Authors Note: There's no rape scenes in this story but people bothered by non-con related dialogue may have difficulty reading this chapter and there's a bit of graphic violence ahead so readers be warned.


"Where is he!? Korra was irritably pacing back and forth as she waited for the last arrival to their impromptu meeting.

"He'll be here Korra. We just have to wait a little longer." said Asami.

The two of them were waiting in one of the convention center's side rooms meant for smaller meetings and gatherings. Ifuago had been hauled off to prison by the police and was probably being interrogated by Lin Beifong at this moment. It was possible but unlikely that he knew anything about who had hired him and it was even more unlikely that Ifuago would be willing to talk.

The door creaked open and Iroh entered the room. Korra stopped pacing as she fixed the man with a baleful glare. "Took you long enough, I was starting to think that a war would have started before you got here." A scowl worthy of a Beifong creased the Avatar's face as she chastised the general or prince or whatever he was to her now.

"I know things look bad but it won't -.''

Korra cut him off mid-sentence, flinging her arm to point at the door he had come in through, as she started yelling. "How many people did you see out there!? It's empty! Everyone left and do you know where they are right now? On phones telling their generals to start gathering their forces. How long do you think we have until armies start showing up on Fire Nation shores? Two weeks? A month?"

The Avatar's hands balled into fists as the anger that had been begun stewing deep down inside her ever since visiting Iroh's homeland burst free. "Didn't they learn anything from the Hundred-Year War? They tore the world apart and for what? Power? Money? Land? Now here we are, doing the same crap all over again!"

Iroh raised his hand trying to interject but Korra grabbed him by the lapels and slammed him against the wall. "This is your people's fault! Not to mention they've repeatedly tried to kill me, they almost blew Asami up and the man we were supposed to protect is dead because of them! And what about you? You and your mother have been using Asami and I this entire time!"

She twisted to one side hurling him to the floor. He started to sit up but Korra shoved him back down to the floor with a boot to the chest. "Izumi once told me I had absolute authority in the Fire Nation and now I'm using it. We're going back to the Fire Nation and you're going to do whatever it takes to get me to this lab so I can destroy it. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

If Iroh had been able to he would probably have been kowtowing on the floor but as it was the best thing he could manage was an awkward salute. "Yes Avatar Korra."

Korra lifted her foot off Iroh as she addressed Asami in a decidedly softer tone than what Iroh had gotten. "Do you mind if I borrow one of your airships? The sooner I get over there the better."

"Borrow an airship?" asked Asami, one hand on her hip. "You're not trying to leave me behind are you? If you're going over there then I'm going with you." She held a finger up to stop any arguing before it began. "I'm not letting you do this alone Korra. Let's go."

She would have liked to leave right away but Iroh and Asami both needed a few hours to put things in order with the United Forces and Future Industries respectively. Not to mention the airship needed to be fueled up and checked to make sure it was fit to fly. Once they were underway however one critical detail came up as they discussed what their plan was.

"What do you mean you don't know where this lab is!? Chou never told you?" Korra asked disbelievingly.

Iroh shook his head as he answered the question."Chou never knew where he was working. They kept him blindfolded when he was being taken to and from the lab. That was partly how he got away, he jumped out of a moving car while they were taking him back from the lab and fled into the city. I don't know if it was blind luck or fate but he ended up hiding from his pursuers on the estates of a house loyal to my mother. They turned him over to us and we sent him to Republic City via their embassy."

"Do you have any leads on where it might be?" Korra inquired, folding her arms as she did so.

"Does the Fire Nation keep track of electrical usage? A lab trying to create spirit energy weapons would need a lot of electricity and there would be a huge spike in the records that would be easy to find if you do." Leave it to Asami to approach it from an engineering perspective.

Iroh looked at Asami as he responded to her suggestion. "We do and we've searched through all of them but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Our next thought was that the records might have been doctored so we checked all of the meters but they were identical to what was in the records."

Korra drummed her fingers on her arm as the three of them fell silent, each thinking of something that might provide the answer to their problem. After a few seconds something occurred to Korra and she snapped her fingers. "I got it! Asami, you said the vines are touchy right? They explode if exposed to too much electricity."

Asami nodded slowly. "Yes... what are you getting at?"

"Don't you see? They can't keep something like that in the city. Explosions draw attention that they don't want. The lab has to be somewhere out of the way, somewhere that explosions won't get the police's attention. Iroh, can you recall anything like that in the Fire Nation?"

Iroh frowned to himself contemplatively as he threw his mind back, sifting through his memories. "Actually yes now that you mention it. There's an old coal mine about an hours drive from the capital city that had been shut down for decades. There were some promising veins if I remember right but the area became seismically unstable and there were too many cave-in's and tunnels collapsing from tremors so it got closed down. But a few months ago a company purchased the property and was going to try re-opening the mine with modern techniques and equipment. I'm told it was a running joke around the city for weeks and then people forgot about it."

"That's it, that's the lab. They hid it right in plain sight. Who looks twice at a mine that people think is a joke?" Korra pointed out.

"A mine like that would be a good hiding place for this." Asami mused. "All the shipments of tools and equipment makes it easy to smuggle things in and the place has a history of collapses which would explain any explosions. It sounds like a good place to check out to me. What do you think Iroh?" asked Asami.

"I'm not convinced you're right about this Korra but it is something we've never considered.'' Iroh grudgingly admitted. "But if it is the lab then it'll be well guarded. May I use your radio Miss Sato once we're in range of a tower? I can call ahead and have some of my allies ready once we arrive at the capital.."

"By all means, the radio is up near the cockpit." said Asami. Once he was gone Asami joined Korra at the window she was staring out of, putting one hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right Korra? You were pretty rough with Iroh earlier and you feel pretty tense right now. Is something the matter?"

"It's... this whole thing just feels wrong somehow. There's something we're missing but I don't know what it is. I'll be really glad when this is over." Korra turned away from the window to face Asami whilst taking the other woman's hands in hers. "But I know what will make me feel better. Bring any toys or maybe some rope?"

Asami's eyes widened and she took a long step backwards. Of all the possible times to do that. Korra was bringing it up while they were en route to the Fire Nation in order to prevent an international war by destroying the lab where spirit energy was being developed. Asami shook her head. "No I'm afraid not." The sight of Korra's hopes being dashed was almost enough to dissuade Asami but this was a conversation they needed to have. "Korra..." Asami began tentatively. "I need to ask you something. What are we?"

"What?"

"What are we Korra? I know you've enjoyed our scenes but is that all there is to what we have? I know things have always been complicated between us but I don't know what to call our relationship anymore. What am I to you? A friend with benefits? Your girlfriend?"

Korra's hands fell to her side, the unexpected change of subject catching her by surprise. "I don't know." Korra eventually admitted. "I like you, you're my best friend and all the stuff you've done to me has been amazing. But I've never sat down and actually tried to sort through what my feelings actually are. I know it's not much of an answer but I'll think about it when I get the time okay?"

It wasn't much of a response, it didn't even come close to answering her question but there was an edge of frustration to Korra's jaw that Asami had learned to recognize over the years. It was a warning beacon to anyone who knew the Avatar saying 'don't push me, I'm not in the mood.' Asami exhaled softly and rubbed at her temple. "That's fine. I'll come find you before we're landing. It'll be a day and a half or so if the wind stays at our back."

They had been making good time but soon enough the weather turned against them. Drab clouds lined the horizon and they found themselves flying into a fierce gale. By the time their ship was landing the skies had opened up and rain was pelting the ground at a frenetic pace. Korra flinched when the first few drops hit her head as she disembarked from the ship. She twirled her fingers in a circle, forming an almost invisible umbrella of air above their hands as they headed for the shining headlights waiting a short distance away.

Korra pulled the door open letting Asami in before taking a seat next to her in the back of the vehicle. As she was pulling on her seat belt, a vaguely familiar voice drifted backwards from behind the steering wheel of the car. "It's an honor to welcome you to the Fire Nation once again. Though I have a feeling this meeting will be more amenable than our last."

She had only met him once before and even then very briefly but there was no mistaking the face of the man addressing her now. Korra ignored his comment as she glared at the back of Iroh's head in the front passenger seat. "What is he doing here!? He tried to kill me!"

"Ah that's not true. I was hired to make it look like I was trying to kill you Avatar Korra. If I actually wanted you dead then-"

Iroh cut their driver and perpetrator of what had been a farce of an assassination attempt off. "You talk too much Machi. That's always been your biggest weakness. Are the others ready?"

"Yes Prince Iroh. They're aware of our destination and what we're looking for. Shall we go?" asked Machi.

"The sooner we get this done the better. Let me know when we arrive." said Iroh, slumping down in his seat and closing his eyes. A few seconds later and Machi was turning the wheel as they departed the airfield, a second car close behind them. Korra crossed her arms, huffing irritably to express her displeasure about Iroh's choice of ally but Iroh was probably right about them needing allies for the upcoming fight.

If the weather had been fairer then Korra could have passed the time by watching the landscape outside but this pouring rain meant all she could see was a curtain of raindrops on the door's window. She stared at them for a few moments before following Iroh's example and closing her eyes to wait. At her side Asami was using a screwdriver to tinker with one of those electric shock gloves that she always seemed to have lying around no matter where she was.

"We're here."

Korra jumped, almost hitting her head on the roof, as Machi's voice shook her out of the half-asleep stupor she had fallen into during the drive. Their car was surrounded by trees and the rain outside had let up. Asami and the others had already gotten out and were waiting for her. Iroh pointed at a nearby ridge. "The mine is on the other side of this this hill. We're still a few kilometers away but there's only one road going in and out and it's safe to assume that it's being watched. We'll hike in from here and split up to search the buildings. Kori and Vachir come with me. Machi go with the Avatar."

Korra scowled but Iroh was already on the move leaving Machi alone with Korra and Asami. He shrugged apologetically. "I can understand your reluctance to partner with me Avatar Korra but as I said, I wasn't really trying to kill you. I was hired to make it look like I was trying to kill you." Machi stated.

"You swung that thing of yours at me! What if I hadn't been a metalbender?" Korra asked indignantly.

"You're the Avatar, I wasn't worried about you being able to stop my attack. Though if you couldn't handle one man with a kusarigama then you aren't deserving of the title. But that was one job and now I've been hired for another."

"So you're just a mercenary for hire." spat Korra, her dislike of the man growing the more he talked.

"I am." Machi didn't appear fazed by her obvious contempt for him. "But I have a job to do and standing around here won't get it done." He gestured in the direction that Iroh had gone. "Shall we Avatar Korra?"

Korra rolled her eyes and started walking, Asami and Machi falling in behind her.

A few buildings, parking lot and one enormous pile of earthen waste were the first clues that they had arrived at the mine. Beyond them was a fence surrounding a large opening into the side of the mountain. Iroh waved at her and pointed at them then at the cavern before disappearing into one of the outer buildings. Korra exchanged a glance with Asami before they headed towards the mine itself. She had ordered Iroh to help her destroy the spirit energy lab and it had been her idea to check this place out yet somehow Iroh had taken charge of this mission. There was no point in trying to argue over who was in charge at the moment however. Finding out if this was the right place was the priority right now.

Heavy construction vehicles were parked just around the first curve of the mine itself. Earth movers, diggers and a couple of vehicles with what looked like a very large chainsaw mounted on them. Several dirt tunnels, each large enough for those vehicles to move through them, extended out in different directions. Machi looked between them before pointing at one on the left. "This one looks like it's the newest, there's no rails and these tracks look fresh to me."

The hall in question wasn't very long, perhaps twenty meters, and there were a pair of metal doors, one large and the other human sized, at the end of it. Korra grinned as she cracked her knuckles. "Stand back you two." She punched her hands towards the smaller door, dents appearing in it, once and then again before she wrenched it off its hinges tossing it to the side. Korra took a few steps inside, her gaze sweeping the room. This was it.

Spirit vines of various sizes hung from a rack off to one side of the large hollowed out space, some sporting metal inserts at one end or the other. Machines whose purpose Korra had no idea of were scattered all about and there was another door at the opposite end of the room leading even deeper into the mountain.

She had just started to turn around when Korra felt a pair of fists striking her back from behind in multiple spots. The Avatar spun around to see Machi standing there with his fists in the air, she raised one hand to hurl fire at him but nothing came out, not even when she tried again. Her eyes widened at the sudden realization of where he had struck her. The exact same spots Asami had used during their last scene together. Her bending was gone.

"Traitor!" The yell echoed off the walls of the cavernous room as Korra attacked with the weapons still remaining to her. At the same time Asami was jumping forward with her gauntlet at the ready but Machi reacted with blinding speed as the two woman came at him. Seconds later Korra was sprawled on the ground from some sort of hip toss and Asami was shaking from the effects of her own glove before her eyes fell shut and she collapsed to the ground.

A slow clapping sound filled the air and the unfamiliar sounding voice of a woman pierced the air. "Very well done Machi. I see why your reputation precedes you and I'm especially glad that you're no longer working for the Prince. It was such a shame to see someone as talented as you shackled in that manner."

Korra groaned and pushed herself up to one knee, her eyes taking their time to focus on the woman who was speaking. When she did though...

During their flight over here Korra had been trying to figure out what she had been missing. The thread that tied this whole mess together. And now she had it. Her violently red hair was almost completely covered by a shawl but there was no mistaking the face of Bolin's former co-star on the big screen.

Suddenly all the pieces were there and the realization of how they all fit together hit her like a ton of bricks. The improved movers, the copies of Amon's mask, the bombs, the attack on Asami's mansion, Chou's murder, Ifuago, Viper and the whole Spirit Energy crisis. "You're a spy."

It was her and not her at the same time. Physically this was the same woman but the resemblance ended there. Gone was that air of an empty head, the vanity and proclivity towards too much makeup. There wasn't any strut to her gait, no simpering to her lips and where she had been haughty before was the cold gaze of someone who had done things that ate at the soul until there was nothing left. Even her clothing was different, no stylish dress and heels here, just plain leather armor and the hilts of two broadswords peeked up over her shoulders.

"I was but not anymore." Ginger agreed with Korra's label. "My job was to get close to Varrick and send anything of interest back home. The cameras were a nice find but then he started researching spirit energy and that was my ticket to the top."

It was almost funny but Korra found herself unable to laugh at the joke the universe was playing on her. Ginger's claim to fame had been playing a damsel in distress but her greatest role was an actress was one that only a handful of people would ever know the truth of. "So that's how you got those contracts. You promised them spirit energy weapons. So now what?" asked Korra. "Attack Republic City? Wait for the other nations to attack the Fire Nation? You're starting a war you know."

Ginger just laughed, amused at the Avatar's blatant attempt at fishing for information. "Do you really think I'm going to answer that? Tell you my plans? How foolish do you think I am?" She tapped one finger against her chin before crouching in front of the Avatar. "But I suppose I can tell you what your future holds though." She glanced at Asami, still lying in the dirt, Machi was kneeling at her side as he examined Asami's electric glove. "And hers."

"I have to admit, I really thought Sato wouldn't be able to turn down all the money I offered her even if it meant giving me something I could blackmail her with. It's disappointing that tactic failed me but my little foray into your mansion gave me something even better than what I asked for in the first place. Who knew the great and mighty Avatar Korra was a woman of such tastes." Ginger licked at her lips as she leered at Korra. "I was planning to kill you when you inevitably came looking for the lab but after seeing those movers I've changed my mind. You'll require some molding but you already get off on being tied up and treated like a slave so I'm sure it won't take long until that's all that's left of you."

She glanced at Asami's unconscious body again before continuing her monologue. "As for Sato... well she was Machi's price for this particular job. I don't know what he plans to do with her but I'm sure you and I will find out at some point."

Korra stared at Ginger numbly as the woman described the bleak future awaiting her and Asami. It wasn't enough that her most intimate and vulnerable moments had been stolen and viewed by a stranger, an enemy. Now those same moments were being corrupted into a horrible caricature. She had surrendered her bending and freedom to Asami even if only for brief moments but now that same surrender would be forced upon her. Permanently. She wouldn't be the Avatar or even a woman anymore, just a shell of her former self whose only purpose was to serve the twisted whims and fantasies of this... thing.

A stream of greenish-yellow liquid sprayed out from Korra's mouth as her stomach emptied itself onto the leather outfit of Korra's would-be owner. Ginger gagged and she rose to her feet, hands held as if to wipe herself off but not wanting to. "For fuck's sake." One of her hands slapped Korra's cheek and she turned towards Machi. "Give me your handkerchief!"

Somewhere in the recesses of Korra's mind something flickered as she stared at the hilts now exposed to her and time seemed like it had slowed down as she rose to her feet. One of her hands grabbed onto the nearest hilt pulling it loose and slicing downwards as its owner spun back around to confront the Avatar. Ginger reeled backwards from the blow, half of her face hidden behind fingers now painted crimson as she shrieked in agony. Machi visibly hesitated, torn between advancing on Korra or helping his new and now wounded employer. Pragmatism won out as he went for the redheaded woman, sweeping her up in his arms and fleeing back the tunnel towards the entrance.

By the time Asami came to Korra had fallen to her knees, a blooded sword lying in front of her as Korra sobbed into her hands. Asami pushed herself up to stand on a pair of unsteady feet and half walked, half staggered to the Avatar as quickly as she could, her muscles still slow to respond from the glove's caress and pulled Korra's head to her shoulder in a gentle embrace. "Shhh, it's okay. It's okay."

Asami couldn't be sure what had happened while she was unconscious but it couldn't have been good if that sword's red edge was any clue. The only thing that mattered to her at the moment however though was consoling the Avatar and the fact that it seemed like they were about to succeed in preventing a war wasn't anywhere to be found.