"Will the Avatar be joining us Miss Sato?"

Asami was seated in one of the Royal Palace's receiving rooms. At her side was a faintly familiar seeming man with dark black hair and in front of Asami was a table whose surface was inlaid with obsidian tinted red. She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not. Yesterday was rather rough on Korra and she's recuperating at the moment."

The Fire Lord wasn't there in the room with Asami but her voice was present, emanating all the way from Republic City through the phone in this room. The servant lifted a small ceramic kettle pouring a steaming liquid into a porcelain cup as Izumi responded. "That's unfortunate but I hope she is well. My son told me of yesterday's events though he obviously can only guess at what happened in the mine."

There wasn't an actual question but it was plainly obvious to Asami what the Fire Lord was inquiring about. Asami shifted her weight in the chair as she ran through the story she had prepared in her head on the way here. It wasn't technically a lie but there wasn't any need to delve into the more sordid details of what Ginger had threatened Korra with. "After we split up Korra and I were searching the mine with Machi. It didn't take long for us to find the spirit vines but Machi turned on us. I got knocked out so I didn't see what happened but after I came to Machi was gone. Iroh showed up later and we destroyed everything in there. It's possible that she has a backup site somewhere but I have a feeling Ginger won't be getting her hands on spirit energy anytime soon."

"I see." stated the Fire Lord, her voice unusually flat for someone who had just learned that a war had been averted. "And what of… Ginger? Did you actually see her there?"

"Not personally but Korra did... why?"

"Osamu."

The servant in the room immediately bowed even though Izumi was hundreds of kilometers away in Republic City. "Yes Fire Lord?"

"Find my son. Tell him that he's to search the city with every available soldier and police officer. I want that woman found." Osamu bowed again and departed the room with all due haste. He didn't even bother closing the door behind him.

"If you don't mind I would like to change the topic while I have you on the phone Miss Sato. I am aware that there have been disruptions to your schedule but I would like to know what progress you have made on the infrastructure upgrades for the Fire Nation."

"Oh! Uhm well I've laid some groundwork but my engineers are working on them in my absence. I can't really say what they've gotten done from here though. If you don't mind waiting for me to return to Republic City then I could walk you through what we've gotten done so far." Asami took a drink from the faintly steaming cup of tea.

"Very well. I will be here when you arrive. Have a safe flight Miss Sato." The phone clicked as the Fire Lord hung up and the line went dead.

Asami sighed to herself as she set the mouthpiece back onto the stand and stood up. For a moment she was sorely tempted to throw her hands up in the air and scream out loud. The road ahead of Future Industries had seemed like it was paved with gold bricks when Izumi had given those contracts to Korra at first. But now Asami had gotten a good long glimpse at the troubles and problems of working with the Fire Nation that had been hidden like an Unagi lurking beneath the surface of the ocean. The thought of just selling the contracts and being done with the Fire Nation forced itself into her thoughts as she walked the halls of the Royal Palace. It was an idea that Asami knew she would have in the future but ultimately the amount of money she would leave on the table if she followed that particular urge was enough to dissuade her no matter how frustrating this nation was. Waiting outside was the car that had conveyed her to the palace for her conversation with the Fire Lord. Asami pulled the rear door open and sat down in the back. "Take me to the Royal Airfield please."

Lee was lying on the ramp leading into her airship as he stared at the clouds floating in the blue sky above them. He jumped to his feet when Asami's car pulled up and she climbed out. "Ah, begging your pardon Miss Sato. I didn't know you'd be back so soon. What's the word?" he asked.

"How is Korra doing? Is she still asleep?" asked Asami, a look of concern clouding her face.

"Yes ma'am. I've checked on her like you ordered and she hasn't gotten out of bed yet. Are we going?"

"Undo the tethers and check the propellers will you Lee? I'll start the engine up." ordered Asami as she strode up the ramp into the ship itself. She plopped herself down in the cushioned leather chair in front of the steering wheel. Lights on the console began turning on as she flipped switches and pressed the buttons that would start the propellers spinning. Asami hit the final switch and nothing. No vibrations or the sound of spinning metal blades. She looked out the window to see Lee standing down below. If things had been working right then he would be spinning one hand in a circle but instead he was holding up a fist to indicate a non-start. Asami quickly turned away and pushed down on the emergency switch that would shut down the engines and reset her dashboard to off.

Lee grunted as he pulled the stuck panel loose to get at what was behind it. He toggled the flashlight in his hand and aimed it at the engine components within. After a bit Lee reached in and pulled a handful of wires out. The engineer turned away from the panel and held them up in the air for Asami to see. "There's the problem Miss Sato."

Asami turned away from the panel she had been looking at to come see what Lee was talking about. She took the wires from him and her face slowly fell as she examined the ends. "This wasn't an accident... there's no way all these wires would break at the same time and look at this. They were partially cut through then twisted loose. Someone sabotaged my ship... we have to check everything now. We're not leaving until I'm sure that it's safe for us to fly." After what Korra had told her Asami had a very good idea of who that 'someone' was and why she would sabotage their airship. Revenge.

The man involuntarily grimaced at the thought of doing a full check with just the two of them here. "As you say Miss Sato."

"I know, I know. It'll take us a couple of days but that's better than blowing up or something else going wrong mid-flight. I'll get Korra to help us so it goes a little faster." said Asami.

Lee shook his head just a little at that idea. "Begging your pardon but is that a good idea? I'm not one to insult the Avatar but does she know anything about airships? She's never struck me as being mechanically minded."

Asami glanced at the wires in her hand before addressing Lee's concerns. "No offense taken Lee, you're right after all. Korra doesn't know much about propeller shafts or brush motors but she can check the wiring while we look at the propellers."

Under ordinary circumstances it would take a full crew of ten workers a few hours to look over an airship from top to bottom but this particular check took the three of them nearly two days before Asami was satisfied that they had found everything. The propellers and engines had gone untouched but there were several more areas where the wiring had been mangled or cut by a knife. Having someone sabotage your airship was never a good thing but Asami felt some small measure of relief that they had only damaged things that were easy to repair.

Lee approached the panel that Asami was kneeling next to, toolbox in one hand and a copy of the airship's manual in the other. "Here you go Miss Sato."

Asami glanced down at the toolbox for a second to see if anything was missing. Multimeter, soldering iron, electrical tape along with a few screwdrivers and wrenches of various sizes. She tapped her chin for a moment before deciding to try something that had occurred to her after seeing that first set of damaged wires. "Please go fetch Korra Lee, we're going to do a little experiment."

When Lee returned with the Avatar in tow Asami gestured at the open panel in front of her. "I have a challenge for you. These wires are made out of copper so you should be able to bend them. I want to see what happens when you use your bending to fuse the wires back together."

Korra tilted her head to the side before kneeling down next to Asami. "Uhm okay, why not." she said while taking part of a snipped wire in each hand. She positioned the ends next to her and her brow scrunched as she focused on the exposed metal cores. After a few seconds the copper strands began flowing towards and then into each other as they melded into a single continuous piece.

Once it was done Asami grabbed the multimeter and the probes wrapped around it. She untangled them before placing the metal tips of the probes to the segment of exposed copper. Behind her Lee was flipping through the manual as the measuring needle on the multimeter jumped back and forth before settling down. "Looks like the resistance increased but it's still within safety specs. It's an interesting idea Miss Sato but using a soldering iron is still better in my opinion. Metalbenders aren't exactly common and the solder you use helps keep the gauge roughly the same size."

"Well it was worth a try at least." said Asami as she picked up the soldering iron. "Let's get to it Lee. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can leave."

An hour later and Asami back at the controls, guiding the airship up into the sky before aiming the nose towards the east and leaving the Fire Nation behind them. Now that they were underway another problem had wormed its way into Asami's thoughts. Two days of searching her airship for sabotage was two days that the Fire Lord had been waiting for her in Republic City. Izumi hadn't struck Asami as the impatient type but she was still the Fire Lord and not someone you wanted to keep waiting around.

Asami joined Korra and Lee by the ramp at the rear of her ship after they had landed at the airfield on the outskirts of Republic City. "Do you mind if Lee takes you back to the mansion Korra? I need to call Izumi and set up a meeting right now."

Korra gave a smile but Asami could still see the shadows of their encounter with Ginger lurking in the woman's eyes. "I'll see you later right Asami?" asked the Avatar.

Asami stepped in closer planting a kiss on Korra's cheek. "Of course. I'll come home as soon as I can. We can have dinner together if you want but I really need to go now."

She turned away, hurrying for the garage where Asami had left her car before heading back to the Fire Nation. Korra and Lee were heading for the same place, but at a less frenetic pace and Asami quickly left them behind as she entered the building. Inside was a phone meant for people to call for a taxi or someone else to come pick them up from the airfield. It was a little bit of a faux pas to use it for business but no one else was around at the moment. Asami grabbed the mouthpiece and began spinning the rotary dial as she entered the number for the Fire Nation embassy. A cordial sounding woman's voice came through after a few rings. "Hello, this is the Fire Nation Embassy, how may I help you?"

"Yes, this is Asami Sato. I was calling to speak to the Fire Lord if she's available."

"Just one moment while I transfer you Miss Sato."

The phone went quiet for a moment then there was a clicking sound and Izumi was on the other end of the line. "Good evening Miss Sato. I assume you're calling to schedule the meeting we spoke of last time. I apologize for the inconvenience but I'm planning to leave in the morning. Would you be available to meet tonight in an hour?"

An hour. That was plenty of time to get to the headquarters of her business but barely enough to see what her engineers had gotten done in her absence. "Yes of course. I'll meet you at Future Industries HQ if that's all right with you."

"I will see you then." Izumi hung up without another word.

Asami set the mouthpiece down, letting out a long sigh as the thought of walking away surfaced yet again. By now Korra and Lee had entered the garage and were getting into Lee's vehicle. Asami lifted one hand to wave as Lee drove away before heading for her own car. By the time she had gotten outside their car was near the far end of the airfield heading for the road that would take them to the Sato estate. Asami turned the wheel of her car to go the opposite direction into Republic City.

A few months ago and this would have been a busy road but recent events left the street empty of cars aside from hers. All of the light poles that should have been on were out, even the traffic lights in this area weren't functioning. Asami glanced away from the road as she turned the knob on her radio and her favorite music station began playing. When she looked back up a pair of headlights were shining through the window of her car's passenger door.

The impact shattered the windows spraying glass into the cab as her car spun in a half circle before coming to a dead stop in the middle of the street. Asami groaned, raising her throbbing head to stare blearily at the world outside.

Her door was yanked open and a pair of hands were roughly yanking her out of the car. Asami tried to raise her arms to fight them off but there was no strength in her at the moment. The last thing she saw before passing out was someone with a red mane dragging her by the coat towards the car that had struck hers.