when you get back home

sacrifices

The young Airbender explained his plan as everyone ransacked the store for all the paints and balloons they could find. It was simple enough, but it would be a great distraction- possibly enough to slow the giant down so they could do real damage. Korra, Lin, and Tenzin decided that the Airbenders would take control of the sky; using the balloons to blind Kuvira and everyone inside the mecha. Then; Korra, Lin, and the others would do as much harm as they could from the ground.

After all the Airbenders balloons were properly attached Lin ordered them to line up  on the side of a vacant building while the rest of the group positioned themself close to the giant but just out of its line of sight. At the signal, Jinora, followed by the rest of the Airbenders flew towards Kuvira. Blast after blast came into contact with the windows until they were streaked with paint. The mecha's arm came up, attempting to swat at them as they flew away. Moments later spouts of water slowly cleared the paint away.

While they still had their upper hand, Lin used her cables to bend herself onto one of the mecha's limbs in an attempt to destroy the outsiders. "The joints are platinum too." She shouted. "We can't metalbend any of it!"

"You're about to get the world's largest hotfoot metal lady!" Bolin yelled as he catapulted himself up and into the air. Landing squarely on his knees and sending the foot of the giant into a pool of hot lava that caused the giant to lean more to the right due to the uneven ground.

The Beifong twins wrapped a long loop of metal cables around each leg, meeting in a tight knot in the middle.

"Hit it now!" Bolin yelled.

Korra took that as her signal, entering the Avatar State for a moment so that she could use an optimal amount of power. She then created a large air funnel, one of the most powerful ones she'd ever made and directed it straight towards the mecha. The other Airbenders soon joined in on the effort. As the mecha was about to fall, Kuvira caught her balance. Letting out a sharp blast of spirit ray power that nearly hit Korra had it not been for her fast reflexes. The beam cut straight through buildings miles apart from each other in both directions.

With a newfound sense of rage, Korra blasted the mecha with more power. It backed up a few steps, knocking over a building as Kuvira struggled to keep the machine upright. Finally regaining her foot, only as a couple of the metal cables broke from the stress being put on the materials. Then, the dictator aimed a ray of spirit matter straight for the group of Airbendeners standing on a building in front of her. They frantically dispersed and Korra was sent flying into the air and into the side of a building.

Dozens were injured during the blast, including Opal, who Bolin was already trying to help up by the time Korra got to the rest of the group. The steps of the mecha were approaching once more, they couldn't hold up in this condition much longer so Korra ordered everyone to get back to Asami's office. Just narrowly managing to escape another strike from Kuvira as they ran.

The hummingbird suits were proving to be a difficult project. Nonetheless, the CEO tried to be patient as she sat in the seat of the prototype waiting for Varrick to give her the all-clear for another test run. As if she had been blessed, the millionaire inventor suddenly spoke up.

"All right, let's fire it up again." he announced, stepping back a safe distance. A necessary precaution due to the way the last couple of tests had gone.

She promptly closed the window of the machine and pressed the power button, listening to the soft hum of the gears turning as the machine. That sound was like music to her ears, it always had been. For a single moment she thought that everything would be okay; that Varrick would get the machines up and running, that Kuvira would surrender or get taken out. That something good would come out of this awful say. Then the machine started. Smoothly at first, but it shuttered to the sides at random intervals at increasing rapid rates.