Winding Legacies: A 'The Legend of Korra' Rewrite

Episode 10: Operation: Beifong Part 2

As the soldiers and workers followed Kuvira and Baatar as they escorted the cannon out of the facility's front gates, Opal and Lin led the charge around the back of the facility. Slipping in through the door of another storage unit, Lemaya closed the door behind them as Toph and Bolin pushed aside two large wooden crates to reveal a hidden door in the floor.

"What should I do if someone's coming?" Lemaya whispered into the darkness.

"Stomp twice on the ground," Toph nodded. "I'll hear it."

Funnelling down the stone steps, Lin stops the group just before the landing. Since they were too far down for Kuvira to hear, she began to tunnel around the cavern's doors and the light guard that had been posted. Toph and Opal pressed themselves into the shadow of one half of the hole while Lin and Bolin lined themselves in the other. From Lin's canvassing, there were no guards on the inside of the door, leaving them more room for error than they thought.

"Okay, someone's going to have to get on the cage and free the prisoners," Opal began.

"I can swing them back over here with my cable. Then, Bolin can catch them."

"What about the noise?" Toph hummed.

"I'll control the air to quiet anything. And, if someone opens the door, I can make the cage go still really quickly." Nodding, Toph switched places with Opal as Lin readied herself to jump to the cage. With a soft grunt, Toph and Bolin lurched the ground beneath Lin's feet into the air and propelled her over the wide chasm. The wooden box creaked under her weight, but Opal was ready. The sound of the cage adjusting to the new force came across the divide like the whisper of a cough.

Peeling back the top of the cage, Lin shared a smile with her sister. As she readied her children, Suyin couldn't help but say, "I didn't think you would be the one to save us."

"We've come a long way," Lin returned.

Bolin braced himself as Wei was lowered into his arms with a relieved sigh. "Good to see you finally came around," he teased, giving Bolin's cheek a soft pat. Bolin's face flushed. He had no time to respond, though, as Lin readied Wing to be swung over. Wei climbed out of Bolin's arms to safety as Lin dropped Wing to Bolin and went back to pull Huan out of the cage.

"Just you?" Wing asked as Bolin set him on the ground.

"Mako was otherwise engaged," Bolin bit back as Opal chuckled at his wrinkled nose. Keeping an ear on the noise levels coming from the cage, she took a moment to hug her brothers. Bolin brought Huan to safety, adding another number to their embrace and biting his lip worriedly as Lin paused atop the cage.

Suyin gently rubbed her husband's arm, a slight exasperated tinge lining her voice. "Sweetie, it'll be fine. Lin won't drop you, and Bolin will catch you."

Baatar Sr. violently shook his head. "No, no, just go. Leave me, I'll stay here," he whimpered, leading further into the corner of the cage. Suyin looked up at her sister for help, to which Lin groaned and thrust out her hand. A thin cable wrapped around Baatar Sr.'s legs and lifted him out of the wooden crate. His head hung above the chasm for only a moment before Lin swung him to a waiting Bolin, but that was enough for his piercing scream to echo throughout the entire room.

Her eyes going wide, Opal rushed to conceal the vibrations of his voice, but the door to the chamber had already begun to creep open. Lin dropped into the cage and closed the opening as best as she could without getting them stuck. Hoping the darkness would shroud the lack of other people, Suyin leaned against the wooden slats and offered the guard who came to investigate a half-lidded smile.

"Sorry, night terrors. You know how kids get."

The soldier scanned the wall of the room with a suspicious eye, but Toph had already been two steps ahead. No holes or evidence of sabotage stared back at him, so he turned to leave with a few quiet curses lining his breath. Suyin waited until a minute after the door closed to rouse Lin. Then, they pushed open the top of the cage together, and Lin flung her cable back into the stone ceiling and swung them to the hold Toph had reopened.