Not Your Hero

Chapter 9

Korra's heart tightened. "Are they where I think they are?" She asked, but mostly to Asami. They were in a small airship making its way to the gathering, and Korra just couldn't help being tense.

Asami stared at the screen for a while but then nodded in confirmation. "Le'ts give them the benefit of doubt." Korra decided. But she didn't like the look of this. Why would they be meeting there, of all places?

The airship soon landed at the gathering site, and the team rushed into Republic City Government. Their scans showed that the people were in an underground basement, but there were no stairs that lead to lower floors. Fortunately, Mako pulled out a seismic detector they'd put in the airship and located a hatch inside the janitor's closet that goes into the basement. Very subtle, Korra thought.

Descending the stairs, they could hear hushed voices. "We should start here, it's the most efficient place." Someone was whispering. Then another person whispered, "But if we start there our plan will be discovered before we could even begin. Those middle-class people are pretty sensitive." Then another guy popped in, "We're starting low, remember? Less suspicion..."

For some reason, some of the voices sounded familiar, but Korra just couldn't decipher who they belonged to. They were at the foot of the stairs now and could hear the people clear as day. Korra looked at her teammates in turn. They all told her, in their own looks of wavering confidence but also trust, something so rarely seen in any officer's eyes now, that they were ready. There was no turning back now. In perhaps the beginning of the end of the mission, the final battle, and the calm before the storm, Korra suddenly thought about how her fellow officers rarely trusted each other anymore, rarely followed each other into battle anymore, even though they'd fight together if needed. In those final seconds, Korra thought about how this team that learned to stick together through a tough mission was one of the greatest gifts USOF could give her. And Asami. It was this second that Korra finally admitted the truth to herself. She wanted to be with Asami forever, to have more heart-felt talks but to be there to see her every moment, because every moment spent with her is beautiful. Korra likes Asami Sato. Maybe even more than like.

But there'll always be a time for sentiments. Giving Asami and then the brothers one last look of friendship and trust, hoping that she'd conveyed her emotions well enough, Korra placed her right hand down to her sword and drew her handgun with her left hand. She felt the two dadaos fastened on her back--she might need that later. The other three all brought their weapons up respectively. Bolin with a rifle that suited his burly size; Mako with two pistols Korra remembered had been the newest lethal design; and Asami with her own handgun, a shortsword strapped to her belt. With one look, they understood. They ran into the room.

Korra lifted her gun to the air, shooting twice yelling at everyone to drop their weapons and get down on the ground. Then they all stopped. A couple of hunched figures stood in the center of the room, looking at a map of presumably Republic City. Korra froze, thinking her eyes were tricking her. Then she took in the situation. They came at the worst possible time ever. At least two dozen guards stood around them, rifles pointed, ready to shoot all of them into oblivion. They were pushed to stand back-to-back.

Then out of the blue, Korra smirked. Judging by their stances, she could see the men weren't well-trained. They put their weight on the foot in front instead of balancing it; their position was too up-tight, making it easy for someone to out-maneuver them; and their arms holding the weapons in place were relaxed and not tense at all, buying them valuable seconds of reaction time. Stalling, Korra spoke up. "You're not that much of a threat, are you? Think we're a couple of teenagers to scare off? Ask those men, they'll tell you otherwise." Korra jerked her head at the people around the map. One of them jutted their gun in her face. Korra hissed. She needed to give a sign for the team to attack.

Bolin tensed. "I don't think we can take them, Korra." Korra knew otherwise. Bolin was always the confident one. Then came the idea, the sign. "For the love of Raava..." Korra half cursed, half yelled, hoping that they'd get the idea. Luckily the other three did, and Korra somersaulted across one of the men before any of them could react. Dropping to the ground to avoid a flurry of bullets, she sliced the legs of a few men, making them scream and fall down. Korra frowned. Such weakness would get them kicked out of the academy. She learned from her training that you never give up your freedom, and you never ceed due to a small wound. Aiming her gun, she accurately shot down a few more before looking around to see how the other three were doing. Remarkably well, it seemed. Bolin had already shot down the ones standing while Mako dealt with the ones closing up on him. Asami was almost finished knowing the air out of her attackers. It was a spectacle to watch her fight. She was so graceful, moving in between the men to land in attacks. Her moves were too fancy for Korra, but she pulled them off with an astounding level of speed and agility. It was like watching a dancer that has rehearsed for ten years show off her skill on stage, only Asami was much more offensive.

Korra made sure their attackers wouldn't be attacking them soon by kicking the conscious ones in their wounds. They grunted in pain, not bothering to rise anymore.

Then the captain turned her attention to the figures who hadn't moved since the fight begun. They had the confidence that their lives would be spared. For the first time since they stepped foot in the basement, Korra's mind registered the identity of the people around the map. She only recognized Amon and two others. The other two she presumed to be Savior officers. "President Raiko, General Tenzin. What are you two doing here?"

"I was expecting you to show up, young avatar, but I didn't expect you this soon." Tenzin addressed her.

"What did you call me? And you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?" Korra asked angrily.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tenzin asked. At this rhetorical question, Korra's blood ran cold. But she didn't have the time to think, or the time to ask more questions. She could hear more platoons arriving.

"You got lucky this time, Avatar. You won't escape next time." Tenzin warned.

Korra vaguely remembered Asami dragging her out of there while the brothers held off the advancing troops.

Once they were on the airship back to the USOF compound in Ba Sing Se, which was supposed to be their rendezvous point with Tenzin, Korra finally let out a huge sigh. No one had spoken a word since the exchange in the basement, too wrapped up to talk.

"This changes everything..." Asami murmured.

[End of Part 2: Let's Take Them Down]

A/N: dadao is the Chinese for big swords (see the ones Zuko was using, or Google). Hope you like the plot so far! 🥰