When Kuvira awoke she was in a small compartment. It was much too warm and the cot she had woken up in was much too hard. The cabin was just a cramped windowless shoebox of a room, nothing but bare metal and rivets. But it was metal. Kuvira sat up too quickly for her head and spent the next half a minute dazed before she could stand up unsteadily. She looked around, Bataar was slumped in a folding canvas chair, deep asleep. Other than that here was no one around. She had to know. There was a particularly rusty bolt in one of the buttresses on the wall in front of her. She took a basic stance, extended her hand and tried to twist it with her bending. The feeling was gone, that indescribable sense of force jolting and twisting between her and her target had left her, in its place was just the feel of unused muscles flexing with a degree of difficulty.
"I knew it." Asami yelled as she barged into the room. Bataar snapped awake, almost jolting his glasses off of his face. "The first thing you did was try to bend your way out."
"I-I" Kuvira stammered, she backed away from the taller captain of industry until she was in the corner. Every instinct in her said to fight, rip the floor from under her, bind her with metal cabling, pelt her with rivets, all impossible now. "I just needed to know." Kuvira finally managed in an uncertain whisper.
"Do you really expect me to believe you wouldn't have tried to break out if that screw had moved?" Asami pressed, for an answer Kuvira did ot, herself, know.
"It doesn't matter." Bataar protested. He stood up beside Kuvira and grabbed her hand tightly. "She can't bend, she's not a threat to anyone."
"Thank you, Bataar." Kuvira whispered tenderly.
Lin walked in, garbed in her jet black armour again. She carried in her hands a pair of shackles. "According to the pilot we're about three minutes out from Zaofu, time to get ready." She explained as she entered the room.
"How long have I been out?" Kuvira wondered aloud as she rolled back the sleeves of her robe.
"About a day and a half." Lin said. "Junior hardly left your side." Bataar just smiled broadly when Kuvira looked to him. She gasped a bit as the cold metal was pressed against her hands and fixed on soundly. She studied the shiny, spotless sheen of the cuffs and the slightly milky silver colouring to it.
"I don't understand this is platinum." Kuvira observed, bewildered.
"You have a lot of enemies in Zaofu, one metalbender with a grudge and…." Lin made a crunching noise in the back of her throat. "They'd be calling you stumpy for years."
The speaker in the corner of the wall crackled into life. "All hands brace for landing." The pilot reported blandly with a slight hiss of static. A moment later they were overcome with a falling sensation whole as they were pulled in to a swift landing, the ship bonced and bucked a moment as it made contact with the ground and then sat still.
"That would be Dockmaster Yuma." Kuvira said deadpan as they let go of whatever they were hanging onto. "Always liked to really lash them down."
The airship's engine's powered down. The whoosh of the rotors and the thrumming of the engine box gave way to silence for a moment. And then Kuvira heard it, the throng of a crowd screaming and shouting on the other side of the gondola's hull.
"Well, the moment of truth." Bataar said with a slow air of trepidation. "Nervous?"
"Terrified." Kuvira replied.
They both followed Lin and Asami out into the main room. It was a slightly rusted out water tribe airship and judging by some of the fixtures it had rolled off the assembly line when Avatar Aang was still a young man. The windows of the gondola revealed the Zaofu Aerodrome and the crowd assembled to 'welcome' them. A sea of green robes and red faces seethed before them. A peach splattered against the viewports, and the another fruit, and then another.
"That's a pretty angry crowd." Korra said, slightly amazed. "I've had some rough receptions but that is really something."
"Asami." Tonraq said as he stood up out of his seat. He put his hands on the younger, shorter woman's shoulders, completely dwarfing them. "Look after her will you, I have to get this crate back to the south pole."
"I will, give Senna my best." She replied politely and then dipped her head respectfully.
"Tell mum I said hi too." Korra said perkily as she placed herself by the hatch of the airship.
"Okay I'll go first." Lin said commandingly. "Kuvira and Bataar can stand in the middle, Korra and Asami you can stand at the rear."
Kuvira gripped Bataar by the hand, it wasn't quite clear who was leading who but they managed to pull each other to the endge of the door. Kuvira stood by the door and took one last deep breath. "No place like home, eh Bataar?" She said with a smile that was packed full of fear where happiness had tried to be.
"We'll be fine." He said warmly. A rather hard looking pineapple bounced off the hull of the airship. Battar gulped.
"Time to face the people Kuvira." Asami said harshly, arms crossed.
Lin opened the door to reveal the welcome party. Su Yin was there strictly out of necessity, and it showed on her face. Bataar Senior was with her, a pensive sideways pout sat on his face as he waited for his namesake. Opal was present in her wingsuit, the same as ever whilst Bolin stood with her dressed in a green instructor's robe. Stood at his brother's side was Republic City's youngest Police Captain, Mako. His uniform was a dull black and double breasted with badges and medals emblazoned across his chest. His burnt red left arm was garbed in a leather hand support and he clenched it and unclenched it by habit.
If the crowd was furious before they were incensed with rage now as Kuvira stepped out onto the metal platform. Without the dome's protection against the elements the once glimmering city's metal had been tarnished and dulled. In the distance the city of Zaofu's great lotus-like domes were still being reconstructed, jagged scaffold skeletons jutted from incomplete 'petals'. The flash of photographers at the front of the crowd dazzled her. Out of the click and flash of shutters a whole pomegranate collided with her head. She would have been knocked off of her feet if Bataar hadn't been able to catch her.
"Guards, control the crowd!" Mako ordered. The security forces took their time corralling the mob to the platform exits. There were precious few guards left in the city and they dragged their feet somewhat to defend the 'Great Uniter' at the behest of a foreign commander.
"Junior!" Su called as she ran up to embrace her child. She snatched him quickly enough to snap his hand out of Kuvira's grasp and clutched him tight enough to crush the wind out of him. "Kuvira." She said more icily.
"Su, we should get to a secure location, a meeting this open is inviting assassins." Lin reported rapidly, her head was on a swivel watching for any possible angle of attack.
"Fine." The matriarch huffed. "We can discuss this in the train."
Kuvira just stood there dumbly with fruit flesh sticking her hair to the side of her head. The procession marched quickly into the transit station. Security had been able to keep the train platform properly deserted.
"Hey, Bolin what's the uniform all about?" Asami asked as they settled into the little train car.
"After we took down the Colossus Su hired me to teach some of her new recruits lavabending." Bolin explained proudly.
"That hotfoot thing, was very impressive Bolin." Kuvira said warmly. "I don't mind telling you I was not looking forward to the repair bill after that." The rest of the group tried not to look too surprised by a deposed dictator making small talk. They failed.
"No." Su said faux-casually. "I suppose you were all out of domes to melt down."
Kuvira looked at her for a moment but she didn't speak.
"Er…..so how's the new promotion Mako?" Korra asked in a semi-tactful attempt to divert the conversation. "Feels like just yesterday you were giving guys parking tickets."
"Hey, traffic patrol is an important duty." Mako snapped.
"Didn't you incinerate a bunch of my parking tickets when we were fighting Amon?" Asami asked with a slightly nostalgic tone to her voice.
"You did what?" Chief Beifong said in a hard, flat entirely deadpan voice.
"It-I-I, we were in the middle of a war, I did what I had to." Mako protested.
The rest of the group broke out into a raucous laughter. Meanwhile Su eyed Kuvira still, watching her shift uncomfortably in the seat, listening to the rattle of her manacles and keeping a very keen eye on the offensive hand she intertwined with Bataar Junior's.
"You know Junior..." Bataar senior said to his younger namesake. "I was thinking this might be a chance to make the domes better than they were the first time, I could sure use your help."
He briefly considered correcting his father but Bataar supposed there were worse things he could be called besides Junior "I'd like that, dad." he said softly.
They sped down the tracks until they were at the Beifong estate. Like the rest of the city it was still rebuilding, Su had not chosen to prioritise its repair as a show of solidarity to her people.
Kuvira stepped out to a quiet estate standing clean and proud in the totality of her view. On the overlook Huan was shaping one of his sculptures. He watched Kuvira as intently as an owl-hawk, and as he was watching her made a particular effort to shape one of the outward pointing beams into a downward angled shard. In Huan's case that could be anything from a mortal threat to a heartfelt attempt at reconciliation.
Wing and Wei descended from the steps. Though they had not seen fit to wear their armour to greet them they had both attached their cable spools to their belt. Kuvira noticed the edges of their arm guards extending and sharpening into equilateral blades.
"We refurbished Aiwei's villa." Su said as she led the procession along the edge of the estate to the furthest corner, tucked far out of view. The original villa had been blasted apart a few years ago, then rebuilt as another guest house and then remodelled again for their impending arrival. Bars covered the windows and each of the doors had been reinforced into heavy, blast resistant slabs. Thick, high walls surrounded the path up to it and a few guards stood at the ready. Even they scowled at her, evidently they had not volunteered for this detail. "As a part of your custody you aren't to leave this house without my express permission under any circumstances."
"Thank you Su, I understand." Kuvira said politely. She walked up the hill and through the thickly wrought gates until she was inside the Uniter's Estate. She noted that the gate and the fences were just plain steel, not platinum. Any metalbender in Zaofu could get in but only she could be kept in.
The front door was a heavy, solid thing which Su unlocked with a precise application of metalbending. It groaned open to reveal a slightly Spartan home, and yet it did indeed feel like home to sit amidst the metal and hard angles and electronics of her native Zaofu.
She and Bataar walked hand in hand through the front door and then it shut behind them.
"She didn't even say she was sorry." Opal huffed as the door slid shut.
"That might be my fault…." Asami said nervously. "When she tried to apologize I may…have snapped at her."
"And people say I'm harsh." Lin observed.
Su looked thoughtful for a moment and then turned to Korra, by her posture it was clear she was worried. Now that that's over I'd rather you stayed here for the moment Korra, you too Lin." She explained softly.
"Anything you need, Su." The Avatar replied boldly.
"Saikhan can look after Republic City a while longer, what's the problem." Lin replied a moment later.
"Since the domes went down I've been trying to improve relations with the neighbouring states." Su Yin explained. "Both the President of the Ganjin and the Zhang Chieftain are telling me that a few local warlords in the area have been banded together by the remnants of Kuvira's armies and they're on the move this way."
"You're worried about another attack?" Mako intuited.
"Yes." Su answered direly. "And without the domes any attack could cause horrible civilian casualties. I can't put my people through that again."
"Maybe General Iroh could send help?" Asami suggested.
"No, the United Forces are busy with peacekeeping missions and humanitarian aid all over the continent." Lin explained.
"Let me guess, Raiko's being useless as always." Korra groaned.
"I've been out there, the situation's way too tense for them to spare the resources." Opal replied.
"Well I guess me and Asami could stay in one of those big guest houses." She said looking over to one of the shining steel micro-mansions across the way.
"Yeah, we'll suffer it." Asami grinned.
"Alright! Team Avatar is back and bigger than ever!" Bolin yelled as he drew in whoever he could for a big, sloppy hug that captured Opal, Mako, Asami and half of Korra, it would have ensnared Lin too if she hadn't been able to hop backwards out of the way.
A large radio set sounded through the villa living room. "And today Zaofu receives its prodigal daughter. Kuvira and her paramour Bataar Junior have returned from their year in exile after Avatar Korra succeeded in removing the dethroned dictator's bending. We've been getting your messages listeners and all I can say is public disapproval is mounting. This has been the Zaofu hourly, now back to our entertainment." The soft crooning of a local songstress followed.
"I forgot how much I missed the radio." Kuvira said with a slightly sad smile on her lips. She was sat on a wide green loveseat looking through the barred windows to a blank patch of grass and the afternoon sun poking over the walls of her prison. Now that there was weather for it she had plans for a proper garden, one with vegetables and flowers, the sort she always said she'd try to craft in her retirement.
"Still, the news is a bit depressing, not that I'm surprised?" Bataar said as he pressed his shoulder up against her. In response she leaned her head against his until she could feel his hair tickling against the skin of her neck. "Is it everything you hoped for."
"Better." Bataar could feel a warm tear drop off of her cheek and onto his forehead. "So much better."
It was late in the night when Kuvira rolled out of bed for a midnight trip to the toilet. She huffed at the sight of a light shining weakly through the doorframe, it would take a while to readjust to lights that didn't burn themselves out. She hissed slightly as her bare feet collided with the cold metal of the floor. Fur rugs, that was what she missed about her polar home.
"I should ask for some slippers." She muttered to herself and then slid the door open, it squeaked a bit as its hinges rubbed together. Bataar snorted in his sleep but didn't wake. She walked out into the main corridor. The flickering light of a fire stretched from the open door of the bathroom opposite them to the tips of her feet. The door was ajar and so was the window, its bars had been cut off and the remaining nubs were still glowing hot.
"Intruders." She gasped. On instinct she tried to draw some metal out of the walls to protect herself. The realisation that she was just flailing her arms hit her and then she gulped nervously.
"Where is that tyrant?" A voice huffed.
Kuvira thought. The only phone was in the living room down the hall. She could either fight a firebender in the nude, with only her bare hands or she could run to the phone and let the assassin roast Bataar alive. No choice at all really.
The assassin heard something and looked up sharply. He gasped as he saw Kuvira in the mirror over the sink. "Murderer." He yelled, and then whirled around to shoot a streak of fire at her. Kuvira ducked out the way, and nearly stumbled off her footing. Fifty extra pounds and a lack of practice had taken an edge off of her flexibility. She dodged another fire blast clumsily and collided with the wire thin man shoulder first. He slammed into the doorframe and then fell onto the hard tiles of the bathroom with force enough to knock the breath out of both of them. He kicked her away, hard enough to crack her nose and fill her vision with spots and her mouth with the metallic tang of blood. She reached a hand to the rim of the sink for something to fight him with and then shattered a shampoo bottle over his head, he grunted in pain and then squealed like a hog-monkey as the thick liquid seeped into his eyes. He struck blindly with a fire blast that singed the cartilage of her ear and the wall behind her.
"You're going to pay." The assassin shouted. He was young, his voice still cracked slightly as he yelled. In the light of the fire she could make out pallid skin, silky black hair grown wide and wild with a few patches of stubble. One eye watched her, golden irises surrounded with bloodshot veins flickered open as he wiped the goo away as best he could. "For everything."
"Asami, Korra!" Mako yelled through the door of their quarters. "We got a call from Bataar, someone broke in."
There was a clattering and the sound of cloth fluttering before the lights came on and the two of them staggered out. Asami was dressed in a simple blue nightie that was a size too big for her and Korra adjusted the fit of a reddish silk slip with lace trim. Korra was slightly breathless and Asami's makeup had smudged a tad.
The detective looked them up and down and then smirked a bit. They met up with Bolin, Opal, Su Yin and Lin on the run out of the estate.
"Seriously Su, you've got to invest in carpeting, metal is way too cold at night." Bolin griped on the rush out to the compound.
"The domes used to keep the warmth in." She shivered back.
At the walls of the villa the night guard was there to meet them. "What happened." Lin asked, immediately.
"I dunno." The guard said and then took in a deep yawn that wobbled his uvula. "I fell asleep."
The living room sofa had been upended and one of the table lamps was shattered. Kuvira had donned a soft green nightgown and held an icebag to the side of her head. Her nose was broken and both her eyes were ringed with deep, tender bruises. There was blood streaked all up her hands, none of it hers.
"Spirits, that must have been a rough fight." Korra observed.
"You should see the other guy." The punch-drunk Kuvira slurred. She raised a wavering hand and pointed to the body slumped up against an armchair. There was a horrific gash running from his jawbone, down the length of his neck and stopping at a jag of glass lodged in the collar bone.
"I think she's concussed." Bataar said fretfully.
"I could heal her." Korra offered.
Bolin yelped and hopped back. "Oh no." He whispered.
"Bolin, what's the matter?" Opal asked as she held onto him.
Bolin scrabbled over to the body. "I know this guy."
"What?" Lin said as she crossed the room to look at the body. He wasn't clothed like a professional assassin. His belt buckle was too shiny, the soles of his boots were too hard and his clothing was too loose.
"Yeah, this is Baraz, me and Varrick met up with him when we quit Kuvira's army. He said he escaped from one of those re-education camps" Bolin's voice sounded hurt. He spun around and pointed and accusatory finger at Kuvira. "One of your camps."
"So, another of Kuvira's victims." Su remarked dryly.
"I-I had no idea, I was defending myself!" She yelled. She stood up off the edge of the loveseat. "I was just trying to keep Bataar safe."
"There you go again." Su protested. "Just defending yourself, just doing your duty, like we're supposed to feel sorry for you." She yelled, her voice broke slightly towards the end, as if pained. "The girl I raised would never have hidden behind a bunch of flimsy justifications like this."
"Su…" Lin whispered in surprise.
"You didn't raise me." Kuvira said, blankly, she could hardly believe she said it.
"How dare you? I loved you like a daughter!" Su shot back, agahast.
"Mother please, she's had a rough night." Bataar said, as he moved to stand between the two of them.
"Like a daughter, but I'm still not, you made that clear enough!" Kuvira croaked. Her whole face hurt as it scrunched up in turmoil. Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes. "You never gave me the Beifong name, I never lived at the Beifong estate, and you never once told people I was your daughter." She sniffed heavily, the tears were flowing swiftly. The once composed general was just another broken soldier crying over a rough childhood. "I idolized you Su, I would have been proud to be your daughter, but I was just another hobby for you, one you discarded when it got a bit inconvenient for you."
Su's lip quivered before she locked it into a stiff scowl, and balled her hands into fists, the whole house groaned with the sound of metal settling. She thought to say a great many things before she settled on one in particular. "And does any of that excuse what you put this young man through?" She finally said in a surprisingly serene voice.
Su walked out, followed by Opal and Bolin, then Mako, then Lin and finally Korra. As the dawn's light slowly krept into the house it was just Bataar, Kuvira, and the man she had driven to murder.