Asami, Varrick and Baatar looked at the device and armour in front of them. Unsure what to make of them. It was clear that they were advanced, but how advanced? Asami and Baatar were trying to figure out how they worked while Varrick was trying to figure out how to profit from them, that and his upcoming wedding. Baatar picked up the rectangular device and looked at it.

"So, this is some kind of weapon?" he asked giving it a look over, avoiding the trigger.

It may not be like the crossbow that they were used to. But there were some similarities that they could pick out that make it more of a very distant cousin to the crossbow, even if the design was completely foreign to them. As Baatar looked it over careful to avoid the business end of the weapon and trigger, he glanced to Asami.

"You said that as soon as this… Shepard person picked it up, it turned on. How?"

Asami shook her head. "Not a clue. Could be that there is an on switch somewhere, but the language is completely unknown to me,"

"Same," Varrick admitted. "And I wouldn't even try to figure it out with a weapon,"

Baatar nodded as he stroked his goatee. "Didn't you say that there was a loud crack like a thunderbolt?"

As Asami nodded, Baatar put the weapon down before moving over to a bookshelf and began looking though them. He quickly found what he was looking for and showed the other two. It was an older book of a fire nation teen welding a rod of some kind with a shell-like top. The two looked at it closely taking it in.

"What is that?" Asami finally asked.

"A thunder rod," Baatar answered. "It's a very old, very lost piece of weaponry. It was considered to be too dangerous and impractical to use as it blew up in the hands of the welder," he stroked his goatee again.

Varrick looked to the weapon on the table. "So, this weapon is a thunder rod?"

"Maybe….ummmm," the earth empire scientist began. "What if…. What of there existed a plane of existence similar to our own but different. Like in one place the only difference would be something you ate for breakfast while in another the Fire Nation won or… or Bending doesn't exist…." He looked at the weapon. "Making the use of thunder rods more…"

"Common and practical," Asami finished her eyes widening. "So, you are saying that these…" she indicated to the weapon and armour. "Come from a world with no sprits or bending?"

Varrick nodded. "Makes sense, but the only way to know is talking to this Shepard. See what see knows,"

The other two nodded.

OOOOO

After two hours of sleep Kwon woke with a groan and sat up. Her body feeling stiff. Standing she moved to crack and flex her limbs, waking herself up. With that done, she moved down and starting to a set of press-ups. On the 20th push up, the door opened and a young man with jet black hair and his arm in a sling. She looked to him without stopping.

"Oh hi," she said.

He blinked. "I thought you were still asleep," he muttered in surprise. "Master Katara wanted me to check up on you. But it seems that you are… well … well,"

Kwon jumped up and bent backwards, cracking her spine. "Ahhh, better," she smiled as the boy winces. "And what were you told if I was awake?"

He paused and thought. "Errr I wasn…."

"Hey Mako you see…." Another voice began but paused as he looked into the room to see Kwon standing. "She's awake," he muttered in surprise.

"I know, we were just talking," Mako replied before looking at her. "So… errr… you hungry,"

"Very," Kwon nodded. "I hope you have a lot of meat," she walked out of the room and joined the two.

The two looked at each other with a shrug. "Well, they are primarily vegetarians. But they do have stores of meat for new converts," Mako said.

"Good," Kwon sighed. "Meat provides a lot of calories and energy,"

Mako was about to ask why, but shrugged as he and the other boy led her to the dining room. The three entered to find four people, an older man with a bald head covering with a tattoo of a blue arrow. A dark grey-haired woman who looked at Kwon with a suspicious eye, reminding her of some of the cops she ran into. The other two were the healers who helped her get better.

"Oh, you're up," the older one said with a smile.

Kwon bowed. "Yes, sorry. My name is Kwon Shepard,"

"Ah good to see you awake," the woman said as the three sat cross legged next to the table. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore," the commander shrugged. "And very hungry,"

"I'm not surprised," the younger healer said. "Your body used a lot of energy in that fight," she stood. "I'll go get the cooks to get you something,"

"Thanks," Kwon said as she leaned back. "Make sure it has a lot of meat please,"

The woman nodded as she left as the bald spoke up. "I think it's time for introductions," he smiled. "I'm master Tenzin, this is my mother Katara, chief of police, Lin Beifong and you already met Mako his brother Bolin and my sister Kya,"

As he spoke Kwon nodded her head to each. "You already know my name, and I suspect you have questions, so I'll start with the basic ones. No, I don't know why I'm here, no I don't know how I got here,"

"Well, you are straightforward," Lin muttered.

Kwon shrugged. "I've learned it's the best approach during an interrogation,"

"This isn…" Tenzin began but Lin just laughed.

"You're sharp," she smiled before looking to the bald master. "And don't pretend it isn't Tenzin, we need answers,"

He just sighed in defeat as a teen walked in. "Hi dad," she yawed before noticing Kwon. "Oh hi," she bowed. "I didn't realise you were up, I'm Jinora,"

"Pleasure, I'm Kwon Shepard," the commander smiled.

"I saw you earlier," the young woman said as she walked up and sat down. "Y…you looked…."

Kwon nodded. "I know," she looked at the teen. "I probably look like a very sorry sight,"

As she spoke Kya. "Hey Jin," she said as she took her heat next to her mother. "Doing, ok?"

"Yeah, I need that sleep," the teen yawned before she looked at Kwon's dragon tattoos. "Do those tattoos indicate something?" she asked.

Giving the teen a sad smile Kwon brought her arm up and looked at it. "They are kills," she said shocking the teen and adults other than Lin, who didn't seem too surprised. "I got my first at 6,"

That shocked the police chief who looked at her with more than a little concern. "In self-defence right?"

Kwon shook her head. "I'm an orphan, I was dropped off at a gang-controlled Dojo who train kids to become fighters in underground death arenas. I was special because I can use biotics, an ability to use mass effect fields to control stuff, and I was trained differently. There were a couple of others like me, but anyway, I killed one of my fellow students. We were kept in a half starve state, an 'incentive' to make us work hard and fight hard. One kid lost the day's training fights and stole my food," as she continued her hands began to shake at the memory. "I killed him for it and got my first tattoo as a reward,"

The room was silent for a moment before Jinora spoke up. "Th…that horrible,"

"Why didn't the police stop it?" Lin asked to which Kwon just chuckled.

"I was brought up in a section where police weren't common. If there were any police, they were corrupt," the commander replied with a shrug. "Not much that could be done,"

Kya nodded. "That explains some of the scars, but what about the other ones? The ones that looked like surgery? And those small machines? You said that they keep you held together. Why?"

Kwon fell silent for a moment before shrugging. "I died and was brought back to life,"

The looks on the people around her almost made her laugh. "W… but…how.. why.. how?" Tenzin managed to say as he processed what she just said.

"I can't tell you how," the commander shrugged apologetically. "You'd have to ask Miranda or Dr Chackwas about that. What I can tell you is that it took 2 years to fully restore me and the small machines inside me keep me together,"

"Whoa, you came back from the dead?" Bolin asked but before he could continue, was elbowed in the ribs by his brother. "Owwwww…." He moaned.

Tenzin coughed gaining the attention of the table. "I have a question, why did you attack the White Lotus at the prison?"

Kwon debated what to say for a moment before sighing. "They spotted me…" she explained as she retold how Iroh mentioned that there was that she needed to get to and that she needed to get to Tenzin for training.

As she finished Tenzin nodded as he stroked his goatee. "So, Iroh sent you? How did he find you?"

"Curled up in the sprit realm," the commander shrugged as Pema, with a few of the cooks, came in with trays of food. "Ahhhh food," she practically drooled as the food was set before them. "Ohhhh this looks good," she picked up a pair of chopsticks, said 'itadakimasu' before diving in.

Pema also gave the others a bowl of rice as Shepard began to eat. "Oh…oh this is good food…" she moaned. "And before you ask, no I have no idea how I got to the sprit realm,"

"What were you doing before you found yourself there?" Jinora asked as she took a bite of her rice. "Sometimes a deep mediation can lead you there,"

"I was on a mission with my crew," Kwon answered as she took periodic bites of her food. "We were investigating a distress signal. A freighter crashed. We could use the supplies and we needed to recover the black box for the company," as she said that she got odd looks. "It's a recording device to show what happened on the ship before the crash," after a series of nods, she continued ignoring the burning questions that the item would bring. "I touched something and ended up in the sprit realm. I have no clue what it was,"

"Hummm," the old master muttered as he stroked his goatee. "Could be something spiritual," he mused.

"Can't be," Kwon shook her head. "This is going to be a bit of a surprise, but where I come from, there are not spirts or spiritual ream. Hell, we don't even have an Avatar," the looks she got bored questions into her.

"But how? Why?" Tenzin asked trying to process what she just said. "How do you keep balance? How do you achieve enlightenment?"

His mother placed a hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy," she said calmly as he began to control his breathing.

"But if you don't have an Avatar in your world, how…" Jinora asked, trying to find the right word. "How are you able to use bending?"

"We don't have bending," Kwon shrugged earning another round of shocked looks. "The only thing we have is biotics and for us, humans, that's very recent. As in past 150 years recent,"

Lin looked at her with wide eyes. "Well, that explains why your bending is forced. And why Iroh sent you to us," Kwon nodded.

"But but if that's the case, how are you able to… well us it the way you are?" Bolin asked.

That caused Shepard to pause and think. "I think it has something to do with my martial art and biotics," she shrugged. "Some kind of overlap with how the two works,"

"Makes sense," Mako muttered. "I mean you did say that you come from, well, somewhere else and you are human. So, somethings must be the same and others are different,"

While the others nodded, Kwon just laughed. "You have no idea," she smiles.

Before she could elaborate the door opened and Kuvira walked in. "Oh, good you're up,"

"And you are?" Kwon asked.

"I'm Kuvira, and I want to fight you," she calmly declared.

OOOOO

"Aunt Kya, are you sure this is a good idea?" Jiona asked as Kwon and Kuvira moved to the sparring ring.

The water bender gritted her teeth. "I cannot say," she admitted. "Kwon still needs to do a lot of healing, but then again he has that accelerated healing factor…." she bit her thumb. "Too many unknowns,"

Her mother nodded. "Indeed, but it should be interesting to see how she fights,"

"Watch her bending," Lin spoke up. "It maybe forced, but she does have some interesting uses for it," as they nodded Bolin moved up to her.

"Err Lin, I'm going to check the library, see if that person is who we think it is," he said in a low tone.

The police chief nodded as she looked to his bother. "Take Mako with you. Two's better than one,"

He nodded as he moved to grab his bother's arm and pull him away. "Hey wait, Bolin, I want to watch," he struggled.

But being wounded, he couldn't object as the two fighters readied themselves. Both wore tank tops, martial arts trousers and wraps around her feet and hands. Kwon shook her arms and legs, loosening herself up while Kuvira stretched as a new watcher walked up.

"Hey guys, whats going on?" Bumi said as he joined them.

"New girl is going to fight Kuvira," Kya said. "You're just in time to watch,"

Bumi nodded and turned to watch with interest.

"So why?" Kwon asked.

"Those scars tell a story, I want to see that story," she responded.

Kwon nodded. "Rules?"

"No hair pulling, bending and powers allowed, tap out, first blood or unable to fight," the former dictator said as she moved into a fighting stance.

Kwon mirrored the action by leaning forward with her left arm vertical across her body. Her right clenched into a fist at the back. The pose made it look like she was going to pounce. It made the watchers look on with interest.

"Begin!" Jinora declared before backing up.

Almost immediately, Kwon pushed herself forward. Speeding toward Kuvira with such speed, the former dictator almost didn't see her. But she responded by brining a chuck of the ground up, blocking Kwon. She needed to slow her opponent down so that she could figure out what to do. However, Kwon had a surprise of her own as she fell from the top of the wall, slamming her first into the earthbender.

Kuvira recoiled from the move as she stepped back and kicked Kwon on the gut. The marine was sent flying to the side, close to where she started. As she shot back up, she smiled with her teeth barring and her fangs seeming to extend.

"She's definitely military," Bumi muttered getting a look from his younger brother. "She knew that Kuvira would try something so kept her options open. While fighting, while you do need to plan your attacks, you also need to keep them flexible if someone counters you," he explained. "Speed and strength are factors, but planning your moves is another,"

Lin nodded as Kuvira moved onto the attack. Unsure how to use her biotics, she fell back to her tried and true powers of bending. Bring her foot down, she brought up several boulders before throwing them at Shepard. As she stood Kwon saw the boulders coming and moved towards them. Ducking, dogging and weaving out of the way of the as she pushed herself forward at Kuvria. As she got in close, she moved into a flying kick which the woman blocked and pushed Shepard to the side.

That didn't stop her however. Her tattoos began to glow blue as she activated her biotics and threw a low charged singularity at her. The air seemed to explode forcing Kuvira back several steps, confusion written all over her face. It didn't last long as Kwon came charging in, jumping with her right hand covered in fire. She smiled as she reached to grab Shepard's arm, and throwing her over the shoulder. The commander skidded as she stopped, looking up her tattoos began to glow blue again as she threw a singularity ball.

Kuvira based herself to be blasted back, only to find herself float off of the ground.

"Ok that's new," Lin blinked with the others.

"What the?" was all Kuvira managed to say before she was pulled by Shepard out and kicked across the field when she got close. As she stood, the former leader looked to the commander with a satisfied look. "You are full of surprises,"

Kwon shrugged. "I always like to impress," she smiled.

With a nod Kuvira moved to bring up another bolder, a larger one this time, and threw it. Reacting quickly, Kwon pushed her hands out stopping the boulder in its place. The move shocked everyone watching, except Lin. Kuvira struggled trying to push the boulder forward with enough speed to take Kwon out, while the commander readied a warp ball. With the earthbender's focus on the bolder, Kwon threw the ball at Kuvira breaking her focus and sending the boulder back at her.

Kuvira couldn't react in time and was sent flying out of the ring. She groaned as Kya moved up to her with Kwon stood cracking her limbs.

"Ahhh, nothing better than a good workout," she smiled.

"Ho…how did you do that? With the bolder?" Tenzin asked.

Kwon blinked. "That's not a common tactic? Deflect the enemy's power or stop it?"

"Maybe for waterbenders, but not others," Jinora spoke up.

At the commander shrugged as Asami walked up. "You must be Shepard, I'm Asami. Good fight but me and my partners have some questions,"

"What kind of questions?" Kwon asked as she rolled her shoulders.

"About your armour and weapons," the CEO said earning herself a wide eyed look from the commander.