For those of you who asked/were wondering, I do plan to cover all 4 Books in this story. Thank you all for reading and reviewing! Without further ado, here's part 1 of the end of Book 1.

"Asami?" A voice, soft, familiar, kind called out to her in the darkness.

"Korra?" she mumbled into the cool concrete her face was pressed against.

Her eyes opened with a flutter. Metal bars of a holding cell surrounded her. She wasn't waking up from some nightmare where she had to say goodbye to Korra and then only moments later run into an invisible, highly electrified fence. No, she was waking up to the reality of being a captive of the secret airbase. Or, judging by the flight suit on the man standing in front of her, just outside her prison, her father's secret airbase. Her muscles ached in protest as she used her shoulder to push herself up into a kneeling position. She could barely stand to incline her head and look at him.

"Asami, I know I have hurt you." The voice was rougher and she wondered why she thought it was Korra's at first. Hiroshi's eyebrows knitted together and his eyes were filled with what looked like real regret. "And I am truly sorry. But I believe one day you will come to your senses and we can be a family again."

The audacity. He was blaming her for ripping their family apart?! All traces of grogginess faded, replaced by boiling rage. "You're insane! How can you think we can be a family after everything you've done? Mom would hate you for what you've become." It was the truth; Yasuko Sato would never tolerate such cruelty.

She almost smiled at the way her father recoiled. His eyes blew wide, his lips snapped open, his brow creased acutely. Then, his hands shot forward to grip the bars in front of her. "How dare you!" he exploded. Asami couldn't tell if the whine was from his teeth gnashing together or his fingers attempting to warp the metal in his grasp. "I am avenging her death!"

She rolled her eyes. He was far beyond using her mother's death as fodder for his hatred. This lunacy was of a level only he could achieve himself; no bender did this to him. Asami held her head high, refusing to flinch away no matter how perverse her once-loving father's face became. She considered spitting in his face for good measure, but one of her father's masked cronies approached to tell him the planes were ready. Her father recomposed himself in an instant and ordered the man away with instructions to destroy the fleet.

Iroh and Bolin gasped, but Asami couldn't shift from fury to shock quickly enough. Of course her father was smart enough to search for any outgoing transmissions. Of course he intercepted Iroh's wire. And now, he was going to destroy the city's last hope. She turned to the two men beside her as her father turned his back on her and paced away. "How are we going to get out of here?"

When Bolin confirmed he couldn't metal bend, Asami's anger ebbed. They failed before even getting started. Several minutes passed in silence as theey all tried to come up with a plan to get out. The sound of plane engines firing up made General Iroh antsy, and he was about to try and burn through his restraints, to Bolin's chagrin, when the bay doors burst open.

"Naga!" Bolin shouted.

Asami was glad to see Korra's animal companion but wasn't exactly sure how much the fluffy beast could do. That is, until Naga reared back and slammed her paws down on the bars, crumpling the wall like it was made of putty rather than steel. The polar bear dog bounded forward, circled Asami once, and licked her forehead. "Thanks, Naga." Asami smiled even through the stinky breath blown in her face.

Pabu chewed through their ropes and soon, Asami, Bolin, and Iroh were free. They sprinted out into the daylight but the planes were already climbing steadily up into the sky, heading for the city. Iroh hijacked the nearest plane with some fancy firebending moves to pursue the Equalist air force.

Naga tossed Bolin into her saddle and charged down the runway, towards a group of mobilizing chi blockers. He tore up the ground with sharp arm movements as he went. Now Asami searched for a way to help. She spotted an empty mecha tank to her left and climbed into the cockpit. She sat down in the seat, fiddled with a red knob, and with a resounding hiss, the pressure dials whirred to life and the machine hummed beneath her fingertips. Asami grinned bitterly. "What do you know? Just like a Future Industries forklift." She secured the harness and sealed the suit around her.

She spun around to face the other empty tanks and set to knocking them over, tearing the arms off, anything to prevent them from being used again. The ground beneath her trembled as she maneuvered into the hanger and even through the platinum and glass, Asami could hear the muffled clangs of boulders finding their mark. Bolin was busy wrecking the runway, so she decided to take out anything left unattended.

Biplanes exploded in balls of flame under the solid swing of her mecha tank's arm. Asami wiped out a whole line of them sitting in the hangar. Part of her hated to destroy the machines; she even longed to study one up close, even fly one. But these were weapons in the hands of the enemy, so she didn't hesitate to ruin the propellers, bodies, and wings.

Every once in a while, she'd glimpse Naga romping around with her pink tongue lolling, pouncing on mecha tanks like they were butterflies in a field and this was an amusing game, not a battlefield. It reminded her of Korra's cockiness in the probending arena. Those had been simpler times.

Three blips bubbled across her thumb. Speaking of Korra. How long had she been trying to reach Asami? Without breaking from her mission, Asami gave two quick digs of her thumb nail against the meat of her index finger to placate her soul mate.

The response was almost immediate, though it definitely wasn't Korra's doing. Her muscles cramped all over her body and for a moment, Asami was reminded of when Tarrlok bloodbended her. Had he found Korra again? What about Amon?

"Asami! What do you think you're doing?" She turned slowly, her body complaining all the while, to see her father in a mecha suit of his own heading towards her. She tried to focus on him, but Korra's pain was getting worse. "You're aiding the very people who took your mother away!"

That snapped her to attention. "You don't feel love for mom anymore. You're too full of hatred!" she snarled. He needed to hear the truth.

But her father was gone, drowned in his dark thoughts. "You ungrateful, insolent child!" His mecha lurched forward.

So he wanted to fight? Asami would give him a fight. She launched the claw cables at her father, but he swerved around them easily. She cursed at how simple he made piloting the weapon look; he probably had lots of practice. Then suddenly, he was slamming headfirst into her and Asami couldn't so anything but sail backward and crash into another plane. She groaned as her head snapped back and her back banged into the hard seat, which caused a sharp ache to pierce her spine. Or maybe that was Korra. She gritted her teeth and tried to force the mecha back into an upright position. But it was unresponsive.

Asami tugged at the controls but then quickly threw her hands up to cover her face as the glass visor shattered, rained down on her. The prongs of the hand on her father's mecha suit pried open the cockpit, exposing her. Through her splayed fingers, Asami made out the crazed face of her father.

"I know see there is no chance to save you!" Hiroshi screamed, his spittle flying everywhere. The mecha tank's arm rose high above her.

He wouldn't, Asami thought. She could only stare in horror, think, I'm your daughter, your little girl, as her father pushed a lever forward. The arm moved down and Asami couldn't breathe, couldn't see. Her head felt like it was going to burst if her father didn't smash it open first.

A large chunk of earth exploded against Hiroshi's mecha tank, then another and another until he was driven back. Asami heard Bolin shouting, anger rimming his voice, but the words jumbled together. Her father…he just…he just tried to kill her. And now, he was distracted. Asami shoved the handles forward with all her might and the machine responded in kind, springing up. She pinched a mechanical arm between her claw, jerked it from the socket. Showers of blue sparks danced out of the separated limb as her father's machine tumbled away from the sheer force.

Asami advanced, stabbed into the platinum plating, tore open the cockpit, and stared down at her cowering father. With a single flick, she could end him, succeed where he failed only moments ago. Her jaw ached at how tightly she clenched it and all she wanted to do was make the man below her pay for betraying her, for ruining her family, for twisting the memory of her mother, his soul mate, to harm innocent people, for trying to kill her, his own flesh and blood.

But striking him down would only make her as bad as him. So she relaxed her grip, eased off the controls, and pressed a tongue to the roof of her mouth to quell the bile rising in her throat. Her father looked ready to surrender anyways. Her blood seared, like liquid fire, and the mounting build up in her head was intolerable. She had to shut her eyes. And then, everything was gone.

Asami opened her eyes in time to see Hiroshi dispatch a cabled projectile but Asami dodged it easily. He leapt out of the cockpit and headed for the open hangar doors. She watched him run. Did he really think he could run fast enough to get away? Asami aimed at his retreating form and took the shot with a sigh she felt in her bones. She didn't relish it when a plastic disk launched out, extended electrical cords, and subdued her father on the floor of his own secret base.

She did it. She faced him. And she won. Assuming Korra stopped Amon as planned, Hiroshi—she couldn't bare to think of him as the F word anymore—would go to prison and he'd never hurt anyone again. So why did it feel like losing? It was like he'd stabbed her in the heart over and over again.

Just as she tried to climb out of the mecha tank, she was overcome with a blistering rush in her torso. She shut her eyes and blindly fell out. Thankfully, Naga appeared at the last instant so instead of a mouthful of gravel, Asami's face smashed into the warm, furry polar bear dog's side. "Thanks," she mumbled, patting the creature. She pushed herself back up, shaky on her legs just as the pain in her head vanished.

Bolin skipped to her side, his hands falling to her shoulders. He was asking her something but the words didn't make sense and her eyes were trained on the fallen form several yards away.

"Asami!" Strong, rough hands kept her from crumpling into an exhausted, aching ball. "What's wrong?"

"Korra," she whispered. "She…something's wrong." Asami jabbed her nails into her palms three times but after several seconds of nothing—no response and no further pain—she started shaking.

Bolin frowned. "How do you know? I'm sure they're okay. She's the Avatar and Mako's with her."

Asami shook her head. "No, Bolin. I can feel it. She's hurt."

"You feel it? Wait," he stepped closer and looked her up and down before his eyes widened. "You're Korra's soul mate?! When did you…? How did you…?" Bolin's hands were hard on her shoulders.

Asami barely heard him, pouring all of her attention to her shaking hands. She tried sending three more pulses. Are you okay? Please, show me, Korra. Anything. Bolin's fingers dug into her shoulders but she couldn't tell if it hurt or not. She tried sending her code to Korra again.

"Asami? Say something. You're freaking me out. Are you and Korra really soul mates? Can you feel her right now? What's going on?"

She raised her head to finally look at him, saw the panic in his bright green eyes. He looked like an overly muscled child on the verge of tears. She opened her mouth to say something when one, hard throb lanced through her fingers. Asami waited to feel another pulse but after a few seconds passed, there was nothing. No.

Asami's body went slack and her head grew fuzzy. Did that mean she was hurt? Was Korra…? She shook her head as Naga keened beside her and nuzzled her black, wet nose into Asami's neck. She had to move, find Korra, help if she could. She mounted Naga and held a hand down to Bolin, still shaking like a leaf. If anything happened to Korra… Asami swallowed hard as her lungs burned. "I'll explain everything later. But right now, we have to go."

I hope I bought them enough time, Korra thought as she ducked under a dusty table in the old training room. The image of Tenzin and his children, bound and gagged on stage still stunned and infuriated her. If she wasn't so terrified of Amon getting the drop on her and taking her bending, she'd have taken his head off by now.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

A single bead of sweat trailed down Korra's temple as Amon's footsteps grew closer. She hoped her heart, pumping blood furiously through her, wouldn't tip her off to the bloodbender.

He stopped in front of where she was hiding and Korra ran through every curse word she knew in her head. But then, he started moving again. Just when she thought she was in the clear, Amon's tread fading off into the distance, her heart thumped hard and she was overwhelmed, dizzyingly so, with a burning radiating outward from the fast-beating organ. Asami. Had she finally confronted her father? Was she okay now? Korra wished she was there.

Her hands had been rather full when she felt Asami's earlier pain, so she couldn't ask if she was okay. So now, Korra bit her lip and pinched her thumb three times. She felt Asami's pain every once in a while, and it wasn't overwhelming, so she was confindent her soul mate wasn't bleeding out up in the mountains. She hoped. Two pings in her palm came back a second later. Korra let out a quiet breath and her chest eased oddly enough. At least Asami was oka—

If Amon hadn't been choking her off, Korra would've screamed as he forcibly dragged her out into the open with his disturbing bending gift. Her arms and legs locked into unnatural, uncomfortable positions, her spine screamed and Korra thought it might snap in two if Amon pushed her any further. Mako tried to fight back, to free her, and she felt the brief heat of flame before Amon silenced him too.

Then, her knees pressed into the floor, her head tilted back sharply, and she was staring up into the glimmering eyes of her masked enemy. The smile on Amon's mask made him look gleeful. Korra tried to fight the invisible bonds, tried to will away the tethers in her blood, but to no avail Amon's hand loomed over her. Her gaze darted around, searching for something, anything to get her out of this as the bloddbenders fingers inched closer and closer, almost in slow motion.

Then his thumb brushed her forehead, like a gentle caress of a lover. Korra froze.

It happened in a single breath. Sharp inhale. The thumb turned, smooth yet hard on her forehead, and was followed by a sharp twist of veins, like her blood was replaced with millions of tiny daggers. Korra thought she might have screamed but the pressure building up in her forehead, the blood pounding between her eyes, ears cut every other sound out. Then, she gasped and it was followed by a snap, a release of pressure, nothing, no pain, nothing but exhaustion that filled her limbs like lead, dragged her body down until she hit the ground, her face pressed against the cool gym floor.

Muscles twitched. Eyes lolled in and out of focus. Korra lurched up, tried to throw a volley of fire, but not even a wisp of smoke leaked from her hand. No. She slumped against the ground again. She tried to call the earth to her but she couldn't feel a single particle. No. Even the beads of sweat coating her body didn't inch, no matter how hard she focused on them. NO.

Amon actually did it.

He took her bending.

"I told you I would destroy you," Amon croaked, somewhere far above her.

"Amon!" The words didn't come from Mako, like Korra thought, but from Amon's lieutenant. He called Amon out and tried to charge the bloodbender like a fool. Korra winced when he heard his body hit a pile of timber off to the side of her.

Then, Mako shouted and Korra tried to crane her neck to see him. Amon was going to get him too. She tried to react, to move, to fight but her body was too slow, her arms as responsive as overcooked noodles. Then, a flash of something blue, searing, too bright blinded her. The scent of something burning, something charred filled her nose. Arms slipped beneath her and Mako's cloying scent almost comforted her as her head rocked back and forth, pressing against his chest one second, exposed to the air the next. He got away, but for how long?

She tried to speak. "Mako, my bending…" is gone. I'm useless. Drop me. Drop me and run. I'm not the Avatar anymore.

"Everything will be all right," he puffed. "We just need to get out of here."

No. Get yourself out of here before Amon—

She was flying. No, falling. Sliding down the hallway floorboards. Mako yelped somewhere behind her. She forced her eyes open. His arms were craned back at odd, painful angles and Korra thought she could hear his tendons being twisted. Amon stood between them, a faceless force, a terror, a man prepared to take Mako's bending away forever, like he'd done to her.

Out of the exhaustion grew panic, bubbling up like the acid in her stomach. Her body was weak, but Mako, her friend, needed help. She had to do something and she couldn't give up. Not as long as her heart was still beating. Somehow, her feet found purchase, planted firmly beneath her. Her torso rolled up. She was standing up just in time to see that crushing thumb drift too close to Mako's forehead.

"NO!"

At first, she thought Amon was bloodbending her again when her clenched fist snapped forward, because she couldn't recall making a decision to throw a punch so far away from her target. But then it was there.

Power.

It bled through her chest, to her shoulder, down the length of her forearm and it exploded in a howl. A gust of air spiraled out, away. Behind the mask, she saw Amon's eyes expand before he was hit squarely in the chest. He tumbled to the floor. Korra looked at her hand for a split second. "I can airbend?" The air around her seemed to swirl in response and it filled her lungs, sang through her body, twisted through her fingers and hair. She could still fight. "I can airbend!"

She threw another punch, and another, pushing Amon further down the hall, away from her and Mako. In a last ditch effort, he tried to blood bend her again, and Korra felt her control slipping away. But air was the element of freedom and she found just enough energy to resist, to kick out with a shout of, "No you don't!" The slice of air hit the bloodbender's chest, which launched him straight back through the window at the end of the hall. He tumbled out of sight, shattered glass and splinters trailing behind him.

Then Mako was staggering to his feet and he rushed towards the Amon-sized hole. Korra stumbled after him, shaking from effort. At first, she was greeted with angry shouts, some even calling her an evil Avatar as Amon's mask floated to the surface without a body. But then, Noatak rose from the water on a cyclone, unmasked, his scar makeup melting off his face. Even from afar, Korra could see the panic on his face as the anti-bender protesters shared a collective gasp.

"The Avatar was telling the truth!" someone said below.

It's about time they believed me, Korra thought bitterly. If she'd been more convincing earlier, maybe this never would've happened. She never would have lost…

Exposed and open to verbal assault of his former followers with no viable way to talk himself free, Amon fled. Mako tried to hit him with blasts of fire but Amon submerged into the deep, blue water and sped away like a torpedo. The people below were throwing down their signs, shouting at each other, at her, at the spot where their leader rose up and revealed himself as a hypocrite.

Korra huffed and slumped against the wall. She should chase after him. Make him pay for what he did to her. But…what could she do without…without…

"Korra?" Mako knelt down beside her. "You saved me. Thank you."

Yeah, I did, she thought. But the bad guy got away and I'm not the Avatar anymore. I can't bend. I can't protect the world. I can't bring balance when I'm out of balance. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, even with her newfound element abundant and responsive around her.

Then, she felt something. Three quick throbs in her hands. It occurred to her that she'd vaguely felt something before but Mako, and airbending, and Amon made it easy to tune out. Asami was asking if she was okay. Korra closed her eyes, taking stock of her body. No mortal wounds, just bumps and bruises. She didn't even think she was bleeding anywhere. Physically, she was okay.

She opened her eyes and looked at her hands. Again, she tried to force them to do something. Produce a flicker of flame on a fingertip. Break off a chunk of the wall. She even tried to feel the push pull of the water below but there was nothing. She twirled her wrist as she'd seen Jinora do and a tiny puff of air danced above her palm before dissipating. So it wasn't a fluke. She could airbend now.

She traded three elements for one. That didn't make her much of an Avatar, did it?

Asami signaled her again and Korra bit her lip, tried to extinguish the burning that started in her eyes, trickled down her throat, and bloomed in her lungs, knowing the lack of response was probably worrying her soul mate. She wasn't hurt. She wasn't dying. But…

Korra clapped her hands together and gave one hard squeeze.