as death itself and she couldn't see any devices where the First Commissar was looking at.
Her boyfriend proceeded to kneel, pressing the palm of his hand firmly against the dusty floor. This action immediately sent Korra into alert mode. She knew Kenai was making use of his seismic sense, which meant he suspected there was another person in the tower. Shortly after, Kenai raised his hand and looked at Korra before communicating with her through rudimentary sign language: He lifted his index finger once and then pointed it at the ceiling, his arm stretched upwards. The message was plain enough for the Avatar to understand right away.
Someone was in the attic.
With that in mind, Korra opened her zahato, bending the water out of it as the two began making their way upstairs. Waterbending was the only means of attack she could rely on at the moment since both she and Kenai were cut off from their connection to the solid earth down below. As for Firebending, it would be most unwise of her if she were to start hurling flames inside the building she was in, not to mention destructive, suicidal, and unfathomably stupid.
And so they advanced, with Korra at the front and Kenai following closely from behind. Soon, the last door stood before them. Kenai reached for it, and after a moment, he slid the door open, allowing the Avatar to step inside the attic with a blob of water before entering himself.
The attic was empty… Or so it seemed, at first.
A man was sitting in the corner of the room with his legs spread before him and his hands tied to the same wooden post his back was against. His filthy hair reached his upper chest, almost like the brown, greasy water of a still cascade. Judging by the cut of his jib, the clothes he was wearing had once been elegant and refined, though now they were more akin to ratty pieces of faded blue cloth that were begging to be thrown into a bonfire. The same could be said about his rotten boots, which were coming apart at every seam. All in all, he looked no different than the residents of The Burrow.
"Who are you?" Korra asked, receiving no response. The man's head hung low, which lead her to think he was sleeping. As if to disprove that theory, Kenai walked past the Avatar and got on one knee before the prisoner while gesturing for Korra to come no closer. "What's going on, Kenai? Do you know this guy from somewhere?" she asked, watching with worry as the metalbender's facial features grew ever more stern and severe, his fists trembling.
…
"… Tarrlok,"
Upon hearing his name, the former bloodbender and ex-representative of the Northern Water Tribe lifted his gaze, and for a fraction of a moment, the faintest of glimmers shone in his otherwise dead eyes. "… Beifong, Avatar Korra… What an unnecessary surprise this is,"
Aaaaaaand that was chapter 23. Hope you all liked it.
Following the previous installment, I wanted this chapter to be focused (at least in part) on how humans deal with their emotions after experiencing/witnessing traumatic events. It goes without saying that I'm no psychologist and that this is just my interpretation of how people could react internally in the context of this story and under these specific circumstances. What drove me to include and highlight this component of the chapter is the fact that in the show, General Iroh and Korra appear to be completely unaffected from an emotional perspective by the fact that practically the entire 1st Division got MASSACRED by the Equalists.
General Iroh's case is egregious given that he was right there when it happened. He literally lost every single one of his men due to Amon's ambush, yet all he said was "I was prepared to deal with Sato's Mechatanks, but not these new high-speed aircraft". Like, dude, I'm glad you're able to maintain a level head during a crisis, but are you so detached from your troops that their deaths mean nothing to you? If he were this battle-hardened leader who's grown emotionally numb after seeing his fellow soldiers die far too many times, then maybe I'd understand, but Iroh is this young general (age 36 in Book 1) who, as far as we know, hasn't ever suffered a loss of this magnitude. I'm sorry, but Book 1 completely bungled this aspect of the story, which is rather sad to think about considering how much emphasis A:TLA put on it.
Another problem I noticed while writing this chapter was the fact that in the show, General Iroh just happens to know the location of the Equalist base hidden in the mountains. This isn't a plothole per se, but it does come across as oddly convenient, and it only gets worse when Iroh and company head over to the snowy mountains without any food, winter clothes, or a map of the region to see where they're going. In spite of that, they manage to find the base without any difficulty and rather quickly, as if they were immune to cold, hunger, and fatigue… Yeah, not super realistic in my opinion, so hopefully my version will be at least a little more believable.
Regarding the previous paragraph, there's something I need to address. Many of you have asked why it takes me so damn long to finish a single chapter. I won't give any excuses, but I will say this: The number of plot holes, incoherencies, and narrative conveniences I've encountered in the last episodes of Book 1 is honestly astounding.
I've always tried to correct these issues in my fics by having things go a different way, which of course comes at the cost of planning everything out. Normally, this isn't too problematic for me, but when a single episode has so many issues that need to be fixed (or at least I feel the need to fix them), I end up getting stuck sorting them out, which leads to me getting bored and moving on to different stories whose canon material has way fewer inconsistencies to deal with.
For these reasons, I've decided that the best way to finish Book 1 already is to ignore some of these inconsistencies. Believe me when I say I DETEST having to do this, but I don't know what else can be done. Imagine spending your time and creative energy rewriting a glaring plothole for the sake of keeping your story consistent, only to have 10 others waiting in line to be fixed. It's annoying, it's time-consuming, and worst of all, it kills my own interest in the story.
Fortunately, this measure I've taken shouldn't last for long, but the fact that this is what it's come to bothers the hell out of me. Anyways, that's all for now.
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Peace!