Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Yes, Korra is quite evidently about politics. Each of the villains has their own special ideology after all.

DCGOGITO: Hopefully it lives up to your expectations!

TORONTOSUN: Thank you!

Zigzagdoublezee: I think it would be quite a sight, unless you had it bearing down on you.

Sharpe: I have seen it, or most of it. I'm about a quarter of the way through the second-to-last episode as of the time of writing. thought it was alright, I liked the bending and some of the story changes, the only things I would have changed would have been to reveal what Sozin had done to the Airbenders at the end of episode 1 rather than the beginning, give Katara her rage back but allow her and Aang to have fun more, make Bumi more like his cartoon counterpart and have less expositional dialogue.

As Always, Please Review!

Mako

The door to the engine room burst open, and engineers were sent scattering by the gigantic burst of flame that flooded in. A moment later, two firebenders appeared and took in the scene, including the giant slabs of metal that had been crudely wedged on one side of the room. They were stood on a raised balcony which overlooked four huge spheres of pulsating purple energy. These were the engines that drove Kuvira's ambitions of conquest forwards, and they had to be taken care of.

Princess Hotaru dashed over to a control panel and stared at the readings.

"Those don't look good," she observed. "I'm very far from an engineer but surely the pointer should be more... over that side."

Mako came over to see.

"I guess..." he replied. "We really should have brought someone who knows what they're doing."

"We don't have to know what we're doing," Hotaru pointed out. "We're trying to break it, not fix it. And we have all the knowledge we need for that."

Just then, two guards appeared from the other end of the room and fired metal strips at them. Mako ducked out of the way while Hotaru rolled under it, made a motion with her hands and fired a thunderbolt back. Mako was deafened as it took a guard full in the chest and the man collapsed, convulsing. The other guard shouted something and charged forwards, weaving in and out of the engines to make himself a harder target before motioning and causing the floor underneath Mako and Hotaru to soften. Suddenly unable to take their weight, the platform collapsed and deposited the two of them in a heap on the floor as the guard stood over them. With a savage yell of triumph he raised an arm and was immediately knocked over by a giant boulder.

Bolin stood above them in the doorway.

"Are you two alright?" He called.

"Just bruised," Mako called back. "How about you?"

"I saw Baatar on the way down," Bolin told them. "He's not doing well."

"Right," Mako struggled to his feet. Maybe if Baatar hadn't so enthusiastically participated in everything Kuvira had done so far, he might have cared more.

"Where's Korra?" He asked instead.

"She went to fight Kuvira," came the reply. "So she's probably on the bridge. Have you started yet?"

Mako shook his head.

"So what's the plan?"

Mako looked over at the engines. He noticed that the second one along looked a little different from the others. The energy emitting from it was pulsating slightly, and little crackles of what looked like lightning flew out from it every so often.

"It's unstable..." he murmured, and then remembered what Varrick had said.

"I have a plan," he said. "But you need to leave."

"What?" Bolin and Hotaru chorused.

"That engine must have come into contact with seawater when the torpedo hit," Mako reasoned. "Varrick said that would happen. It's unstable, so all I need to do is give it one little push over the edge with lightning and this whole place goes boom!"

"What do you mean, you?" Hotaru asked.

"I don't know what I'm doing!" Mako pointed out. "So I don't know exactly how long it will take it to go boom once it's tipped over the edge. I don't even know where the edge is. Someone needs to stay here and make sure it happens though. You are a Princess of the Fire Nation, it can't be you."

"You idiot Mako!" Hotaru raised her voice. "That's an awful plan."

"It's the only plan we have,"

"But you could die!" Bolin pleaded.

Mako hesitated. He had thought of that but had not had it spelt out for him before. Was he ready to die?

He turned away from his companions and took in the room again, deep in thought. He thought of his city, of his friends, of Hotaru.

Then he turned back.

"It has to be done," he said. "I'll be fine."

Hotaru looked at him like she absolutely did not believe him, but nodded.

"Do it," she said.

"Not before you go," Mako told her. "Run!"

Hotaru seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then leaned in and kissed him. Then she broke away.

"Good luck," she said. Bolin repeated the sentiment. Then they turned and ran.

Mako cracked his knuckles.

"Right," he murmured to himself. "Here goes nothing..."

He closed his eyes, and focussed, calming his mind as he began to rotate his arms. Power began to surge through him, faintly at first and then crackling around his body with more intensity until it was straining to get out. Mako opened his eyes, pointed at the engine, and let it go.

Another thunderclap reverberated around the engine room as the cold fire slammed into its target. Mako held his posture and concentrated on the stream, pushing himself to keep the lightning going as long as possible. The purple electricity pulsating around the orb increased in intensity, lashing around the room as the spirit vine made a noise almost like it was screaming in agony.

The lightning bolt finally petered out and so Mako took a moment to recharge and then launched another one. For a moment, he thought that this seemed like just a much higher-stakes version of what he had done at the power station a lifetime ago. That was until the pain started.

There was a reason why lightning was traditionally fired in short bursts rather than prolonged blasts, and it made itself painfully apparent now. A white heat began passing up Mako's arm as the lightning fed back through his body, forcing him to grit his teeth to avoid crying out in pain. The purple lightning was now thrashing about wildly, as if in its death throes, and just as Mako was closing his eyes and making peace with what was looking increasingly like the inevitable a second thunderclap echoed through his ears.

He opened his eyes in disbelief to see a second stream of lightning next to his, and it was coming from-

"Princess?" He grunted.

"Did you really think I would let you have all the fun and satisfaction of destroying this thing?" Hotaru replied through her own concentration.

"But it'll blow!"

"I know," Hotaru told him simply. She took his other hand and held it tightly as the room filled with intensifying purple energy and the engine entered its death throes, the energy from two lightningbenders proving too much for it.

And then there was a mighty crash and the lightning abruptly stopped as both of them were thrown off their feet.