AUTHOR'S NOTES: And I have returned! update schedule will resume as normal, with chapters appearing every Monday around this time. That said, the war still rages on, and Pema's still about to have that baby. Korra is also a very active participant in this war, and there's a lot of action, so hopefully this makes up for the hiatus.
Happy Reading!
BOOK TWO: CHANGE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE: ATTACK ON AIR TEMPLE ISLAND
Police Headquarters was hectic with all the Equalist attacks, which were not limited to just the skies. On the ground, roving bands of Equalist marauders had taken it upon themselves to work on sabotage, although these operations were far more subtle and sporadic than the coordinated attack from the skies. Tenzin had fortunately managed to make his way to the Republic City Police Headquarters, but was unsure of how effective the police would be considering the chaos going down here as well. News of Equalists taking out various police units filled Tenzin's ears, and right as he walked in, he heard something about sabotage.
"Councilman Tenzin, am I glad to see you," Saikhan turned when he saw Tenzin enter, "I was afraid that you'd been captured too."
"I'm the only council member left, and had a few close shaves just getting here," Tenzin shook his head, "what's the status?"
"Amon has launched simultaneous attacks on the districts," Saikhan explained, "The police are trying to regain control but we're spread too thin. On the other hand, we recently received reports that the Avatar was sighted taking down an airship on her own—so if you can keep her under control she could be vital in turning the tides."
"Oh, there's no controlling her," Tenzin almost looked amused for a moment, "but I digress. Chief, I need to send a wire."
"To whom, councilman?" one of the telegraph operators looked up.
"The general of the United Forces," Tenzin answered. There was a moment before a hissing noise could be heard from outside the room.
"Your wire has been sent, councilman," the operator assured him, and it was in the nick of time too, considering the words of the operator next to him.
"Chief, the phone lines just went dead!"
Just then, an alarm went off for a few seconds before the room went dark. Fortunately, Saikhan had a pair of flashlights handy in case of such an emergency (it had happened before), and tossed one to Tenzin, who immediately noticed the gas in the room.
"Saikhan, the vents!" he warned, immediately realizing what that hissing noise they had heard only moments ago was, "Everyone stay close to me! We need to evacuate!"
Tenzin brought a large air sphere around himself, Saikhan, the officers, and the telegraph operators as they made their way down the dark halls to escape the building. Unfortunately, from here it was out of the frying pan and into the fire, for awaiting them on the front steps of Police Headquarters were half a dozen mecha tanks, armed and ready for action, with their weapons pointed directly at the small party.
"Not these mecha tanks again…" Tenzin sighed. His air sphere dissipated and he immediately took a defensive stance. The officers were soon disabled, however, as the large magnetic arms of three of the mechas pulled them away. Tenzin's attempts to at least save Saikhan form the same fate were also met with failure, as the magnetism was too powerful for his airbending tricks to counterbalance. Furthermore, one of the free tanks shot one of its pincer cables at him, knocking him aside and disrupting his focus.
"Saikhan, no!" Tenzin extended his hand, only to pull himself to his feet and evade another attack. The Equalists might have gotten away with the police, but he would not go down without a fight.
Fortunately, the tides turned in his favour a moment later as a beat up old van came roaring into view, gaining speed rather than losing it. Even Tenzin recognized this van as belonging to Kwan.
"Alright, so y'all remember how a few minutes ago I said there would come a time when we would need to bail?" Kwan called back to the others as she took a hand off the wheel to bend a large ramp ahead of them, "This is that time!"
Mako, Korra, Asami, and Bolin bailed out a second later, as Kwan floored the gas pedal to give herself the momentum she needed. The van launched off the makeshift ramp as Kwan tumbled out of the vehicle, which smashed into a mecha tank and had a domino effect on a 2nd tank, putting all three machines out of commission in a burst of fire and smoke.
"It's showtime." Kwan smirked, but almost as if this was a cue, another six Equalist mecha tanks rolled in from either side.
"CAN'T I JUST HAVE THIS ONE LITTLE THING, WORLD!?" Kwan yelled at the sky, before nearly getting bowled over by a mecha tank. She resolved the conflict rather quickly by lavabending the ground around the machine. However, it seemed that Future Industries had taken a lesson from Kwan's last little stunt against the tanks, for it trudged through the lava as if it were mud, suffering minimal damage. A cable nearly snapped her ankle in its grasp, but the little earthbender had a few quirks that were reminiscent of the Fire Nation royalty she descended from—some of these traits being formidable agility and swift reflexes. She corkscrewed through the air to avoid the pincers, keeping her solid footing as much as possible.
Korra and Bolin were faring much better, with Korra slinging snow that she had melted into water up the pipes of one of the tanks, causing it to short-circuit. Bolin rocked it with his earthbending and helped both knock it over as well as disable several major components. Avatar and earthbender ran past each other, high-fiving as they picked new targets. Korra managed to catch one of the tanks off-guard, using a well-aimed combustion beam at the cockpit and controls, hitting it with deadly precision before the tank could bring up its shields. Two tanks attempted to electrocute her, and while one of them succeeded, Mako intercepted the electricity from the other, redirecting it back and causing a small explosion in the mech's circuitry, putting it out of commission. Five mechs were down, but seven remained.
There were Equalist foot soldiers as well, who had dealt with the telegraph operators as well as Tenzin, but Asami was dealing with these hooligans, wielding a pair of electroshock gloves to fantastic effect. A fierce game of hand-to-hand went down, and while neither side could bend, Asami proved that her moves were far superior to the five Equalists she took on as she repelled them and beelined it for a pair of Equalists that were carrying Tenzin to the truck. She flipped through the air, spreading her hands out and essentially striking the faces of both Equalists with her palms before electrocuting them both.
"Thank you…" Tenzin collected his bearing as he raced back to help the others.
"Sorry about the fall," Asami apologized as she went back to crowd-control the Equalists that had tried to prevent her from reaching Tenzin.
By the time Tenzin had joined the fray, only three mecha tanks remained. The four latest mechanical victims were two that were half-buried in cooling lava (which looked to be a mixture of both Korra and Kwan's work), one that was on fire and half-crushed by a massive boulder, and another one that had gotten its body blown out by what had to have been another of Korra's devastating combustion beams.
Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Kwan found themselves surrounded by the remaining three tanks, all of which had their thick, reflective shields up to protect themselves from Korra's blasts, and were moving too fast to try and ground with lava or rock. They were trying to corral the four benders away from the police station,and Korra's attempt to airbend herself out of the situation only caused her to nearly get her ankle ripped out of its socket as she was seized by one of the mechs' grappling hooks and slammed back to the ground.
Tenzin's airbending was just enough to shake the tanks from their course, giving Korra the opening she needed. She launched herself through the gap with a mixture of firebending and airbending before pivoting around and bringing up large swathes of water and rock. They did minimal damage to her target, but slowed it down enough for Kwan, Mako and Bolin to capitalize on the stutter, where they overwhelmed it with what could only be described as "burning earth".
The 2nd tank was not too much more fortunate. Tenzin slid right underneath it, launching it skyward with a powerful blast of airbending. It spiralled through the air before smashing atop one of the domes of the police station, where it sparked, sputtered, and stopped moving. The last tank was dealt with by Korra, who took it very personally as she felt herself get vicegripped around the waist by one of the pincer cables.
"GAAAAH!" she cried out from the pain, but as she was getting reeled in—most likely to get slammed against the nearest hard surface, she was able to focus herself just enough to launch a combustion beam at the tank. The shield panels were up in front of the cockpit, but not at the joints that connected the wheels and body of the machine. As such, they were blasted apart, causing the body to fall to the ground, disabled and in smoke. With the last tank disabled, the group collected its bearings.
"Ugh… fucking platinum…" Korra grunted, using pure brute strength to pry the pincer around her waist open in order to free herself. Even Kwan looked impressed.
"Can I touch your biceps, Korra?" Bolin asked, which made Korra snort and laugh.
"Maybe later," Korra turned to Tenzin with concern, "Hey, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Tenzin smiled, "thank you all. Any later and I would have been carted off by Amon."
"We need to get out of here," Asami turned to him.
"No," Kwan's eyes widened, "We REALLY need to get outta here!" She pointed down the avenue, where Air Temple Island was visible. To Tenzin's abject horror, two Equalist airships were headed right towards the small island complex.
"Oh no…" Tenzin muttered, before immediately calling Oogi back.
"There's another one!" Bolin pointed up where a third airship was slowly moving towards the island, "two, actually!" One coming from the northeast; the other from the northwest.
No one needed to be told twice except Korra, who froze for a moment as if calculating risk and reward for a scheme she was cooking up.
"You guys go!" She gestured, "Get back, fast! I'm gonna make sure these other two guys never set foot on that Island!"
Instead of trying to ask Korra about her motives or try to argue with her, Tenzin reverted his focus to Oogi, not wasting another moment.
"Yip, yip!" Tenzin and Asami both knew full well that there was no convincing Korra once she had made up her mind, and so Korra's plan didn't faze them apart from the usual silent wish of hoping that Korra would come back unscathed. Mako and Bolin showed concern as well, and even Kwan looked a little intrigued at the Avatar's bold scheme. Korra's hands and feet sprouted jets of blue flames as she fired herself into the sky, passing by Oogi at an alarming speed, before taking off in hot pursuit of the Equalist reinforcements en route to Air Temple Island.
"She's fast," Mako raised his eyebrows.
"Ha," Kwan gave a hollow laugh, "that's like saying there's a few Equalists in town." It was certainly an understatement, considering how potent Korra's agility was even without bending. Thus, when she augmented her speed with the elements, she was almost blinding. Oogi picked up speed in hot pursuit of the airships on the island, but knew that they wouldn't make it before the first two. It was all the more reason for them to hope Korra's endeavour was successful.
Within a few minutes, the first airship had reached the island, and a slew of Equalists were already disembarking. Tenzin's family and Lin watched from their vantage point, as several White Lotus sentries raced down to catch the Equalists and act as the first line of defense.
"Everyone hide inside and remain calm," Lin ordered, only for Pema to scream in pain not more than a split-second later. "Pull it together, Pema! Didn't I just say remain calm!?"
"Mommy, what's wrong?" Ikki asked. Pema clutched her stomach and cried out.
"The baby's coming!"
All three of her children gasped, and Lin's expression could only be described as one that wordlessly said 'well, shit'.
"Not now, baby!" Meelo shouted.
Fortunately, a pair of Air Acolyte midwives came to Pema's aid and thus saving Lin the trouble, but the Equalists weren't about to wait around either. The White Lotus sentries fended off the first wave of Equalists, although had to play more defensively once the second airship had docked by launching cables into the stone leading up to the courtyard.
Lin faced the approaching Equalists as they broke through the ranks of the White Lotus members. The children had disappeared, leaving Lin against the world—or at least against the approaching Equalists.
Even for her age, Lin proved to have fancy footwork, evading most of the Equalists' attacks, using her cables to pull them this way or throw them aside. A few times she used actual earthbending instead, pulling up slabs of rock to stop her assailants dead in their paths. It was only when the Lieutenant tripped her up by intercepting her cables and electrifying them that she had any trouble. Fortunately for her, help was on the way.
Right before he could plunge his kali sticks against Lin's body, he was blasted away by a forceful burst of air that came from Jinora.
"Stay away from my dad's ex-girlfriend!" she commanded.
"Jinora," Lin gasped, getting to her feet, "you shouldn't be out here!" But no sooner had she said that when Ikki came barrelling out of nowhere on an air scooter, blasting Equalists through the air as she smashed through their ranks in a way that would have made Korra proud if she had been there to witness it.
"Get off our island!" she barked, swinging around at the fallen Equalists and barrelling into them for a round 2. "IKKI SMASH!" her air scooter dispersed into a surprisingly formidable shockwave that tripped up a few of the Equalists that weren't in her direct path.
"Girls, you need to get back inside this instant!" Lin warned, fearing for their safety.
"Taste my FURY!" Meelo barrelled in out of nowhere, landing on an Equalists' head before farting himself right off of said Equalist's head. The man would survive, but he was definitely unconscious for the time, although for what exact cause, Lin did not wish to think about.
"...Never mind." It became apparent that all three children, including Meelo, were competent enough against the Equalists. The way they worked with one another also helped, and with Lin's help, soon they had apprehended all of the Equalists, and it was only shortly after that when Tenzin and the rest of the crew had arrived. Lin was the first one to notice who was missing.
"Where's Korra?" she glanced from Tenzin to Asami before meeting eyes with Kwan. No sooner had she asked that when there was a spectacular explosion in the sky, followed by a blue streak of flame that spiralled away from the carnage. Kwan simply raised her eyebrow and gestured.
"We got the bad guys, daddy!" Ikki beamed proudly.
"You let them fight!?" Tenzin turned to Lin, "do you realize what could have happened?"
"I would've been toast without your kids." Lin smiled, "You should be proud; you taught them well. Go on now; your wife will want to see you."
Tenzin's entire family went in to find Pema holding a little baby boy. For a moment Tenzin forgot about the tension and conflict plaguing Republic City as he held his newborn son in his arms.
"Hello, Rohan…" he smiled at the infant, "children, come meet your new baby brother."
"A brother?" Meelo's face lit up as he followed his sisters over, "it's about time!"
For a brief moment, the family was happy together as Pema sighed. However, it was short-lived as Lin appeared in the doorway with an urgent look on her face.
"Tenzin," she called out, "you… probably want to see this."
Tenzin hurried back outside, where Mako, Bolin, and Kwan were already watching what was happening across the bay. A large pile of smouldering wreckage floated in the water, and another airship was losing altitude fast before suddenly exploding. Korra had capitalized on the gases that kept the zeppelins afloat, and had made several risky moves, but had ultimately downed two more of them as she was blasted away from the explosion of the third. She corkscrewed through the air, landing in the courtyard several meters from where Lin and Tenzin stood. However, by the time she was done bouncing and sliding, she was nearly at Tenzin's feet, and certainly looked worse for wear.
"Tenzin…" she wheezed, pulling herself to her feet and staggering as she clutched her left arm, "I'm so sorry… I did the best I could…"
"None of this is your fault," Tenzin prodded her chin to try and make eye contact. "And it looks to me like you took care of the reinforcements."
"No," Korra shook her head, her unkempt hair falling into her face, "I got the two, sure; but there's four more on the way…"
Tenzin's face dropped and he did not respond.
"Everything's not gonna be okay, is it daddy?" Ikki frowned. Tenzin hadn't even noticed his three older children joining him. He did not answer Ikki's question either—not directly, at least. While he did not want to burst their bubble, he knew that she was right. Things were not going to be okay.