Disclaimer - I do not own any of the Avatar franchise (Legend of Aang or Legend of Korra). I have no rights to the storylines or plots. I am only responsible for my OCs and any variations from the original storyline.

Welcome to Republic City

Earth. Fire. Air. Water. When I was young, my father told me the story of how Avatar Aang and his friends heroically ended the Hundred Year War. Aang and Fire Lord Zuko transformed the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations, a society where benders and nonbenders from all over the world could live and thrive together in peace and harmony. They named the capital of this great land, Republic City. Avatar Aang accomplished many remarkable things in his life. But sadly, his time in this world came to an end. And like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar began anew.

Meriona was one for the streets, having lived and worked in them for the last 2 years, she had found her way around them well. After leaving her family 4 years ago, she had spent her time travelling, visiting the different nations and studying the different types of bending. In her travels she had heard rumours of bender hating groups growing in numbers, especially one in Republic City called the Equalists. She returned hoping to learn more about it, but learnt it was pretty exclusive, difficult to get into or get information on without being highly invested in the group. While trying to learn about it, attacks on benders grew more and more frequent. She realised that the only way to stop this group was from the inside. She used her growing reputation to spread the word of her newly discovered hatred of bending. If she couldn't look for them, they would look for her. Soon enough she was approached and offered an opportunity to join their ranks. She learnt the ways of their group, and how they delegated responsibilities. It soon became clear that the only way to cause real damage was to be higher in the ranks but it was difficult to get higher without years of dedication. She had to make herself stand out from the rest. So she revealed who she was to the generals and was soon invited to meet the head himself, Amon.

When she entered the room, she was met with a masked man working face down at his desk, seemingly uninterested in her.

"Is it true? Who you say you are?"

"Yes."

"Why tell us, or more importantly why join us?"

"You know of my family. You know that they bend but you also know that I do not."

"I do"

"I have experienced first-hand the inequality that bending has created in our society. Bending was the reason I was never good enough for my family, the reason it tore us apart. With bending gone, equality will return." It wasn't untrue. Her inability to bend did drive her away from her family, but she wasn't naïve enough to believe that it was 'bending's' fault. It was the pressure from her family that drove her away.

"Ok, so why tell us who you are?"

"I could say it's because I have valuable information or that I have the ability to get close to council members but realistically it's because I want to be more involved. I've heard rumours about what you can do and I want to be a part of it." She hoped this would be enough to entice Amon to try and use her as a pawn in his game, when in reality she would be using him.

Amon briefly looked to his commander who nodded.

"I think you will be a great asset to our cause."

After that, she gained his attention so after working for Amon for another year, she earnt enough respect to be promoted to a commander. She did this through taking down several bending gangs single handed. Her fighting skills were mainly focused on chi blocking as she felt all the equipment just slowed her down. So far she had managed to avoid attacks on any innocent party as most of her missions involved stopping criminal benders. She knew that Amon was building to a big move, she just had to bide her time until she could stop it. That day, she had been sent to oversee a public protest in the park. Just a small one, one man just trying to spread the hate against benders. She leant quietly against a tree listening to his speech.

"Are you tired of living under the tyranny of benders? Then join the Equalists! For too long, the bending elite of this city have forced nonbenders to live as lower class citizens. Join Amon, and together we will tear down the bending establishment"

Out of the crowd a bold brunette in water tribe garments spoke out.

"What are you talking about? Bending is the coolest thing in the world."

"Oh yeah? Let me guess: you're a bender."

"Yeah, I am"

"Then I bet you'd just love to knock me off this platform with some waterbending, huh?"

"I'm seriously thinking about it."

This girl had unknowingly given this man exactly what he protester angrily glared at the girl, his spectators turning to her as well.

"This is what's wrong with this city! Benders like this girl only use their power to oppress us!"

The crowd began to turn against her before she and her polar bear were pressured to walk away.

After the interruption, the rally finished with no problems. Taking the rest of the day off she set off to take care of some benders she heard were terrorising a small shop. She wasn't against bending at all but she would not accept it being used to terrorize innocent civilians. Her plan was to take care of it quietly, but by the time she got there the streets were filled with police. Fighting her way to the front of the queue she spotted the same girl, proudly standing over the thugs. She couldn't help but be impressed, this gang had a reputation.

"Police! Freeze where you are!"

"I caught the bad guys for you, officers."

"Arrest them!"

Three cops ran forward and bended metal cables to secure the three thugs. Meanwhile Captain Saikhan walked up to the girl.

"You're under arrest, too."

The girl gasped before stepping back defensively.

"What do you mean I'm under arrest? Those are the bad guys over there! They were smashing up a shop!"

"From the looks of it, you smashed up a lot more than that." He spoke, whilst bending cables around her wrists.

"Wait, you - you can't arrest me! Let me explain!"

"You can explain yourself all you like, down at headquarters."

This did not seem to go down well. Flexing her biceps the girl was able to break the ties. The captain bended the cables again at her, who ducked and tumbled backward. Pushing herself to her feet her polar bear came to her defence as other cops rushed forward to apprehend her.

The girl continued to try and fight the cops off with waterbending. Losing interest, Meriona began to walk away when she saw an orange light and gasps. Turning back to see what firebender had joined the fight, Meriona was shocked to see it was the girl who was firebending. Re-intrigued with the fight, she watched as this girl bended water, fire and earth. She was the avatar. This was big news. The avatar hadn't been seen in Republic Ciy since Aang's passing. This was going to change everything.

The police however took no special consideration towards the avatar. Despite her best efforts, which Meriona found rather impressive, she was soon caught and arrested

Intrigued by the girl she followed to the police headquarters. She had been waiting outside for a couple of hours when she saw Tenzin arrive. She suspected it was because of the avatar. This hunch was confirmed when she later left with him. Meriona stood hidden beside a building, watching as they left heading towards Air Temple Island.

The news that the Avatar had returned would be quick gossip in Republic City. She might as well be the one to tell Amon. Put herself higher in his graces.

The next day an interview was held. A large crowd had gathered in front of city hall. Meriona was listening to the interview on the radio from Amon's office.

"Hello? I'm Korra, your new Avatar."

"Will you be working with Chief Beifong and the police?"

"Does this mean you've moved to Republic City?"

"Were you trying to send a message to the Triads yesterday?"

"Will you be fighting crime or the Anti-bending Revolution, or both?"

Meriona glanced to Amon, interested to see his response to this. As usual he stood there calm and unnerved.

"Uh ... yes, I am definitely here to stay, but honestly I - I don't exactly have a plan yet. See, I'm still in training, but, look, all I know is Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the centre of peace and balance in the world, and I believe we can make his dream a reality. I look forward to serving you! I'm so happy to be here. Thank you, Republic City!

As the interview was ending, Meriona looked to the Lieutenant before turning once more to Amon as the Lieutenant spoke to him.

"Amon, how do you want to handle this?"

"So, the Avatar has arrived early."

He paused as he turned to face them.

"It looks like we'll have to accelerate our plans."

Author's note: First few chapters will be quite brief but the story will pick up properly when she meets the Krew (Team Korra).

Also I decided to switch the names of my OCs in my 'A Rouge's Love' and this story as I felt the names were better this way round. Sorry for any confusion. Amara = Meriona now.