(A/N) It feels very nice to finally have a finished story up. To think it would be a LOK story too. Well, enjoy!

Art by obligatorychinchilla from tumblr.(Link to the art on my page. It's also the cover for this story.)

For xenos-rose from tumblr.

AU

Shit Happens

Korra's eyes flickered open. She blinked again to make sure she was absolutely awake. "What the hell?"

It was dark, though not the usual kind of darkness, the likes you would see in an alley way at night or in your bedroom when you shut off the lights. No, it was true darkness. Not a single beam of light shined into the room. Korra's eyes widened as she strained to see something, anything.

She tried to mover her arms but they were bound by a coarse rope. She began to panic. Her fists clenched into something soft and momentary curiosity crossed her. Had her captors given her a pillow to lean on? As grateful as she was for that, it was a bit too firm for her liking. Nevertheless she continued to hold on.

"Hello? Is anyone else in here?" She called out. A familiar voice responded.

"You are finally awake Avatar."

Before Korra could place her mind on who the voice belonged to, she replied back sarcastically.

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed."

"Avatar it is hardly the time for jokes. Now that you're obviously aware of your surroundings, can I ask that you stop molesting me?"

Finally Korra recognized the voice coming from directly behind her.

"Amon?" She whispered in shock. "What are you talking about— ohh." Korra stopped the soothing rhythmic squeezing of the soft surface she now realized to be his behind. "OHH my god."

Korra felt traumatized. She felt like she should apologized but what was she supposed to say? 'I'm sorry I find squeezing your ass relaxing?' Korra groaned.

Korra took a moment to assess the situation. She hd obviously been captured by someone and was now locked in a dark room tied to her arch enemy whom she just accidently felt up.

The question was, how did she end up in this situation?

Before she could dwell on this too much, Korra's thoughts were interrupted by her adversary's smooth voice. "Now that you are awake, I must to ask you if you're willing to cooperate with me in my attempt to free both you and I."

"What? Why should I cooperate with you?" Korra spat.

"Because I am your only hope of escaping this prison alive. We are both set to be executed and you seem far too dysfunctional at the moment to make it out on your own." He said cooly.

Korra grew irritated and somewhat angry. "What are you saying? That I'm too stupid to get out of there by myself. Well listen here, bub! I'm the Avatar and I don't need you to help me out here. I can get out myself and when I do, I'm going to tie you up and leave you here to face the punishment you deserve."

As she completed her rant, Korra took a breath and sighed. It felt good to get all that out. And now she could get to work. Korra aimed her palms upward and carefully calculated the position of the rope. When she was sure she wouldn't burn either of them, she bent a lick of fire up to the rope. Well at least she tried.

"What? Why can't I bend?" A horrifying thought crossed her mind. "Did you take my bending?" She asked, alarmed.

"Now Avatar, if you had listened to me instead of boasting about your independence, I could have told you everything you seem to have forgotten." Amon said, somewhat annoyed.

"YOU TOOK MY BENDING. WHEN? HOW?" Korra demanded.

"You revealed my identity as Noatok, blood bender and brother of Councilman Tarrlok to my followers which I later disproved only to prove them right myself. A foolish move on my part, I must say. I equalized you and you somehow learnt to airbend. After my failed plans to escape, I was captured by my equalist followers. I met you here, unconscious. They plan to kill us both at midnight."

With that, it all came back to her. The equalist rally. The scar. Mako. Having her bending removed and defeating Amon. "Oh." She replied quietly. Her bending was gone.

Korra sat their quietly as a wave of emotions washed over her. "YOU MONSTER. You take away bending in the name of equality but yet you still have your own bending. That's sick." She burst out.

"I truly believe in equality. I require my bending to ensure that all bending is eradicated. When I finally achieved my goal, I had full intention of removing my own bending. Bending is the root of evil in our world."

"No, it's not!" Korra exclaimed. "It's just how people use it, alright? Not everyone uses bending to hurt others."

"But you do. As an Avatar you have failed to balance the world and your stance is purely in favour of benders. You are no worse than the bending gangs. But beside all of this, at this moment we are in a life deciding situation and we have no choice but to work together. Are you going to assist me or are we going to die together? Before you answer, spare me your heroic babble and consider this. How would you like to die the same death as your enemy? The man you despise?"

Korra thought about what he had said, that she was just as bad as the criminals. She thought of the people she had hurt. That equalist supporter in the park. Her destroying the roads of Republic City with fierce bending battles. Was she really that bad? She remembered the faces of the non bender families when she failed to protect them from Tarrlok's grasp. The look that meant she had disappointed them or maybe proved something. She remembered the hordes of supporters the equalists had gained after that. Was it all her fault?

"You're right. Korra grumbled in defeat. "What do you propose we do?"

"I have my waterbending and the air in here is damp. I can pull enough moisture out of it to release ourselves from these bonds."

Korra furrowed her brow. "And how are you going to get us out with water?"

Before Amon could reply, a light flickered on inside the room. Amon stiffened. "Someone's coming." He whispered fiercely. "Fake unconsciousness." He demanded.

Korra was confused. "What? Why?" She was about to protest when the door opened. Not knowing why she trusted Amon, perhaps it was because they weer both destined to die, Korra slumped her shoulders and let her head fall.

"Lieutenant." Amon's voice rang from behind her.

"Amon." The voice said coolly. She recognized the voice as moustache guy, the one she thought Amon had killed. It seemed she was wrong. Jeez the guy must have been made of steel.

"… Or should I call you, Noatok?" There was definite contempt in the man's voice and she could imagine a sneer upon his face.

"I would prefer you addressed me as Amon." He said quietly. Korra could be wrong but she could swear she heard a twinge of something… human in Amon's voice. Regret, maybe?

"And why should I? Amon was the leader of this revolution. The revolution I spent my whole life fighting for. I gave up everything for the cause. For Amon. You're not Amon. Amon is a lie." The Lieutenant spat.

"Despite everything, Lieu, I swear on the spirits, on equality that I am as true to this cause as you are." Amon replied, his voice cracking. The use of the nickname surprised Korra. 'Lieu' was there something she was missing?

"Oh really?" The Lieutenant's voice grew louder. "You? As dedicated? True to the cause? You're a bender." He spat the word like it was filth. "You're no better than any other bender. No better than the Avatar herself, the useless brat."

Korra bristled and she hoped he didn't notice. He didn't.

"I'm sorry." The sincerity in Amon's voice was shocking and Korra could tell that he truly meant it.

"Sorry isn't going to help! SORRY isn't going to heal the pain. Give me back the LIFE I gave to YOU." The mustached man was screaming now. "SORRY WON'T STOP THE EQUALIST MOVEMENT FROM BEING THE LAUGHING STOCK OF REPUBLIC CITY. WE WILL NEVER BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY EVER AGAIN BECAUSE OUR LEADER TURNED OUT TO BE A LYING, CHEAT WHO WAS EVERYTHING OUR CAUSE WAS AGAINST." The man was sobbing now. "Sorry isn't enough."

There was silence for a moment. "SORRY doesn't cut it. You deserve the same fate as the Avatar and you will get it. By the spirits, you will get it."

Heavy footsteps moved away and the door slammed. The lights were once again turned off.

The silence returned once more. She didn't know what to say. She decided to try and change the subject.

Korra laughed awkwardly in an effort to diffuse the tension in the room. "So… uh how do you propose we get out of these things?" Korra wriggled her arm against the bonds to show what she meant.

He didn't reply and Korra remained silent. Looking back, Korra would swear that she heard a sob from the man. She granted him time. It was so odd to see her enemy so weak. She didn't know what to make of it, really.

"You know, I believe you." Korra said quietly. She waited for a reply that didn't come. She continued on hesitantly. "I believe you when you say you care about the equalist cause."

There was silence for a while, then he spoke. "As undesired as your pity is, Avatar, thank you for the effort."

Korra nodded, a motion she realized he couldn't see.

"So… about these bonds." She tried to change the subject and was happy to see him following along.

"Ahh yes, my plan. Give me a moment." With that, He began to shift his arms in an effort to bend. As he moved, Korra suddenly became aware of how much they were touching. She shivered when his arm brushed against hers and she hoped he didn't notice.

Soon there was a sawing noise and Korra figured out his plan. "You're using ice!"

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious Avatar. Would you like a medal?"

Korra's brow furrowed. "Hey! That was rude."

"I wasn't aware there was a boundary for behavior between the two of us. If I remember correctly, you've always been particularly rude to me. I see nothing wrong with reversing the roles."

"But I thought we were working together. You know, to get free."

"Yet I don't see a reason to be considerate to each other."

Korra huffed in frustration. "Well why not? It'd sure make things a little less uncomfortable."

"I see. Then my apologies Avatar."

Korra wasn't sure if he was completely serious but she took the apology anyway.

"I'm almost through. When the rope is off, you must stretch and prepare to defend yourself."

"Okay, got it."

The rope fell away and Korra and jumped up, glad to be free. Her muscles were sore. "Thanks for getting us out." She said as she stretched. Korra racked her mind for the different airbending forms she had learned with Tenzin. She remembered a few and decided to practice those. They were so much more interesting to perform now that she could actually airbend.

After a minute or two of practice, she stretched once more and called out. "I'm ready to go!"

"Good," Amon's voice rang from a different part of the room. "Follow the sound of my voice. "

Korra nodded and felt her way through the dark in the general direction of his voice. "Gee where are you?" She put her hands on her hip and pouted. "I can't find you, speak again."

"Korra, I am right here." His voice came from somewhere near to her.

"But where…" She bit her lip as she spoke to herself. She continued to feel around. It felt like she was going in circles when she stumbled over something on the ground and tripped into something else she soon realized was Amon.

Embarrassed, she scrabbled to get back up, her hands smashed into his face and she froze, still atop him. "Your mask isn't on." She whispered in surprise.

"You were there when I was unmasked, Avatar."

"But… I didn't see you all that well. I…" She touched his face tenderly. "You feel so real. So human."

"All signs have been pointing to the fact that I am indeed human." He said, and Korra could hear a trace of amusement in his voice.

"I know but you always—the mask, It made you seem…" Korra searched for the right words to say.

"Cold? Detached? A monster?" He provided.

"Yeah."

"That was the entire point of the mask. It made me rise above the crowd as not just a powerful rival to all benders, a monster to you, but a competent leader. A friend, someone the nonbenders of Republic City could relate to."

Korra understood. Even before when she thought he was wearing the mask, he seemed more frightening now than he was now.

"Now, Avatar, may I ask, for the second time today that you stop molesting me."

Korra blushed and rolled off of him immediately. "Sorry. Again."

"It's fine. Now, back to my plan. Beside us is the door. We are underground in one of the prisoner's chambers here at the main equalist base. The way out is intentionally long and winding with many turns and traps. This is where the worst of the worst go. On the bright side, I know the way out. On the other, the door is probably dead bolted shut and there must be many guards outside. I can deal with the door. Retrieve that rope you tripped over. It will prove useful. Be ready to attack when the door opens but don't stray too far without me."

Korra nodded. There was a slight chink of metal on metal and Korra could only assume he was picking the lock. In the mean time she felt around the floor until she found the rope. She grabbed it just in time for when the door creaked open and light filtered into the room. It hurt her eyes but she suffered through. She scrambled to her feet and ran out. To her surprise, there was only one guard who sat slumped on the wall, fast asleep.

Korra heard Amon follow after her and she pointed to the guard. "Are all the equlists this lazy?"

Amon spoke. "No. Something's not right. There has to be another trap somewhere else. Come, follow me."

Korra nodded and turned around. Amon was already moving through one hall, his strides long. She had to run to catch him up.

Korra took the time to study him. He wore the same clothes he always wore but his hood was down. He had short, messy hair, the same colour as hers. She watched as it bounced as he walked. Her eyes somehow drifted down to his behind.

The same one she had accidentally felt up.

She blushed once more. What was wrong with her? She was tough and strong any other time but when it came to the opposite sex she was always reduced to a blubbering, red faced mess. Well maybe that statement was wrong. When she was faced with this particular member of the opposite sex she became a blubbering mess. She didn't know why. She really didn't.

As Korra followed Amon's lead, he lead her through a maze of corridors. There were no windows, just doors. So many doors. She wondered exactly how many prisoners were down here. They continued to walk on and on and Korra wondered when exactly they were going to get out.

As if reading her mind, Amon spoke. "We're almost there."

"Great, I thought we would be going on forever." They reached the door. It looked as discreet as any other door in this place.

"Now we need to devise a plan. There is no way that we have passed all line of defence set to ensure we do not escape."

"I've never been very good at plans." Korra informed him.

"Ahh yes, I've noticed."

"Hey, stop making fun of me!"

Amon swirled around. "Avatar, you must be quiet." He berated.

Korra barely heard the words he uttered. His face captured her attention. This was the first time she had seen him up close. "H-how old are you again?" She stuttered.

His brows furrowed. "That is hardly of consequence right now, Avatar but just to ease your troubled mind, I'm 40."

"Wow." Korra breathed. "You hardly look it. Your jaw is so strong and your skin is flawless." In all honesty, Korra wanted to touch him again.

Amon looked thoroughly annoyed. "This is not time for this." He took a step back away from Korra. "Now let's think about our escape, not my admirable physical features."

Korra snapped out of her reverie. "Was that a joke, Amon?"

"Perhaps. Now, onto the matter at hand. Outside this door there are bound to be guards waiting. Beyond these guards, assuming we get pass them, there will be equalists everywhere. We have to take a less commonly known route through the building. Our most viable option is to go into the harbour. You are far too recognizable on the street. Equalist supporters will be everywhere. Do you understand? "

Korra nodded. "So I'm basically supposed to do what you wanted me to do back there."

He thought. "Yes that is exactly what I want you to do, except, this door is probably unlocked so you can go out first."

"Alright then, I'm ready."

The double door was metal like everything else around here. Korra closed her eyes and took her breath. She formed the motions and a violent gust of wind pushed the doors open. One of the doors clanged against its adjacent wall but the other hit something. There was a heavy thud and a groan. Amon raced out and Korra followed. The door had hit one of the guards and they'd passed out. "Oh woops." Korra turned to the other guard who seemed to have been glued to his place in shock.

"What, too scared to fight me?" She taunted him. In a move as swift as lightening, his hand reached for a switch on his glove. He flicked it and the glove came ablaze with the blue electricity.

"Come get some." Korra met the man in battle. She tried to remember what Tenzin had taught her. Be the leaf. She tipped toed around his attacks, occasionally sending strong winds his direction.

The guard was a competent fighter and Korra had to commend him. She began to grunt as his offensive attacks became more brutal. Korra became more and more frustrated with herself. She'd never learned any real offensive moves in airbending. The only thing she knew well enough was pushing air in one direction.

She wished she could fire bend. Fire was strong and fierce and she loved using it in battle.

Her opponent sensed her weakness and lack of diversity in her bending.

"What? Tired little girl?" He sneered.

Korra growled. "I'll show you tired." With that she ducked her way close enough and slammed her fist into the man's jaw. He fell back and just as Korra came to deliver the final blow, he reached his arm up and grabbed at her leg with the glove. Before Korra could even register what was going on, her body began to spasm as the electric currents ran through her body. She could vaguely see Amon stepping in. He engaged the man in combat which distracted the guard enough to release her. She fell to the floor and blacked out.

Amon noticed when the Avatar fell unconscious. It seemed to happen often for the girl. The guard charged at him and he got his head back in the game.

"It seems I have taught you well, Haru." He addressed the guard as he backed out of the way of a swing of the glove.

Haru's eyes narrowed. "You dare speak to me like a companion."

Amon struck stepped back to avoid an attack. "I am simply reflecting on your skills. I was the one who taught you the moves you are currently using, am I not?"

"Yeah and what's it matter? You were a fraud. I want nothing to do with you anymore. " He growled.

Amon shrugged. "It doesn't. Except of course I know your weaknesses. It seems you fallen into your old habits. You favour your left side. Your right is vulnerable." Before Haru could comprehend what Amon had just told him, he was chi blocked in his right arm and it fell useless to his side.

"Now are you going to give up now or do I have to defeat you?"

"Never."

"Oh well." Amon twisted in a complicated set of movements. Haru aimed his gloved fist at him and he took it, twisted it around with him and in one swift movement, pinned Haru to the ground.

He touched a specific chi point on his forehead, the same he used for removing bending and rendered the man unconscious. He sighed in regret as he picked him up over his shoulder. He retrieved the rope from Korra's lifeless form as well as the other guard.

Swiftly he tied them together and positioned them behind the door so that no passer-bys could immediately notice that something was wrong.

He then moved to the Avatar and picked her in his arms. He noticed her head lolled backwards in what was a very damaging position for the spine and he was forced to reposition her so that it leaned onto his chest.

As he began to move swiftly through the corridors, careful to listen for any equalists, he shook his head in disapproval at his own actions. What had come over him as of late? Somehow the Avatar, had wormed her way into him. He never saw her as more than an adversary. They were allies now. Temporarily at least. God what was that back there? Making jokes. Teasing her.

He needed to get away from her influence soon. But when she touched him…

He tore his mind from it. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts.

As he predicted, there was no one at all along the path he took. Soon he was down to the small unused boat dock underneath the building. The waved lapped up around a small wooden boat. It looked like it would crumble if he touched it. For a moment he considered remaining here but decided against it. He had to make sure they were safe.

Sighing, he stepped onto the boat and rest Korra down onto the wooden floor. He untied it and they began to drift out. Amon used his bending to aid the movement of the boat. He was careful to stay close to the walls of the city which made it impossible for anyone not looking directly down the wall to see them. He continued to push them until they got to a familiar alcove near the ghetto of the city.

It was getting dark. He wondered idly if the Avatar's crew had noticed she was missing yet. Even if they had an idea of where she was they wouldn't find her now and he most definitely couldn't be the one to carry her to them.

Their boat continued on into the cave as far as it could go. He climbed out of the boat and onto to the sandy rock floor. He took the boat's rope and tied it around one of the stalactites on the floor. Reaching in, he retrieved the Avatar. He stumbled somewhat and she began to stir. Well at least she was alive.

"Where am I?" She asked quietly. Her hands clenched at his shirt.

"We escaped. I brought you to a small alcove near the edge of the town." He replied.

"Oh." She said quietly. "Amon I'm a horrible Avatar aren't I?"

He sat down, still holding her. What was he to say? She was undoubtedly a skilled fighter and at such a young age. Lying and telling her she wasn't would be cruel really. Besides, they weren't enemies right now. They were friends.

"No, you're not. You're a strong and competent Avatar."

Korra sniffled. Was she crying? "But I don't have my bending any more. I can only bend air. What kind of an Avatar can only bend one element?"

Amon wondered if she realized that she was speaking with him; the one who had taken her bending in the first place. She must be lucid.

"You're bending isn't what makes you the Avatar, Korra. It's your spirit. If anything I know you have a heck of a spirit." Amon said.

Korra nodded and smiled softly. "Thanks."

"You know you're face is really pretty right?"

Amon rolled his eyes. "Yes I know Korra."

(A/N) And that's all folks! I will try to get a sequel up tomorrow. It's going to be shorter and have a more mature rating for more… mature scenes. ;)

See ya!