Fire in the Sky (TLOK)

Chapter 19: You're an Airbender, Kid

We arrived at Air Temple island. Stepping onto the shore, we slipped our hoods and masks on over our heads. I slipped on an Equalist electric glove. Korra looked at it uneasily.

"Why do you have that?" She asked, "You can lightning bend, can't you?"

"An extra precaution." I said, "In case we run into unwanted company." Mako and Korra exchanged looks but didn't protest any longer. We walked up the stairs to the temple, only to hear a voice from behind us.

"What are you three doing here?" We all turned around. He pinned me down with a harsh stare, gazing at the glove around my hand. "Who are you, new recruit?"

"Uh, yea she is." Mako said, thinking quickly, "We were just transferred here, along with her... to show her the new ropes. She hasn't gotten the uniform yet."

"Hm... weird," said the Equalist, "Because you're getting transferred again. Amon wants extra security at the arena today."

"The arena?" Korra asked, "For what?"

"The rally. You should've been briefed about this." Korra nodded, bowing, "Right, sorry. We'll be there, sir!" We watched as the man walked away, all letting out a collective sigh of relief once he disappeared from view.

"See?" I waved the electric glove in front of Korra, "Useful."

Korra nudged my hand out of her face, "Either way, how are we supposed to get in now? There's more eyes on this place than I thought."

"Don't worry," I said, looking around, dropping my voice to a low murmur, "There's a back way in. Follow me."

~~~

My days of sneaking around seemed to have culminated to this moment in my life: sneaking into my home that was crawling with enemies. There was a trap door on the east side of the temple that I would often sneak in and out of. Strolling towards it, I opened it up and gestured for the others to follow.

"Let's hide in the attic." Korra said, as I opened the attic's trapdoor. Our plan was to wait for Amon to come back to Air Temple Island, ambush him, and win. A simple plan, wobbling on a very fragile "Let's hope this goes well" attitude.

We were pretty confident going on, but as we all climbed in, I looked around, my eyes landing on someone.

"Uh, we're not alone up here." Mako said, following my gaze. I neared the shadowed figure. We were separated from him; he was held behind bars.

He looked terrible really, but somehow that gave me a sense of satisfaction in a way.

"Tarrlok?" Korra said in the silence. We pulled down our hoods.

"I don't suppose you're here to rescue me." Tarrlok said, looking weary. His usual slicked back hairdo had been completely messed up, disheveled and tangled.

"We had no idea you were here." Korra said, walking closer to the metal cell that held Tarrlok. "Are there other prisoners on the island?"

"No," Tarrlok said, "I'm the only one."

"And what makes you so special?" Korra asked. Tarrlok looked up. His turquoise eyes were dull, and hard.

"I'm Amon's brother."

"You're what?" I said, my voice coming out sharper than I wanted it to.

"Don't get me wrong," Tarrlok said, "I had no idea, until he captured me."