Earth.
Fire.
Air.
Water.
Only the avatar can master all four elements
And bring balance to the world.
- After three years, Kuvira has united
The former earth kingdom states
Under her new earth empire banner.
But one holdout remains: Zaofu.
During that same time,
Asami rebuilt the company her father created
And helped redesign the city's infrastructure.
And most recently, the airbender kids found the avatar.
Korra rid herself of the residual poison in her body
And is ready to return to action.
- We have an emergency.
- I'll contact president Raiko.
He'll send the united forces.
- Call whomever you want, but they'll never make it in time.
Kuvira's already here, and she brought her entire army.
- By this time tomorrow,
My mother will have signed our treaty,
And the earth empire will finally be united.
- Don't get ahead of yourself.
Securing your hometown won't be like every other city.
- Zaofu stopped being my home long ago.
I'm ready to take it by force.
- No.
The eyes of the world are on us now.
We must do this right.
That's why we need Bolin.
- Do you really think we can rely on him?
- Su trusts him.
She'll listen to him.
- Are you sure we should be going to Zaofu?
Dad wanted us to bring you back to republic city.
- If Kuvira's heading to Zaofu, so am I.
She needs to know that the avatar is back.
The world needs to know.
- Whoo-hoo!
Avatar fight!
This is going to be awesome!
- Meelo, there's not gonna be a fight.
Kuvira saved my dad.
She was a captain in Su's guard.
I think she can be reasoned with.
- What? No fight?
Why did we go through all that trouble to save you
If you're not going to beat someone up?
- Zhu Li, is this thing on?
- We're rolling, sir.
- Okay, I'm Varrick of Varrick industries international,
And this is spirit vine experiment 3-02
Hand me the thing.
In this stasis capsule is a preserved spirit vine sample
Weighing approximately two Zhu Lis.
I have postulated that these spirit vines
Are a form of pure energy that's unstable
In what we call "typical earth conditions."
This machine should transfer the energy from the vine
Into a battery using electrical currents,
Reverse magnetic polarity,
And a little-known phenomenon I call the varri-effect.
It's working.
It's registering five Varricks of power...
Now seven Varricks.
Whoa. What is this?
What's going on?
- Oh!
- Ahh!
Zhu Li, shut it down.
There are too many Varricks.
Ahh!
- Ahh!
Sir...
You're too heavy.
You know, you could stand to lose a few Zhu Lis.
- I think you're just weak, sir.
Pull harder.
Ahh!
- Varrick, you saved me.
- Of course I saved you.
I can't clean this place up by myself.
Grab a broom.
- What happened? Were we attacked?
- No, we were spirit-vined, but don't worry.
I'm putting the kibosh on this project.
- No, you're not.
Do you realize what we can do with this kind of power?
- Yes, I do.
And that's why we've got to put an end to it.
What if it fell into the wrong hands?
- Since when does that matter to you?
- I know. It's not like me, right?
Usually, I look at a project like this,
And all I think is, "wow, I can make a ton of money off this."
But recently, I've been having these strange feelings inside.
It's like I'm... Concerned with others.
And there's this nagging voice in my head
Constantly telling me what's right from wrong.
- I believe that voice is your conscience, sir.
- Well, I'm the other voice in your head,
And I'm telling you, you will continue this project.
- Sorry, no.
I just really got to stand my ground on this one.
Whoa!
- Now there's a voice in my head telling me
To drop you on the tracks.
Should I listen?
- No, no.
Head voices are liars. What do head voices know?
I'll work on the project.
Please don't drop me.
Ahh!
- Asami, you came.
I'm here to return these.
- You never opened them.
- Stop writing me.
I never want to see or hear from you again.
- Please, just let me say one thing,
Then I'll never contact you again.
I can't forgive myself for all the horrible things I've done,
And I never expect you to forgive me.
I tore our family apart and destroyed our good name.
But in a life of regret,
You're the one thing I look back on that makes me smile.
I just want you to know I'm so proud of you, Asami.
You are the greatest thing I ever created.
- Am I in trouble?
- No. In fact, I have good news.
We want you to be part of our inner circle.
- Inner circle! No way! Yes!
Ahem, that is a great honor.
What does it mean, exactly?
- It means you've proven your worth.
We're so close to uniting the empire,
But Su has some resentment towards me and Baatar
That might cloud her judgment
And stop her from making a wise decision.
We believe you can help her see clearly.
- I can do that.
By the time I'm finished telling her
All the great things we've done, she'll be begging to join.
- Good, because we're here.
- Aren't all these troops gonna send the wrong message?
- The army is here to project strength.
You're here to present peace.
- Opal, you're here too.
- No, you've chosen your side.
- Sides? There shouldn't be sides.
I know, why don't we all stand in a circle, huh,
Maybe hold hands?
- I'm not giving up Zaofu.
I don't care if you brought your entire army.
- Su, I didn't bring my army to threaten you.
I wanted to show you all that your son and I
Have accomplished.
- You must realize what you're doing
Goes against everything your father and I tried to teach you.
- Son, you belong here.
- Why?
So that I can go on living in your shadow?
- Don't say that.
Can't you see she's brainwashed you.
- Ha, I didn't brainwash him.
I set him free.
And now he's accomplished more with me
Than he ever could have with you.
- Okay, guys, obviously, there's a lot of personal,
Painful history here.
So what do say we just all forget about that stuff, huh?
I mean, that's the past.
Right, wing? Right, Wei?
You guys know what I'm talking about.
High five.
All right. No, it's cool.
You know what I think we need to do?
Focus on the future.
And the future is bright. Let me tell you.
I've seen it. Yeah, saw it last month.
We went to this town that had nothing.
Most of the people there had never even seen
A satomobile before.
But now they have two satomobiles,
Running water, and a magnet train
That goes right through their town.
I mean, how awesome is that?
- They might have been happy when you first arrived,
But I've seen what happens after you leave.
Citizens are forced to work as slave labor.
Dissenters are sent off to who knows where.
- You're wrong, opal.
Now, I don't know what you think you've seen,
But I'm giving you the 100% Bolin guarantee
That we're making the earth empire
A better place to live.
- I can't believe you brought Bolin here
To try to sway us.
Leave.
Zaofu will never accept you as their leader.
- Then you leave me no choice.
You have 24 hours to agree to join the empire,
Or we take the city by force.
- I see it. Zaofu.
We made it.
And a bunch of other people are here too.
- Oh, no.
I hope we're not too late.
- Korra?
I can't believe it. Where have you been?
You disappeared. Everyone was so worried.
, I'll tell you the whole story later.
Right now, I want to help you stop Kuvira.
What can I do?
- You were just bluffing, right?
I mean, you're not really going to attack Zaofu... Are you?
- When people don't cooperate, we must find other ways
Of convincing them to join.
- Other ways?
How many times have we used these other ways
In the past?
- It's not for you to worry about.
- So... What does happen
To all of those towns and villages after we leave?
I just realized I've never really gone back
And checked on them.
- Those people are my loyal subjects,
And they contribute to the empire however I see fit.
Now that you're in the inner circle,
You're going to have to accept some hard truths.
- Maybe I'm not really an inner-circle kind of guy.
Or... or maybe we don't take over Zaofu.
We could just let them be on their own,
Then yay, the empire's united.
Congratulations to us.
- I didn't know your personal feelings for opal
Were stronger than your loyalty to me.
Zaofu will join us.
The only thing I'm second-guessing
Is the decision to bring you along.
Maybe you need to spend some time in a reeducation camp.
- I thought that's where we send people
To learn new trade skills.
- Hard truths, Bolin.
- Your loyalty seems to be wavering.
- No, no, I'm totally on your side,
Completely 100% loyal.
- How did things get so bad between you and Kuvira?
I thought she was your protege?
- She was more than that.
She was like a daughter to me.
I took her in when she was eight years old
And nourished her talents.
Kuvira was smart, a natural leader,
And quickly rose through the ranks.
I saw myself in her.
- What happened?
- Three years ago, after the fall of the earth queen,
Raiko and Tenzin came to see me.
- The earth kingdom is in chaos.
There's a vacuum of power, and I'm concerned about
What will happen if someone doesn't take control
Of the situation.
- And do you think I should be the one?
- You're the perfect person to take charge.
The world leaders trust you, and as a Beifong,
You have credibility in the earth kingdom.
- I'm honored that you thought of me,
But I'm not interested in imposing my ideals
On an entire nation.
I'm afraid I can't help you.
- Suyin, I know this isn't my place,
But I think you should do this.
Zaofu has always been a beacon of modern progress,
And now you can share that with everyone.
- What would you have me do,
March into Ba sing se with an army?
We'd be seen as conquerors
And greeted with nothing but war.
- There are already wars.
The earth queen nearly destroyed our nation.
This is our opportunity to change things.
- It's not going to happen.
I didn't realize at the time,
But that moment created a rift between us.
Kuvira turned my own son against me.
And together they plotted behind my back.
What do you think you're doing?
- We're doing what you don't have the guts to do.
We're going to Ba sing se to help bring order back
To the earth kingdom.
- No. You will stay here.
- And who's going to stop me?
Your security force was more than happy
To join my cause.
They're some of the best fighters in the world,
And they are tired of being treated
Like exotic birds in your cage.
- If you leave now, you will never be welcomed back.
- When I choose to return, it will be on my own terms.
- Kuvira and Baatar left that day with Varrick,
My security force, and a few of Zaofu's wealthiest citizens.
After Kuvira proved herself by stabilizing Ba sing se,
Raiko and the other world leaders made her
The provisional head of the earth kingdom.
Once she refused to step down,
I knew it was only a matter of time
Until she made her way back here.
- I want to fix this. - You can.
Go into the avatar state and demolish her army.
Remove Kuvira from power once and for all.
- Fighting is something the old me would do,
But that always made things worse.
Let me talk with Kuvira.
Maybe I can reason with her.
- Kuvira doesn't listen to reason.
- I can't believe Kuvira locked me in here
Like a prisoner.
I'm not feeling well.
I think I'm running out of air.
Zhu Li, hold your breath.
- I'm not holding my breath.
- Great. Now we're both gonna die.
- Varrick.
Varrick.
- Augh, and the head voices are back.
Bolin, thank goodness you're here.
Where did that hatch come from? Forget the hatch.
There's something important I've got to tell you.
- Well, there's something important
I've got tell you too.
Kuvira's crazy.
- How'd you find out?
- When I refused to build her a super weapon,
She threatened my life.
- She threatened me too, and she's threatening Zaofu.
And it turns out she's been threatening villages
This whole time.
We've got to get out of here.
- I couldn't agree more, kid.
- We have an unexpected guest.
The avatar is here to see you.
- Korra, it's such an honor to see you again.
The last I heard, you were still healing in the south pole.
- Well, I'm feeling much better now.
- That's wonderful news.
- I'm here to ask you to back down.
Please, take your army and leave.
- I think we both know that's not going to happen.
- I can't let you take Zaofu.
- Look, I was tasked with bringing stability
To the earth kingdom.
Zaofu is the last holdout.
Why should I treat it differently
Than any other state?
- What you're doing isn't right.
- I understand you're just trying to do Su a favor,
But you can't come to me as I'm on the verge
Of reuniting my nation and tell me to stop.
The world was descending into chaos while you were gone.
In order to fix it, I had to make some tough decisions.
- I know what that's like.
I've had plenty of people mad at me
About decisions I've made.
- Exactly.
Korra, if you really want to help,
Go back to Su and try to talk some sense into her.
Let's call a temporary truce.
I won't make any moves until you talk to her
And get back to me.
- Maybe that will be for the best.
- Have you seen Bolin?
- He came by to see Varrick, but we turned him away.
- Open the door.
We have some fugitives to catch.
- Okay, I say we go up and around the mountains
And sneak into Zaofu from the rear.
- We're not going to Zaofu.
That place is doomed.
We've got to head to republic city.
- What? No. No, no, no. We've got to help here.
- We'll be helping by warning the world
About Kuvira's potential super weapon.
- Well, that is helping,
But it's a completely different type of helping.
Hmm, let me think about this.
Ahh!
- Argh!
- Ahh!
- Argh!
Ahh! Ahh!
That's not the flamethrower.
What idiot designed these things?
- You did, sir.
- Less lecturing, more saving my life.
- Ugh!
Ahh!
Argh!
- Oh!
- Argh!
- Ahh!
Ugh.
Ahh!
Argh!
- Hey, I think I figured it out.
- Ahh!
Sir, you're making this very difficult.
Ahh!
- Argh!
Yah!
- Augh!
- Ahh!
- Argh!
Argh!
- Augh!
Ahh!
- Ahh!
Ahh-ahh!
Argh!
- Stop.
Turn yourself over or else.
- Thanks a lot, Zhu Li.
- You came back.
- When I first came here,
It was because I wanted to tell you face-to-face
That I never wanted to see or hear from you again.
I wanted my words to hurt you,
So that you would know how you hurt me.
- I'm sorry.
- But when I saw you, it wasn't anger I felt.
It was sadness.
You tainted our past and destroyed our future together.
- I want to make amends.
- I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive you,
But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try.
I thought we could play some pai sho,
Like we used to.
- Nothing would make me happier.
Augh!
- Don't torture us.
- Send these three away on the next train.
Bolin and Zhu Li will be going to the reeducation camp
For our most severe dissenters.
And you will continue work on the spirit energy project
Under close, armed supervision.
I want it weaponized immediately.
- Please, have mercy on me.
Don't send me away. Take me back.
- Why would I?
- Because my only mistake was being loyal to the wrong person.
I was blindly devoted to Varrick,
And I looked past all the times he ridiculed me
Or ordered me around or made me clean his disgusting feet,
Because I thought he possessed the most brilliant mind
In the world, but when I met you,
I realized I was wrong.
Compared to you, Varrick's a fool.
- Hey, come on. I'm right here.
- I believe in everything you've done,
And I believe in your vision.
I want to devote my life to you.
I pledge my allegiance to you, great uniter.
- You two could learn something from her.
Rise, Zhu Li.
I'll give you another chance.
- Think about what you're doing.
We're partners.
We have history.
- I did everything you ever asked of me,
And you never appreciated it.
Guards, do the thing.
- No, not the thing.
Zhu Li.
- Where's Su? I have to talk to her.
- She's not here.
She took wing and Wei.
They're going to sneak into Kuvira's camp
And put an end to this.
- No.