While in pursuit of his goals, Zaheer and three of his comrades were captured and imprisoned in separate, high-security prisons. Upon becoming an airbender thirteen years later, he escaped the custody of the Order of the White Lotus and subsequently freed his allies from prison, including his girlfriend P'Li. He threw the Earth Kingdom into chaos by killing the Earth Queen and attempted to end the Avatar Cycle by killing Avatar Korra while she was in the Avatar State. This attempt failed and Zaheer's comrades were killed, leaving him as the only survivor of their group of four.