Chapter Text
(Art by Plastic-Pipes)
“You really don't look like a metal clan soldier, Tonraq,” Suyin commented quietly as she examined her strange mixture of companions. They'd met up with Su on the airstrip outside the grand palace of Ba Sing Se, dressed fully in the green and metal garb of her guards, before they'd made their way to the matriarch's allocated chambers on the east wing of the palace. “Take off some of the armour and let me adjust it...” Suyin suggested watching Tonraq shifted uncomfortably.
Tonraq did as was told with some difficulty, allowing Su to expand the chest plate and bracers with some skilful metal bending. The task was completed within a few minutes. “There, shouldn't be quite so tight now. Keep your helmet on at all times, the Earth Queen won't be pleased if she discovers you were ever here.” The Water Tribe Chief quickly agreed as he pulled the helmet down. Only Earth Kingdom delegates from each province had been invited to this mysterious meeting. Communication with any of the other nations had been entirely cut off.
“What about us? Think these disguises will hold up in the meeting?” Mako questioned nervously, gestured to himself and Kuvira.
Kuvira narrowed her dark brows. “This isn't a disguise for me. It's my uniform. Captain of the Zaofu guard, remember?”
“How could I ever forget?” Mako teased with a shoddy salute.
That comment was met with a playful slap to the shoulder. Which, actually, was more painful than anticipated since the metal protectors on his shoulders sent vibrations coursing through the rest of his body. He tried his very best not to show it. This wasn't an outfit Mako would ever be comfortable in. It was too heavy for moving around quickly in combat, and firebending in this thing? He'd end up passing out from the heat. Still, it was a necessary inconvenience if they were to fool the Earth Queen.
“Enough you two,” Suyin warned though she couldn't stop herself smiling at the interaction. “We have to be on our guard here. The Queen seems to have an awful lot of Dai-Li in the palace grounds, even for her. There's something else going on.”
“Other than the Red Lotus?” Mako exhaled as he studied a map he'd pinned to the wall.
“Other than the Red Lotus,” Suyin confirmed. “We still don't know exactly what Zaheer plans to do, but we must be ready.”
Kuvira shook her head angrily. “If she's got so much security here shouldn't we just tell the Earth Queen? I mean, I hate her as much as the next person, but if it's between her and the Red Lotus, it's not really up for debate.”
“Not an option,” Mako replied firmly as he glanced in Tonraq's direction. The Chief had been extremely quiet of late, and right now he was clenching his fists so hard he had to be piercing the skin of his palms. “We alert the Earth Queen, she ends this meeting. The Red Lotus know we're onto them and they flee, taking Korra with them to who knows where. They can't know how close we are to discovering their location.”
“So the Earth Queen's gonna be our bait?” Kuvira sighed, placing a hand on Mako's shoulder when she noted his discomfort and anxiety. “Can't say I have a problem with that. We might even be able to use the Dai-Li to our advantage in this case, they'll have to fight the Red Lotus off just as much as the rest of us.”
“We don't harm Korra,” Tonraq interrupted sharply.
“If we want to apprehend her we might not have a choice,” Suyin replied softly. “If Zaheer has truly corrupted her then she won't come easily.”
Tonraq looked like he was ready to argue but instead choose to snarl, his frustration growing with every second. “Zaheer hasn't corrupted her. My girl's spirit cannot be corrupted. He brainwashed her. That's all there is to it. When I get my hands on that preaching bastard I'm gonna -”
“Korra is the priority,” Mako reminded firmly. “Let the Earth Queen deal with Zaheer and the others, we get Korra, we get out of here. Then we can find Asami.”
“Speaking of, I think I might have a good idea where this trading post you mentioned is,” Suyin said as she metal bent a small pin into the air, sending it darting into the map with a swift flick of her hand. “Lots of the pirates I used to hang around with used this little township to dock and trade goods. There aren't any others like it around the Earth Kingdom coastline, at least ones that the royal family has no authority over. It's a terrible place, the seas around it were infamous for the unnatural storms they produced. Still, that helped stop the Earth Queen's navy ever getting a foothold there. Only experienced sailors could navigate those waters safely."
"Sounds like a swell place," Kuvira groaned.
"Once we're done here, we fly south to that location and take it before the Red Lotus can get out of here in any great numbers," Mako explained. "If we're in an airship we don't have to worry about the seas, and we'll have the perfect viewpoint for scoping out this cave system Jinora told me about. It'll probably be pretty hard to miss from the sky."
Suyin nodded. "We'll get the girls back. Don't you worry. Now, it's best we don't run late. Let's get to the conference room." She glanced briefly to Tonraq and Mako who stumbled forward in their heavy armour. "Please try to look more comfortable, and keep those helmets of yours on. She knows both your faces. I saw a wanted poster with your mug earlier today," Su stated as she pointed to Mako before opening the doors to her room and exiting, shadowing Tonraq the whole way.
Mako stood still in the room for a few seconds, focusing his eyes down at the marble floor. He'd been searching for Korra for so long, and now he was on the precipice of getting her back, getting her home...
"What if I screw up...what if...what if I can't do what needs to be done...? If Korra doesn't listen to me..."
"You won't screw up," Kuvira assured with a hand on his forearm. "I'll drag that Avatar kicking and screaming if I have to. This isn't all on you, it never was."
"It feels like it is," Mako exhaled heavily.
"Then let me carry some of that burden," Kuvira replied softly. "I'll follow you until we see this thing through, come hell or high water, until your friends are safe. I've got your back."
That stirred something deep within Mako, made his hands stop trembling. Kuvira had been with him all this time, had defended him to the point where she'd almost gotten herself fatally injured. That was who she was, and it calmed him immensely.
Mako reached out for her and pulled them together carelessly. He hugged her as tightly as the armour would allow, feeling her pull back with the same strength, the same need. Mako couldn't stop himself from smiling at that, practically beaming as he placed a chaste kiss to Kuvira's cheek before they pulled apart. He took a firm grip of her hand and led them outside. "Thank you."
"Anytime," Kuvira grinned smugly, though her face was as red as a Fire Nation carpet. "Let's not keep her royal pain in everyone's ass waiting."
****
"You better hold this bubble together kid," Ghazan exhaled heavily as he walked, surrounded by his comrades on either side. They were in the ancient sewers deep below Ba Sing Se, which were completely flooded, and heading in the direction of the palace, planning to rise up in the palace grounds. They'd already instigated chaos in each ring of this ancient city. Ghazan had brought down the walls which had separated the districts for so long with some excessive lavabending.
Zaheer glanced to the Avatar waterbending briefly before turning around. "Rei is doing a fine job, do not distract her if you don't want to drown down here."
A fat lot of good the Red Lotus Avatar had been so far. Whatever Zaheer had done to her in those days upon days of torture at the beginning of her capture seemed to have adversely effected Korra's ability to go into the Avatar state.
Probably that shiny, mercury shit that did it. Idiot.
In the end, it had been left to Ghazan and a few of their earthbenders to bring down the walls and deal with the guards. It had been exhausting. Avatar Rei had stood and watched them do all of the hard work.
Now the people of Ba Sing Se would do the rest. They'd already started rioting before the Red Lotus had even slipped into the sewers. Hopefully that would draw enough Dai-Li away from the palace grounds to make taking out the Earth Queen that little bit easier. They'd be far too occupied trying to stop the city descending into a violent, class war than properly protecting the palace.
Well, that would be the theory anyway.
"How much further?" one of the younger sentries asked nervously, a firebender who was helping to illuminate the tunnel system.
Gettin' real sick of wandering around tunnels.
"Not very far, there should be an access pipe which leads to the crystal catacombs below the palace grounds. Once we get inside there, we break upwards and wait for the signal," Zaheer spoke calmly, always keeping a close eye on his brown haired apprentice.
"A historical tour of Ba Sing Se...can I take pictures?" Ghazan muttered quietly.
That made several of the sentries chuckle quietly. But not the Avatar, or Zaheer, who glared at him in the relative darkness. "Keep your guard up."
"Just tryna' ease the tension, boss," Ghazan replied with a mock salute.
Zaheer simply humphed at that. A humph amplified by his airbending. After that poorly received comment there was silence. Just the sound of heavy breathing and the constant splashing and flowing of water as the Avatar maintained a large bubble of air around them. There was no doubt that this girl was still an asset to have on their side, Avatar state or not, she was still capable of bending all four elements.
A few minutes of trudging late and they came to a stop at an access pipe covered by a rusty metal grid. The water levelled off here, meaning the Avatar's bending was no longer required. Still, Ghazan found himself cringing at the thought of soaked boots and feet as one of his comrades bent away the metal grid with ease, tossing it behind the group with a quick flick.
After stepping inside the slightly raised pipe, Ghazan could already see the greenish glow of the thousands upon thousands of crystals which made up the famous catacombs under the city. As the final resting place of so many of the Dai-Li's victims they were bound to run into some resistance here. What level depended on how much of the Queen's security had went off into the city following the collapse of the separating walls.
Zaheer stopped at the bottom of a set of some extremely shoddy looking ladders, they appeared to lead directly up into a cavern above, green crystals protruding from the ceiling.
"Ghazan, you up first," Zaheer commanded. "The rest of you follow on behind, keep a cool head. Don't hesitate to end anyone who stands in your way. We are here to bring down the leadership of this Kingdom and all who support it. Do not forget your mission."
Ghazan did as was prompted, climbing rapidly upwards before the ladder collapsed and arriving safely at the top. He was almost immediately met with resistance. Five Dai-Li approached him from the other end of the cavern, tossing stones this way and that.
"Got company!" Ghazan boomed, swiftly crafting the rock thrown at him into a disc of lava, spinning it this way and that to block anything else that came his way. It didn't take long before several other Red Lotus earthbenders emerged from the pipe, joining in the battle as the Dai-Li quickly realized they were about to be overwhelmed.
"Get back up to the palace! Warn the Queen!" one of the men shouted. He didn't get anywhere far as a wave of fire sent him crashing back.
"Group them together!" Ghazan ordered, rolling across the floor and spinning the roaring hot disc of lava as fast as he could manage.
His comrades did as instructed, blocking the five Dai-Li men in on every side with a relentless barrage of stone and fire. When all five agents were backed together in a circle Ghazan tossed his lava disk upwards with all his strength, sending it crashing into several crystals on the ceiling. The razor hot disc cut through the green rock with ease as the crystals came crashing downwards.
"Back!" Ghazan motioned to his companions before watching on in awe as all five Dai-Li were crushed to death by the shimmering stone.
"Good work," Zaheer commented, emerging from the pipe with the Avatar just behind him. Now they could all move forward as a force. "Let's go!"
****
Mako, Tonraq and Kuvira stood directly behind Suyin's chair at the conference table, leaders from all the other Earth Kingdom provinces occupying the other seats and talking amongst themselves.
"This doesn't feel good..." Kuvira murmured softly as she kept a hand on the back of Su's chair.
Ever since they'd heard that explosion from the city earlier they'd been locked in this small room by the Dai-Li, for security purposes. Even the Queen was stuck in here. Nobody had dared to complain about that as another explosion rang out. The palace was probably the safest place in the city at this moment in time, but that wasn't exactly a high bar.
"Must be the Red Lotus, I really thought they were here for the Earth Queen, so why are they messing around in the city?" Mako replied quietly, eyes darting across to the remaining Dai-Li in the corner, shielding the Queen. So many of them had left already, to tackle whatever problem there was in the city.
Tonraq shook his head. "Maybe it's not the Red Lotus after all. Our information could be wrong." He was still clinging to the hope that Korra wasn't with them, that he wouldn't have to confront whatever his daughter had become.
Mako remained silent, instead shifting slightly so he was just a little bit closer to the Queen, enough to hear the end of her conversation with her assistant anyway. The Queen did not sound happy at all.
"Who sent an invitation to my palace out to all these fools? Having to meet with them all once every five years is bad enough."
"I'm not sure your majesty, their airships just started arriving, I suppose it could have been an administrative error. But we couldn't exactly send them away, that would have caused suspicion and discourse. These are your representatives after all. Rest assured the matter will be investigated thoroughly."
"Fools...all of them. This is the last thing we needed. Make sure these delegates stay in this room. We cannot have them wandering the palace, especially given the specimens."
"Of course, your majesty. Please remain calm. The Dai-Li will deal with whatever minor problems are occurring in the lower ring."
"I am calm. I've dealt with 10 uprisings in the lower ring in my reign. This is no different, with the exception of those damn air benders. This must be them, or their friends. Or perhaps, even the Avatar."
Mako gestured subtly to Kuvira and Tonraq, indicating for them to lean closer to Suyin.
"This meeting is compromised," Mako whispered softly. "The Queen didn't even organise this gathering. Someone else sent the invite."
"But it was an official decree delivered by one of her staff," Suyin replied, thin brows furrowed with tension.
"Documents can be forged. Staff can be paid off, and you don't have a walking lie detector any more."
Kuvira looked a little angry at that harsh comment but she remained silent.
"What are you saying?" Tonraq questioned, looking towards the few exits in the room.
"There's only one reason why all of these delegates would be so conveniently organised in one room under such a vague pretence for a meeting," Mako muttered as he scanned every face around them.
"A bunch of sitting turtleducks," Suyin replied, clenched her fists below the table and propping out the blade of her armour.
Kuvira nodded before taking a defensive stance. "The Red Lotus are here."
Sure enough, Mako spotted a particularly tall figure stood behind one of the Earth Kingdom delegates, dressed in a dark green cloak with a hood pulled over their head. They hadn't moved for the entire meeting and the room was so damn full that Mako hadn't even noticed them until now.
The tall stranger turned their head slightly, so that now they were making direct eye contact with Mako. He inhaled deeply, spotting the distinctive eye marking on the stranger's forehead.
P'Li.
She was inhaling deeply too.
"Down!!!" Mako shouted, slamming himself into Kuvira and knocking them both to the floor as a huge explosion rang out.
His vision went black for a few seconds, ears ringing relentlessly as the distant sounds of screaming and shouting filled his senses.
Strong arms hooked under his shoulders and pulled him upwards hastily as the room swayed and blurred in Mako's vision. His back felt as though it was on fire and suddenly the pain came screaming into reality, he cried out in agony. Mako's hands wrenched themselves behind his back, trying in vain to tear the metal plate that felt like it was cooking his skin.
"Hold still!" a panicked voice pleaded as someone else removed the metal armour desperately. Apparently his back really had been on fire.
"Mako?! Mako?! Can you hear me?!" Kuvira shouted as she leaned into his face. She was still just a blur with braided hair, but he couldn't not recognise that distinctive rasp of her voice.
Another explosion filled the air, followed by the sound of earth being tossed in every direction.
"Get the Queen to the throne room!"
One of the Dai-Li...probably...
"Keep that combustion bender occupied for as long as you can!"
"I think he's concussed!" a deep voice shouted as Mako felt himself being lifted clean off the ground.
"Out of the palace!" Suyin ordered as she led them...somewhere...following the Queen by the looks of things.
The other exit in the room had collapsed, instead they headed into the hall, leading to the grand throne room of the palace.
Mako felt his brain going hazy again, his eyes closing over. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils. Was that his or the other delegates?
"Don't you dare fall asleep! Keep those eyes open!" Kuvira again. Couldn't she just let him rest this one off for a second?
All the chaotic noise in the background wouldn't let him sleep anyway.
****
Even Ghazan found this appalling, horrible. Inhumane. There was so much blood here, more so than you'd expect even in a Dai-Li prison.
He stood with a gaping mouth at the sight before him, unable to find any words to describe what he was seeing. He couldn't understand what he was seeing. Stretching ahead in the darkness of the catacombs for what seemed like miles, row upon row of operation tables. Most of them unoccupied, but all covered in blood.
"The hell is this place...?" Ghazan muttered as he walked slowly. The Dai-Li had put up a fierce resistance defending whatever this place was which eventually led to the palace grounds, but they'd been beaten back all the same. The Red Lotus were simply too strong.
"I - I don't know..." Zaheer murmured as he led them, the Avatar walking silently at his side, visibly trembling with every step they took.
Now you choose to be lost for words? Fucking great.
Those that were still strapped down into the operation tables were completely still, they'd been dead for a while. There didn't even seem to be anything particularly special about them, any thread that tied them together. They weren't criminals, not lords. Nobody's.
The Avatar stopped at one of the occupied operation tables, staring with wide eyes at the inhumane injuries visible on the arm of one of the many victims here. "Spirit vines...these are spirit vines..." Rei almost whimpered, her voice trembling.
Sure enough, there were thin strands of a strange green plant that seemed to have been hastily injected into the dead man's arm. Some of the vines were still sticking out from the gash in his skin.
"What the fuck was the Queen up to down here?" Ghazan questioned, his anger increasing by the second. He'd known the Queen was bad, but this, this was a whole other level.
"We'll find out later. Let's secure the palace first," Zaheer replied sharply. No distractions, no matter how gruesome.
The sound of weak coughing in the distance stopped them all in their tracks.
"Rei!" Zaheer boomed, the Avatar having sprinted off with purpose in the direction of the spluttering.
Both men caught up to her a few seconds later, she was standing over another victim. This one was seemingly still alive, but not for much longer. Blood was oozing from a gash in their arm.
"Hold on! Stay still, I've got to try...let me try to heal you," Rei murmured as she pulled some liquid from her water skin.
Ghazan felt his throat constrict when he finally had a look at the patient's face. A girl, maybe a couple of years older that the Avatar, with jet black hair and pale grey eyes. She bore a striking resemblance to the Sato girl, except for the eye color.
"Don't bother," the girl murmured weakly. "I'm done, dead. I've lost too much blood..."
"What...what did the Earth Queen do to you...?" Rei questioned, hands trembling furiously as she gritted her teeth.
"She doesn't much like air benders," the girl replied weakly, a slight chuckle in her tone. "I tried to save the ones here, and I got a lot of them out...but that didn't stop her...she, she started taking people off the street, experimenting on them. She wanted airbenders in her army, but she couldn't have them all, so she tried to make them using spirit vines...anything she could think of. After Harmonic Convergence she thought that maybe spirit vines were a way to create more airbenders...so she injected non benders with vines and bits of new airbender blood...anyone she got a hold of..."
Zaheer leaned in, genuine curiosity in his eyes. "And did it work?"
The girl shook her head before erupting into a violent fit of coughs, covering Ghazan in droplets of blood. He wiped it away from his face with a quick swipe.
Rei grabbed the doomed girl by her shoulder's, tears streaming down her face as she tried to steady the person in her grasp. "Hold on! I've got you! I can...I can do something if you just...just hold on..."
It was already far too late. Zaheer pulled the Avatar back gently as the other girl stilled before slipping away, blood streaming softly from her lips.
Rei was now shaking frantically, a fury burned in her normally calm blue eyes. "The Air Nation...all those airbenders...all those people!!!!"
"Calm down, Rei," Zaheer assured, holding his student by both shoulders. It didn't stop her shaking one bit, but it did silence her. "Let's get up to the surface and end this."
****
Kuvira took the lead as they charged through the palace halls in the direction of the throne room, P'Li stalking them every step of the way as she sent a blast into a nearby pillar, bringing it crashing down in front of them and blocking their path.
"Keep going!" Suyin ordered, splitting the pillar in half with a strained stretch of her arms. Tonraq, who was still carrying an unconscious Mako, hurried through the dusty gap.
Suyin turned to face her, just as a huge figure appeared at the other end of the hallway. Suyin's expression was that of the strongest steel.
"You as well, Kuvira," Su ordered sternly before taking a decisive step in P'Li's direction.
"You can't possibly fight her off by yourself!" Kuvira argued incredulously, grabbing her leader's shoulders and pulling her. A whole bunch of Dai-Li had already been blown to pieces by that combustion bender. She was unstoppable.
Suyin nodded solemnly before she pushed Kuvira back in the direction of the throne room, tears glistening in her eyes. "But I can buy you some time."
Before Kuvira could say another word the Zaofu matriarch reached upwards and brought parts of the ceiling crashing down, separating herself with a massive wall of debris and dust that blocked Kuvira's path.
"Mom!" Kuvira choked, slamming fist after fist into the rock furiously before a shout from Tonraq at the other end of the hall made her turn around.
"Captain! We've got to go!"
Kuvira obliged reluctantly, turning back to the collapsed roof briefly before she wiped her eyes furiously. "I'm coming!"
****
The explosion from the west wing of the palace would've been very hard to miss Ghazan thought as he sprinted up the ridiculous amount of steps which led to the main throne room, flanked on either side by the Red Lotus. P'Li certainly knew how to make an entrance.
They reached the huge, ornate doors which led to the throne room in a matter of seconds, several of the Red Lotus sentries slamming their bodies against it to try and force it open. "Out the way!" Ghazan spat whilst he shoved several of them aside. He slammed his fists into the ground a moment later as lava coursed forward, incinerating the bottom of the heavy doors before they started to collapse from the heat.
The Dai-Li met them in force on the other side of the door, firing a barrage of stone projectiles forward. Several members of the Red Lotus were downed in the onslaught, Ghazan taking the guards momentary distraction to move into the side of the palace throne room and send a wave of lava across the floor, killing several of the Dai-Li and forcing the rest of them to retreat further back into the throne room.
Zaheer flitted above him followed closely by the Avatar, both using air bending to bounce from pillar to pillar above the battle below.
"Zaheer!!! The Earth Queen is mine!!!!" Ghazan boomed as he recklessly barraged his way through some of the guards, one of them stabbing him in the side with a metal blade. The Earth Queen was his to kill, after everything she'd done. What her influence had done to his family, what it had done to his sister. It had to be by his hand.
He was suddenly halted in his tracks by a young woman with braided hair, a guard from Zaofu by the looks of her armour. She launched a series of metal cables at him with deadly precision and strength, forcing Ghazan to dodge and weave. The last thing he wanted to do in a fight as he sent more lava forward, trying to close the distance between them.
The girl was quick though, much quicker than any metal bender he'd encountered before as she sent a cable shooting into the ceiling and rocketed upwards, landing on the other side of Ghazan a heartbeat later before bringing one of the throne room pillars down rapidly.
Ghazan only dodged it and no more as he tumbled forwards, feeling a bone break in his arm as he smashed into a nearby wall.
The girl didn't give a moment to catch his breath, sending another cable shooting at him as she tried to bind his wrists.
"Stand down!" she spat angrily.
She'd underestimated his resolve in this case.
Ghazan grabbed the cables instead with his bare hands, feeling them cutting deeply into the skin of his palms and sending shock waves up his probably broken arm. He yanked the straining and startled girl forward with all of his strength, sending her flying across the room and right into his reach.
"Nothing personal," Ghazan mumbled before he slammed a fist into the side of the girl's helmet, knocking her for six and let her body slump down onto the floor, unconscious or dead. He wasn't going to hang around to check.
"Forward!" Ghazan ordered to the remaining Red Lotus, all looking a little battered and bruised, but determined none the less. The atrocities they'd discovered in the catacombs below the city seemed to have given them a whole new purpose, another level of strength and will. They charged with him without a second of hesitation.
Just ahead Zaheer was battling four Dai-Li who were trying to protect their Queen. Her royal highness was hiding behind the throne like the coward she truly was.
Again Ghazan tried to power forward, to reach the old bitch, but was knocked on his back when the floor below him transformed to ice. The Chief of the Southern Water Tribe stood before him, lowering down an unconscious man he'd been carrying against a nearby wall. He seemed to be playing dress up.
"Everybody's here!!!!" Ghazan howled in amusement whilst he launched himself at the other man, tackling him to the ground as the two rolled across the palace floor, trading blow after blow.
They'd been scuffling for about a minute, Ghazan getting himself stabbed yet again with some ice this time during the confrontation. He gave as good as he got in this case, blackening the Water Tribe leader's eye with his fist and badly burning one of his arms.
"You murderer! You murderer!!!!!"
A furious voice called out from the throne, halting the two huge men's scuffle momentarily.
"Korra!!!" the Water Tribe leader boomed, pulling away from Ghazan with some force and sprinting across the room.
"Oh no you don't!" Ghazan muttered before he sent a piece of stone flying into the back of the Water Tribe leader's head with as much force as he could muster, bringing the other man mountain to the ground with a heavy thud.
Another one bites the dust...
Now for that other world leader.
The room grew ever quieter, with the exception of distant explosions somewhere else in the palace, as the Red Lotus mopped up the remaining Dai-Li. Several of them had actually fled the throne room, even the ones protecting their Queen.
At least they know when to quit.
The Earth Queen sat cowering beside the throne, Zaheer and the Avatar standing over her, both relatively unscathed. Rei was biting her lower lip with such fury that blood was trickling down her chin.
"Please - please, I'll give you anything! Whatever you want! Gold?! Titles?! Land?!" the Queen murmured with open hands, begging like a peasant from the lower ring.
"My sister's life," Ghazan replied sharply, appearing at Zaheer's back. The Queen looked utterly confused at that request as the crown upon her head trembled, before slipping to one side. "But you can't do that can you? No gold will bring my sister, it's what killed her in the first place."
"What you have done in this city, in this kingdom, it is unspeakable," Zaheer began, raising a hand to silence Ghazan for now. "Your cruelty is absolute proof that change is needed. That the order of the Red Lotus is justified in all we have done and will do. Your death will be a symbol to all those who think they can continue to rule and oppress their people, divide them with walls and borders."
Zaheer then took a step back and gestured to Rei with an open palm. "Use the technique I showed you. Those airbenders she murdered deserve as much. A woman like this doesn't deserve the air she breathes." The suffocation technique then. Ghazan wouldn't argue with that symbolism. Besides, there wasn't a much more painful death than having the air ripped slowly from your lungs.
Rei stared at the Earth Queen with narrowed eyes, gritting her teeth all the while as more blood trickled down her chin.
"I...I can't do it...I can't..."
Zaheer's eyes widened considerably before he placed a firm hand on Rei's shoulder. "You must. This is our way, the only way. You are a bringer of balance. Think of all those people in the catacombs, all those lives she snuffed out without a second thought. This monster doesn't deserve to live. This is your duty as the Avatar."
Rei shook her head again, steeping out of Zaheer's grip and standing resolute. “No. I won't.”
Ghazan didn't notice when the Earth Queen had shifted upwards, an ornate knife gleaming in her hand as she lunged forward, recognition burning in her wrinkled eyes.
"AVATAR!" the Queen screamed with a furious expression as she stabbed an unprepared Rei in the chest viciously. "I KNEW THIS WAS YOUR DOING!" the Queen yelled as she brought the blade back, swinging down again with venom.
Ghazan stretched out a hand to knock the blade out of the old hag's grip, but he need not have bothered.
The Earth Queen was suddenly engulfed in flames, Rei's flames, before she'd managed to bring the blade down again for a more fatal stab wound.
The Queen stumbled backwards, yellow and orange light covering her as she howled out in pain. Her robes quickly caught alight, along with her hair, filling the room with the smell of charred meat. Ghazan watched on in satisfaction as the Queen slumped forward, still crying out for a few more seconds.
"You did this Avatar Korra!" the Queen shrieked as she tried to crawl towards Rei with an outstretched, blackened hand. Rei who was staring back with absolute horror, holding a red stained hand over the deep stab wound to her chest before crumpling onto the ground and trembling uncontrollably.
"That's enough of that," Ghazan muttered as he brought a huge piece of rock down onto the Queen's head. At least he got to deliver the final blow. "Nice crown. Long live the Queen..." he spat before turning away from the smouldering corpse, facing the remaining Red Lotus. "Time to go boys, and you Zaheer."
Zaheer nodded at his side, moving over to help the Avatar to her feet, but Rei wouldn't move. She wouldn't stop trembling, now shaking violently. Suddenly the Avatar was on her back, rolling and twisting in every direction, foam pouring from her mouth.
"Shit! Zaheer, she's going into shock!" Ghazan shouted, quickly he turned the Avatar onto her side and tried to hold her still.
Only after a minute did the shaking subside, Rei falling completely unconscious on the debris filled palace floor. Zaheer beckoned for one of their only remaining water benders to come over, keeping a hand over the Avatar's fast bleeding wound.
"Heal her!" Zaheer ordered sharply, watching Rei fade away below him.
The water bender nodded firmly, sealing up the wound as best she could given their current location. "She should be okay, the blade didn't hit anything vital," the healer murmured softly.
"Good," Zaheer spoke softly before picking up the Avatar gently.
"Let's get the fuck out of here and go home," Ghazan grumbled as he motioned to the exit.
Zaheer nodded firmly as they walked, stepping over several corpses of the Red Lotus and Dai-Li alike.
You did well brothers, sisters.
"Now the people of this nation will decide what happens to Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom, the Red Lotus's work is done here."
He passed the unconscious Avatar over to Ghazan.
"Take everyone to one of the delegates airships, I'm going to go and get P'Li. I'd have expected her to show up by now. I'll meet with you soon."
"She's fine Zaheer, I can still feel those damn explosions of hers every couple of seconds," Ghazan assured as he stared out at the city of Ba Sing Se, now a glorious shade of red and black against the encroaching night sky.
The city was burning, the old order along with it.
****
"Knock knock, Miss Sato! You have a guest!"
So Jinora's warning of a threat to her life was someone knocking, knocking gently, on her cell door?
Asami got up cautiously, slipping the plasma saw into her back pocket. "Uhuh...a guest...is that you Ming-Hua?"
"Yes, I brought tea," the woman at the door replied softly.
How did she manage that? With a distinctive lack of arms?
Sato. She didn't bring tea, you idiot.
Asami stared the water bender down as Ming-Hua pushed open the door with a false limb made of ice. She didn't have any tea or teacups. Asami was mildly disappointed, feeling a little parched after that exhausting experience in the Spirit World. Asami examined her hand briefly and saw no cuts or bruises. So the effects of that water had transcended into the physical world after all.
"I don't see any tea..." Asami commented cautiously before she took a step back in the cell. "Where are the other guards?"
Normally there were two on regular walking rotation outside her cell, but neither of them appeared to be present.
"I sent them off for a break, thought they deserved it," Ming-Hua smiled crookedly. "After all, there's plenty of ways to relax in this place now. What with the radio working and of course that record player."
"What do you want?" Asami hissed as she glanced briefly to her bedding, and to the hole in the floor beneath that. She was done playing nice with this woman.
"Strange...I can feel water in here...you'd think all this platinum would block that out..." Ming-Hua replied as she took a small step forward.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I didn't feel like it," Ming-Hua retorted instantly before she leaned against one of the walls. "You're a little schemer, aren't you Miss Sato? Dressing up like a water tribe girl to try and spark something in that Avatar rat, yes? Definitely not because you were cold."
She must've brought it up with Ghazan.
Asami stayed silent, keeping her arms crossed and expression neutral.
"And of course, you've got such a pretty face, Ghazan believed you happily like the simple man he is," Ming-Hua grinned strangely. "You wanted him to protect you here, be your friend. Your lover even?"
"You're bat shit crazy," Asami replied with venom. Ming-Hua really had spun quite the story in that deranged little head of hers. "You know fine well I have zero interest in Ghazan."
"Maybe you don't...he's miles away in Ba Sing Se anyway. Hard to protect you from there," Ming-Hua smiled and then her eyes widened suddenly. "But of course! You love that Avatar girl don't you?! Maybe even more so now that's she nothing more than a walking puppet, easier to manipulate, easier to make her feel things for you. She was like a brick wall before, wasn't she? Ignoring all of your passes. I can sympathise."
"That's not true," Asami replied firmly. "I love Korra, I love Rei."
"Even after she beat you the way she did? It was quite a sight, I like to replay it in my mind sometimes. You won't save her after she did that to you, if you had any self respect."
"I will."
Ming-Hua grinned widely. "Oops...I think you might have let something slip there. Saving her would mean betraying the Red Lotus, it would mean escaping."
The waterbender swiped rapidly at Asami's bedding pile with a limb of water, knocking it flying across the room to reveal the very obvious hole in the floor, growing bigger by the day.
"What's this then?" Ming-Hua smirked before she quickly launched herself at Asami, pinning her to the wall with considerable strength before Asami had a chance to react. How was someone this fragile looking so strong?!
"Scheming, like I said!" Ming-Hua cackled before she transformed the limb of water into a sharp blade of ice, impaling Asami's arm into the wall with one swift movement.
Asami cried out in pain as she felt the cold seep into the forearm, intermixed with a terrible burning sensation as blood began to drip from the wound and all over the metal floor.
Ming-Hua enjoyed that, pressing the blade in deeper as Asami struggled in her grip, causing her to shriek out in pain again. "Music to my ears! So much better than that crap Ghazan plays on that record player. What's it called? Path of Wind?"
Asami didn't have the energy to answer with a snappy retort as she tried to push Ming-Hua away with all her strength, but to no avail. She was fading, fast.
"I was expecting more from you girly," Ming-Hua hissed in disappointment before she drove the blade in deeper still. "The guards are going to find you in here, and they're going to think you killed yourself. Cut yourself open and bled to death, because well, why wouldn't you?"
"Because I'm going to save Korra..." Asami muttered breathlessly.
"Admirable, but unlikely, given your current position," Ming-Hua smirked as she shifted her limb of ice upwards, just above Asami's wrist. A cut there wouldn't stop bleeding, that was for sure.
"The underdog? I don't mind being the underdog..." Asami smiled to herself as she reached down slowly with her uninjured arm, though it was still pinned to the wall by Ming-Hua, she could move it just a little bit.
Ming-Hua's eyes widened in confusion at her comment before she suddenly cried out in pain. Asami brought the plasma saw forward against Ming-Hua's torso and powered it up.
Thank god for those new batteries.
Blood splattered everywhere as Asami pushed the saw in deep, feeling Ming-Hua try to do the same to her, but missing Asami's wrist completely, instead only catching the side of her waist as the frenzied water bender slumped to the floor.
Asami didn't stop until Ming-Hua was completely still, crumpled on the floor like a damp rag as crimson pooled around her, some of it flowing down into the escape hole.
The gravity of what she'd done hit Asami a few seconds later as her hands trembled furiously.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit."
She darted around her cell, keeping a firm hand over the wound Ming-Hua had inflicted earlier. Now was the time to go, even though Asami had no clue where the exit was, the hole in the floor still too small for her to slip through.
If she couldn't find a way out, then the Red Lotus would put her back in her cell, they'd find Ming-Hua's body, and they'd discover her only viable escape route.
"Gotta get the body out of here.." Asami muttered to herself as she lifted it out of the cell and into the tunnel, careful not to trail blood from her cell outside into the tunnel. She sprinted back inside her cell a second later, covering the hole in the floor and the plasma saw with her heavily bloodied bedding once more.
At the sound of sprinting boots Asami hastily picked up a rather sharp piece of rock from the floor and pulled the cell door shut, remaining in the the tunnel with Ming-Hua's body.
"Sato?! What the hell have you done?!" one of four guards approaching yelled.
Asami put her hands up immediately. "I killed her. Well, she tried to kill me in the tunnel, but I killed her first."
The guard stared with wide eyes. "You stabbed her to death with a rock?!"
Asami nodded firmly.
"Fuck...shows you what hanging around with Ghazan too long can do..." another of the guards muttered as he glanced to his comrades. "What do we do here? Do we kill her?"
"Let Zaheer decide what happens to her when they get back. He'd be pissed off if we take an executive decision without his say so, put her back in her cell for now. Platinum walls will hold her till then."
Asami exhaled heavily. There was still time, and she'd still be in the place she needed to be to escape. Hopefully Mako had secured Korra in Ba Sing Se by now. They'd be reunited soon enough.
"Can one of you heal my arm first?" Asami asked softly, she was really pushing her luck here. "I'll bleed out otherwise. Don't think Zaheer will like that."
"Fine..." one of the guards muttered. "Just keep your hands behind your back till I'm done, and if you try to stab me with a rock, I'll smack you across the head."
"Don't worry..." Asami murmured. "I won't as long as you don't try to kill me."
That almost made the guard laugh as he turned to his comrades. "Get that body out of here and into the sparring area or something...it'll need to be cleaned up properly or Ghazan will blow a fuse, and get her prepared for the usual Red Lotus burial rights."
(Ming-Hua vs Asami art by Plastic-Pipes)
