Responses to Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: Korra's best traits are a deep desire to do the right thing, but her worst trait is recklessness.
Zigzagdoublezee: There has been a lot of talking in the last few chapters; there's going to be a lot more doing from this point on.
As Always, Please Review!
Ikki
The airbender children watched as their father stopped and regarded the new arrival.
"I'm sorry, could you excuse me?"
"Afraid not, Tenzin," the man said. "My commanders' orders forbid it."
"And who is your commander?"
"Well, that would be telling," the man said, pulling out a tall furry military hat. As he placed it on his head and slid the strap under his chin, Ikki recognised a familiar symbol carved in metal on the front.
"Kuvira?!" Tenzin exclaimed in shock, but before he could do anything else Jinora clamped a hand to her head and screamed in pain. Ikki's heart lurched as her sister lost her grip, toppled off the rafters and plummeted. Kai shouted and leapt after her. Tenzin heard it, stopped, looked up, and his eyes widened.
"Jinora!"
But the fall had distracted his attention, and a few things all happened at once. First, every radio in the room suddenly began to scream at once, second, the room at large became aware that something was wrong and began to turn towards them, and third, the intruder drew a metal strip and drove it deep into Tenzin's back with a flick of his arm. The airbender yelled and went down.
"Dad!" Meelo cried, following Kai down.
"Tenzin!" Screamed Katara.
"Get them!" The man gestured with an arm, and more figures began to flood in past him. They were all dressed in dark green uniforms, and many of them wielded swords and spears. The officers nearest the door barely had time to draw their own weapons before they were being overwhelmed.
Ikki just sat there in shock. Her sister was down, Kuvira must have fired her weapon. Which meant Korra was down too, wherever she was. Her father was injured, and now they were under a surprise attack.
Below her, Kai had managed to catch Jinora and bring her in for a soft landing. Meelo had landed next to him, and had started to try to fight his way towards where Tenzin lay. Across the room, what guards there were were trying to form an impromptu cordon to protect the heads of the United Republic's government and military from the sudden assault.
Dimly, Ikki realised that they must be the targets, and Kuvira's plan was destroying the Republic's government quickly so she could just sweep in.
Seeing her family in danger, the shock subsided. Determination replaced it. Standing up, she selected a target and jumped, speeding downwards until she unleashed a gust which both blew the intruder over and cushioned her own fall. She landed safely next to Meelo.
"Get dad!" Were his only words. She nodded, and charged in. One man was sent spinning into a column, another flew into the air before being dropped abruptly from a great height. She ducked under the sword stroke from a third intruder, before sending him flying into two of his friends.
Behind her, she heard shouts, and turned to see the improvised cordon shatter under the weight of the surprise assault. Intruders now flooded into the group of generals. Turning back, she was just in time to see a sword sweeping towards her neck. Even with her enhanced airbender speed, it caught her so off guard that she didn't have time to do much more than-
A thin tendril of water wrapped itself around the blade and froze, trapping it. Katara then yanked, and the sword went spinning out of its master's hand. He was then sent flying up into the ceiling as the ground lurched beneath him.
"Ikki!" The two of them rushed over, followed by Zuko and Suki, who had a war-fan in one hand and a boomerang in the other. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"We wanted to help!"
"It's dangerous!" Suki admonished them.
"I know," Ikki replied, as deadpan as she could manage under the circumstances. Which wasn't very.
"Alright then," Zuko patted her on the shoulder as another group approached them. "If you want to help, then help us." He took position, and then extended his arm rapidly towards them, causing a spiral of brilliant flame to rush from his fingertips. Ikki just had time to register that it was flecked with all the colours of the rainbow before it crashed into the group, setting them all on fire. Screaming, they changed direction mid-charge and jumped into the water fountain, just as Katara drew a surge of liquid from the top and used it to sweep another group into a wall, and Suki threw her boomerang, clonking someone with the fan in her other hand. Katara's water then froze, trapping them in place.
Toph made a gesture which caused a wall to rise from the earth right in front of another charging soldier, who slammed into it and fell to the ground clutching his nose. The boomerang returned and slammed into the head of the man with the tall hat, knocking him forwards, but his accomplices grabbed him and pushed him away.
"Team Avatar rides again!" She crowed.
"Not that I wanted to," Katara scowled. "I just came because I thought there'd be cake."
"Hah! You're more like your brother than you let on," Zuko snorted, not even looking as he set fire to someone else's uniform.
"Is that a compliment?" Katara wondered. "It doesn't feel like a compliment..."
"I missed this," Toph said, "but haven't we got work to do?"
She gestured at the melee on the other side of the room and turned to Ikki.
"Come on Aang! We've got a President to save!"
The words had the opposite effect than intended though, because they brought the rest of the group to a crashing halt.
"Uh, Gaang?" Toph stopped and turned around. "What are we waiting for?"
"You called her Aang," Katara whispered, pointing at Ikki.
"Did I?" Toph asked.
"Ikki!" A voice shouted. "What are you waiting for?"
She turned to see Kai stood over Jinora protectively, blowing over any assailant who came near him. But more were beginning to charge him now.
"How many of these people are there, anyway?" Ikki scowled, before grabbing Zuko's arm and pointing him towards the danger. Then she took off running, leapt into the air, and used an airblast to send one of the men at the rear of the pack flying through his comrades, sending them all flying like skittles.
There was the sound of glass smashing, and then suddenly it was over. The attack ended as quickly as it had begun. Ikki turned just in time to see a man in black jump out of the window, before her attention returned to her sister and father. Dimly, she heard the radios still blaring, disjointed news of naval combat and attacks on the land border.
Katara had rushed over to Tenzin, and began to use her water to massage the site of his wound. It began to glow with a bright, healing light.
"Is he going to be alright?" Ikki demanded, throwing herself down next to him.
"I think so," Katara replied, through her concentration. "Your dad is going to be alright!"
Ikki nearly collapsed with relief.
"Mother?" Tenzin asked weakly. Katara took his hand and smiled reassuringly as she continued to heal him.
"Uh, guys?" Kai called. "Have you seen this?"
Ikki stood up and looked at him. He was sat by Jinora, but was pointing to the map table.
It was suddenly surrounded by generals and soldiers, lying where they had fallen.
"We need medics!" Suki realised. "Katara?"
"No good," Toph said quietly. "I don't think they'll be doing much good for them now."
"Wait, you mean- you can't mean-"
"I can't feel a heartbeat, or a pulse, or any movement," Toph confirmed.
The mood in the room suddenly became very somber.
"This was a decapitation strike," Zuko said. "They're targeting the leaders first."
"The entire high command?" Tenzin croaked.
"Maybe not all. Certainly most," Toph confirmed. "I can't feel Raiko though."
"Raiko's dead?"
"No, Raiko's gone. I can't feel his body in the pile. He either escaped," she frowned, "or Kuvira's men have him."
Ikki looked at where her sister and father lay on the floor, at the desperate faces of Katara, Meelo and Kai, and the awful sadness in the expressions of the others. And she knew; something terrible had just happened.