Bolin dug his fingers into the metal rudder, and began crawling up the side of the airplane. The wind was terrible, he could barely even hear himself think, let alone hold onto the only thing keeping him from a very painful fall. When he reached the pilot, he cautiously tapped on the man's shoulder, put on his most friendly smile and shouted over the wind,

"Hey, Buddy! Scoot over!" Without giving the guy time to react, Bolin slid down behind him. The pilot slid onto the controlling shaft and the airplane took a dive, "Up, Man!" He shouted hysterically, waving his arms upward. "We need to go up!" The pilot steadied the aircraft, but thanks to that little detour, they'd fallen behind the pack along with his cousin who was actually flying one of the machines himself. Well, that was something that Bolin just wasn't ready to do yet, so this guy would just have to stick around for awhile. Though he did have to admit, he wished that he could bend lightning like Iroh did, it'd make this so much easier. An earthbender couldn't do that, but these things had weapons,"Hey, Buddy, how you guys shoot those projectiles?!"

"Get the hell outta my plane, you son of a bitch!" Now, they may be enemies, but that was no excuse for such name calling in Bolin's humble opinion.

"Huh?! 'Just push some buttons until you find the right switch'?! If you say so, Pal!" Luckily there weren't too many gadgets to chose from, but he still got the feeling that this could go so horribly wrong. He pushed a black button...nothing, "Hey, why isn't this-oh, it's a pull switch, got it! Great!" Actually it wasn't, "Now an air bomb was heading down to the city! Hold it steady, Buddy!" He stood up in the seat to lean over the side, knocking the pilot in the back of the head with his knee, "Please don't be made of platinum." 'and be close enough to bend'. He focused on the bomb and...it was moving! Thank the spirits, he was moving it! With more concentration than he knew he had, he maneuvered it upwards, barely hitting the wing of one of the planes and making it go into a spin downwards. It would do, "Whoa!" His irritable pilot started to turn the machine over. Bolin latched onto the wing for dear life.

"Let go!" The pilot dropped his altitude, getting closer and closer to the ocean. His intent was to scrape Bolin into the ocean if necessary.

"Hey, Buddy! You're in a metal airplane! I'm a Beifong! Get the picture?!" He kicked his feet upwards, planting them on top of the overturned wing. If possible, his grip on the wing tightened. He propelled himself off the metal and took a large piece of it with him as he went.

Doing a perfect intimation of a skipping stone before coming to an abrupt stop in the water wasn't a fun experience, it felt like skidding down a paved street, but at least he was in one piece. Of course he still had to swim all the way to Avatar Aang Memorial Island and that wasn't a fun thing to do either.

"Are you alright, Bolin?" Iroh had ran to the ocean's edge to help him out of the water and looked over the bruises showing up on his little cousin's face with worry.

"I'm fine. You think I look bad, you should see the plane." He laughed alone at his joke. Iroh looked past him and got into a stance, causing Bolin to quickly do the same, "Hey!" Bolin greeted a man who was tripping and stumbling out of the water and was obviously too tired and/or sore to put up a fight. "If it isn't my reluctant pilot. Thanks for letting me get that bomb away from innocent civilians before you tried to ditch me. We should work together more often." A long string of obscenities that might even make his mom blush came out of the guy's mouth, "Hey, don't blame me. You're the one who said 'find the switch'."

"I said," he huffed with a red face, "'you son of a bitch'!"

"Oh, oh, oh," Bolin rubbed his chin thoughtfully, which admittedly hurt a little, "That makes a lot more sense. Yes... and about that-"

BAM. The pilot could add 'broken nose' to his list of injuries.

"Don't you ever use that word to describe my mother again! I don't care how accurate it is!" Meanwhile, Iroh blinked once, twice, three times.

"Did you just call your own mother- never mind. Let's just get to the main land and send a message to Commander Bumi. Hopefully the others were successful as well."

There was only one simple job left for them to do, destroy the rest of the airplanes before they could be used against the United forces. But there was just one problem as well, these airplanes were protected by mecha tanks. Asami got into an unoccupied one to raise her chances, smiling as she realized that the controls were similar to a forklift and would be all too easy for her to maneuver. But the young couple was still outnumbered, squaring off against four equalists, one of which was Asami's own father.

"Asami, you are outnumbered. Stand down!" Her father was right and was giving her a chance to back out of the fight. But even if she wanted to do as he asked, he wouldn't just let Mako go.

"No! This has got to stop! You stand down!"

"You are aiding the very people who took your mother away!"

"You're crazy!" Mako joined into the conversation, "The guy who did that's behind bars." And it was a bender put him there.

"You stay out of this, you firebending street rat!" the firebender had no right to speak to him, much less intervene between him and his child, "Asami, get away from him and come out of that mecha tank!" Nothing. Not a single word, not a single movement, "You ungrateful, insolent child! I now see there is no chance to save you!"

"She's not the one who needs saving!" And the fight began. They knew Mako was a lightning bender, so the first thing that the three lackeys did was break his stance, shooting their cables at his feet. He jumped up and to the left. Another shot at him as soon as his feet hit the ground, making him roll to avoid it.

Hiroshi went to take down Asami himself. He sped right towards her. She shot cables at him, which he dodged without missing a beat. With more practice at the controls it was easy for him to gain the upper hand by picking her up and hurling her across the room and onto one of the planes...ironically helping them out in their mission.

Mako was caught, he was hanging upside down by his ankles when he saw that not only had Hiroshi beat his own daughter, he was also going in for the kill while she was down. But this street rat was a quick thinker, he knew he could help. Of course he knew that it was going to hurt, a lot. Living with a metalbender for two years taught him something, metal conducts electricity. So he learned, after only one mistake, that bending lightning while standing near it (or in this case, dangling from it) would have consequences. No choice. He straightened his arms and torso, felt his chi flow and lightning left his fingertips. It split, most of the bolt going upwards into the mecha tank holding him, zapping it along with him and the guy inside.

"Urgh!" A weaker portion of the lightning bolt hit the rear axle of Hiroshi's mecha tank, blowing out the back tire as it followed it's natural path to the ground and making the operator feel as if he stuck his finger in a light socket, "I will handle her! You two, deal with that filthy bender!".

One of the two picked Mako up with the clamp and carelessly threw him out of the hanger. The duo followed him outside to finish him off. Hiroshi's daughter used the distraction to get back up. She grabbed the opposing tank by the right arm and threw it over her shoulder, severing it's arm and it's ability to fight. Now she had to hurry to save her boyfriend.

...

That landing wasn't soft, he had two mecha tanks coming at him at great speed and his body was still in agony from the shock of his lightning. There didn't seem to be any way to make it out of this one and what was worse, he probably only bought Asami an extra thirty seconds. Well, he wasn't going to go down without even trying. The few flames Mako could muster up from his spot on the ground were not enough to help him. The polarbear dog, now she was a huge help. When the first one shot it's cables at him, she grabbed them with all her might and pulled it over on it's side. Another mecha tank showed up, latching it's own cable around the second's wheel and electrocuted it. Naga jumped in front of Mako, growling at the last hostile machine standing.

"Naga, it's okay." Asami said reassuringly, opening the hatch to reveal that she wasn't one of the bad guys, "It's me." The animal cocked her head, but then wagged her tail and allowed Asami to pass, "Mako. Are you alright?" He looked pretty bad.

"I'm fine. Thanks to you." an inhuman whine was heard, "And Naga." He added. Asami smiled, reaching down to touch Mako's face. He was okay, they both made it out just fine. What more could she ask for. A mechanical whirring sound broke the mood. Hirsoshi burst out of the hanger in an airplane and made a run for it. Mako pushed Asami aside and shot a few fireballs at it, but each missed their target.

"We have to warn the others!" Asami put Mako's arm over her shoulder and attempted to hoist him up, but was stopped by him.

"Right now, the best thing you can do is go back in there and destroy the rest of those things before anymore can take off."

"But you-" She couldn't leave him there alone. What if one of the other equalists woke up?

"Don't worry," he may be down, but he had connections, "Naga will look out for me."

Amon had waited for this day for a long time. The day when he would parade the powerless avatar through the streets of Republic City. He stood proud on the moving platform, with his closest people by his side and his enemy chained to a post.

"I've been dreaming of this for years." The equalist lieutenant said with a tear filled voice.

"This city is only the first of many victories." He assured his second-in-command. A messenger jumped on the slow moving vehicle to deliver some bad news.

"Sir, we've received word that the air fleet as been destroyed." This news, while upsetting, did not manage to deter Amon.

"Prepare the mecha tanks. We will assume that the United Forces fleet will be here tonight to stop us."

"Yes, Sir. One more thing, Sir. A group of renegade cops are taking over the police stations in the city. They've taken two near the river and are making their way further into the city."

"They are relentless." He gave them full marks for persistence, but they were becoming wearisome, "Send in all men not piloting a mecha tank to intercept them. Once they have dealt with that nuisance, relocate them to the docks. Lieutenant, radio the front guards, and tell them to change course. We will parade to the docks and meet this new threat."

"Am I dreaming?"

"In a way, yes." Aang admitted, "Come sit with me." The two avatars walked to a circular stone slab in the middle of the meadow. Aang sat down in a meditative pose, Korra followed suit."You're body is still in the physical world-"

"So I'm in the spirit world right now." Actually, that made a lot of sense.

"That's right. Though," he cast his eyes down sadly, "I wish I had been able to contact you sooner."

"Sorry about that. Spiritual stuff isn't my strong suit. I wish I could be more like you." She admitted with a downcast look, "Then none of this would've happened."

"Are you so sure about that? I want you to close your eyes, Korra." He waited for her to do as he instructed, "Good. Now, I want you to think. Think back on these trials you've been facing." Detailed flashes from the past few months started running through her mind. She saw nearly every waking second pass by her at great speed.

Of all the judges in the city they could have brought her to, they had to bring her to this one? The judge in question had a name, Fang-hua. She and Lin had a difference in opinion when dealing with criminals and it had put a rift between the two. Lin had once voiced her opinion that they shouldn't let a child molesting bastard get out on parole and told her to think about the victims, stop taking bribes and do her damn job. A fist-fight ensued and they both spent the night in jail. Fang-hua's reputation was forever tarnished and she was dragging this 'trial' for hours, basking in her long awaited chance for vengeance.

"On the charges of 'escaping custody', 'attempted murder', and 'treason'. I find the defendant..." Why did she have to drag this out? They knew what the ruling was going to be before the trial even started, "guilty." On the other hand, Lin couldn't deny that it was all true, except treason. How was it possible to commit treason against a terrorist, "And sentence her to death by hanging.". Silence filled the room, the equalists looked to the person who was obviously the head of them. He went up and whispered in the judge's ear, "What?!" They must have told her that her death would make Amon very unhappy, "Fine. I sentence her to life in prison." 'Here we go again...'

Lin was starting to notice a pattern here. She got caught, got to go before some idiot with a grudge, got thrown into a cell, got broken out. But at least this time they were skipping a step. Her officers were taking their buildings back one by one, and guess which of those they happened to be taking over at the moment. As the truck pulled up to the station, they could hear cops fight against the equalists. From the sounds Lin guessed that they looked more like two triads fighting than an tactical unit fighting terrorists.

Her guards showed a small amount of wisdom and tried to make a break for it. Their plan was soon halted because someone noticed the armored truck and created a solid sheet of ice that put them into a skid.

"I thought Amon equalized them all!" the passenger said to the driver after they hit a lamppost. Did Amon really claim that he already equalized every single bender on the force? That was pretty arrogant, but then again this was the guy who said he'd equalize the entire world.

"Get the gloves-" Too late. Water broke through the windows and pinned the equalists to their seats. The doors flew open, a man poked his head in to get a good look.

"No weapons!" She recognized him as a rookie, but couldn't remember his name, "But the Chief's here!" He climbed up, followed by one of her lieutenants, Kewi. Good officer, sometimes.

"They got you again, Chief?" That smart mouth, the only reason Lin remembered the woman's name. If there was one person who could ever hope to break Lin's record for the 'training exercise attendance', it was it her, "Doesn't anybody stay in jail these days?"

"Shut up." She stood up to retrieve the keys from her captor's belt, "What's the status?"

"We've managed to take two stations. We got ten trucks, five boats, twenty radios and a lot of equipment."

"How many men do you have?"

"About seventy-five. They think there's twenty more in the holding cells."

"What did you see, Korra?" Well, she saw herself getting tricked by Amon, reprimanded by Beifong, running from Amon. She also saw the fleet getting destroyed and Tenzin about to lose his bending.

"Tenzin! He's been-"

"I know." Aang said soothingly, thought there was a trace of sadness in his voice, "What else did you see?"

"A failure." She said in nothing more than a whisper.

"I saw a courageous young woman, who accepted her role as the world's protector without hesitation and put herself in harms way to protect it. When I was told that I was the avatar, I felt so burdened by the responsibilities that I ran away from my home. Not long after, Sozin's army came to destroy my people, just because he knew the next avatar would be an airbender." She had already heard this story, but the moral was a bit different. "Had I been a little more like you, I may have been able to help them."

"No you wouldn't." Korra wiped away a tear with her arm, "I haven't been able to help anybody, and I lost my bending. I'm not even the avatar anymore."

"Then who are you?"

"Huh?" she paused, trying to figure out the trick question, "I don't understand. I'm just Korra."

"You have always been Korra. And the avatar."

"But that's just it, I can't bend anymore! How can I be the avatar if I can't bend?"

"How could you not be the avatar if you are sitting in the spirit world, having a conversation with your past life?" He chuckled as his reincarnation realized that he had a point, "Don't give up." He put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "You can still help the world. When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change. And that change can make us stronger." Somehow, though 'why' would always be a mystery, his words awoke the fighter inside Korra.

"I'll do whatever it takes to help the world."

"I will help you. And, I have an old friend that will help you as well."

…...

Korra awoke in the physical world. She was tied to the mast of an anchored ship by the flag's rope. The sun had set, and in the distance she could see the lights of battleships.

"Aang, you're here." She couldn't believe it. He said he'd help her, but she still couldn't believe it.

"Amon, She's wake!" Someone below her shouted.

"Who's she talking to?" Another one asked. Korra almost answered before she realized that they probably couldn't see him. So she ignored all of the following comments, except Aang's,

"You have finally connected to your spiritual self."