[AN] Note, posting two chapters this go 'round. Make sure to read them in order.

Asami refuses to acknowledge any of us. Her beautiful face is still pale and her eyes are fixed on the display showing Bolin and Raava's fighter continue their weird looping dance that has a deadly 'defense' mine trailing along in their wake. We still have no idea how Raava was able to figure out how to do this as she continues to mostly ignore us, so we're left to follow along behind, hoping to figure out how to prevent a tragedy.

"They're getting awfully close to the next mine," Jinora mutters.

"Entering next mine detection zone in five, four, three, two, one—" Wing chokes off as we all see the fighter give up the dance, pause for fifteen seconds, then full throttle towards the new mine. The pause appears to have been enough to trigger attack mode in the first mine, as it suddenly picks up speed. We watching in horror as the second mine notices them right away and immediately starts moving to intercept.

"What are they doing?" Opal breathes shakily behind me.

All of a sudden I hear Kuvira's breath catch, and I look over to see the beginnings of a smile on her face. She points at the screen where the small blip representing Bolin's fighter is peeling off.

"Boss?" I start to ask but a squawk from Jinora jolts me back to the readout.

"Holy shit! Look!"

We all stare at the display, watching the two mines charge each other with an implacable acceleration of speed. Long minutes pass until both disappear from the screen, followed moments later by the blaring of Valkyrie's alarms.

"They rammed each other," Wing choked out. "One mega shock wave incoming."

"Mother fucker," Kuvira shouts, and she wrenches the flight stick around. Around us the hull creaks and groans as she tries to u-turn the ship at high speed, hoping to take the shock wave on the more structurally solid stern. "Everybody brace!" She slaps the general quarters alarm then repeats her warning, her voice echoing down the corridors. "All hands, brace for impact!"

I can only hope Foster and the rest of the Daedalus Base crew are able to hang on down in the galley.

Everybody buckles themselves into their chairs while Opal and Jinora jam themselves in between two struts. "Come on, Valkyrie," Opal says under her breath. "Hold it together."

My heart clenches a bit when I see Jinora's hands cover Opal's white-knuckled grip before she presses her back against the taller woman's chest, her head coming to rest in the crook of Opal's neck. I turn to find Asami watching me, her eyes green and luminous is the glow of the alarm lights. She reaches out one hand, and I grip it tightly.

Kuvira keeps up a steady stream of curses as she fights to bring Valkyrie around as the shock wave hurtles toward us at the speed of light. Finally getting close enough to the desired heading she slams the auxiliary thrusters into action, and we're pressed hard against our seats as the ship leaps forward on the strength of the Future Industries modifications. A long, tense, moment later we feel the shock wave hit us, a wrenching impact flinging us hard against the jump seats. I see Opal and Jinora bounce hard against the wall and collapse in a heap. The sound of the hull is a metallic scream in our ears under the strain of physical forces likely at the edge of its durability. I feel the ship tilt under us in sickening lurch and clench Asami's hand more firmly in my own.

"Come on, you bitch," Kuvira rasps, still straining with the controls. "Surf this wave!"

Gradually the ship settles and the cacophony of hull sounds begins to abate, only to be replaced by a bevy of alarms as various ship systems start to complain.

"Mad, Wee, you two okay?" I finally manage. Pained grunts are my only response initially, but after a few moments I do get a couple of thumbs up. I officially fail to notice the kiss Jinora presses to Opal's cheek.

"Foster to bridge, come in," His voice sounds pained.

I manage to reach the comm, noting in passing that my hand is shaking. "Bridge here, Foster," I call out. "You guys okay down there?"

"Private Yun got tossed into the wall and took a pretty hard hit to the head." There's an outraged yell in the background. "Okay, fine I fell too."

Asami gives my hand a quick squeeze before unbuckling herself.

"Copy that, Doc is on her way," I reply. "Bridge out." I glance at the twins. "Wing, Wei, please see what all the alarms are going on about."

The twins nod and trail Asami through the hatch.

I return my attention to Kuvira. "Boss, that was some epic flying."

She grimaces. "Well, I certainly remember why I hate flying anything besides a fighter."

"Amen to that."

Jinora and Opal haul themselves to their feet only to collapse into the recently vacated jump seats.

"What she said," mutters Jinora.

"Speaking of fighters." Opal gestures towards the screen.

"Oh, those assholes," I growl and thumb the comm. "Valkyrie One to Little Mouse, come in. And don't even think about ignoring me!"

There's a small crackle of static, then the sound of laughter fills the cockpit.

"That was such a ride!" Bolin screams happily. "I can't wait to try that again!"

I grit my teeth.

"What you are is fucking lucky we have Asami's engine mods or you'd be dead!" Kuvira growls.

"As would we," I add, but a sudden thought occurs to me. "Get back here, Mouse, we need to catch up to Unalaq. You two have given me an idea."

—

I trot into the galley. The medi-bed is pulled out and Private Yun is strapped onto it, her head wrapped in bandages. Dix and Mei hover nearby as Ling cleans the blood off of her face. Asami is working on splinting Foster's arm, and his clenched jaw tells me she probably had to reset the bone first.

"Gonna survive?" I ask him.

He grunts. "Probably. What the fuck happened?'

I start to reply, but Kuvira's voice rings out over the comm. "Bridge to Avatar, our golden goose just laid another egg."

"Copy that, Boss," I reply. I raise my head as a I feel the shudder of a fighter docking. "And our prodigal son has returned."

"I get to smack him first, just putting that out there," Kuvira mutters. "Bridge out."

I look at Asami and tilt my head towards Foster. "Are you done with him?"

She raises one eyebrow, then nods.

"Alright then, come help me keep Kuvira from killing Bo."

As Asami and I as we enter the hangar, I see a light smoky haze and wince at the acrid scent. Not good. Wei and Wing are at the far side of the hanger and I groan inwardly when I see Wei holding a portable fire extinguisher in his hand. Bolin is leaning again his fighter. His helmet is discarded on the floor next to him, and I see him smile as he speaks softly, though seemingly to no one. His eyes once again reflect the glow of the goggles, something Raava is showing him that only he can see. The haptic glove is cupped as if he's holding something in his hand, and I hear Asami's breath catch as she sees it.

Well, that can't be good. I notice Foster has tailed along behind us. That probably isn't good either, as I see him look strangely at my idiot pilot.

Bolin looks up, finally noticing us. He runs over and picks me up, spinning me around.

"THAT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME. THE MOUSE TOTALLY ROARS!"