Kuvira's Assistant

Chapter 21

"You know what, Akemi?" Bataar turned to the golden-eyed woman as they crouched, along with most of the group, in a car park behind a building that they were temporarily calling their base for a few minutes. They were waiting for Tenzin who had flown off to get a visual on Kuvira's troops.

"What, Bataar?" The firebender somewhat snapped at him as she poked her head back round the edge of the building where she was keeping a lookout from. Suyin, her twins, Korra and Mako were spread around the car park keeping a lookout, and the others were huddled close by discussing various plans of action.

"Once I heard the way that Kuvira spoke to you on the radio, and once I realised that you were essentially going behind her back with this whole thing... I was immediately about to get on the line with her and tell her all about how you were betraying her." He continued, Akemi raising her brow a little whilst glancing at Bolin. "But at the same time, I felt like I never wanted to speak to her again."

"What I'm doing is for her own good as much as it is for everyone else's." Akemi went straight into defense mode. She really didn't feel like arguing, which is what Bataar did with her more often than not, but the stress of the situation was getting to her and so she couldn't help it. "I need to protect her, just as I need to protect all of you, and the city. It's for your safety, and it's always been about hers, too. I know it's... Umm, well, super awkward to say this, but it's kind of been a camelephant in the room. Well, more of a camelephant doing a striptease since a lot of it has already been exposed, but... I love her, too, Bataar." She paused as she exhaled for a second, trying to compose herself.

This entire conversation felt absolutely bizarre, but it was bound to happen at some point. She hadn't even discussed her relationship with her friends Bolin, Varrick and Zhu Li before, so it felt strange just blurting all this information out in the open, though she could tell that they knew ages ago. No one had the time or energy to sit around and discuss her relationship with Kuvira right now, so she didn't have to worry about getting any reactions or questions from anyone. Although, Bumi seemed to be having the time of his life listening in on all of this, pretending to look out for mecha-suits whilst constantly glancing back at Akemi and Bataar. He loved his tea.

"You don't have to say more. I knew you were an item all along - well, after a certain obvious point more or less - but I couldn't bring myself to accept the fact that she didn't love me the way I loved her... Or the way she seems to love you. The second I saw that monster of a spirit cannon point at me, I thought I'd gotten my closure with the fact that she really didn't love me."

"Bataar, tha-" Akemi tried to save the conversation for later, but he kept going.

"Let me finish. You want your truce here or not?" He growled a little, still trying to be nice.

The Great Uniter's assistant swiftly raised her hands, signaling him a 'woah, relax' gesture. "Please continue..." She added.

"Well, I'm sorry for how I hurt you the other day in the workshop. I kept directing my anger at you in order to avoid tainting my love for her. But now it feels like she's proven to be more of an 'enemy' than you ever have. My point is, I want to get back at Kuvira. We have to work together, so let's take her down."

Akemi frowned as she turned to look down at her feet, feeling quite uncomfortable at that phrase he just used. 'Let's take her down'. That sounds so morbid and aggressive..., she thought.

"We'll get her to step down. I don't want to hurt her at all, so we have to be smart about how we do this." She looked back up at the young Beifong. "I appreciate your apology, Bataar. And I'm sorry for any pain I've caused you, directly or indirectly."

They looked at each other, acknowledging everything that had just been said. "Hm... Has Asami arrived yet?" Akemi tried to change the subject once more as she turned her head. After all they'd been through, he really did make her feel uncomfortable, yet she appreciated his efforts at a reconciliation. Maybe they'd have a proper chat about this sometime in the future.