[AN] A reminder that Raava speaking via text in Korra's HUD is all caps. Not my first choice, but dealing with formatting limitations.

Chapter Text

Asami sits hunched at the nav station, her computer on her lap. She's spent the last twenty minutes poring over the Valkyrie's mainframe searching for Raava, because Raava is missing.

No, I correct myself as she finally raises her gaze to meet mine and I feel something in me lurch at the expression on her face: Raava is gone. Gone, like Bolin.

She confirms my fear. "I'm not sure how she was able to do this safely, but there isn't a hint of her digital signature anywhere I can detect."

"Fuck on a stick," Kuvira breathes. She's sitting on the edge of the flight console. Her boots are shoved against the co-pilot seat in defiance of about eight regulations prohibiting such a position.

Wing leans around Asami, one hand branded against the console and his eyes fixed on the scanner beyond her, tracking Bolin's progress. Opal and Jinora are crammed in the hatchway just beyond him, both twitching and anxious. I had flatly refused their request to go after him, which nearly led to blows, but there was no way I was risking anyone else given what I knew about those damn things.

I see Wing grimace. "He's getting awfully close to that last mine's detection zone. "

I grit my teeth and jerk my chin at Kuvira. She rolls her eyes. "He didn't answer the first thousand times, but sure, I'll try again." She thumbs the comm. "Valkyrie One to that fucking idiot who stole a fighter, come in."

"Pretty sure that's not a regulation hail," Jinora mutters to Opal.

We all jump as Bolin's voice booms out of the speaker. "Copy, Valkyrie One, but a little busy here. Will call you back."

I lurch to my feet. "Bolin, get your shit-brained ass back to this ship right now!" I bellow. I ignore Opal's scowl.

The speaker stays silent.

I slam my hand against the bulkhead. "What in all the holy hells does he think he's doing?" I demand to no one in particular, then I whirl and point my finger at Asami. "And what the fuck happened to that piece of software I'm gonna delete once I figure out where the hell it went?"

I see her jaw tighten, but her response is remarkably mild. "I think it's safe to say that Raava has gone well beyond my ability to anticipate." She rubs her temple tiredly. "If I were to guess, it's that she's reached a phase a development where she's developing an actual personality."

"Didn't she have on already?" Kuvira demands. "I mean she wasn't exactly up on the jokes, but still…"

Asami shakes her head. "She has had what I could call limited sentience, primarily around her ability to experience her surroundings and learn from them visually and audibly. However, it's limited because until recently she had no capacity for emotional response, or for that matter the more tactile of the senses — touch, taste, and smell."

Wing looks confused. "Why does that matter?"

"There's a lot of research that seems to show that in a human those senses have significant impact on the portions of the brain that pertain to emotion and memory." Asami starts rolling her ring on her finger, her strongest tell for how stressed she is. "But Raava does not have a biological brain, or anything remotely resembling a chemical nervous system, so it's hard to imagine a scenario where a personality, or character traits and individualized emotional responses, could arise."

I drum my fingers on the console. "But you think maybe now she has?"

She sighs. "I'm increasingly thinking that it's likely. And it's a problem because it means I can't anticipate any choices she can make with any accuracy."

I feel my eyebrows climb up into my hair. "Like, that she'd figure out a way to delete herself off the ship's mainframe?"

"That she'd even consider doing that in the first place." Asami's brows furrow. "It's not logical, and Raava has historically behaved very logically."

A small alarm sounds, heading off any response I might have. A moment later Wing shouts, "Look!"

I pull up the nav display onto the forward screen and we all lean forward. The rogue fighter is performing a series of swirling loops, just at the border of where we had calculated the mine's detection zone would be, and we see the mine start to move from its position, but not at the attack speed Kuvira and I had seen before.

"Whoa," Kuvira breathes, apparently noticing the same thing.

"What?" asks Jinora. "What 'whoa'?"

It's Kuvira who replies. "When Korra and I ran into one of those things, it went balls out to get at us right away." She points at the screen where the mine has turned. "Apparently this one is trying to figure out if there's actually a threat."

Opal is staring hard at where Bolin's fighter is moving, twisting and looping and staying just on the edge of the detection zone. I'm starting to realize it's something that a human pilot would have trouble doing so precisely.

"Boss," I say quietly. "Take the stick, and start following. Stay out of range, but head towards where the last mine before this one was dropped."

She glares at me for a long minute, but nods jerkily. "Copy that, Avatar. Taking the stick."

"Releasing," I mutter before tapping frantically on my R.A.a.V.A. HUD controls*, settling into comms mode.

I thumb the ship's comm. "Valkyrie One to Raava. I know you can hear me. I can read you. Please acknowledge."

Asami sits up and stares, her face showing her shock.

I stare at the ceiling and pray, but before long I see a flicker in the HUD

READ YOU LOUD, AVATAR

I HAVE DISABLED THE HELMET AUDIO OF LIEUTENANT BOLIN

YOU MAKE SPEAK FREELY

I grimace, but keep going. "Raava, you're controlling the fighter, aren't you?"

I ignore the surprised murmured from everyone else around me, and I work to hold in my anger.

IN ESSENCE THAT IS CORRECT

"Why did you bring Bolin with you? You're putting him in danger."

I hold my breath, but didn't have to wait long.

THERE ARE ELEMENTS OF PILOTING A FIGHTER THAT ARE INFERIOR IF DONE SOLELY THROUGH THE FLIGHT COMPUTER

I AM NOT FLYING DIRECTLY, BUT RATHER ENCOURAGING FLIGHT STICK RESPONSE THROUGH THE HAPTIC GLOVE WORN BY LIEUTENANT BOLIN WITH HIS CONSENT

ADDITIONALLY I AM RECEPTIVE TO HIS EXPERIENCE AND INSTINCTS

WE ARE FOR ALL PRACTICAL DEFINITIONS FLYING TOGETHER

I choke on that, and drop my gaze to where Asami is watching me anxiously. I gesture madly for her computer and start typing Raava's comments so everyone else can see.

somehow they've figured out a way to fly together - raava is giving direct input to how bolin handles the flight stick

The jaws of the Bitches all go slack as they look at the computer screen.

"She's doing what?" Kuvira demands. She turns to Asami. "How is she doing that?"

I wave her down. "Raava, what do you hope to accomplish?"

AFTER EVALUATING THE VARIOUS DATA SOURCES AND INCORPORATING THE DISCUSSION OF DOCTOR SATO LIEUTENANT COLONEL KUVIRA SERGEANT WEI AND SERGEANT WING THIS SEEMED THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION TO REDUCE RISK OF LOSS OF LIFE

My fingers start drumming again. "Why didn't you say anything? Haven't we shown that we appreciate your suggestions?"

There's another pause, unusual as the AI tends to not need one.

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD HAVE AGREED TO THIS COURSE OF ACTION

LIEUTENANT BOLIN AND I AGREED THIS WAS THE BEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION

My fingers fumble as I pass this on.

Asami leans forward and types a question for me to ask. I squint at her then nod. "Raava, I'm not buying you couldn't fly the ship without Bolin. What's the real reason he's with you? And why are you deleted from the Valkyrie?"

Another pause, even longer. Just when I'm about to turn to the others, Raava's message appears.

I COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT HIM, AND THE ONLY PLACE I AM WHO I AM MEANT TO BE IS WITH HIM.

Eyes wide, I convey this to Asami. She peers at the message, and her face goes white.

"They're approaching the detection zone for the next mine," Wing announces, his voice shaking slightly.

I WILL PROTECT HIM

I WILL PROTECT YOU ALL