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He is tagged as a dead man when the cops drag him to the hospital. Firebending-related crimes are far from uncommon in Republic City, and even the staffers at the front desk can eyeball the goners at a glance.
He is a sobbing ruin, smoldering and broken.
And then he explodes.
The audience simply watches on, horrified, as policemen fall to masked revolutionaries armed with taser gloves, like they couldn't do anything to help even though there were hundreds of them and a handful of Equalists.
Stupid apes, John thinks to himself as he stands.
"Oy! You there!"
The nearest Equalist turns, looks him up and down from shaved head to sandaled feet. The Air Nomad clothes the temple lent him are eye-catching. "Aren't you supposed to be a pacifist?"
Somehow, the question hits John like a slap.
One frosty morning, Korra offers to spar with him.
"A little adrenaline to fill in the holes of my Swiss cheese brain?" She stares at him, and John wonders what odd thing he's said now. "Well, no use standing around here."
It turns out he really can fight, holding his own against Korra in a hour-long marathon. John's body falls into the proper motions without any real thought.
Maybe he was a soldier in a past life.
Korra is panting for breath by the end. His own clothes aren't even damp with sweat. "Wooo!" she exclaims. "Nobody's kept up with me in forever. That was fantastic!"
John cocks his head. "Nice word, that. 'Fantastic.'" He murmurs it to himself for the rest of the day, rolling the syllables around on his tongue, and enjoys himself so much that, for the first time since he woke up, the teeth in John's mouth don't feel like they belong to a stranger.
And then he explodes.
Not with flames, the death struggle of panicked firebenders, but with brilliant golden light. None of the firebenders on staff can contain the blaze. When the fireworks fade, the burned man smiles at the shocked hospital staff with a fresh new face.
"Hello!" He offers a jaunty little wave. "I'm... uh..."
Ikki pesters him with the same question his first night at temple, when Tenzin invites him to dinner.
Before her parents can hush her, he replies as if on reflex, "Doctor John Smith."
Chief Bei Fong talks to Master Tenzin in a low, hushed voice when they think he's out of earshot, distracted by the honking big statue they're sailing past.
"No name. No memories. Nothing in his pockets but a bag of half-melted candy."
"I've never heard of any spirit that has pockets, let alone candy in them."
"Our hands are full right now, Tenzin, and you and your father always handled spirit stuff. So handle it."
The tattooed man sighs. "Anything else I should know?"
"He was insulted that anyone cared if he was a bender or not, but it turns out he thought the word meant something else."
The city is burning.
The smoke and flames are everywhere, and all he can do is watch as the silver leaves turn to ash again and the Equalist killcruisers exterminate benders.
He can't even... couldn't even save anyone...
Clenching his aching head, John Smith slams his eyes shut.
Maybe he was a soldier in a past life.
"Aren't you supposed to be a pacifist?"
"I'm... uh..."
"Doctor John Smith."
"Doctor who?"
It is not John Smith who opens his eyes.
He leads the quartet to an abandoned scrapyard.
"Your plan is for us to hide in a blue box?" Asami asks.
"Yes, actually."
Bolin says, "I'm thinking that might be a little awkward and uncomfortable."
He unlocks the TARDIS and stands aside. The humans peer through the door, jaws hanging.
"It's bigger on the inside!" Korra blurts.
And the Doctor grins.