An Earth Empire mechanic ran to the west 'internal controls operation' room, reporting his observations in staggering pants, "Commander Guan! I ran as fast as I could. I checked the main control room as you'd asked me to, and the reason we're not moving is because it was broken into!!"
"No shit, Satoshi!!!" A tall, angry, moustached man barked at the young mechanic, "We've been trying to rewire the intruder alarms for the past ten minutes!!"
The young man gulped as he tried to catch his breath, "Yes, I know, I meant to explain that the operators were knocked out and tied down!"
Commander Guan growled at this news, adding, "Anyone in here confident enough to metalbend AND operate the mecha?! ... You, Ak-"
"URGENT! Sorry to interrupt, but the weapon's loading mechanism has malfunctioned!!"
Guan swiftly turned around to pay attention to the operator behind him, "Must be one of those metalbenders that broke in..." he scowled.
"AKARI, SUKI! You two are metalbenders, right? Rip the right arm off!! Those metalbenders must be in there trying to crush us from the inside!!"
The women looked at each other from the sides of their eyes.
"Sir, we haven't been trained to operate spherical controls," one of them began to explain before they were abruptly interrupted by Guan's stressed and intimidating stare.
"GO!" Guan's voice boomed. He pressed his thumb and index finger against the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes in frustration and thought.
"Any sign of Kuvira yet?" He grumbled to the rest of the operators in the room.
"No, Commander Guan." Another operator responded to him while fully concentrated on his task.
"Mako!!!"
The firebender jumped, not expecting to hear Bolin calling out to him. He answered, "Huh?! You've gotta get out of here!!"
"What?! Why?! What are you guys doing?!!!" The earthbender asked with concern, trying to speak over the zapping sounds of the spirit energy brain, "Wanna fill me in...?!"
"Mako, we don't have time!!" Iroh peered his head over to see what was going on.
"Just one sec!!" Mako replied as he approached Bolin.
"Well?!"
"... We're going to zap it with some electricity."
"Ohhh-ho-hoo, let's back it up. Are you INSANE? That'll make it explode!!!" The earthbender cried, "Did you even try the levers?!"
"OBVIOUSLY we did!! They didn't work!! ... Bolin, this is our only way of shutting this thing down... Unless you know another way?"
The younger sibling paused in thought, and as a mournful expression washed over his face, he clarified, making his brother sigh in frustration, "... No. I don't."
"Well, we can handle it." Mako explained as he turned to walk back to his original position to the left of the spirit energy brain.
His younger brother stretched out his arm to hold him by the shoulder, "No! You can't!" This isn't the time to prove how awesome you are! I already KNOW how awesome you are!!" he frowned, "... You're awesome."
"I don't have time to argue!! We're already doing this, so get out of here!!" The firebender snapped, "And where's Chief?!"
Pouting, Bolin replied, "We pretty much crushed the insides of the spirit cannon... Well, she did. But there were too many guards to hold off. I escaped while she distracted them and came to find you. I think she's still inside the cannon fighting a couple of those guards..."
Mako nodded, slowly inching away from Bolin as he listened.
"... And for the record, I do not approve of you doing this. I wi-"
"MAKO!!!" General Iroh called out for him once more as he tapped his feet nervously.
"Bolin, GO. NOW. I'll get out as soon as I can. I promise." Mako frowned in distress as he pulled his brother in for a brief hug.
Doing as he was told, Bolin motioned for the hatch. He grabbed onto a lever that had snapped off its machine in case he needed to use it for self defense.
The firebenders nodded at each other.
"ON THE COUNT OF THREE. ONE. TWO..."
Akemi leaned weakly against the brick-laid wall of a building behind her. She'd blanked out for a moment and now her senses perked up; but before she could open her eyes, she could hear the sounds of what seemed to be a heavy brawl. Kuvira's grunts were highly recognisable.
The firebender's eyelashes fluttered briefly and her blurred vision began to clear as she made out the scene in front of her; her girlfriend and the avatar were fighting. Intensely, at that. She had no idea if this had gone on for a few seconds or a few minutes, but she couldn't let it continue. She attempted to stand, but she just couldn't. Her leg was clearly broken, and the pain was excruciating. That didn't stop her. Trying to avoid putting pressure on it, she managed to wobble up and stand up almost straight.
Kuvira diverted her eyes from the fight for just a moment when she noticed that Akemi had literally come back to her senses.
"'KEMI, STAY THERE." She instructed her as she dodged a gust of wind from Korra.
Akemi looked at her in confusion. Why would she just stand there and do nothing?
Korra then glanced at her too as she hurled another punch, and asked, "Are you OK??!"
Instead of responding, the firebender, who now leaned on the wall upright, flared her nostrils and inhaled as electricity started to buzz at her fingertips. The sound of zaps filled the air and within a split second, a thick streak of bright white lightning cracked down into the ground in between both Korra and Kuvira. Akemi wasn't one for theatrics, but rather for lasersharp tactics. The Great Uniter's eyes began to glow as she stared right at the bright light in terrified amazement. The precision of Akemi's lightning generation caused the street to crack a little as it was pierced, and the women jumped back when the sound of thunder cracked in their ears.
The assistant hobbled towards Korra silently with a purely livid expression stamped on her face. Curious, Kuvira watched her in anticipation for a brief moment. Then she called out for her with impatience, "AKEMI, LET'S GO. NOW."
"Go? Go WHERE?" Korra scoffed a retort, "... DON'T LISTEN TO HER!! SHE'S THE ONE THAT HURT YOU!" Her fists were still raised in case she needed to strike.
The firebender paused and looked at Korra calculatingly. She was sure Korra had hurled what felt like a whole tornado at her.
Kuvira huffed and started to jog towards Akemi, who was just a few meters away, before Akemi shot a punch of orange fire at the ground along the path Kuvira was jogging in. The commander looked at her as she stopped dead in her tracks, hurt mildly resonating from her eyes.
The Avatar cautiously continued speaking, "Akemi, I'm sorry about what I said before. I didn't mean to accuse you of having joined Kuvira again..."
The firebender rolled her eyes and interrupted her, "What, so in the middle of a fight we're just going to stop and have ANOTHER discussion? I'm TIRED of this bullshit!" She turned to look at Kuvira, "I want to go HOME. I want this to END," and then at Korra, "haven't you figured out that Kuvira runs away any chance she gets?" she yelled as she stretched out her arm in her girlfriend's direction, "Just get her now, arrest me too if you want, and let's get this over with. I don't CARE anymore."
Kuvira found her chance to interject, "Akemi, listen to me, the Avatar just wants to do away with us. She doesn't know how to respect a fight, s-"
Korra gasped and jumped in, "Oh, I don't know how to respect a fight?!! Akemi, SHE'S the one that knocked you out!!"
The Great Uniter looked at Korra as if she was ready to strangle her then and there. Regardless, Korra continued, "I thought you were, as she's begging you to, going to run away with her, so I confronted you. We barely fought a minute before Kuvira intervened. She bent the rocks under your feet-"
And then Akemi remembered, "... from behind me where I didn't expect her - for MANY reasons - to butt in, so I tripped and couldn't block your air punch that sent me flying..." she continued in elaboration. She folded her arms as she glared at Korra, "Isn't that what happened?"
"... Yes. ..?" Korra was a little confused at how calm Akemi's tone was. She was clearly very disappointed in Kuvira, so maybe that's why she wasn't reacting intensely.
The Great Uniter raised a brow and a smile creeped onto the corners of her lips. She finally spoke up, "And, Akemi, I told the Avatar while she and I fought, that you never intended to run off with me."
"I'm confused." Korra said simply. She was still learning how to understand calm reactions to dire situations.
Kuvira laughed in response, "Avatar, you think my girlfriend wouldn't know me by now? She knows I helped you knock her out so that I could put her out of harm's way. She was hurt, and I knew that wouldn't stop her from hurting herself even more by fighting you."
"You're still a lunatic for knocking me unconscious just so you could 'protect' me, quote on quote, Kuvira." Akemi barked back at her as she finally made eye contact with her.
Korra was now trying to figure out why Kuvira, who had evidently gone manic earlier, hadn't run off yet. The Avatar kept light on her feet, anticipating Kuvira's escape. All this standing around and talking would give her the chance to, so why hasn't she?
She carefully phrased her next sentence, not wanting to give Kuvira any ideas, "So... What? Do you surrender?"
Kuvira snickered, replying, "Do I look like the kind of person who'd surrender just like that?"
That's when Akemi realised something was really wrong. Kuvira wasn't just running off aimlessly. She must have been waiting for something. And she knew that no matter where she waited for it, she'd be followed.
Her assistant's eyes widened and she quickly turned to Korra, "AVATAR, THE-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHH..." Mako howled as his arm went numb. The electricity he was generating began to sputter and slowly die out.
"IF YOU CAN'T KEEP GOING, LET GO." Iroh shouted at him in alarm.
"N-NO. I'M F-FINE." Mako yelled in response before howling in pain again and tumbling backwards as he stopped bending.
With that, the massive cluster of spirit vines began to glow brighter and brighter, causing the sleeve on General Iroh's arm to combust as he kept on bending.
The firebenders began to inch towards the hatch in order to escape, but before Iroh could let go and crawl down with Mako, a bolt of electricity rebounded off the spirit vines and pierced him at the hip, making him howl in pain.
Mako watched, purple light reflecting in his eyes, as the Fire Nation prince went light headed and fell to the floor.
"BOLIN!! YOU THERE?" Mako cried.
"Mhm?!" The earthbender peeped from below the hatchet.
"COME HELP, IROH'S FAINTED. LET'S GO FIND BEIFONG."
"FFU-SHIT..." Lin grunted as a spirit vine container that an Earth Empire guard had thrown at her bashed into her arm. She tried to shake it off and pull her hands up into fists to throw another metalbending punch, but just as she was raising her arms, a tall and thick sheet of metal strapped around half her body from behind, trapping her arms beside her sides.
"YEAH? THINK THAT'S ENOUGH TO STOP ME?" Lin shouted aggressively as she turned to look behind her. She shifted herself so that she could face the guards from both her left and right sides. The Chief jumped, hoping to land and create ripple dents in the metal floor to knock down the guards, but before she could even hit the ground again, everyone in the mecha's arm jolted.
"HUH?" One guard grunted loudly before he was interrupted by the sound of a different alarm and a flashing blue light.
Another guard chimed in to explain, "BLUE LIGHT. THEY'RE DETACHING THE PART. EVERYONE, EVACUATE!!"
Lin listened carefully as her eyes darted between the guards who spoke. The group of seven guards that crowded around her began to run out, ignoring Lin completely. So she followed suit, though at a much slower pace; the metal restricted the movement of her thighs, so her lower legs carried her as fast as they could, building up painful shin splints as they did so. She penguin-walked towards the line dividing the arm and the shoulder of the mecha, but she almost didn't make it to the other side. The large hinges of the arm creaked loudly as the floor began to quake, and the arm's seam began to split open, giving Lin a fabulous view of the street hundreds of feet below.
"AGH, HELP ME!! PULL ME IN!!!!" The Chief cried out, grabbing the attention of the two guards who were the closest to her. They exchanged an unconvincing look, prompting Lin to try and bend at the floor underneath her, to try and spring herself off of it.
"Where are we supposed to place the arm after we rip it off?!" One operator in the control room asked her coworker.
Operator Akari, who was hovering above an unconscious Ran, squealed back at the other operator, "Suki, what do you mean PLACE? I don't think Guan wants us to politely relocate the arm, for crying out loud!!! Just throw it somewhere! Anywhere!"
"Uuuh..." Suki nervously replied as she motioned downwards at the spherical control.
"UGHH, HHEEEEEEEELLP!!!!" Lin cried again as her leg slipped between the ever-widening splitting seam. The giant mecha's left arm tugged at the right so aggressively that it popped off, and Lin found herself dangling mid-air. She couldn't help her scream.
Confused as to why she couldn't feel butterflies in her stomach, she un-squeezed her eyes and looked up to find all seven Earth Empire guards bending at the metal that hugged her.
"PULL ME UP!!" She tried to plead, although it came off more like an abrupt command.
One guard responded as he pulled her up with the help of his fellow guards, explaining, "Yeah, we wouldn't let you fall. We know who you are, and so does Commander Guan."
Lin shot him an angry look of suspicion and doubt.
Akemi was interrupted by the sight of the spirit cannon not-so-gracefully flying towards the spirit wilds.
"... CANNON..." she mumbled, somewhat finishing her sentence.
Kuvira shrugged with a malicious grin, slowly motioning towards the direction of the cannon, and added, "What can I say, Avatar. She knows me."
With a shrug, Kuvira was off, propelling herself forward, like before, using the earth below her feet. It was as if she was street-skiing.
"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF..." Korra screamed in frustration, swiftly closing her eyes for a millisecond to compose herself and control her anger in that moment. However, Akemi gladly continued her sentence for her.
"ASS!!!" Akemi screamed as she lit up another fire-crutch to support herself and attempted to run after her.
The Great Uniter was a few meters ahead of them. Without turning around, she waved her hand up in the air and yelled back, "THANKS. I KNOW IT'S ROTUND."
Korra had also followed suit on an air-scooter. "SHIT, AKEMI. I WAS GOING TO SAY SHIT."
"And so we meet, Chief of the Republic City Police Department... Lin Beifong."
"This isn't a mover, what's-your-face. You don't have to say it like that." Lin scoffed at Commander Guan.
The group of Earth Empire guards had successfully detained her. Lin didn't bother fighting them off so that they wouldn't think of totally immobilising her by clamping her legs together, just in case. And now, there she sat, on a lonely chair in some random on-board meeting room.
"Well, I'm Commander Guan, and it's my duty to report and hand over all Earth Empire traitors to Kuvira."
"'Scuse me, chump?" Lin's deep voice scoffed.
"Well, you are a member of the Beifong family. Gaoling is under Earth Empire rule, and whether you like it or not, the United Republic will soon be, too. You have to obey the Empire's laws regardless, and the Great Uniter has a very special place she like to send traitors to." His slimy voice croaked.
"HAH! Are you trying to threaten me?" The Chief chuckled, having confidence in the firebenders and Bolin. "Just you wait." She said a little more quietly. It was only a matter of time that the whole hunk of junk they sat in would collapse. She only hoped that Bolin remembered the instructions she'd given him on which route to take when it was time for them to get out of there.
The assistant hobbled along as fast as she could, boosting herself forwards with fire blasts every few seconds. Unfortunately, she was trailing behind them badly, unable to catch up. Her eyes began to well up with tears as the chokehold she had on her emotions began to loosen up even more. The physical pain in her leg wasn't the only thing slowing her down.
What is she doing to herself... What an IDIOT... Akemi thought to herself, worried about Kuvira in a way beyond any comprehension.
Meanwhile, Kuvira was panting heavily as she sifted through long and large vines in the spirit wilds. That imbecile... I'd ordered him to throw it somewhere I could easily access if this happened... She mumbled her thoughts to herself, A fucking FOREST isn't ideal...
Stopping dead in her tracks, Kuvira gasped and quickly glanced behind her to see if she'd lost Korra. And she had.
"KUVIRA!! GIVE UP!!" She could hear the Avatar's shouting echo back at her in the distance.
Kuvira's blood began to boil. Seeing the spirit cannon dangling between some vines right in front of her drew out her determination and fervour as the Great Uniter.
"Never." She whispered as she narrowed her eyes in focus.
"PLEASE, STOP THIS MADNESS. IT HAS TO END NOW." Korra attempted to parley in an unconventional setting. Dappled light tinted the darkened street Korra walked down, and it felt as though the humidity in the wilds began to rise the more she ventured into them.
"KUVIRAAAAAAAA!!!" She heard her crush's - er, Asami's - cousin cry out as well. Korra felt for Akemi. She seemed so different to Kuvira. She didn't know her well enough at all to say that, but she just felt it. What on earth makes her stick by Kuvira so relentlessly? Is it her oath as a member of Earth Empire personnel or something?
Korra clenched her teeth and hissed as she suddenly flung into the damp brick wall to her right. The ground shook underneath her and she could hear the extremely loud moan of creaking metal coming from the distance.
"NO!!" Kuvira gasped, hearing the same thing as she climbed atop the spirit cannon, trying to figure out how to toggle it. Barely a second or two later, the sound of crumbling earth could also be heard. The spirit energy core of the giant mecha must have overloaded. The giant was brought down; and with that, in contrast, Kuvira's temper skyrocketed.
Pushing herself off of the wall, Korra quickly propelled herself forwards with her airbending.
"I SAID, THIS HAS TO END!!!! PLEASE!!!!" She cried out once more.
"IF YOU REALLY WANT TO END IT, THEN COME AND GET ME!" The Great Uniter's voice boomed through the forest of vines.
Korra followed her voice, and soon enough found herself facing the spirit cannon. As did Akemi, who had taken a shortcut, and was standing behind the cannon.
The pair looked at each other from across the forest clearing - Akemi's face stained with dirt and streaks that her tears had cleaned up - and gasped.
"NOW it's over." Kuvira grimly expressed.
"DON'T!!" Korra yelled as she stretched out her arm.
"KUVIRA, STOP IT." Akemi chimed in loudly from the other side.
Kuvira quickly looked behind her, only being able to see the top of Akemi's head from underneath all those vines.
And she pulled the trigger.
The sound of electrical buzzing swallowed them all, and Korra, who was standing right in front of the cannon's output, watched for a brief second as the spirit energy began to swell into a ball inside the long cannon.
Akemi hobbled underneath the head of the cannon and fell to her knees - letting her fire-crutch fizzle - and used both her hands to shoot a painfully blazing fire underneath the neck of the cannon, tilting it upwards. The spirit energy blasted, splitting the trees in its path in half. And it continued to blast, ripping up some more trees. And soon enough, Kuvira realised that it, too, had overloaded. Someone must have dumped all the spirit vine loading-tubes into it.
"KUVIRA, LET GO..." Akemi screamed as she crouched underneath the cannon that started going haywire, "for fu-... LET GO!!!!"
Kuvira clung onto the side of the cannon as tight as she could, looking around the destruction it was causing in shock. In the meantime, Korra dashed towards Akemi to help her move out of the way. The firebender rested one arm around Korra's shoulders, and hopped alongside the Avatar as they tried to move away quickly.
The vines that the cannon was dangling from began to thin and snap, eventually causing the cannon to harshly drop to the ground, sending Kuvira rolling on the ground. It would not stop blasting. Its output sliced every building on the periphery of the clearing.
Asami, who had been hiding in one of the alleyways near the spirit wilds, had heard the commotion and their voices, and had already started running for an underground shelter. She looked behind her as she ran, watching those buildings crumble in the distance.
Please be safe... She whispered to herself, thinking about Korra and Akemi. She knew they were both caught in the middle of it.
"SHUT IT DOWN!!!" Korra cried to Kuvira, who was crouching near the head of the cannon onto which all the toggles and levers were attached.
The commander reached for the lever she'd pulled to set it off in the first place, but when she pulled it again, it made no difference. The loud buzzing was incessant.
"I CAN'T." She yelled back in a panic.
Akemi tried to think through the throbbing headache she had. "KUVIRA. K-..." Her girlfriend wasn't paying attention. Korra glanced at Akemi wide-eyed, and the pair shouted together, "KUVIRA!!!!!"
Finally getting her attention again, the assistant instructed her, "THE RED LEVER. PULL THAT AND THE BLUE ONE TOGETHER IF YOU CAN."
Kuvira's eyes darted around the massive switchboard frantically. She looked back at Akemi again as the cannon continued to slice buildings. "AT THE SAME TIME??"
"YES!!!!" Akemi screamed and nodded.
Her girlfriend tried to reach for both levers, but the sputtering cannon whacked her out of the way as it trembled with its insane output of energy. Akemi gasped and pressed her hands on her head as she watched Kuvira grunt and tumble in the opposite direction to the cannon.
"No.. No....." She gasped as her chest shuttered. She let go of Korra and tried to make her way to Kuvira, who was lying, face-down, on the cold, hard ground. The cannon seemed to have a mind of its own; it just kept blaring in different directions, bringing destruction to every corner that surrounded them.
"AKEMI, WAIT, IT'S-" Korra shouted as she watched the cannon sputter and slowly turn. She dashed towards Kuvira, "STAY BACK, IT'S TURNING HER WAY", the Avatar instructed Akemi, barely able to muster her warning.
"I CAN'T LEAVE HER." Akemi shouted, choking on her words as she howled; her leg numbed even more, as if it had already fallen off.
The Great Uniter gasped upon hearing Akemi, and she turned her head only to find the spirit energy cutting in her direction. The shock prevented her from moving, and so she just lay there. Akemi tried to run towards her, but before she could get to her, Korra had sprinted in front of Kuvira.
The wounded and heartbroken firebender widened her eyes in disbelief, and watched as Korra instantly went into the Avatar state. A sphere started forming around the commander and the Avatar, sending Akemi into a state of panic. Although she was on the outside, she felt unbelievably claustrophobic, watching as her lover was engulfed in blinding purple energy; she felt as though her entire existence was being swallowed. With no knowledge on what on earth was about to happen to Kuvira, Akemi was about to spiral.
"KUVIRA!!!!!!!!!!!!" She shrieked, stretching out her arm to her girlfriend, as she continued to stumble and run. Kuvira couldn't hear her over the deafening sound of the spirit energy as it engulfed her, but she instantly panicked seeing that she was physically separated from Akemi. She could faintly make out Akemi's silhouette and saw that she was trying to run to her, but she was too stunned to even speak. She turned back to look at Korra, who was looming above her, seemingly bending the energy that was shooting at them. And then reality hit her. Was she about to die or something?
Akemi then came to terms with the fact that it was fruitless. She wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING, even if she ran right up to the sphere of spirit energy. And that feeling of helplessness made her feel lower than she could ever imagine. So she turned around and tried, as fast as she could, to seek shelter somewhere... But she was only surrounded by vines and trees. Nonetheless, she went for it. She lit up strong flames from both of her fists and from under one of her feet, and tried to find some solid form of shelter.
In the meantime, the commander could feel energy swelling all around her; and she wasn't wrong. Korra's energybending then triggered the cannon's output, creating what felt like a city-scale supernova. An ear-shattering explosion echoed around them, and the sphere of energy that Korra had been bending grew instantly. Kuvira anxiously scanned what she could see beyond the wall of energy to find Akemi's silhouette once more, but she couldn't see her. The energy sphere's rapid expansion either blew everything around it to pieces, or sent it flying kilometers away.