/*many thanks for reading. Trying to finish this but school is kickin up and i don't want to sacrifice quality for speed. Anyways, next chapter hereee enjoy!*/

-East-West Highway-

~Well I remember when
You looked me in the eye, my friend.
"Back in no time," you said.
One thousand years ago.
Well I wanna know
Where do we go from here?~

As the car sped across the long, open roads of East-West Highway, the soothing but slightly eerie voice of a female singer singing the above lyrics from Bolin's radio was the only noise being made. The team was annoyed by the constant, random noise of Qu's offline station, but they were not sure they would prefer awkward silence instead, so they changed the station to a still-existing music station.

They had been on the road for hours. The sun had finally risen. Korra watched it rise over a mountain, the snow on top glistening. They had passed the rockier mountains which surrounded Republic City, and now found themselves driving through colorful fields and plains of the Earth Kingdom, grassier mountains lining the horizon. Korra thought she had forgotten what the sun looked like. Republic City always seemed to be existing in an everlasting night, and the Wastelands were an eternal gray.

The wind blew through the tall grass. Few cars passed them, surely not going to Republic City. Everything was so calm. They felt so distant from everything, from the tragedy they had evaded. The world looked safe here, as if it had no idea that a monster was moving through the oceans and planning to end the world. Maybe they could just stop somewhere, get off on one of the exits to a small town where no one would know of them or Graft or Qu, and they could get a house and start a new life. So far from danger, maybe it wouldn't reach them. Lost like some dream that would never actually come true, and everything would continue on normally.

Korra wished this were true. She wished being so far from CHAOS would mean Daya wouldn't actually carry out her mission, that it could all just be forgotten and pushed aside. She knew otherwise. Things wouldn't change. She would have to face CHAOS.

As glad as she was to be away from the tension in Republic City, she still felt like something had followed her out of the city. Like something was following her since she and Asami met up with the other members of the Team. She thought about everyone in the car and tried to think why any of them would give her this kind of scent. It was kind of like Clasma. She couldn't remember if Sydney was still infected with the stuff. It could have just been her, but the Clasma felt different, like it was not flowing through someone's body. She could see the trunk through the back seat and no one had stowed away. Her next hypothesis was that since Asami had been infected then drained, minimal traces of Clasma still remained in her. Negligible amounts. But Korra wouldn't able to sense it this easily. She could not pinpoint where the scent was coming from. She would have to see if anyone had accidentally snuck out a vial of Clasma without knowing it. The only one she would have been suspicious of was O-Ren, since she didn't know him at all, or Sydney, because she was one of Graft's old lab rats. She tried to think about other things, but stored this concern in her memory.

Bolin changed the radio back to the static station, hoping for someone to come on the air and transmit a message. O-Ren was dozing off. In his half-awake, half-asleep state, his mind began producing dreams, and the sounds around him in the real world became distorted. The white noise from the radio sounded like crying voices to him, like people talking to him and saying evil things. He sprung up, grabbed the radio from Bolin, and switched it off.

"Can't stand it anymore."

Bolin didn't say anything. He was wondering the whole time whether the sound was annoying to the others. "I was just waiting to see if there was any news about…" his voice drifted off.

"Well, I'm not just going to sit in silence," Mako said. "Maybe you can start by telling us what is happening?" He was talking to Korra. She glanced quickly at him then turned back.

"Why are you angry with me?"

"I'm not angry! Okay, I'm sorry if I sound like I am, but I just saw a gigantic monster completely wreck our city. Our home. Just walked through it like it was nothing. And all these things are just happening at once. I thought I had an idea of what was going on, but then this man shows up and kills Graft and nearly kills you as well, drags you away but you simply return a short time later, good as new. I don't know how Solomon came back, or what that monster was, but I have a feeling that you do, and it is frustrating when we are all so ignorant to the situation."

"Look I'm trying to figure this out, too, okay? It's not like I know the answer to everything just because I'm the Avatar."

O-Ren analyzed the two talking. The way Mako spoke to Korra sounded awkward to him, like a way of talking he had not noticed about Mako. He concluded something must have happened between the two friends and shrugged.

"Maybe…you should just tell us what you know, Korra, so we can figure this out together," Asami said, calmly and reassuringly. Korra sat in silence until she realized that this was the best option. It would be a long drive before they got to…wherever they were going.

"Alright," Korra sighed, "About a year ago I started training with my very Spiritual Uncle. He helped me understand the flow of cosmic energy, and as a result some channel between the Spirits and me was created. I was visited by a very angry Spirit, named Daya, who preached that the Spirit World was becoming unstable and that the human race needed to end. She said that since I was the Avatar, I had to be the one who ended mankind because I was the one who had to maintain the balance between the Spiritual and the physical world…but I would never agree to that. Instead, I came to Republic City to try and find the source of this instability. I knew something was happening there that was angering the Spirits. When I found out about Graft and his Clasma business, I thought that would be it. I thought that would solve the problem, bring balance back, so I made his downfall my mission, hoping Daya would be calmed.

"But apparently her strife with the human race dates back centuries, and she blames the Avatar's deviation from its true role for the persistent imbalance. She had been wanting to end this race for a while, but she never could because she literally had no energy. She used it all the create…things, but that isn't important. But when Amon took my bending away, she regained some of it, which was how she could speak to me. My refusal to fulfill her awful mission forced her to find someone else to do it, and she found Solomon, someone who hated the human race and would be easy to convince because he had visions of how the race should be, so she sent him back to Earth as, basically, an Avatar. So now that he is here, he acts like a correspondent for CHAOS, that monster you saw, which he will lead to a place in order to fulfill the beast's mission. The beast is a vessel that literally contains the Spirit World within it, and once it revives and releases an army from within it called the SPORE, the Spirit World will begin leaking out of CHAOS and smother this world as the SPORE collect the souls of humans. The physical world will end, everyone will become lost souls to be used by the Spirits to create another world. That is how it works, and I know that it does work because this world is the third world they have created, and soon it may be the third they wipe out."

"There have been worlds before this one?" Sydney asked.

"Yeah, and whenever the race advances to a certain point, the Spirits deem them a failure and end them."

"So then," Mako said, "How do we stop it?"

"Well that is the part I need help with. Daya controls the monster, all energy from the spirit world flows into the physical world through her, so killing her would probably do it. But there are a few issues with that. First off, I don't know to get inside the beast, which is where the Spirit World is. That thing isn't just going to let you in. And going through its mouth, it would no doubt just chew you up."

"Maybe if we weakened it or something?" Bolin asked.

"Sure, but what could we do to weaken that thing?" O-Ren pointed out. "It just stepped on our city. I don't think a few rocks or fireballs will even hurt. It looked like it was made out of fire."

"This is crazy. Why is this just dawning on us now? That there have been more than one world? That the Spirit World was angry with us?" Mako asked.

"No one knew," Korra said. "No one has the connection to the Spirit World except the Avatar, but how could the Avatar learn to do it being raised by the humans who did not know? Apparently, the four elements are not even close to the extent of the Avatar's powers. I learned a little energy bending when I…"

"Wait, where did you go?" Mako asked. "How are you back and 100%?"

"I went to the place left behind when the Spirit World was wrapped up in that beast. An old friend helped me."

Mako rubbed his head. "Fine. This is all too much, but we need, like, a clear plan or something. A step one. Should we first focus on weakening the beast? So that it will let us go inside of it?"

"It's not going to be so simple, Mako," Asami said. "You saw it. We would need an army to even hurt it."

"Well, what about the army?" Korra asked.

"Don't think it will be so simple to get them to help us," O-Ren said. "First off, we are terrorists, and secondly, Graft had made some deals with the armed forces and got them on his side, so I'd imagine they now report to Qu. They'd just kill us."

"Is there anyone who would leave behind their allegiance and help save this planet?" Asami said.

"What about Iroh? Has he given his allegiance to Qu as well," Korra asked.

"I'm not sure," O-Ren said. "I have not seen any news about him recently. I bet he's been sacked for refusing to work for Qu. That brings up another point, however. I am not entirely sure how many generals were willing to serve Graft and Qu, given their sketchy reputations. There are definitely those who are loyal to Qu, but I'm not sure the number. In any case, I'm sure that everyone Qu rescued from Republic City is completely loyal to him. So they wouldn't help us."

"I have a hard time believing that Iroh would serve Qu. In fact, I have a hard time believing anyone would, but maybe if we showed them the pathetic regime that Qu now runs, they would leave him. Qu would be nothing without his followers. And if we can get the forces on our side, maybe we would have some kind of chance," Mako said.

Korra thought about how small this chance was. Would guns actually be able to do anything to this monster? Would humans even stand a chance? One thing that was for sure was that at least an army would have some chance of getting CHAOS to open itself up, whereas the five of them had a zero chance.

"That sounds like a start, I guess," Korra said.

"So maybe we should figure out where we are going?"

Asami shifted gears. "We are on the East-West Highway. I didn't really have a destination in mind. Just trying to get far from the city. The Transcontinental Highway is too busy. We would probably be caught."

"Caught for what?" Korra asked.

"Qu's been broadcasting over the radio," Bolin said, "He said we are terrorists."

"What else has he said?"

"Nothing," Bolin said, "But that is because his transmissions keep getting interrupted by someone. Someone who is trying to make public the true nature of Graft and Qu."

This caught Korra's attention. "So then, it sounds like we aren't alone. Who are these people?"

"No idea. they've only broadcasted a few times."

"We should try and find them."

"If anything, it is just another group of people like us who are pretty tech savvy. I think we are better off going after Qu."

"In that case," Asami said, "I should set our course for the town of Metro. The mini-Republic City, except the buildings aren't as tall and the red tape isn't as thin. It is a little ways since I took this road, you know, because Metro is south and we are either going east or west. We should find some way to get to a different highway. But I don't think we can really do anything until I get some gas."
She looked at her gas meter. 'E'. The light was on. She needed gas soon.

"At least we have some kind of direction," Mako said. Korra slumped in her chair.

"There is more to this whole thing," Korra admitted. "A reason it isn't going to be so easy, in addition to the obvious ones. In order to stop this, I need to suppress Daya, but doing so would sever a connection from the physical world to the Spirit World. Specifically, the connection that allows people to bend the elements."

The team didn't respond. They sat in silence contemplating the shocking news and imagining the strangeness of a world without benders.
Asami broke the silence, "Um, I'll just stop here." she pulled into a gas station. They were in the middle of nowhere. Very few cars passed by. On the porch of the gas station, two older men sat in chairs, smoking in their old, dirty overalls straw and hats. They had black hair and one looked like a fire bender. They eyed the group as they pulled up to the pump.

"Fillin her up?" the man in the right chair asked Asami as she got out. She tried to cover her face as best as she could with her hair, and never looked directly at the man.

"Yes, please." She was thankful she still had money from her Clasma-dealing business.

"Gon have to pay inside. My friend and nephew will take care of filling it up for yeh."

"Oh, that is okay. I can pump it myself."

"Naw, I mean it is the law, you see? Employees have to do the pumpin. Tak! Sen!" The man in the other rocking chair stood and approached the car. A younger man walked out of the station and joined. "Now, you just follow me while these two do the dirty work."

Asami followed the man inside the building, but she kept her guard up. She looked back to see the older man take the gas pump and inject it into the car's gas tank.

"Hey," Asami said as she walked with the man, now determined to be the station manager, "I didn't pay yet. He better not be filling it…"

"Relax, we saw how much money you had. It's faster this way. You'll pay and be back on the road in no time. Not many people traveling on the East-West Highways these days. What brings you folks out on this road?" They reached the inside, which was a convenience store, and walked up to a counter with the cash register.

"Heading out West on the open road. Just road-tripping with some friends," Asami made up.

The man examined the cash register before saying, "Well, looks like this register has a bug. No worries, we got another one in the back. Excuse me for just a second." He walked along the aisles and into a room in the back where Asami could no longer see him. She heard him open a door. Behind her, she heard the sound of sweeping. Perhaps another of the station-owner's nephews cleaning the aisles, but she couldn't see him.

"Ma'am? I got a working one back here. It will be easiest if you come back here and pay for it. That way I don't gotta install the register n all, ya know?"

Asami hesitated. This didn't feel right to her. She felt like she was being watched. She looked outside and the two men just stood there talking while the car filled up. Something caught her eye behind the counter. There were eight identical meters. She knew they corresponded to the gas meters so that the clerk could measure and set caps on the amount of gas people got. But the strange thing was that they all read zero, even the pump that her car was using.

Maybe they are just waiting until I pay…

She turned to walk to the backroom, but kept her senses on edge. The sweeping sound followed her from the other side of the shelf she walked along. She turned a corner and saw the manager in another room on the far side of it. He looked up and smiled at her, gesturing her to come in. She walked toward the room, not letting herself look away from the man's eyes.

"Yeah, it'll be fine in here. Shouldn't be an issue."

She saw the door angled, it opened into the room. It was not completely 180 degrees opened. As she approached the entrance, she saw the manager smile at her then very quickly glance to his left, her right, as if he was looking at something that waited behind the opened door.

"Your meters aren't moving. I thought you said they were filling it up?" Asami asked.

"Oh those things are broken," he said nervously. He glanced quickly again in the same direction as before. Asami concluded that someone was waiting for her in that room and was hiding behind the door. As she walked in, she used all her strength to kick the door all the way open, hitting the man who was hiding behind it in the leg with the doorknob. The boy sweeping the aisles showing himself and was carrying a rifle as he walked toward the back room. He cocked the gun and aimed at Asami. She kicked the door closed and got low enough to miss the bullets that penetrated through the door. The force of the gunshot swung the door open again.

The boy with the rifle cocked the gun again, aimed to shoot, but the man behind the door got up and pushed the door shut to run after Asami. Asami ducked and the blow from the gun once again opened the door. The man who had been behind the door turned out to be a scout from Qu looking for Team Avatar. He drew a pistol, but Asami countered him and swung her foot into his face, knocking his head against a table. The manager to her left had now gotten a rifle as well and aimed it at Asami. She jumped and ducked behind a desk just as the man shot, and he ended up clipping the boy who was sweeping the aisles as he was cocking his gun. He dropped his gun and fell to the ground in pain.
The manager tried to quickly reload his gun, but Asami jumped from behind the desk and grabbed the barrel of his rifle. He didn't give up so easily. He struggled to regain control of the gun. The two wrestled over the rifle, then he spoke.

"Fight me all you want! Kill me even. It doesn't matter, I've already called the police. They will be here for you and who knows what they will bring! Besides, your car and everyone that was in it is probably rubble by now. My two friends out there are damn good fire benders."

Outside, Korra and the gang waited in the car. Mako tried to look into the store to see if he could see Asami. He just saw the two men with their backs faced to the car, talking about something muffled through the walls of the car.

"What is taking her so long?" Mako said. "I thought she was just paying. They've been refueling this car for a while now."
"Really, it doesn't even feel like they started," O-Ren said. "Man, do I wanna get out and stretch my legs."

"Do you think they recognized us?" Sydney asked. Korra became anxious and scared. How did she know Asami wasn't dead? Shit, how could I be so stupid?

The two men nodded at each other. They walked over to the pump and flipped a switch. Korra heard the sound of gasoline flowing into the vehicle now. The taller, older man walked to the gas tank of the car. Korra suddenly felt the movement of Chi within him. It was hot. He was a fire bender, and he was lighting a fire with his hands right next to a tank filled with gasoline. His hands were occluded below the window so the rest of the group couldn't see them, but Korra knew for sure that was what he was doing.

"Shit, he's going to firebend the gas tank!" Korra yelled. She kicked at the door to get out, but O-Ren was the first to react. He twisted the metal roof of the vehicle off, quickly rolled it until it was compact, and hit the older man in the face with it, giving him a nasty wound and rendering him unconscious.

The younger nephew began to firebend at them, but Mako was out of the car in time to counter his attacks so that the fire didn't reach the car. There were several buckets with water to wash the windshields. Sydney summoned the water from these buckets and encased the nephew in a block of ice.

Inside, Asami continued to wrestle for the gun. She and the manager held it and faced each other. They spun around, trying to force the other off, and when Asami found that she had more control over it, she quickly withdrew the gun from the manager's hands and sent him out a window. She took the pistols from Qu's scout and ran outside to see one of the men lying bloodied and out cold, and the other frozen.

"I think it's time to go."

/* Lyrics from M Machine - Moon Song. Great Song. */