Anyone familiar with the popular British Sci Fi TV show "Doctor Who" would recognize this from the episode titled "Rose", airing in 2005. In this, The Avatar saves the ever so lovely Asami from being attacked by the living plastic monsters. Asami then is faced with the decision of whether she is to help this strange woman who saved her life, or, return back to her normal life.
Round 4 - Genres
Genre - Sci Fi
Prompts -
Easy - (object) clock
Medium - (character) Wei
Hard - (quote) "Failure is a word unknown to me" - Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Word Count - 1,597
The work day was coming to a close, and Asami was one hundred and fifty percent ready to leave. Getting out of bed this morning had seemed like the hardest part, but then standing on her feet for over eight hours hadn't been rather easy either.
"Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in five minutes."
Oh, finally… She thought to herself. The clock in the corner seemed to be making fun of her, with it's constant *tick tock tick tock tick tock*. With each passing moment her patience grew just a bit thinner.
"Don't forget to take the cash down to Wei before you go, Asami!" Opal said, as she casually walked toward the exit.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll handle it." She mumbled back, straightening the clothes on the mannequin next to the display she had just put up. Can this day get annyyy longer….
"WEI? Wei?! Open up! I've got the money from the register to put in the vault!" She repeatedly beat on the door to the manager's office, receiving no response. Down the hallway came a faint noise, almost like a crash, and then a door slammed shut.
"Wei? Is that you? It's Asami! I've got the money?" She called out, exasperated.
Unsure of whether it was her boss that caused the crash or not, she decides on a more cautious approach. Anything and/or anybody could be in behind the boxes and mannequins that lined the hall.
"Hello? Is someone out there messing about? Who is it, who's there?"
A creaking sound came from behind, the only sound in the eerily quiet hallway. Slowly, she turns around to see one of the mannequins coming out from against the wall.
"Ha - ha. Very funny. You can stop now." She states matter-of-factly, a bit of shake and uncertainty staining her voice.
Behind the first one emerged a second mannequin, both moving slowly towards her and reaching out as if to grab her. Fear lit up the tall woman's eyes.
"Bolin? Is this you? Is this some idea of a joke?" Her voice slowly rising with each word. "Where are you?!"
As if all at once the rest of the rest of the dummies come to life and converge towards her, backing her up against the wall.
Out of no where, a hand grabs her's, she looks up to find a strange woman with dark hair and wearing a dark leather jacket looking back down at her. "Run."
The pair take off, the strange woman dragging Asami along behind her out through the double doors and toward the elevator. Not too far behind are the mannequins running stiff with heads unmoving after them.
"Quickly, in here" the woman says, pushing Asami into the elevator and hitting the button for the top floor.
The door begins to close as one of the dummies quickly thrusts an arm through. The woman in the leather coat begins shoving at it futilely but finally gives up in favor of pulling. To Asami's amazement, the arm easily pops off, and is tossed to her.
"Who are they? Are they benders?"
"Why would they be benders? What gave you that idea?"
Asami stares back at the dark skinned woman. "Well I don't know."
"But you're the one who said it?" The unnamed woman counters, humor lacing her voice.
After a few moment's consideration Asami speaks again. "To have that many people dressed like like that, they have to be benders, don't they? They always are looking for a reason to mess with somebody, maybe it's one of the triads."
The woman gives a curt, humorless laugh. "Good skills of deduction, they must be benders. But they aren't."
The doors of the elevator open and she dashes out, turning toward the button that calls the elevator.
"I've had enough of this! You just wait until Wei hears about this!"
"Who's Wei? Stand back!" The woman in the jacket pulls out a strange device and aims it at the button. After a small buzzing sound the button begins to smoke and a few sparks fly.
"Wei's my manager!" Asami says, ever so matter of fact.
"Well Wei's dead. Now come on, or you will be too."
"No," Asami states. "I will go not another step with you until you tell me who those people are. If they aren't benders, then who could they be?"
With an exasperated sigh the woman looks at Asami, seeing how stuck fast she is in her resolve. "They're plastic. Living plastic. And they are being controlled by a signal on the roof."
The woman quickly drags Asami through another set of doubled doors. "This would be a problem, if I weren't here to fix it which might very well kill me in the process. But that's nothing for you to worry about. Now go on, go enjoy your noodles."
The woman disappears, leaving Asami breathing heavy on the other side, unsure of what had really just happened to her. Who WAS she? She thought to herself.
"OH!" The strange woman says, popping back through the door. "I'm The Avatar by the way, and you are?"
"Asami."
"Pleasure to meet you Asami, RUN for your life!" The woman now known only as "The Avatar" disappears back through the door.
The whole way back to the studio apartment she shares with her father Asami watches over shoulder, completely ignoring the fact that she's still carrying the arm that was thrown at her in the elevator.
Rampant thoughts flood her mind as she pours over recent events, just as the sound of an explosion not too far behind her fills the air.
She quickly turns just in time to see the boutique's roof and top two floors burst into flames.
That was close … Too close for comfort… The tall woman thinks, walking briskly towards her home.
"YOU could have DIED!" Hiroshi roared over the sound of the local news station giving their report of the recent fire. "I'm just glad you're safe…"
No more than thirty seconds later Mako bursts through the family's door and into the living room.
"Are you alright?!" He frets, crouching down in front of the dark haired woman. "I can't believe it! I can't believe the shop went up! Thank the spirits you're alright, you weren't in there were you?"
"Mako! Mako, stop!" Asami says, shoving him away so she can breathe. "I'm fine! Relax!"
"Come on, me and you, Baby. We'll go down to the bar and get you something strong to drink."
"There's a probending match on, isn't there?" She says with a grin.
"No, why?" Mako inquires, fainting ignorance as to her question. "I don't know why you'd ask me that."
"Yes there is, now go watch it. I'm fine, I promise."
"Well…. If you're sure…." He says, slowly standing up.
"Of course I'm sure," Asami chuckles. "If I weren't I wouldn't have said it. Oh, by the way, could you get rid of this for me?" Picking up the mannequin arm she had carried home by mistake and holding it out to her boyfriend.
"Sure, why not?"
With a kiss good-bye, Mako is quickly out the door and out into the street, hopeful in catching the end of the match.
*Knock Knock Knock*
Who could that be now…
With a sigh Asami goes to answer the door. "OH! IT'S YOU!"
The strange woman from earlier didn't speak, instead looked around with a determined look on her face once again holding that strange device that glowed blue on the end.
"Nope, not plastic. Have a good day!" The Avatar said, turning to walk away.
"You have some explaining to do!" Asami says, grabbing the shorter woman by the arm of her jacket and hauling her into the apartment.
She begins to walk through the apartment, all the while berating the strange woman with questions of what had happened on the roof and who she thought she was while making each a cup of steaming jasmine tea.
"Well I've never…" Asami begins with a start, seeing The Avatar in her living room, fighting with the blasted arm she had just asked Mako to dispose of.
"A bit…. of … help.. please…"
The taller woman quickly sets the cups down and runs over, pulling on the arm. Suddenly, it releases the dark skinned girl and turns on her, attacking with such force she is backed into a wall.
The Avatar runs forward, brandishing the strange glowing wand again, and as if nothing happened, the arm is rendered useless.
"Well, I must be off!" The Avatar says, striding toward the door, arm in hand.
"Now where do you think you're off to so fast?" Asami retorts, following close behind. "What do you think you're going to go do?"
"Save the World of course! Failure is a word unknown to me…"
Asami is quiet for a few moments before replying. "Tell me what is going on right this second or I'll go to the police. I don't think that is something you want."
A sigh escapes The Avatar as she turns to look at the persistent woman beside her.
"Well you see, i'm not from around here. I was just passing through when I happened to stumble upon this whole mess and decided to help. I've got a plan on how to fix all of this."
The taller woman soaked in all the new information The Avatar gave her, and considered heavily the options in front of her. Walk away from all this, or help this odd woman on her quest… What's a girl to do?
To Be Continued…
