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ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ ＮＩＮＥ
ＯＵＴ ＯＦ ＴＨＥ ＰＡＳＴ
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Ｅａｒｌｙ ｉｎ the following morning, Tenzin was awoken by the sound of his nightstand phone ringing and his son trying to pick it up. He takes it from Meelo's grabby hands and answers. "Councilman Tenzin here." The voice on the other side responds, sounding urgent. "Councilman Tenzin, there has been an attack at City Hall. Avatar Korra has been abducted." "What? I'm coming as soon as possible. Thank you, Chief Saikon." He hangs up and looks over his shoulder at Pema, who was watching him with worried eyes.
"What is going on, Tenzin?" He releases a deep sigh. "Korra's been taken. I need to go to City Hall immediately." She nods. "I understand." As the airbender was moving to their closet to dress himself, she sits up in bed. "Warn Daiyin about this matter. She will want to know and probably go with you." Tenzin shakes his head as he wraps his cloak around his shoulders. "Lord Zuko wouldn't allow it. He was very firm with her yesterday. She needs to regain her full health and strength before he will go back to the Fire Nation."
Pema rolls her eyes. Clearly her husband didn't yet understand the power of teenagers. "We both know that one look from her pretty eyes will melt the Fire Lord's order away. If she wants to go and is remotely recovered, there is no stopping her from going." The airbender had to agree with his wife's statement. The princess can be really persuasive and everyone who knows the Fire Lord knows that he has a weakness for his family.
"Well then, then she will come with me."
•
Ｔｈｅ ｔｗｏ benders arrive at the City Hall, which was almost in ruins by the attack. An Equalist glove was left there, maybe as an indication of who did this, and Chief Saikon was questioning Councilman Tarrlok, who was being healed by a waterbender at the same time. Daiyin and Tenzin walk up to him. He told them how Korra came to his office about her imprisoned friends when the Equalists attacked, elektrocuted him and took her.
While the police search for Korra, the broadcasters were already spreading the news over radio. Lin Beifong happened to hear it and was done with wallowing away in her bed from the pain in her arm. It was time to do something. She puts her armour back on and goes to the prison where she would bust the Avatar's friends out and tell them what happened.
Tenzin and Daiyin had returned to Airtemple Island, where the first was making phonecalls while the latter was seated close to him and reading a book on firebending techniques. About an hour later they had uninvited guests, them being Beifong, Mako, Bolin and Asami. "And here I had hoped to go one day without you," she sighs. Mako runs up to her in happiness, pulls her out of her chair and hugs her. "I'm so-I mean.. uhm.. we are so glad that you are fine." His pale complexion was heating up, especially when he realised that Asami, his girlfriend, was in the same room.
The princess frowns. "I was never in any real danger-" "Besides almost dying, you mean," Beifong asks sarcastically. The girl throws her a dark glance, but she was soon hugged by Bolin as well. She felt really uncomfortable. Besides Tenzin, Korra, Katara and one time by General Fazhou, she had never been hugged by people that were not her family. She couldn't really imagine why they would be so happy to see her doing well, as she had been nothing but horrible and snarky to them. Why did they care?
Tenzin had put his phone down and stares at the four with a surprised expression. "Lin, wha-whadoyo-what are you doing here? You should be in the hospital. And you three, you should be in prison!" Beifong looks at her ex-boyfriend with stern eyes. "I figured you could use our help finding Korra." Mako questions the councilman. "Do you have any leads?" Tenzin explains how he still heard nothing, even after being on the phone for the whole morning. The male firebender suggests using Naga, but Tenzin told them that the polarbeardog of the Avatar was gone too.
He looks with sudden hopeful eyes at the Fire Nation princess. "What about the raven eagle that your grandfather gifted you? It can intercept messenger hawks with ease, could it not find humans as well?" Daiyin shakes her head. "I'm sorry, but it can't. It's not the same to hunt another bird or to hunt a human." Bolin asks where they should start if they had no lead. Lin Beifong suggests that they hide underneath the ground and Mako knows exactly where they should start to look.
The three head out, but Daiyin was hesitant. After Lin left as well the airbender lays his hand on her shoulder. "Is something troubling you?" She nods. The girl sighs deeply. "Grandfather would never agree to let me do this.. but I want to find Korra, Tenzin." "I understand and I believe that Lord Zuko will too." "Yes.. he will." She heads out, following after the rest.
Mako leads the flying bison to the alley that the Equalists took Bolin on the day of the Revelation. Beifong feels around with her metalbending and leads them to a tunnel that goes underneath the city. She lifts the heavy metal gateway so they could pass. They were left on a choice between four separate tunnels. Mako wanted to head into one of them, but Asami tells him that they were not even sure if she's in that particular one. Her comment earned her a snarky response from her boyfriend, another add onto her growing mountain of doubts about his feelings for her.
And that mountain raised a few feet higher when Bolin told her that Mako and Korra had kissed during the competition. She followed after the rest with a heavy heart, but she didn't show. First he had kissed Korra, now he was so fervently searching for her? And then that strange big hug to the firebender girl? He was not acting like the Mako from before. She glances at the girl. What did she and Korra have what she didn't?
Well, they have bending, they are very powerful, they're even more influential than her, they're brave and courageous, they.. don't have an Equalist for a father.
Everyone quickly hides when a few Equalists on motorcycles pass by them. It was lucky that they came, because now they could sneak after them into the secret tunnel, which ended up in some sort of distribution place. They overhear the Equalist reporting back to her commander over the prisoners and steal the cart he or she was using. When they knock the two on the other side of the tunnel out, Beifong uses her metalbending to look for the prisoners. She found her officers, but there was still no sign of Korra.
"I have a bad feeling about this, and it is not because I've been here during my escape," Daiyin whispers to everyone, but she still follows Beifong, Tenzin and Mako to find Korra while Bolin and Asami guard the two Equalists. Tenzin knocks two other guards out with airbending. Mako questions one of the men while Beifong frees her metalbenders, whos bending has unfortunately been taken away. The Equalist revealed that they never attacked City Hall and that they didn't take Avatar Korra. Quickly enough the dots were connected and they all led back to one person.
"Tarrlok took her," Daiyin spills. "He fooled us all," the airbender exclaims. Just when he said that the alarm went off. They all start running back to the cart. They drive away, but quickly a new cart appeared behind them. It was chasing theirs and it was filled with Equalists. Bolin bends the walls to collapse on the trail, stopping the other cart effectively. When they almost reach the end they saw multiple Equalists waiting for them. Daiyin was already balling her fists, but Beifong had a different idea. She bends the rail to make a ramp and she parts the roof so they could pass through.
They go back to the City Hall after calling up Chief Saikon and the other council members. Tarrlok was there too and tried to lie himself out of it, but his brave secretary confirmed everything. Including another important fact. Tarrlok was a bloodbender who didn't need the full moon to do something so evil.
Everyone stands in fighting position. "I knew you were a sneaky little rat. Tell us where Korra is," Daiyin speaks. They try to attack, but Tarrlok attacks first. He bends their blood and the princess could feel it floating through her veins, bending her body in ways she wouldn't imagine being possible. He tightened her veins, cutting off her bloodstream with needed oxygen. Quickly enough she has to give up on being conscious. While everyone was knocked out the bloodbender escapes. Minutes later she wakes up as one of the first. The Chief of Police helps her to stand up while Mako checks on Asami and Beifong roughly wakes Tenzin.
Saikon tells them that he will gather the police force. Beifong suggests to follow Tarrlok's trail. They hop onto the back of Oogi the flying bison and try to follow Tarrlok, but with not much success. The light was slowly fading into the darkness of the night, but they didn't give up. That paid off when they eventually heard Naga howl. They follow the sound and find the polarbeardog with an exhausted Avatar on her back.
Tenzin and Beifong hurry forward and ask her about Tarrlok, but Mako pushes them to the side and lifts Korra into his arms. He carries her to Oogi, where Daiyin takes the girl over from him. "I can get her on there on my own, thank you," he told her. Daiyin curls her lip up in distaste. "You can act like a cave man all you want, but it doesn't impress me." She looks over his head at Tenzin.
"We need to get her back to Airtemple Island." The airbender nods and encourages everyone to get back on the flying bison. They haste back home and put Korra under thick blankets and with jugs filled with hot beside her, but nothing seemed to heat her up fast enough. They were all worried sick but there was seemingly nothing to do about it. Unless, Tenzin thinks to himself when his eyes fall on the princess.
"Daiyin, we know of your ability to.. heat blood. Do you think it is possible to help Korra with that?" The eyes of everbody in the room widen. Daiyin's with fright, the rest's of confusion and surprise. They had never heard of heating someone's blood before. Was it a technique the girl had mastered herself?
"Are you mental, Tenzin? I have only ever done that when I was terrified for my life. I killed people with it and you expect me to try and find out if it won't kill Korra as well?" The airbender lays his hand on hers and squeezes it. "I believe in you. Concentrate, you can do this. Please, it will help Korra immensely." The girl looks around the room and sees the hope in everyone's eyes, yet the fearfulness as well. What if she failed and accidentally killed the Avatar?
"I will try, but I want everyone out except Tenzin. I need space and I need to concentrate, which I can not when everyone is staring at me." They follow her orders and head out. The princess makes herself comfortable on her chair and closes her eyes. She hovers her hands above Korra's body, her fingers widespread. Daiyin feels around for heat in the girl's body and finds it in her chest, where the heart was still pumping blood around.
Then came the difficult part. She grasps the heat and tries to hold onto it while she multiplies it contineously. Her first attempt went not that well. The heat slipped back without her getting the chance to make more. She searches for the heat once more and once she got it, she cramps her fingers. As if she digged her fingers into it. She frowns deeply and her muscles were strained as she separates and multiplies, separates and multiplies. With a movement towards her left leg, the heat surges to that part of her body. She covers every part of the Avatar's body in heat.
The princess slowly opens her eyes, only to close them once more. She falls off the chair, unconscious, but a few seconds later Korra woke up from her cold state. Hearing their friend awake the others entered too, joyful smiles on their faces until they catch sight of the girl on the floor.