The Marvelous Legends of Republic City

Legend of Korra and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon. All Marvel characters belong to Marvel Comics

Chapter 7: The Man Without A Country

"I can't believe it. The Nomad is here, laying on my couch!" Tenzin exclaimed, shock and awe in his voice. It was late afternoon and the man Tenzin had called
"The Nomad" hadn't awoken since Korra freed him from the ice.

"You've said that every time you come into the living room! Would please tell me what is so special about this guy?" Said Avatar asked, having had enough of Tenzin acting like a kid whose just met his hero. The Airbending Master cleared his throat and put on his usual serious face.

"I'm surprised you never heard of him Korra. The Nomad is a legend from the Hundred Year War, or rather living legend now." Tenzin said, earning him a look from Korra that told him to continue.

"He was said to have helped the Earth Kingdom turn the tide during many important battles during the war, but always seemed to vanish as quickly as he arrived, leaving to fight another battle. Many called him "The Nomad" because of this as he never stayed long in a place after his work was done."

"If that's the case how come he didn't help Aang defeat Ozai?" The young Avatar asked.

"He was from 90 years before Avatar Aang was found." Tenzin explained. The Nomad mumbled a little, when Korra said Aang, though it was so low neither the Avatar nor Tenzin caught it as the man began to dream.

Two young boys sat atop a hill, looking down at Fire Nation soldier marching. One of the boy's was bald and had a blue arrow tattoo running up from his neck and down to his forehead and wore traditional Air Nomad clothes. The other had jet-black hair in a small pony tail and wore a red vest and black pants.

"Aang?" The boy in red asked the asked his friend. Aang looked over at the other boy and replied,

"Yeah Kuzon?" The Fire Nation boy took a deep breath and said,

"I think I want to join the army when I get old enough." Aang looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Why? You barely work as it is, what do you think it's gonna be like in the army?" At this Kuzon laughed and replied,

"Please, everyone knows work in the army is a lot neater than the stuff ordinary people do! They get to hunt down pirate ships, fight bad guys, all that stuff!" Aang was still skeptical, but didn't have time to dwell on it as he noticed the sun was going down.

"Oh no! I promised Gyatso I'd be back by sundown! Sorry Kuzon, I gotta go!" Aang said as he rushed to his sleeping flying bison. He leaped atop the beast's head and grabbed a hold of the reigns.

"By Kuzon, I'll see ya soon! Appa, yip-yip!"

A 15 year old Kuzon Ryuzaki stood in line at an army recruitment booth.

"Next!" The soldier running the booth called. Kuzon stepped forward and the man instantly laughed as he said,

"Sorry, kid. The Army doesn't need a lightweight like you." It was true, Kuzon wasn't exactly the picture of a perfect soldier. He was around 5'4 and he was very skinny and lean, not exactly suited to lugging around armor and weapons.

"Come on, you gotta let me join!" Kuzon practically begged.

"Look kid, I can tell you right now that you're liable to get killed faster than anyone. For spirits sake you look like a toothpick could kill you!" The soldier said sternly. Suddenly a man came up behind the soldier, a Colonel to be precise. He cleared his throat causing the soldier to leap to his feet.

"Colonel Shin, Sir!" The soldier said as he stood in attention.

"What is the problem here Corporal?" The Colonel asked in a serious tone.

"This boy wants to join up Sir, but he doesn't fit our usual criteria for cadets." The soldier said in a slightly scared tone. The Colonel looked long and hard at the boy before smiling.

"Oh, I don't know. I believe we could use a boy like him in Division Zero." The Colonel said, causing the soldier to look at Kuzon with an expression that practically screamed "Don't do it". Kuzon didn't take note of this however and said,

"Where do I sign Sir?"

"It's been said that the first time he was seen was at the site of an incursion in the Earth Kingdom..."

Kuzon laid hurt and bleeding. It turned out Division Zero was a suicide division, with Colonel Jelong Shin leading it from a safe position away from the battlefield. He had managed to slowly make his way to the deserted base and entered Shin's tent. To say the monstrous Colonel was surprised was an understatement.

"Private Ryuzaki! This IS a surprise. I expected you to be the first one to die." Shin said as he smiled, though there was underlying malice in his words.

"Everyone's dead. We weren't attacking a supply station, it was an Earth Kingdom barracks!" Kuzon managed to yell despite his injuries.

"But of course. How else would we weaken this area enough for our invasion force to dominate it?" Shin said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You sent us to our deaths! We thought we were doing the right thing! We thought we were making a difference!" Kuzon shouted again, ignoring his injuries as his anger took hold.

"Oh you did make a difference. Now our invasion force may pass through without having to be hindered by an unnecessary battle." The Colonel said casually. Kuzon couldn't believe what he was hearing. He saw good men, some of them people he grew up with, die for absolutely nothing. They weren't heroes, they weren't even soldiers, they were just koala-sheep to the slaughter and it made his blood boil. Suddenly Kuzon let loose a blast of fire from his hands, severely burning the unsuspecting Colonel's head. The bloodied soldier walked of the tent, leaving his former Colonel screaming in pain.

He kept walking and walking through the forest around the battleground, not caring if he lived or died anymore as his faith in everything he had believed in was now shattered. Soon Kuzon collapsed from his injuries.

It was nearly sunset as an old Water Tribesman came walking along through the forest. He spotted Kuzon's body and rushed over to him. The boy was alive despite the severity of his injuries and blood loss. The old man quickly took him to a river and bent some water around the boy's body, trying to heal him. The old waterbender worked for hours, pushing his healing abilities to their limit. Suddenly without warning a white flash sparked over Kuzon's body and his hair turned from jet-black to white as snow.

Over the course of the next week Kuzon drifted in and out of consciousness. One day he woke up in a jolt, finding he was inside a tent and wearing a Water Tribe shirt and pants. He slowly got up, feeling sore and walked outside. He looked around and saw he wasn't in the forest near the battleground, but the beach near there.

"Good to see you up my boy! You gave me quite a scare." Kuzon heard from behind him. He turned to see a kindly looking old Water Tribesman. Kuzon then noticed something odd. It seemed like he was on stilts or standing on something because everything looked further down than he remembered. He looked down and saw that not only was he taller, but he wasn't skinny anymore as he now had a body covered in muscle. He then noticed that hair was a little longer and out of it's ponytail, but instead of black it was a bright white.

"What happened?" The young soldier asked in shock.

"I found you a week ago, bloody, barely clinging to life. It took everything I had to heal you, but when I was about done something amazing happened. You were touched by the spirits!" The old man said. Kuzon looked at him curiously and asked,

"What does that mean?" The old man chuckled and said,

"I've only heard of it in legend, but when someone is touched by the spirits it means they're destined to do many great things. Things that will change the world." Kuzon sat down on a large rock and rubbed his hand over his face.

"I know you're a Fire Nation soldier, I could tell by what was left of your uniform." The old man said seriously.

"I'm not one anymore." Kuzon said as he proceeded to tell the man his story.

"That's awful my boy." The old waterbender said, having sat down next to the young man.

"I don't know what I'm going to do now. It's like I don't have a country anymore, a home. I guess I can always try to make my way to one of the Air Temples, I got a good friend that's an Air Nomad I haven't seen in a long time." Kuzon said, but it caused the old man to sigh.

"You don't know do you?" The old man asked in a sad tone. The younger man looked at him and said,

"Know what?" The waterbender stayed silent for a moment.

"The Air Nomads are under attack. I heard that the Fire Nation has nearly wiped out all of the Air Temples." Kuzon looked in shock as he felt tears come to his eyes.

"No Aang! That's why he didn't come back!" The young soldier cried in grief for his friend.

"I'm sorry son." The waterbender said.

"Kuzon. My name's Kuzon." The younger man said as he wiped his eyes. The old man gave a small smile and said,

"My name's Erkhan." Suddenly a large explosion was heard about a mile away. Both men looked to see smoke coming rising above the trees.

"The invasion force. It's here already!" Kuzon said as he shot up to his feet.

"I need to stop them!" The former soldier said as a passion burned in his eyes. He wasn't about to let the Fire Nation hurt anymore innocent people.

"I don't have any weapons for you, but I do have an old shield you can use." The old man said as he walked over to the tent and took out a triangular shield. Kuzon then thought for a moment and tore off a piece of clothe from his shirt and fashioned it into a bandanna mask. He then took out a small knife and cut out the shape of an arrow in the cloth, showing the skin of his forehead and mimicking an airbender tattoo.

"I'll avenge you Aang. One Fire Nation soldier at a time." Kuzon said as he headed off toward the attack.

"The Nomad began his crusade against the Fire Nation a few years after the war started with sightings of him spanning around 10 years or so from the start of the war. The last known record of him was in the South Pole where he was stopping a Fire Nation raiding ship, but was knocked into the water and was never seen again." Tenzin finished as Korra's, and his children's who had come in during the story, eye's were wide. Suddenly The Nomad groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and slowly sat up.

"Where am I? He asked as he groggily began to stand up, but was pushed back down gently by Korra.

"You need to rest and a better question is when are you."

Kuzon Ryuzaki, better known as The Nomad, stood looking out at Republic City from the window of his room at the Air Temple. He marveled at the brightlights of the city, the city his best friend helped to create. He had met the new Avatar, been told what year it was, told that the war had been over for a long time, and yet he still couldn't believe it. He kept thinking that this was all some weird dream and that he'd wake up any minute, despite the fact it had been five days since he was freed from the ice burg. He then heard a small knock at his door, though he didn't answer whoever was behind it and kept his attention on the city. The door creaked slightly as Korra poked her head in.

"Um, hello?" The young Avatar said as she saw Kuzon still looking out his window. She came in with a tray of food and sat it down on a small table. She had been very uneasy around the man. Ever since he found out that Aang had been the Avatar and had accomplished so much, he radiated an uncomfortable aura when he was around Korra. Granted he was mostly uncomfortable anyway, trying to get used to modern technology and such, but with Korra that feeling of unease seemed magnified.

"I guess I'll go then." Korra said as she was about to leave.

"I heard a rumor once that an Avatar can communicate with their past lives." Kuzon said suddenly, causing Korra to jump slightly.

"Um, yeah that's true." The young Avatar said as she now stood in the doorway.

"Can you do it?" The Nomad asked in a curious tone.

"No. At least not yet." Korra answered in a slightly embarrassed voice. Kuzon turned to Korra and looked her in the eye with small, yet friendly, smile.

"Well when you can, tell Aang he did one hell of a job and Kuzon says 'Hi.'" The Nomad said, causing Korra to smile and reply,

"Can do."

ELSEWHERE: UNKNOWN LOCATION

"I have called each of you here because I believe that with each of your special skills you can destroy these annoyances." Amon said as he handed four men in shadow each a picture. One was of Spider-Man, the other of Daredevil, one of The Punisher, and the other of Deadpool. The men all chuckled and handed the pictures back.

"I've got a pumpkin with that Spider's name on it!" The first of the men said.

"This'll be a bullseye for sure." The second man said.

"Looks like I'll have a good 'ol war with this guy." The third man said.

"I can't wait to add his moves to my collection." The final man said

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