Ping! My hammer rebounded off the steel, the metal plate a bright cherry red; I took the plate and quenched it in the oil vat next to me. The metal caused a puff of toxic smoke to be sent straight up into my face as the metal rapidly cooled. I blew the smog away, and then waved away the remaining smell. Inspecting the plate I sought any flaw out. "Hey Tim; fourth plate is done!" my partner ran over and took the plate from my hand and began joining it with the rest of the armor, "dude this might be our best work yet." He said excitedly.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Remember it doesn't matter what we think, hopefully it will impress Chief Bei Fong. It's her decision whether you make it into the academy, or if I am going to be their new armor producer." I said sternly. Tim had wanted to be a metal bender, ever since we were kids. As orphans in the streets of Republic City, we had gotten into a lot of trouble with the law because of our shenanigans; and knew the Republic City Metal Bender Police Force pretty well. Some of the officers still referred to us as their "little house guests." I started to heat up the last plate, focusing on sending the right amount of current into the steel, thinking in my head the perfect temperature. Not hot enough to melt the metal, but just hot enough to make it mendable. The steel started glowing red, then a brighter orange, and finally a sharp yellow. Being a fire bender made being a blacksmith a lot easier. I didn't have to wait for a forge and guesstamate how long it needed to be in there for it to be the right temperature. Perfect! I thought as I placed the steal on the anvil and started shaping the metal; my hammer once again ringing off the steel, the noise echoing through our workshop. Tim watched for a bit then went to work polishing the newly added plate. As we finished I quenched the final plate and handed it to him then watched as he mounted it to the suit and began polishing it. "Your right you know." Tim stopped what he was doing and gave me a puzzled expression. "Right about what again?"
"This is without a doubt, our greatest work." I stated with absolute conviction. Tim gave me a huge grin "Scott, what have I always told you? I am a genius." I rolled my eyes at the comment "Ya Tim whatever you say. Let's get this thing wrapped up and ready for presentation" we worked from then on without words, focusing on the job at hand. We packed the armor up as gently as we could, wrapping it up to protect the finish. As soon as we were done we put the armor into a cart and started the long journey up to the police station. We were almost over the last hill and in front of the station when we saw a gray haired woman, who looked to be in her fifties standing in full metal bending officer's regalia; however even from here me and Tim could see the wear on the armor; where dents and gashes that had been pulled, and stretched, weakening the metal. That was Chief Bei Fong, a strong and highly independent woman, who wore her battle scars proudly. next to me I heard loudly "Grandma Bei Fong!" and then the cart suddenly weighed twice as heavy as Tim let go of the cart and sprinted forward; with the intention to tackle the Chief like we used to do as kids. "Shit! Tim get back here!" I shouted as the cart started to roll back, taking me and the precious armor that we had slaved over for the last month and a half with it. Tim however could not hear me as he charged forward like a stampeding bull; just as he was about to make his final lunge I saw the Chief's wrist flick up, and a wall of stone shot up between her and Tim; who because of his momentum had no chance to stop himself, and ended up going head first into the wall. At the same time I started to lose my hold on the cart. "Damn it!" I yelled giving everything I had into a final pull, attempting to get the cart to even ground where I could secure it. Just as the last of my energy was expended and I lost my hold on the cart, another wall of stone appeared behind the cart, stopping its disastrous descent. I fell to my knees in exhaustion, then got back up and stormed over to Tim's unconscious body. Turning him over I found a bucket of water, and proceeded to throw it over his face, bucket and all. Tim came awake with a startled jolt and glared up at Chief Bei Fong. "You're so mean Grandma Bei Fong."
"Watch our mouth boy! Both of you, what do you want? I'm very busy today and I don't have time to deal with your ridiculous shenanigans!" Chief Bei Fong shouted down angrily. Before Tim could say anything, and dig our grave any deeper. I said "we know your busy Ma'am, but we only need a moment of your time. We know there is an opening for the position of armorer in the police force and Tim and I would like to apply for it." I motioned towards the cart, "we brought you a sample of our work if you wanted to take a look."
"Fine!" the Chief of police said, "Let's see what you kids have." We all walked over to the cart, then me and Tim took the wraps off of the armor, and laid the armor back down with skilled precision. The chief looked over the armor with the eyes of a skilled metallurgist. She then raised her fist up, our hearts nearly stopped as she brought it back down, full force on the cuirass. Metal on metal rang out in a beautiful chorus, which was punctuated by the sound of metal cracking. Both Tim's and I hearts actually did stop. We examined the cuirass with the eyes of hawks; searching for were the metal had failed us, were the damage had been done. No matter how hard we looked, however we couldn't find where the failure had occurred. Then we looked up at the chief and saw the spider web cracking on her vambrace. I did everything in my power not to smile, but I couldn't help let a small grin escape. Tim on the other hand did nothing to hide his pleasure "hey Grandma Bei Fong, I think you need a new set of armor." She glared back at Tim, who continued undaunted, "it's a good thing you happen to know two really skilled black smiths, who happen to be looking for a job at the moment huh." The Chief scowled. "Alright you two you win, you're hired." She threw me the broken vambrace, "I want this fixed a.s.a.p." I caught it and threw the new armor's vambraces back. "Roger, boss lady." I said. The chief stalked away, going back to yell at her subordinates over something. I turned to Tim and put my hand up for a high five. Just then the rock wall that had been keeping our cart from careening down the hill, slid back into the earth. Our cart started to slowly inch its way back down the hill. Tim and I both made a lunge to stop it, however we were too late as the empty cart picked up speed and was sent barreling down the street. I looked at Tim and laughed, then started after the cart. Luckily we had taken the armor out to show the chief; or else we would have had to clean up a thousand pieces of scrap metal.