Morning arrived, but it was almost impossible to really tell. With the blackout curtains in the windows, the make-shift headquarters was shrouded in darkness, the defenders of Republic City cautious about letting light out. The only light came from candles and oil lamps - power had been out for days. Korra put her body between the lamps and the window and peeked out. There was smoke rising a few blocks away, and the low rumblings of tanks in the distance told her that fighting was still going on. Republic City was not at peace and probably wouldn't be for awhile.

To make matters worse, the atmosphere between the defenders was strained and tense, close to a boiling point. New Equalists refused to work with the police or benders. The police weren't working with Equalists, either, and non-benders who weren't aligned with the Equalists were forced to act as go-betweens. It didn't help that many of the benders didn't want to work with Equalists, either.

Korra felt like the inaction and the tension was going to drive her up the wall.. She set out in search of her wife, passing through several of the apartments before she found Asami speaking to Varrick. Asami looked stiff, her shoulders squared and her arms folded.

"You know, just because the president was with the Red Lotus doesn't mean your legal troubles are going to disappear once this mess is over. If anything they might push for it more. Return to normal as they say! Varrick said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I've got it! Why don't I do you a favor and buy part of Future Industries! Just one branch, like your advanced technology and aeronautical division. Break that off and they'll have to drop the lawsuit!"

Asami was developing a headache. She shook her head, and poked Varrick in the chest. "I'd sooner see my company dead and buried than let you have part of it." The most annoying thing was that Varrick was right. Once everything was back to normal, someone would come after Future Industries again. She had her hand in too many pies, but that had been entirely an outgrowth of her own interests and a desire to put her company to good use.

But she couldn't sell any part of it to Varrick, especially not her aeronautical department. That was her baby, the division she'd developed from the ground up in the wake of her father's arrest. But what if she spun that department off for herself, and handed over the reigns to the Satomobile division to someone she trusted, like Jia? She'd have to find a way to do it legally, but the idea appealed to her. Jia had done so much for her and her company, and she couldn't think of anyone more qualified. She'd still have to decide what to do with the appliances division. But that would have to wait for a time when she could give it some serious thought.

"Your funeral." Varrick clapped her on the back and then skedaddled when he saw the death glare Korra was giving him. She stared in the direction he'd gone, then turned to Asami.

"I have to sometimes remind myself he's actually on our side, and that I don't want to deal with the consequences of snapping his neck."

"He's an opportunistic pig. But I suppose he's our opportunistic pig." Asami put her hand on Korra's arm. "And yes, murder is bad."

"Lucky us," Korra intoned.

"Thanks for rescuing me." Asami embraced Korra, then stepped back. "I've been doing some thinking. Ty Lee said a lot of things that really spoke to me. I've been wondering if we can somehow end this without any further bloodshed."

"What did you have in mind?"

Asami took her wife by the elbow and pulled her out of the room. "Maybe we can pull a Kuvira with Amaya. Talk some sense in her. But she won't listen to us, I don't think. And if she won't listen to you I doubt she'd listen to me. But we have one of her sisters, right? The one who seemed to not be entirely on board with Amaya's plan. At least that's what Bolin thought."

Korra's eyes dropped to Asami's hand. Healing had fixed most of the damage, but she thought that Asami would have one of those weather aches for a long time to come and as much as a peaceful solution was preferable it had still gotten personal. "After what she did to you, you still want to talk her down?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Korra grinned toothily. Asami was right, and if she really asked herself she would have said that it was the answer she'd been hoping for. "We'll give it a shot, and we'll start with Lihua."

Lihua was being kept at the police station, underground in a cell made of platinum. There was no one on the streets as they made their way to it. Most of the fighting had moved farther south or stopped for the day. The station was heavily damaged, but they were let inside by a lieutenant on watch.

The earthbender sat cross legged in her cell, her eyes closed. She looked up when someone slid the door open. She rolled her eyes when she saw who had come to visit her. Of course. She wasn't afraid. They could torture her if they wanted. "What do you want?"

"We came here to talk," Korra said. She sat on the floor across from Lihua, and gestured for Asami to join her. Her voice was kind and her expression at ease. "We need to know everything you can tell us about your sister." She hadn't said a thing the whole time she'd been captured. The most she'd spoken was to Bolin, and then only a few words. Korra just hoped that time to think had made her want to open up more. Unlike some people she wouldn't resort to torture. But that didn't mean she couldn't intimidate someone if she had to.

"What do you hope to accomplish?" Lihua closed her eyes, resting her hands in her laps. They were shackled. An unnecessary precaution - she had no intention of going anywhere. "My sister believes in the Red Lotus, and their plans for the world."

"Their plans?" Asami asked. "Not 'our' plans?"

Lihua smiled, though there was no humor in the expression. "She's the special one. The chosen one. The one that Zaheer trained and had prepared should he fail. Nuo and me, we're the back-ups." She opened her eyes and looked down at her tattoos. "And her batteries. But they're family. Me, Nuo, Amaya, and Masaru. You fight for family..."

Asami leaned forward. "Masaru. That's your brother? The boy that we fought in the Fire Nation?"

"No," Lihua replied, a laugh bubbling up. "He's my nephew.."

"Amaya's son?" This was news. Possibly even useful news. Korra thought that if they could catch him, it would give them leverage to bring Amaya to the bargaining table. She already wanted her sister, according to Asami. Having both her sister and her son might just do the trick. It ran a little too close to holding hostages for her liking, but she wasn't sure they had a choice.

"It's a cycle. Zaheer trains Amaya. He turns her into this...she's not a zealot, but she believes the world is corrupt and that it needs to burn. And then in turn she taught Masaru the same way. Only he's not a bender so he can't do all the tricks she can." Lihua sighed. "But she still loves him. I just think she loves the cause more than us. Including Masaru."

"Do you agree with her? About the world and needing to cleanse it?"

"Yes, and no. The world is corrupt" Lihua sat up straighter." The people with power hurt those without. Non-benders get hurt the worse but even bender suffer under that oppression and its not always a bender doing the oppressing. But I don't think the world should burn." She clenched her fists, fire in her eyes. "I think we could have found peace, lived our lives in happiness. But that chance is gone now. She threw that away years ago and we've known nothing but the revolution since."

Asami chose her words carefully. "If we could sit Amaya down, get her to talk or negotiate, do you think she'd be willing to find a peaceful solution with us?"

She jumped when Lihua barked out a laugh.

"Oh you're funny!." Clapping her hands together twice, Lihua exclaimed. "Don't you understand? You're going to have to kill her! Kill my sister. And then if you don't catch him, Masaru will come for you some day, and you'll have to kill him. And then whoever he trained, and on and on and on. A cycle, a twisted cycle."

She laughed again, but the sound was strained and tears started to streak her face. "The Red Lotus is a cancer, it destroyed my family. And all you need, all you need is another Zaheer or Amaya, and it will start all over again. How can you stop that?"

She buried her face in her hands, and the silence in the cell weighed like lead in her heart. Breathing shakily, she lifted her head after several moments of calming down. "Nuo is...she's closer to Amaya than I am. But even she has to see that the path she's gone down will only have one end." Lihua looked at Korra, though the compassion in the Avatar's eyes was almost too much to stand. "It's too late to save Amaya. But Nuo might be reasoned with. And I can give you a list. Names. High ranking Red Lotus members, everyone we've ever met with, even some New Equalists. Just...try to save my sister, and my nephew. I don't have high hopes for him, but he's still young enough, it might not be too late."

Lihua raised some interesting questions. If they couldn't talk to Amaya, they'd have to stop her permanently. Korra could beat her, but she didn't think it would be easy. List in hand, Korra led Asami back to the headquarters so they could pass the information out. At the very least they could cut the Red Lotus out at the roots so that they wouldn't be a problem again. "Okay, so, something bad happens. People like Amaya get hurt, or their families get hurt, or something causes a change in them. But that doesn't make them the disease, they're just a symptom."

"Like my father," Asami pointed out, the irony not lost on her. "What are we going to do? We can't kill Amaya. That would make us just like her. If Avatar Aang could find it in him to spare Firelord Ozai, I think we can try to spare Amaya."

"I'll figure something out. Her son is a victim in all of this, too. I hope Lihua is right and we can maybe reach him. And if anyone can get through to Amaya it would be him." But raising a boy like that...

"If we can find him."

"Let me handle that." Korra opened the door for Asami, then followed her inside. "You need to get with Varrick and work out a way to take down those airships. We don't have any more we can crash into them."

"I've got some ideas." She winked. "But I won't tell you about them because then you'll just worry."

"Be careful, that's all I ask." Korra pulled Asami close, holding her for a moment before giving her a kiss.

Asami let herself have a moment where it was just them, nothing else and the outside world wasn't a terrifying place that could kill them at any moment. "Same goes for you, Korra."

Asami's plan was fairly straightforward. "We're going to steal an airship."

Zhu Li stared blankly at Asami then looked at her husband. To her dismay she could already see the gears turning in his head and knew that this course of action was going to be one that he'd jumpe right on. "You're both crazy."

"Crazy like a foxbat!" Varrick thrust his finger towards the ceiling. "Zhu Li?"

With a long suffering sigh and a roll of her eyes, Zhu Li replied, "I'll do the thing." Luckily for them, she enjoyed doing the thing.

"Do you remember how we tried to take down Kuvira's colossus?" Asami was referring to the electric shock that had disrupted a lot of the tanks. "What if we used something like that. The tanks won't be shielded and there's a good chance that the airships won't either."

"Not a bad idea." Rubbing his cheeks as he tried to get the science juices rolling, Varrick began to pace the room. "But if they're shielded we'll only get one shot and then we're outta luck! And then there's the collateral damage. We could set Republic City back a hundred years!"

"That's why we're going to steal an airship." Asami pointed out the window. "That one, right there. We can figure out how it's shielded, what's powering it, how they're controlling it with so few people, and what those cannon things that they've been using are. Knock out the shielding, or find a way to turn their signals against them. We can use the pulse as a last resort."

"I think they're bigger versions of what we scavenged from one of the tanks. Some kind of cannon. I call it the Boom Stick." Varrick led Asami over to a table and pulled a tarp off with a flourish. "It uses some kind of energy pulse to trigger firework powder. The explosion of the powder then directs the little ball at the target."

Asami leaned on the table, studying the disassembled weapon. "But what causes the pulse?"

"I've got a theory on that. The pulse generates a spark or a flame and then boom. Boom Stick." He fanned his hands out like an explosion. "We weren't able to get a look at the power source before the Red Lotus chased us off, but I'm preeeeeeetty sure that it's spirit energy."

"Spirit vines?" Asami felt her stomach sink into her feet. The sound of the spirit cannon reverberated through her head.

"Dunno. We'll know for sure once we've commandeered that airship. Spirit Energy is so complex and research has been banned so I couldn't tell you any more than that."

"Then we need to get to Future Industries and capture the command ship." Asami's hand ached, and she flexed it. "I've got some aircraft stored in a safe place. We'll board it, take it over, and then study it."

"Varrick," Zhu Li said. "I can get the electric pulse ready in case we need it.

"Right! Lets go do the thing! But not that thing because I don't want to take out every piece of technology in a ten mile radious unless we have to. That would be… bad."

With Korra focusing on defending the city and trying to find Amaya or her son, the mission to capture a Red Lotus airship fell to Asami. She didn't mind the responsibility. This was her forte, and she was much more comfortable with something like this than fighting an actual war. The easy part would be flying the airship. The hard part would be getting on board in the first place.

Varrick had 'volunteered' to stay behind and coordinate the attack. Meelo and Kai had volunteered to join her and as they were getting ready, Mako's partner, Yuki, had volunteered. as wel. After concerns about her health, she assured Asami that she was fit for duty, and didn't want to sit around and do nothing. Asami couldn't really turn her down, she happened to be the only other person present who'd actually fought Amaya directly. To top it off, the non-bender had managed to beat her, however short lived the victory had been.

A little mock airship sat at the center of a table as Asami planned out how she'd approach it.

"I'd like to help."

Asami turned away from the planning table. A woman a few years older than her approached them. She had grey eyes and brown hair in a bun that was in disarray. To be fair, not many of them had had time to fix up their looks. Even Asami's make-up was in ruins, but Korra had assured her her hair remained flawless. "You're one of the dispatchers at the police station, aren't you?"

"I'm a field certified," the woman assured her. "I'm Malina. I've been studying for a promotion so radio technology and frequencies are still fresh in my mind. If you're going to figure out their transmitting system, I think I can help."

It was a good idea. Asami was smart, but she wasn't an expert in everything. "Are you a bender?"

She shook her head, then turned her hip to show the weapons on her belt. "No, but I've got the batons. I like them better than the glove."

"Three non-benders and two airbenders. This ought to be interesting." Asami looked around. "Do we have some extra gloves? I'm afraid mine was taken by Amaya and I haven't really practiced with batons."

"I've got you, boss-lady." Yuki held up an electric glove, and Asami instantly recognized it as one of her own. Red with gold trim and fitted exactly to her hand. Yuki handed it over. "Jia had me go retrieve some and gave me a key so I could get yours. She said you'd be more comfortable that way. "

"I'm going to kiss that woman." Or she would, but Ikki might kill her if she tried anything. Asami pulled the glove on and tested it. "Okay, Malina. I've settled on a plan so let me fill you in. I'll fly us in on a plane and we'll board the airship and take it. Meelo and Kai will ride on the wings and jump on board as we get close, their job is to infiltrate from below. There's a field a few miles outside the city, we can land it there and then start to study it. Varrick and his team will be waiting there, along with those of my people I still trust. We're looking for a way to get past the shielding they have on their power sources without having to board each one, or a way to hijack their signals and use them against them."

"What kind of resistance do you expect?" Malina rested her palms on her batons.

"Either a whole lot or hardly any at all. I think it depends on how secure they feel up there."

"Sooo we should expect the worse and hope for the best," Yuki decided.

"Exactly.

Getting to Future Industries was easier said than done, but they reached their destination with only a few incidents. The main building was damaged, most of the glass shattered and rubble everywhere. But it was the buildings behind the skyscraper that had suffered the worse. Research and Development was a smoking black husk of its former self. It had burned completely to the ground and even now, days later, Asami could smell charred flesh. Jia hadn't told her if anyone else had been caught in the blaze, they knew Ai Li was the only one for sure, but then not all of their employees had been able to check in. But that wasn't Ikki or Jia's fault. She pushed that worry from her mind. "Hopefully Jia destroyed everything before the Red Lotus could get their hands on anything dangerous."

"What kind of things would you be doing that are dangerous? I mean, you just make satomobiles and planes don't you?"

Asami glanced at Meelo, who was standing there and rubbing his freshly shaven scalp with both hands. "Even an engine can be turned into a bomb if you do the right things to it. We don't make weapons, but my new engine was already in use, giving them a tactical advantage. Better to start over than to give them even more advantages." She tapped her head. "Most of the best ideas are still up here. Like we were working on a way to do calculations faster, and I've had this idea about a way to breathe underwater…"

She shook herself out of it. "I'm just hoping that one of the planes is undamaged. There's a hanger on the west side of the complex with a couple of test vehicles."

"Well, I guess just about anything could be dangerous," Meelo replied.

Kai grinned at him. "Even paint."

"I am a genius." He clapped Kai on the back, then quieted down when Asami shot them a look.

The first hanger had collapsed, crushing the bi-planes inside it, but the next hanger over was intact. Even better, it was locked and there was no evidence of tampering. "I haven't been able to get my new engine small enough for a plane. Once I can it'll revolutionize air travel." Asami started to unlock a side door. "But I came up with a new wing design. Much stronger than the dual configuration we're using right now. Combined with a redesigned undercarriage it should be able to land and take off in rough conditions and carry a heavier load. And it's faster than older designs."

"What about a hummingbird suit?"

She pushed the door open and led them in. "Most of those were sent to the Fire Nation to help with the relief efforts or destroyed in that other hanger. There's too many of us for one anyway."

"Wow." Malina stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of the plane. Asami's new design had a single, sturdy wing, bent slightly where the landing wheels where located. The cockpit was a closed design, and looked like it had room for two people and the entire plane looked like it had been covered in metal, or even made of metal. It was painted with an overall blue color theme, and the Future Industries logo was proudly positioned on each wing. From everything Malina had read, blue and red tended to be Sato's go to colors so she wasn't surprised.

"I have an even bigger design for long range transport but it's still being built. The metal is lightweight, designed to streamline the frame and to add extra strength for cargo. Maybe even people eventually." Asami climbed up and peered into the cockpit. "We have fuel!"

"Hey," Yuki pointed towards something in the corner. "What about that thing?" She'd spotted another aircraft. It had short, stubby wings and in addition to the propeller in front of it there were humming-bird style wings on top.

Asami followed Yuki's finger with her eyes. "It's an experiment to combine the hummingbird technology with a plane for greater speed and stability. I haven't quite gotten it off the ground yet. The wings aren't really working the way I'd hoped with that kind of frame and I'm probably going to have to go to the drawing board."

It would probably be better for this mission, Asami realized. She thought that It could hover if it only flew - as it stood, she was going to have to crash her monoplane after they reached the airship. Probably into the airship. She patted the fuselage with regret.

"Next time then," Yuki said, an eager glint in her eyes. "Hey, what if you put a propeller on top?"

Asami laughed. "I hope there's no next time. I'd like to make it to fifty before we have another crisis. Or eighty." She froze as Yuki's words registered, blinking her eyes and then looking back at the hummingplane. She'd spend so much time searching for elegant, spirit-like designs and Yuki's suggestion was so simple it was a crime that Asami or one of her team hadn't thought of it. Simpler was sometimes better than elegant. "That's actually a great idea...if that works I'll name the first model after you."

Malina climbed up to the cockpit and settled into the rear seat. She leaned around the front seat to look at the controls. "Who do I have to pester for flight lessons after this is all over."

"I know a few people." Asami winked, then helped Yuki in. It would be a tight fit, but Yuki could sit in Malina's lap.

"I swear you're trying to make us obsolete." Kai returned from opening the main hangar doors, and settled down on one wing. "Better and better planes, more hovering ones. Next you'll figure out a way to project like Jinora does."

"The world will always need airbenders," Asami assured him, hopping down to run a quick pre-flight check. Sure, she was going to crash into an airship, but they still had to get there first. "And if you'll notice, there are grooves for you to hold onto, and a strap to keep you secure."

Satisfied, she climbed onto a wing.

"That's our Asami, always looking out for us." Meelo flipped over the cockpit, high fiving Asami while he was still upside down, then landed and strapped himself in. "Go go go! Oh hey can I name it? We should call it something vicious. Like a Spider Wasp!"

"I'll think about it." Asami strapped herself in, then started the engine and taxied the plane out of the hangar. "First person that asks if we're there yet gets thrown out." Goggles in place? Check. Asami was ready to go.

Like previous test flights, the airplane flew well. It was a little wobbly in places because the company hadn't had a chance to tweak some of the avionics and replace part of the flight systems. While the hummingplane was a personal project, the monoplane was meant to be the future of flight and so it had a team working on it. But it would get them there today, and that's what mattered.

Once they were in the air, Kai and Meelo detached themselves, and took a sweeping arc towards the command ship. Asami guided the plane around, giving them time to get on board and to also keep them out of range of the Red Lotus cannons.

Asami locked the throttle into place, shifting around in her seat to look at Yuki and Malina. "I'm going to crash land on the deck. Be ready to jump out and take down anyone you see. If they aren't us or the airbenders, knock them out."

"If you get us killed I'm coming back to haunt you." Malina unstrapped herself, and crouched on the seat. Yuki crouched next to her. Asami pushed the cockpit back, exposing them to the elements. Her hair whipped around her head and she gripped the control stick harder. The airship was closing fast. Puffs of smoke erupted from its cannons and Asami pulled up on the stick, taking them above the fire before bringing them into a dive. They rushed towards the deck and she cut the the throttle while hitting all the air brakes.

The landing gear snagged on the deck railing and ripped off the bottom of the plane. They skidded along the deck, coming to rest near the control room. Malina jumped out the left side, swinging her batons at a Red Lotus soldier. The shock sent him spasming to the ground. On the other side she could hear Yuki fighting, and climbed up the plane to get to her.

Flipping out of the plane, Asami rushed towards the control room. A big, burly fire-bender got in the way. She swept her foot out low, tripping him. She shocked him with her glove, then ran inside.

The airbenders were already inside. Meelo was harassing the pilot by repeatedly airbending him in circles, while Kai was tying up two other crew members. He gave her a thumbs up. "Hey, Asami, I think this thing is flying itself."

She looked down at the controls. "Can you feel anything strange at all?"

"Yeah." Meelo tied the pilot up and came over. "There's this buzzing in the air. I can feel it. Kinda like spirit energy. You don't think they've got some kind of spirit cannon do you?"

"They'd have used it if they did. No, they're doing something else. Maybe it's just a power source." She pulled a panel off and started to crawl inside. "I'm going to see if I can regain manual control."

"Deck is clear." Malina ducked in, followed by Yuki. She walked up to an array of equipment and picked up a pair of headphones. "Let me take a look at the communications equipment."

"I've got a theory." Asami's muffled voice came from inside the console. She pulled out a wire and rerouted it, then climbed out. "But we already know Amaya can siphon bending from her sisters. What if that's basically energybending, and what if she figured out a way to share that energy across multiple airships and tanks? I think that maybe it would operate the same way the radios work, only with spirit energy instead of radio waves."

"We'll figure it out, but you need to hear this." Malina put the radio on the speaker.

"-repeat, we've freed Kuvira, but she's not-"

"...that's it, the transmission just went dead. I don't think Kuvira is cooperating."

"Okay but did they seriously think Kuvira was going to help them?" Meelo leaned over the controls, peering out the window. "Kuvira is like Queen of Order and Boring, Red Lotus is total chaos!"

"Like mixing oil and water." Asami made a disgusted noise. "I hate to admit it, but Kuvira's the least of our worries right now. Lets get this thing on the ground."

"We should let Korra know," Kai said. It sounded like something the Avatar needed to handle anyway.