Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

Episode 5: Enemy at the Gates Part 2

"So?" Bolin jumped as Kuvira suddenly appeared behind him. He had been hesitating outside her cabin door, expecting that she was in there. Knowing that she had probably been watching him that entire time made his heart thump rapidly in his chest. "Did you negotiate Su's surrender?"

"Unfortunately, she basically told me to kick rocks," he forced past his dry throat.

"Hmm. I would have expected stronger language after she locked you in her office."

Bolin gulped as Kuvira walked past him, sliding open her door with a simple wave of her finger and ushering him inside. He followed so closely behind that he worried she could feel the waves of nervousness crashing into him. Kuvira poured them both a cup of tea as they took a seat on the parallel couches that he had sat on many times before. Except this time, he knew that Kuvira could see right through him. Any other questionable offense of his could have been written off, but not that one.

"Well, she did try to say that I was brainwashed." He chuckled, but Kuvira did not seem to find any humor in his words so he added, "I, of course, convinced her that I wasn't which is why she let me go."

"What you are trying to tell me is that Suyin put her office on lockdown because she was going to attempt to un-brainwash you?" Bolin didn't even need to see Kuvira's raised brow to know how stupid that sounded. He hid his skirted glance under a long sip of tea as he crafted his response.

"She said it more Su-y than that, but yes."

Kuvira was quiet for a long while. Then, she said, "Well, I knew it was a long shot to get you to convince Su of anything, but I am glad that she saw your face."

"Really?" Bolin set down his now empty cup and resorted to messing with the tassels on the pillow behind him.

"Yes. It'll make things much more high stakes when I use you as leverage in my negotiations." There was no time for him to even scream before his arms were forced together by the metal cuffs on his wrists fusing. His collar slid up to his mouth and tightened as Kuvira pushed herself to her feet and wistfully sighed. "I was thinking a visit to Kisuta might make you more useful to me, but this will do just nicely."

She handed him off to one of her senior soldiers who escorted him to his room to gather his belongings so that he could join Varrick in solitary confinement. Though, it wouldn't exactly be as solitary now. Temporarily, his hands had been unbound so that he could grab some of the tools he had used to help Varrick previously. Ever so carefully under the watchful eye of the soldier, Bolin began to slide his years-worth of tapes out from underneath his mattress and slip them into the pockets of the work bag. If he had known he was going to be imprisoned, he would have packed all his stuff beforehand.

As the door clicked shut behind him, Bolin couldn't help but glare at Varrick. "Why didn't you mention they were locking you up!" He didn't quite care anymore about blowing their cover since they were already under suspicion. After that, the only thing left to do was plot their escape, but it certainly could've gone a lot smoother if Bolin could have coordinated it with Su in the few hours he was set free.

"I felt that talking about a super weapon was an easier thing to explain if it got into the wrong hands than the threats on my life," Varrick shot back as he turned his nose up at Bolin.

"Whatever. What have you found in this room?" he asked as his head swiveled around.

"Nothing besides a nice corner to cry in."

Bolin groaned. It was officially the worst day of his life.

---------------

"Okay, you ready, Tosi?" The airbender nodded his head as Lemaya flipped open her fans, her eyes narrowing on her target. At the count of three, she shot rounds of water bubbles at Tosi that he tried to dodge with various evasive airbender maneuvers. He managed to slip past all but one, the large splash drenching him in enough water to boil noodles.