Maintaining the Balance: Ch. 2

Believing that Zuko was more than capable of handling himself, Tonraq didn't look back as he raced toward the vehicle transporting his wife and daughter. The dent in the left-side passenger door caused his heart to skip a beat, but, upon calling out, "Senna! Korra!" Tonraq was relieved to hear a woman hurriedly reply, "Tonraq! We're okay...!"

Swooping his right hand forward in a scooping motion, Tonraq converted a large volume of snow and ice into frigid water before directing it to seep into the cracks around the doorframe. It immediately turned back into ice, and, thanks to the natural expansion of water when it changed phases, he was able to create a bit of space between the reinforced metal door and the vehicle's frame. Then, with a mighty pull, he ripped it away to find his wife cradling the five-year-old Korra in her arms.

"Thank the Spirits..."

Reaching into the vehicle's interior, Tonraq gestured for Korra to come to him when Senna suddenly shouted, "Behind you...!" with eyes as round as saucers.

Not willing to place his wife and daughter in danger, Tonraq didn't try to dodge to the side. Instead, he stomped his feet before waving both of his arms in a rising motion that caused a massive dome of ice to form around the entire vehicle. This ended up being the correct decision as a trio of ice spikes the size of small trees smashed into the icy barrier like cannonballs striking a metal plate.

"Damn you...!"

Realizing the opponent was a Water Bender, Tonraq kicked the ice wall to send it skidding across the ground like a snowplow as he shouted, "She is one of your own! Why are you people doing this!?"

Ignoring Tonraq's outburst, the opposing Water Bender surprised him by using tendril-like arms to launch themselves over the plow of ice. When Tonraq saw the enemy Bender's true form, realization immediately flashed across his face as he clenched his teeth and growled, "Ming Hua...!"

Landing a few meters away from Tonraq, Ming Hua, a tanned woman with inky black hair, skeletal features, and a complete lack of arms, rose to her feet with a vicious smile on her face as she cheekily replied, "Long time no see, General."

While most Benders would be powerless without their primary limbs, Ming Hua had never allowed her disability to get in the way. She had been born without arms; upon discovering her ability to bend, she worked tirelessly to perfect a technique that would allow her to compensate for her missing limbs with tendrils of water. By the time she was ten, her incredible talent had garnered her the attention of several Master Benders in the Northern Water Tribe. Among these was Tonraq's father, Malaq, former Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, and the third member of the 'nobility' that Ming Hua had slain.

Empowered by his rage, Tonraq thrust his hands forward before pulling one back towards his waist and spinning using his left foot as a central axis. Then, as a mighty roar bellowed from his abdomen, he twisted his body in a manner resembling an uppercut. Instead of connecting with a person's jaw and sending them hurtling backward, however, the motion created several spear-like spikes of ice that erupted from the ground in a 50m radius surrounding Ming Hua.

Awed by the display of power, Ming Hua remarked, "It's no wonder the Avatar was born within your family..." as she propelled herself high into the sky in an effort the evade the deadly lances. This ended up being a mistake, as, despite the effort required for his previous technique, Tonraq was still able to send several chunks of ice hurtling toward her with lethal velocity.

"Shit...!"

Twisting her body around in the air, Ming Hua used her whip-like arms to cut through and smash the majority of the ice fragments. Her efforts were mostly successful, but the momentum of the ice shards caused several to pierce her body like shrapnel. She was able to stop the bleeding, but, as if there was nothing in the world that could contain his wrath, Tonraq didn't afford her even a single moment to catch her breath. The moment she hit the ground, he lunged toward her with the ferocity of a Tiger Seal hunting an Otter Penguin...

...

..

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Standing atop an icy ridge located a few hundred meters away from the ongoing battle was a tall, lean, and stone-faced man with features not all that dissimilar to Tonraq's. The difference was, while Tonraq was clearly a warrior, the man gave off the impression of a cold, icy, intellectual.

"Pathetic. Those imbeciles refer to themselves as the Order of the Red Lotus and can't even best a barbarian from the South?"

Seeing how easily Tonraq had secured an advantage, a disgusted scowl developed across the man's face as he prepared to turn away and leave. To his surprise, a young boy with tanned skin, dark-brown hair, and bright, bluish-green eyes was standing between him and his snowmobile.

"..."

Looking around and spotting no tell-tale signs of the boy's approach, the skinny man became cautious as he narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you a Spirit?"

Showing a hint of surprise, the young boy brought up his left hand in a so-so kind of gesture as he replied, "It's a little more complicated than that. I would go into further detail, but I've never been particularly fond of trying to reason with villains."

Interpreting the youth's words as a threat, the skinny man allowed his feet to slide apart as he thrust forward with his left hand. A spike of ice shot forth from the ground with the intent to impale the youth through the chest. By then, however, the eerie-eyed child had already stepped to the side, a relaxed smile on his face as he commented, "You're pretty ruthless for a man whose twins are around the same age as me. You didn't-"

Sliding his foot back, the skinny twisted and swayed his hips like someone trying to maintain their footing atop a ship. At the same time, he waved his arms around in a circular, clockwise motion that caused the ice and snow beneath the youth to spiral upwards in the form of a water column.

Though the expression on the youth's face revealed mild alarm, it was the lanky Water Bender who was surprised when sparks of lightning suddenly danced across the young boy's body. In the very next moment, a taste of burning ozone spread through his mouth as the five, maybe six-year-old boy appeared right in front of him in an instant.

"Try to be a better person in your next life..."

Before the skinny man could respond, the tanned youth placed his palm over the former's chest, right above his heart.

To the youth's astonishment, the skinny man was able to sway backward in a surprisingly fluid motion. Unfortunately, while this action created a bit of distance between the youth's palm and his heart, it didn't allow him to evade the thick band of bluish-white electricity arcing between them. The last thing that passed through the man's mind, sans the lightning, was the notion that the child before him was a monster...

Watching as the man fell limply against the snow and ice, smoke rising from his corpse, a conflicted look briefly appeared on the youth's face before he promptly shook his head and muttered, "They'll be better off without such a man as their father..."

Though the youth's nature compelled him to feel guilty about the loss of life, he was significantly more concerned about the two orphans he had just produced. After that, it was the rather severe burns that now covered nearly half of his body.

"Infusing lightning into the body of a child probably wasn't the best way to kick off my journey in a new world. While my enemies could certainly use the handicap, I should probably avoid crippling myself..."

Gathering white light in the palm of his left hand, the youth showed no signs of pain or discomfort as he pulled up the sleeve covering his right arm to reveal a steaming black burn running from the center of his palm to just below his elbow.

Despite feeling the kind of pain that would leave most people begging for death, the youth maintained a carefree smile as he casually treated what most would have deemed an irremediable injury.

Compared to the experiences his original had accumulated, the pain of a charred bone was relatively tame...

...

..

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Oblivious to the incident that had occurred atop the icy ridge, the leader of the Red Lotus, a middle-aged man with peppered hair, cauliflower ears, and sharp features, was beginning to regret his decision to try and kidnap the Avatar with just four people. He had always been supremely confident in his fighting prowess, but, as a non-bender, there was only so much he could do against several skilled warriors, many of which were Masters of their respective bending arts.

"Give it up, Zaheer. You can't win. Surrender peacefully, and I can assure you no harm will befall you or your co-conspirators."

Though he was tempted to deal with Zaheer by blowing him into an icy ravine, the pacifist principles of the Air Nomads compelled Tenzin to try and reason with the man. Tonraq and Zuko had very nearly dealt with the other two members of the Red Lotus, so he saw no reason for the man to continue the fight. Not when it was two, soon to be several against one.

Supporting Tenzin's attempts to deescalate the situation, Sokka, wielding two pristine white longswords, adopted a less hostile posture as he said, "Listen to Master Tenzin. You're only putting you and your men in danger by dragging things out."

Squinting in response to the two men's attempts to get him to surrender, Zaheer maintained a resolute expression as he declared, "This was never about victory or success. The Red Lotus exists to correct the flaws within a system that would soon see even the Avatar brought low by politics and biased social reform. So long as society serves the few at the expense of the many, the spirit of the Red Lotus will never die."

Punctuating his statement, Zaheer pulled out several smoke bombs with the intent to obscure his retreat. At the same time, a series of shockwaves could be heard as a beam of steamy white light impacted the area next to where Sokka had been standing. Tenzin attempted to blast him away with a burst of cushioned air, but he was too slow to prevent an explosion from enveloping the aged swordsman's body.

"Uncle Sokka...!"

While Tenzin was distracted by the severely injured Sokka, Zaheer bolted towards the vehicle containing Korra and her mother. At the same time, an inordinately tall woman with the tattoo of an eye emblazoned across her forehead provided cover fire. The latter was a special type of Fire Bender known as a Combustion Bender. Practitioners of this particular bending form could direct highly compressed streams of combustible ki toward an opponent at supersonic speeds. Upon contact, the ki would then explode, causing massive damage to everything within a five-meter radius. By the time most people heard the sound of the sonic booms, it was already too late to dodge.

With each of the Masters presently distracted, Zaheer was able to quickly dispatch the few members of the White Lotus Sentries that had gathered to form a protective encirclement around the Avatar. Many of them were very near the level of Master Benders, but, as someone who had made a name for himself by defeating benders in illegal fighting circuits, only the greatest of Masters could hope to survive a confrontation with Zaheer.

At least, that's how things should have been.

The moment Zaheer managed to knock out the last member of the White Lotus, a young boy, seemingly falling from the sky, dropped down in front of him. The kid appeared to be no older than six, but the moment Zaheer met the youth's glowing eyes, a sense of foreboding, unlike anything he had ever experienced, washed over him...