Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: I don't like Kuvira. She betrayed her family, invaded Republic City, and caused terrible spiritual harm using her spirit gun. Absolute power corrupted her absolutely. Also, the decision made in the comics to have her not know about the mind control in her concentration camps was a bit of a cop-out in my view.

Zigzagdoublezee: Lin disobeying Raiko has less to do with her dislike of him and more to do with a desire to save her family, particularly her sister who she's only somewhat recently reconciled with. Plus, I think Kuvira would be looking for any excuse to (in her view) retake the Republic anyway. But yes, Lin's rashness may have consequences...

As Always, Please Review!

Bolin

Korra tried to stand up, but groaned and fell backwards again as Bolin rounded on her opponent.

"I told you to stay in the train," Kuvira told him sternly.

"You lied to me," Bolin accused her.

"I didn't lie. Zaofu is being occupied by rebels." Kuvira pointed out. But Bolin just shook his head.

"No it's not! There are no rebels here, are there?"

"Really?" Kuvira raised an eyebrow. "If you want the truth, then fine. The Beifongs are rebels. They have gone against my lawful authority and plot rebellion and treason. That is why we are here."

Bolin's eyes widened while Kuvira was making her speech. Then they hardened.

"You lie."

"That's not for you to decide," Kuvira countered. "You are my subordinate, so my word, for you, is law."

"I don't think I want to follow your laws any more."

"So it's treason, then?" Metal floated up behind Kuvira menacingly with a small movement of her wrist.

"No," Bolin decided. "I quit."

"So be it." And Kuvira struck.

Shards of metal whizzed through the air towards Bolin, who responded quickly, ripping earth up to block the metal in mid-air. A moment later, a blazing heat lit up the battlefield as the stone liquified, turning into a spinning disk of lava that Bolin turned and flung at Kuvira. The Great Uniter only dodged it by opening the ground up underneath her and letting it swallow her, as the Lava passed overhead and cut open a building, splashing to the ground inside it.

Behind her, a massed war cry sounded, as the men surrounding Bolin and Korra began to charge, yelling insults at him. Bolin looked around, and then spun his arms around in a horizontal circular motion. The ground around the two of them began to bubble, and a ring of lava erupted from the earth to surround them. Kuvira burst back up from the ground to find herself stuck inside the ring of lava with them, an oppressive heat filling the air.

The men halted, shielding their faces as they watched on and scowled at Bolin. Kuvira dusted herself off.

"Traitor."

Bolin just shrugged.

"I'm not from the Earth Kingdom anyway."

"It's not a Kingdom anymore!" Kuvira's anger flared.

"Yes it is!" Bolin pointed out. "You want to rule it like a Queen!"

"No I don't!"

"Then when are you planning to step down?"

Kuvira plainly hadn't expected that last question. She roared in frustration and attacked again, but the rock she flung towards him melted in midair and hung there, under Bolin's control. A moment later, he flung it back at her, splitting it apart into a shower of tiny balls of lava that Kuvira batted away with metal as quickly as she could. She missed one, and it grazed her arm. She hissed.

"You shouldn't have done that."

She launched a barrage of metal at Bolin, who had to raise a wall of rock to block it. He punched, and the wall broke free of the floor and shot towards her, but with a movement of Kuvira's arms it split in half and whizzed past either side of her harmlessly.

She raised her arms again, when a boulder knocked her over. She was thrown into the air and outside the lava circle. Lin and Suyin returned, jumping into the circle.

"Suyin!" Bolin cried happily. "Lin! Am I happy to see you!"

"Aren't you on her side?" Lin asked brusquely.

"Not anymore," Bolin stated. "She lied to me."

"Glad to have you on board," Suyin told him, smiling.

"But if you-" Lin began.

"Yeah yeah, if I betray you, you'll destroy me, I know," Bolin told her.

"No," Lin replied. "I'm not questioning your loyalty."

"Then what?"

"I was going to say, if you've switched sides, how do you expect to get out of here? We're surrounded.

"In those airships?" Bolin pointed.

"And how do you propose to get to those airships?"

"On those platforms," Bolin pointed again. "They look pretty full already though."

Suyin and Lin exchanged looks. "They must be nearly finished then. Can you carry the Avatar, Bolin?"

Bolin looked down, to where Korra still sat dazed on the floor. She muttered something incoherent as Bolin heaved her off the ground.

"Hi Bolin," she murmured.

"Hello!" He grinned back brightly. "We'll get you out of here, don't worry."

He turned back to the others. But Lin just shook her head.

"I'm afraid we're not doing that," she told him. "You are."

Bolin was baffled. "Hold on, me? What are you taAAAAAAAAH!"

He did not get a chance to finish his sentence, as he suddenly found himself rocketing through the air. The Beifong sisters had used his metal armour and the ground beneath him to launch him high into the sky, straight towards the closest airship. He screamed and held Korra tighter as the great red mass filled his vision. Below him, several men stood on gantries extending out from the cabin of the airship, each one attached with a harness to ensure he did not fall off. They looked up with alarm as Bolin plunged towards them, and the closest one threw up his hands protectively as the two of them clattered into him and threw him backwards, into the cabin, where they came to a halt surrounded by startled inhabitants of Zaofu.

By some miracle, nobody fell off the airship. Bolin groaned and sat up, rubbing his head, and then clocked the identity of the man who had caught him.

"Mako!" He grinned.

"Bolin?" His brother asked in astonishment. "What are you doing here?"

"Defected!" Bolin chirped. Then worry seized him. "Korra took a nasty blow to the head though. And Lin and Suyin are still down there!"

"They had better hurry up then," Mako scrambled to his feet. "We're just loading the last civilians now. Most of the defenders are retreating towards us."

The door to the cockpit was thrown open, and Asami stood there. For a moment she just stood still, taking in the sight before her, and then she rushed forwards.

"Korra!" She cried. The Avatar looked up at her slowly and smiled.

"Hello Asami!" She greeted her friend.

"What happened!" Asami turned to them.

And so Bolin explained it quickly.

"She lied to you?" Asami frowned. "Figures. You wouldn't attack us knowingly."

"Of course not!" Bolin put indignation into his voice. "I'm your friend!"

"Still, that's the last of the civilians coming up now. We've done what we came here to do," Asami said, almost to herself, crossing to the window.

"What about Lin and Suyin?"

"Where did you say they were?"

Bolin gestured down into the crowds of Kuvira's soldiers beneath them. Just then, something rocked the airship. They looked out of the window to see a glint of something metal fly past them before it exploded nearby.

"They're firing at us!" Asami realized. "They could bring down the airship!"

"Then what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do," Asami looked solemn as she turned back to the cockpit. "We leave."

"We can't just-"

"We must!" Asami turned on him. "For the sake of all these people, we must!"

Bolin looked around, remembered Lin's final words to him, and finally understood them. He nodded reluctantly.

"I'll radio the other airships," Asami told him as they went towards the cockpit, propping Korra up between them. "We're going back to Republic City."