Patrick, accompanied by Felix and an old man, was standing in the old, dirty elevator that was heading to the upper floor of an apartment building in Tokyo.
As the elevator was getting closer to its destination, Patrick noticed that his brother was texting someone on his phone with that stupid smile of his.
"Who are you texting to?" he asked as he turned his attention back to the elevator's display of floor numbers.
"Someone…" Felix replied. "But you've never had a girl, so you wouldn't understand it at all."
"HA HA HA. Nice one, Felix," Patrick remarked with a sarcastic laugh. "At this rate, you should be a fucking comedian by now."
"Hey, I didn't want to bring you with me to this. But mom and grandpa wanted me to."
"Because you're not capable of achieving anything without me."
Felix put his phone into his pocket and clapped. "And the prize for most arrogant jerk goes to Patrick," he announced.
"Have you been practicing it long?" Patrick asked.
"Would you two please stop this nonsense?" the old man in the long gray coat and red fedora requested with a strong Japanese accent.
His name was Soga Tetsunori, head of a Yakuza clan named Ogawa as well as a long-time friend of their mother and also their "guide" in Tokyo.
"My apologies. My brother is always so childish," Patrick replied in Japanese.
Old Soga smirked. "Your brother speaks quite fluent Japanese, Felix."
Felix looked at him surprised. "Really?"
"Of course. As well as in other languages. Because unlike you, I was actually studying and not screwing a tutor," Patrick replied.
Felix wanted to say something in response but rather just sighed.
Patrick rubbed his nose and wanted the elevator to go faster so they would be done with it.
"By the way, what were you doing in London anyway?" Felix asked him.
"That's my personal thing, Felix," Patrick replied.
"Then make it impersonal."
"Why?"
"Because we had a visitor at home," Felix answered. "Someone from NATO. General…"
"General G. W. Hormann," Patrick completed. While one Universe had Nick Fury, director of SHIELD, and the other Amanda Waller, Patrick's Universe had General George Waynard Hormann, one of the top NATO generals with connections to the UN and UNIT, who was responsible for the defense of Earth from the outside and from the inside.
"Yeah, that one. He came to us about a week ago and wanted to know where you were located. He even threatened us."
"Did you tell him anything?"
"Of course not. But you should have seen that staring contest he had with grandpa. I think he's one of the few who can withstand grandpa's stern look."
"Yeah, he is."
"So, what were you doing in London?"
"Like I said: It's my personal thing."
Felix sighed in frustration. "Still acting like an arrogant jerk."
"We're here," Soga announced as the elevator stopped and opened the doors, as he was relieved that he probably was not going to witness their next argument.
All three entered a hallway with doors on both sides and rows of colorful graffiti and mess on the floor.
"Last door on the left," he informed them as he stopped just a few steps from the elevator and motioned his head toward the other side of the hallway.
"You're not coming?" Patrick asked.
"Me and my niece also have… family disagreements," Soga explained. "I'll stay here for now."
"Okay and thanks," Felix replied.
"You can thank me by taking your sister back home and returning that boy to his family. If it were not for what your mother did for us, we would have already taken care of your sister, but our respect is not unlimited, especially for someone who makes such a ruckus."
"We'll do our best, Soga," Patrick said and he and his brother headed to the door on the other side of the hallway.
Felix then knocked on the door. Nothing happened. He knocked again and this time the door opened a little and from the gap emerged the head of a man with blonde hair.
"What is it?" he asked with a German accent.
"Is Tara there?" Patrick asked.
"Yes…" the German answered.
"Then let us the fuck in," Felix declared and pushed into a slightly open door, making the German step back as he and Patrick walked in.
As they entered the almost dilapidated apartment with walls of dark blue, illuminated by neon lights coming from the windows, they could see that German was half-naked, wearing only the black jeans.
"Hey! Who the fuck are you?" the German barked with anger.
"They are her brothers," a female Japanese voice answered.
Felix and Patrick turned their attention to the other side of the apartment where there was a large bed. On the right side of it was the entrance to the bathroom and on the left side was the closet. Just a few meters away from the bed was a chair and on it sat a Japanese woman with a lit cigarette between the fingers of her right hand. She had short black hair and light green eyes with an industrial piercing on her right ear and her entire naked body was tattooed.
Her name was Arashi and she was Soga's niece and also a good "friend" of Tara.
While Felix immediately turned his gaze away, Patrick observed Arashi for a few seconds, which she returned with a look of interest and a raised eyebrow, before he turned his attention to the bathroom, from which it sounded that someone was finishing their shower.
"Funny. Tara didn't mention that she has brothers," the German remarked.
"Funny. She didn't mention that her vice this week is blonde Germans," Patrick replied.
Felix walked over to a small fridge located in a small kitchen on the left, where a few boxes of pizza and remnants of some fast food were keeping her company. He opened it to see if there was anything inside. He found several cans with energetic drinks, so, he grabbed one.
"Is my uncle in the hallway or outside the building?" Arashi asked as she took a puff from her cigarette.
"In the hallway by the elevator," Patrick answered and gave one more look at her tattooed body.
"Well, at least he's inside the building," she commented.
Tara came out of the bathroom with her hair wet, wearing only a black t-shirt and panties. "What the fuck are you two doing here?" she asked with full fury.
Felix opened a can of energy drink and took a sip of it while Patrick leaned against the wall. "Taking you home," he replied.
"Taking me home?" Tara asked mockingly. "Why?" Even though she already knew the answer.
"You're making waves. Waves that grandpa, mom and her friends here in Tokyo don't like," Patrick answered.
"I just do some business here," Tara replied.
"Yeah, we just do our business here," the German added.
Felix and Patrick turned their gazes on him while Arashi chuckled and Tara rubbed her eyes with frustration. "Did we fucking ask you something?" Felix asked.
"Where is the boy you kidnapped, Tara?" Patrick asked as he, along with Felix, turned their attention back to their sister and then he looked at the closet.
Tara shrugged. "What are you talking about?" She paused for a moment. "I only deal in weapons and drugs, nothing else."
"Those are the small waves, Tara. We're talking about that big wave you made," Felix announced. "We're talking about Kurokawa Hidetoshi, the only son and heir of Adachi Hidetoshi, the owner of one of the car manufacturers in Tokyo, that you kidnapped a week ago and are demanding a ransom of 50 million. So, where is he?" He paused for a moment to take another sip from the can. "In one of your warehouses or somewhere else?"
"He's inside that closet," Patrick deduced and everybody turned their gazes to him. While the German looked shocked and Arashi had an admiring look on her face, Felix and Tara looked at Patrick with unamused expressions. "I know you, Tara. You wouldn't let something that valuable out of sight."
"Shit," the German remarked.
Tara pouted. "So, what? I'll let him go after his dad sends me the money!"
"That's not going to happen," Patrick said. "For two reasons. The first is that kidnapping pretty much pissed off every Yakuza clan in Tokyo. Especially when it happened on their turf. And it's quite hard for them to ignore it."
"Told you," Arashi said to Tara.
"Shut the fuck up," Tara whispered back.
"And secondly," Patrick said as he walked over to the closet, "Adachi won't pay anything because he has nothing."
"What?" the German asked in shock. "That guy is rolling in money!"
"Not anymore. Two months ago, due to new regulations about emissions and industrial production, Adachi had to close his car manufacturer in order to modernize it, and since he's from the old school, this modernization will take some time, so until then he will not be able to manufacture and sell any cars."
"Bullshit!" the German argued. "He's constantly visiting expensive restaurants and attending public events in expensive clothes!"
"It's just a façade he has to maintain. Otherwise, he is using all the money he has to modernize his factory. He would be able to pay you at least 100000, at most a million, but 50 million? Come on!" In the middle of the journey, Patrick stopped by Tara. "Don't tell me he was the one who picked your target." He could see the affirmative answer reflected in Tara's eyes. "For fuck's sake, Tara!"
Tara looked at the German. "You told me that you checked out Adachi, Chris!"
"I did… I did…" Chris paused as he was looking for the right words. "Through some magazines… and tabloids."
Tara widened her eyes in shock while Felix finished his can so he would not have to laugh and Arashi just shook her head at the fact that a professional like her had gotten involved with an amateur such as Chris.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Tara snapped.
"Well… I think you should start sleeping and working with guys who have more brains. It'd save us a lot of problems in the future," Patrick remarked and then continued to the closet. He opened it, and from inside of it, a tied young teenager covered in bruises, dressed in a gray school uniform that was torn in some places, collapsed to the floor. Patrick kneeled down to him to check his condition. "Can you hear me?" he asked the teenager in Japanese as he lifted his head.
The terrified, kidnapped teenager looked at him and nodded.
"Good. Don't worry, we'll get you out of here to an old man waiting in the hallway who will take you to the best underworld doctor in the city, and those bruises and all of this will be nothing but a bad memory," Patrick assured him. "Speaking of memories, you and he will piece together what you're going to tell the police afterwards, understand?" He observed as the kidnapped teenager again nodded. "Excellent."
"He's not going anywhere!" Chris protested but could see that Patrick was ignoring him. "Hey, do you hear me, fucker!?"
"If I were you, I'd stop insulting my brother, because me and my sister, along with the rest of our family, are the only ones who have the monopoly to say something bad about him. Anybody else who does so in our presence will meet a not very nice end," Felix reacted and crushed the empty can.
"But mom nor grandpa didn't send you two just because of this," Tara said.
"No," Patrick replied. "It's about Octavia. She has mumps."
"And…?" Tara asked uncomprehendingly.
Patrick sighed in frustration as his sister proved again that she, as a mother, was not ready, but sadly, these things do not wait for people to be ready. "Mom, grandma and grandpa are tired of doing your job instead of you."
"Hey, I had to leave her at our home because I had some things to take care of and build something for the two of us."
"Which was two years ago. You just dropped her off at our home and then went out into the world to continue your carefree ride."
"I wasn't able to look after the baby then!" Tara raised her voice. "I had to find some solid ground first so I could at least think about what to do next without any of you talking into it!"
"And you're still looking for it, but as someone who has experienced this sort of thing from one perspective, I have news for you: Her life goes on in the meantime, even when you're not there." Patrick paused for a moment as he helped Kurokawa stand up. "So how about you start acting like a mother?"
"Hey, you're not going anywhere with him!" Chris yelled angrily as he started looking around the apartment for a weapon.
But before he could do anything, Felix grabbed him by the shoulder. "And you're starting to piss me off. So how about you calm down before I make you?"
"I think you should go," Arashi said to Tara.
Tara gave her one very angry look. "Stay the fuck out of this!" She then turned her gaze back to Patrick, who was supporting Kurokawa on their way to the door. "Why do you even care?"
"Someone has to, Tara, if her own mother won't do it," Patrick replied.
Patrick awoke from his nightmare and slowly sat down on his bed. He shifted his gaze to the loud snoring that Bolin was making in his bed on the other side of the room. That snoring would be enough to wake the dead. He looked at the display of his bracelet, and it was showing 4. a.m. So he tiredly lay back down in his bed, hoping that he might be able to fall back to sleep, even though he knew full well that he would not.
In the morning, everyone gathered in front of the temple to witness the arrival of the airship. But this airship was the largest they had ever seen, all made from metal, with more propellers and a golden statue of a phoenix on its bow. The Air Acolytes grabbed the ropes from the airship to help it descend to the island, while a ramp lowered from its keel that led to a sliding door, which, when opened, Asami stood there.
"Did someone order a fully equipped Future Industries airship?" she asked. The day before, she offered Korra, Tenzin and the others that she would be providing their transportation while they were searching for the new Airbenders that had mostly appeared in the Earth Kingdom, especially in its capital, Ba Sing Se.
"It's perfect!" Korra replied. "Thank you, Asami."
"Well, if we go to Ba Sing Se to search for Airbenders, we should arrive there in style."
"Yay, airship!" Meelo yelled as he and Ikki wasted no time in running toward the aircraft.
Ikki created a sphere of air, on which she rode into the airship. "I want to see it!"
"Come on, Poki," Meelo ordered to his pet, who quickly climbed on top of his head, and then he also formed a sphere of air on which he followed Ikki through the ramp.
"Well, after you all leave, Pema and I will hold down the fort," Kya announced and picked up little Rohan, who slowly started making his first steps. She turned him so that he was facing her and gently bounced with him up and down. "Who's excited to spend some time with Auntie Kya?" she asked him in a cooing tone.
Rohan responded in the form of vomiting on her chest.
"Uh!" Kya commented in disgust.
"Aw, he likes you," Pema assessed.
Kya, however, was not happy about such a display of liking, so she used her Waterbending to clean off her dress of vomit.
"So, do you remember the procedure of taking the samples, or do you want to repeat it before we depart?" Patrick asked her.
"Of course I remember, but I don't know why I should be taking those samples when most of those new Airbenders are in the Earth Kingdom anyway," she replied.
"Just in case some of them would arrive here."
Then everyone noticed that Mako had also arrived, carrying a map.
"Mako, I'm so glad you're here," Korra said as she approached him.
"Of course, Korra," he said nervously. "Avatar." He quickly stood to attention. "Avatar Korra, once I received your message, I proceeded to contact various locations within the Earth Kingdom," he announced in a professional tone.
Korra, understanding that there would be no better way to speak to Mako now, replied sarcastically, "Right, the Avatar thanks you for your loyal service. Did you find any more leads?"
Mako handed her the map over. "I marked all the locations on this map. You can take it with you."
"Actually… I was kind of hoping you could come, too."
"Really? Uh, it's probably better if I sit this one out," he rejected.
"I know things have been weird between us since we broke up, but you're a part of Team Avatar and we can't do this without you."
"I'm sorry, I can't." And Mako turned around and went to leave the island.
Meanwhile, Pema kissed her husband on the cheek. "I'll miss you, sweetie."
"I'll miss you too. Once we find the Airbenders, I'll send word. You can join us at the Northern Air Temple then," Tenzin replied.
Then their attention turned to Ikki and Meelo, who had come to them visibly angry with the jealousy over the fact that their father was only taking Jinora on the trip on this huge airship.
"How come Jinora gets to go with you but we don't?" Ikki asked as she and her brother jumped off their spheres of air. "That's not fair!"
"Yes!" Meelo agreed. "Like she said! Not fair!"
Tenzin and Pema exchanged worried glances with each other, both wondering about how to handle this situation when Patrick decided to step in.
"Because if Airbenders show up here, they are going to need someone who will teach them. Like you two," he said to the pair of angered children.
Ikki's and Meelo's angry expressions quickly turned into celebratory ones once they realized it.
"Really? Me, a teacher?" Ikki spun and jumped around in celebration. "Yay!"
"Those maggots will bow to me!" Meelo declared in an authoritative tone.
Oh, shit, a small dictator… Patrick thought.
"Go easy on them, son," Tenzin responded, hoping that Meelo would listen to him.
Meanwhile, Bolin caught up with Mako on the dock.
"Mako, wait a second," he said to him to stop him from getting on the speedboat.
Mako stopped and turned to Bolin. "Korra already asked, Bolin. I can't just leave Republic City. I have a life here and a job."
"A life?" Bolin asked sarcastically. "You sleep under your desk. And what's a more important job than helping the Avatar rebuild an entire civilization?"
Mako sighed as he turned his gaze to the city in the distance. "It's not just that. I feel like I've been drifting apart from everyone."
"Well, drift back; we need you! Come on, Mako, we're going to Ba Sing Se, where our father grew up. What if I meet our grandma for the very first time and she asks me, 'Where's your sweet brother?'," he imitated the voice of the old woman, "and I have to say, 'I'm sorry, Grandma, he had some really important police paperwork to file' and she starts to cry those grandma tears, and is like," he started imitating their grandmother again, "'Mako! Why? Why? I can't go on, I ca—'" Bolin paused for a second and then returned his voice to normal. "And then she dies."
"All right, all right," Mako said as he knew that Bolin would not stop with this. "I'll come with you." He sighed. "I guess I'll have to call Beifong. She's not going to be happy about it."
A few minutes later, the airship took off, heading in the direction of the Earth Kingdom.
"Bye! We'll miss you!" Meelo yelled as he, Ikki, Kya and Pema, along with Rohan, were waving to the departing group, who were waving back through the large green windows at the bow of the airship.
The cockpit of the airship was truly spacious, and in addition to metal, it was also faced with wood. However, the group was in the part of the cockpit that was designated for meetings due to the large table surrounded by four white sofas, two on each side, where they were looking at the map that Mako had brought.
"As of now, these are the places where we've gotten reports about Airbenders. It looks like we can visit most of them before we get to Ba Sing Se," Mako announced.
"We're going to bring the Air Nation back from the brink of extinction after nearly two hundred years," Korra added, fully enthused by the thought of restoring one of the nations.
"And it's all because of you, Korra," Tenzin responded.
Meanwhile, on a large barge in the middle of the ocean, which was made entirely of wood, and where, besides the building for the White Lotus Sentries and the four watchtowers, each of which stood in one corner of the barge, stood a wooden cage in the middle, and in it was the man for whom this prison had been built.
The prisoner named Ghazan, a man with long black hair, a full beard and brown eyes, was now half naked, showing the tattoos on his back and arms, and was doing his daily pull-ups with the help of the wooden bars of his cage.
The duo of the White Lotus Sentries spotted an incoming speedboat that was bearing the insignia of their order.
"Finally. Our shift change is here," one of the White Lotus Sentries announced to his colleague and they both went to greet the arrivals.
When they reached the speedboat that had stopped at the side of the barge, something was wrong. There was only one of the White Lotus Sentries inside the vessel.
"Hey! Where are the other guards?" the White Lotus Sentry asked.
The man steering the speedboat did not answer; he just turned his head toward them.
Both White Lotus Sentries recognized that face.
"Zaheer?!" the other White Lotus Sentry said in utter shock.
And before they could both shoot their fire blasts, Zaheer used his Airbending to jump high out of the speedboat, landed behind them, and quickly shot an air blast at them that sent them overboard. He then quickly noticed that a trio of more White Lotus Sentries were running down the stairs of the watchtower to his right side, so he quickly took down two of them with another air blast. The third White Lotus Sentry jumped up and shot a water blast at him. So Zaheer executed a quick backflip to dodge it and then did another flip to dodge the fire blast that came from the White Lotus Sentry behind him.
Ghazan in the cage tried to watch what was happening outside but the thick bars of his cage were not giving him a good view.
Zaheer, while dodging another water blast, jumped over the cage and, in the process, threw a few rocks into it.
Ghazan looked at the rocks that landed in front of his feet and smiled. It was about time, he thought.
Zaheer quickly dodged the fire blast and, with an air wave, he took down White Lotus Sentry, who shot at him. He then, with his Airbending, leaped onto the platform connecting the two watchtowers on the other side of the barge, where he started to dodge the attacks from the remaining three White Lotus Sentries. He had to keep them busy, so they would not notice that Ghazan had rocks in his cage until it was too late.
Inside the cage, Ghazan used his Earthbending to lift the rocks onto the level of his chest and then began to circle them, heating them until they turned to lava and he formed them into a five-pointed shuriken. With its help, he sliced a section of his cage, which he then kicked at one of the three White Lotus Sentries who had their backs to the cage, knocking him down. Before the remaining two guards could react, he hit one of them with a lava shuriken. He then leaped forward to dodge the water blasts from the last White Lotus Sentry before taking him down with lava shuriken as well.
When it was over, Ghazan turned to his savior and was pleasantly surprised that it was his old friend Zaheer.
Two friends who had not seen each other in thirteen long years clasped hands.
"It's nice to see you again, Ghazan," Zaheer said.
"Thank you for getting me out," Ghazan replied and proudly looked around at the havoc that his friend had caused with his Airbending. "Where did you pick up the new skills?"
"I have the Harmonic Convergence to thank for that. I was given a gift. It's a sign that our path is a righteous one."
Meanwhile, the Future Industries airship had arrived at a small village in the Earth Kingdom located among the mountains, the first marked spot on the map where one of the new Airbenders had appeared.
The group, consisting of Asami, Bolin, Bumi, Jinora, Mako, Korra, Patrick and Tenzin, was welcomed by the leader of the village.
"Avatar Korra!" he said in pleasant surprise. "Oh, it's such an honor to have you come to our humble village."
"Thank you," Korra replied.
Tenzin stepped forward. "I hate to get down to business but is the Airbender here now?"
"Yes. I'll send for Kuon and his family to join us for a special dinner that I'll arrange for you." The leader of the village turned around and motioned to a large house in the middle of the village. "Please, right this way."
A moment later, the whole group was sitting at one side of a long table full of food while Korra was sitting at one end of it, opposite the leader of the village. Kuon and his family occupied the other side of the table.
"Kuon has been the talk of the village ever since he's got Airbending; he's like a local celebrity," the leader of the village said.
"I just want to say it's an honor to meet a fellow Airbender," Tenzin said.
Kuon, a man in his nearly fifties, replied, "Oh, I still think of myself as a simple farmer. Who can Airbend." He weakly flapped his hands, but in doing so, unintentionally, created an air blast that sent one of the pies on the table right straight into Bolin's face. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I still can't control it!"
Bolin removed the pie from his face and Pabu climbed on top of him to lick the remains of the pie off his face. "No worries! I love pie," he replied and then noticed that Pabu had moved over to the table to drag the launched pie away to eat it for himself. "And so does Pabu," he added.
"Well, you're so much more than just a farmer now," Tenzin announced. "The Harmonic Convergence changed everything. You represent the future of a culture that is being reborn. You're going to help us rebuild the Air Nation."
Kuon looked at Tenzin surprised. "I'm going to do what now? The only thing I'm planning to rebuild is my barn."
"But you must come with us to the Northern Air Temple," Tenzin urged Kuon.
Oh fuck, here we go, Patrick thought. This was another case he was afraid would happen when Tenzin spoke of how sure he was that the new Airbenders would be keen to rebuild the Air Nation. First Daw and now Kuon.
Kuon's surprised expression that he was maintaining for the sake of the guests turned into an offended one. "Well, I can't do that. I have a family and a farm."
"Of course you can come. This is of the utmost importance. Your wife will understand," Tenzin replied in quite an aggressive tone.
"Tenzin, calm down," Patrick said to him, surprised by Tenzin's sudden aggression. Then he remembered that when he had been taking a sample from Daw's brother the day before yesterday, the latter had asked him when he would be able to see his brother because when he had come to visit him on Air Temple Island, he was escorted out by Air Acolytes, who told him that Daw was not accepting any visits. At first Patrick had thought that Daw, who was still unable to control the Airbending, had not wanted to see his brother so that he would not hurt him, but now he was beginning to think that Tenzin wanted to isolate Daw so that he could easily convert him.
Kuon's wife, who was sitting beside her husband, looked at the Airbender in shock. "Wait, what? No, I will not understand."
Kuon's little daughter grabbed him by the arm. "Father, where are you going? Why does the bald man want to take you away?"
"No one's going to take him away, sweetheart," Kuon's wife assured her because she looked like she was about to cry at any moment.
"Actually, this bald man does want to take him but it's for an important cause," Korra said in an attempt to calm down the little girl. "Your father is an Airbender and he should learn about his culture."
Patrick rubbed his eyes as he sighed. Oh, no… he thought. Even though Korra was meaning it well, this was something that she should not have said.
"I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding. I'm not going with you. I might be able to Airbend but I'm no Air Nomad or monk," Kuon said in a raised tone.
"Alright, maybe we should just have some dessert, huh?" The leader of the village suggested in an attempt to ease the situation and offered a plate of sweet food to everyone. "Who's up for dessert?"
"Sir, you must understand; you're an Airbender now and there are thousands of years of culture you must learn about and skills you must master," Tenzin said.
"You expect me to abandon my entire life? My family?" Kuon angrily stood up. "No! No, sir, I'm not going anywhere with you and I think it's best that you leave."
Patrick turned his gaze to Tenzin and could see from his surprised expression that he was not used to someone talking to him like that. Perhaps Tenzin was treated special when he was growing up as the son of Avatar Aang.
A moment later, the airship departed from the village, heading for the next location on the map.
"In my head, I saw that playing out very differently," Korra commented on their conversation with Kuon at the meeting.
"Maybe we should have stayed and tried harder to convince him to join us," Asami suggested.
"Or we could have thrown him in a potato sack and forced him into the airship," Bolin added his own suggestion.
Damn, Bolin, Patrick, who was sitting on one of the sofas, remarked in spirit over Bolin's idea to kidnap Kuon. He looked at his right hand, where he held the blood samples that he had managed to take from Kuon and from his eldest child just before that dinner. He planned on sending them to X afterwards, along with the information that none of three Kuon's children were Airbenders.
"That's how they got me to join the United Forces," Bumi, lying on another couch, responded to Bolin's idea while playing with Bum-Ju.
"No, we can't coerce people or throw them in potato sacks. They must come freely," Tenzin rejected the suggestions.
Really? And that thing with Kuon was almost what? Patrick asked in spirit.
"But not worry, there are plenty of other Airbenders out there who will be happy to come with us once they find out what the Air Nation is all about," Tenzin added with an optimistic smile.
And so they continued on their journey through the marked locations on the map. And at each location, Tenzin's attempts to convince the new Airbenders to join them met with failure. Such as when he told the mother of a little boy, who was an Airbender, that he would be tattooed just like him, which ended up slamming the door right in his face or when he told the next Airbender, a woman who liked to dress very stylishly, that she would have to dress in Airbender robes, which also resulted in the door slamming right in his face. And like that, they went through most of the locations on the map with nothing but rejections. Patrick, on the other hand, managed to get to most of those Airbenders before Tenzin did, so he was able to get samples from them as well as from their family members who had not become Airbenders.
"Ugh, I really thought I had that last one," Tenzin said at the meeting after the airship left the latest location on the map. "Who doesn't want a bison as their best friend?"
"Perhaps it's because all of them have already been born and raised in some other culture," Patrick replied and everyone turned their gazes to him. It might lead to an argument, but someone had to say it.
"Patrick, you don't understand… they're…" Tenzin attempted to reply, but all those rejections made him tired to argue, so he rather gave up.
"Hey, Tenzin, if that makes you happy, then know that I still want to be an Airbender," Bumi said.
Tenzin sighed and rolled his eyes. He would take anyone else than his older brother.
"Alright, we've tried it your way," Korra said as she stood up, "and people just don't seem to be responding. It's time for a little tough love." And she punched the palm of her hand.
That won't end well, Patrick thought.
A moment later, Asami, Bolin, Korra, Mako and Patrick were standing in front of a large house that was located at one of the places where a new Airbender had appeared. Korra knocked on the door and it was opened by an older woman with short black hair, blue eyes, wearing thin glasses, red lipstick and a long, light green tunic.
"Oh, you're the Avatar, right? Welcome to our humble house," she said in a slightly excited tone and motioned for them to follow her inside the house.
As they entered the house, Patrick could not help but feel like a Jehovah's Witness at that moment.
"When my son got Airbending, my husband and I were so happy," the woman said as she led them to the kitchen. "We thought this could open a lot of doors for him and maybe he could finally move out of the basement," she added with a chuckle.
Korra chuckled too because of their hostess. "And how old is he?"
"He's twenty-two and you know, still just figuring his life out," the woman answered.
"Well, I have a great opportunity for him. We're looking for Airbenders to join us at the Northern Air Temple."
The woman yelled in enthusiasm. "Ah, that sounds wonderful! I'll get him." She leaned toward the stairs at the side of the kitchen that were leading to the basement. "Ryu! Get up here!" she yelled in a now complete authoritative tone.
Korra exchanged the thumbs up with Asami, Bolin and Mako for good luck, except for Patrick, who still had a feeling that this was not going to end well.
Ascended the stairs to the kitchen came a young, thin man with short black hair, blue eyes and a few hairs that were supposed to constitute a mustache and goatee. He wore black glasses, a dirty green short coat, pale green pants and a pink slipper on his left foot while his right foot was barefoot.
Ryu? Patrick wondered about that man's name in spirit as he observed him. I know one of your namesakes who would clearly beat your ass in a street fight.
Korra offered her hand to Ryu. "Hello, I'm Korra."
"So, you're like the Avatar or something. Big deal," Ryu said without interest.
"Uh…" Korra replied, not knowing what to say to that, so she decided to continue with her intention. "I just wanted to talk to you about an opportunity."
"I heard you talking to my mother and I'm not interested." Ryu turned around and headed back to the basement.
Now you've fucked up, Patrick commented and started counting down the moment when Korra would explode from anger. He was betting on five seconds, but it was in fact just three.
"Well, you're going to be interested," Korra said with frustration. She grabbed Ryu by the collar and threw him into a chair at the table that was in the middle of the kitchen. She then slammed her hand against the table to get more of Ryu's attention. "You're an Airbender now and you have a responsibility as a citizen of the world."
"Whatever. I didn't ask to become an Airbender, you know," Ryu replied, maintaining his disinterested tone of voice.
"Well, I didn't ask to be the Avatar, but I am, and I'm fulfilling my duties," she responded.
"So? You don't have to."
"Yes. I do have to."
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do!" Korra shouted.
"No, you don't"
Korra sighed. Inner peace, inner peace, inner peace, she repeated in her mind. This was almost like her first meeting with Patrick. "Well, if I didn't embrace my role, then our entire world could be thrown into chaos. Think about that! Is that what you want?"
Ryu was silent for a few seconds and then answered, "Maybe."
"No, it's not!" Korra yelled angrily.
"So what? Who cares?"
"Everyone cares!"
"I don't care."
Korra furiously slammed the table with both hands. The arguing with Ryu had officially become the ultimate test of her inner peace. "Yes, you do!"
"No, I don't."
Patrick quickly stepped forward because Korra looked like she was about to jump on Ryu to choke him. "Korra, let me handle this."
Korra slowly breathed a few times before she turned toward him. "Alright. He's all yours." She stepped back to join the others while Patrick took her place.
Patrick smiled at Ryu. "Let's start over. Shall we?"
Five minutes later, Bolin and Mako were using all their strength to drag Patrick out of the house and mainly away from Ryu, whom he began to strangle while yelling, "Why you little…" Honestly, it was quite hard, as Patrick was close to slipping out of their grasp.
"Mako! Bolin! Let go of me! Let me fucking go! I'll choke that bastard!" Patrick yelled while looking at Ryu, who was lying on the ground next to the fallen chair, rubbing his choked neck as his mother was observing the whole situation in shock.
"Patrick, enough!" Mako said while he and Bolin were dragging Patrick away from the house as quickly as possible. "Let's get out of here!"
Asami, who was completely shocked by Patrick's sudden outburst of anger, followed them with Korra, who, on the other hand, had much more understanding for Patrick's action toward Ryu.
"It was nice to meet you! Good luck with your son," Bolin said in farewell to Ryu and his mother.
Meanwhile, in a large fortress towering in the middle of the barren region on one of the islands belonging to the Fire Nation, there was a massive metal construction from which a cable led down into the volcano, around which were several levels made up of octagonal catwalks. At the very bottom was a cage with four golden dragon statues in the upper corners, from which the cables led to connect the cage to the lowest catwalk. Inside the cage was a meditating woman with long black hair and dark gray eyes who was completely armless, dressed in a gray robe. Her name was Ming-Hua.
"We're under attack!" one of her jailers from the Order of White Lotus yelled.
Ming-Hua looked at one of the upper catwalks and saw a fire blast, after which the two White Lotus Sentries were thrown off the catwalk by an air blast. She then saw a man dressed in the uniform of White Lotus Sentry who, with his Airbending, landed on the lower catwalk and took down another White Lotus Sentry with an air kick. She quickly noticed another figure following that White Lotus Sentry. It was Ghazan and he was carrying a barrel on his back.
With a swift motion, Ghazan threw the barrel over the cage, and Zaheer used his Airbending to destroy it, releasing its water into the cage.
In a trained motion, Ming-Hua quickly spun around to stand up as the water fell into her cage, and with her Waterbending, she formed a pair of water tentacles in the area of her missing arms.
After her "arms" were back, she hit the cage door to open it. She then went out and began to climb the cage while dodging the fire blasts from one of the White Lotus Sentries on the catwalk closest to her cage. She jumped up, grabbed one of the cables to swing herself up onto the catwalk, and quickly took down the shooting guard and, in the next second, took down another one who was just climbing down the ladder before he could even react.
She then quickly continued climbing up toward a higher catwalk while dodging another volley of fire blasts to join Zaheer and Ghazan, who were fighting against the pair of White Lotus Sentries.
Ming-Hua landed behind both guards and, in the next second, froze the end of one of her tentacles into a hook, which she used to grab one of the guards to throw him off the catwalk while simultaneously grabbing the other guard with the other water tentacle and slamming him hard against the floor of the catwalk.
"I never thought I'd be so happy to see your ugly faces again," she said to her saviors from this place.
"Great to see you too, Ming-Hua," Ghazan replied.
Ming-Hua turned to Zaheer. "I'm flattered. You got me out before that girlfriend of yours."
Zaheer smiled. "We're getting her next." Just P'Li to go, and then they will be complete.
Meanwhile, back in the Future Industries airship, everybody at the meeting was looking disheartened, except for Patrick, who had been calming down just a second ago after that debacle with Ryu.
"Well, I guess we should just go to Ba Sing Se and try our luck there," Tenzin remarked.
"I don't know what to do," Korra replied. "I thought this task would be so easy and people would be excited to join us."
"Well, maybe you have to do more to get them excited," Bumi suggested. "You need to add a little razzle-dazzle."
"Yes, razzle-dazzle!" Bolin joined and it was apparent in his eyes that he got an idea. "We could put on some sort of Airbending street performance!"
"I was going to say we could cover Tenzin's robe in sequins," Bumi replied, "but this is even better!" And they both looked at Korra and Tenzin with wide smiles.
Korra looked at her mentor. "It sounds ridiculous but it might work."
"I'm willing to try anything at this point," Tenzin replied with a tired tone.
And so, at the next stop, in the square of the village built of the rocks of sand color, they began their Airbending street performance for a group of residents of the village who came to check out the new arrivals.
While Asami, Bumi, Jinora, Korra and Tenzin were standing by the airship along with Bolin, who was playing the role of announcer, Mako and Patrick were among the growing crowd of villagers.
Patrick observed Bolin, who for this performance was holding a megaphone and was wearing a fake long mustache. The only thing missing to that mustache, Bolin, is a pizza delivery guy costume.
"Come on, come all to witness The Amazing Airbenders!" Bolin announced through a megaphone to the crowd. "The Airbending show that will leave you breathless… with wind!" He pointed to Tenzin behind him. "First up is the tattooed master himself; you know him as the son of Avatar Aang; he shaves every hair on his head every single day!" Tenzin quickly took off his robe, revealing his bare chest. "It's the one, the only man with an arrow pointing to his nose. Tenzin!"
With a swift motion, Tenzin, with his Airbending, formed a wheel on which he drove around in front of the crowd, who quickly began to cheer him on. Tenzin then stopped as the next part of the program of the performance was about to begin.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, please be quiet," Bolin announced through the megaphone with concern. "I have some serious news. We've heard that an escaped Firebending convict has been spotted near here. According to the reports, he is wearing a red scarf."
Patrick elbowed Mako beside him. "It's your time to shine, superstar," he announced.
Mako frustratedly sighed. "Why me?"
"Because Korra isn't looking like a proper Firebender and Asami and I won't be playing the Equalists. So, get to it," Patrick explained and then smiled at him. "Do it for the kids," he added.
"I hate you and Bolin," Mako hissed and started to walk out of the crowd so that everyone would notice him.
"I see him! He's right there!" some man in the crowd announced.
Mako continued his way toward Tenzin as he stiffly uttered, "I am the escaped convict and you will all reap my fire." Please let it be over already, he thought as he raised his hand to shoot a small fire blast into the air.
Well, at least we could get a Razzie for that, Patrick thought and then noticed that a small boy had run past him. Normally this would not have gotten his attention, but the way that boy was running suggested that he was not running to watch the show.
"Oh no! Who will help us?" Bolin asked the shocked crowd as another cue for the other actor to play her role in this part of the program of the performance.
Korra stepped forward. "I will. With my Airbending skills!" And she quickly began to create a tornado around Mako to lift him into the air, then she dispersed the tornado and, before Mako could hit the ground, created another one to bring him back up.
"Hey! Let me go! This is not what we rehearsed! Korra!" Mako yelled in a slight panic.
Korra laughed a little about having an ex-boyfriend in her tornado.
And so they continued the performance, demonstrating the flying abilities of the Flying Bison that was traveling with them along with Naga and Pabu, Bumi's air blasts and Jinora's flight using the Airbender staff.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you, or anyone you know, is an Airbender, please send them our way!" Bolin finished the performance with most of the cast behind him. "Master Tenzin and Avatar Korra would love to teach them all they know!"
As the crowd dispersed, Korra looked at her mentor and shrugged with a smile. Even if Bolin's idea would not work, at least it was fun. Then they all noticed that a boy was approaching them. Patrick, who was also walking over to the group, recognized that boy as the one that had run past him during the performance.
The boy was about the same size as Jinora and probably the same age, with short, dark brown hair shaved on both sides and green eyes. He was wearing a light green tunic with white sleeves and collar and had bandages wrapped around his forearms and brown pants and shoes. He was also carrying a heavy sack on his back.
"Hey! Hello. If you're looking for Airbenders, you just found one," the boy proclaimed and then he demonstrated that he could do Airbending. "I want to join you."
"Get out of town!" Bolin replied happily because his idea had worked.
The others were also happy that the performance had worked, except for Patrick, who did not believe that Bolin's idea would be such an immediate success and who got the feeling that this boy was a magnet for troubles.
"It looks like we got our first recruit," Korra said to Tenzin and turned her attention back to the boy. "Just to be totally clear, we're going to be heading to Ba Sing Se, then the Northern Air Temple to live as nomads and rebuild the Air Nation. All that sound good to you?"
"Sure, Ba Sing Se, rebuild the temple, Air Nomad what-do-you-do. I'm in. Let's go right now," the boy answered.
Patrick's suspicion about that boy increased. That haste of his meant that he was really running away from something.
Bolin, on the other hand, excitedly jumped into the air like a little kid. "This is going to be so great! You're going to love it…" Bolin paused as he realized that he did not even know the name of the boy that they had recruited through his idea. "What is your name, actually?"
"Kai," the boy replied. "So, when do we hit the road?"
"Hang on a second, Kai, where are your parents?" Tenzin reacted because he knew that even though that boy wanted to join them, they could not simply take him with them without the approval of his parents. "We can't have you come with us without their permission."
Kai looked down with sadness. "My parents are… gone."
While Korra looked worriedly at Tenzin, Bolin and Mako looked at Kai with sympathy: After all, they both also grew up without their parents.
"You're an orphan?" Bolin asked.
Of course he's an orphan, Patrick thought. Even though it might be true and Kai deserved sympathy, it did not change the fact that this was one of the very effective ways to manipulate someone.
"It happened about a year ago. My village was raided by outlaws but my parents fought back against them," Kai explained. "I was so scared but they told me not to worry; they would protect me and they did. They saved me and the entire village but they died in the fight. They meant everything to me; they were my whole life."
Patrick noticed that at this part of Kai's story, Bolin had started to cry, and he rolled his eyes.
"Ever since then, I've been on the run. Those same outlaws are still after me," Kai finished his story.
At that moment, Patrick certainly knew Kai was lying because no group of outlaws would chase some boy instead of raiding villages just because his parents had fought against them, unless they were complete psychopaths or the boy had stolen something from them.
"Well, you don't have to be on the run anymore," Bolin announced and looked at the rest of the group to ensure that they would take Kai with them, "right? Tell him."
Oh no, Bolin… Patrick thought as it became clear that Bolin had quickly formed a brother-like relationship towards Kai that could lead to trouble.
"I'm sorry about your parents," Tenzin said and placed his hand on Kai's shoulder. "I know we could never replace them but we are here for you."
"We'll keep you safe; come on," Korra added, and with the others, headed into the airship.
Before Kai could follow them, Bolin wrapped his hand around his shoulders and said, "When you board this airship, you're going to leave your old life behind and start a new path. That's big brother advice. Just think of me as your big brother."
Kai replied with a silent smile.
This is not going to end well, Patrick thought over what Bolin had just said as he and the others made their way through the ramp into the airship.
When they were inside, Asami was about to set course to Ba Sing Se, while Mako stayed behind and looked outside through the window. He saw that a group of several motorcyclists had arrived at the airship. "I think we got trouble," he announced to the others with a very bad feeling.
As the group stopped and turned around, Patrick quickly walked to the window and saw that in front of the airship were five men on motorcycles, all dressed in dark green uniforms and helmets with goggles. The one in the front, who was the leader of the group with a gold badge on the right side of his chest, got off his motorcycle, took off his helmet and looked threateningly at the airship.
"Release the boy or we'll take him by force!" he announced and then he raised his right hand and clenched his fist, signaling the men behind him, who had gotten off their motorcycles, to take fighting stances and use their Earthbending to lift the rocks for a potential attack.
"The outlaws! They're here… Uh, let's get out of here!" Kai reacted and grabbed Korra by the arm.
"We're not running away from anyone," Korra said to Kai and was about to deal with those outlaws when Patrick stopped her.
"You're not going to do anything, Korra," he said and then looked directly at Kai. "So, Kai, the truth. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Choose carefully."
Everybody looked at Patrick in shock.
"Patrick, what are you doing?" Bolin asked. "Those outlaws out there—"
"Those are no outlaws, Bolin," Patrick interrupted him. "They have uniforms of law enforcers and the one who spoke has a badge."
Mako looked again at the group of Earthbenders and recognized those uniforms from the memorandum he had received when he started as a police officer in Republic City. Those were indeed the uniforms of law enforcers in the Earth Kingdom. "Patrick's right."
"No! No! Those outlaws stole those uniforms and that badge!" Kai insisted as he tried to look scared and innocent.
"And they keep them in good condition as well as that badge?" Patrick doubted. "Last chance to say the truth, Kai." And when Kai remained silent for a few seconds, Patrick decided to act. "I see. You chose the hard way."
He quickly activated his gauntlet on his right hand and shot a pair of small blue metal rings at Kai. About midway toward Kai, the rings separated; one went to the left and the other to the right, and a red lightning bolt formed from their shanks, creating a circle with them that quickly wrapped around Kai's chest and arms with both rings connecting together behind his back.
"What? What is that?" Kai reacted as he was trying to move but even the slightest movement gave him an electric shock. "Ow!"
"If I were you, I wouldn't try to run away; otherwise, you're going to get such an electric shock that you'll fall unconscious," Patrick replied and approached him to take his sack.
"That's mine!" the boy yelled angrily.
"Let's see what you've got here," Patrick proclaimed and emptied the contents of the sack on the floor. It was several pieces of jewelry and gold. "Well…" he commented.
"I found that on the road," Kai said as a form of explanation.
"Really? And on which road was it?" Patrick asked sarcastically.
"Oh, no…" Tenzin remarked as he rubbed his forehead. Finally, they had their first recruit on their journey to the Ba Sing Se and it turned out that he was a thief and a liar.
"Last chance; otherwise, we'll take that boy by force!" the man with the badge yelled outside.
Patrick quickly put all the jewelry and gold back in the sack. "We'd better hand Kai and that sack over to them before they damage the airship." And as he deactivated the rings, he was about to grab Kai by the collar when Korra beat him to it.
"I'll take him," she said and looked at Kai, who seemed unable to say anything in his defense.
They opened the door and through the ramp the group walked over to the law enforcers.
"Here," Patrick said and handed the sack over to the man with the badge.
The man, who was a sheriff, looked into the sack and smirked. "Glad that we didn't have to use the force to get him." He looked back at the group. "I hope that none of you believed his lies."
"By these lies, you mean that he is an orphan whose parents were killed during a raid by the outlaws?" Patrick asked.
"The truth is, he really is an orphan who spent his whole life in the orphanage until one nice family adopted him six months ago and how did he repay them?" The sheriff looked at Kai with scorn. "By stealing their entire life savings. We've been after him ever since."
"Is that true?" Korra asked Kai in disbelief at the idea that someone could do this to the people who took care of him.
"The person who stole those things was the old me," Kai answered in shame. "Once I got Airbending, I changed. I don't know how to explain it but I feel like Airbending chose for a reason, like I'm a new person." His gaze swept over the group and especially at Bolin, who looked at him with sadness. "I'm sorry! Please, you have to listen to me."
The law enforcers then started taking away Kai and the stolen valuables.
"Are you taking him back to the orphanage?" Bolin asked about the fate of Kai, who for a very short time had become his younger brother.
"No, he's heading into jail according to the decree of General Pang, cousin of the queen and governor of this region," the sheriff answered.
Korra began to think; even though Kai had lied to them and was stealing, if he was really serious about changing his ways, there was no way to refuse him now. "Wait! You've got the family's life savings, so let us take Kai," she suggested.
Patrick wanted to protest but decided to remain silent because he and Kai had in common that they both lied about their past, even though Patrick had not shared anything about his past and the others had not asked about it; nevertheless, it did not change the fact that if he protested, he would be a hypocrite.
Tenzin, on the other hand, stepped forward. "Do you really want our first member of the Air Nation to be a liar and a thief?"
Quite an elitist view on the subject, Tenzin, don't you think? Patrick asked in spirit.
"He just needs some guidance, Tenzin. Who better to give it to him than us?" Korra replied with a smile.
"So do you want this boy or not?" the sheriff asked a little bit frustrated.
"You'd really hand Kai to us? Just like that?" Patrick wondered.
"Honestly, that family has already made peace with what Kai did. The only thing that matters is that we have the stolen life savings, and if we came back without him, it would mean less bureaucracy, which would mean we'd have time to deal with more important and urgent matters, which is something I and General Pang would appreciate. Already we have too much work to do in this region."
Meanwhile, Tenzin was thinking while stroking his beard. The true fact was that they had not been able to recruit anyone during their journey to the Ba Sing Se and even though Kai had lied to them, Korra was right in that they could give him guidance. "Yes, you can release the boy into our custody," he decided.
The sheriff nodded to his men and they released Kai, who immediately ran to Korra to hug her.
"Thank you very much!" he said with happiness.
"Don't make me regret it," Korra replied and motioned her head toward Patrick. "Otherwise, he'll be reminding me of it forever," she announced with a smile.
Patrick smiled back at her. "Not much… Just a little," he replied.
Bolin immediately hugged Kai along with Jinora. "Welcome to the family, little brother."
When the law enforcers departed, the group headed back to the airship, with Kai and Patrick at the end. At the beginning of the ramp, Mako stood, waiting for Kai to walk past him so he could grab him by the head, turn him around toward him and bend down.
"I just want you to know that I'm going to be watching you, boy," he announced to him in an authoritative tone. "I know exactly what you're all about, because I've been there. You won't fool me again."
Kai turned his gaze toward Patrick, who was standing next to them and was giving him the same stern look as Mako. "And you will say the same to me?"
"Quite yes," Patrick answered and then noticed that Jinora was standing by the door into the airship and blushing a little while watching Kai. Oh, no, he deduced. And his suspicion proved to be true as Kai quickly turned his head toward Jinora and then quickly back toward them, blushing as well. So Patrick leaned toward Kai. "You make one mistake or hurt her in any way, and then I'll hunt you down to the end of the world," he announced in a threatening tone. "You've seen what I can do. Don't tempt me."
Kai, in the exact moment when Mako let go of his head, started quickly backing away. "Woah! Hey, both of you, calm down." He put his hands into his pockets. "I'm turning over a new leaf, making a change." He turned around and headed into the airship. "Don't you worry about me."
"You think we'll have to carefully watch him?" Mako asked Patrick.
"Oh, I bet that he'll try to run away at the first opportunity," Patrick replied and he, along with Mako, watched as Kai stopped by Jinora.
"Hi, I'm Jinora," she said while still blushing. "If you need any help with Airbending, I could show you what I know."
"Thank you, that's really nice of you," Kai replied and smiled at her.
And before their discussion could continue in any way, Patrick quickly approached Kai, placed his hand on his shoulder and gave it a strong squeeze to let him know that he was starting to cross boundaries. "Jinora, I think that your father needs help with something in the airship," he said to her.
Jinora nodded and quickly went into the airship. When she was far enough away, Patrick let go of Kai's shoulder to let him enter the airship with him and Mako right behind him. When everyone was aboard then, the airship finally set out for Ba Sing Se.
Meanwhile, in Ming-Hua's prison, on the highest catwalk, the White Lotus Sentry was reporting to both of his superiors what had happened.
The first one was a smaller, thick man with short, grey, balding hair with a full beard and blue eyes, dressed in the attire of the Order of the White Lotus. His name was Havra and he was the leader of the Order of the White Lotus.
The other man was the opposite of Havra, as he was wearing red attire of the Fire Nation. He was a little taller than him, had long grey hair with a topknot held by a headpiece in the shape of a golden flame and a long goatee. His eyes had the color of amber from which authority could be felt, but the most noticeable thing about him was the burn scar in the area of his left eye, which he received from his own father.
"They came out of nowhere," the White Lotus Sentry finished his report on how Zaheer and Ghazan had freed Ming-Hua and bowed down to his two superiors. "I'm so sorry, Lord Zuko and Master Havra."
"This can't be!" Havra replied as he was thinking about how Zaheer could have escaped from his prison.
"How could you let this happen?" Zuko, the former Fire Lord, asked the White Lotus Sentry.
"They caught us by surprise and…" The White Lotus Sentry paused and gulped as he was trying to explain it. "And Zaheer is an Airbender now."
Both Havra and Zuko looked at the White Lotus Sentry in shock.
"No!" Zuko replied horrified. "Do you have any idea the power these criminals possess? Individually, they can take down any Bender. Put them all together and they could take down the entire world. And now you're telling us that their leader is an Airbender?"
"We can track them," The White Lotus Sentry suggested.
"We don't have to. We know where they're going," Zuko said, and along with Havra, they made their way through the metal corridor that was leading out of the prison. "We have to notify the new Chiefs of the Northern Water Tribe that their prison will be attacked. And also contact Lin Beifong in Republic City and Tonraq in the Southern Water Tribe. We have to protect the Avatar."
"This wouldn't have happened if she had stayed in the compound, like I ordered," Havra remarked.
"This is no time for bickering, Havra," Zuko replied.
"No, now is the time for that! You, Katara and Tenzin, along with the others, were allowing her everything! I was the only one who could see the danger, even though we locked it away!" Havra declared.
"Yes, you were always right," Zuko remarked sarcastically.
Havra quickly grabbed him by the arm to stop him. "You think you're somehow important because you helped end the war? You're no longer a Fire Lord; your friend Aang is dead and people are starting to forget that some war had ever happened. We have tolerated you and Katara only because of your bond with Aang and Tenzin, because he was his son and the last Airbender, but our tolerance is not infinite."
Zuko wiggled out of his grasp. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that, because we need to stop Zaheer and his comrades from getting to the Avatar." And then alone, he continued down the corridor that was leading to the long platform where his dragon named Druk was waiting for him.
Druk lowered his head to let Zuko climb on the top of him, and then with a mighty flap of his wings, he lifted off the platform and flew in the direction of the Northern Water Tribe.