Chapter Text
Korra looked at her three captors calmly. Or as calmly as she could, anyway. What hit me? It fucking hurt! It still really hurt, in fact. Hit actually seemed like an understatement, as whatever-it-was actually went right through her. If that had hit me in a slightly different place... she shuddered. The pain in her muscle was bad enough, but if whatever it was had hit bone...
Enough! Korra knew better than to go down a spiral of what-ifs. That could lead to a very bad head-space. She focused on her primary captors again. The two younger woman were obviously together, while the blue haired one was almost certainly related to the older one. A mother and daughter, perhaps.
Those relationships established, or at least established enough that she was no longer curious, and the pain in her arm somewhat manageable, left Korra the energy to wonder what would happen next. Well, they got me... now what are they going to do with me? They were talking with one another, but she could no more understand them than they could, she presumed, understand her.
Obviously having come to some decision, the pink haired one came over and offered Korra her arm to help her up. Is that a dye, or her natural colour? Not that it mattered, but it would definitely be something to tell Asami. Outside of Huan and Ginger, and that bandit she and Asami had fought that one time, Korra couldn’t think of anyone in their world who had coloured hair. Here, on the other hand, it seemed common.
Reaching out with her good hand, Korra grabbed on and pulled herself up. The woman then gently grabbed the back of her good arm, to guide her and keep her from taking off, Korra assumed. I could probably take them, she thought, even without bending. Asami definitely could. She was injured, though, and while these three were close enough to incapacitate, there were all of the other people, all of whom had those dangerous weapons. And some dogs, too. They were just dogs, though.
Naga would make nice snacks out of them.
As they walked, Korra was very grateful they hadn’t bound her hands. She would have face-planted, tripping over roots and rocks, more than once if she couldn’t balance herself. Not that she wouldn’t try to get away the first chance she thought it viable. She was grateful, not stupid.
After about a half-hour of walking through the forest, they came to a clearing, where some kind of flying machine waited. Oh, I better pay attention. Asami would want all the details she could remember.
She continued walking with her captors as they approached the dirigible. It was only when they got to a uniformed man who quickly latched handcuffs onto her wrists, behind her back, that she realized that she maybe paid a bit too much attention to the airship. Well shit. That’s embarrassing. Plus having her hands cuffed behind her made her shoulder hurt more. Korra sighed as she went into the airship. Escape would now be a bit more difficult.
Korra stood quietly as the three women discussed something with one another. What to do with me, most likely. Hmmm, maybe...
Without hesitation, Korra moved against the nearest wall and sat down onto the floor in a cross-legged position. She only hoped that her passive demeanour would keep them from restraining her to the wall or floor. She couldn’t count on the airship being built down to Cabbage Corp standards, after all.
“Now that’s just shoddy workmanship,” Asami had stated quietly when the non-bender had facilitated their escape from the Earth Queen’s forces.
Korra smiled at the memory, but then frowned. She really hoped that Asami waited for her to make it back, and didn’t attempt to mount a rescue. No one person could ever be valuable enough to start a war over.
All three of the women went silent, and looked at her. They were perhaps a little impressed, Korra imagined, that she had sat down in such a fashion without the use of her still handcuffed hands. They then, after a further, brief moment of conversing, seemed to come to some sort of agreement, as the older woman went to another part of the airship, perhaps where the pilot would be, Korra. The two younger woman stayed with her, both of them leaning against the opposite wall of the airship, and against each other.
It worked , she thought. Of course, I can’t see where the airship is going sitting down here, but I can’t have everything. Plus, she thought she knew a way to get around that, too. For now, it might be time to meditate, and consider her options. She just had to make sure she didn’t fall asleep. She didn’t want to wake up even further from the portal than she was already!
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It seemed to Korra that she had hardly begun meditating when she heard the voice: Korra!
Raava? It’s so good to hear from you! Korra paused. I’m not asleep and dreaming, am I?
No, Korra, you are not asleep. You might someday almost remember this time as a dream, but it is not.
The portal, it took us to another world? Korra asked.
Another universe, Raava responded. And that is why you have been unable to bend here so far.
Another universe, she thought with wonder. What did that even mean? She wasn’t even sure that Asami would know that.
That was idle speculation, though, and of no importance at present. The second part of what Raava had said, however, that was more interesting.
So far? Korra frowned. What does that mean?
It means that things are different here, but not that different. You would not be able to breathe if this place was too different, among other problems. But fortunately it is not too different, so with effort, you should be able to bend, at least a little.
Well, won’t that surprise them, Korra thought. From the little she had seen, the inhabitants of this place had a large number of tricks up their sleeves, but she doubted bending was known to them.
Indeed. Concentrate on your surroundings, Korra. I have no doubt you will figure it out.
Korra’s eyes snapped open, but she did not see her surroundings. Instead, she felt them. I can feel and breathe the air – surely I can bend it? She remained cross-legged and extended her senses. She could feel the air move in and out of her lungs. She could feel the slight movements around her as she breathed and her muscles trembled. She could feel the two lovers across from her move closer into each other’s embrace. She could feel the circulation of the air in the airship, and the rush of wind as it picked up speed. She could feel the weird mixture of air from two different worlds where the portal was.
She breathed a sigh of relief. The portal was not too far away.
She could feel... everything.
There was metal in the airship she could bend; there were little bits of water, too (she ignored the fact that people are primarily water – that ability was banned for a reason). She ignored fire, too, for the moment, since she had nothing against her captors, and burning them seemed like bad form. Air, metal, and water should be enough to get her a chance to get out of there.
Korra relaxed her senses, and let the room come back into focus. The first thing she saw was the two women staring at her intently. What? Why? She stiffened as she came to a realization, then forced herself to relax again. My eyes were glowing, weren’t they? Inconvenient that they noticed, but a good sign that she would be able to bend herself out of her present predicament.
The two women discussed something, then started to stand up, the pink-haired one helping to pull the other to her feet, and Korra acted. Pushing off with her hands, a little burst of air (yes!) helped her jump up, bringing her legs up to chest as she jumped, so she could bring her hands in front of her before she landed again. The pink-haired woman’s eyes widened as Korra ran forward, knocking her right shoulder into the woman so she stumbled onto her girlfriend.
Using another brief (so weak, but so much better than nothing!) burst of air to keep her balance, she ran towards the viewing port she had previously noted, and looked to see how hard breaking open an exit would be. Adrenaline helped the pain in her shoulder fade into the background. The pain was still there, but not even worth thinking about, it had receded so much.
Her senses noted the two women untangling themselves and going towards a chest in the middle of the room. That can’t be good. No time to waste!
She started trying to bend a gap in the airship, but then ducked as she felt movement way too close to her. The pink-haired one had a giant glove on one hand and looked like she knew what to do with it. The blue-haired woman stood slightly further away, with one of those long-ranged weapons aimed directly at her.
Dammit!
Before she could regret her action, Korra spun away from both of them, but in a direction that put the pink-haired one in between Korra and the other woman. That glove looked like it could put a hole in someone. Or something, she realized. I need to goad her.
Korra reversed her direction, spinning just within what she hoped was punching range, then darting back out again, making sure to keep out of the other one’s line of sight. The pink-haired one tried to grab her, but didn’t seem interested in punching her. Annoyingly considerate.
She heard the click of the door opening behind her and flipped, using air to boost her over the man who was lunging towards where she had been. She landed and before he could even begin to turn towards her, she kicked out and launched him towards the pink haired woman, bowling them both over. Of course, that gave blue-hair a clear shot. Whoops!
Before her opponents could react, she jumped through the door and slammed it behind her. If blue-hair had had enough time to take a shot, Korra was glad that the other woman had forgone the opportunity. She couldn’t imagine she would be as fortunate as she was the first time if she got hit again.
That won’t hold them at all , she thought as she bolted down the stairs. She reached out to the metal of this part of the airship. Got it! And just in time.
The door at the top of the stairs flew open and pink-hair almost flew through the gap, jumping down the entire flight of stairs and crashing into some boxes at the bottom. Korra firmed her stance and bent a hole bigger than she was in the side of the room, opening the airship to the sky. She walked up to the edge and looked out to make sure there were no propellers underneath the airship, then turned to see both pink-hair and now blue-hair, as well, looking on, mouths agape.
Korra bowed slightly, then straightened up again. “Ladies,” she said, and then jumped out, still facing them, while giving them the finger. She laughed at their shock, and with exhilaration. I should jump out of one Asami’s airships sometime ! She spun and looked, and everything was beautiful . Blue sky, ranging from light to dark, wisps of clouds, a bright warm sun. Amazing. She could see a city in the distance, and vast numbers of airships heading towards it. Forests, and mountains, and then, below her... war. There was fighting at the portal. Her exhilaration left as quickly as it had arrived.
Shit. Asami... I love you so much, but I wish you had waited.
She spread her arms and legs wide to slow herself as much as possible while she fell, and felt her surroundings. They had not been very high or going very fast, so she didn’t have to worry about spinning, but she also didn’t have a lot of time. She found the portal, and aimed towards it as she fell, little puffs of air guiding her in the correct direction, alternating with bursts designed to keep her vertical speed below a killing velocity.
Only a few more seconds. She turned onto her left side, making sure that she was avoiding the rock field that surrounded most of the gate, and, just before impact, created a bubble of air below her, almost like an air shield.
Oh shit! Wrong si-