"What's going on?" Korra stepped into the prison to see the prisoners had already rebelled, beating up the young guards. The bloodbenders were right in front of her—those rats who had hurt Akashi and attempted to kidnap him.
But she hesitated for a second, remembering Akashi's warning that the Earth Queen was behind her.
However, beating up innocent guards for doing their jobs was unacceptable. What if they died? They would definitely have families mourning for them. She had been with Akashi long enough to understand the immeasurable pain victims' families feel.
"We… are beating motherfuckers!"
"Yeah, Bitch!"
The prisoners, letting out their frustration, yelled angry insults at Korra.
Provoked by their insults, Korra stomped her foot on the ground, surging a violent wind.
This caused the prisoners to stop and pay attention to her.
In the face of a bender, and as armless people, they were nothing more than ants that could be crushed.
"The Avatar." Noatak, AKA Amon, stepped forward.
"Amon." She tightened her gaze at him.
"You're standing on the wrong side. Step aside from this one." Amon said, having some understanding of Korra, who seemed to be guided by the Earth Queen, making them seem like the bad guys.
"Humph. Just a loser who lies to gather people around him can't tell me what to do," Korra said, clenching her fist and thrusting it directly at Amon.
Amon sidestepped, letting the fire stream go past him. He looked at Korra with eyes full of pity.
"Brother, knock her out, quickly!" said Tarrlok, eyes wide open.
"Humph… I found myself hesitant to bloodbend strong people after that man. But not everyone is him." Amon said. Korra, preparing for another attack, found herself floating in the air against her will, unable to control her limbs.
"Son of…" Korra cursed as pain invaded every part of her body. She clenched her teeth, blood dripping from her lips.
As she resisted, her eyes glowed frequently.
Akashi, who was hiding, knew that she was about to enter the Avatar's state.
And once she does, there could be no reasoning with her. He knew he couldn't attack her with airbending. Let's face it, he was the only airbender out of the temple island, and any airbending could be linked to him.
Akashi appeared from nowhere and stood between Tarrlok and Amon.
"Guys. Quickly, escape. Once she enters her Avatar's state, there is no escaping from her." Akashi said.
He had tasted her happy Avatar's state, and that had scared him.
He didn't want to see her Angry Avatar's state.
"It's you." Noatak said.
"Who?" Tarrlok asked.
"Who else cares about you?" Akashi replied to him.
"The son of the bitch." Tarrlok said, recognizing Akashi as he looked at his back.
"Hey, don't bring my mom to this." Akashi replied.
"Enough! Even if we can't escape, we have got to fight." Noatak calmly said, holding Korra with all of his bloodbending strength, playing with the blood in her Chi pathways, temporarily holding her from entering the Avatar's state. But even then, his strength was being overwhelmed, and it was a matter of a few tens of seconds.
"We surely can." Akashi said, clicking his tongue.
"Don't tell me you even planned to include the Avatar in this situation." Noatak said, seeming to be astonished.
Well, Noatak had a lot of time thinking. He had thought that Akashi had directed him to this prison just to let him see that the Earth Queen was the one who deserved his attention. And the fact that he had given him a speech in the air plan a few days ago confirmed his doubt.
But, since when did Akashi plan for all of this. Even at the time Noatak had met Akashi face to face, the latter made it obvious that he had been waiting for him for negotiation.
But to think that he thought of this situation, and that the Avatar was here, all more than a month ago.
Akashi could tell what Noatak was thinking.
And no, he did not.
The world, everything that happened, followed the physical and mathematical laws. The probabilities were the dominant. But he had never included Korra today.
"Yes. It is part of my plan. And I know how to get you out." Akashi said, turning to Tarrlok and placing his hands on his shoulders. "And you are the key to it."
"What should I do?" Tarrlok asked, nodding hesitantly.
"You need to sacrifice yourself." Akashi replied firmly.
"What!" Tarrlok opened his eyes widely and was about to argue.
"Take some human shields from the guards. It would distract her and redirect her to you. I'll use that to take your brother away. He'd come back later to save you. By then, we'd have escaped." Akashi said.
"No. I'm staying." Noatak said. "Take Tarrlok and leave."
"Your brother lacks the charisma to gather people. He's less powerful than you are." Akashi said. From a pragmatic point of view, he stood correct.
He needed Amon to lead a rebellion.
Tarrlok was just a free loader.
"What if she kills him." Noatak said, clearly concerned for his brother.
What would Noatak think if he knew that in canon, it was Tarrlok who killed him by double suicide. Though, Akashi believed that Amon was simply too strong that they made him die in a ridiculous way.
"As long as he gives up in time." Akashi said, "Korra won't kill him, and the Earth Queen will give room for two or three days to take him away."
He didn't know about the last case.
He didn't lie, he just made a calculated wish.
"Fuck it." Tarrlok clicked his tongue.
Korra floated high in the air. A pillar of light filled the night as a larger tornado lifted her, fire orbs dancing around her.
The prisoners who were venting their anger quickly ran and crawled back to the cells.
The guards, who had gotten beaten up, tried to crawl as the earth started quaking.
Despite the prison being made of pure metal, Korra was strong enough to make the ground beneath it tremble, moving the earth. No, it wasn't just Korra, but the thousands of Avatars behind her and the power of the spirit of light to aid them.
Well, considering that Avatar Kyoshi could change the map with her fans, this feat was too little.
Korra opened her hand, gathering wind and fire, aiming them down. To her, her worst enemies were down there. And she had enough grudge on them to give them a strong blow, not caring whether they survived or not. But she hoped that the bloodbenders would get hurt.
But then, all of a sudden, Tarrlok, the bloodbender, stretched his arms open.
A bunch of innocent prison guards formed a shield between them, forcing Korra to point her hand to the sky and release a pillar of fire.
She then flew around the human shield.
The next second, she appeared in front of Tarrlok, fire being released from her feet to aid her flight.
Tarrlok pointed at her and tried to bloodbend her.
But he couldn't.
Korra appeared in front of him, and with a simple wave from her hand, winds danced, lifted him up to the air, and then slammed him down. She then held him by the neck, got him to his knees, and put her fingers in front of his forehead, using Aang's Chi Bending technique, removing any power he had left.
The human shield fell to the harsh ground. Surely, their bones would break and internal organs would get damaged, considering how hard the ground they fell on.
Nothing that couldn't be fixed with some waterbending.
Now, all that was left was the second bloodbender.
However, he wasn't here. Nor was the dark-clothed figure that appeared out of nowhere.
"Damn it." She cursed, her eyes stopping glowing.
-x-X-x-
A/N: Advanced chapters at www.patreon.com/blazuki