There they were. The three of them, talking about the future, about the possible places they could live once they'd stopped Amon. They were thinking maybe Ember Island, surely with their connections they could get asylum and a couple houses on the beach. Or maybe Kyoshi Island, with Lin being Toph's daughter surely they could get asylum at least. The third option, and last resort, was the Southern Water Tribe. Nothing against Katara, but none of them wanted to live, breathe, and eat snow for the rest of their lives. As they were planning for the future, there was a loud boom as the earth shook beneath, and above, the three of them. They all jumped to their feet, each of the knowing that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"What was that?" Mako asked, grabbing onto Asami for mutual support as the ground shook again. Lin came up to them with an answer.

"Republic City is under attack." and since there was no way she could bind and gag them all (she'd thought about it, but Bolin would bend cuffs and Mako would burn through rope), she'd set them up with a job that would make them feel important while taking them away from the battle, "You three go to Air Temple Island, get the avatar, bring her back here and don't let her do anything stupid."

"Where will you be?" Her son asked as she started out the door.

"With my officers." She answered without even slowing her pace.

"But-"

"They're not worried about me right now!" She called just before moving out of their sight.

"That's not what I was worried about." Bolin whispered with a lowered head.

"Let's get moving, Bro." A reassuring hand patted his shoulder before it also headed for the exit. He gave a little sigh and followed them.

"I don't suppose anyone's got money for a cab?" The youngest of the group asked as they reached the surface and realized they had one major problem...they had no Satomobile and no polarbear dog. "Wait a second." He rubbed his chin as looked up at the zip lines, "I am a metalbender now."

"Yeah," Mako agreed, but it was irreverent because the zip lines were kind of a one person way of transportation, "but how are Asami and I going to get there?"

"Mako," Bolin grinned a completely evil grin, giving his brother a chill up the spine, "have a little faith in your little brother."

"Just so you know, I hate this." Mako voiced his discomfort as he and his girl friend balanced on a storage truck door, with Bolin kneeling in front of them, on a three inch cable. This was ridiculous.

"Hey, you wanna go to Air Temple Island or not? Just hang on."

…...

"Look out!" Korra had been riding along the docks, heading to City Hall where Tenzin was, but quickly ordered her animal to hit the pavement as a metal rectangle came sailing in her direction and crashed into the water to her right.

"Hey!" a familiar voice laughed, "Looks like I don't need mom to bend me into the bay anymore."

"Bolin, you idiot!"

"I'm the only brother you got, don't kill me!"

"Yeah, let me do it!"

"You're gonna kill your best friend?!" If only there wasn't a city-wide crises on her hands, Korra would have been rolling at the sight of the three drowned spiderrats below her. As it was, she just made a wave that brought them to dry land and bended the water off of them.

"Korra!" Bolin rushed over to hug the air out of her, "Am I glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you guys too."

"Come on, we gotta get outta here." Asami said with a 'follow me' gesture on the way to her car. She opened up the trunk and grabbed a glove, "This will come in handy." Boy, if Tarrlok had towed her car away and she got caught with that...well, she was thanking the spirits that she didn't.

"Naga, go back to the island okay. I'll be back later." she gave her friend one last pat on the nose before hopping into the back seat. "I gotta go to City Hall and find Tenzin." The car sped forward and Mako turned to face her,

"We got orders to get you somewhere safe."

"No! Amon's attacking the city, I gotta help! I'm the Avatar." How could they expect her to just hide away while all this was happening?

"We also got ordered to keep you from doing something crazy."

"I'm with Korra, Mako." She could always count on Bolin to come to her defense, "Mom's just trying to protect us. That's great and all, but we're not kids anymore."

"Lin probably has Tenzin under police protection by now." There wasn't a way to win this argument and Mako didn't care, he wasn't too keen on sitting this one out anyway.

"Chief Saikhan." A mass of reds and yellows came into the communications room.

"Tenzin. Am I glad to see you. I was afraid you'd been captured too." The chief greeted with relief.

"I'm the only Council member left. What's the status?"

"Amon has-" Then he caught a new woman entering the room.

"Chief." The wanted criminal greeted simply and without any emotion at all.

"Lin." They both silently agreed to deal with the other one later. Right now, the enemy of their enemy was their friend and that was something they were running low on.

"Lin, thank goodness you're alright." Her oldest friend had the sudden urge to hug her, but he remembered that this was Lin, and she didn't hug in public, so he fought against it.

"Amon has launched simultaneous attacks across the boroughs." Saikhan wasted no more of their time, "The police are trying to gain control, but we're spread too thin."

"Have you called for volunteers?" Lin asked as she bent over the table to get a look at the circles on the map. Her old captain nodded.

"Not many showed up." Some off duty United Forces soldiers, some bending masters, some martial arts masters, but most people were too afraid for their lives or their bending to come out and lend a helping hand.

"I need to send a wire." Tenzin said to the room.

"To whom, Councilman?" A telegrapher asked.

"The general of the United Forces." While he was giving his message, Lin and Saikhan went back to the map.

"We have to bring in all metalbenders to take down those airships."

"They'll be leaving the people in the downed airships to die."

"I know," Lin bowed her head. This wasn't an easy decision to make, and it was going to haunt her for the rest of her life. Those people being left behind in ocean and fire were officers, students, and friends of hers, but they knew the risks when they put on the badge and she had to do what was necessary to protect the city, "But we have to stop those bombs from hurting more citizens."

"Councilman, your wire has been sent."

"Chief, the phone lines just went dead." That couldn't be good. And the alarms sounded barely two seconds later, then the lights went out.

"Here," Saikhan grabbed a flashlight, "Catch." Lin caught it looked around the room. A fog started coming into the room, it didn't take a genius to figure out exactly what that fog really was.

"Saikhan, (get) the vents." Tenzin and Lin told him at the same time. But that wouldn't be enough to help them, the gas was coming from underneath the door as well.

"We need to evacuate immediately. Everyone stay close to me."

"Mecha tanks!" Why did it have to be Mecha tanks?

"Give me a ramp!" and though Bolin couldn't be sure that he'd heard it because of the wind, she might have also said something along the lines of, "And this was such a beautiful car, too." Beautiful or not, right now that car was the best ammunition they had, "Jump!" They didn't need to be told twice. Alright, two down, four to go. Bolin froze as Mako was caught and electrocuted. This may or may not be a problem, so he stood around until he was sure his brother had it under control. It turned out to be fine, the firebender redirected the lightning back and shorted out the machine. Next up was the avatar herself. She used her waterbending and filled the mecha tank's smokestack. It worked, but the thing was still up right, so that's where he came in to knock it down. Four down two to go.

Tenzin and his mom had been in the truck! Amon almost got them! 'It's okay', Bolin told himself, 'they're okay, Asami got to them in time'. The airbender took out number three by blowing it on the roof. His mom distracted number four so he could shake it and Mako could zap it. And the fight, if not the battle, was over.

"Looks like we're going to lose this one." Lin admitted sadly. She failed once again. Amon was going to pay for all of this.

"Are you guys all right?" Korra asked as Lin grabbed her chain whip off the fallen mecha tank's magnet.

"We're fine. Thank you, kids." Tenzin expressed his gratitude, "Another moment later and I would have been on my way to Amon."

"Uh, guys. Look." Mako pointed towards Air Temple Island and they saw an airship making it's way to it.

"Any other benders on the island?" The former chief asked the airbender.

"The White Lotus sentries."

"Let's go."

They were too late, when they arrived the equalists were gathered in the courtyard with no sentries in sight.

"Maybe they ran." Bolin suggested as they flew past and made a run for it.

"Let's hope." Lin hated to think they stayed and lost their bending with nothing to protect. Except, of course, the acolytes, but they were safe as anyone else being nonbenders.

"Where's Naga?!" the avatar asked, leaning over the saddle to look frantically. She shouldn't have sent her back to the island.

"She's on the mainland." Mako pointed out, much to Korra's relief.

"I think she's going to find you." His little brother told his friend happily, she was such a loyal furry companion.

"Naga!" Korra leaped off the bison before it was completely on the ground, "There you are. Who's a good girl?"

"You got your pet, let's go." Lin motioned for them to follow. Most did without hesitation, but Tenzin looked at his own animal friend woefully, the bison was just too conspicuous to come along.

"I can't take you with us. Go on. Yip, yip." He shooed Oogi away and followed the others.

"So, now what?" Bolin asked in the circle of his friends, brother and uncle back in the underground homeless shelter.

"We are going to hide for the time being."

"I'm not giving up." Korra said, leaving no room for arguments. Like someone else Tenzin knew.

"I'm not asking you to. I've sent word to the United Forces, they will be here soon. With the reinforcements we can turn the tide in this war."

"What you're saying is 'we need to be patient'." That wasn't one of Korra's strongest points. This wasn't going to be very easy.

"You're learning well."

"Lin's been gone for a while." Asami noticed in the uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go look for her."

"Thank you, Bolin, but perhaps I should go." Tenzin volunteered and set off before his nephew had a chance to argue. He had seen Lin do this many times in the past, and she wouldn't let just anyone find her. Plus, he just got the feeling that his friend needed another adult to talk to.

"What do you want, Airhead?" Speaking of his friend. She was found sulking near the street entrance, leaning against the side of the tunnel with her arms crossed. A solid wall blocked any view, but she looked on as if she could see right through the concrete all the way to the temple and Amon.

"I just wanted to make sure you're alright." He got a look and he instantly knew what it meant, 'what do you think, airhead?', "I know things look bleak right now-"

"My officers are probably on their knees in front of Amon right now. More are probably dead. You want to tell me everything's going to be alright? It's not. Even if we beat that bastard right now, things would not be alright. I failed them."

"You did what you could."

"And it wasn't enough." This attitude was familiar as well. She never had taken defeat well and Tenzin learned a long time ago that the best thing to do was put an arm around her shoulders to let her know that she wasn't alone and he wasn't giving up on her.