While the Avatar and Bishop are duking it out, Lin and Kuvira are standing together, facing off against their opponents: Owl and Fox. The two groups glare at each other like predators hunting their prey. While Owl and Fox hover around the water patiently, Lin and Kuvira show restlessness as their legs and arms continue to twitch.
Feeling keen to start the fight first, Kuvira and Lin run towards the enemy. Trying to slow them down, Fox and Owl use their water bending skills, throwing ice projectiles at the two metal benders. The two Beifongs manage to dodge every single one of them as the water benders' attacks continue to whiff. Getting close enough, Lin lunges towards Owl as she swings her legs with great ferocity. Owl manages to dodge the swing, but it doesn't matter as Kuvira runs past Owl.
It was at this point, Owl's suspicion was validated; Kuvira already knew he's the only one capable of regenerative abilities. Throughout the entire fight, Kuvira used her years of fighting experience and carefully analyzed the first thirty seconds of the brawl. Kuvira noticed that Owl and Bishop had gone out of their way to protect their ally from any immediate forms of danger. Both taking and blocking the blows toward Fox, Kuvira could only assume that Fox was incapable of healing herself.
Just as Kuvira passes him, Owl ignores the bladed lady in front of him as she rushes to save his ally. Using his quick thinking, Owl uses his water-bending to form an ice dome around himself, surrounding the two metal benders. This doesn't falter Kuvira as she jumps over the frozen wall as it's forming and lifts a sharp pillar of the Earth from where Fox was standing. Launching the masked murderer in the air, Fox manages to block Kuvira's attack by covering herself in a thick layer of ice.
Flying in the air, Fox uses the nearby shore to levitate herself and reduce the falling impact. The fighters were separated as this was now a one on one match within the icy arena. With no distractions or interference within their way, Owl and Lin were able to continue the altercation they started during the first encounter. Owl felt confident in close-quarters hand-to-hand engagement, however, he would soon regret barricading himself with his enemy as he gleamed to see Lin's smug expression.
"If you think these walls are helping you, you're mistaken." Lin claimed.
Using the surrounding walls to her advantage, Lin grapples onto one side as she zooms around the field. In an instant, the chief inspector turned into a blur to the Owl. The masked man keeps turning left and right but is unable to catch a glimpse of his opponent. Lin moved from one area of ice to another as she accelerated her speed ten folds. Finally building enough momentum, Lin aimed her blades above and behind Owl as she hooked herself forward. Pulling her left leg back, Lin started spinning with high velocity, cutting the wind and everything within her direction.
Hearing the swirling blades of death and the rippling sounds of metal wires being pulled, Owl had anticipated Lin's position as she aimed for his nape. As the bladed phantom approaches him swiftly, Owl tries to protect himself within a short amount of time by freezing his neck. Noticing the ice was hard enough to block her attack, Lin made a quick change in her aggression.
"Fine, if you don't want to die quickly, I'll just take my time killing you!" Lin exclaimed.
Instead of going for the instant kill, Lin quickly changed the direction of her blades and cut his eyes instead.
Impairing his vision completely, Owl had no way of tracking the metal menace. Moving to the other side of the icy dome, Lin propelled herself forwards, making another attack. This time, Lin aimed for Owl's legs as she diced the limbs into eight different pieces. Owl barely had time to react to the assaults as the pain of losing his eyes and legs was too overbearing for him to focus. He screams in torment as the detective performs the longest and most inhuman surgery.
Lin had slowly dissected the man inch by inch until all that remained was his head attached to his central body. Blood oozed from every inch of this corpse as there wasn't a spot that Lin didn't insert her blades in.
With barely anything left to cut, Lin walked up toOwl's lifeless body as it slowly tried to regenerate itself.
"I know you can heal yourself from those wounds, but I highly doubt you can heal fast enough to fight me." Lin stated.
Hearing the sense of victory spill from her lips, Owl begins to laugh.
Lin was perplexed as to why the enemy in front of her had a cocky attitude, especially after groveling in defeat. What freaked Lin out the most was how horribly timed and sinister the laughter was.
"What's so funny?" Lin inquired.
Owl continued to laugh harder and harder as the chief of police stood petrified. Behind the masked Lin could see Owl's mouth and eyelids widen as his pupils shrunk. Lin gauges the reasoning behind Owl's laughter, but only senses a malevolent sensation coursing through her veins. Lin knew Owl's chuckle had malice behind it but was too ineligible to present the bigger picture. Finally giving in to the madness, Lin shoves her right blade into Owl's heart as she demands an answer.
"Why are you laughing!" Lin screamed.
With one of Lin's swords puncturing his heart, Owl barfed a liter of blood and began coughing. Catching his breath, he laughs once more as he gives a response.
"Heheheh, I'm just stalling," Owl claimed.
"For what?" Lin inquired.
Lin's question didn't need answering as the walls of ice started to break. Owl released his cage, no longer trapping Lin within the confines of his icy prison. However, this didn't set Lin free from danger. Just as the ice broke down, Lin noticed Kuvira being carried by her arms by Fox. Lin couldn't believe her eyes as her niece had been defeated by the masked villain. While Lin was worried for her niece, what daunted her as Fox's appearance.
Author's note: Fox looks like this but with a fox mask on...
Still wearing the mask, Fox's entire appearance seemed to change. In contrast to her brown skin and black hair, her skin was completely pale with her hair white as the snow permeated around her. With every step she took, the ground within a meter of a distance turned frozen and brittle.
Each step the masked figure took only weakened the ground, turning it as flimsy as origami paper. Just by holding Kuvira, the metal bender started to shiver as her arm started to freeze. Now with a rage filling in her eyes, Fox pulled her hand as far as she could and slammed her hand against Kuvira's frozen arm. This caused Kuvira's fragile limb to shatter into a million pieces. The pain was worse than anything she felt and blood didn't secrete from her wound.
With the area of impact being too cold, blood was incapable of oozing out.
Judging from Lin's demeanor alone, the dread of losing another family member consumed her fighting spirit. Dropping Kuvira towards the side, Fox began throwing projectiles towards the bladed women. Lin managed to dodge these incoming missiles as the shards hit the trees behind her instead. Turning her head back, Lin noticed the shards continuing to freeze everything within its surrounding. With the fragments hitting wood, the bark turned frail as it began collapsing onto itself due to the ice bullets weakening the plant's foundations.
It was at this point Kuvira and Lin were completely outclassed as Fox had evolved into an ice-bending behemoth. Increasing the velocity and quantity of the number of shards she threw, Fox used her most powerful move against the metal bender.
"Don't worry inspector, I'll kill you properly this time!" Fox stated.
Absorbing the surrounding water from the nearby shore, nine, glacial tails emerged from the base of her hips. With deadly intent, Fox blasted the inspector with ice shards from her hands and tails with ten times the firepower than before. Fox and truly turned into the nine-tailed fox.
All Lin could do was dodge as the rounds and rounds of shells pressured her into the defensive. Although under intense firepower, Lin managed to find an advantage. Using Owl's limbless body as a shield, Lin protected herself. Worried about her partner's life, Fox halted her advances against Lin.
It was too late as Fox's last, incoming projectiles hit Owl's frozen collar that was protecting his neck. Creating a fissure of whatever insurance he had over the bladed women, Owl was now completely vulnerable. The removal of the head being his only weakness, Lin knelt and pressed her blades against Owl's neck. With her quick thinking, the inspector and Fox arrived in a stalemate. The fighting stopped and it was now time for negotiations.
"If you let Kuvira and Korra go, I'll spare your partner." Lin negotiated.
"Ignore her, just kill everyone already!" Owl tried persuading.
"Think about harming Kuvira and I promise you, your friend's head is gonna roll into the harbor and onto the ocean depths. From there, the fishes will gnaw on his face until there is nothing but a skull left. Now, what will it be?" Lin asked.
Lin wasn't sure how intense the two partners' relationship was and had no clue who they were. Betting her and her niece's survival on a risky gamble, Lin prayed to the universe that Fox would take the offer. Fox started to stumble between the decisions as she was extremely indecisive. Realizing her mental weakness, Lin took advantage as she heard her troops arriving.
"You've got twenty seconds before your offer is up." Lin stated.
The pressure of time constraint affected Fox as she had to decide which choice to make. While she can kill both Kuvira and Lin, she didn't want to risk losing her partner along the process. The Avatar could always find more allies to aid her, compared to the Blood Circles whose running thin on members. With no other choice, Fox made up her mind. Kicking Kuvira towards the bladed dealer, Fox chose to spare her enemy in exchange for her partner. Releasing Owl from her grasp Kuvira rushed over to aid her niece as the two masked figures made a run towards the harbor. Using her powers, Fox creates a giant tsunami and freezes it to prevent the common police officers from going after them.
Carrying her friend against her back, Fox drifts against the ocean water, and towards Bishop and Korra.
Being able to view their fight from a distance, Bishop had just turned serious after dropping his scythe and using his own blood to create gauntlets. Having the urge to continue the challenge, Bishop was disappointed to see his allies in a hurry to leave the vicinity.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Bishop asked.
"The harbor is getting too hot! We need to get out of here before we're surrounded." Owl stated.
"But I just started to get serious!" Bishop complained.
"If we don't leave now, you won't be able to live with her again. Now let's get the fuck out!" Owl screamed.
Bishop realized the intensity of the situation just by reading Fox's expression. While the female ally would usually go against retreat, Bishop was stunned to see Fox concurring with the situation. Not arguing any further, Bishop followed along with these two allies as they abandoned their mission.
"It was nice chatting with you Korra but I'm afraid to admit, I'm a little disappointed." Bishop stated.
Bishop drifted along with Owl and Fox. Being unable to stop Bishop, Korra starts to get angry and chases after them.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!" Korra asserted.
"You should be more worried about your friend Asami. After all, she might be missing...." Bishop hinted.
"Also, if you don't get Kuvira medical treatment in twenty minutes, she's as good as dead!" Fox stated.
With so much at stake, Korra makes the tough decision to let the villains go and help aid her companions. Rushing back to the shore, Korra is somewhat relieved to watch Kuvira getting the medical attention she needs from Republic City's police force.
Rushing past Lin and Kuvira, Korra bolts across the harbor and towards Opal's apartment. Running across the street, Korra whispers to herself, praying Asami is still with Opal.
"Please still be there! Please still be there!" Korra murmurs.
Arriving at the apartment complex, Korra bashes through the front door, searching for her girlfriend. While Opal is still on the floor as a corpse, everyone else was either unconscious or in excruciating pain. Half the troops are covered in burn marks and wounds. While Korra sees more people compared to when she left, she notices Asami is still missing.
Recognizing Kya passed out against the stairs, Korra gently taps her face in search of her attention. After continuously tapping for a whole minute, Korra is unable to wake up Kya. With haste, Korra places her fingers against Kya's neck to feel any sign of a pulse. While Kya was physically incapable of waking up, Kya's pulse was still beating normally.
After assuring herself of Kya's safety, Korra resumed her search for Asami throughout the entire apartment. It didn't take long for Korra to find what happened to her lover. Turning her head away from Kya and towards the front door, Korra didn't need to continue her investigation after examining a note that was posted against the peephole. Removing the sticky note from the wall, Korra began reading the words.
"Murderer like you doesn't deserve a happy ending. You take loved ones away from families, so I'll take yours. Signed: Racoon"
Reading the ominous words to herself, Korra starts to panic as the person she loved was now taken. Korra's worst apprehension had finally come to life as Asami was in complete danger. With so much loss and anger, Korra could no longer contain her emotions. Walking up the stairs and into the bathroom, Korra locked herself into the cramped vicinity as she released the rage within her. Punching the bathroom mirror a dozen times, Korra stared deep into her shattered reflection. Glass shards punctured her fist as words could not describe the thoughts going through her brain.
Punches could not alleviate her antipathy towards herself nor her animosity towards the Iron Bloods. With no control of the situation, Korra continues to demolish the mirror but using her head instead. With the mirror still standing, Korra stares at the reflection and sees blood dripping down her forehead and into her mouth. With a quick glimpse at herself in the mirror, Korra had lost complete control of her sanity. Korra looked at the mirror and realized that even the Avatar have cracks of her own, and All it took was a little push.
Author's Note: Shit is about to get even spicier!