Korra held Zaheer's collar, the coarse fabric scratching her skin. Her mind roamed with an internal struggle: kill or not? She wanted to, oh, did she want to. She thought of Avatar Kyoshi, who made the decision to end a life. If she could contact her past lives again, she would desperately seek her council, but she had no predecessor to ask, leaving this decision just to herself.

"Korra! Don't!" Jinora shouted. Everyone in the room turned their heads, watching the third group of allies rush through.

"Why not? He is too dangerous, and has now proven so twice," Korra said within reason.

"You know there is a better way," Jinora reminded sternly. "You don't have to take life."

"Did any of you find Asami?" Tenzin asked?

"No, but we know where they're going to take her and the baby," Kai explained, pulling an unconscious earthbender to his leg, dragging her as her head slumped over her chest.

"You subdued one?" Korra asked, eyeing the unconscious girl.

"It was an uneven fight," Suyin empathized. "Two air benders, versus a more skilled earthbender? Didn't really stand a chance, even with a team of Lotus members. But trust me, she'll talk."

"She doesn't know anything," Zaheer growled.

Korra turned her attention back to him, a passive energy radiating off her.

"I call your bluff," Korra said simply. Then, she released just one hand from Zaheer's collar. He wriggled as if he could tear away from her, but then, she raised her hand and curled her fingers inward to a fist slowly. Veins bulged in his neck and across his forehead and temples.

"Korra?" Asked Kai, weary as everyone else in the room. Yet no one rushed forward to stop her.

She didn't respond.

… if this was the Avatar's choice…

Zaheer began to choke, and his eyes rolled back, and then went limp.

"Did you kill him?" Tenzin asked, his voice working hard to withhold his disappointment.

"No," Korra said monotonously. "He's just unconscious."

"Blood bending?" Kai asked, appalled.

"I did nothing more than choke him."

"But through bending?" Kai asked, clearly disapproving.

"It's safer than with bare hands, believe it or not. I know what to focus on, whereas hands damage the whole surrounding area." The Avatar explained, letting Zaheer's body slump to the ground. "Someone bind him. I need to leave him here and continue down the path.

Korra put herself into a stance, pulling her arms up, as if to block a boxing move, then began pulling them down, dragging the earth back into its rightful place in the mountainside.

"You heard the Avatar," Lin projected, "We still have a mission to accomplish. Asami and the baby need us."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" ordered Yume, pulling Asami along with her.

The clash of Bolin's group was still happening long behind them, but they weren't out of the rescuers' hands just yet.

"Where are we going now?" Asami asked, drained, trying to look behind her, hoping to chance a glance of the fight.

"Why do you always ask?" Yume questioned, annoyed.

"Yume! Give her to me!"

Asami could recognize Sedna's voice, the worry and weak authority washed in her tone.

"She's my charge," Yume said blandly.

"She's mine," Sedna corrected with a slight seethe. "Has been this whole time if you've forgotten."

Yume watched Sedna, a light amused smile on her face. "Watch your tone," she began. Asami knew there was tension in the room, but she couldn't really tell if this was a warning or poorly timed play. "I'm a lieutenant now." Yume continued, puffing her chest out in mock pride.

"Congratulations on your promotion," Sedna gritted, "Now give her to me."

"If it makes you feel better to hold her hand," Yume teased with a flashy smirk, "She's all yours. Just make sure you get her to the extraction point."

"I know what to do," Sedna retorted, her face warming in an embarrassed blush.

Sedna snatched Asami's hand from Yume's grip, but instantly returned to a gently hold once she was completely free of the firebender's touch.

"Come on, Asami," Sedna urged quietly, starting their rushed walk down the cave tunnel.

"Where are we going?" Asami asked. "Where is my baby?"

Sedna cast a quick glance over her shoulder, watching Yume inspect them, the firebender still smirking, simply walking behind them casually, as if there wasn't a fight in the room at the start of this tunnel.

"Just another compound," Sedna answered, hurriedly. "Come on, you have to walk faster. I know you're tired, but we have to go."

"Listen, just surrender," Asami whispered, making sure Yume didn't hear her proposal. "I know Korra will accept it if you let me vouch for you."

"Please," Sedna scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I don't think so. I was the one who took her out. I'm sure there's a special place for me in her revenge."

"She will listen to my case for you, Sedna," Asami urged. "If we stop now and let her catch up, you will be spared."

"If there was a chance Avatar Korra wouldn't destroy me on the spot, there is no way Yume would let us. She already doesn't see the need in keeping you, so you'd be dead in a second."

"And you?"

"What does it matter if I'm alive and you're dead? What does that do for you?" Sedna asked, clearly irritated at the hypotheticals. "Besides, if we surrender you lose your baby. They're taking her right now, they should be ahead of us, actually. They won't hold off waiting for long. We must make it."

The clamoring behind them began to dwindle in volume, piquing everyone's interest.

Yume stopped in her tracks.

"Keep going," she instructed. Her ever-calmness bothered Asami. How could she be so collected all the time?

Sedna looked over her shoulder as she and Asami continued moving forward, but her brow was troubled as she watched Yume watch them walk away.

Turning on her heels, the firebender began walking in the opposite direction, moving closer and closer to the Avatar's party.

"So who's left?" Yume asked, overconfidence pumping in her veins. She looked down the dim hall, watching the connection between the tunnel and the room where the fight took place, waiting for her opponents.

"All of us," growled Bolin, emerging from the archway, sweat trickling down his hairline, his black hair curling just slightly from the moisture. Opal stepped out after him, breathing heavy from the fight and adrenaline within her, followed by Varrick, who had a ruffled jacket, looking like he was shaken by his clothes in the fight.

"I'm impressed," Yume complimented freely, "Especially the entrepreneur there." She lifted a hand that rested on her hip to point at Varrick. "I'm a little scared. Nothing's more terrifying than a billionaire."

"You'll be surprised what we all can do," Opal growled. "Maybe if you didn't judge opponents on predispositions, your team wouldn't have lost back there."

Yume shrugged. "They were just rookies anyway," she said, rolling up her sleeves.

"And what are you?" twitched Varrick, irritated. "The firelord?"

Yume looked up as she finished fixing her sleeves, her golden eyes looking at the battlefield ahead of her, a thin black strand of her hair falling out of place.

"I should be."

She then pushed her hands out, the edges of her wrists pressed together as a large plume of fire erupted from her hands, blooming like dragon's breath, roaring in a deep growl, the flames reaching the cave ceiling and licking the ground.

Bolin instantly raised a wall of earth, providing cover for him and his teammates. The heat from her flames was volcanic, as the plume threatened to crawl over the walls of the barrier.

"She's powerful," Opal admitted to everyone's chagrin, Yume's plume still raging, trapping them. "I can try to use airbending to extinguish the flames…"

"Are you out of your mind?" Varrick balked. "No offense, but with her flame is filling this entire tunnel. We wouldn't even be able to cover you for you to make a shot."

Bolin crouched, thinking hard, feeling the rock wall turn warmer and warmer. They only had so much time left.

"She's trying to get us to retreat…" Bolin noted. "She could just kill us, but she's delaying... "

"Maybe we should take it," Varrick suggested, his face glowing from rapidly sweating face. "I don't think she's the kind of girl to make the offer again."

Bolin shook his head. "We can't let Asami down," he said. "She knows we're here, she knows we're trying to save her. We have to get her."

"Then what do you have in mind? Because we can't beat her head on," Varrick muttered.

Bolin reached down to touch the ground. He couldn't see the terrain ahead of him anymore, but he knew from Toph's descendants that sensing the earth was the main vein of their bending.

"Let me just…" he closed his eyes to focus, and the edging flames closed in more, and he could tell that Yume was taking closer steps.

"You're running out of time," Yume said. "I don't usually give people a chance to get away…"

Bolin focused harder and harder, reaching out, finding Yume's footsteps. And then, her flame faltered, and the firebender yelped.

"Now!" Bolin shouted.

Opal knew she had to trust him, so she stood up, sending a strong arm out in front of her, a powerful blow of wind emerging from her hand. For the split second it took in the fog of war, Opal could see that Bolin had turned the ground under Yume's feet to molten lava, and the firebender had relocated to a safer spot. Now was their chance. The blow knocked into Yume, sending her ten feet into the tunnel, the firebender tumbled against the dirt in a few rotations.

"Go! Now!" Bolin shouted.

Yume had scuttled back onto her feet quickly, sending a punch of flame towards Opal with an uppercut motion. Opal responded with a rigorous burst of air, extinguishing almost all of it. Yume groaned in frustration, adding punch, after punch, after punch, and a swift kick, sending fire towards the rushing group.

The group dodged the attacks, their hearts beating fiercely at their good luck.

"You can't dodge them all!" Yume snarled.

"One more time, Opal!" Bolin shouted.

Opal followed up, pressing another strong current from her hands, the wind pushing Yume back once more, but this time, the firebender kept her feet grounded, simply skating backwards from the force, her hands covering her face so she could breathe.

"Doesn't matter," retorted Bolin, charging in for a real punch.

"We'll see," Yume said, raising another uppercut, summoning a large lick of flame from below, the fire swarming up Bolin's face, starting from his neck up.

Bolin fell to the ground instantly, through natural instinct, covering his face as the flames subsidized.

Opal then sent another volley towards the firebender, catching her off-guard as she took satisfaction from the hit. Yume practically flew down the tunnel once more, knocking against some stalagmites on the way.

"Bolin!" Opal shouted, running to his side, crouching next to his kneeling form.

"Yeah, yeah," Bolin tried to say, keeping his face away from Opal's curious hands.

"I'm gonna follow!" Varrick all of a sudden said.

"What?" Opal asked, confused.

"She's getting away!" Varrick explained, pointing down the tunnel.

Opal could see Yume running away now, limping just a tad bit, but making good distance.

"Let's go," Bolin said, slowly rising to his feet.

Opal could now see his face. It wasn't as bad as she feared, but his skin was incredibly pink. Yume's attack had engulfed his entire face, and some of his hair, but nothing more serious than burning the first layer of skin. Despite the situation, she knew the earthbender would still experience pain.

"Looks like we're better than you thought, huh?" Varrick taunted after Yume. "Keep running, you coward!"

"Please," Yume shouted back, "Say what you will, the best fighter knows when to retreat."

"Keep saying whatever makes you feel better!" Varrick continued.

Yume twisted at her waist just once, sending a long precise, thin stream of fire down the tunnel, heading straight for Varrick, causing the tycoon to squeal for an initial second. The firebender chuckled.

"It does make me feel better though," she shouted back. "Because you may have fight in you, but you obviously don't have the intelligence to know that perhaps you shouldn't be following me."

"We're losing time," Korra said, as she and her remaining team ran down their own tunnel of the cave.

"It's like an ant farm in here," Lin murmured, "So many branches and tunnels. How do the Lotus know where they're going?"

"We're close though, we have to keep going." Korra seemed to be saying these things to just motivate herself, calming her nerves, if that could happen.

"How much farther?" Tenzin asked. They had been running for a few minutes now, and both he, Lin, and Suyin were not in the same prime Korra was.

"Very," Korra replied, her eyes searching the new tunnel routes appearing in front of them. She took the middle out of three, not taking a moment to guess about the others. She had something in her gut telling her how to compass through these mazes.

"There!" Tenzin pointed out, grateful for reaching their destination in the horizon of the cave. They had reached a mouth out into the mountainside, the daylight sky shining on the other side. Parked at this mouth was a dock with an airship, loading Red Lotus members onto it, and among them, was a weak and weary Asami.

Korra's heart practically exploded at the sight.

"Asami!" the Avatar shouted, her voice trembling with emotion.

Asami turned towards the voice of her wife, her eyes widening with surprise and hope.

"Korra!" She shouted. Someone yanked her deeper within the crowd quickly. It was Sedna. Korra was becoming filled with multiple emotions, from hope, relief, and revenge. Obviously the Red Lotus members had recognized the approaching party, and began taking defensive measures.

"Kill the Avatar," commanded a voice. "Kill her companions!"

Ghazan stood in the middle of the dock of the airship, and in his arms was a crying baby.

"The child!" Shouted Lin.

They charged forward, ready to meet whatever the Red Lotus had to offer.

Korra felt Raava take over, her body aglow with the spirit. Then, a wall of fire shot in front of them. Stopping everyone in their tracks.

Yume came into the scene, sprouting flame left and right, creating any fire pit she could to delay the Avatar team.

"Yume!" Sedna shouted among the chaos. "Hurry!"

"I'm coming," Yume grunted, trying to ignore her limp.

Korra hurled herself out of the wall of fire, risking all she could. She wouldn't let anything hold her back.

"Hurry, please!" Sedna begged, reaching her hand out. The firebender took it when she was close enough, and the waterbender pulled her onto the dock as quickly as possible, grunting with reserved strength.

Red Lotus members began using whatever weapons they had, from spears to bending, all which Korra, under the influence of Raava, skillfully avoided.

Tenzin had now taken out a portion of the fire, allowing the rest of them to move forward.

Twisting out of Sedna's grip, Asami ran forward, seizing her opportunity.

"Asami!" Sedna shouted.

"Let her," Yume snapped. "We don't need her, we've discussed this."

"We do!" Sedna cried out. "Quick, take out the Avatar!" The waterbender directed this to all the Red Lotus on the dock, trying to fill into the airship.

"I've got the Avatar if you'll join me," Yume proposed, watching Asami try to walk down dock with the handrail.

Sedna nodded, and reached into her side satchel, pulling out the blowpipe she used when they abducted Asami days ago.

Yume sent volleys of fire down on the Avatar and her allies, like comets raining from the sky. Sedna blew a dark, hitting Korra in the left shoulder.

The Avatar froze, her eyes, still glowing, widened. But she kept moving. Sedna sent another one, hitting her in the ribs.

With heavy limbs, Korra moved her heavy limbs forward, refusing to give up.

"Asami!" She shouted painfully. "Asami!"

"I'm coming!" Asami replied, but then, she froze.

"The baby... " Korra groaned.

Sedna sent another dart, this one to Tenzin, getting him in the Adam's apple. Then quickly hit Suyin in the shoulder.

"Stop her!" Lin shouted, sending her cables out, whipping the blowpipe out of Sedna's hands.

The water bender yelped in pain, holding her hand, trying to nurse it.

"Watch yourself," Yume snarled towards Lin, pushing fire from her palms towards Lin, the blast so powerful it blew the earthbender into a wall, knocking her unconscious. Tenzin fell from the drowsiness of his dart next, while Korra, kept trying to move towards the ship.

Asami, on the other hand, was frozen on the rails.

"Korra," she began, her voice trembling. "I'm sorry, Korra…" something was dawning on her. "The baby…"

"The baby," Korra repeated, Raava flickering from control.

"I have to stay with her…" Asami's eyes watered. "Come find me…"

"Her…" Korra repeated, then dropped to her knees.

Her vision was beginning to blur, and she could see Sedna running to grab Asami, yanking her onto the airship, with the firebender guarding their retreat.

"Come find me, Korra! I'll keep her safe, I promise!"

"... Asami," Korra moaned. She fell onto her face now, the drug of the darts overwhelming her system. "... the baby…" and fell asleep.