Kuvira's Assistant

Chapter 19

"Akemi, it's Kuvira. Are you on your way to Air Temple Island?" Kuvira proudly asked her assistant, standing dominantly in the middle of her giant mecha's metal skull. "... Akemi?"

Impatiently walking up and down the hall above which the main ceiling hatch loomed, Akemi was waiting to let Asami's team into the airship to capture Bataar. She rushed back into the room after hearing the muffled voice of her girlfriend through the office doors down the hall.

"Kuvira, hello! Congratulations..." She faked her excitement. Really, she was boiling with rage, distress and worry. "I was in the kitchenette and heard you radio in to me."

"I thought something was wrong! Glad to hear your voice..." Kuvira doted a little. "Are you and Bataar ready to negotiate with the President? Make sure you go over the terms with him at least one more time. You've not got that much time left..."

"Don't worry, Kuvira, we went over the list a couple of times, and it's ingrained in both of our heads. Besides, I'll do the talking."

"I'm surprised you two have been so civil. You haven't punched him back, have you?" She joked, clearly in a good mood. "Does your lip hurt when you speak? Maybe he can just talk on your behalf..."

As Kuvira was talking, Akemi spotted an airbender headed her way, and sure enough, they signalled her with a reflective piece of metal. Time to get into position.

"No, no, no! It's perfectly fine, as I said it's just a bruise now and -" the assistant's eyes traced the airbender's movement; they were heading up above the airship, "and yeah. Don't worry about me. We'll radio you once we land as well, and then-"

Shit, they were really close. She really had to go now.

"Then? Akemi, you alright?" Kuvira attempted to nudge Akemi into continuing her sentence.

"Then I can finally be with you, peacefully." Akemi made up the rest of her sentence since she'd gotten distracted. It was, in fact, all she wanted after all, but things had gotten so messed up since this mission started... She'd have to worry about spending time with Kuvira later.

"Kuvira, I'll go get ready now and go over the plan with Bataar one last time. We'll radio you when we're there. Stay safe." She sort of abruptly hung up, and rushed towards the main hatch. Bataar was rehearsing all the way in the larger meeting room, distracted. Perfect.

The rest of the airbenders jumped off of Oogie and landed on the roof of the airship, looking for the main hatch. Akemi had engraved a large 'X' on the outside of the hatch to make sure they didn't descend through the wrong one, and sure enough, they'd spotted it.

Akemi was prepared to just open it from the inside, but Korra instantly metalbent it open from outside. As the firebender clung onto the metal ladder, halfway up towards the hatch, the airbenders jumped down, startling her a little. "Oh, okay...!" She whispered as she jumped down to join them.

Bowing at Tenzin, Bumi and the Avatar, Akemi introduced herself. "Hello, Akemi here." Trying to keep things short, she continued whispering, "I'll lead the way to Bataar. Restrain him, and make sure to cover his eyes as well so he doesn't see that I was a part of this."

The group nodded, and followed Akemi's lead.

"This is General Iroh. Pass me on to Commander Toshiro, please."

"General Iroh." A strange voice answered the prince's call.

"... Toshiro? Who is this?"

"This is Lieutenant Kuzon. We... Um, we can't find Commander Toshiro, sir." The man responded. A gaggle of nervous marines were in a ship's radio room, passing the radio receiver around trying to avoid breaking the news to the General themselves.

"What do you mean you can't find him?? Where was he last??"

"He was on the front fleet, sir. We can't seem to locate him, and he isn't responding to any radio calls, sir." The Lieutenant's voice was audibly trembling; it was clear that he was very unsure, but had something morbid at the back of his mind.

"Let me speak to your Major!!!!" Iroh yelled into the receiver, startling the younger man, and within a matter of seconds, another voice was on the line, this time a woman's.

"General Iroh, sir, Commander Toshiro's ship was completely annihilated. We've been searching for him since the blast."

Bataar, now inside a potato sack, was flung out of the airship and was caught by Jinora and Kai, who were standing guard outside the hatch.

"Thank you, Akemi, for everything." Tenzin mumbled to her so that Bataar doesn't hear him.

Stumbling outside with them, Akemi nodded with a small smile and began to close the hatch.

"Wait, aren't you staying for the negotiations?" Korra asked her, a hand on her shoulder.

Pain suddenly evident in her eyes, Akemi turned around with a frown to clarify, "I'm coming with." Korra nodded, not questioning her, but Tenzin seemed a little surprised.

Noticing that, Akemi continued, "The negotiations will be fruitless. Republic City would lose either way. We've got to get to Kuvira's mecha and disable it before anything else. I realised that it'll be very hard to get Bataar to speak, so we'll pretend that you've captured me too." Akemi couldn't help but think of her brother as she spoke. Besides everything she just said, she was livid at the thought that Kuvira could have carelessly killed him. Thousands of lives were at stake, and Toshiro's may have been one of the first to have faced that ruthless spirit cannon.

"Let's get going then." Tenzin agreed, and blew his bison whistle. "Follow us on Oogie."

The firebender shot herself off of the airship and flew, on flames, towards the sky bison, joined by Jinora.

"Yip yip!" The young airbending master exclaimed, and the group was off, headed towards a warehouse in Republic City.