Not Your Hero

Chapter 1

Korra grinned. Sparring was her favorite time of the day. Though she graduated from the Academy three years ago, she still liked to spar every day. Old habits die hard, she mused. Though if one were to ask her younger self if sparring was a habit of hers, the answer would be most likely be negative. There was more to it than the simple fact that Korra liked to spar, though that was certainly one of the reasons.

Wearing a simple tunic and pants, she walked to the sparring matt in the basement. Activating two combat robots, she picked up a wooden longsword. Swords were getting old-fashioned, but guns and rifles were too uncivilized for Korra's taste. The power to obliterate a whole line of people in front of her never intrigued her too much.

The robots and Korra faced off. Without a second thought, Korra leaped forward in an aggressive attack. The two bots parted, watching her figure hurtle fly through them. They saw that attack coming from a mile away. Their Artificial Intelligence system was very apt at analyzing movements and predicting outcomes, giving the robots their impressive reaction speed and attack precision. Korra wasn't easily beaten, however. She'd trained with those kinds of bots for years, making her as skilled a fighter. Steadying her stance, she attacked one robot with ferocious speed while dodging the offenses of the second, making sure that even their advanced AI wouldn't have time to dodge her jabs. Dodge, parry, attack, attack, dodge, dodge again... The robots were immaculate in both their tactics, as they always were. But Korra got her opening. Dropping down to dodge an attack, she swung upward with her sword in one powerful uppercut, successfully disarming one bot and, turning around, kicking its torso. The robot fell right into the second one.

Someone clapped. "Sometimes I think your brain is wired like the computer, Korra. My my, you've managed to beat two of these bots all at once. That's a first, even for you."

Korra looked up to see the source of the voice, accepting the towel offered to wipe the sweat off her brow. "Please, Kuvira. We both know that beating the robots is just a matter of effort."

Kuvira grinned. "You do realize that those bots are designed to be almost unbeatable, right? Their programming is just impossible for normal humans to beat. No officer here has ever taken those bots head-on and won, never mind two"

Korra frowned. "Those robots aren't unbeatable, they're programmed by humans, for spirits' sake. They're not perfect. Besides, the meaning of their system is to help you improve, not to be beaten. And heck, we both know I'm the only officer here frequenting the mats. Also, aren't you supposed to be on duty today, Sergeant?" Korra changed the subject quickly. Ever since she was a young cadet in the academy she'd been told she was different. Every cadet there was talented, or so the trainers said. But Korra was, well, better than talented. She hasn't yet figured out the better-than-talented part, so it was best to leave it without all the unwanted attention.

Kuvira smirked smugly at Korra's question. "Not today, Captain. Duty work is for the sergeants. A bit below my rank now." Kuvira laughed at the captain's raised eyebrow. "Relax Kor. I got promoted a couple of hours ago. Feel free to address me as Lieutenant Kuvira from now on." The captain only rolled her eyes at this. Keeping a low profile was never Kuvira's style.

"Anyway, all jokes aside, the reason I came down here was to inform you that there'll be an officers' meeting tomorrow at 08:00 sharp. Luckily, they invited me, the newly promoted officer, to attend. Heaven knows you could use some company there." Kuvira was right of course. Korra always found herself either dozing off or preventing herself from flipping the table during those meetings with her superior. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" "Oh yes, bright and early, just the way you dislike." Kuvira chuckled. "No one gets up early voluntarily on mornings, Kuv." Korra replied.

They were at the newly built USOF compound in Ba Sing Se. The United Special Operations Force. A mediocre name, but then the generals were always so preoccupied with their "strategies" to give the force a proper name. Not that it was a huge organization--it had a thousand members maximum. And not that the generals' strategies were much needed now: there aren't any battles waiting to be won. USOF is a special secret task force consisting of elite fighters that successfully graduated from Raava Academy, the Academy for short. Those fighters are the best of the best. With the world military up for show only, they're the real ones keeping the world from falling apart. They fight whenever and wherever they're needed. The world is at peace because USOF does its work so quietly.

Well, anywhere but USOF is peaceful. Here, sergeants and their teams monitor the vast republic attentively, watching for any sign of trouble. Officers' meetings are common, where officers of higher ranks meet to hand out assignments and discuss strategies that would maintain the current peaceful state.

With a sigh, Captain Korra deactivated the combat robots and headed to her quarters. She was insanely lonely. Kuvira was her only friend. Ever since she entered Raava Academy, she'd been singled out by the cadets. They were all extremely talented, chosen among 9 billion people, but Korra was just better than all of them. Better than talented. As her fellow cadets were kicked out one by one, Korra raced up the ranks. With no friends, her only companion had been the combat robots. She sparred with them every day, ever since she entered the academy at 4 years old. Her intense training made her the youngest graduate ever, graduating at 15 years old. At USOF, Korra still had no friends. The other officials were way older than her. Only Kuvira, at 20, was mildly close to her 18 years of age.

Korra turned off the lights on flopped onto her bed. Whatever the case, she wasn't looking forward to another boring officials' meeting. She wasn't looking forward to the dreams again, but then she had to sleep.

A/N: I'm aware of another Korrasami fanfic titled Raava Academy (one of my personal favorites). I've thought about other names, but Raava Academy does fit the academy's nature. I'll try not to use the name too much, in case someone accuses me of plagiarism. Comments, please! I want to know what you guys think of this hopefully not-terrible chapter. Vote if you like! Really appreciate the support.