Alright, here is another chapter. I tried to make this one a little longer, since I myself like longer chapters. Onward!
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Korra raced through the city, occasionally asking questions about how to get to Central Park. The streets were clogged with vehicles, and the sidewalks were crowded with hundreds of people. She shoved her way through them all, not caring about the indignant cries that followed her.
Seeing a tree crowded area in front of her, she bolted the last few yards onto the opposite sidewalk, charging across the grass. As she ran, she found that the incessant noise of the city faded. She relaxed slightly.
Korra heard a loud, familiar roar from off to her left and abruptly changed direction, heart pounding in her throat.
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Tony was driving like a maniac. He wove in and out of all the taxis, practically laying on his horn. He cursed and hit the wheel as a huge truck lumbered across his path. Steve was leaning forward in his seat, foot tapping the floor.
"Was it near the entrance to the park?" Tony demanded.
"Yeah, close to the front, in a clearing of trees." Steve replied.
Tony screeched around a corner, and turned abruptly into the entrance to Central Park. He braked quickly, and they piled out of the car.
"Uh… Tony, you double parked."
"Yeah, so?"
"Isn't that illegal?"
"Yes, but I don't have time to do it again, and I think I can afford a parking ticket."
Steve rolled his eyes, but jogged after Tony as he chose a path. They could hear a lot of yelling, along with intermittent growling punctuated with roars.
They burst into a clearing, stopping in their tracks as they surveyed the scene. On the opposite end a huge white creature was sniffing the air and swiping at the officers around it. Steve gaped. Tony was grim.
"Well, we have to take it down."
A sudden rustling made them both freeze. Across from them, a figure burst out of the trees and bushed, breathing hard. It was Korra. She froze when she saw them, eyes growing wide.
"Korra! Stay back, we have this handled." Said Steve.
"What? NO! You don't understand!" She looked panicked.
"Well, you can explain later." Said Tony. "Just stay here!"
They began walking away, but then their feet were encased in rock. Steve shouted at Korra, but she just glared right back at him. Then she raised her fingers to her mouth and gave a piercing whistle.
"Naga! Come!"
The creature perked up and raised its head. Then it bounded forward.
"Korra!" hissed Tony. "It might be dangerous, what are you doing?"
But Korra was already gone. She raced forward to meet her polar-bear dog, smiling widely. The white creature knocked her down, tail wagging hard. It then proceeded to open its mouth… and give Korra a huge lick. Korra laughed and scratched the dog behind its ears, as it happily gave her a huge bath, complete with sniffing.
Tony and Steve just watched in fascination. "Uh, Korra?" Steve called. "Could you maybe let us loose?"
Korra waved her hand carelessly, and the earth smoothed back down. Steve started over to her, but Tony backed away.
"What, are you scared?" asked Steve incredulously. "You can battle huge aliens, but you can't handle a friendly… pet?"
"I'm not scared." Insisted Tony. "But dogs are not my thing. They smell and they shed."
Steve rolled his eyes but went over to Korra, who introduced the creature as Naga and Naga herself gave Steve a thorough face licking. The police and other people were asking a lot of questions, which Tony handled flawlessly. He thanked them for finding the lost pet and said that they would have a reward for returning it to him. Then he turned back to the others.
"Where are you going to keep that thing?" Tony asked.
"In my room. Naga is house-trained." Korra replied.
"No. Absolutely not," Tony squawked. But Korra turned to him with wide blue eyes and a puppy face. Tony glared at her, but he could feel himself caving and he finally sighed.
"Fine. But if anything happens—"
"It won't." Korra said confidently. Korra then mounted Naga. She tugged on the straps, turning the polar-bear dog. "I'll see you guys back at the tower." She urged Naga forward, and they bounded off. Tony and Steve trudged back to the car, and drove home only slightly slower than they arrived.
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When Korra got to the tower, Naga wouldn't fit in the elevator. So, she rode up the stairs. She entered the living room with Naga trailing behind her, making everyone in the room gasp. At least, all except one.
"Korra," stated Fury. "We need to talk."
Korra sighed, and handed Naga off to Clint, who seemed to be a little excited. She followed Fury into a room, where he made her sit while her stood in front of her.
He glared at her for a moment. "You have endangered my country once again by bringing that beast here. What were you thinking? What if it had killed someone?"
Korra was taken aback. "I didn't bring Naga here. I have about as much control over that as I do for my own appearance. And Naga wouldn't hurt anyone unless they hurt me or my friends first."
"Be as that may, if you are going to become part of this team, then you are going to have to think about your actions. Such as saving the world, and protecting it."
"How does that have anything to do with Naga?" Korra asked curiously.
"It doesn't. The creature was merely a distraction. Anyway, you have to train. You are going to have to undergo testing, and we are going to have to dig through your brain to discover everything about you and where you come from so we don't have anymore threats. This means you are going to have to fight. Hard. Do you understand me?"
Korra was thinking quickly. She used to be all for violence, but Aang's and Tenzin's words rang in her head, reminding her that keeping peace in the world is not easy to do with violence. That's my job, thought Korra. To keep peace in the world, not destroy it.
"Korra! If you are going to help save the world, you are going to have to listen! Do you understand me?" Korra looked up at him, anger shining clearly in her eyes. "Yes sir." She bit out. "I understand."
Fury nodded once before stalking out of the room. Korra sat in stunned silence for a moment. Then she exited the room, walking past where Clint and Naga were rolling on the floor. Naga looked up, and then followed her to her room. Once Naga was inside, Korra closed the door.
She smiled faintly as she saw the room. Tony had had it painted a light blue, and a giant squashy blue armchair sat in to corner. Her bedspread was blue, along with white fluffy pillows. Naga curled up next to her bed.
Korra collapsed into Naga's side. As she breathed in the familiar scent of fur, she felt tears prickling her eyes. She rubbed at them angrily. Naga whined and licked her face.
"Sorry girl, just thinking." Korra began to stroke Naga's head, humming softly. Naga put her nose in Korra's lap, attempting to comfort her master. Aang said this world needed help. I thought that meant that I was going to defeat something, and then live a normal life. I guess that's shot out of the sky. Korra snorted. I thought I was done with the 'you have to save the world Korra, it's what you were born to do' business when I left Republic City. She sighed. Pressure's still on I guess.
Korra sat there for a really long time, trying to get her brain to stop racing at a thousand thoughts an hour. When she finally glanced at the clock, she saw that it was long past midnight. She sighed, then got up. She might as well go to the workout room she had seen earlier.
When she got down to the workout room, she halfheartedly punched a punching bag. Then she lay down in the middle of the floor, too miserable for physical activity. A sudden voice behind her made her jump.
"You couldn't sleep either?" Natasha approached her before sitting gracefully on the ground in front of her. Korra sat up. "No. Too much on my mind I guess."
"What were you thinking about?"
Korra blew a breath out, then brushed her hair off of her forehead. "I was thinking about what Fury talked to me about earlier. He was telling me about how I'm going to have to help 'save the world' if I join the team. I saved my last world when I died! I thought when I came here, I'd had one last fight and then be done. But no, now I just have to fight for the rest of my life to protect a world that I don't even know." Korra punched the ground bitterly, feeling moisture once again gathering in the corner of her eyes.
Natasha watched her for a moment, before putting her elbows on her knees. "What do you mean by saving the world again?"
Korra looked at her for a moment. Then she decided that she could trust Natasha. "In my other world, I was the Avatar. They are meant to keep the peace in the world and rid it of any threats. I was discovered to be the Avatar when I was really little. They took me away from my parents, and into a compound where I was trained for several years. When I finally got out, people were expecting me to save them all from Amon. I'm not invincible! I can't do everything!"
Natasha had paled when she heard about the compound. It reminded her of her own childhood. She wasn't very good at comforting people, but maybe… "Korra," she said gently. "You don't have to save the world alone. And anyway, we don't save the world all the time. We're kind of one big really dysfunctional family." She smiled. "When the time comes, you have two master assassins, a big green guy, a man of iron, a thunder god, and a Captain. You won't be alone."
Korra looked up at that. She hadn't thought about that. She was always used to working all by herself. Even with Bolin, Mako, and Asami, they couldn't follow her everywhere. She had a team now. She smiled at Natasha, and then launched herself forward to give her a hug. Natasha stiffened under her, patting Korra awkwardly on the back. Korra leaned back and grinned at her. "We are so gonna have to work on your hugging skills." Natasha gave her a cold stare, but it lessened slightly when Korra continued to grin like an idiot.
Korra yawned widely. "Well, I'm off to bed." She stood up and started to walk out, but turned back at the doorway. "Thank you."
"Your welcome."
Korra barely made it to her room, she was so tired. All that stress and thinking was draining! She collapsed onto Naga's side, pulling a blanket down from the bed. She was asleep almost instantly.
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When Korra opened her eyes, she was in a place she recognized. The Spirit world. She saw Aang across the way, and stood to greet him.
"Thank you for sending Naga to me. I missed her a lot." Aang smiled at her.
"Your welcome."
"Why am I here?" Korra asked, looking around.
"You are not yet a maser airbender. I am here to teach you what I know."
"But you can't bend in the Spirit world." Korra said, confused.
"I know," said Aang. "But I can teach you the moves and you can practice them later. You won't be able to have a glider when you are done, but I can still make you a master."
Korra grinned happily. "Now," said Aang. "This is the position for summoning…"
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Korra slept a lot longer the next morning, and awoke sore from all of her training in the middle of the night. As she shuffled down the hall, she heard lots of clanging coming from the kitchen. Rounding the corner, she stopped in her tracks.
Clint was, for some reason, on top of the refrigerator. Tony had a water gun in his hands and was shooting at him. Natasha had several water balloons in her hand and was strategically lobbing them at Thor. Steve had a pot lid in his hand, looking a tad clueless as he shielded himself. Bruce was sitting at the table as he grinned, chuckling every now and then.
As Korra took a step forward, her foot slipped in a puddle of water. She yelped, making Tony turn and shoot her with a long stream of water.
She looked at him for a moment in shock, barely registering that the room had frozen around her. Then she mock glared. Gathering water around her, she only had one thing to say:
"Oh you are so on."
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Later, after Korra had finally won the fight (the assassins were sneaky!), they all sat down for a late lunch. Steve cooked something called spaghetti, which was really hard to eat but was also really yummy. Korra was also introduced to soda.
Tony had handed her a strange can, with a funny top. She drank the entire fizzy drink before starting to feel funny. Within minutes she was giggling madly and chasing people around. Later, after she had come down from the sugar high and crashed on the couch, Tony threw a blanket over her saying, "That's the last time we let her drink soda."
SO there is the next chapter. I am about to go on two mission trips, so I will update in about two weeks. Sorry guys. :/ Thanks for reading, it makes me feel good.