Book 2: Earth

Chapter 13- A Fateful Encounter

"Keep moving!" Asami snapped, just as the first shell lobbed straight between the two girls. Korra barely had time to feel the breeze of the missile flying past them before it demolished a supply cart behind them in a fiery explosion. The opening salvo was immediately followed by half a dozen more as each compartment of the Earth Bending tank opened a hatch, firing their projectiles in turn.

Asami and Korra leapt in the air as they ran, narrowly avoiding a shell that exploded above just where they had been standing mere moments before.

Not content to simply retreat, Korra let loose several fire blasts towards the tank as she and Asami ran for cover, but the Earth bending crew was well trained, closing the hatches of the machine and letting Korra's attack bounce off the massive beasts' armored hide. Smoke billowed from the rest of the campsite as the Earth Tank's shells tore through the neatly constructed buildings. Slaves and soldiers alike were fleeing, not willing to get in the way of the mechanical monstrosity that seemed intent on tearing apart the whole camp to take down the two Fire Nation intruders.

The caterpillar tank sped forward, its treads spewing up a cloud of dust as it charged straight towards the young girls, threatening to run them both over. But the two were quicker, Korra dove to the right, sending more bursts of flame into the tank that barely even charred the iron hull, while Asami tried to cut her way through the tank with her black blade, but it was not enough, leaving only a few light scratches on an otherwise undamaged machine.

Eventually, Korra and Asami found a spot behind a large boulder that offered temporary shelter while the Earth Tank continued bombarding at their position. They knelt under the storm of shells that chipped away at the rock, sending dust and dirt raining over them. It was a hard run, and the girls were still trying to catch their breath after their narrow escape.

As they recovered, Korra saw that they were at the entrance to the slave mines, surrounded by several carts of supplies and barrels from the miners' previous work.

"So these things only had Earth Bending discs huh?" Korra said teasingly. Even when they were pinned down fighting a house-sized tank, she couldn't help but take a jab at Asami being wrong about something for once.

That probably upset Asami more than being almost killed by an Earth Kingdom Tank.

"Okay, so maybe our intel was a bit outdated." The Sentinel huffed in annoyance. "Still doesn't change the fact that we're stuck."

"Mako and On Ji are on their way." Korra said, hoping that perhaps the transport they took with them had something in there that could take down their assailant.

"The Sato-Tank is mainly used as a transport vehicle though." Asami grumbled, "It's not built to go head to head with one of those."

"Great, just what I needed to hear." Korra instinctively ducked as another shell slammed into the boulder.

"Got any ideas?" Asami asked as she peered over the rock to see if there was at least an opening to slip through, but she was quickly rewarded by another cannon shot. This one hitting a stack of barrels behind which suddenly exploded with force, knocking the girls against the rock and filling the entrance of the tunnel in a pillar of smoke and flame.

Surprised at the extent of the blast, Korra quickly darted her eyes to the other parts of the camp, where she noted several more barrels being stacked by the other mine entrances.

"I think I may just have one..." Korra said with a conspiratorial smile.

__________________________________

The city of Ba Sing Se.

Eternal. Impenetrable.

It was the largest and oldest settlement in the world, far eclipsing the Fire Nation Capital in its size and splendor a slight concession that even Phoenix Lord Azula had to make when she conquered the city in her youth. Instead, she sought to add that grandeur to her empire, the crown jewel of her domains in the former Earth Kingdom. Within the last twenty years, the city had been torn down and rebuilt anew. Steel towers and billowing factories dominated what was once the outer ring, churning out weapons of war as well as armor to feed the endless machine that was the Fire Nation army.