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𝐀fter the battle with the mecha tanks, the group ventured out of the city on Oogi's back. Tenzin didn't allow her to use her glider since she was quite injured, which left her grumbling something incoherent. Mako had saved her precious staff, after seeing it discarded on the ground, and he watched over the thing. The words discarded and staff in one sentence made her heart hurt. Her head was leaning against Bolin's shoulder until Oogi landed on the Air Temple Island.
Cloud dismounted the bison with the help of a few hands. Her back was aching so badly but she masked the pain with a big smile when Tenzin's children looked at her. It turned out Pema had given birth to a boy, and with the information, she felt herself forgetting about the pain and focused on seeing the newest addition to the family.
She stood next to Lin, Mako, and Korra as the four of them watched the joyous and quirky family get along with each other. It was truly a sight.
But everything has an end.
After being ushered away by the Air Acolyte midwives, the women tended the scrape wounds on her back from the sliding thing she'd done over the concrete earlier. She did a quick shower before changing into another pair of her Air Nomad clothing with different shades of orange and red; the usual long-sleeved yellow shirts, loose orange shawls, brown pants, and tall red boots.
She joined the others who had gathered outside, staring at the incoming airships. The female airbender tapped her fingers on her thigh in a repetitive pattern, keeping herself from biting her own nails because of anticipation. Tenzin had decided with Korra that she would hide while he and Lin escaped with his family. He would do anything for his family, even if it meant putting his own life in danger.
When another Equalist airship shot out a cable near them, the White Lotus sentries stood in a protective stance in front of the group. Cloud sent a nod at the team and let them mount the polar bear dog and when Naga ran, she airbent an air swipe towards the Equalists and swept them off their feet, giving the White Lotus sentries a head start before she flicked her glider open and launched into the air, following after her friends.
The Lieutenant tried to chase them but Naga jumped up and used her right paw to smack the Equalist off of the cliff face, running past it. Cloud let out a short laugh of amusement, and she watched them dive into the sea as Korra waterbends a large water bubble around them. Reaching the bay, the team situated themselves inside a large drainage pipe, watching in disdain as the Air Temple Island was raided before continuing further inside the tunnel.
It was the next day, and ever since the team had escaped from the island, they'd been staying at Korra's friend's hideout under the city. Cloud was talking with some of them like she'd known them before. They were the nicest people she ever met. She was constantly biting off the celery she held in her hand. Gommu had cooked some peculiar stew for them, but she was vegetarian so she had to pass for that.
On the third day, the team departed from their kindhearted friends in the sewer, and now hiding in the same drainage pipe. The fog was thick across the Yue Bay. It almost looked eerie. As if there was a sea monster hiding beneath them waiting to attack although that would be worse.
"The coast is clear." Mako beckoned for the others to see.
The five ran out of the pipe and climbed an access stairway to an observation deck above. They crouched by the railing as Bolin scanned the bay with a telescope before realizing he was holding it in the opposite way. Cloud squinted her eyes at the ocean, her heart was slightly beating faster than usual. She noticed dim shapes through the mist, but what confused her the most was, that there weren't any signs of the Equalists.
"Wait a second... where are the Equalist airships?" Korra voiced out her thoughts.
An intimate silence fell upon the team. A cold breeze briefly swept her brown hair to the side, causing a deep frown to appear on her face when she thought of countless possibilities that could happen. Much to her surprise, two fleets of biplanes zoomed past them and towards General Iroh's battleships.
"Where does Hiroshi find the time to keep inventing new evil machines?!"
"Your dad's a mad genius, 'Sami."
"Would've been nice if he was on our side."
Korra leaped off the edge and began to swim toward the conflict which left Cloud no choice but to follow after the reckless girl who wanted nothing but to save other people even if it meant endangering her own life. Korra was selfless, and she was proud of her. But sometimes, she has to make a difficult choice of staying out of it. Unfortunately, Cloud had the same problem. There was no way she was going to leave the people in danger to fend for themselves.
The planes dropped down torpedoes to hit the battleships. There was too much damage, but Cloud was determined to reach at least one of the battleships. She landed on the side of a sinking ship. Twirling her staff around, her hard gaze searched the skies, and then she noticed an incoming biplane flying towards her.
She huffed in annoyance before spinning around, and then stomped her foot on the ship before raising her staff upwards, sending a furious blast of air that sent the planes tumbling and falling into the water, causing trickles of salt water to splatter on her.
"Stupid planes," Cloud muttered as she hastily dried herself with airbending before launching into the air again.
