BALANCE | CHAPTER FIVE
𝐂loud found Korra, Jinora, Opal, and Bataar Sr. outside the house. It seemed like Suyin's husband had filled them up about his wife's secret mission. The man looked worried, hunched over his knees. She quickly clipped her glider shut, and dropped on the ground in front of the the girls, immediately taking their attention. Despite the relief of seeing her fine, Suyin and the twins' absence made them worried.
"Cloudy, where are they?" Korra demanded as she rushed toward them.
Cloud shook her head regrettably. "It's Kuvira. She knew Su was going for her."
"Why were you there?"
"I thought maybe somehow I could convince her not to do it. Su thought it was the only way this ends."
"Attention citizens of Zaofu." The speakers around Zaofu suddenly crackled to life, making everybody shift at the noise. "Your leader, Su Beifong, attempted to attack me tonight while I slept, ignoring the terms of our truce. Luckily, I now have her and her assault team in custody."
Opal's face ashened. "No."
Kuvira continued. "Rest assured that I will not take revenge on the peaceful citizens of Zaofu, unless your remaining representatives meet me outside the city at dawn to offer the full and unconditional surrender of your city. That is all."
As Kuvira's voice faded, Opal turned toward Korra, furious. "Korra, you can't let Kuvira get away with this! We have to go break out Mom and my brothers!"
"You swore an oath of non-aggression when you became an airbender," Jinora said, irked by her aggression. Her eyes narrowed. "You can't just attack Kuvira!"
"I don't care about the oath!" Opal exclaimed. "I have to save my family!"
"Yes, we can't attack her," Cloud agreed, her Air Nomad and military sides clashing together. "But if she retaliates first, then we'll have no choice."
Korra put a hand on Opal's shoulder, trying to calm her down. "No, Jinora is right. Your mom attacked the camp. Kuvira was just defending herself."
"Defending herself?" Opal angrily shrugged Korra's hand off her. The latter took a small step back. "She was going to attack our city! I can't believe you're refusing to fight!"
Their brewing argument was cut off by the sound of the doors of a house behind them opening, Meelo and Ikki emerging wearing nightclothes, having been woken by Kuvira's announcement. A worried Bataar Sr. joined the younger group, seemingly aged more in a matter of minutes. Not knowing whether his wife and sons were fine was eating him up on the inside because he couldn't do much to help them.
Meelo rubbed his eyes tiredly, exclaiming, "Why is that loudspeaker lady talking when I'm trying to sleep?"
"Sorry 'bout that, Meelo," Cloud mumbled, ruffling her little cousin's hair as he joined them with Ikki beside him.
"Korra, what are we going to do?" Bataar Sr. asked desperately.
"Jinora and I will go talk to Kuvira at dawn, and, maybe, we can work something out," Korra told them as Huan, who was also awakened by Kuvira's threat, walked up behind Opal. "I promise, I'll do everything I can to keep the peace."
Opal hesitated. "I'll go with you."
"We'll go, too," Ikki chimed in.
"No!" Jinora exclaimed. "Dad told us to find Korra, and we did. Now you need to stay safe."
"Come on! Let us help!"
"I can't risk anyone else being captured. You can stay with Baatar and Huan while I work things out with Kuvira," Korra said crouching down to their height. Then she turned to Bataar Sr. who stood behind the children. "Make sure they get back to Tenzin if anything goes wrong."
Bataar nodded, exchanging looks with Korra and Cloud.
"Aw, man!" Meelo groaned. "When am I gonna see some action?"
"When you're old enough," Cloud quipped, poking Meelo and Ikki's forehead, the children pouting at her. "Staying safe is your mission now. Listen to your captain, okay?"
Meelo sent her a flimsy salute, clearly dejected. "Aye-aye, captain."
"Yes, Cloudy," Ikki mumbled.
"I love you, kids." Cloud smiled half-heartedly, patting each of their shoulders reassuringly. They looked up at her with big eyes. Her cousins clearly believed in her more than anybody else. She was practically their inspiration. "I'll see you all later."
As Baatar Sr. and Huan left with the kids, Korra turned to her. "You coming?"
"You know I am," Cloud grinned, hefting her glider. "Now, go try to talk some sense on her. I'll be right next to you."
Well, it did not go very well. Kuvira ended up challenging Korra to a one-on-one—the loser surrenders, the winner takes Zaofu—and it was nerve-wracking to watch. Especially since Cloud could see her friend was having a hard time controlling her bending. Then she went into the Avatar state, only to falter and helplessly fall back down which gained Kuvira the upper hand.
"I don't understand," Jinora muttered, concerned. "We got the poison out; what's wrong with her?"
Cloud pursed her lips. "It's not the poison."
Just as Kuvira was about to finish off Korra who was entrapped in a boulder, with one look from Cloud, the two younger airbenders sent an air blast to cut off Kuvira's way from the Avatar. Kuvira, caught off guard, flew through the air, landing hard on her back in front of her troops. Rising to her feet with the help of two of her soldiers, she angrily cries out at the airbenders.
"You broke our agreement!" Kuvira snarled. Then she turned to her army. "Attack!"
The army immediately charged forward, hundreds against three, and Cloud, Jinora, and Opal created a tornado to hold them back. Several soldiers were blown away and the rest were rendered unable to do anything but brace against the raging wind. Cloud shot Jinora a look, calm but calculated as she moved her arms to control the wind. "I need you to do the spirit thing. Call for help."
Jinora nodded and yelled over the wind. "Keep them back!"
"You bet I will," Cloud muttered, glaring through the tornado as the army failed to advance any further. Her gaze landed on Suyin, Wei, and Wing, trapped inside a metal casing, and it brought a sense of anger through her. She looked at Opal. "I'm going to get Korra."
"Okay," Opal breathed, keeping the tornado formed.
Cloud launched into the air, the raging wind barely bothering her as she landed in front of the Avatar. Korra stirred from her unconscious state, her eyelids fluttering open. When she realized she was there, Korra broke through the wall surrounding her, but she immediately fell limp again. Cloud was quick to catch her, slinging an arm around her shoulders, and keeping her up as Korra clung onto her.
"I've got you," Cloud muttered as she began to drag them off toward the others inside the tornado.
"Dive, Pepper, dive!" Her gaze shot upward, finding Meelo on Pepper and Ikki atop Kiko as the sky bison dove into the midst of the tornado. "Here comes a hurricane! You can't handle all this Meelo!"
The tornado died down, Opal and Jinora grabbed Korra from her and launched themselves onto Pepper's back, Ikki hovered beside Pepper on Cloud's sky bison, Kiko, while Meelo and Cloud airbends at Kuvira's tanks. The airbending master landed next to her female cousin, sending furious blasts at the army below them. Meelo flashed her a grin from Pepper, clearly enjoying the blasting and fighting, which earned a tilted head from the older cousin as Pepper took off, Cloud following after in her own bison.
"We have to save them!" Opal cried out, preparing to jump off to get her mother and brothers, but she was stopped by Jinora and Ikki who transferred to Pepper.
"Stay down, Opal," Cloud said calmly as she flew close beside them. However, there was a strain on her throat when she looked back at the family getting left behind.
"Opal, get out of here, we'll be fine!" Suyin shouted, watching them fly away on the sky bison's backs. She briefly made eye contact with Cloud, exchanging a silent agreement with her. Keep them safe. "Just go!"
Opal sobbed. "I'll be back for you! I love you!"
With a heavy heart, Cloud ushered Meelo to keep going and she took her position at the helm of her sky bison, setting her glider on her lap as she gripped the reins. The cheers of Kuvira's army faded behind them as they celebrated their victory and Cloud forcefully flew Kiko over the horizon, following close behind her family, and leaving Zaofu, the once peaceful metal city, in its wake.