Responses to Reviews:

Zigzagdoublezee: Kuvira's justifications aren't meant to be agreed with. She's quite clearly just done a terrible thing. I just thought it might be interesting to see how she rationalises it. As for Colossus, I based it largely off real Dreadnought battleships of the early 20th century in terms of appearance and size (except with the obvious differences of spirit vine weapons and engines.)

RonaldM40196867: No, not really. Politics done well can elevate a series, particularly one based around a figure like the Avatar.

As Always, Please Review!

Bolin

Having extracted Lin and Suyin from Varrick's improvised electromagnet trap, the group had been forced, reluctantly, to tie them up.

"I don't feel good about this," Bolin observed, watching them struggle and shout for help.

"What else can we do?" Varrick asked. "You want to save them, they don't want to be saved. It's a dilemma."

"But why?" Ganzorig asked. "Who would willingly want to remain a prisoner?

"We're not prisoners!"

"Yes you are!" Bolin replied.

Just then, there was a clinking noise behind them. They turned around in horror as Varrick's battery fell off the bars and landed on the ground, followed a second later by a pile of Imperial Guardsmen collapsing onto the floor.

"Ten minutes," Varrick said. "Not bad."

Then they ran, dragging Lin and Suyin with them. They burst out of Cell Block I, surprising a guard who protested. His shout was cut off when a gust of wind picked him up and sent him flying towards the door, straight into the Guardsmen who had followed them out. The poor man bowled them all over.

"where to?"

"Is there a central control room?" Bolin asked. "Preferably one with a big red button that opens all the doors, that would be nice."

But Varrick shook his head.

"They're all opened with keys," he replied.

"Of course, because that would just be too easy," Bolin grumbled. "Looks like we'll have to do it another way then."

And he stopped, assumed an earthbending position, tore a boulder of the ground, and used it to rip the walls out of Cell Block H. The prisoners there looked alarmed for a moment.

"What are you waiting for?" Bolin called. "Riot!"

There was a moment of silence, and then pandemonium broke out as the prisoners rushed out of the cells.

"Wow, that really does work," Opal observed.

Bolin, meanwhile, tore the walls off another cell block, his boulder smashing a huge gash into the building and allowing the prisoners to escape. It seemed that while the fronts of the cells were well built, the backs of them were less fortified, and a large boulder could do a lot of damage.

There was a shout behind them, and Chao appeared, pointing at them wildly. He had lost his hat.

"Get them!" He shouted. His men charged forward, to be met by a cloud of sand that obscured their vision and made them cough, staggering to a halt. Opal and Bolin grabbed their two prisoners and began to run, and as they did so Opal pulled out her bison whistle, blowing in to it.

"Hold on!" She called. "Juicy is coming!"

"Who's Juicy?" Varrick asked, ducking as a metal strip went whizzing past his head.

"What about my wife?" Ganzorig demanded. Bolin glanced around.

"Do you know specifically where she is?"

Ganzorig shook his head.

Bolin sighed, and then smashed a hole in the next cell block. More prisoners rushed out, and then set about rioting with their companions. Some of them had managed to overwhelm guards, and keys were being paraded triumphantly before being rushed into other cell blocks. Bolin slammed his boulder through a few more buildings and then dropped it. Behind them, Chao continued to chase them, shoving any unfortunate rioters who got in his way to the ground; one tried to attack him with a piece of wood they had found, but a metal strip wrapped around his ankle and hung him upside down from a fence.

Ahead of them, some guards who had come into the camp from the perimeter had tried to form a makeshift line with shields; behind them stood their barracks, the tallest building in the place. Some prisoners had already begun to jostle them, but were easily beaten back with truncheons.

A shadow fell over them. Bolin looked up to find Juicy the sky bison swooping overhead, with Toph and the other two sandbenders sat in the saddle. Juicy looked down and grunted, before having to swerve out of the way as Chao sent a metal shard at it.

"The roof!" Bolin realized. "Get to the roof!"

The line of guards tightened their formation as the group approached, only to be scattered by a wave of lava that splashed against the front of the building. Just then, they heard shouts.

Prisoners had managed to get to Cell Block C and had freed the people inside, and now they too poured out to join in the carnage. Bolin watched them for a moment, and was about to go inside the barracks when Ganzorig shouted something. A woman in the crowd looked up, started, and then the two of them were running towards one another, sweeping each other up in a massive hug.

Just then, Chao appeared around the corner with a few henchmen.

"We haven't got time for this!" Bolin shouted. "Come on!"

"Right!" Ganzorig shouted back. "Don't worry, we're right behind you!"

He grabbed the woman's hand and charged towards them, and Bolin turned to enter the barracks.

Fortunately, the building was empty, as all the guards were outside trying to deal with the riot. Bolin took the stairs two at a time, or at least as fast as he could with two prisoners in tow. Opal, Varrick, Zhu Li, and the two sandbenders followed. Finally, after what seemed like far too long, the group burst out onto the roof.

Their location gave them a panoramic view of the camp, and they could see a full blown riot in progress. Running battles between soldiers and inmates were being fought in the alleys between cell blocks, and some blocks had even been lit on fire. Some unfortunate soldiers were ambushed and overpowered, others managed to form lines which struggled to hold back increasing numbers of angry prisoners.Bolin saw one soldier get pulled out of the formation and into the crowd, but before he could see what happened to the man the sky darkened.

Juicy swooped down to land next to the group, with Opal rushing up to pat him affectionately. The sky-bison grunted and gently head butted her.

"Come on then!" Toph called from her position on the bison's head. "Someone needs to fly this thing out of here, and it had better not be me!"

"He's not a thing," Opal reproached her.

"Did you get them?" Toph asked.

"They've kidnapped us! Help us!" Lin shouted. "Don't tell me you're in on it too, mum?"

Toph frowned. "What nonsense is she speaking now?"

"We don't know!" Opal called. "Kuvira must have done something to them!"

Toph nodded slowly, and then her face drained of all colour.

"She can't have..." she whispered.

"You know what she's done?" Bolin demanded.

"The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai," Toph replied slowly, and then shook herself out of it.

"We haven't got time for this!" She decided. "Get them on and let's go!"

Opal nodded, and with some brisk airbending lifted her mother and aunt onto the bison, where Borte and Abaka grabbed them. Varrick and Zhu Li boarded the bison next, but just as Opal went to climb on board the door burst open. The woman Bolin had seen earlier burst through, and pointed back down.

"You have to help him!" She called. "Ganzorig-"

"Where is he?"

"A guard attacked us!" She said. "He went to fight him off and-"

"He failed!"

The woman scrambled backwards as Chao came through the door, a shard of metal around Ganzorig's neck as he pushed him.

"No more tricks!" He thundered. "Surrender or this man dies!"

"No!" Ganzorig muttered. "Get out of here!"

"Help him!" The woman cried.

"Don't you dare!" Both men replied angrily. Bolin took a step forward, and had to duck to dodge a metal strip.

"Are you surrendering, traitor? Because I'd advise not trying anything heroic."

"Heroic's what I do," Bolin grinned, with false bravado.

"Such a shame," Chao replied. "You always were a fool."

"Better a fool than a lapdog!" Opal shouted down.

"At least try to disagree!" Bolin called to her, hurt.

"Ah, even your girlfriend agrees," Chao replied. "At least have enough sense to come quietly."

Bolin narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe if I were sensible, I would," he called. "But apparently I'm an idiot, so I'll settle for doing something stupid."

And he punched. The ground underneath Chao and his hostage suddenly heated up, causing the man to yelp and start hopping in pain. Ganzorig took the opportunity to kick him over and run towards them. His wife scrambled aboard as Opal snapped the reins and Juicy took off, floating over the edge of the building.

"Wait for me!" Bolin called. A moment later, he was launched into the air with incredible speed, landing in the saddle, and sat up.

Toph just stared at him.

"You're welcome," she said simply.

"Ganzorig!" He said. "We need to go back for him!"

He looked backwards, and what he saw made his jaw drop.

Ganzorig appeared to be running through thin air towards them, his feet landing on absolutely nothing as he closed in. When he got closer, steadily rising into the sky, Bolin saw particles of dust rising and falling beneath him. Ganzorig reached them, and vaulted into the saddle, landing neatly next to his wife.

"How did you do that?" Bolin asked in awe. But Ganzorig was too busy engulfed in a huge kiss to answer. By now Juicy was rising higher and higher into the air

"Probably best to leave them to it," Varrick told him. "I don't know about you, but I need a lie down. And a drink. Or five."

Bolin looked down at Lin and Suyin, who had fallen into a grumpy silence. Clearly Kuvira had done something, and clearly Toph had some idea as to what. They needed to find out. And they needed to get back to Republic City to warn them about it quickly.