Chapter Text
Hiroshi flicked open his pocket watch and smirked. The 10:15 Express had made it back home in perfect time, just as planned. As it should have. Two Beifong engineers, himself and Varrick could not create anything less than perfection. Anything less was failure.
He looked out the window and watched the passengers leave the train down in the city, if one could even call it that, several stories below him. Standard greeting; one they'd done four times prior. Dormitories in that direction, mess in the other.
And only one rule: No one enters. No one leaves.
With the exception of sanctioned operations, of course.
"Say what you will about Kuvira," whistled Varrick. "But that is one woman who keeps to her timetables!" He took the wingspan measurement of the mannequin in the center of their shared workshop, his beady blue eyes skittering along the contours of the model as if it were a toy. "And no, that's not an invitation for you to start babbling your 'opinions', Sato." Varrick rolled his eyes and gave the plaster face a smack on the cheek. "Get enough of that at home when I'm debating with myself, thank you very much," he grumbled.
"You should be focusing on the matter at hand. Not bickering with yourself. If you have time to argue, you have time to work." Hiroshi narrowed his eyes as he spotted Opal stepping off of the platform. "How long until the suit is ready?"
"How should I know? I'm no fortune teller."
"You said you could handle this."
"And I keep telling you that it's not an exact science! You're asking me to circumvent how the body does its thing!" He threw his arms up dramatically. "Sixth chakra! Seventh chakra! All of 'em, sure why not? I'm all for doing the impossible, but you've gotta give me time to actually do that."
Hiroshi glared at him. "It is not impossible."
"I agree with you. Stop acting like I don't!" he barked, leaning forward with his hands on his hips.
Baatar Senior sighed and looked up from his blueprints. "Varrick, please try to calm down. Just give Hiroshi a decent estimate."
"Fine! A week. Probably." He gave the mannequin a once over. "Give or take a few days. I'll have it done in time, that's a promise."
"Good," said Hiroshi. He raised a brow as Kuvira's mentor approached the platform, her battered platinum prosthetic barely glinting off the floodlights. "...and make preparations for a second."
"Spare?"
Hiroshi stroked his beard. "Hopefully not."
Kuvira sat on one of the train's empty shipping crates and peeled off her sweaty, form-fitting black gi. 'New Zaofu' was always insufferably hot. Very little air circulation and massive inefficient lighting at almost all hours of the day had that effect. She folded her clothes in front of her, leaving her in a much more breathable pale green tank top and pants. She set the gi aside and brushed her sticky hair out of her face.
She could breathe. They'd made it back.
Baatar sat down beside her and looked out over the disembarking airbenders. "Shower or sleep?"
"Both, preferably at the same time."
"If I prop you up, I can make that happen."
Kuvira snorted gave him a sidelong glance. "And how would you be propping me up, exactly?"
Baatar shrugged. "However you'd want me to."
"Mhmm." Kuvira closed her eyes and lolled her head on to his shoulder. She sifted through the earth and metal around her, attuning herself to its shape. She could feel the entire bunker, easily. Everyone and everything. "We should have-" The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she sensed a familiar silhouette. Approaching very, very quickly. Tall, powerful, and a right arm made of blindness. She snapped her eyes open and found herself already nose-to-nose with her old master's dark amber eyes. "Nilani."
"Kuvira. Baatar." grunted Nilani, gesturing dismissively with her metallic prosthesis. Grey streaks, matching her battered prosthetic, spanned the length of her short, dark brown hair. The old master frowned at Kuvira, which only enunciated the deep, faded scars that covered her face and traveled well below her neck. "Arena. Ten minutes."
Baatar raised a brow. "She just got back."
"He's right. I'm exhausted."
"You shouldn't be tired at all. Whatever it is that you did out there was sloppy and inefficient." She jabbed her sternum with her metal hand.
Kuvira frowned. "I am neither sloppy nor inefficient."
"Really." Nilani grabbed her by the jaw. "You didn't even feel me until I was this close. I have no idea how you managed to regress this much so quickly, but I'm not going to stand for it." She pulled her off of the crate and on to the cold metal floor. "So we're going to run through it again. All of it."
Kuvira picked herself up off of the ground and gave Baatar a look of reassurance. There was some truth to all of that. She had stumbled in a few moments, which was utterly unacceptable. "Very well." She rubbed her jaw. "Though my team is just as exhausted as I am."
"I'm well aware. You won't be facing them."
"Then who?"
"The flayer herself." Nilani turned to Baatar. "Opal."
Baatar scowled. "That's nothing more than a baseless rumor."
"Since when have we had time for rumors?"
Opal stayed toward the back of the crowd of airbenders, keeping pace with Bolin, who was looking paler by the second. She really hoped it was the heat that was getting to him, and not the rather...eventful time they were having.
Ryu, whom she swore she heard had died years ago, rambled off at the front of the group, giving monotone directions and a general layout of the dome. "...and over here is where tons of soldiers train to do stuff. Some of you may notice that it looks like an Earth Rumble stadium. If you did, you have a good eye, because it's supposed to look like that..."
Bolin clutched his stomach and covered his mouth. He hopped back and forth on the balls of his feet, searched frantically around them, and sprinted into one of the public bathrooms. Which Ryu had neglected to cover on his guided tour, somehow.
Opal followed behind him and winced as he emptied his stomach into the toilet. She knelt down beside him and rubbed his back. "Shhh, it's all right. Let it out; it's just stress. And the heat."
"It's not that simple." Bolin shook his head and rose to wash his face at the sink. "Mako thinks I'm dead, and I can't tell him I'm not. I can't tell him that we're all okay. That what we're doing is good, or why what we're doing is good, or why he can't help us!" He sighed. "What are we even doing, Opal?"
Opal frowned and pulled him into a tight hug. "What we have to. Nothing more, nothing less. And if that means hiding until everything is said and done, that's what we'll do." She grabbed towel and soaked it in the sink. "For the time being, let's try and focus on where we are now, okay?"
"Okay." He tried to smile. It looked forced. "Thanks."
"Always." Opal handed him the hot, wet towel.
"Do you want me to..." He pointed to his forehead, and then to the painted arrow on hers.
"No, but it's just another thing that we have to do. Wipe it off."
Kuvira hopped back and forth on the balls of her feet, inviting the smallest vibrations to flow over her and grant her new awareness. Of herself, of those around her. Of everything really. Sight without seeing needed to stay as natural as breathing. It was a technique she'd mastered years prior, but with everything that was at stake...more practice wouldn't hurt. Besides, it helped clear her head.
A clouded mind was one that faltered. Foggy glass; imperfections.
She maneuvered herself around the ample training arena, which closely resembled the old Earth Rumble stages of old, in wide arcs, her feet barely scuffing the ground, mirroring Opal's movements. Never quite touching the edge, but not the center either. Focus on the center; the focal point. Force them to move by reaction to your own, not of their own volition.
Ignore the distracting argument between Hiroshi, Nilani and Baatar in the stands.
Falling was failing.
"All right, on the next switch, remember to lead with your feet and your shoulders. Not your hips," said Opal, effortlessly transitioning from one airbending form to the next. "I think that's where the issue is."
Kuvira nodded and did as she was told, spiraling with equal pressure on her feet and shoulders. It worked flawlessly and she instantly felt much lighter on her feet. Amazing how such a small change could affect so much. "You were right. That's far more efficient. Thank you."
"It's not about efficiency. It's about letting the air guide-" She rolled her eyes. "Oh, what does it matter? You're not an airbender."
"And you're no master, so you have no obligation to-"
"Yes I am," she snapped. "Just because I don't have tattoos doesn't mean I'm not a master airbender. Do you have tattoos saying you're a master metalbender? Or an earthbender? No, you don't."
Kuvira stopped in her tracks and looked on her with concern. "No, I don't. Sorry, that didn't come out quite right." She frowned sympathetically. "I meant in that you're not an instructor, not to diminish your skill."
"I know, I know..." Opal sighed and looked into the slowly filling bleachers. "I'm just a little on edge. This isn't an easy transition. I mean..." She chuckled dryly. "We're literally standing in a mass grave for Zaofu. The mass grave."
"And yet there were no bodies to bury," she said flatly.
"That's...right. There weren't." Opal furrowed her brows and approached Kuvira. She took a look around the entire arena, scoffing in disbelief. "I knew mom thought ahead, but this is crazy."
Kuvira fiddled with her arm bindings. "Paranoia does not equate foresight."
"Well, maybe not, but you have to admit there's quite a bit of overlap."
"Fair point..." She straightened her posture as she felt Nilani slide down the stands and land on the stage behind her. "Something you need?"
Nilani looked between the two of them. "Your attention. Both of you. Here's how this is going to go. Flayer---"
Opal bristled. "Don't you dare call me that."
"Flayer." She glared at Opal violently. "Good. Bunker needs some entertainment, or everyone goes crazy and tries to kill each other from the heat and close quarters."
"Oh, so instead of three hundred, only two people try to kill each other?!"
"Yes. That's the fucking point. Now, hush." She turned to Kuvira. "Show it to me."
Kuvira raised a brow. "Show you-"
Nilani narrowed her eyes. "The locket, Kuvira. Show it to me."
Kuvira sighed and fished into her pocket, grabbing what remained of the golden locket and raised it by its mangled ribbon. "It's useless. The knowledge is gone."
Nilani climbed up to the stage and snatched it out of her hand. She held it up to the floodlights of the arena and tapped it into a lazy spin. "That's what they said about bloodbending, and yet here we are." She focused her dark amber eyes on the chunk of gold and it quickly reformed into what it once was. The locket. Flawless inscription and all. "Good as new."
Kuvira set her jaw and averted her gaze, turning her attention to the growing crowd milling about in the bleachers. They'd never been filled before. There were never enough people around.
Nilani lazily tossed the locket to Opal. "She kept it. So, you keep it."
Opal inspected the locket and her knuckles turned white. She ground her teeth and glowered at her. "Is this some kind of sick joke to you? Why would you give me this?!"
"Same reason you haven't just tossed it away."
"What the fuck does that even mean?!"
"Anything it needs to; nothing that it doesn't."
"...just do what she says," said Kuvira. "It's not worth the effort. Trust me."
Opal groaned and begrudgingly pocketed the locket.
"Right, then. Before I forget..." Nilani clapped Kuvira on the back with, thankfully, her good hand.
"Stop circling this stupid stage with Opal like a drunken hogmonkey and kill each other." Nilani tapped her ear and glared at Kuvira. "I don't recall teaching you to wait and selectively listen."
Kuvira set her jaw and nodded. "Understood."
"Good. Oh, and that little adjustment the flayer showed you is going to fuck it all up. I tried the same damn thing over a decade ago." Nilani hopped off of the stage and climbed up to her seat beside Hiroshi, her low bun bobbing along with her step. "If you try and pull that shit in this match, you will die."
Kuvira sighed and made a mental note to strike Opal's suggestion from her muscle memory. "I have to apologize for her behavior. She can be...difficult, at times."
"Yeah, I noticed." Opal bristled and crossed her arms. "Why do you let her boss you around like that? She certainly doesn't respect you. And who the hell does she think she is?! She just came barging in, dragged me out of a nap, and started yapping like she owns the place! Which she doesn't! Technically, we own this place."
"We do, don't we?" Kuvira chuckled. "She's our resident specialist. By far the best suited for my specific...needs."
"In what? Getting herself killed? Being an ass?"
"She fought the Avatar. And lived."
The starting bell rang and Kuvira barely avoided Opal's opening volley. Air so sharp that it tore her long braid into tatters. Her heart slammed into her chest and, for the briefest of moments, stared at Opal in genuine fear.
She was a master; but in all the wrong ways.
Kuvira regained her composure as she rolled over another arc of razor sharp wind, and earthbent a pillar into Opal's stomach before her own feet touched the ground. Opal stumbled into a back flip, bending her momentum into an aircycle and expertly dodging a few hundred super-dense pebbles.
The crowd cheered. She could tell Baatar was not.
Kuvira rolled her arms and launched herself, along with six arcing streams of sharpened dust, straight toward her. Opal matched each dust stream with air, deflecting the blasts, and spiraled into a whirlwind, knocking Kuvira off course and skidding along the stage. Kuvira dug her fingers into the earth and whipped it forward with a rolling quake.
Which she overdid, just a tad. Since the entire building shook.
Opal lunged to the edge of the stage in another aircycle and used it to cut through Kuvira's repeated attempts at physically blocking her. She tore through rock wall after rock wall, each one thicker and stronger than the last.
And when Opal was right upon her, Kuvira smirked. Without moving a muscle, she reformed the rubble Opal had created behind her into stalagmites and willed them toward Opal's back. Most of them were shattered on impact with the aircycle, but a few got through and sent her flying face first into the floor.
Kuvira slid her feet across the stage and---
"NO! OPAL!" yelled Baatar, barely an inch from her eardrums.
Kuvira spun around in a fright and---wait, he was still up in the stands how---Wind flew past her lips. She couldn't breath. She choked and coughed violently, falling to her knees as she clawed at her throat. Lungs burned. Panicked breathing as air returned to her. Kuvira slowed her breath and looked back over her shoulder.
Opal gestured for her to rise. And winked. Winked. Her mouth moved, but she didn't speak---
"You okay?" she heard Opal say from within her own ear. "All I did was knock the wind out of you, at worst. You've seen me do worse."
Kuvira got back to her feet and cracked her neck. Incredibly impressive. She was...well, she was soundbending. As a form of misdirection. But, as clever as that was, like all sneak attacks, it would only work once. Which was a fatal flaw, in her eyes. "Well played."
"Thanks! Invented it myself."
Kuvira swept her arms and gathered up the debris, shattering the rock and spinning it around her in two interlocking rings. She narrowed her eyes. Nilani wanted more confirmation of her capabilities? Well, then she'd get what she asked for. And far more than that.
Hiroshi raised his brows. Kuvira and Opal were all but evenly matched. They continued to trade titanic blow after blow, tearing apart the arena in the process. And the stands. No less than six times had he noticed that the other backed off once victory was all but guaranteed.
Out of respect? Fear of causing true harm? It didn't matter. They didn't move as enemies; circumstantial or otherwise. No, it was just as Nilani had predicted. Or argued, rather. They fought as a team, even when against one another.
Hiroshi steadied himself on the railing as the arena shook once again. "I'll let Varrick know to make another suit to Opal's proportions. They should both be ready within the week."
Nilani huffed and tinkered with her mechanical arm. She stood evenly, her balance unchanged. "And the rest of your little toys?"
"Equipment, and yes. I built spares of each piece, so that won't be an issue."
"Good. Alterations to everything else should be relatively minor." She flexed her prosthetic hand in front of her face. "All on our end, if memory serves." She bit her lip. "I just hope it's enough."
"It will be. It has to be." He grit his teeth. "We've done everything we possibly can. Kuvira, and soon Opal, understands the enormity of what's at stake. If we fall on the lunar eclipse..."
"...then Bloody Yue gets her fill, I know. Hopefully the Avatar is kind enough to let us know when she starts to slip. A grand, angry radio announcement would be very direct."
Hiroshi gave her a sidelong glance.
"Oh, like her 'Fireside Chats' are really all that different." She scoffed. "History repeats itself, Sato. It always has, and it always will. We just have to wait and listen."
Asami's sweat soaked robe clung to her bare skin as she stumbled out of the bedroom. She tossed her sticky, wet hair and walked haltingly down to her estate's kitchen, breathing heavily. She gave Mako a half-wave as she entered the room and poured herself a tall glass of water.
Mako returned the gesture and sneaked a peek at her from behind his newspaper. "You, uh, you look...thoroughly fucked."
Asami held up two fingers and downed her drink in three large gulps. She filled another glass and guzzled it down. "I'm going to need a word more grandiose than 'thoroughly' right now," she said groggily, the muscles in her back, hips, legs and arms still burning. "Overwhelmingly and ludicrously sound far more appropriate at the moment," she sighed, collapsing into the chair across from him. "You know, I once tried to explain the law of diminishing returns to her."
"How'd that work out?"
Asami grimaced. "She tried to invalidate it. With me."
Mako winced and flipped to another page. "Oooh, yeah, I think I remember that one..."
"Right, right, you were there for that. Or, well, around."
"Yeah. Around."
"How long was that, again? Ten hours? Ten and a half?"
Mako shook his head. "Nine hours."
Asami chuckled joylessly and ran her fingers through her hair. She sunk more into her chair and whimpered. "...tag in?"
"Uhm. No. Gonna have to pass on that."
"Please?" she asked, not entirely sure herself if she was kidding or not.
Mako raised a brow. "What part of you thinks that this is a good idea, Asami?"
"The part that is exhausted and genuinely sick of getting so dehydrated that her wife has to be very creative with waterbending just so she doesn't pass out."
Mako screwed up his face and shivered.
"Relax, I'm kidding."
"Oh---"
"Mostly."
"Eugh. I think I'll just stick to doing my job. Somehow, I feel like being head of security, the nanny, and occasional bodyguard is less dangerous than sex with the Avatar."
Asami looked away and shifted forward in the chair. "In all honesty, it probably is at this point. All that...energy has to vent somehow. See this?" She gestured to her drained and spent body. "This is me. On break."
Mako grinned. "Happy tenth anniversary!"
"Fuck off, Mako," she said, laughing dryly. "Distract me. How was your day?"
Mako shrugged. "Same as ever. Nothing new-oh."He snapped his fingers and looked up at her from his newspaper. "Rohan said something interesting today when I picked him up from school."
"Hm?"
"Apparently, he wants dating advice and came straight to me."
Asami snickered. "You did tell him that you're really not the foremost authority on that, right?"
"Well, yeah, but he was pretty insistent that I help him out. Somebody must've told him about that fling with Wu I had...what, twelve years ago?"
Asami sat up straight and furrowed her brow. "...so what you're saying is..."
"He's got a crush on a boy. I think he said he was from the Fire Nation..."
Asami flattened her lips into a thin line and gave Mako a hard look, one which he returned. "I should go share the good news with Korra. I'm sure she'll be very excited to hear it."
"Yes. I'm sure you're right."
"Right about what?" said Korra, appearing beside her in a robe of her own. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. Hey Mako."
Mako gulped. "Heeyyyy, Korra."
"What's got you so nervous? And why are you reading the newspaper in the middle of the night?"
"You're half naked, and I missed it this morning."
"...right. Boundaries. Sorry."
Mako shrugged and went back to reading the paper. "Go about your business."
Korra chuckled. "So what are we talking about that's so engrossing?"
Asami smiled. "Rohan's got a crush."
Korra lit up. "He does? Well, took him long enough. What's her---"
"On a boy."
Mako took a sip of his tea. "Who might be from the Fire Nation. Rohan said that was important for some reason."
Korra's eyes glazed over and her smile returned to nothing. She tightened the knot on her robe and the marble below her feet sunk into the ground. "Really," she seethed. Fire tinted blue licked out from behind her lips. She exhaled and stomped toward the stairs. "I'll be right back."
Asami followed her, grasping on to her forearm. "Korra. Hey, Korra, what are you doing. Talk to me." She stepped in front of her and held her shoulders. "Korra. Don't---"
Korra's eyes burned white. "Move." She pushed Asami aside and into the wall, her body trembling and twitching. She tried, desperately, to climb the stairs, clawing at the carpet, but collapsed half way up. "Don't do this to me, Raava! Don't do this to me you ungrateful piece of shit!" She sobbed violentlly and her eyes flickered back to blue. Blood seeped out of her nose and mouth. "I hate you. I hate you so much. After all I've done for you, every time I need your help you..." She growled. "Fuck."
"Korra, it's okay. It's all right." Asami helped her to her feet. "It wouldn't have worked anyway. You can't bend these kinds of things."
"You don't know that." She pulled at her hair. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about, Raava! I need to do this. The world needs this!" she yelled, her eyes shaking and unable to sustain the light.
"Korra, there are other ways. Here, look at me." She did. "There are other ways. We'll find one, okay? I promise."
Korra buried her face in her chest and sobbed. "...why is this happening to us?! I don't understand it! It's like the world is just falling apart around us, and I can't do a damn thing to stop it!"
"I know, I know." Asami kissed her head and stroked her hair. "Everything's going to be all right. We'll find a way to fix everything. It wasn't so long ago that you felt like this, remember?"
"Yeah." She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "The, uhm, the prison system. You fixed that." She clenched her eyes shut and held Asami tighter. "But nobody we loved had to die for that."
"No. They didn't."