A//N : TW for character death, nothing graphic. Just mentions and implications.
"Asami? Are you in here?" Korra shouted once more before hearing a small gasp.
It was a relief, but also the scariest moment of her life. Asami was gasping for air, completely unseen, and not saying a word. The avatar wasn't sure if she was injured or where she even was to begin with. A large sheet of metal shuffled around and she quickly bent it away to reveal Asami laying on the ground gasping for breath.
"Asami! Are you okay?" Korra shouted, pulling her up and into her arms.
She nodded and smiled, melting into Korra's touches straight away, for only a moment until Bolin lifted the rubble up, allowing them a way to escape. Korra guided the CEO out of the wreckage and to a safer place.
"I'm okay Korra. Everythings fine. I just got the wind knocked out of me." she explained, still taking heavy labored breaths while Korra tended to her.
"Your bleeding." she sighed, pointing to a cut with a small stream of blood running down the side of her face.
"It's fine." Asami responded, wiping the liquid onto her dark sleeve; in any other circumstances she would have scolded herself for doing such a thing but right now it was the least of her worries.
Before the Avatar could debate, Tenzin landed near them with a look of discontent on his face. "Kuvira's heading our way with a platoon of mecha giants."
"What should we do?" Asami asked.
"This is my hometown and I hate to say it, but there's no use risking all our lives to fight that giant thing. Let her take the city for now. We'll think of some way to come back and beat her." Bolin suggested.
"What about all the people who haven't been evacuated yet? If Kuvira finds out Wu is with them she might fire that spirit canon at him and take them all out." Mako pointed out.
It was true, it wasn't just them at stake. It didn't matter if they surrendered or not; if they lost, thousands would die. They had to fight, even if all odds were stacked against them. It was one thing to surrender themselves but to put innocent citizens in that position was nonnegotiable.
"I couldn't stop Kuvira from taking Zaofu. I'm not letting her conquer Republic City." She announced with a newfound sense of determination. "The world isn't safe as long as she has that weapon."
"I agree." Chief Beifong said. "We take down that giant today."
Korra was relieved that the officer had come to help. They were going to need more help. "Lin!" she shouted.
"Glad to see you all made it out. You had me worried." she admitted.
"Well you Benders are gonna have to fight her alone. She just blew up our factory with all of our hummingbird suits" Varrick explained.
In part that wasn't true. "Not all of them!" Asami announced. "There are the prototypes back at my office. If we can get those ready to fly we'll at least be able to offer a little air support."
"Su, you take Baatar Jr. and the rest of the wounded back to Asami's office. Get those suits working as soon as you can. The rest of us will just have to face Kuvira on our own."
"Okay everyone split up!" Lin shouted.
Korra, Mako, Bolin, Lin, and the ran down the empty streets of the city; heading towards Kuvira's army. Meelo excitedly spotted a goods store and peered through the window promptly braking the door down.
"What are you doing Meelo?" Lin yelled in frustration.
"I just got an idea of how to defeat the giant!" he yelled.
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.
"I can't stabilize it." the engineer scorned, as she tried to make a somewhat decent landing. "I thought you fixed the hydraulics!"
"I did! Twist harder!" Varrick yelled defensively as the engineer lost control.
Everything she tried made it worse; twisting, jabbing at the breaks, going up or down. Eventually she had to give up and let the suit crash into a latge stack of boxes in the corner of the workshop. As she and Zhu Li cautiously got out of the suit one of the Airbenders frantically ran in.
" I hope you have something that can take out a platoon of mecha suits. Kuvira's troops are headed this way!" he informed.
"I know how to take out some mecha suits!" Varrick announced as the Airbender left. "And it just might take out that giant too."
"Asami!" he ordered. "Disconnect anything electrical in here until we get back, Zhu Li, let's go."
Although she had no idea just what Varrick happened to be planning she obeyed, only after making him take a radio with them so they could communicate. Going around the whole workshop, disconnecting everything from switches to plug-ins and double checking once she was done. She may not have fully trusted Varrick after all that happened between them but she didn't have much of a choice. Besides, apart from her and her father he was the best engineer in the city. They needed him whether she was ready to accept it or not.
Soon after, Korra and the rest of the group came back with the injured Airbenders. Asami and Suyin helped some of the more injured get situated as Lin and Tenzin strategized with Mako and Bolin about how to take the suit out, along with Kuvira.
"Where's Varrick?" Korra asked. "Isn't he supposed to be helping you?" she asked, walking towards the CEO and wiping a bit of oil of her face.
"He went with Zhu Li to do something. I'll get him on the radio."
A few moments and a brief explanation of the situation later, Varrick informed him and Zhu Li were headed back after a close call with Kuvira.
"Varrick, how come your electro-thingy shut down the small mecha suits but not the big one?" Bolin asked.
"Because it's powered up with spirit vine energy." Baatar interjected. I'm sorry, I wish I could help you but it's unstoppable."
"It's not."
Asami felt a gasp escape from her throat. She didn't look up, it wasn't necessary, she knew what would be there if she did. Who would be there: her father. But she had to say something, staring at the floor couldn't cut it, not now when everyone needed to be at their best. Her feelings could wait.
"Dad?"
It seemed to be the only thing she could force out. In jail, she'd seen him in jail a couple times; two maybe three separate occasions. But for him to be free, even under these circumstances was daunting.
"I got him out of jail to help." Lin explained. "I figured we need all the geniuses we can get our hands on right now. If the prisons still standing after all this is over we can throw him back in."
"I know what you all must think of me." Hiroshi started to explain.
Asami wanted to leave, she wanted to leave and take Korra with her. She didn't want this, or did she? If this wasn't what she wanted then why did she choose to go visit her dad after all those years? Maybe closure was important to her but she already had it even if it was bittersweet. The truth was she missed him, and she hated herself for that. She hated that she let herself love a man who hurt her so badly. One who lied to her for years about everything she held important.
She hated what he did to their legacy, how he stole her teenage years right from under her. She hated that she couldn't be a normal teen because she was to busy saving a company she wasn't even sure she wanted. No he was standing her as if nothing had ever happened, as if she woke up from a horrible dream. For years that was what part of her wanted; the part that missed having a mom, a dad, a family to call her own. But over the years things changed and slowly the part that loved her friends, the part of her that loved Korra grew, until eventually it won. Leaving her past as a vacant memory she didn't like to look back at. Now it was a brutal pain in the back of her mind she couldn't ignore.
"But I love Republic City. And I would do anything to save her."
The CEO cringed at the sentence, there was a time when he would have said that about her mother. It didn't turn out well for the two of them. This time was different. After this he would go back to prison, she wouldn't have to worry about seeing him because she would have control again. In exchange for one second, she would grant herself that lifetime of control.
"You think you know how to defeat this thing?" Korra asked.
She didn't mention anything but the Waterbender had been gauging Asami's reaction since she saw Hiroshi walk in the building. The CEO seemed fine for the time being but Korra knew she was never necessarily good at portraying her feelings.
"You must act like an infection: Break the skin and attack the vital organs, disconnect the heart and the brain, and this beast cannot live." he explained.
"But how are we supposed to get inside?" Korra asked, they'd already tried every tactic they could think of.
"Future Industries has plasma saws for cutting platinum. If we had one on the mecha suit..."
"But the saws are way too big." Asami mentioned, part of her unsure if she was saying it because it was fact, or if she felt she needed something to say in general. "We'd never get the suits off the ground."
Hiroshi grimaced as he thought about the problem, sending a shiver up the engineers spine. She flinched, something that her father noticed but didn't mention. It was the same grimace he had on his face during his confession under the mansions workshop. Korra wanted to place her hand on the taller girls shoulder but she wasn't sure if it was her place anymore. This was a family matter.
"I think I can add an electrical element to the welding torch on your suit and convert it into a plasma saw. Then we'll just have to land on the giant and cut a hole big enough for someone to get in."
"Like a metal mosquito." Asami concluded.
"You know what happens to mosquitoes that land on me?" Varrick asked rhetorically. "I squash 'em!" he yelled, fisting his hands together for dramatic effect.
"We'll have to attack in a swarm to keep you guys safe in the hummingbird suits." Korra added. "It looks like they're our only hope."
Asami and Hiroshi quickly began working. It was tense, mostly because Asami didn't feel like talking for whatever reason. This was what she wanted all these years and now that she had it; she hated it. Not completely, it just felt wrong. It felt wrong that she still loved him.
Korra kept a watchful eye over the two as they continued to work, making sure to at least glance in their direction every couple of minutes to make sure everything was alright. She was absolutely vivid with Lin for bringing the engineer out here without so much as a word to anyone but it wasn't the time to be angry, perhaps she would have done the same in the chief's position- though she'd like to think she wouldn't.
After a little bit the CEO eased into small talk with her father. Mostly things like "Could you hand me the wrench?" or "What type of screw would be more efficient.", to anyone else it would seem like normal office work. But Asami knew they were simply making excuses to talk to each other because she knew when to use a phillips or mushroom screw, and he had a wrench on his side of the workspace in the first cabinet drawer.
An Airbender approached Korra and the others as they were talking and warned them that Kuvira was approaching.
"How long will it take to get the plasma saws ready?" Korra asked, looking to Asami for an answer.
"Just a few more minutes."
"Get out there as soon as you can."
"If you do manage to get inside the engine room; there are two emergency levers, if you switch them off at the same time you'll cut the power." Baatar informed her.
"Thanks." she said, "We may not be able to beat this thing, but we can slow it down. Let's go!"
After a few moments most of the workshop was clear other than Zhu Li and Varrick, who were on the other side of the workshop. Leaving them to work in silence, with nothing but a few awkward glances. After awhile her father couldn't take it anymore.
"I know you're still mad at me and I know this won't make up for it but-"
"No." Asami sighed.
"No? Asami, I understand. You have every right to be mad at me." he reasoned, as he used a wrench to screw in a few loose pieces of equipment.
"No! you don't get it!" Asami huffed, slamming a hammer onto the small workspace. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad because I'm not mad at you."
Hiroshi looked down, urging his daughter to keep explaining, he knew he at least owed her that.
"I tried for so long to be mad at you. Because you hurt me, you hurt my friends, and you hurt Korra." She sighed. "But I can't. What kind of person does that make me?"
"It makes you like your mother." Hiroshi sighed. "I always wished I was as strong and forgiving as she was, I'm just glad she managed to give that to you"
"Listen, if you don't want to visit me after all this that's okay. I want you to be happy." he continued.
"I don't know what I want." the CEO admitted. "But some part of me wants you to be there."
"Then I'll be there." He assured, giving a weak smile.
After a couple moments Hiroshi climbed into the suit. Asami propped a thick sheet of metal up so that they could test the saw and stepped back so that her father could test the machine out. The sharp device sawed through the platinum perfectly, she couldn't help but sigh in relief for the first time all day things were working in her favor, in all of their favors.
"If we stop that mecha giant, it will all be because of you."
"You're the one who designed these incredible suits." Hiroshi said, slowly putting his hand out to hers. Giving Asami the opportunity to pull away if she wanted.
She didn't. She let her dad touch her for the first time in almost over four years.
"It's great to be working together again," he added.
"I love you, dad." the words fell out, she hadn't meant to say them, but she still wholeheartedly meant it nonetheless.
"I love you too."
After a heartfelt proposal, courtesy of Varrick and Zhu Li; the small team took off in the hummingbird suits. Zooming through the air at full speed until they met with the rest of the group who was already trying to take out the giant mecha. Kuvira quickly took notice of them, firing a spirit ray they were easily able to dodge. The two hummingbirds diverged in opposite directions; Zhu Li landed on the back of the giant, only to be nearly swatted away. Hiroshi picked a spot right on the joint of one of the legs. Perching there.
They couldn't find a good place to start without quickly being swatted away. Korra noticed this and ran to a nearby water supply to help further distract the mecha. Once she got to the bridge, she bent the water below her up to the mecha's neck, freezing it in place, causing Kuvira to take out Zhu Li and Varrick's suit in the process. Korra bent more ice to further restrain the mecha while Hiroshi flew closer and perched onto the suit to start the cutting process.
Slowly, the ice started to break, while Hiroshi continued to saw through the platinum.
"We need to get out of here." Asami warned.
"Almost there." Hiroshi stated.
But he wasn't, he'd barely cut halfway through and ice and water was already hitting the glass window above the CEO's seat.
"We have to go, NOW!" she yelled again.
"Almost there." he responded, shouting the mantra once again after only a second.
Then, she heard a large crash. Ice fell and slid off the glass sheath above her. Followed by the mechanical buzzing of the now free mecha arm.
"Dad! Now!" she pleaded.
"Good bye Asami." Hiroshi whispered. "I love you."
Before she could comprehend what was happening, or even what her dad had said she watched him flip open a small hatch and click the button that would cause her seat to eject from the hummingbird suit. For an innocent moment she was confused because her father didn't click his button, he stayed behind. Then she saw the platinum hand come down with full force, crushing the small mecha suit and leaving behind a large hole in the platinum joint.
A scream left somewhere from the back of her throat, as tears streamed down her face. She called out desperately hoping against all logic that he had survived. Knowing the truth seemed too painful.
From down on the ground Korra looked on, for a moment she had been distracted trying to defeat some smaller mecha's, by the time she got back it was too late.
"Hiroshi's plan worked." she sighed, thinking only about how Asami must have been feeling at the moment. "There's our opening." she said, determined not to let the sacrifice Hiroshi made be in vain.