The Legend of Korra - Book Two : Spirits

by pavop

Continuation of Book One. Korra, Patrick and their friends are going to the South Pole to celebrate the Glacier Spirits Festival, only to face the Harmonic Convergence. They will be referenced and mentioned other characters, places and events outside ATLA/LOK Universe and even they will appear in the story.

5. The Guide

Around the portal at the South Pole lied the fortification that the army of the Northern Water Tribe had built on the very first day of their arrival, consisting of walls, several watchtowers and tents for the soldiers.

Eska and Desna were standing in front of the beam of light for a good ten minutes because, when they arrived at the camp, they had been told that their father had entered the portal and they should wait for him there.

Finally, their waiting was rewarded when Unalaq emerged from the portal.

"So, you were really in the Spirit World," Desna said to his father.

But Unalaq did not even bother to look at him as he walked past his children. "Never mind that." Then he noticed that Korra was not with them at all, so he finally turned to them. "Where is the Avatar?"

"She was within our grasp until a Dark Spirit attacked her," Eska answered.

"There was nothing we could do about it," Desna added.

"You did not get her?" Unalaq asked in anger.

"The Avatar is dead," Eska replied.

Unalaq took a moment to calm himself down, but it was not enough. Everything he was working on was gone. Useless like their mother! he thought as he headed back to the portal.

"Where are you going?" Desna asked.

"Go back to the Royal Palace and wait for me to summon you!" he ordered. Perhaps there was still another way to open the other portal without Korra.

Meanwhile, on the sea, a cargo ship belonging to Varrick and loaded with Mecha Tanks was making its way to the South Pole. On the deck were the captain of the ship and a few crew members.

It was quite a peaceful voyage until the crew heard some metal noises coming from the right side of the ship. The captain noticed a trio of red flashing lights, which a second later exploded.

"We are under attack!" the captain yelled to alert the others.

Then, from the same side from which the red lights had come, a foursome of soldiers from the Northern Water Tribe entered the deck, riding the waves from the sea. The captain and alarmed crew members were trying their best to defend their ship, but in a matter of seconds, it was all over and they had to evacuate from the destroyed ship on a raft back to Republic City.

"Varrick is not going to be happy about this," the captain remarked with a defeated tone.

A few hours later, in Republic City, at the Police Headquarters, Mako was standing behind a one-way mirror and watching as Beifong, Lu and Gang were interrogating the captain of the recently attacked ship. That attack was part of the series of attacks on the ships that had occurred over the past few days. But his focus was more on the picture that he was holding in his hand. It was a picture taken during the Glacier Spirits Festival and on it, he was smiling with Korra. While looking at the picture, he was replaying in his head the events of his breakup with Korra.

He then heard the door of the room open, so he instinctively put the picture into the pocket of his uniform and looked to see who had entered. It was Asami.

"Is it true?" Asami asked, indicating the attack on the ship that was carrying her Mecha Tanks.

"I am so sorry. Your entire shipment was lost," he replied.

"Without that sale, I do not know how much longer I can keep my company going," Asami said with great worry. "What am I going to do?"

"Do not worry. I will find whoever is responsible," Mako reassured her.

"Oh really? And how far are you with that?" Patrick's voice asked him.

Asami and Mako turned to its source and saw Patrick standing in the back of the room with his hands in his pockets.

"How long have you been here?" Mako asked.

"I have just arrived. The great advantage of teleportation," Patrick replied. "You did not answer my question."

"I… Let's just hear Beifong's interrogation of the captain of the ship." Mako pushed the button on the intercom with a microphone, so they were able to hear everything from the interrogation room.

So, you are not even part of the investigation of those attacks, Patrick thought and he stood beside him and Asami.

"I know it has been a long day, but walk me through what happened," Beifong asked the captain of the attacked ship, who was sitting at the table. She was standing on his right side and Lu and Gang were on his left.

"We were ambushed on the open sea. It happened so fast… We never heard them coming," the captain said.

"This is the third attack this week," Beifong remarked.

"Yes, and it is still in Republic City's jurisdiction, which means another problem for us," Lu replied, sighed and started stroking his long mustache. "All this stress is going to turn this old black beauty gray."

"It had to be the Northern Water Tribe. They are trying to stop the supply lines to the South," Gang added.

"I agree," Beifong said and turned her head back toward the sitting captain. "Is there anything else about the attack you remember? Anything unusual?"

"There is one thing…" the captain answered and started to recall. "The bombs exploded in a way I have never seen before. They did not have fuses. It was like they were being detonated remotely."

In the moment when the captain said that, Mako and Patrick remembered the remote control Mako had found after his fight with the duo of the Firebenders at the Cultural Center.

"Like the bombs at the Cultural Center," Mako said and headed out of the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Asami asked him.

"I have to grab some evidence," Mako replied and walked past Varrick, who opened the door and entered the room.

Varrick approached Asami. "Asami, I heard the news. I cannot believe they took my fifth favorite ship in the Varrick Industries fleet! Named after my mother. Rest in peace, Rocky Bottom."

I wonder if one of your ships is named after Rokkuk, Patrick thought as he was looking at and studying the captain's facial expressions. He was definitely speaking the truth about the explosions.

"Without the money from those shipments, Future Industries is almost broke," Asami said to Varrick with hopelessness.

Then Mako entered the interrogation room, carrying a red box. "Chief, I think there is a link between this attack and the attack at the Cultural Center."

Beifong looked at him angrily. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Solving this case," Mako replied and placed the box in front of the captain. Inside the box was a remote control with a picture of the man he was fighting with at the Cultural Center. "Did any of the people who attacked you have one of these in their hands? I think it is a remote detonator."

The captain looked at the device in the box. "It was too dark to see anything."

"Mako!" Beifong said with a raised voice.

Mako turned his head toward her. "Chief, I do not think the people who attacked were the Northern Water Tribe."

"Of course, they were the Northern Water Tribe. They were Waterbending," Gang said.

But Mako was ignoring him as he showed the picture of the Firebender with whom he was fighting at the Cultural Center to the captain. "Was this one of those that attacked you?"

The captain looked at the picture. "No, I do not recognize him."

"Oh, that is embarrassing," Gang remarked.

Lu chuckled. "Nice try, Rookie."

"Mako, leave. Now," Beifong ordered.

Patrick, who was watching it all from the other side of the one-way mirror, activated the generator of phasing on his bracelet and sighed in spirit. I am going to help Mako… I am really starting to get old. He then moved through the wall with the mirror.

Asami, this time, was not shocked by it at all, unlike Varrick, who was looking at it in complete shock.

"I will have to trademark this now," he said to her as he pointed a finger at the disappearing Patrick.

"From which side did they attack you and how far were you from the city's harbor?" Patrick asked the captain.

Beifong, the captain, Gang and Lu almost jumped out of shock at seeing Patrick go through the wall with the mirror, while Mako was not shocked by it at all, considering that he had already seen this before in the prison in the Southern Water Tribe.

"What…What?" the captain replied in shock.

The first person to recover from the shock was Beifong. "And who invited him here?" she asked with pure anger.

But Patrick was ignoring her; he approached the table, placed his hand on it and leaned forward. "From which side did they attack you? From the left or the right?"

"From the right… Yes, from the starboard side!" the captain answered.

Gang and Lu also recovered themselves from their shock and began to chuckle again. "Who do you think you are? An amateur detective?" Lu asked.

Patrick, with complete calmness, turned his head toward them. "No, I am just a guy who does proper police work; you must be the other guys." He watched as their smiles faded and then turned his head back toward the captain. "And how far were you from the harbor?"

"About 30 klicks…" the captain answered.

So, 16 nautical miles from Republic City, Patrick thought as he straightened up. "The Northern Water Tribe is not behind those attacks."

"How can you be so sure?" Beifong asked with doubt. "Just from that, they attacked from the right and 30 klicks from the city's harbor."

Lu and Gang again started to chuckle, expecting that Patrick would have nothing to argue against Beifong.

"The Northern Water Tribe is attacking the ships from the left, Beifong. Try reading something about the military tactics of all four nations, would you please? And those 30 klicks? That ship and the others were attacked just in 5 percent of their journey to the South, still in the waters of the United Republic of Nations." He turned his head toward Gang. "And they have to be from the Northern Water Tribe just because they are Waterbenders? I have news for you: in the city, there are several thousand Waterbenders, even Avatar Korra is capable of Waterbending; you are going to consider them members of the Northern Water Tribe just because of that. The uniforms of the army of the Northern Water Tribe that they saw during the attacks could be fake." He turned his focus back to the others. "And one last thing, Beifong and you two, unlike you, I have seen the Northern Water Tribe army firsthand, and I can tell you that they do not have enough manpower to fight the rebels and the Republic City at the same time, let alone to attack the ships so far from their borders."

Then Asami and Varrick entered the interrogation room.

"Great work, everybody," Varrick proclaimed.

"I think Mako and Patrick might be onto something," Asami said.

"Chief, I agree with Patrick, and I know it is a long shot, but I have an idea how we can catch them," Mako said to Beifong.

"Of course, let's all listen to the rookie," Lu replied.

"He is doing a better job than you!" Asami barked at him.

But Patrick had a better response to those two. "Mako was a part of taking down Amon and his Equalists. Where were you two at that time? Behind your desks and waited for it to end while stroking your mustaches?"

"Whoooo is hungry?" Varrick asked suddenly.

Patrick gave him a puzzled look because they were in the interrogation room, in the middle of the investigation of the attacks on Varrick's ships that were carrying help to the South and Varrick was asking if someone was hungry. As if Varrick had ADHD or… he was trying to distract them all from the investigation of those attacks.

"Enough!" Beifong yelled because she had had enough of what had become of her interrogation. "I do not want to hear your stupid rookie idea. You are a beat cop, not a detective. Now hit the street and do your job!" she ordered to Mako, pointing out of the interrogation room. Beifong then turned her head toward Patrick. "And you… You are not a member of the police force, so you better get out of this building or I will put you in jail for interfering with the investigation!"

Patrick sighed. "And again, we are in the same situation, just like in Hiroshi's workshop. Again, I was warning you and again your ego was too big. So, deal with this one yourself too." He activated his teleporter on his bracelet and disappeared.

"Somebody should take that thing away from him," Beifong remarked angrily and crossed her arms. She then noticed that Mako was still present in the interrogation room. "I told you to get out!"

Mako, who did not have any strength to argue with Beifong, left with Asami, accompanied by Lu's and Gang's laughter due to the fact that Beifong had supported them.

A moment later, Asami and Mako were standing in front of the Police Headquarters.

"Lu and Gang are idiots. I hate them both," he said to Asami, indicating what happened in the interrogation room a moment ago.

"Forget them," Asami replied. "What is this idea of yours?"

"A sting operation. I was thinking we would set up a bait ship, take it out into the open ocean and capture whoever attacks it," Mako explained.

"Then let's do it."

"It is not that easy. For that plan to work, we need the police and Beifong already said no."

"We can make it work, just the two of us. Or we could invite Bolin and Patrick to do it."

"I do not know. I do not want to go behind Beifong's back. If she finds out, I could get kicked off the force," Mako said in a rejecting tone. Plus, he did not like the idea that he would work with Patrick.

"Mako, please, I need your help. Future Industries is all I have left. I have to save it. And I will help you convince Patrick to help."

Mako sighed. "Alright, but first of all, we need a ship."

Then they both felt that someone else was with them. So, they turned their heads toward the entrance to the building and they jumped out of shock when they saw Varrick standing by them.

"You need a ship? I got a ship. I want in on whatever you are talking about. I love being in on the plans," he said to them with a smug.

"The less you know, the better," Asami replied.

"Perfect! I love not knowing things," Varrick reacted.

So, when they got the ship for their operation, Mako turned his head toward Asami. "Alright, let's get these guys."

An hour later, Asami and Mako were in the part of the harbor belonging to Future Industries, as they were overseeing how two Mecha Tanks were loading empty crates onto the ship, provided by Varrick, while the rest of the Mecha Tanks and Biplanes were stored in the warehouse behind them.

"The ship is loaded with the dummy crates. Let's get this sting operation going," Asami remarked. "Too bad that Korra is not here right now; we could use her Avatar's powers." Asami learned yesterday from Patrick that Korra had left the city to get help from the Fire Nation when the plan to get help from General Iroh failed.

"Right, uh… Korra," Mako reacted with unease.

But Asami noticed his reaction. "Everything alright with you two?"

"Yes! Yes, it is all right… Forget about Korra. I will go talk to Bolin, and then we will meet you at Air Temple Island to recruit Patrick," he answered and quickly ran off in the direction of his and Bolin's apartment to avoid any more discussion about him and Korra.

Mako opened the door of the apartment, and for a brief moment, he thought he had perhaps entered the wrong apartment but quickly realized this was indeed his and Bolin's home. He was greeted by a hot tub in the middle of the room, with Bolin in it and Pabu lying on its edge. Except for the hot tub, there were also many expensive decorations that were worth more than his salary as a police officer.

"Hey, Mako, what do you think? I did a little redecorating. It turns out that one of the perks of being a star is that you get a lot of money," Bolin welcomed him with a warm smile.

Mako, who was still looking around the redecorated room, now turned his attention to the marble statue depicting Bolin dressed as Nuktuk that stood beside the door.

"Is this a marble statue of you?" he asked his brother.

"It is also," Bolin pointed at his head, "a hat rack."

"We do not even have hats," Mako said with irritation.

"That is because we never had a hat rack. And now we do," Bolin replied and finally noticed that his brother was not happy at all with all these new things he had bought for their apartment. "Mako, you seem stressed. I think you need to take a little dipity dip." And he welcomingly tapped the surface of the water in the hot tub.

"I do not have time to take a dipity dip, alright? I am trying to catch whoever has been attacking the ships and I need your help," Mako said and leaned against the edge of the hot tub.

"You need my help?" Bolin groaned. "I do not know. I am kind of busy."

"You are sitting in a hot tub!" Mako reacted irritably.

"I am maintaining my instrument. As an actor, my body is my instrument," Bolin said with arrogance.

"Are you going to help or not?!"

Bolin stood up. "You know, I recall a time when I needed your help and you basically told me to get a life."

"So that is a no. What am I supposed to do now?"

"I do not know, Mako. Figure it out. Remember? That is what you said to me. Hurts, does not it?" Bolin said with a self-satisfied smile.

Mako angrily turned around and went to the door, but then he got the idea of how to improve Bolin's "instrument" by increasing the heat in the fire heater with his Firebending, so it very soon changed the temperature of the water in the hot tub to hot steam.

Bolin, who in the meantime sat back into the water, did not notice the heat until it was too late. "Ow! My instrument!"

But Mako was ignoring him as he continued on his way out of the apartment. So, when Bolin managed to anger him today, he did not give much chance to his nerves when he was about to talk to Patrick.

Some time later, at Air Temple Island, in the Dining Hall, Patrick was laughing loudly for a few minutes after hearing Mako's plea for help.

Mako, with Asami standing beside him, was fighting the urge to leave immediately because there were not many options remaining.

"So, you really want my help?" Patrick asked smugly.

"Yes, I do," Mako replied. "And could you please turn that music off?"

When Mako and Asami arrived in the Dining Hall, Patrick was sitting at the table, and in front of him was a completely dismantled radio, while some strange aggressive music was playing from his bracelet, and now it was playing some man singing about Till I Collapse.

"What is that music, anyway?" Mako added.

"Eminem," Patrick answered.

"Why are you repairing that radio?" Asami asked and motioned to the dismantled device lying on the table.

"I want to contact Tenzin at one of the Air Temples and tell him what happened in the South," Patrick replied, "but unfortunately the Airbenders and Air Acolytes are not quite good at storing the electronic devices. I could teleport there and ask around, but that would take time, time I could use much more wisely."

"And what about using that bracelet of yours in the same way you sent the message to Bumi and the rest of the fleet when we were fighting against Amon?" Asami suggested.

"I would, but I need to know the right frequency, and the Air Acolytes told me that this radio has preset all the frequencies for all radios that are in the Air Temples." Patrick looked at a few parts of the radio. "These definitely need replacements."

Then one of the Air Acolytes, holding a box that was rattling, came and placed it on the table. "Here are all the spare parts we have here, Patrick."

"Thank you," Patrick replied to him.

"And if you could turn off that "music", please? It disrupts our meditation."

Patrick pushed the button on his bracelet and the music stopped.

The Air Acolyte bowed. "Thank you very much." And he left the room.

Patrick looked into the box and then back at the dismantled radio. "Yeah, this will definitely take more time than I thought." He then turned his head toward Mako. "So, you want to lure those behind the attacks out to an empty ship and set off a trap, right?"

"Yes," Mako replied. "We have already managed to get the ship and the dummy crates."

"Well, in that case, we will need more manpower for that trap."

"What? You are not so sure of yourself anymore that you could take out a few Benders who are attacking ships."

"There is nothing wrong with knowing your limitations, Mako. It has saved me from a few dangerous situations before," Patrick replied and paused for a moment. "Considering what happened in the interrogation room and that you are here, it means that you do not have Beifong's blessing, which means no help from the police. So, if Korra is not here, what about Bolin?"

"He will not help us. His new job has gone to his head," Mako answered.

"No wonder. Thanks to Varrick and his moving pictures, Bolin became a superstar overnight. You should ask him if he has percentages from the box office." Patrick paused for a moment as he was thinking. "We do not have Bolin, nor do we have Korra or the police and to be honest, that plan of yours is simple and might work, but it could also go horribly wrong. Maybe I should come up with something better than that."

"But we do not have time for you to think of something else," Mako replied. "The plan is ready; we just need as many people as we can."

"Please, Patrick, we need your help. My mother is gone and my father is in jail. And if I do not do something, I will lose the last thing I have left of my family," Asami added. "Do it for me, please."

Patrick smiled at her. "Good then." His smile then quickly disappeared. "Still, that will not solve our problem with the needed manpower."

"Actually, I was thinking a little bit about something and I know someone who may be able to help us. The question is if they will be willing."

"Then lead the way, Mako," Patrick encouraged him.

Meanwhile, unconscious Korra was lying on the beach of a tropical island while water from the sea was washing over her body, and in her right hand, she was holding Patrick's locator. In her mind echoed the words Harmonic Convergence, but those words quickly changed into something else. Into two names: Raava and Wan.

Then she heard approaching steps, so she, with great struggle, opened her eyes and saw a trio of people standing above her. One woman and two men dressed in the style of the Fire Nation.

They did not look like they were about to hurt her, but her instincts quickly came up, and she used her Airbending against them.

"Get away from me!" she yelled. But her belligerence disappeared as quickly as it appeared and she tiredly fell to her knees.

"It is alright; we are here to help you, Avatar Korra," one of the two men, the eldest of the trio, said and slowly made a few steps toward her.

Korra… Korra… she said to herself in spirit, but it was not saying to her anything. "Who is the Avatar Korra?" she asked the old man in confusion.

The trio quickly exchanged worried glances with each other.

"What happened to you? How did you end up on our island?" the old man asked.

Korra was trying to remember how she got here, but absolutely nothing came to mind. Only those two names. Raava and Wan.

"I… I do not know," Korra replied and tried to stand up. "I cannot remember anything…"

And with those words, she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The trio quickly kneeled down to her to check if she was alright. She was still breathing and seemed to be alright but they could not say the same about her mind.

"What are we going to do, Karu?" the woman of the trio asked the old man.

"We will take her to the shaman. She will know what to do," Karu replied.

Ten minutes later, the trio was carrying Korra through the jungle of the island on a stretcher. While two men carried the stretcher, the woman of the trio was carrying the strange device they found in Korra's hand.

Korra, in the meantime, again weakly opened her eyes and could see that they were taking her to the ancient stone temple in the middle of a clearing in the jungle.

As soon as they ascended through the stone stairs of the temple and entered, they were greeted by a small elderly woman dressed in the colors and style of the Fire Nation.

"We found the Avatar washed up onshore, but she does not remember anything," the woman of the trio reported to the old woman. "And she had this." She handed the locator over to her.

The old woman, for a second, looked at the device. This thing belonged to a world of which she and her order were no longer a part. She returned the locator to the younger woman. "Put it aside." Then her focus turned to Korra on the stretcher. "Put her on the table."

Two men obeyed and put Korra on a nearby stone table.

"Raava… Raava… Raava…" Korra repeated the name as the old woman approached her.

The old woman, a shaman, created, thanks to her Firebending, a fire from her palms and started waving her hands over Korra's body to find out what had happened to her. A few seconds later, she found the source of the problems.

"A dark energy has infected her. We must purge it before it destroys her Avatar Spirit," she proclaimed and stopped her Firebending.

A moment later, the shaman, the trio and the other members of their order took Korra deeper into the temple, into a huge dark room where the only source of light was coming from a huge hole in the middle of the room.

They put Korra into a huge hammock that was part of the mechanism by which they slowly lowered Korra into the hole where there was pure water that was the source of the light.

"Let the waters cleanse the darkness that plagues your spirit," the shaman proclaimed.

As Korra was coming closer to the water, it turned out that the hole, into which she had been lowered, was leading into an enormous cave under the temple.

The moment her body was submerged in the water, she opened her eyes. But she was no longer in the cave. She was floating and her body was surrounded by a purple light.

A second later, her own image materialized in front of her, but it was surrounded by a bright blue light.

"Who are you?" she asked. Then she noticed that she and her image were separated by an invisible wall.

"I am you," her image replied.

"Who am I?"

Then the invisible wall that was separating them rippled and changed the image into Aang's.

"You are the Avatar," the changed image replied.

"I do not know what that is."

The wall again rippled and changed the image into Roku's. "In order to remember, you must regain your connection with your Avatar Spirit." The wall again rippled and the image changed its appearance to Kyoshi's. "If you do not, darkness will engulf the world. You will die and our era will end."

"How do I regain my connection?"

The wall rippled once more and changed the image into Kuruk's. "Go back. Return to the beginning. Find Raava."

Then everything around Korra started to shake and she was pushed away by the materialized strong current of water and bubbles. It was like she fell into a river that was taking her somewhere. Then the current stopped and she turned around to see another image, but this one was different. This one was inside a circle of light.

"Are you Raava?" Korra asked.

"No, but I can help you find her," the image replied. "My name is Wan and I will show you how I became the first Avatar."

Then Korra was bombarded by a bright light.

Meanwhile, in Republic City, Asami, Mako and Patrick were inside the restaurant, surrounded by not very good company. While Asami did not know where Mako was leading them a moment ago, Patrick, on the other hand, recognized that place from the time when he was following Korra and Mako when they were looking for Bolin the day before Amon's Revelation. It was the base of operations for the Triple Threat Triad.

Asami and Mako were sitting on the chairs and opposite them was sitting a gangster that Patrick recognized as one of the trio that he and Korra encountered when they first came to Republic City, and who later introduced himself as Viper, with two other gangsters standing to his sides. Unlike Asami and Mako, Patrick was standing, which did not calm the remaining four gangsters that were surrounding them.

Viper smiled at first at Mako but then his smile disappeared as he looked at Patrick. "Do we know each other?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I have one of those familiar faces," Patrick replied.

Viper motioned to the gangster on his left, whom Patrick also recognized from his first visit to the city. "Do you recognize him too, Two Toed Ping?"

Two Toed Ping leaned forward and looked carefully at Patrick. "Maybe, boss."

"Like I said, I have one of those familiar faces," Patrick said coldly.

This whole environment of this criminal base of operations was reminding Patrick of a similar one in his Universe, located in New York, named MacLoughlin's Bar. That was the base of operations for Declan Mulligan, aka Sawblade, and his gang called The Saws. Declan moved with his family to New York when he was five, and later, with other Irish friends from elementary school, he formed a gang called The Saws. The name originated from the fact that all of their parents were working at the local sawmill. Years later, The Saws became a full-fledged street gang, independent of the Irish Mob and too small for other criminal organizations to bother with them. Everything changed the day when they were hired by a man, representing several construction companies in the city, to destroy a prototype of a magnetic device that was supposed to speed up the construction work, which the construction companies, which made the money from the long-term construction, were not fond of.

Declan and his gang were successful, but when they were about to leave the building where the device was stored, the device exploded, and Declan was hit by its magnetic energy. Later in the hospital, Declan found out that he had gained the power to manipulate magnetism, but he was not on the same level as other users of the same power, such as Doctor Polaris or Magneto. At most, he was able to lift an empty car, so Declan decided to focus on smaller objects instead of large, heavy ones. Pretty soon, Declan, with his acquired power and with his gang, drove the rival gangs out of their neighborhood and greatly increased their own numbers. Much later, Declan earned his nickname, the Sawblade, by obtaining one of the rarest and strongest metals on the planet in Patrick's Universe called Varonid, which he recast into several circular saw blades that are able to cut through anything.

"Alright, then," Viper replied and turned his head toward Mako. "So, Mr. Law and Order needs our help, huh? What is in it for the Triple Threats?"

"I am personal friends with the Avatar. I might be able to convince her to give Shady Shin his Bending back," Mako offered as payment for their help with guarding the ship.

Shady Shin, who was standing on Viper's right side, smiled. "Sounds good to me, boss."

But Viper ended his joy just by glaring at him. He then turned his attention back to their guests. He was about to continue negotiating their agreement when suddenly Patrick approached Mako from behind and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Patrick asked him.

Mako looked at Patrick in disbelief and then exchanged the same glance with Asami. "I do not think this is a good time for that." He looked back at Viper and the other gangsters and he could see that they were still keeping straight faces.

"I think it is the right time for that. Now!" Patrick insisted.

"Could you give us a moment, please, Viper?" Mako asked the gangster.

Viper shrugged. "Of course."

As Mako stood up, Patrick turned his gaze to Asami. "If they try anything, scream, alright?"

Asami nodded. "Do not worry."

Patrick followed Mako through the open door leading to the hallway. As soon as Patrick closed the door behind him, Mako started, "What do you think you are doing?"

"I should ask you the same question because I am curious how you will explain to Korra when she gets back that you have promised, in her name, that she will give the members of the Triple Threat Triad their Bending back," Patrick replied.

"I said I might be able to convince her to give Shady Shen his Bending back. Might be."

"We both know that Shady Shin is not their only member whose Bending was taken away by Amon, so what if the others will also want their Bending back, Mr. "I just ran numbers for them and stuff"," Patrick said. "And from Asami, they will probably want vehicles, Mecha Tanks, Biplanes or any other weapons that her father created for Amon. So, let me ask you this: What is your plan if they demand more or will you not be able or willing to fulfill your end of the bargain?"

"I…I…" Mako started to think. Patrick was right; Shady Shin was not the only one from the Triple Threat Triad who had lost his Bending thanks to Amon, such as Lightning Bolt Zolt, and he knew them well enough to know that they would not stop at one. Plus, now that they had the head of Future Industries here, they would also want access to Mecha Tanks and other weapons as well to have an advantage over the other gangs. He really should have thought this through before they got here. "I will figure something out."

"Congratulations, Mako; you really assured me with that," Patrick replied sarcastically.

"Why do you even care?"

"Because it is a loose end, Mako. And from my experience, a loose end can quite effectively bite you in the ass, and in this case, it affects me as much as it does Korra, and I will have to willy-nilly deal with it, as always. If you were Korra, you also would not be happy that your boyfriend is behind your back promising criminals that you will give them back their Bending." Patrick paused for a moment. "We should not be here at all."

"You said that we need more manpower and we do not have a lot of options right now."

"We could have also asked the Air Acolytes to help us. They are not exactly fighting types like these ones, but at least they could observe and report back, or I could come up with a better plan, but no, we have to follow your plan."

"We should get back; otherwise, they will suspect something," Mako said, walked to the door to open it and went back into the room.

Patrick, with a deep sigh in spirit, followed him.

"So, you two have settled things up back there?" Viper asked, but Mako and Patrick ignored it.

"When it comes to restoring Shady Shin's Bending, we cannot guarantee anything, and even if we could, it will only be him from your group, no one else," Patrick said as Mako sat back in his chair.

"Alright then, but what about the rest of us?" Viper asked.

Patrick turned his head toward Mako. Here we go, he thought.

"I have got vehicles, all brand-new and top of the line. They can be yours if you help," Asami answered to Viper, knowing that this group will not help them just because Korra would probably return Bending to one of their members.

Viper smirked. "I think we got ourselves a deal."

That got Patrick's attention. Viper surely knew that Asami's father had made weapons for Amon and he would settle for just some vehicles? Not to mention how easily he had accepted the changed terms about Shady Shin — surely not because he cared for his fellow criminal. Something definitely was not right here.

It was already night when the bait ship sailed out of the harbor with Asami, Mako, Patrick and several members of the Triple Threat Triad, including Viper, Shady Shin and Two Toed Ping.

"This is right around the area where the attacks happened. So, keep your eyes peeled and stay quiet," Mako ordered after some time when they were out in the open sea.

Patrick and Two Toed Ping were standing beside him, leaning against the railing of the ship, and Asami was a few steps away from them, leaning against the wall.

"Really? I thought we were here for fishing and sightseeing," Patrick replied.

Two Toed Ping started laughing and Mako sighed in annoyance.

"I think I am starting to like this one." Two Toed Ping pointed at Patrick behind him with his thumb. "This job is definitely going to be fun."

"Indeed, Two Toed Ping," Patrick replied and he patted him friendly on the shoulder. "Indeed."

"And do not worry, Mako." Two Toed Ping made the gesture of zipping his mouth. "Keep quiet. Mouth zipped; do not say a word. That is the best thing to do when you are trying to ambush somebody, which is what we are doing here, and it is basically what I am always doing. I mean, I am a gangster, after all, and —"

"Two Toed Ping, please," Mako interrupted him because he had had enough of his incessant talking.

"Oh, right. So, what is it like dating the Avatar?" Two Toed Ping asked.

Great… Mako thought as he turned his head away. He just made it worse.

"Come on, Mako, I need to know," Two Toed Ping demanded.

"Ping, stay focused!" Mako barked at him.

"Oh, please, Mako, do not be like that. He just asked a simple question," Patrick joined the conversation.

"You heard the Smartest Man in the World, Mako. Why are you so weird about it? If I were dating the Avatar, I would tell you all about it," Two Toed Ping added.

Mako looked at the confused Ping and then at the smirking Patrick behind him. Those two have known each other for less than an hour and have already formed a team. "There is nothing to know…" Perhaps it was time to finally say the truth about the state of the relationship between him and Korra and perhaps it could ease the tension. "I broke up with her."

"You broke up? When? Why did you not tell me?" Asami asked surprised.

Because it was after he stabbed Korra in the back, Patrick answered in spirit and looked at the horizon in front of him.

"I do not know," Mako answered Asami and then he looked at Patrick. He could see that he was not surprised by that information at all. It was like he knew it from the beginning. It occurred to Mako that perhaps Patrick had used Ping to force him to tell the truth about him and Korra.

Two Toed Ping, in the meantime, started hysterically laughing. "Of course, right. You broke up with the Avatar. Like that happened." He stretched his neck to call out to Viper and Shady Shin above them on the upper deck of the superstructure of the ship. "Hey, Shady Shin, Viper. Mako says he broke up with the Avatar."

"Sure, he did," Shady Shin replied.

"Yes, I did too," Viper added.

Pretty soon, the joke spread over the entire ship, accompanied by bursts of laughter.

"All right, would you please knock it off and do your job?" Mako reacted, regretting now that he admitted that he had broken up with the Avatar.

Another hour passed, and Asami, Mako and Patrick, due to the waiting, were looking at Two Toed Ping, who was sitting on the crate in front of them with extended bare feet, showing the reason why he was called Two Toed Ping. He had twelve toes on both feet.

"And that is why they call me," he said and wiggled his extra toes in front of his audience, "Two Toed Ping."

"Because you have two extra toes," Asami replied.

"That is right," Two Toed Ping nodded. "And there was already a Twelve Toed Ping on the south side." And he was about to put his shoes back on.

"It is Polydactyly," Patrick said.

Asami, Mako and Two Toed Ping looked at him surprised.

"What?" the member of the Triple Threat Triad asked.

"The reason you have two extra toes," Patrick answered. "It is called Polydactyly. It is a genetic abnormality that you inherited from your family."

"So, you have that in your world too?" Two Toed Ping asked.

"Of course. Some people with Polydactyly also have extra fingers."

"Wow!" Two Toed Ping commented in amazement. "Last week, I met a woman who had one eye green and the other brown. Do you have this in your world too?"

"We have. We call it Heterochromia Iridum."

"Hetero…Heterochromino Iridum," Two Toed Ping tried to repeat. "Why are you using such difficult words instead of something much simpler?"

"Heterochromia Iridum," Patrick corrected him. "We are; it is just in Latin — the Dead Language."

"The Dead Language?" Asami asked confused.

"Because no nation in my world is speaking that language anymore; it is used only by scholars and clerics."

"Wait! Do you hear that?" Mako asked suddenly.

Asami, Patrick and Two Toed Ping pricked up their ears to hear what Mako was hearing, but after a few seconds, they did not hear anything.

"I do not hear anything," Asami said as she tried her best to hear what Mako was claiming to hear.

"Nothing," Two Toed Ping added.

After another second, Mako had to agree with them that maybe he had just overheard something. "Ah! Why is it taking so long?" The wait for those who had attacked the ships was exhausting.

"That is the main problem with the plan with the bait, Mako. You have to be patient. Very patient," Patrick said.

"He is right, Mako," Two Toed Ping added. "Just try to relax a little."

"I am going to check the back," Mako announced and he went to the rear of the ship.

When he arrived there, he could only see the open sea and no boats nearby or by the ship. He leaned against the railing in frustration, hoping that maybe the attackers would arrive now. A minute later, he heard approaching steps. He turned his head toward their direction and saw Patrick.

"Why are you here?" he asked him.

"I thought you might want some company," Patrick replied and leaned his back against the railing next to Mako.

"No, thank you," Mako said angrily, but he could see that Patrick was ignoring it.

A minute of silence passed until Patrick spoke, "I know why you and Korra broke up. You sold her out to the President."

Mako turned his head toward him. "I…I…I did not… How do you know?"

"By a simple process of elimination," Patrick explained. "Asami would never talk, nor would Varrick or I. The only one who talks too much for his own good is Bolin but he has no ties to the government, unlike you. So, he had simply told you that Korra was going to convince General Iroh to attack the Northern Water Tribe in the South and then you told it to Raiko. Plus, I met Korra after what I think was an argument between the two of you, and she looked like someone close to her had betrayed her."

Mako tuned his head away for a second, looking for the right words, and then he turned it back toward Patrick. "I was doing my duty. As a police officer, I —"

"Duty? Duty?" Patrick interrupted him with a laugh. "Duty, you say? No. You just wanted to get the respect of Beifong and those two idiots with mustaches, that was all, and judging by how they rejected that idea of yours in the interrogation room today, I would say it did not work out."

"I was protecting lives in Republic City!" Mako objected. "If Korra convinced General Iroh to fight the Northern Water Tribe, how many lives in the city would that put at risk?"

"Or maybe General Iroh and the fleet could have ended that war in a single day without loss of life on both sides. But we will not find that out because you betrayed Korra."

"Betray her!? I was trying to be a good, helpful boyfriend to her!"

"But most certainly not loyal."

"Why do you even care? Do not tell me that if you were in my place, you would let her do it."

"It may sound strange to you, Mako, but I would let her do it. Because I value loyalty. Because if somebody wants to spend their life with you, then they definitely deserve it. I would fight for this person to the end and much more. That is what love is." Especially if that person wants to spend their life with what is left of your miserable one. "So, keep telling yourself you did your "duty". It will warm your bed tonight; oh wait… that is right; you and Korra did not make this far." Patrick walked away. "If you come looking for me, I will be in the lower deck, playing cards with Viper and Shady Shin." After a few steps, he stopped. "By the way, Mako, she was crying; you really broke her heart."

After Patrick left, Mako turned his attention to the horizon. He clenched his fists over the railing due to the anger that was slowly building inside of him. Patrick was right; he had betrayed Korra and for what? Beifong still did not want to hear his theory that the Northern Water Tribe was not behind all those attacks and that Lu and Gang were still playing pranks on him.

Mako extended his right hand and shot a stream of fire into the night sky to release some of the frustration of the last few days and tonight. After a few minutes, when he felt better, he stopped.

He then decided to check the bow of the ship, and as he walked past the metal staircase in the superstructure of the ship, he noticed two members of the Triple Threat Triad above him. However, it seemed that they did not notice him as they continued their conversation.

"So, how long do we have to stay out here?" one of them asked.

"Viper said it would be a few hours. What? Do you have anything better to do tonight?" the other one replied.

"Actually, I do."

"Well, that is too bad because we are getting paid to keep Mako, that girl and that Smartest Man in the World distracted for a few hours." The member of the Triple Threat Triad smirked. "Supposedly the Smartest Man in the World, and he cannot see that he has been fooled."

Mako's eyes widened from shock after overhearing the conversation; they were double-crossed, but he should have expected that from his former "friends". Now he had to find Asami and Patrick and get out of the ship as soon as possible.

He found Asami, still standing beside Two Toed Ping as she watched with some curiosity how Ping was stroking his extra toes. He was about to call out to her when, luckily, she turned her head toward him, so he silently gestured for her to come over to him.

When she walked over to him, he whispered to her, "I just overheard two of them. We have been double-crossed. We have to get off this ship."

"What about Patrick?" Asami asked.

"He is on the lower deck with Viper and Shady Shin. Hurry!" And he quickly ran with her to the stairs leading to the lower deck.

Patrick, in the lower deck, was sitting on an old metal barrel, holding cards. In front of him, also sitting on old barrels, were Shady Shin and Viper, fully focused on their cards. Around them were several members of the Triple Threat Triad, watching their game and probably making bets among themselves on who would win the next round, even though so far Patrick was winning every round.

"Your money, please," Patrick announced with a smile as he laid down his cards on the barrel that was between them, which served as their provisional table, and showed the winning pair.

Viper, in rage, slammed his cards on the ground. "How do you do it? You won every round! You must be cheating!" He reached into his pockets to pull out some yuans when he noticed that some of his men were laughing over his loss. "Do not laugh, or else!" he ordered them.

Shady Shin searched through his pockets but could not find any money. "I am broke."

"Then that gold chain of yours will do," Patrick said as he took the money from Viper and added it to the other won money bills lying beside him.

Shady Shin deeply sighed, took off his gold chain and handed it over to Patrick.

"So, guys, want to go for another round? All or nothing?" Patrick asked them.

Shady Shin and Viper exchanged unsure glances with each other and before they could reply, Mako and Asami rushed into the room.

"Mako, Asami, I am winning a lot of money here!" Patrick announced to the newcomers and shuffled the cards.

"Patrick, we need to talk!" Mako said with urgency as he and Asami approached him, keeping their eyes on all the gangsters present in the room.

But it looked like Patrick was ignoring the urgency in Mako's tone. "So, talk."

"It is private!" Mako replied, but still, Patrick was not paying any attention to it at all. "It is urgent!"

"Private and urgent," Patrick repeated the words and laid down the shuffled cards. "You mean how your "friends" here double-crossed us?"

In that moment, a complete silence ruled over the room as all who were present, especially the shocked gangsters, focused their gazes on Patrick.

"You know that?" Mako asked.

"Of course. I had my suspicions when you remarked on why it was taking so long for the attackers. Honestly, I had my suspicions before we even sailed." Patrick slowly stood up and took his winnings. "So, Viper, we are leaving."

Viper wickedly smiled. "You really think we will let you go?" He spread out his arms, and as if on command, the members of the Triple Threat Triad around them took fighting poses.

"Oh, you will let us go because we are the only ones who have weapons here."

Viper's smile widened; it looked like he was almost laughing. "Is that so?"

"It is," Patrick replied in a cold tone and then pointed to one of the criminals behind Viper. "You there! You are a Firebender, right?"

The other gangsters looked confused at their fellow gangster, while he replied with an even more confused tone, "Yes…"

Patrick spread his arms as if he would surrender. "Shoot fire at me."

"What?" the gangster asked surprised.

"You heard me."

"Do it, Wei!" Viper ordered, but even he was confused by it.

Wei extended his hand, and it looked like he was about to launch a fire at Patrick. But nothing happened. So, he tried it again. Still nothing. "I cannot… Firebending!" he exclaimed as he lowered his hand and put it to his chest as if he had lost that limb.

Patrick pointed to another gangster behind Viper. "And you are a Waterbender, right? Go for it! Use the water."

The confused gangster looked at his colleagues with an expression that was saying: What should I do? Eventually, he did open the bottle attached to his belt and use his Waterbending to get water out of it, but at the exact moment when the water left the bottle, it turned into steam.

"How?!" the gangster yelled in fright and stepped back. The other gangsters quickly followed his example.

Viper's confused look disappeared and was replaced by a slightly frightened one, while Shady Shin was trying his best not to make a sound, so perhaps when things would go bad, he would not get in the middle of it.

"It was just business… Nothing more…" Viper finally said.

Patrick activated his gauntlets. "I believe you, Viper, but do not ever try that on me again." He turned to leave. "Asami, Mako, we are going."

Those two with speechless expressions followed him.

A few minutes later, the trio was in the boat; Asami was steering, Patrick was sitting beside her and Mako was sitting in the back.

"Get us back into the city as fast as you can," Patrick ordered Asami while he and Mako were watching out to see if the gangsters on the ship would try anything.

Asami swiftly obeyed and the boat was quickly receding from the ship.

"How did you manage to do that back there?" Mako asked when they were far enough away from the ship.

"Thanks to this," Patrick replied and extended his hand to hand over something to him.

It was a small metal stud with a red flashing light in the middle. It was so small that it almost fell through Mako's fingers when he was looking at it.

"It is like a power dampener," Patrick explained. "For Firebenders and Waterbenders, except for Earthbenders, it creates a special field around the person in a radius of three meters. For the Firebenders, it changes the oxygen around them; it is still breathable for them, but it does not support fire; in other words, the same exact second they ignite a fire, it will extinguish it at the same time. For Waterbenders, it works in such a way that the moment they appear near any liquid that has a lower temperature than the blood in the human body, it instantly changes its state to gaseous. And for Earthbenders, every time they try to use their Bending, the device detects the movement of their muscles they make while doing so, and they instantly get a small electric shock through their bodies or when I press the button."

"How long have you had these things?" Mako asked.

"I was working on them pretty soon after I got here, just like on those discs I used to stop Tarrlok's Task Force from arresting those civilians." Patrick paused for a moment. "So, I planted them on a few of your friends during our voyage."

Mako remembered how during their sailing he had seen how Patrick was quite friendly to the members of the Triple Threat Triad, listening to their bad jokes or stories, and… he always friendly patted them on the shoulders, just like Two Toed Ping. This was definitively how Patrick planted those things on them.

"Just a few of them?" he continued asking.

"I could not plant them on everyone; I have just one pair of ears and one set of nerves for listening to terrible jokes. So, I had to use just those few that I have managed to plant those dampeners on and use the crowd psychology."

"That is why you pointed at those two back there. They already had those dampeners on," Asami took up.

Patrick nodded. "I originally wanted to use one more, but when they started to get scared enough, I had to take advantage of the moment to get us out of the ship before the rest of them would realize that they were still able to Bend, or at least their Waterbending members with the dampeners would realize the limitations of the dampeners due to the ocean that was surrounding the ship." Patrick rolled up the sleeve of his arm, where he wore his bracelet, and pressed the button on it.

"What did you do?" Mako asked.

"Activated the self-destruction sequence. We do not want that technology to get into the streets if they find it, right? And do not worry; they will not get hurt; just have holes in their clothes." Patrick extended his hand to let Mako know that he should return the device to him.

Mako gave him the device back. "How did you know that they would double-cross us?"

"As I said, I had my suspicions before we set sail because of how easily they agreed to our terms. Like they would do that job for a few vehicles and the possibility that we could restore Bending to one of their men. I was not buying it, so I planted my dampeners just in case."

"You were right. I overheard the conversation between them and they said that they were paid to distract us."

Patrick quickly turned his head toward Mako. "Distract us?" After Mako nodded to him, he continued with his questions, "Where are those Mecha Tanks and Biplanes?"

"They are in the warehouse in the harbor where we sailed from," Asami answered, but she quickly realized it too. "Oh, no!"

Less than thirty minutes later, Asami and Patrick were standing in front of the entrance to the warehouse. Mako, in the meantime, was tying the boat to the pier. Asami quickly pulled the light switch in the warehouse, hoping they were not too late.

Unfortunately, her hopes were in vain, as the light revealed that the whole warehouse was empty. Everything that remained of her company was gone.

"My company… it is over," Asami said with sadness.

"Let me guess; everything you had was here, right?" Patrick replied, judging by the sound of her voice.

Asami hung her head down and nodded.

"Then let me search it; perhaps they left some leads."

"Patrick… it does not matter anymore," Asami rejected.

"Of course, it still matters," Patrick said and turned to her.

Asami turned to him, still looking at the ground with a defeated expression. "Just stop. It is over. I give up."

"Well, I am not giving up on you."

Asami rose her head; her green eyes, which were full of tears, looked into Patrick's blue eyes. And then it happened. She leaned forward and kissed him passionately.

Surprised Patrick returned her kiss for a second, but his mind started screaming, No! NO! So, he quickly pulled away from her and turned his back on her.

"Did I do something wrong, Patrick?" Asami asked with a puzzled look, but it was soon replaced by a sad one.

"You did nothing wrong, Asami… I just… just," Patrick replied while looking for the right words to answer, while his mind was already screaming them. I am dying, Asami! You really want to be with someone who has only a few years to live? With someone like me?

"I should probably go back home and think about what to do next. Tonight has been quite… difficult for all of us." And with these words, Asami walked away.

Patrick wanted to tell her something to stop her, but nothing could come out of his mouth. So, he watched her leave, and when she was gone, he turned his attention to a nearby metal column in the warehouse. With great anger, he punched it. The pain quickly followed and that was a good thing because the last stage of his tumor was causing a loss of feeling, including the pain.

Mako rushed into the warehouse. "I saw Asami and… Oh no!" he said as he saw how the ones who had paid Triple Threat Triad had emptied the warehouse, which he saw a few hours ago filled with Mecha Tanks and Biplanes. "Did they take everything?"

"Yes," Patrick replied and he approached him.

Mako rubbed his eyes in frustration. "You were right. That plan with the bait went completely wrong."

"It did."

"We should search the warehouse. There must be some leads we could follow."

"Be my guest," Patrick said as he waved his hand to the inside of the warehouse. "But we should head to the bar and get something to drink."

Mako looked confused at him. "Are you kidding me? We have to search through this warehouse to find leads on whoever stole those Mecha Tanks and Biplanes!"

"And what if we do not find anything here? The other lead we have is on a ship away from here and it will take some time before they return to the city. So, in the meantime, how about we go to the bar and drink the bitter taste of this lost battle?"

Mako sighed as he looked around the emptied warehouse. Patrick was right; there was just a small chance that they could find something in the warehouse. A better chance of making progress on this case was with his "former gangster friends" on the ship and a small break would not hurt. After all that had happened between him and Korra — how Bolin had rejected his request for help, how Beifong had refused to listen to him and how his sting operation had totally failed — he could use a drink.

"Alright, then," he said and he turned off the lights in the warehouse and closed it.

He and Patrick then went into the city.

"By the way, whose ship was it that we used for that plan? Asami's?" Patrick asked along the way.

"No, that ship belonged to Varrick. He borrowed it for us for our operation," Mako answered.

"Varrick?" Patrick asked surprised.

"Yes," Mako replied and he noticed that Patrick was thinking about something. "What is it?"

"Nothing…" Patrick answered and smiled slightly. Of course, he thought.

The bar they went to was brand new and quite popular. There was much gossip about the barman and also the owner, considering that several months ago his bar had been in the poorest part of the city and, in some mysterious way, had relocated to a much better part of Republic City.

Mako sat opposite Patrick at the table in the completely full bar, both having their drinks in front of them that Patrick had paid for with the money he had won from Viper and Shady Shin.

"You know… Patrick, you are quite a hard man to predict," Mako remarked while swirling and looking into the contents of his glass, like he was looking for the answers there. "One moment you are taunting and scolding me and in the next moment you want to have a drink with me," he added as he looked back at Patrick.

"It is called being fickle, Mako. You should try it sometimes," Patrick replied and took a sip of his drink. "And do not worry; tomorrow I will be taunting and scolding you again."

They both sat there in silence for a moment. Then Mako sighed.

"You were right; I… betrayed Korra and for what? It did not make Beifong listen and it did not make Lu and Gang shut up," Mako explained. "When Raiko came to me and reminded me of my duty, I thought I was doing it out of duty to the city, but honestly, it was for those selfish reasons." He shook his head. "When my parents died and I and Bolin grew up on the streets, I was doing everything I could to take care of him, and even though I was given many opportunities to be selfish during that time, I refused to take them. And now, when I am an adult, I am starting to do those selfish things."

"That is life, Mako; sometimes we make the bad choices, sometimes we make the right choices. The real question is how we deal with the bad choices."

Mako smirked and took a sip of his drink.

Patrick leaned forward. "How did your parents die anyway? If I may ask?"

"They were killed by a Firebender."

"Do you remember anything from that day?"

"Not much; it happened so fast and I was little and Bolin was much littler back then. I remember when that man entered our home… and then there was an argument between him and my parents, especially my mother, and then when the fire blasts started, I ran with Bolin and the scarf as fast as we could from our home, just like our parents told us. After a few hours, when we returned, we could see that it had become a crime scene with two bodies."

"And nothing else you can remember?"

"One thing…" Mako replied while trying to recall that memory. "My mother was looking at that man with a shocked expression, but it also… seemed like she knew him. But that is all. Back then, I was too little and focused to get away from there with Bolin to remember all of that."

Another moment of silence passed and Patrick took another sip of his drink.

"Well, perhaps I could brighten your evening a little bit."

"How? Do not tell me you have some pills that will make you happy and make you see a world full of rainbows and such."

Patrick chuckled. "It is quite funny that you mentioned that, because I have the pills that do exactly that. They are from one place called Wellington Wells; they are called the Joy Pills, but I have something much better than that." Patrick paused for a moment. "I know who is behind those attacks on the ships and that bombing."

Mako looked at him in shock. "What?" And then it turned into anger. "How long?"

Patrick looked at his bracelet to see the time. "About since we got here."

"What?" Mako asked full of anger and he was doing his best not to stand up. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Can you tell me his name?"

"No."

Mako again tried to control his anger. "Why?"

"Because you will have to figure it out by yourself, Mako. Do you want to be a detective, right?"

"Yes."

"And you are smarter than Lu and Gang?"

"Yes."

"Then you would have no problem solving it yourself. I will not be here forever to guide you. You have to do it by yourself and this time the solution is quite simple and it is right in front of you." Patrick smiled. "Come on."

Mako sighed. A moment ago, he thought he and Patrick could finally talk like normal people, but now Patrick was teasing him again. Fickle. How fitting, he thought. "Alright then."

"Good. Let's start with the motive. What is the motive behind all these attacks?"

Mako tiredly rubbed his eyes. "To get Republic City to join the war between the North and the South."

"Who would want that?"

"Not the local gangsters, except for those I encountered at the Cultural Center. And the Northerners would perhaps attack the Cultural Center, but they know that those attacks on the ships would cause them to have one more enemy." Mako spread out his hands. "That leaves only the Southerners."

"You are getting warmer," Patrick replied and waited to see if Mako would realize the next question, but when he saw that Mako was still groping in the dark, he decided to say it. "And which Southerner can afford to pay the Triads to do his dirty work for him?"

"Well, it must be someone very rich to manage that…" Mako slowly realized that name. "Varrick!"

Patrick congratulatorily pointed his finger at Mako. "We have a winner."

"But how did you figure it out?"

"Do you remember how you told me that Varrick borrowed his ship for you for your plan? Only someone who knew about your plan, except for you, Asami and me, could pay the Triple Threat Triad to distract us while he was emptying that warehouse."

"Of course! He had overheard my conversation with Asami about the sting operation. That is why he offered his ship to us!" Mako proclaimed, remembering how Varrick was standing by him and Asami when they were in front of the Police Headquarters.

Patrick nodded. "I had my suspicions about him when, during our meeting with Raiko, he labeled the Northerners as the ones responsible for that bombing. I guess that the whole idea came up during his "Idea Storm" and was intended to convince Raiko, before our meeting, to participate in the war, but sadly for Varrick, it did not work out." Patrick paused for a moment. "Tell me, Mako, have you read the reports from that bombing?"

"Of course."

"Was anyone or some precious cultural artifacts of the Southern Water Tribe in that building when the explosion occurred?"

"The building was completely empty and the artifacts were hastily transported before the march by the biggest donor of the Cultural Center…"

"Varrick!" they both said at the same time.

"So, when the bombing of the Cultural Center did not convince Raiko, Varrick decided to use a different tactic," Patrick continued.

"Attacking his own ships that were transporting Mecha Tanks to the South," Mako took up.

"Always in the same area, always in the waters of Republic City, to persuade the people that the North is responsible. Plus, Bolin's Nuktuk is doing its part too."

"But why is he attacking his own ships that were transporting help to his people?"

"I think at this point his inner businessman started to make himself known. He realized that not only by attacking the ships would he get Republic City into a war against the North, but he could also get all the Mecha Tanks and Biplanes for free, so he could sell them to Republic City or anyone else. Not to mention that these attacks will force Asami to sell Future Industries to him for cheap."

Mako shook his head. "Poor Asami."

"I can see now why Rokkuk does not like him at all. And it can get worse."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, from what I can tell, neither those attacks nor Varrick's moving pictures convinced Raiko to join the South against the North. So, Varrick will have to increase his efforts…"

"The only thing Varrick can do now is attack the city directly or… attack the President!"

"Exactly."

Mako stood up. "Then we should immediately arrest Varrick before he makes an attempt on that!"

"Based on what, Mako? On a theory? We need evidence — hard-proof evidence against Varrick — that we can give to Beifong."

Mako sat back down. Patrick was right. They needed good evidence that Varrick was behind all those attacks, especially after what happened today in the interrogation room. "So, what are we going to do?"

"First, we will pay a visit to your former "friends" from the Triple Threat Triad. Particularly the one who is very talkative." And with those words, Patrick finished his drink.

A few hours later, Mako and Patrick secretly observed the base of the Triple Threat Triad until morning, waiting for one of them to leave the building alone. Fortunately for them, the lucky one was Two Toed Ping, but just to be sure, they followed him for a while to be sure that he was truly alone and that his friends from the gang would not interfere with their interrogation. When they were sure enough, they simply grabbed him on a busy street and took him to a nearby back alley, where they slammed him against the wall.

"Hey, Mako… Patrick… how are you doing?" Two Toed Ping asked in panic.

Patrick noticed that there was a small hole in Ping's clothes in the area of the shoulder where he had patted him last night. He did not doubt that his devices had also made holes in the clothes of the other gangsters when he had activated their self-destruction.

"Who hired you to double-cross us?" Mako, who was still holding Ping against the wall, asked with a threat in his voice.

"I do not know," Two Toed Ping replied.

Classic "I do not know", Patrick thought and he looked behind them to make sure no one was watching them.

"I think you do know," Mako reacted and, with his Firebending, he formed a dagger of fire in his hand. He then got the flaming blade so close to Ping's face that it was absolutely certain that he felt its heat. "And you are going to tell us; otherwise, you will have to change your name to "No Toed Ping.""

"I… I…" came out of Ping's mouth.

"Mako, good way of interrogating, but I have something much better," Patrick remarked.

Mako turned his head toward him. "Like you would almost throw him into some portal with monsters?" he asked. "Korra told me on our way back here how you interrogated Judge Hotah."

"M…Monsters?" Two Toed Ping asked frightened.

"Well, I can assure you, I do not like doing the same thing twice. And this one will be just as effective as the last time," Patrick replied and then paused for a moment. "Please."

Mako sighed. "Alright." He released Ping and made a step back, but he was still ready to catch Ping if he tried to escape.

Two Toed Ping quickly turned around to face his interrogators.

Patrick activated a white sphere around them.

"What is that?" Mako asked.

"It is a soundproof sphere, Mako. No one will be able to hear any of what is happening inside of this," Patrick explained.

Two Toed Ping deeply gulped down in fear. "I do not know who hired us, I swear! That on the ship was nothing but business!"

"Oh, I believe you that it was a business, but when it comes to the other thing, not so much," Patrick said and activated his gauntlet on his right hand. He then pointed it at Ping's right leg and a second later, a small dart flew out of the gauntlet, hitting the gangster's leg.

"Ahhhh!" Two Toed Ping screamed and fell to the ground while holding his hit leg.

Mako was looking at it in horror and then turned his gaze to Patrick, who watched Ping with a cold expression. "What did you do to him?"

"Physically, nothing," Patrick replied.

"Do not lie to me!"

"And I am telling you the truth. That dart I just shot contains a neuro-stimulant that is causing anyone who is hit by that dart to feel tremendous pain in the area of the hit. I acquired these darts from one Universe; where are they used for training by a faction that calls itself the Dauntless." Patrick shot another dart, this time at Ping's left shoulder.

Two Toed Ping quickly grabbed his shoulder while adding more volume to his screaming.

"This is straight torture!" Mako yelled with anger.

"Of course it is, Mako," Patrick replied. "Or you would really cut off his toes if he did not answer us?"

"I… I… It was just a threat. I was bluffing. Nothing else."

"And that is exactly the problem. When you interrogate, you either sound convincing when bluffing or you fulfill your threat. And in both cases, you have failed."

Mako had nothing to say to that, so he, nervous from Ping's constant screaming in pain, placed his hands on his hips and watched Patrick's interrogation of Ping.

Patrick kneeled down in front of Ping, who was still holding his shoulder and leg. "Calm down. Just a few more seconds and it will stop working."

Ping's screaming out of pain slowly quietened as he was looking into cold Patrick's eyes.

"See?" Patrick said and paused for a moment. "So, who hired you and your friends?"

"I really do not know," Two Toed Ping replied and then gave an expression as if he expected to be hit with another dart from Patrick. But he could see that Patrick was still looking at him with a cold expression. "We never met the man who hired us; all of that went through a man that Viper knows. He showed up a week ago and hired us to do some work for his boss and then that man showed up again before you, Mako and that girl showed up, and he told us that you would probably hire us to protect some ship and that we should distract you. That is all I know, I swear!"

So, Varrick is not the complete fool he seems to be. He used a middleman to hire gangsters, Patrick thought. "That work that you were doing for that man's boss before, what was it?"

"Well, I do not know that either, because I was not doing that, because that work was just for those of us who could do Waterbending. That is all I know! I swear to you!" Ping's gaze then focused on Mako. "Please, Mako, do not let him hurt me! It was only business, just like in the old days!"

Patrick knew that was everything they could get from Ping. So, he pulled the Neuralyzer out of his pocket and sent its bright flash into Ping's eyes. "You never saw us again after what happened on the ship and you will go for a walk through the city for at least a few hours." And as he stood up, he deactivated the soundproof sphere and walked away with Mako right behind him.

"What are you doing? We had proof! A statement!" Mako said angrily.

"You mean the statement we got from him by force?" Patrick asked as he calmly continued through the street. "By a gangster who has ties to your past and was part of your non-approved operation? Good luck with that when you come to Beifong," he added. "Plus, even if we could use his statement, you heard him: Varrick used a middleman to hire them. We will have to find him and make him testify that Varrick was the one who hired him. Until then, this lead is dead for now."

"So, what do we do now?" Mako asked.

"We have to get as close to Varrick as possible, and we can do it through someone from our group who has become a friend of his."

"Bolin," Mako figured out.

They arrived at Varrick's ship, and to their surprise, there was no one to stop them, so they entered, and a moment later they arrived at the part of the ship where the film sets were. Varrick was sitting in the director's chair and was surrounded from both sides by the film crew. In front of them and in front of the backdrop that was depicting the laboratory of some mad scientist was Ginger, lying handcuffed on a table, and above her was a huge drill, while Bolin, dressed as Nuktuk, was standing at the table.

"And action!" one of the film crew members yelled.

The drill above Ginger activated and slowly descended toward her.

"Forget about me! You must capture the evil Unalaq before he gets away!" Ginger yelled dramatically.

"No! I will never leave you!" Bolin replied in the same tone and then kissed her.

Patrick could tell while watching that the kiss was not part of the script, thanks to how Ginger was looking at Bolin when he was kissing her, with surprise and then with complete anger. And soon, Varrick proved him right.

"CUT!" Varrick yelled and quickly looked into the script he was holding in his hand. "There is no kiss in the script."

Bolin immediately stopped kissing Ginger and looked at Varrick with an apologetic expression but soon replaced it with an innocent smile. "Sorry, I just kind of lost myself in the moment. It just felt so right."

But Ginger did not think so, judging by her disgusted expression on her face as she sat down on the table. "Urch."

"Bolin…" Mako remarked as he tiredly rubbed his eyes.

"Your brother seems to have excellent taste in women. If we do not count his attempt to conquer Korra's heart, the first is a dominant, emotionless woman who would hunt him down all over the world, and the second is disgusted by his attempts to flirt," Patrick commented. "I wonder what number three will be."

"It did, huh?" Varrick asked with doubt. "Your girlfriend is about to die and instead of untying her, you kiss her." Then his expression changed to amazement. "Wait a minute! Maybe that will work. Yes! It is genius!" He raised his hand triumphantly and then turned his focus to his other workers. "Everybody take a break. Except for you," he pointed at his assistant, "Zhu Li. Grab the tweezers. I have got some neck-hair issues to resolve."

"Sir, there is Miss Sato waiting in your office to accept your offer," Zhu Li whispered to him.

"Today is definitely getting better and better," Varrick replied as he left the set.

In the meantime, Mako and Patrick observed the set, actors and props.

"This is terrible," Mako remarked and then his gaze spotted the actor who played Unalaq, dressed in his costume. He was looking like the Fire Lord only with long eyebrows — definitely not a true likeness of the real Unalaq. "If I were Unalaq, I would be so angry if I saw myself portrayed like that."

"Honestly, Mako, what if I told you that I know one emperor who looks almost like this?" Patrick replied.

Mako raised an eyebrow in doubt. "Really?"

"His name is Ming. But believe me, despite his appearance, he can be quite dangerous."

Bolin, in the meantime, approached Ginger with a romantic expression. "So… that kiss. I liked it. And it seemed like you liked it too."

"Urch!" Ginger reacted. "You are confusing Ginger, the actress, with Ginger, the character." And she walked away.

"Alright, alright, I am sorry. I am totally getting, like, a weird vibe from you right now," Bolin said as he followed her and stopped when she stopped and turned to him. "It is like a minute ago, when we were shooting, you were into me, but now you are not."

"That is because Ginger loves Nuktuk, not Bolin," Ginger explained, and with an annoyed expression, she turned around to leave him alone.

"But Nuktuk is Bolin. I am a hero," Bolin replied, but he could see that it was doing nothing with Ginger, so he tiredly sighed.

"Now you should talk to him," Patrick prompted Mako.

"Really?" Mako asked.

"Of course. Now he is vulnerable after being rejected by another woman. His career is slowly flourishing while yours is slowly dying, so it will give him a feeling of superiority over you," Patrick answered. Plus, you were acting like a dick to him lately, he added in spirit. "Just try to appeal to his ego to make him feel that you need him so much."

"Alright then," Mako replied and he walked over to his brother.

Patrick leaned against the wall next to the table with the mirror as he watched Mako walk over to Bolin, who was sitting in the chair with his name on it.

He then noticed that someone had come to the table and sat down at it. It was that actress whom Bolin had kissed. This was probably where she was doing her makeup before the shoot.

She pursed her lips to put on lipstick, and evidently, she did not notice his presence. Then, a second later, she finally did notice him.

She looked puzzled at him and then looked around. "Do I know you? Do you work for Varrick?" she asked as she looked back at him.

"I do not work for Varrick and as for the other thing, I cannot answer that," Patrick replied.

"How did you get here anyway?"

"I simply boarded the ship."

Ginger sighed. "Varrick should really keep the ship under some sort of guard."

Varrick should and should not do a lot of things, like not inciting a war between Republic City and the Northern Water Tribe, Patrick remarked in spirit, but he decided to just nod.

Then the woman widened her eyes. "I know where I saw you! You were in the newspapers!" She pointed a finger at him and, with a surprised expression, announced, "You are the Smartest Man in the World, right?"

"In all glory."

"What are you doing here?"

"I am here to check on my friend Bolin over there." Patrick motioned toward the direction where Bolin and Mako were.

"Then you can tell your friend Bolin to knock it off with all those kisses and attempts to flirt with me!" she said with anger in her face.

"Do not worry, I will."

Then her face changed from anger to flirtation. "But I do not mind his friends…" She extended her hand with her palm down, like she was expecting Patrick to give her a kiss. "My name is Ginger."

Just great. The local version of Marilyn Monroe is flirting with me. So, he shook her hand. "Patrick." And he quickly released her hand.

But even though Ginger expected something quite different, she still maintained her flirtatious expression. "So, Patrick, do you like the color of my hair?" She slightly turned her head to the side to present her red hair, like it was some kind of hat in the shop window, and she was the mannequin who wore it.

"May I be honest?"

"Of course," Ginger said in a tone as if she were already expecting praise.

"I have seen much better."

Ginger's flirtatious expression disappeared and it became envious. "Really? At whom?"

"Triss Merigold." She is also much more beautiful and has a much more amazing personality than you, he added in spirit.

"Well, then the next time you meet her, could you please ask her from whom she dyes her hair?" she asked

"She is a natural redhead," Patrick answered. "She does not need to dye her hair."

Ginger looked at the clock on the table. "Well, it is almost time for me to go and prepare to identify with my character." She stood up. "It was nice to meet you, Patrick. I hope you will be present at the premiere."

"Same here. And good luck with the shoot."

"I do not need luck. I just need Bolin to follow the script and not make another "surprising" alteration to it." And she walked away.

Patrick watched her leave and then shook his head. Bolin, Bolin… Then his attention was drawn to one of the technicians, who was manipulating the explosives. Specifically, it was one thing that was lying with explosives in the box beside the technician.

Mako, meanwhile, approached the sitting Bolin, who was eating popcorn from a bowl while everyone around him was working.

"Bolin, can I talk to you?" he asked his younger brother.

But Bolin was clearly ignoring him as he continued eating his popcorn.

"Bolin!" Mako said but his brother was still ignoring him. Like Patrick said, appeal to his ego, he thought as he sighed. "Nuktuk."

Now Bolin was finally paying attention to him. "Yes? Oh, hello, Mako. Did not notice you there."

"I need to speak with you about Varrick." Mako looked around. "Where is he anyway?"

"I do not know where he is now," Bolin replied and then looked behind his brother. "You are here with Patrick? Probably to see the rehearsal for my big scene. There will be a lot of, " Bolin made air quotes, " "pyrotechnics". That is mover speak for explosions."

"We need Nuktuk on set. Running explosion scene," the assistant director announced.

"Or sometimes we just call them explosions," Bolin corrected himself. "Anyway, I wish I could stand around here and chitchat, but you know, I have to shoot my big scene." He stood up and proudly walked away.

So much for getting him to help us, Mako thought and turned his gaze to where he had split up with Patrick, but he was no longer there; instead, he was standing by some man who was working with explosives and gesturing for him to come over to them.

"Could you also show my friend here how you operate the explosions for the scenes?" Patrick asked the pyrotechnic technician when Mako walked over to them.

"Is he the same expert on explosions as that other friend of yours you were talking about a moment ago? What was his name…. Firehold, right?" the technician asked.

"His name is Firehand," Patrick replied. But instead of working in the movie industry, Firehand is a crazy pyromaniac who likes to blow up buildings and burn people alive. "And Mako here is also an expert at blowing things up, right?" Patrick added and turned his head toward Mako, who was standing beside him.

Mako at first looked irritated at Patrick for that remark, but it soon disappeared as he could see that Patrick's expression was saying: Just wait and see.

A pyrotechnic technician reached into the box beside him and pulled out something, which he handed over to Mako. "It is a quite neat little thing made exclusive by Varrick Industries. It is a remote detonator."

Mako's eyes widened as he studied the thing in his hand. It was the same remote control he had found at the bombing. He turned his gaze to Patrick and smiled. "We have the evidence. So, let's go get Varrick!"

He was about to go to arrest Varrick when, to his surprise, Patrick stopped him.

"Wait a minute," Patrick said to him and he turned back to the technician. "And you are putting all these explosives with these detonators in one place?"

"Yes," the technician replied. "We have one shared warehouse with the other departments of Varrick Industries."

Mako wanted to ask why Patrick was asking that, but Patrick stopped him by raising his finger before he could even say a word.

"And is that warehouse somehow secured so that no unauthorized person would be able to take anything from it at all?" Patrick gave another question.

"Well…" The technician started to think. "To be honest, we do not have it secured at all… and when I think about it more, we do not even do inventory checks. We should probably start with that right away."

"I think you should," Patrick replied and turned his gaze back to Mako, who now understood why Patrick was asking those questions.

Yes, they had evidence that the remote control was created and owned by Varrick, but they had no evidence that Varrick used those remote controls with explosives to bomb the Cultural Center or to attack the ships. And simply from what they had just learned from the technician, it would appear that some employee of Varrick Industries or some other person could have broken into that warehouse and taken the remote controls with explosives without anyone noticing it and sold them, perhaps to the Northern Water Tribe. Again, they had nothing.

"Thank you for your time," Patrick said to the technician and returned the remote control to him.

"Why are you doing this? We had perfect evidence!" Mako whispered angrily to him.

"Almost perfect, Mako," Patrick corrected him. "Like I said in the bar: We need hard-proof evidence. Varrick can say that the remote control you retrieved someone stole from him and they will believe him. But we are getting closer."

"I really doubt it."

"So, what about Bolin?"

"There is no way to talk to him normally; he is completely focused on being "Nuktuk"."

"Then we should try it again; otherwise, perhaps we will not be able to stop Varrick in time before he escalates his "masterful" plan."

"By the way, if you would be more interested in those remote controls, our boss could tell you more about them," the pyrotechnics technician called at them.

Patrick turned to him. "And where would we find Varrick?"

"In his office on the ship. But I think you may have to wait because I heard he has a visitor. Miss Sato."

Mako and Patrick exchanged concerned glances with each other. They knew why Asami was here.

Both of them rushed through the doors leading to Varrick's office on the ship, with the perhaps futile hope that they could prevent Asami from selling Future Industries to Varrick.

Mako said, "Asami, we —" He was not able to finish his sentence as he and Patrick saw how Asami had just finished signing some papers on the table at which Varrick was sitting in his chair.

Varrick looked at them both with a sly look. "Hello, boys."

Patrick knew why he was looking at them like that. Asami has sold her company to him now.

"Mako! Patrick! Varrick has just saved my company," Asami said with happiness on her face as she turned to them. "Varrick called me this morning with an offer to buy a controlling interest in Future Industries. Is not that great?"

"Of course," Patrick replied and turned his gaze to Varrick, who was still looking at them with a sly look. "And I believe for a reasonable price, am I right?" he added in a sarcastic tone.

"Yep," Varrick replied and stood up. "I always love to stand up for the little ones." He walked over to Asami and put his hand around her shoulder. "Especially if that little one can help me," he pointed at himself with his free hand, "become a bigger one."

Asami quickly got out of Varrick's grasp. "So, what were you saying, Mako? Did you and Patrick find out who hired the Triple Threats?"

Mako wanted to tell her the truth in that moment, but he quickly looked at Patrick, and his expression was saying: No. So, he turned his attention back to Asami. "Maybe, and we got a very promising lead. We will fill you in later."

He and Patrick then left the office, accompanied by Varrick's smirk and Asami's puzzled look.

"We should have told her the truth," Mako said to Patrick after they took a few steps away from the doors.

"The exact moment when she signed those papers, we lost. Let her be happy that she saved the company, at least for now. And do not worry; we have lost the battle but not the war yet."

"Sure, but we are losing too many battles lately."

On that, I can agree, Patrick thought.

Meanwhile, back on the tropical island, Korra, inside the cave, woke up from the trance. She remembered everything about the first Avatar, whose name was Wan. He was a small thief living ten thousand years ago in the city on the back of a fire lion turtle, where he every day was thinking about how he would change everything for the poor if he gained power. One day, he joined a group of hunters who headed out to collect food in the wilds that were occupied by the Spirits. For protection, the lion turtle gave the hunting party the Firebending. During the hunt, Wan pretended to be a coward and was ordered to return to the city and give back the Firebending to the lion turtle. But Wan returned to the city and kept his acquired power. That very night, he orchestrated, with other poor people, a raid on the supplies of the local noble family. Everything went smoothly until the sons of the noble family called reinforcements and the raid turned into chaos. Wan was eventually caught and judged in front of the lion turtle. He was banished for his crimes, but he managed to convince the lion turtle to keep his Bending to protect himself.

Wan wandered through the wilds, where almost everything wanted to eat him, and then he finally found an oasis with plenty of food. Unfortunately for Wan, the oasis was occupied by the Spirits and they did not let him in. Wan tried to reason with them, and when it did not work, he used the fire to force his way into the oasis, but it was futile. Even his attempt to gain access to the oasis, disguised as the Spirit failed. Eventually, he learned from the Spirits that there were other lion turtles in the world, but when he asked them for directions, they refused to give them to him.

Even hungrier, Wan wandered through the wilds until he spotted a cat deer caught in a net. At first, he intended to eat it but when he looked at the trapped animal, he felt sorry for it and decided to free it from the net. When he was about to do so, he encountered a group of hunters from his city who claimed the caught animal. So, Wan attacked them and forced them to go after him deeper into the wilds, where he used the dangers he encountered earlier to take out two of the four hunters, but the remaining two hunters got him and wounded him and were going to finish him off, when one of the Spirits, who had refused Wan access into the oasis, showed up and, by Wan's selfless act to save the trapped animal, intervened by possessing one of the hunters, which scared the other one off and changed the appearance of the possessed one. When it was over, the Spirit took Wan to the oasis, to its healing waters. After Wan was healed, he accepted the offer of the other Spirits to stay in the oasis and learn their ways. Unknowingly, his actions against the hunters inspired his friend Jaya and other poor citizens of the city to obtain Firebending from the lion turtle and try to settle in the wilds.

As time went by, Wan mastered his Firebending and protected the oasis against hostile humans.

After two years, he decided to leave the oasis to explore the world with his animal companion, Mula, the very cat deer he had saved from the hunters. During his journey, he and Mula encountered a group of the Spirits running away from something, so with Mula, he went to investigate it. He saw two large Spiritual entities — one in white-azure colors and the other in black-red colors — fighting, with the white one having the upper hand. Wan, thinking that the lives of the Spirits and animals in the area of fighting were at risk, decided to intervene. The white Spirit told him to stay away from this fight, but the dark one begged him for help, saying that he had been tormented by the white Spirit for ten thousand years. Wan, with no hesitation, used his Firebending to break the hold of the white Spirit over the dark one. When the dark Spirit left, the weakened white Spirit explained to Wan the mistake he had made.

She was Raava, the Spirit of Light and Peace, and the other one was her counterpart, Vaatu, the Spirit of Darkness and Chaos, and for the last ten thousand years they were constantly fighting over the fate of the world, with Raava having the upper hand. But when Wan freed the Vaatu from Raava's hold, the scales of the fight were slowly moving in Vaatu's favor. Wan immediately offered Raava to help her, but she refused as she went to find Vaatu.

So, Wan continued on his journey until he came across other people, but unlike those from his city who controlled the fire, these ones controlled the air. He tried to talk to them, but the humans quickly ran away from him, so he went after them. He followed them to the city built on the back of the flying turtle lion. Due to the fact that he was not able to use the air to get into the city, Wan constructed a provisional catapult from a tree, which allowed him to successfully get into the city. As he walked through it, he was surprised at how the local people and the Spirits were living there in harmony with each other. But soon after he started talking with the people, the peaceful Spirits started to change into dark entities and they began to ravage the city. Soon after, Vaatu appeared.

Wan at first tried to reason with Vaatu to let the people of the city be, but when his words were of no use, he started using his Firebending to protect the people against the Dark Spirits. Weakened Raava watched Wan's efforts to stop the Dark Spirits and pretty soon she joined in and attacked Vaatu, but due to her weakening state, she was not able to subdue him. Eventually, Vaatu gloated at Raava's state and left with the other Dark Spirits. Wan again tried to convince Raava that he wanted to help her stop Vaatu. She finally accepted his offer, but it was necessary that Wan become stronger. So, they approached the air turtle lion and Wan asked the creature for control over the air. At first, the turtle lion rejected Wan's request, saying that no other human was able to control two elements at the same time. But eventually, thanks to Wan's persuasion, the lion turtle agreed to grant the power, but it was necessary for Raava to hold that power until he mastered it.

During the training, where Raava was entering into Wan to let him use the air, Raava explained to Wan that the upcoming Harmonic Convergence, which Vaatu had mentioned before he left, was an event when the planets would align and when the spiritual energy in the world would amplify so much that both spirit portals would merge into one. During this time, Raava and Vaatu are destined to fight over the fate of the world and even if one of them were to win and destroy the other, the destroyed Spirit would eventually be reborn until the next Harmonic Convergence.

During their journey to visit other turtle lions to gain more elements, Raava discussed with Wan the reason for the conflict between mankind and the Spirits, the Spirit World and other things about the Spirits.

After almost a year of training with the newly acquired elements, they encountered human settlers in the wilds led by his friend Jaya, who were aggressively expanding their settlement. The initially friendly greeting between two old friends turned hostile as Wan learned from him that the settlers were attacking the Spirits, whether they were peaceful or hostile. Then a large group of the Spirits, whom Wan knew from the time he spent in the oasis, appeared and attempted to reclaim the land. The settlers, led by Jaya, stood against them and were ready to fight. Wan tried to resolve the upcoming fight peacefully, but as both leaders of the two groups yelled out their reasons for fighting, the clouds above them darkened and revealed Vaatu, who was at that time enormous, while Raava had the size of an average human. Vaatu immediately corrupted the Spirits and turned them into dark entities. Then Jaya launched the first shot.

Wan was doing his best to keep both sides from each other, but it was not enough, so he asked Raava for help so he could use all four elements at the same time, and when Raava entered him, he managed to do it. For a brief moment, he stopped the conflict, but he and Raava were not able to maintain the connection. When Raava left his body, Wan immediately passed out and the battle between humans and the Spirits began. After he woke up, he saw the village destroyed. He was about to go help, but he was informed by Vaatu that all the humans were destroyed and that he should enjoy the time he, as a human, had left in this world. Wan then found Raava, so small that she fitted into the palm of his hand and so weak that he had to place her inside his teapot for easier transportation.

On the day of the Harmonic Convergence, as Wan was approaching the spirit portal, Raava apologized to him for her arrogant and prejudiced view of him as a human at the beginning of their shared journey, saying that she was not aware that humans were capable of displaying courage and nobility. In response, Wan assured Raava not to lose hope that if they would work together, they would be able to defeat Vaatu. As they entered the Spirit World through the Southern spirit portal, Vaatu entered through the Northern portal. The Dark Spirit challenged Raava for their final fight, but Wan instead decided to fight him alone. Wan was doing his best, but he was no match for the dark entity, so Wan had to call for Raava to help him in the fight. Together, they were now capable of fighting Vaatu but the connection between them began to be difficult and painful with each passing second. Raava begged Wan to let her go to save himself, but he refused, and they both continued to fight. However, Vaatu soon gained the upper hand and pinned Wan and Raava to the ground near the Southern spirit portal. Then Harmonic Convergence began and both portals merged. Vaatu turned his attention to the phenomenon, while Wan took advantage of the situation and, in what may have been a desperate choice, touched the portal. In that moment, his and Raava's nature completely changed and Wan's spirit permanently bonded with Raava. In that moment, the first Avatar was born.

Vaatu was no match for the power of Avatar State that Wan possessed at that time and soon he was imprisoned in an elemental cage in the hollow of the Tree of Time. The fight was over.

Wan then closed the Northern spirit portal in order to prevent any human from entering the Spirit World and releasing Vaatu and through the Southern spirit portal, he guided the Spirits back into their world to prevent any further conflict between them and humans and closed that portal as well. With the intention of being a bridge between the two worlds, Wan, as the Avatar, made it his mission to keep the balance and teach humans to respect the Spirits.

But as time went by, Wan's task proved to be much more difficult and many years later, he, as the elderly man, lay dying from the aftermath of the recent battle. With his last breath, he apologized to Raava for failing to bring peace. However, the Spirit of Light and Peace reassured him that they would always be together and that they would continue in this quest no matter how many lifetimes it would take. And with the last breath of Wan, the Avatar Cycle began.

Korra was sitting in a hammock and recalling everything that she had learned. Now she knew what her uncle was up to and she had to close the portal at the South Pole to stop Vaatu. She looked up and saw how the old woman and two men she met on the beach were watching her through the hole.

"I remember," Korra said.

"Do you know who you are?" the old woman asked.

"My name is Korra. I am the Avatar," she replied.

After they pulled her up, Korra learned that those men and women were members of the Bhanti, an isolated group of sages with strong spiritual connections and that the old woman who had healed her from the attack of the Dark Spirit was their shaman. The shaman then led Korra outside of the temple, where a herd of Flying Bisons were grazing.

"We have been raising this herd of Flying Bisons since the Hundred Year War," the shaman explained the reason why the Flying Bisons were on the island. "I never thought I would be able to present one to the Avatar."

"Thank you for all your kindness. I wonder how long I have been away," Korra replied.

"That I sadly cannot say, but you do not have much time left. The Harmonic Convergence is only weeks away."

"I have to close the portal before that happens," Korra said with resolution.

"And you had this when we found you." The shaman handed her the locator from Patrick. "I do not know where you got it, but from what I can tell, I sense that it belonged to someone with darkness in him, but who can also help you in this upcoming fight."

Korra observed the object in her hand and immediately recognized that it was from Patrick to let him know when she would need help. But she did not understand what the shaman meant by that darkness inside him; however, it was no time to waste asking questions; she must close the portal and she would need all the help she could get. She put the locator in her pocket, bowed to the shaman as a form of gratitude and walked over to a nearby Flying Bison to mount him. She has to fly to Tenzin for help with this threat.

Unbeknownst to her and the members of Bhanti, there was some person sitting on the top of the temple, watching Korra on the Flying Bison lift off the ground and head in the direction of the Southern Air Temple. He was watching her slowly depart, like a parent watching his child make his first steps.

Bhanti had played their part well, he thought and, in another moment, he was gone, like he was never there at all.

Several hours later, Korra was flying from the Southern Air Temple in the direction of the Eastern Air Temple. A local abbot named Shung told her that Tenzin and his family had left the temple a few days ago. Korra had to refuse an invitation from the abbot to stay in the temple overnight; time was pressing and she could not lose any seconds. During the flight, she started thinking about how she would apologize to Tenzin for their parting at the South Pole. She scolded herself in spirit over how stupid she was for how easily she had shoved Tenzin aside for Unalaq. Now she had to hope that Tenzin would be willing to help her.

The Eastern Air Temple was located on the tops of three separate mountains, connected by bridges, and on each of the tops of the mountains were pagodas with green tiled roofs, under which were smaller buildings.

Jinora was in one of the gardens of the temple, playing with a green dragonfly bunny Spirit that she named Fury-Foot. Jon was right about her natural affinity with the Spirits. Ever since she started to study everything she could about the Spirits themselves, she managed to make contact with several different Spirits during her journey with her family through all four Air Temples.

"Got you!" she exclaimed happily as she jumped to catch the Spirit, but the entity managed to dodge. Then it flew away from her. "Fury-Foot, come back," she called at the Spirit.

The Spirit, flying in mid-air, turned to her and landed on her head, accompanied by her laughter.

Then four more dragonfly bunny Spirits appeared around Jinora.

The entertainment was interrupted by Tenzin, who came into the garden and said to her, "Jinora, there you are. Come on, everyone is waiting." He then noticed something strange; Jinora sounded like she was playing with someone a few seconds ago before he came in, but he could not see anyone else in the garden. "Were you playing with someone?"

"Oh, just some… imaginary friends," Jinora answered. She did not want to tell her father that she was able to see the Spirits while he could not.

Tenzin again, now more carefully, looked into the garden, but he really could not see anyone else in the garden. In the meantime, Fury-Foot appeared behind his head, and with its wings raised, it looked like from a certain angle, that Tenzin's head had a pair of wings. Jinora chuckled at this image of her father and decided to follow him to join the others in the courtyard and attend his already prepared program for them.

In the middle of the courtyard of the Eastern Air Temple was a stone plant pot with a tree where Kya was sitting, listening to another of the crazy, made-up stories from Bumi, while Pema and her other three children were sitting at a small table near them.

"Stop telling lies," Kya said after hearing Bumi's story.

"It is true," Bumi objected. "I once beat an Earthbender in a rock-throwing contest! I have the trophy to prove it."

Then Jinora and Tenzin joined their family.

"All right," Tenzin began his speech about their upcoming excursion, "who is ready for an exciting tour of the Eastern Air Temple? We have got a lot to see today, including ancient statues, ancient gardens and the meditation hall used by the ancient Airbenders."

"Yay," Ikki remarked, who, like Meelo, was completely bored and disinterested at the thought of seeing so much history. "Old things."

Then something happened that piqued her interest far more. Korra entered the courtyard.

"Korra?" Tenzin asked, shocked by her presence here.

"Korra! Yay Korra! Korra is back!" Jinora, Ikki and Meelo yelled simultaneously and ran to her to greet her and hug her.

"What are you doing here?" Pema asked, also happy about her presence.

"And how did you know where to find us?" Kya added her own question.

"Tenzin's itinerary. Truthfully, I began my search for you at the Southern Air Temple but they told me that you were here." She paused for a moment. "It is so great to see you all again."

"It is great to see you too, but why are you not at the South Pole?" Tenzin asked.

Korra looked at him confused. "Wait, you do not know about the Civil War?"

Everybody looked at her with surprised expressions.

"What? No. We have been out of touch with the outside world since we started our vacation," Tenzin explained.

"Tenzin's idea," Bumi added. "What happened?"

"So much. I do not even know where to start," Korra replied.

"Just tell us everything!" Tenzin urged.

"Everything? Good." Korra took a deep breath to be able to tell them everything that had happened over the past few weeks. "I opened a spirit portal at the South Pole, but then Unalaq turned out to be a villain and wanted to take control of the South, so I sort of started a Civil War, but when I went to find some help, I was attacked by my cousins and then by a giant Dark Spirit and then I forgot who I was and then I met the first Avatar and then I realized I should not have opened the portal in the first place and now I need to close it again!"

Everyone in the courtyard gave her a puzzled look while processing so much of the information they received from her. Then Tenzin finally said, "I knew this would happen."

A moment later, Tenzin and Korra were sitting on a bench in the garden, while Korra finished telling everything that had happened once again, this time with more details, and what she had learned from the visions from the life of Avatar Wan.

"So, Avatar Wan imprisoned this Dark Spirit Vaatu in the Spirit World?" Tenzin asked.

"Yes, and now I think my uncle is trying to free him," Korra replied.

"I always suspected that Unalaq was hungry for power, but I never realized how far he would go to get it. Even through murder."

"This is all my fault. Patrick tried to warn me that perhaps listening to Unalaq and opening the portal was not a good thing and I ignored him."

"No, do not blame yourself. This is Unalaq's doing. Now we must focus on setting things right before he can do any more damage."

"Thank you."

"So, you need to close the Southern portal, but if Unalaq's army controls the South, how are we going to get to it?" Tenzin considered.

"I thought about what Patrick probably would do. The best chance to close the portal should be from the inside but I have to enter the Spirit World," Korra explained the plan.

"Yes… a journey to the Spirit World," Tenzin remarked while thinking about it. Then he stood up. "All my years of spiritual training have prepared me for this moment." He turned his gaze toward Korra with determination. "I will help you. Today, we enter the Spirit World."

Meanwhile, Eska and Desna were standing in front of the Southern portal with their father. They had been summoned by him an hour ago to come to this place.

"Father, what are we doing here?" Desna asked.

"You are here to straighten out the mess you caused when you failed to capture the Avatar," Unalaq replied coldly.

"I told you it was not our fault."

"You are right. It was my fault for trusting you with something important like this. Harmonic Convergence is almost upon us." He paused for a moment. "This is my opportunity to change the world," he added in a proud, almost arrogant tone.

"We will make it up to you, Father," Eska said.

"That is good," Unalaq replied and turned his head toward his children. "Because I will need your help to open the Northern portal."

Both twins looked at him with surprised expressions. "I thought only the Avatar could do it," Desna said.

"After some time, I spent in the Spirit World and after some proper study," Unalaq replied and pulled out his book, "I believe there may be another way."

And with no more words, he entered the portal. The twins exchanged unsure glances with each other and then followed him.

In the following second, they entered a field that consisted of streams of water and rocks in formations, bordered by a chain of mountains. There was also a huge tree in the middle of the field, the biggest they ever saw but something was not right because when they turned their gazes toward that tree and into its hollow, they felt like something was watching them from it. However, Desna and Eska decided not to tell that to their father as they followed him to the other side of the field.

"There it is, the Northern portal," Unalaq announced and motioned toward the purple glowing dome, to which they were heading.

Meanwhile, Patrick was trying to repair the radio in the Dining Hall on Air Temple Island, while his activity was accompanied by Mako's constant pacing around the room.

"Can you please stop it? I am working here," Patrick requested.

"We should tell Asami that Varrick was behind those attacks and the theft of the Mecha Tanks and Biplanes," Mako, who was dressed in his police uniform, replied, clearly ignoring Patrick's request.

"Even if we did, she would not probably believe us without some solid evidence."

Mako stopped and motioned to the radio. "So, what are we going to do? We will just sit and wait until you repair it?"

Patrick looked at him. "Maybe. Maybe we could use help from Tenzin or Korra. Maybe I could come up with some plan against Varrick. But you would have to be patient!"

"I am done being patient while Varrick is planning whatever he is going to do to the President! I will tell Asami the truth. She called me this morning to tell me that she would be on Varrick's ship to watch the shooting. And after that, I will talk to Beifong about it." Mako then headed out.

"Well, in that case, I am going to accompany you to see it. At least I will have some fun today," Patrick replied and walked away from the table to follow him.

"You know what, Patrick? Screw you!" Mako reacted.

"Oh, Mako, you are hurting my heart!" Patrick said in a sarcastic tone and placed his hands to his heart like it was about to pop up at any moment.

Mako did not say anything in response; he just angrily growled.

On the set of The Adventures of Nuktuk: Hero of the South, Bolin was screaming at the top of his lungs as he was hanging upside down from props resembling a huge eagle's talons belonging to a huge eagle monster he would fight in the next scene.

"Cut!" the director yelled to stop him. "Alright, it is time for lunch, everyone."

In the following minute, the director and the film crew left, leaving Bolin still hanging from the props.

"Hello? Anyone? Nuktuk is still up here, all alone," Bolin called out in hopes that perhaps someone would hear him and help him to get down, as he could feel the blood slowly rushing to his head. Then he heard someone open the door to the set. He turned his head and saw that it was Asami. "Asami! Hey, what are you doing here?" he called at her.

Asami, who was wandering through the set, looked up at him. "Varrick invited me to watch some of the filming." She looked around, confused by Bolin's hanging state. "Are you filming right now?"

"Right now? No. We are uh… we are at lunch," Bolin answered.

Then the door to the set opened again and Mako and Patrick entered.

"Asami, there you are," Mako said as he and Patrick walked over to Asami. "Is Bolin around?"

"Up here," Bolin replied and tried to free himself from the props. Varrick really built these ones really well… he thought.

"Need help with that?" Patrick asked.

Bolin, with a deep sigh, stopped the attempt to free himself and fully hanged himself upside down as a sign of surrender. "Pretty please."

Patrick activated his gauntlet on his right hand and aimed at Bolin. A bright beam came out of the gauntlet and hit Bolin, who completely disappeared. Patrick then aimed the gauntlet at the ground below the props and another bright beam from the gauntlet made Bolin reappear.

"What did you do to me?" Bolin asked frightened while touching himself to know if all his parts were in the right places.

"I disintegrated you and then again put you back together," Patrick answered.

"Good to know," Bolin remarked with a smile.

Mako then decided to fulfill the reason why he came here. "We know who has been stealing from Future Industries. It was Varrick."

Bolin looked at him shocked. "What? No."

"He attacked his own ships?" Asami asked confused.

Mako turned his head toward Patrick to look for at least some support in this matter, but Patrick just gave him an expression that was saying: It is your mess now; deal with it yourself. So, with an inward sigh, he turned his head back toward Asami and Bolin. "Yes! It was a ploy. He wants Republic City to go to war and he wants to control the businesses that will benefit the most from the conflict. He already has all the shipping and now he has Future Industries as well."

"Varrick helped save Future Industries. He is my business partner now, not an evil mastermind," Asami replied and then looked at Mako with concern. "Mako, you seem stressed."

"He is stressed," Patrick said.

"Knock it off!" Mako barked at him.

"See, this is why I had to move out this morning," Bolin remarked about Mako's behavior.

"You two are not living together anymore?" Asami asked him.

"Nope," Bolin answered with a smile. "It was time for this eagle hawk to spread his wings and fly." And then he made wings from his fingers and flapped with them a few times.

Asami turned her head toward Mako. "Sounds like you have had a pretty busy week." She turned her head toward Patrick. "And you too, Patrick..." she added in nervousness.

"Hey, listen," Mako said. "Varrick is up to no good and we have proof. The remote controls he uses in his movers are exactly like the one I found during the attack on the Cultural Center. And I bet those explosions are exactly like the ones the captain of the last shipment reported. Do you not get it?"

Oh boy, here we go, Patrick thought.

"Anyone could have gotten their hands on one of those remote controls," Asami argued.

"Let it go, Mako," Bolin added. "Let it go."

Now officially, Mako has lost his patience. He had all the proper evidence and motive, pointing to Varrick being the one behind all those attacks but Asami and Bolin were not believing him and Patrick, the man who was supposed to help him with the investigation, was either silent or teasing him. "Gah! No! I am not going to let it go!" He then turned around and walked away.

Patrick waited a few seconds before he was about to go after him, but Asami stopped him.

"You really also think that Varrick is behind all of those attacks?" she asked him.

Patrick looked at her. He kind of wanted to confirm Mako's accusation, but he could not because they still did not have real evidence. And he also could not talk to Asami directly after what had happened in the warehouse, nor did he want to make her concerned that the man who had saved her company was also responsible for the reason she had been forced to sell it. She deserved at least this kind of victory for now.

"Asami… it is complicated…" he said finally and went after Mako.

He quickly caught up with him in the corridor.

"Well, that worked fine, Mako," Patrick said. "Are you still planning to say the same thing to Beifong and those two idiots with the mustaches? I bet they will, in their version of response, laugh at you."

"At least I will do something with it!" Mako replied, not even bothering to look at him, as he continued through the corridor. "While you will keep repairing that radio."

"And then what, Mako? Where will you go with it after?" Patrick asked him, but Mako was ignoring him, so he decided to stop him. "You need to calm yourself down and let me do the planning!"

"Sorry, but I have had enough of your plans and waiting," Mako said.

"That is too bad, because the only thing you can do now is wait!" Patrick barked at him.

"Then make me wait!" Mako replied in the same tone.

The thick, tense moment between Mako and Patrick was then interrupted by the arrival of a duo of brawny men.

"Varrick wants to see you two," one of them said.

"You heard that, Mako? Varrick wants to see us," Patrick announced in a sarcastic tone.

"I do not have time for this," Mako replied.

"That is too bad, because he wants to see you now," the other brawny man said.

"We had better obey them, Mako. We are dealing with a couple of geniuses here," Patrick said in another sarcastic tone.

One of the brawny men angrily grabbed Patrick's shoulder. "You want to play smart, boy? We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Patrik looked at the hand on his shoulder and then his gaze turned back to the eyes of the man to whom that hand belonged. "Touch me again and I will break your nose." He paused for a moment and then turned his head toward Mako. "Let's go see Varrick, Mako."

Mako sighed. "Alright then."

A moment later, those four were making their way through the ship, with Mako and Patrick at the front, who were following the directions of the goons behind them. Mako then noticed that Patrick was not at all bothered that a pair of goons were leading them to Varrick. Actually, Patrick was a little bit happy.

"Why are you so happy about this?" Mako asked him.

"Because it looks like we are making Varrick nervous due to the fact that he sent those two to make us meet him," Patrick answered.

Mako had to agree with this. What life on the streets had taught him was that when someone powerful sent these types of goons to make someone meet him, it usually meant that he wanted to show off his power, which also usually meant that the person in question was making him nervous.

The goons took them into a medium-sized room where the only source of light was the burning coals lying on the ground, bordered by a rectangle of white stones in the center of the room. Varrick was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room and was looking at them with seriousness.

"I hear you two have some ideas. You want to tell me about them?" Varrick asked them.

"Go ahead. Torture us all you want. We will not talk," Mako replied heroically.

Patrick turned his head toward him with an expression full of doubt. Usually, the ones who boast about how they will not talk after being tortured are usually the ones who talk after torture, he thought and turned his head back toward Varrick. As if this knockoff version of Blofeld would even want to torture us.

"Torture?" Varrick asked Mako confusedly. "The only thing I want to torture is this pesky foot fungus!" Varrick raised his left leg, revealing that he was barefoot and that his foot was full of fungus. Varrick then stood up and started slowly walking toward them through the burning coals. "Ah! Eee! Ohh! The burning means it is working." And with a painful struggle, he made his way over to them.

"I could get some lotion for that fungus if you would be interested," Patrick suggested.

"That would be amazing, rather than walking through that almost every day," Varrick replied with gratitude. "But we have much more urgent matters to discuss." He gave his goons a look and they left the room. "I heard you two have been investigating the recent attacks on my ships and I think you know that I know that you know, you know?"

While Patrick was still able to understand what Varrick had just said, Mako, on the other hand, had difficulties with it.

"Know what?" Mako asked.

"That the world is a dangerous place and that is exactly why I want to offer you a job on my security force," Varrick answered with a smile and then turned his gaze to Patrick. "And you could be my vice president of the company. We just cannot let that amazing intellect go to waste."

"I have a job," Mako replied.

"And I am not good at co-leading companies," Patrick added.

Varrick approached them, walked between them and put his arms around their shoulders. "We need you. Me, Asami, Bolin. We are all on the same team here. We want you to join us. You would not want anything to happen to Asami, would you?" Varrick turned his head toward Mako. "Or what about your brother?"

So, straight from the carrot to the stick, right, Varrick? Patrick thought.

"What are you saying?" Mako asked.

"I am saying I want your help to protect them. Without you two, who knows what could happen?" Varrick answered in a threatening tone.

Mako and Patrick exchanged glances and then their gazes returned to Varrick.

"Well, if that would happen, I can assure you, Varrick, that I will personally hunt down the one who would be responsible to the end of the world," Patrick said. "So, I have to refuse your offer and I strongly recommend that you reconsider all your future actions before you do them. Some of them might not be even worth it."

"I am also saying no," Mako said.

"In that case, gentlemen, goodbye," Varrick said and removed his arms from their shoulders and stepped away from them. "Have a nice day."

"Likewise… Varrick," Patrick replied.

Him and Mako left the room while Varrick turned to the burning coals and slowly built up his courage to walk through them again.

"What do you make of what happened back there?" Mako asked Patrick when they were back to the streets of Republic City.

"That we got close enough to have Varrick threaten us. Do you still have access to all the materials from the investigation of the bombing of the Cultural Center?" Patrick replied.

"I do."

"Then grab as much as you can and wait for me in your apartment. We might have missed something. In the meantime, I will examine the crime scene." Patrick rolled up his sleeve to use his bracelet for teleportation. "And watch out, Mako."

"You really think he could hurt Asami and Bolin?"

"You never know what the real person is hiding under the mask. It is merely lucky that no one was hurt by his schemes. And it is better to be cautious than sorry. So be ready for anything."

"I will." Mako looked around to see if some of Varrick's goons were following them. He saw no one. When he turned his head back toward Patrick, he was already gone, leaving Mako alone on the street.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Air Temple, Korra was sitting with Tenzin in the garden and both were meditating while Meelo was ringing the ceremonial bell, accompanied by Ikki, who was playing on the ceremonial horn using her Airbending. Bumi, Jinora and Kya were also present and observed the whole thing.

Luckily for Korra, the Eastern Air Temple was the most spiritual of all four Air Temples. So according to Tenzin, it should be quite easy for her to enter the Spirit World from here.

But after a half hour of meditation and listening to Meelo's and Ikki's plays on the instruments, nothing was happening.

Korra opened her right eye to look at Tenzin beside her. "Are you in the Spirit World?"

Tenzin opened his left eye to look at her and replied, "I would be if Meelo could ring the bell at the appropriate intervals."

Meelo overheard his remark. "Aww, did I do it wrong?" he asked with sadness at the thought that the world might end because he did not ring the bell correctly.

Tenzin frustratedly sighed and stood up. Perhaps they would have to use a different method to enter the Spirit World. "Let's try something else." And he walked away.

Korra stood up and smiled at Meelo. "I thought your bell ringing was just fine."

Meelo returned her smile. "Thank you!"

The group moved to the nearby mountainside, where a huge face of the Air Nomad was carved into the mountain rock. Korra and Tenzin were meditating, this time surrounded by burning incense sticks that were attached to talismans with Airbending symbols that were placed there by Kya.

But still, nothing happened. Tenzin opened both eyes a little bit to see if maybe they had succeeded, but they were still in the same place. And then he started coughing from the smoke of the incense sticks.

"Kya, this is too much smoke. You set it up wrong. This is not going to work," he said to her as he stood up.

"I am sorry. I did what you told me," she replied.

"Well, the moment is ruined," he scolded her and walked away.

"We could have tried a little longer," Korra defended Kya, but Tenzin was ignoring it.

In the meantime, Jinora was looking at the group of dragonfly bunny Spirits that were circling around Korra's head without her or any other member of their group noticing them.

While the other members of their group were slowly following Tenzin to another place, only Jinora was staying and observing the Spirits. Then the one she was calling Fury-Foot turned to her and motioned for her to follow it and the other Spirits through the pathway leading down the mountainside. Jinora decided to follow them.

A moment later, the Spirits led her to the edge of a nearby forest and then quickly disappeared.

"Come back, Fury-Foot," Jinora called at her friend as she looked around.

"Hello, Jinora," a familiar voice said behind her.

Jinora turned around and saw Jon, still with glowing blue skin and dressed in a black suit.

"Jon!" Jinora said and then recalled what he had told her when they first met. "You were right that Korra would come because of the portal she opened at the South Pole… but you said Patrick would be here, too."

"I did not say that they would arrive at the same time. Patrick will be here in a few hours. You now have to be Korra's guide in the Spirit World," Jon replied.

"I am not sure about that…" Jinora said and sadly looked down at the ground. "I really have studied everything about the Spirits since our meeting but I think my father would be a much better choice for this task."

"Jinora, your father will not be able to take Korra into the Spirit World. Another attempt at that will end like the previous ones. Like I said to you in the Southern Air Temple, he lacks your talent and your affinity with the Spirits. After all, your Spirit friends are now showing you the way to the meditation circle where Korra can enter the Spirit World."

"They do?" Jinora asked, and as she waited for Jon's response, she decided to come up with the suggestion that her father could perhaps, with the help of that meditation circle, help Korra get into the Spirit World.

"Yes and no, your father will not, even from that place, be able to get Korra into the Spirit World. Only you will be able to do that."

"How do you know that I was about to suggest it?"

"Like I already said: I know a lot of things. Now your father will take Korra to meditate at the statue of Avatar Yangchen. There you must confess your talents."

Jinora nervously averted her gaze. The fate of the world, like Korra had said, was at stake if she did not close the portal in the South from the inside. "All right, Jon. I will guide Korra." She walked past him and was about to return to the temple through the same pathway she had taken to get here.

"Jinora," Jon said to stop her and he waited for her to turn to him before he continued. "And please do not mention my participation in this or how we met at the Southern Air Temple when you explain to them how long you are able to see and communicate with the Spirits."

Jinora nodded. "Alright, Jon." She did not understand why Jon wanted his help not to be acknowledged, but right now the main priority was to get Korra into the Spirit World, and she had to respect his wishes. She turned around and made a step forward.

"And Jinora…" Jon stopped her once again and paused for a moment as she turned back to him. "Be careful whom you will trust in the Spirit World. Not all there will have good intentions."

"I will, Jon," Jinora replied and walked away.

Jon watched her leave for a moment, knowing that this warning from him will not change the outcome of the betrayal of the Spirit called Wan Shi Tong, who will side with Vaatu and Unalaq and hand Jinora over to them when she visits his library in the Spirit World. Although this event will help her further develop her talents, if he were human, he would immediately do more than simply warn her, but he is no longer human.

Jinora passed by one of the bushes on the pathway when, from its corner, emerged Kya, who saw her walking down the pathway a moment ago, and so she followed her.

"Jinora, to whom were you talking here?" she asked her niece.

"To no one," Jinora replied and quickly walked past her, so Kya could not question her further.

Kya watched her for a moment and then turned her gaze through the bush to the edge of the forest. She saw no one, but she could swear that she heard Jinora's voice and another one belonging to a man.

Now for their third attempt, Korra and Tenzin were sitting and meditating in front of the great statue that was depicting the Avatar Yangchen.

"Focus, Korra. Focus," Tenzin said to her.

"I am focusing," Korra replied.

"No talking. Feel the energy of the universe."

"All right, I feel it."

But that was obviously not the response that Tenzin wanted to hear. "Korra, really! I am trying to," he said as he stood up, "concentrate here!" He sighed. "I do not think this location is going to work either."

Korra looked at him, surprised by his sudden agitation. "What is going on with you? First, you are blaming Meelo, then Kya and now me."

"Well, nothing is feeling right to me," Tenzin replied.

Korra stood up. "I do not want to rush your feelings, but we are kind of in a hurry. How did you first get into the Spirit World? Let's try that."

Tenzin nervously looked into her eyes and then averted his gaze to the ground. "Well… actually… I have never been into the Spirit World."

Korra looked at him in complete shock. The man in front of her, who, according to the White Lotus, should have been her great spiritual teacher, had never even been in that place. Right behind her appeared the whole of Tenzin's family, who were also looking at him in shock when they heard this.

"You have never been into the Spirit World?" Korra asked him, kind of hoping that she and the others had misheard him. Tenzin's silence was giving her the answer.

"But you used to spend days in the temple meditating," Pema said while holding Rohan.

"Trying to get in," Tenzin corrected his wife in a sad tone. "It never happened. It is my greatest shortcoming as an Airbender, spiritual leader and son of Aang."

In that moment, Bumi started to laugh. Even though it was kind of mean, it was nice to know that Tenzin was not the perfect son of their father at all. "Welcome to the "I Disappoint Father" club!"

"If you have never been to the Spirit World, how were you planning to get Korra into it?" Kya asked.

Tenzin turned his head toward her. "I have spent years studying the techniques and theories of ancient spiritual leaders. Now that the Avatar needs me, it must be my time."

But we have no time for testing some theories and techniques, Korra thought. "Tenzin, the Harmonic Convergence is almost here. If Vaatu escapes from the Spirit World —"

"You have to trust me. I can help you," Tenzin interrupted her.

"But we do not have time for that," Korra replied and pulled out Patrick's locator from her pocket. "Perhaps Patrick could help me get into the Spirit World."

"What is that strange little thing?" Bumi asked.

"Patrick gave it to me when I went to ask for help from the Fire Nation. All I need is to push the button and he will come to help," Korra answered and she was about to use the locator.

"Korra, please. There is surely some technique we have not tried yet that will work," Tenzin urged.

"Sorry, Tenzin, but we are running out of time," Korra replied.

Jinora, in that moment, understood that it was her time to reveal her talent to them. "Perhaps there can be another way," she said as she stepped forward.

Everyone turned their eyes to her.

"I think I do know where Korra needs to go to get into the Spirit World," Jinora continued after a very short pause.

"And how would you know that, Jinora?" Tenzin asked with great doubt. "As far as I know, you are too young and untrained to have any knowledge about spiritual matters."

"My Spirit friends showed it to me," Jinora answered. And Jon… she added in spirit. She then turned her gaze to something above them. "It is alright. You can show yourself."

In the following second, in front of everyone's eyes and to their surprise, appeared a group of dragonfly bunny Spirits that were circling around them in the air the whole time.

"How did you do that?" Tenzin asked, completely shocked by what his daughter just did.

"Jinora…" Pema commented in an awestruck tone.

"Bunnies!" Meelo yelled excitedly.

"Actually, they are dragonfly bunny Spirits," Jinora corrected her brother.

"I suspected something," Kya said and she proudly placed her hand on Jinora's shoulder as she looked at Tenzin. "Looks like she does know something about spiritual matters."

The cute Spirits then flew out of the temple while Meelo and Ikki were chasing them.

"How long have you been able to do this?" Tenzin asked Jinora as he approached her with his gaze still focused on the flying Spirits.

"Some time," Jinora answered, instead of saying that she had been practicing and studying it ever since her meeting with Jon. "I guess I have always kind of had a connection with Spirits."

One of the dragonfly bunny Spirits, the one of azure color, flew back into the temple and started circling around Bumi.

"I think this one likes me," Bumi remarked proudly about his new friend.

"Are they here to help?" Korra asked with a little bit of caution. Even though they seemed to be cute and harmless, she knew that they could instantly turn into monsters.

The dragonfly bunny Spirits that were flying outside the temple, at the end of the cliff, started to descend beneath the cliffside.

"They want us to follow them down there to the place where you could enter the Spirit World," Jinora answered.

"I do not know. The spiritual energy is historically strongest near the temple," Tenzin doubted.

"No offense, but I am guessing the Spirits have actually been to the Spirit World, so I am going to follow them," Korra replied to him.

Tenzin did not say a word to it; he only frowned. But that was not enough for Bumi, who had to make a joke at his expense.

"If we need to go to the Tenzin World, we will call you," Bumi teased Tenzin.

Tenzin just looked at him irritably and sighed. Great, Bumi just found a new way to torment my patience, he thought.

Back in the Spirit World, Unalaq and his children were standing before the dome of energy, the seal of the Northern spirit portal.

"Father, have not the Spirits had ten thousand years to open this portal?" Eska asked with doubt that they could succeed.

"If they could not succeed, what makes you think we will?" Desna added his own question.

"By entering the Spirit World through the portal, we bring with us something the Spirits never had: Our Bending," Unalaq answered them, and with his Waterbending, he pulled water from a nearby water stream and started attacking the dome. "Join me! Together, we can open this portal!" he ordered them.

Eska and Desna exchanged glances with each other and then used their Waterbending to launch water streams, just like their father, at the dome.

They slowly increased the strength of the water streams until the barrier of the portal started reacting to them. The dome sent a purple wave of energy, which hit Desna, who groaned in pain, and threw him backward.

"Desna!" Eska yelled, shocked and worried, about her twin.

"Leave him! Keep Bending!" Unalaq commanded with a raised voice and launched another water stream at the dome.

But Eska ignored his order and ran to her brother to check if he was injured. As she kneeled before him, she could see that Desna was unconscious.

"He needs a healer at once!" she announced to her father.

However, Unalaq did not even bother to turn his gaze toward them. "This is more important!"

Eska watched her father absolutely not care about the fate of his own son for a short moment before deciding that it was enough. "I am taking him back." And she carried her brother back to the portal through which they had entered the Spirit World.

Unalaq was not paying any attention to his children at all as he increased the strength of his water stream. But it was not enough. Open! Open! he commanded the closed portal in spirit as he Waterbent more water streams and joined them together, freezing them at the end to make an ice drill. But it did not work either. No! No! No! he yelled in spirit as the ice drill shattered into small pieces. He was so close to finally fulfilling his destiny, yet he was still far away.

Meanwhile, at the Eastern Air Temple, Bumi, Jinora, Korra, Kya and Tenzin on the Flying Bison were following the dragonfly bunny Spirits. Bumi was holding the azure Spirit and observing it like it was his own son.

"Oh, you are just so cute. I am going to name you Bum-Ju. It is short for "Bumi Junior"." He then moved the Spirit beside his face as he turned to Tenzin with it. "Do you not think he looks like me?"

"The resemblance is uncanny," Tenzin, who was holding the reins of the Flying Bison, replied, not even bothering to turn his head toward his brother and his "pet". There was some anger in his voice.

"I think he is mad at me," Jinora remarked to Kya, who was sitting beside her at the back in the saddle with Korra, who was sitting opposite them.

"Your father is not mad. His pride is just a little bruised since he is not able to see Spirits like you," Kya consoled her.

In reality, Tenzin was a little bit angry at his eldest daughter, but mostly at himself. He was the only son of Aang who was able to do Airbending. He was the one who was carrying the legacy of the almost extinct culture of the Air Nomads. He should be the one to help Korra get to the Spirit World, not his daughter. But he guessed that destiny wanted it otherwise. Perhaps if he tried harder and studied more…

"You have a natural gift. That is pretty lucky," Korra added.

"You are the lucky one," Jinora replied to her. "You actually got to meet the very first Avatar." If I do not count my meeting with Jon, she thought. "I know about a lot of Avatars, but I do not know anything about him, except that he was the first one."

"Well, he was amazing," Korra said. "I saw how he became the first Avatar by fusing with Raava, the Spirit of Light."

"The Avatar is part Spirit?" Jinora asked surprised. "Of course! That reaction at the statue!"

"What reaction? What statue?" Kya asked.

"When we were at the Southern Air Temple, I got out of bed at night and took a walk through the room with the statues, where I saw how one statue made of wood glowed brightly. It was the statue of Wan," Jinora explained an altered version of what happened.

"When did this happen?" Korra asked.

"It was on the solstice," Jinora answered.

"That is the day me and Patrick opened the Southern portal."

"So, you and Patrick opened the portal together?" Jinora asked.

"We did," Korra replied quickly.

"You two seem pretty close," Kya remarked with a wicked smile. "What is he like, anyway? I have met him only once."

"He is… complicated… a lot complicated. Due to his intelligence and his… vanity and arrogance," Korra answered and she looked at her uncomprehendingly. "What?"

"Nothing… absolutely nothing. I just never saw that a boy would give a girl a gift with the promise that if she pushed the button, he would come to her aid. That is all."

"Well, he did not want to let me go to the Fire Nation for help alone, but I insisted because I needed some time alone…but I cannot remember why." Truthfully, Korra could not, even after going through the visions of Wan's life, remember some parts of her past days. Perhaps she will remember everything later, but right now they need to get to the Spirit World.

Tenzin spotted that the Spirits had stopped in the nearby grassland by the waterfall, so he landed there with the Flying Bison.

"We are here!" Bolin announced their landing.

Then they followed the Spirits through the dense forest.

"Are you sure these Spirits are leading us into the right place?" Tenzin asked Jinora while keeping her close to him because of the wilderness they were in.

"Of course! I trust Bum-Ju with my life," Bumi answered instead of Jinora.

I was not asking you at all! Tenzin thought.

The flying Spirits led them to a stone circle, surrounded by stones that were overgrown by vines and had carved symbols on them. This place has definitely seen better days.

"Look at those carvings on them," Korra remarked.

Tenzin quickly realized, thanks to his studies, what this place truly was. "This is an ancient Airbender meditation circle!" Thanks to the Spirits, they discovered a forgotten part of Air Nomand's history.

Jinora could feel and see how the whole place was vibrating with the energy of the Spirits, but something was wrong. "There is a lot of spiritual energy in this place, but it feels really strange," she announced.

Tenzin immediately knew what she was meaning by that. "We will have to perform a spiritual cleansing ceremony."

"What are you talking about?" Bumi asked.

Tenzin turned his head toward him. "Father taught it to me. This site has been neglected for many years. A cleansing ceremony will help strengthen its connection to the Spirit World."

A moment later, they were all sitting in the middle of the meditation circle, except for Tenzin, who was standing and using his Bending to manipulate the smoke from an incense burner they had brought with them. Tenzin started circling the smoke around the meditation circle. This action immediately caused the dragonfly bunny Spirits to fly away from them.

"Good job! You cleansed the area of the only Spirits that want to help us and you scared away Bum-Ju," Bumi said in anger.

But Tenzin ignored the remark of his brother as he continued with the ceremony, adding more and more circles of smoke from the incense burner. Then the ground beneath the meditation circle started to rumble.

"It is working," Tenzin announced.

Korra and the others, meanwhile, looked around as the ground beneath them rumbled more and more. They could tell that something bad was coming.

In the very center of the meditation circle was a stone slab that was partially moved aside, revealing a deep hole underneath. Then, in the next moment, the stone slab tipped out, and with it, a swarm of Dark Spirits in the form of bats flew up into the sky.

Korra and the others quickly stood up as the swarm changed its course toward them.

"Bats! Evil Bats!" Bumi yelled as he and the others ran away to take cover behind the stones around the meditation circle.

"Not bats! Those are Dark Spirits!" Korra corrected him.

The swarm flew over them and quickly turned back to them. Tenzin and Korra started launching air blasts and water streams at them, but it did not work. So, they quickly ducked with the others.

"What do we do with them?" Tenzin asked.

Then Korra got an idea. She ran to the center of the circle, took a deep breath and focused. She pulled out nearby water with her Bending and with its streams, she trapped the swarm in mid-air before it could attack again. Water streams in the following second began to glow, and with them, the swarm slowly changed its colors from dark purple to gold.

The others behind Korra covered their eyes due to the glow.

"Amazing," Kya whispered in amazement.

The purified Dark Spirits then dispersed and with them the overgrown vegetation inside the meditation circle and on the stones started to retreat into the forest. It was done. The cleansing ceremony was over.

"Your spiritual training has come a long way," Tenzin commented over Korra's skills to purify the Dark Spirits.

"Unalaq may be a horrible person but his spirit powers are no joke," Korra replied. "Plus, that book of his."

Tenzin turned his head toward her with a puzzled expression. "What book?"

"It is some sort of diary, probably from the times of Avatar Wan. I bet that thanks to it, he learned about Harmonic Convergence and Vaatu."

"But still, he taught you how to transform the Dark Spirits. I cannot even get you into the Spirit World," Tenzin remarked sadly.

"Everything Unalaq taught me was to help himself. Everything you have done was meant to help me. I am sorry for turning my back on you as my mentor. I need you now more than ever," Korra said, apologizing for her behavior toward him at the Glacier Spirit Festival when the Dark Spirit attacked.

"I will not let you down," Tenzin replied.

Korra then embraced him tightly to further solidify her apology. Tenzin turned his head toward the three members of his family and he could see the pride in their eyes.

When the time for apologies was over, it was time to again focus on their task.

"The ancient Airbenders must have built this site," Tenzin explained why the symbols were carved on the stones surrounding the circle. "If we meditate here, we will be able to enter the Spirit World."

"You should go first," Korra suggested.

Tenzin smiled at her. "After all these years, my father's dream for me will finally come true."

Meanwhile, in Republic City at night, in his apartment, Mako was sitting on the couch and studying all the materials regarding the investigation of the bombing of the Cultural Center and the attacks on the ships that he could get from work. While he was looking through documents and pictures for any evidence that Varrick was involved, Patrick was examining the crime scene at the Cultural Center.

Perhaps Patrick will have better luck, Mako thought, as, after several hours of fruitless examination, he tiredly dropped the pictures of the crime scenes on the conference table and fully leaned against the sofa.

Then he heard someone knocking on the door.

Mako stood up and went to open the door. Perhaps it is Patrick, but he would enter without knocking…

When he opened the door, he was greeted by three familiar faces. One belonged to Beifong and the other two were Lu and Gang, who were smiling at him.

"Hey, Mako," Lu said and he and his partner entered the apartment. "Hope we did not interrupt you during something."

Mako got a very bad feeling about their sudden visit. "Not at all." He turned his head toward Beifong and saw her still standing in the hallway, looking at him angrily with her arms crossed. "What is going on?" he asked her.

"We busted some Triple Threats who said you hired them for a job," Lu replied instead of Beifong and continued walking through the room while Gang opened a nearby wardrobe.

The bad feeling that Mako had started to escalate. "All right. It is true." He sighed as he was about to confess to Beifong that he was acting behind her back. "Me, Asami and Patrick were trying to figure out who stole Asami's stuff, so we hired them for a sting operation. I am very sorry for going behind your back." He then noticed that Lu, who arrived on the other side of the room, kneeled down and opened a shelf in front of him. They were searching for something.

"According to the Triple Threats, you did more than that," Beifong finally said. "They said you and Patrick helped them steal a warehouse full of Future Industries property."

Mako looked at her with shock and disbelief. "You are going to believe a bunch of criminals?"

"I have to follow up on a lead," she replied to him coldly.

Lu then made his way into the next room and after a few seconds he was back with some sort of bag that Mako had never seen before.

"Well, look what I found: Cash…" Lu announced with satisfaction and he was holding a stack of money in his hand. Then he reached further into the bag. "And these…" He pulled out the explosives.

Mako, completely shocked, turned his gaze back to Beifong.

"What are you doing with explosives, Mako?" Beifong asked him.

"I do not know where those came from," he answered with a bit of panic, and before he could make any more movement, Gang quickly got behind him and handcuffed him.

"You are under arrest," he said to him.

"None of that is mine!" Mako defended himself. "Ask Asami and Patrick! They will confirm to you that we hired those gangsters for a sting operation and that those explosives are not mine."

"Of course, right after we also arrest Patrick for conspiring with you," Gang said. "Should have known you would hook up with your old friends. Once a Triple Threat, always a Triple Threat."

Beifong made a step forward toward Mako. "You have disappointed me. You are nothing more than a crooked police officer."

"That is not true, Chief! I would never do that!" Mako yelled to his defense as he was being escorted out of the apartment by Gang. "It is Varrick. This is all Varrick. He set me up!"

"Of course, it is Varrick's fault," Gang replied and he and Lu, who had accompanied them along the way, started laughing.

Patrick teleported himself to Air Temple Island after spending long hours searching the crime scene at the Cultural Center. But unfortunately, he did not find anything that connected Varrick to the bombing. Either Varrick was a real mastermind and Patrick had underestimated him or Varrick was just very lucky, but Patrick, judging by how Varrick was coming up with ideas, would have bet on the latter. As he made his way up the stairs to the temple to take something from his basement and eat something before heading over to Mako's apartment to look into all the materials from the investigation, it occurred to him that if that did not have any success either, he should perhaps break into Varrick's ship to find some incriminating evidence when, suddenly, when he reached the last step upstairs, he spotted a group of Metalbenders standing in front of the entrance to the temple, facing off against the Air Acolytes, who evidently were not happy with their presence on the island. Something was telling him that they were here to arrest him.

Varrick is working quite fast, he thought as he continued forward, realizing who was behind the sudden interest of the local police in him.

One of the Metalbenders turned to him and walked over to him. "Patrick! We are here to arrest you!" And pretty soon he was followed by the other Metalbenders as well as the Air Acolytes.

"For what?" Patrick asked in a tone as if he had had enough for the day.

"For conspiring with Mako and the Triple Threats to steal the Future Industries property," the other Metalbender replied.

"As if I needed to steal something from my friend or was incompetent enough to have to work with the local gangsters," Patrick commented on the accusation in a mockingly sarcastic tone. "I am sorry but you will have to leave empty-handed because I am not going anywhere."

"We are not asking!" the Metalbender barked.

"You cannot take him! He is a guest on this island and a guest of Master Tenzin!" one of the Air Acolytes said and stood beside him.

Another Metalbender turned his head toward him. "We have an arrest warrant and a direct order from Chief Beifong!"

"Then you will have to tell her that she will have to wait for Tenzin to return to the city. Now get lost!" Patrick replied.

Metalbender, who apparently was the commander of this small squad, stepped forward. "Or what?"

Patrick quickly activated his gauntlets and aimed them at him and the other Metalbenders. "Or we will have to re-enact how Amon and his minions kicked your ass."

The Metalbenders, with swift motions, got into fighting stances as a reaction to that.

"Please, no fighting on the island!" another of the Air Acolytes begged.

"I will not fight; I will just defend myself, that is all," Patrick corrected him while keeping his gaze on the Metalbenders. "You all know what I can do, so how about you return to the city and I stay here on the island until Tenzin returns and talks to Beifong? It would save you a lot of pain and trouble. Deal?"

The commanding Metalbender was thinking about it for a few seconds, and then he lowered his hands. Soon, the other members of his squad followed his example. "All right, but do not expect that you can hide here forever. And the moment you set foot in the city, you are under arrest no matter what."

Patrick smirked. "I expect nothing else. Say hi to Beifong from me." And he lowered his hands with his gauntlets.

Patrick and the Air Acolytes watched in the following moments as the Metalbenders were leaving. When they were completely gone, Patrick turned his head toward one of the Air Acolytes.

"How long have they been here?" he asked him.

"They arrived by boat half an hour ago. They also mentioned that they had already arrested your accomplice," Air Acolyte replied and then he and others watched as Patrick walked away in the direction of the city. "Where are you going? They said if you enter the city, they will arrest you on the spot."

"I am not going into the city," Patrick said and he paused for a moment. "I am going into jail to get my partner out."

Meanwhile, in the area of the Eastern Air Temple, in the meditation circle, where night had already settled, Bumi, Korra, Kya and Jinora were waiting at the bonfire while Tenzin, a few meters away from them, was sitting, meditating and attempting to enter the Spirit World.

Bumi, who had had enough of waiting, stood up, picked up a nearby long twig and poked Tenzin's back with it. "You in the Spirit World yet?"

"No, I am not," Tenzin said as he turned around and used his Airbending to get rid of the twig in Bumi's hand, "and stop bugging me!"

Jinora looked at her father with sadness. She knew well that Jon had told her that she would be the only one who would be able to take Korra to the Spirit World but she did not want to rob her father's desire to fulfill her grandfather's dream for him. Unfortunately, they did not have the time to wait. So, she decided to suggest that she be the one who would guide Korra to the Spirit World but before she could say it, Kya spoke first.

"It is alright, Tenzin. Maybe you were not meant to guide Korra into the Spirit World."

"No! Just give me some time," Tenzin replied to her with determination.

"Stop being so stubborn," Kya said and she stood up. "It is not your destiny. I think, after all we have seen today, that Jinora was meant to guide the Avatar."

"Jinora will not enter the Spirit World!" Tenzin said with a raised voice as he stood up and turned to them. "She is not ready for the dangers of the other side, but I am. I have spent years training, studying and mastering everything there is to know about the Spirit World." He paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "And as the son of Aang and as one of the few remaining Airbenders, it is my duty," he added in a desperate tone.

"But, Tenzin, we are running out of time," Korra said.

"If everyone could just be quiet and let me focus." And with those words, Tenzin turned his back on the group. A second later, he heard that someone had walked over to him. He turned his gaze to the source of the footsteps and it was Jinora.

"Aunt Kya is right. I am the only one who can guide Korra into the Spirit World. I will be alright," she said to him.

Tenzin turned his gaze to the rest of the group, who gave him assured expressions. It was pointless to argue with the obvious. "Perhaps I will never have the connections with the Spirits like I always wanted… like my father wanted me to have."

Jinora hugged him tightly to comfort him. "It is alright, Father."

"I am proud of you," Tenzin said to her and he stroked her hair. But inside of him was disappointment. A disappointment in himself. He had failed his father, the great Avatar Aang, by not having connections with the Spirits. However, there was no time for self-pity. They had to close the portal before Unalaq could free Vaatu, so he turned his head toward Korra. "Go. Close the portal. We will wait here and keep your bodies safe until you return."

"We will be all right," Korra assured him and she reached into her pocket for Patrick's locator. "But if we do not return in an hour or if you get a bad feeling, use it." And she tossed the device to Tenzin.

"I see that Patrick finally taught you about being cautious," Tenzin replied and caught the locator.

"Better be prepared than sorry," Korra replied.

She and Jinora then sat opposite each other and began to meditate. For a few minutes, nothing happened until Korra suddenly opened her eyes, but they were glowing, and around Jinora began to appear an azure aura. Tenzin, according to his studies, knew for sure that they had entered the Spirit World.

Unalaq stood before the Tree of Time, looking directly into its hollow, where a dark entity was looking back at him. For hours, he was trying everything he could to open the second portal, but nothing worked; not even his book was able to help him with it.

"The Avatar is dead and we cannot open the Northern portal. I have failed you, Vaatu," he announced to his ally.

"You have not failed me… yet," the dark voice of the Great Spirit replied. "The Avatar still lives."

"How do you know?"

"Even though my connection to Raava was severed, I can still feel her presence."

In that case, nothing is lost, Unalaq thought. "I will find her."

"The Avatar will find you. She has just entered the Spirit World."

Unalaq smiled. Destiny is still on my side. He turned around and went to contact the Spirits, who sympathized with his and Vaatu's goal, to help him find Korra in the Spirit World.

But there is something else I feel… someone else… Vaatu thought as he observed from his prison how his temporary ally proceeded with their plan to free him.

An hour passed and Tenzin, who was keeping an eye on Jinora and Korra with his siblings, started to be nervous.

"I am going to contact Patrick," he announced, motioned to the locator in his hand and went to the grassland, where they had landed earlier.

"Are you sure it is a good idea?" Kya asked. "Maybe they just need more time to close that portal?"

"Korra said to call Patrick for help if the hour passed and they would not return. And an hour had already passed. Plus, I do not like that Jinora is there longer than necessary," he replied and left.

Meanwhile, Mako was sitting in his cell and thinking about everything that had happened. Just a few weeks ago, he was the new rising star among the police officers of the Republic who dated the Avatar and now he was arrested and in jail for a crime he did not commit at all and he hurt the woman that he cared for. But from the further reminiscing he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"There you are," Patrick said. "I had to visit twelve previous cells to find you."

Mako looked to its source and saw Patrick standing in the center of the cell. He did not hear his cell door open, so Patrick had to teleport himself in, which meant that he was not arrested.

"Varrick had framed us. He paid the Triple Threats to tell Beifong, Lu and Gang that we worked with them to steal all of Asami's stuff from the warehouse. He even planted some money and explosives in my apartment," Mako replied.

"He must have planted those things in your apartment when we were on his ship as insurance if we declined his offer. My room will be clean thanks to my security system and the constant presence of the Air Acolytes on the island. Still, it is quite impressive how fast and effectively Varrick can work."

"Did you find anything at the crime scene?"

"Nothing. Absulutely nothing. I was planning to break into his ship for the evidence, in case we did not find anything from the materials you had, when I encountered the Metalbenders that Beifong sent to arrest me. Luckily, I still have diplomatic immunity thanks to Tenzin and some reputation that protects me for now, but I can bet that Beifong will come to the island personally very soon."

"So, what now?" Mako asked.

"I will get you out of here and together we will get Varrick."

"I appreciate the offer, especially coming from you of all people, but I will stay here and get out of here the right, legal way. I will not run away like some criminal."

"I am sorry to break your illusions, Mako, but that right, legal way got you here," Patrick replied and he was about to continue when something beeped on his bracelet.

"What was that?" Mako asked.

"That is my locator I gave Korra when she went to the Fire Nation to ask them for help for the South," Patrick answered as he rolled up his sleeve.

"You gave Korra what?"

"A locator! In case she was in some sort of trouble and needed help, because unlike you, at least I made sure that she did not leave for the Fire Nation without anything, especially when she could encounter Bolin's ex-girlfriend on the sea." Patrick activated the hologram projection of the map of this world on his bracelet to show him the exact position of where Korra was. "She is not at the Fire Nation," he announced a little bit confused.

"Then where is she?" Mako asked in the same tone.

Patrick looked carefully at the map and the flashing dot on it. And then he realized where he had seen the location before. It was on the map that Tenzin showed them when he announced the journey through all the Air Temples before they went to the South Pole. "She is… at the Eastern Air Temple. With Tenzin," he announced. "Perhaps Lady Luck has smiled on you, Mako. Tenzin and Korra could help you in the "legal and right way" if, in the meantime, you did not change your mind about leaving your cell."

"No, I am not. I am staying here…" Mako said and turned his gaze to the ground.

"Because you are afraid to look Korra in the eye after you betrayed her. Understood," Patrick explained the reason why Mako did not want to teleport with him to the Eastern Air Temple.

Mako angrily turned his gaze back to him. "No… I just…" His anger slowly turned into guilt. "You are right… Just return with her and Tenzin, alright?"

"I will," Patrick replied and he prepared to teleport himself to Korra's location.

Mako sighed. "At least something good will come out of this whole thing with Varrick. Bolin's success," he remarked.

"Why? Did they finish the movie already?" Patrick asked just out of curiosity.

"Yes. Bolin told me when he moved out that they were shooting the last scenes today and that Varrick was putting a lot of pressure on his people to finish it before tomorrow's premiere, no matter what." Mako chuckled. "My brother will be a big star. A few weeks ago, I would not have believed it."

Now that has attracted Patrick's interest. "And where will that premiere happen?"

"In the Arena. Bolin said that everyone who means something in Republic City will be there." Then Mako realized it. "Including —"

"President Raiko," Patrick finished his sentence.

"You really think that Varrick will attempt something during that tomorrow night?"

"In front of the eyes of thousands of witnesses at the premiere of his propaganda film, with you behind bars and me on the wanted list? You can bet he will. He will not get a better chance than that."

"Then return with Korra and Tenzin as quickly as possible."

"I will." And with those words, Patrick teleported himself away, leaving Mako alone with his thoughts once again.

In the next minute, Patrick was standing in the middle of a peaceful grassland by the waterfall.

"Korra!" he called out to her.

"Over here, Patrick!" Tenzin's voice sounded behind him.

Patrick turned around and saw Airbender with the locator in his hand. "Where is Korra?"

"She is alright… Well, I hope she is alright," Tenzin replied.

"Tenzin, we have a situation in Republic City," Patrick said and then explained to Tenzin everything that had happened in the city in the last few weeks without mentioning the ongoing Civil War because Korra had surely already told Tenzin about it.

"So, Varrick wants to attack President Raiko to get Republic City into a war with the Northern Water Tribe," Tenzin summarized everything that Patrick had told him. "That is great… Rokkuk will be pleased…" he added in a sarcastic tone, in which it was known that this was not the only bad news he had heard today.

"Yeah, I can imagine that he will sail out to Republic City to personally strangle Varrick. So, we need you and Korra back in Republic City." Patrick noticed that something was weighting down Tenzin. "Why do I have the feeling you are about to share with me much worse news?"

"Patrick, we know why Unalaq is doing all that and it is not good," Tenzin answered and then told him everything that Korra had told him today.

"So, Unalaq wants to free the ancient evil from the Spirit World…" Patrick said after Tenzin was done. "And if I could bet, he wants to probably become a vessel for Vaatu, just like Korra is a vessel for Raava." That is why the Order of Asan sent those two to observe that event. They know about Vaatu, and unless he becomes a threat to the other Universes, they probably will not lift a finger to stop him. Just their classic tactic. He sighed in spirit. And here I thought I had run away from the Fate of the World scenarios. Just my fucking luck. "That is great…" he added in a sarcastic tone.

"You do not sound surprised by that at all," Tenzin remarked, surprised by how Patrick had termed Korra as the "vessel" of the Great Spirit Raava.

"Well, I know two brothers who are destined to be the vessels for the celestial beings that are destined to fight over the fate of the world," Patrick replied. The Winchester brothers. "But that is a story for another time."

"Good then. Bumi and Kya are waiting at the ancient meditation circle." Tenzin gestured for him to follow him.

Patrick obeyed and they both went through the dense forest.

"So, Korra is currently in the Spirit World to close that portal she opened from the inside? Smart move," Patrick remarked. "And she is in there alone?"

"Jinora is guiding her there. She was the only one who could take her to the Spirit World," Tenzin answered.

"Then you must be really proud of her," Patrick replied.

"I am."

But despite what Tenzin had just said, Patrick could hear the signs of disappointment in his voice.

In the next minute, they arrived at the meditation circle where Bumi and Kya were sitting and a few meters away from them were Jinora and Korra, both meditating.

"Hey, Patrick!" Bumi hailed.

"Bumi. Kya," Patrick responded to Tenzin's siblings and turned his gaze to the meditating duo. "How long are they in this state?" he asked.

"Over an hour," Tenzin answered. "Korra said that if it takes more than an hour, we should have called you."

"Good," Patrick said and he walked over to Jinora and Korra. "And they will be able to use their Bending there?"

"No. If you enter the Spirit World through your spirit, you will not be able to use your Bending," Tenzin explained and then desperately averted his gaze. "They are completely defenseless there. If something would happen to Jinora…"

"She is very smart and has a strong connection to the Spirits. She will be alright there with Korra," Kya assured his brother.

"Sure," Bumi added. He then pointed at himself. "Just look at me," and then he pointed at Patrick, "and at him. We never had Bending and I would not call us defenseless."

"That is because I have my genius-level intellect and devices, Bumi," Patrick replied. "And you have…"

"Positive attitude?" Kya completed Patrick's sentence with a cheesy smile.

Bumi frowned at her. "I would have said acute intellect and cat-like reflexes, but whatever."

Then Korra suddenly opened her eyes and she was fully sweating and gasping for air.

"Korra, it is alright!" Patrick said and instinctively grabbed her to get her out of shock. "You are back! Did you manage to close the portal?"

"We got into the Spirit World…" Korra was explaining with a shaky voice, "but we got separated. When I… I was looking for her; I found a guide there and with the… the help of the Dragon Bird Spirit, I got to the portal and was about to close it… when…" Her gaze then focused on Jinora, who was sitting opposite her.

Patrick turned his head in that direction and saw that Jinora was still in a meditative state. He quickly put together what probably happened there and what he would have done in Unalaq's place. "But Unalaq showed up with Jinora and used her as a hostage to force you to open the other portal, right?" he said as he turned his head back to her.

Korra nodded and turned her gaze to Tenzin, who was standing aside and, in whose face, slowly began to appear fear. "I am sorry, Tenzin. She told me not to open the portal but I was planning to use the moment when the portal opens to free her… But Unalaq and the Dark Spirits were too much for me and they took her away. I barely got out of there. I am so sorry…" And in her eyes appeared tears.

Tenzin immediately ran to his daughter to hug her. "Jinora, wake up! Wake up!"

But Jinora did not respond to him, as she still had not opened her eyes, and she collapsed in his embrace as if she were a lifeless body.