"Gran-Gran," the woman kneeling next to her hissed, wide yellow eyes liquid with fear. "Get down."

A fire nut cracked. While the woman had lost many things over the years, she prided herself in the fact that she still had a head full of teeth. Her own teeth, not those plastic ones her acquaintances at the hospital used. Spitting out the shell, she said, "That nice young man said I didn't have to as long as I was quiet. You know my knees aren't what they used to be, Lin."

"Nice young..." Lin followed the older woman's gaze to one of the robbers. The leader, by the looks of him. "...Nice young man. Of course."

"Hey!" The shout caused Lin to wince, ducking her head down again. But it was too late. Another one of the robbers stormed over, gun waving dangerously close to the old woman's face. "I said be quiet, hag!" Bemused, the grandmother kept her silence, though she also kept her gaze trained on the man. Something about her was permissive, rage-inducingly so. Like this was all happening because she was letting it. Everyone in this room was scared shitless but this wrinkled old raisin was daring someone to try and force her to do anything she didn't want to do. Gritting his teeth, the man forced her to stare down the barrel of his gun so that he didn't have to face that derisive gaze a second longer.

Somewhere behind him, the leader was settling down in front of the vault door, electricity crackling as he set about trying to overload the locking mechanisms. "Why aren't you on the ground?" the grunt menacing the old woman growled.

"My knees hurt," she said simply. She sniffed; fire nuts did a wonder to clear her nose out when she had a cold. The spice made it run. "Your boss said it was fine. So buzz off."

"Gran-Gran, no," Lin whispered, her hands knuckle-deep in her hair, mussing it up as she resisted the urge to tackle the old woman down to the floor with her before she did any further damage.

The grunt was turning red. "What did you just say to me?" 

"Buzz off," Gran-gran repeated. She shoved the wrapped into his free hand, ignoring the pistol currently courting her face. "And toss this while you're at it. Don't you have more pressing matters to attend to than a grumpy hostage?"

"You must have a death wish!"

"You must have no idea how metal works," she responded, tapping the barrel of his gun. "Using fire to fling steel through the air? How does that even work? Lin, child, tell me I'm not the only one confused here." She put her hands on her hips, tossing a frustrated glance over at her grand daughter. "Last I checked, I was the only one who could bend all the elements. This seems like cheating."

All the blood that had built up in the man's face suddenly washed away, leaving him sun-bleached white and terribly aware of his mistake. Her words rang in the room, drenched in meaning, flipping the stakes.

"Oh," said the leader, though he didn't stop his work.

"Oh," groaned Lin, banging her forehead against the floor.

"Whoops," Korra said, grinning before she gripped the grunt by his wrist, pulling him forward to greet the heel of her hand.