The Code

Warmth

Korra's head felt like it had been filled with snow, then stomped on by a hundred elephant-buffalos. She attempted to sit up, and a groan escaped her before she could stifle it.

"Careful, Avatar," said a dark voice.

Korra only sat up faster at that. Her head swam in a whirlwind of pain, and she grimaced, clutching her palm against her forehead. She slipped her eyes past the cracks in her fingers, her stomach tightening at the sight of the masked man, seated only a few yards away.

"Or you could ignore my advice. I don't care either way."

"Amon," she rasped, her voice sounding like she hadn't used it in a decade. She struggled to remember what had happened. The only image that flashed before her eyes was a roil of churning water, black and gray, and someone carrying her across a sea of white. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her head. "What... what are you doing here?"

"At the present moment, drying off. In the near future? Bringing you to headquarters to face justice."

Korra's head hurt. She pushed herself up on one elbow, taking in her surroundings. She sat against the smooth stone wall of a cave. The firelight flickered over a high, domed ceiling, spattered with thin stalactites tipped with ice. As Korra peered around, she gradually became aware that her clothes stuck to her body with uncomfortable wetness. Slow, curling steam rose off her leggings in the heat of the flames. She looked back at the Equalist leader. His dark robes hung on his body, heavy with water. He was soaked, too. She struggled to remember. What had happened?

"Justice?" She tried to glare at Amon, but she couldn't pull the expression across her tired face. "You mean you were planning on kidnapping me. Just like Tarrlok."

"I prefer the term civil detainment."

Korra heaved a dry laugh. "Right. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I can't say if I'd rather have handled the councilman myself."

He snorted, though as usual his cold mask showed no expression. "You were doing a fine job of that."

Korra managed to scowl at him this time. "If you're expecting me to say thank you, forget it. I would've gotten out of there eventually, had you showed up or not." She hesitated. "Speaking of which, where are your little Equalists? I've never seen them more than a leash-length away."

Amon stirred the fire with a blackened stick, sending sparks soaring out the cave entrance and into the night sky. Korra noticed for the first time how dark it was. Stars were just starting to peek out of the clear sapphire expanse, glittering down at her. She wondered if Aang was up there, watching. What would he think of her sitting here, conversing with her enemy?

"I take it then you didn't kill them."

Amon's voice snapped her back to attention. Korra couldn't suppress a start of surprise, followed swiftly by indignation.

"What?" she snapped. "You think I'd stoop that low—to your level? I've never killed anyone in my life."

Amon watched her, his golden eyes inscrutable through the shadows of his mask. "To my level," he murmured. "Again, Avatar, your assumptions are misguided. I have never killed anyone in Republic City."

Korra glared at him, hiding her surprise at the answer. "Oh? So I take it that means you've killed elsewhere? A murderer's a murderer, no matter the location."

She thought she saw Amon's eyes narrow beneath the cowl of his hood. But he said nothing. Korra sat in the silence for a stiff moment, not taking her eyes off him. Her gaze rested on the spot of charred black on the right cheekbone of his ivory mask. A memory sparked. An unyielding weight on top of her, desperation coiling in her chest, unleashed in a wild yell of exploding flames. Korra felt her eyes widen. The river. The ice. The falling, flailing, that voice. That voice that had told her to save him, her enemy, from the surging river... and she'd obeyed.