Not Your Hero

Chapter 16

A/N: A good song for this chapter is Demons, by 2CELLOS, not by Imagine Dragons. I'll tell you where to play it.

[Part 4: What Now?]

"Hold on, are you really suggesting what I'm thinking? Are you out of your mind, Korra? This is insane! You'll be lucky if you ever pull it off, and if I'm not wrong, you're planning on pulling it off alone! What gives you the confidence that you'll succeed?" Asami screeched.

"Come on, Sato, don't be such a spoilsport. It's a good plan, and it could work. You must've seen my history at USOF. I have a reputation for carrying out impossible missions successfully and usually solo. When have I ever failed?" Korra grinned. It was a reckless plan, even she had to admit, but it could work. And it was the only way that would give them a direction to head in.

"There's always a first, Korra! There's a fat chance both of us won't make it out of there, especially you. That's a huge risk." Asami furrowed her eyebrows.

"Well, can you think of a better plan then?" When met with a silent glare, Korra grinned. "My plan it is."

--

[A/N: You can play the song now.]

Korra adjusted her weapons and her clothes. She'll soon be making a grand appearance. Although this wasn't the first time she'd be making such an introduction, she was a bit nervous. But her job was much easier, compared to Asami's. Korra just had to do what she did best: drawing attention. Asami, quite the opposite.

Now, Korra stood in front of the USOF compound disguised as an office building that she once dared call home. But that seemed like so long ago. This place took her away from home and hid her identity from her. Korra was no hero, but she had to make everything right. It was her job to fix all this mess, hero or not.

She took a deep breath.

"I'm going to create a huge diversion and go after Tenzin to make him talk. But the focus is you. Asami, you must get down to the briefing room and figure out what Tenzin's been up to. There must be files there." Korra had told Asami. "Be careful, Korra," was Asami's only response.

Unsheathing the sword at her belt, she moved to the front gate and slashed it down. All of the patrols will be heading this way soon. If they'd listened to me when I proposed a change of tactic, this wouldn't have happened. Their loss.

A sergeant and his team soon came running Korra's way. They each carried a heavy rifle. Korra had disposed of it the moment she was promoted to lieutenant. The rifle was inefficient and a burden to carry around. Quickly rolling to their dark side, she kicked one of them in the shin and took advantage of their momentary confusion to destroy the rifles in their hands. Two more quickly went down with a deep gash on their thighs. Kicking down their leader in the process, Korra quickly sheathed her sword and moved on. She had to distract the guards for a few more moments, using any means necessary. If they came in swarms, she couldn't promise that everyone would make it out of this ordeal alive.

"There are usually three teams on patrol at night and three more standing by. Once I get through these six the rest would be easy. The guards inside the compound are employed, so it'd be easy to take them out. The alarms should've sounded by the time the first team is down. That's your cue to go." Asami should be sneaking in by now. She's a great fighter, she'll have no problem fighting some guards.

Two more teams came running. Korra had just heard them, but luckily they couldn't see her. She dove into the woods surrounding the driveway that led up to the compound. The patrols were making much more noise than necessary. It was obvious they were never getting promoted. They're probably just some interns the Academy sent out. Dropping down from the trees and scaring the hell out of the two teams, Korra moved swiftly to take down the two teams. She could already smell blood. Punching another one in the face, it seemed that they were all down. It was then that Korra noticed they were missing a person. She turned around just in time to duck a blow that was bound to knock her out. Her opponent was strong but lacked obvious control. Quickly out-maneuvering him, she came out on his backside and hit his head with the butt of her sword.

"We won't be able to communicate because if I'm caught I can't let them trace me to you and jeopardize the entire mission. You just focus on getting in and getting out. I'll worry about myself." Korra only now regretted that decision. She desperately wanted to hear Asami's voice and make sure she was ok.

Bending down to closely inspect one of the guard's faces, Korra found that she recognized him. He was one of the boys Korra had the fortune to grow close with during her time at the academy. He was nice to her, and they became friends, but nothing more. Korra graduated a few years before him and they lost contact. Now he lay, unconscious, at Korra's feet. He once asked Korra, a week before her graduation, if she thought they were going to meet their families again. Korra said she barely knew her family.

"I hope you find someone you could love one day." He'd told her. "I hope you can get out of here one day, and live the life you want." She'd replied. "But I'll be waiting for you at USOF."

A wink. That was the last memory she ever had of him. She even forgot his name. "This is too much," Korra whispered. "But I have found someone I could love."

Footsteps were nearing her.

The Academy held no graduation ceremony for her. They tossed her a uniform and told her to report to the Ba Sing Se compound.

"No sign of the intruder!" One voice said.

Korra's first year at USOF was hard. No one ever took her seriously.

"Keep looking." Someone else, presumably their leader, said. She recognized that voice.

But Korra was the one to point out the sloppiness of some officers' fighting form. She was the one to point out that the high percentage of mission failure was due to the lack of consequences. She tried to keep the force out of trouble whenever it was possible.

"Maybe they're not out here. We should probably go back." Another guard said.

Korra always tried to help these people. They were the only, dare she say, family, she could ever turn to.

Everything came crashing down today. Korra spent her three years at USOF trying to improve everything. It wasn't easy, but officers finally respected her. She felt like she had a place there, after all. Only for her to start destroying everything USOF ever meant to her in the past hour.

The three additional teams were getting close to her now. Korra was going to step out and surprise them. They'd also probably be the last trained fighters she'd encounter tonight, assuming that the compound alarm wasn't triggered.

"I know you're a strong fighter, Korra. But if you were to fight against all those officers for your life, what would you do? Will you kill them to save your own life?" Kuvira had asked her once, during her many sparring sessions. "I don't want to find out." Korra had answered.

Judging by the voices, it was Sergeants Wing and Wei Beifong and another officer Korra didn't recognize. Korra took aim and shot both brothers in the shoulder rapidly. Her night vision was perfected after three years. Before her opponents had any time to locate her, she shot down five more, making the remaining and blundering three an easy target for her sword.

"I won't kill, but they'll be mistaken if they think I'm going to let them win," was what Korra really wanted to say.