The Engineer who lost reason
Yu Huan Ji looked at the towering shelf again. Crate No. 243 5421 A-XJ were missing. And it was not noted on the black board of the warehouse. He was the head of logistics for the warehouse compound six of Sato Automotives UNR. The young man wiped his goggles clean again, but the crates were still missing. Actually he had excellent eyes but an engineer needed to wear googles, as a healer needed a blue furry coat! Cold sweat was forming on his brow – that some crates of suspension parts, recoil valves or even spark plugs went missing was acceptable. But the Crates were just shipped in from Xi Tian and contained twenty high precision lathes type "Machinist 4" , furthermore spring Bending tools and Sets of "Machinist Chisels" had been stolen! Huan Ji had not noticed any signs of a break in as he arrived in the morning. The warehouses were just occupied for sixteen hours a day, which was more than enough.
The satomobiles weren´t selling that good in the united republic. If one had asked Huan Ji, himself a first class gearhead, he could have rambled endlessly about the need for aesthetic, sportive cars with at least twelve cylinders, not to talk about the damned speed regulation laws that all needed to be abolished! But at the moment the young man from the Chu Da plains was cursing and checked for the seventh time, if the notes of Crates 243 5421 A-XJ being transferred to production had not been wiped from the board or misplaced in the inventory of warehouse six D. If these crates were not found he would be in deep waters, not just because the wares were needed in the freshly assembled production line C. The content of the crates was worth close to a million yuan, which was equal to about two percent of t sato Automotives UNRs yearly budget. That was the primary reason, why they had been stuffed into shabby used crates and sent to warehouse six, with just HIM and the upper echelons of the company knowing what was in them. In the books they were listed as Exhaust clamps type IIB.
And that was, what startled Huan Ji the most, because he sure as hell was not betraying his company. What should he even do with this kind of equipment, ok he could use ONE Machinist 4, but his used Machinist 1 was precise enough to make all kind of custom parts for one´s satomobile 3 sportage. It really disturbed him because future industries hat bought up all automotive companys besides "northern spirit" and "komodo dragon". While northern spirit was the first and only company selling cars with 4 wheel drive, komodo dragon built sport cars that were just – out of this world. That was the opinion of Huan Ji, who sadly hung with the fabricates of his company. What company could be interested in such a mass of top nodge equipment and not simply buy it from the supplier? You also had to think about warranty if you invested so much money, even an engineer like him knew that! This kind of stuff was even more expensive on the black market than it was out in the open – because there WAS no black market for it…. And since there were no giant, secret military projects that would not be handled form future industriy military technology divisions, he had no idea who would be that crazy to steal these crates. No, he had NO idea why somebody wanted to steal the spirits damned crates!
"Tung, Xian? XIAN!" the man yelled through the wide building and was listening for the guards. He heard approaching steps. "Yes Boss!" the guard responded leaning on his spear sized electrocutor. "Have you noticed a car that took the exhaust springs out in the morning?" he asked the guard. The man blinked. Huang Ji tried to sound relaxed and dedicated, but somehow there was still a frantic undertone in his voice. "Ehm…yeah – why are you so worked up boss? Have the guys again listed something wrong?" Xian asked sighing in frustration. While Huang Ji would have loved to beat some brains into Xians dumb head he just released a shaky breath. "No – they are stolen, and not just some of them but ALL OF THEM! WHAT THE FUCK SHALL I SAY TO THE GOD DAMNED PRODUCTION ENGINEERS WHEN THEY WANT THEIR KOH FORSKEN, SHITTY CLAMPS!" he yelled at the guard, not caring that his saliva sputtered all over his uniform. The manager's hands were shaking. He had to take this to the bosses, the real ones – namely to Miss Sato.
And everybody knew that Miss Sato was not just busy, but also she would be furious. This was no petty theft, actually that could lead to Sato automotive loosing market shares, and if that happened Huang Ji would find himself in some run down garage, doing oil changes on daily basis. He shuddered at the lone thought! Tung, the second guard also arrived panting. His mouth dropped as he heard the usually silent Huang Jis rambling. "Boss, you just need to calm down for a bit. What happened, and are you really sure it´s not just a mistake in paperwork. Show us the papers, and if we´re all on the same page we contact central management – or whoever needs to be contacted to fix this." Tung was always earth incarnate, even if he was no earthbender. He was stoic and relaxed like a rock. The three men hurried towards Huang Jis office, where the books were kept. Huang Ji took a deep breath.
"Here – the incoming wares, there are the crates….the outgoing, nothing!" he stated an pointed at the neatly painted signs. He pulled out another heavy book, which was not handwritten. "And here, in the business plan is noted - Crate No. 243 5421 A-XJ, just to be handed to authorized personnel, signatures necessary, has to be in stock till sixt of the rat cycle of the lemur. See, no signatures!" Huang Ji reportet to the astonished guard. "Who the hell steals such an amount of exhaust clamps…." Xian mused dumbly. Tung responded "Boss- I suppose that´s something else…just keep your head outta this. You know – that´s exactly what happened all the time as ole Sato was in command, with all kind of material. Some nosy guys like you disappeared and nobody ever found them. Suppose the Mango doesn´t drop far from it´s stem, right?`" the man responded dryly. "Sato Asami sponsoring a second equalist movement? Tung, you´re hilarious." Huang Ji snorted. Asami Satos closest friends were benders and she had proven her loyalty towards the united republics establishment on countless occasions. "Not all the equalists were scumbags, molesting women and children boss." Tung responded.
Huang Ji himself was an equalist at heart, he knew that. But he was no man to commit crimes because he had his belief! "I know Tung – they fought for the right thing but, as always… some psychotic fucktard comes along and spreads mayhem, and then the common people are the demons…." He sighed frustrated. "Eh boss – let´s not talk about that kinda stuff here, it could get us fired, you know how the higher ups are about everything around the e word - right?" Xian responded. Huang Ji nodded in consent. "Well I can´t do nothing either guys. This stuff is really important and nobody else has these specific clamps." Huang Ji sighed. "But you saw a car loading in these crats Xian, what car was it?" he asked. "Um- Uh… a Satomobile farmer – you know the one with the full wood long bed." He responded. Huang Ji furrowed his brow. He LOVED the Satomobile farmer long bed. And that precisely was the reason that had made him aware of the fact that nobody in Republic City drove the car!
"That´s strange – the farmer long bed never was sold in Republic; it was an earth nation countryside car." Tung interjected. "But they had the Sato patches on the front window, they wore uniforms like we do." Xian responded. "Guys – we´re taking this high. Tung, Xian…we´re going to Miss Sato. Since she´s here in Republic I won´t talk about anyone else about this. Sato patches aren´t easy to steal and without uniforms you can´t even get on the company area, and we all know that no uniforms leave the place. I mean you know why they are so strict about that… e word and such!" Huang Ji had decided. He was not taking the blame for anything, and when somebody above his payroll did make some illegal things he just wanted the slip of paper that said he was not responsible for this incident. Huang Ji was a man of science, not a man of politics – if he were, he most likely would have fought in the streets of republic some years ago. Actually he had no idea how you were able to get a slip of Asami Sato´s time, but sometimes even a well-organized young man like him had to wing something.
"Xian – you stay here and guard the place, we don´t want these bastards to roll in here a second time, and you´re the guy who knows em." Huang Ji disposed of the dull guard. "Aye Boss, and they won´t see me coming." Xian grinned in bravado. Huang Ji highly doubted that anyone came into warehouse six, otherwise he would not have left Xian behind to handle the thing. Tung got rid of his electrocutor and muttered something under his breath as he followed the young man. "You´re sick right Boss?" the guard responded. Huang Ji did not understand what the older man wanted to say. "Umm no?" he responded disturbed. Suddenly he was on the floor, gasping for air as the guards boot hit his stomach again. Shit – Tung was one of the guys behind thing the young man thought as the contents of his late breakfast hit the floor. Much to his surprise the guard helped him up, he was clutching his stomach wheezing, he had not even enough air in his lungs to scream for help.
"So, now we can leave the facility without waiting for the shift turn." Tung stated nonchalant as ever. "The fuck…" Huang Ji managed to choke out, while he followed the guard on wobbly feet. He had not felt such pain since elementary school, where he managed to fall from a tree he had climbed into, to retrieve his kite. When they reached the facilities gates Huang Ji still was reeking of vomit, which made the guard wave them through without asking further questions. Tung nevertheless had to sign out for the time being. "That was some shitty idea Tung." He yelped nevertheless as he waved a riksha to drive them to Future Industries main offices. "That´s the price of winging things Boss. Believe it I´m a pro at this. I´ve got five kids at home." Tung responded. Actually Huang Ji did not even know that Tung was married, maybe he should socialize more with his coworkers. The sunburned, wiry man ran through the buzzing traffic of Republic City, dragging the carriage with his two passengers like it was made of paper.
Huang Ji was musing – how could they get to the administrative floor, or even better – directly into Asami Sato`s office. He could of course make a ruckus, but that most likely would just get him fired. If he could rely on Tung – maybe he could make it into the office. Tung was a guard, and as such he wore the same brown, black suits all Sato guards wore – even the ones guarding the central office! So Tung should be able to come up into the floor, he could simply get some coffee and state he was on lunch duty if he was even asked. It almost was lunch time. The problem was that Huang Ji could not tell the guard what really had been in the crates, so what to do. "STOOOP!" They were passing the branch office of the Bei Fong Bank in which he had rented his safe deposit box. There the less legal posessions of Huang Ji were resting for better days to come. "What do you want in a bank?" Tung asked distracted. "I´ve gotten an idea, y know I´ll use the e word man!" he responded determined and left a puzzled looking Tung. The Bei Fong bank was one of many private banks that had popped up everywhere after the 100 year war.
It was naturally because amongst all the rebuilding, the left over hunks of yuans from war profiteers had to be moved somewhere – and what would have been less suspicious than opening banks which enabled international trade and the easy shifting of large sums. In Republic City the Bei Fong Bank – and some other even less important ones – had built up another field of business. They rented out safe compartiments, which allowed the less fortunate citizens of Republic City to prevent their papers and valuables to be stolen. And because the contents of these deposit boxes were personal property nobody besides the owner had the key to them, while just the clerks held keys to the safe rooms. Since this invention was rather new, a lot of criminals used these boxes as stashes, even Huang Ji used the box to hold on to the reminders of the glorious revolution of Amon.
The interior of the bank screamed earth kingdom, green brokate carpets on the walls, paintings of Ba Sing Se, a gold hewn calligraphy of the "manifest of the earthern lands". The counters were made of heavy, dark looking wood and favored the modern Republicism, that was spreading all over the four nations. The clercs were clad in fashionable, emerald suits. The men were clean shaven, with short cropped hair glinting of polar bear dog fat, the women also wore the fashionable short haired cuts of the Republic city upper classes. Huang Ji did not like his bank, but since the Bei Fong Bank always sponsored earth rumbles and other combat sport events, he had eaten the sour lychee and deposited his money here! A lot of housewives were standing in line to retrieve their money for their weekly expenses. While the people here were chatting idly Huang Ji felt as if time had slowed down to something almost static.
He lined in behind an old hag, which was hunched over a crooked cane and wore bleached out robes. That somebody who looked so poor even was allowed in the bank room, which was guarded by two sturdy looking earthbenders, was new for Huang Ji. While little children wailed and people hustled in an out of the bank he slowly moved forward in the queue. The old woman in front of him waddled towards the counter, drawing a thick envelope. The clerc suddenly acted very friendly, took the envelope and disappeared in a separé. Most likely the old woman ran errands for some criminals Huang Ji supposed, because she really did not look like she herself owned an envelope full of hundred yuan notes. As the clerc returned without the envelope he nodded towards the old woman, which leaned towards the younger man. Huang Ji did not understand a word these two were muttering. He closed the space to the counted with hastened strides.
"E-Exuse me Sir. I´d like to take my deposit box." He responded hastily. The young man sipped on his tea and then responded with a well-practiced smile. "It´s a pleasure for me to assist you Mr." he stuck out his hand. The Engineer was wondering what the young man was waiting for. "Your key? I have to note the access in the book Mr." he responded with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. "Oh…er… yes of course." Huang Ji stammered, dragged out his pouch and fumbled around until he found the small, brass key between the coins that rattled in there. "Here." He handed the key into an unpleasantly soft hand. Damn it, not even his girlfriend had such soft hands, and she was a woman! The guy again disappeared in the separé and returned. "Would you please follow me Mr. Yu?" the employee stated and led Huang Ji into the vast basement of the building. Here were the deposit boxes located, behind thick, tiled doors of bamali wood. The clerc opened one of the many heavy doors, behind which the deposit boxes were perched neatly in their brass slots. It took a while until the stressed young man found what he was searching for, Huan Ji unlocked the cover-lid and dragged his box out. "I´ll take the whole box. You see it´s a custom made one. Not one from your company." He pointed out and almost pressed the wooden box into the clerk's face. The man stepped back. "Yeah- Yeah I believe you Mr. Yu." He answered snorting the dust out of his face. "I just wanted to make sure Mr. – not that your security arrests me or something." The clerk muffled a cough. "Everything´s fine sir." He was waiting again it seemed. Huang Ji reminded himself he should leave the basement before the clerk, who closed the heavy door and led him back into the well-lit entrance room.
"Have a nice day." He responded weakly, while the clerk waved cheerfully. "To you Mr. Yu – pleasure doing business with you." Huang Ji exited the bank and almost stumbled. He actually had never thought he would open this box again, just having it was enough for him. The wooden box was three fingers high, two spans broad and two feet long. "We´re going to bribe our way in?" Tung responded raising his eyebrows. "Never thought you´d have saved up that much Boss. Always thought you were more of a spender…" he waved his hands around. "Not really. Actually my plan has to do with me, the e- word, electrocuting and you Tung." He responded devilish smiling. "Protocol 2A paragraph one Tung." He added in a sing song voice. The eyes of the guard bulged. "You´ve got one of the gloves? After more than five years?" he asked in a muffled voice. "Nope – I´ve got the sticks…was a really expensive souvenier, but the guy wanted to loose em fast." The engineer stated grinning. "And I´ve also got badges, the goggles and the red bandana. In short – I´ll play raving drunk idiot!" he stated. Tung laughed. "Boss, that´s the craziest plan I´ve ever heard of! " he chuckled.
"Nope – the craziest plan of all times was, eh – let´s use all this short wave radiation to cut a hole into space and seal it with a dislocated spirit realm from 4-D plus X space!" he stated dryly. "What are you even talking bout Boss?" Tung asked startled. Huang Ji let out a chuckle. "Stuff that scares the shit outta me because I´ve got no clue of how it works Tung." He smiled a brittle smile. Indeed, these damned spirits still were able to make mankind shiver in fear, even after all the advances the last two centuries had led too. The two men got themselves another riksha and travelled into the office district of Republic city, where the oversized future Industries tower was looming into the heavens, the only thing that pierced the heavens even higher was the damned spirit portal. Huang Ji warded off the evil as he spit over his right shoulder. Some strange looking, flying hippos hovered through the air squeaking.
Even if these spirits looked rather cute and were perfectly harmless… every one of them held the energy to blow a friggin township AWAY! Somehow Huang Ji felt an irrational fear and hatred towards spirits, as he did towards benders. He knew that it was silly and such he took no action, even if action of any kind would have made him feel better. On the other hand – his girlfriends father was an earthbender himself and they actually were rather fond of each other. They bought soju which Huang ji partly drank and partly spilled about his clothes. Then Tung placed himself on the stairs of the Sato tower. Huang Ji opened the box, put on the goggles and the bandana. He was breathing heavily as he gripped the rubber handle of one of the bats. Than he stormed forward and directly stumbled into an office woman, who was going off to lunch with her colleagues. The woman screamed as she almost fell down the stairs. One of her accomplices had gripped the collar of her blouse just in time. The silk ripped as Huang Ji pulled up the bandana and yelled. "Equality for ALL….BRETHREN – RISE!" he struck with the bat, electricity crackling through the air.
The man released the woman, screamed and hit the floor while Hunag Ji beat himself through a crowd of screaming, partially fleeing officeworkers feeling nothing but the sheer bliss of doing something absolutely crazy! "All Hail to Amon…. EQUALITY FOR ALL!" It would not last long though because Tung subdued the young engineer easily. The guard kicked against the arching forearm of the young man, who dropped his weapon screaming. Then the guard smashed him onto the stairs roughly. "Freeze. Bring me some handcuffs – dammit! Hold it you crazy scoundrel!" Tung yelled, while the young man was squirming like a worm. It hurt everywhere "Stop it you asshole." Her gurgled as the guard pulled his arm back too far. Than His head was smashed onto the stairs again and blood was flooding his mouth. Huang Ji screamed in panic and trashed, but was bound by the guards and dragged into the building. When the dazed vision of Huang Ji cleared itself he was riding upstairs in a paternoster. His hands had been tied unpleasantly behind his back and two guards were with him.
Tung was not amongst them anymore. The young man gulped in fear. What had he gotten his sorry ass into? But why, why THE FUCK could these people not just written an entry in the books, for Koh´s Sake! Huang Ji felt like crying but somehow he managed to hold himself together. His head was ringing and his whole body in pain. He was exhausted and wished nothing more than to never leave the soft bed he wanted to rest into as soon as possible. The guards pushed him out of the wooden elevator, the young man crashed on a floor that was adorned with crimson carpets that contained more brokate than wool. It seemed he indeed had arrived in the dragons den. As he was roughly pulled back on his feet he could look down upon the vast crawling metropolis named Republic City, and the thick jungle of vines and spirit trees that had popped up in the former region of Tui-Market.
There was even a small, koi fish containing, pond in the hall, while expensive looking artworks adorned the walls. If he was a burglar this, without a doubt would have been a wet dream! The big men dragged him directly in front of a red painted double door, one of them knocked. "You bastard now listen up – if you just make a false move in there – I´ll snap your neck like a twig. Got that equalist scum?" The man's green eyes sparkled in merriment. Yes – awesome, pro bending guys…Huang Ji cursed inwardly. Hopefully Asami Sato at least thought along the lines of her father, or he would not leave this building in one piece - if he met Asami Sato of course. Without further delay he was lead into the room and beheld the most beautiful woman he had seen ins his life. Asami Sato indeed looked like the photographs in newspapers. Her curly black hair was glinting like satin; it was meticulously combed.
Her makeup was perfect, the lips painted a blackish violet that again could be found in her eyeshadows. Her thin brows were furrowed as she rose disgusted from her desk, and a disturbed Huang Ji noticed that Asami Sato was half a head taller than he himself. "You know why you are here?" Asami Sato hissed, her voice was cold, as were her slightly reddish eyes. "Because my plan B succeed Miss Sato?" The Enginer fought a grin, at least he had gotten so far. "Your Plan, being to hurt random people in my frontyard? Your drunken idiot don´t even know what you are doing and if it weren´t for protocol 2A of the Future Industry code of conduct I would have handed you directly over to the police - Mr. Yu!" Asami Sato hissed. Huang Ji wondered. How in all heavens could she know his name? He never had talked with her in person. "How do you know my name?" he asked dazed one of the guards slapped his already hurting head. Miss Sato did not respond anything. "Because I looked into your background – you made many optimizations to our products." She informed him coldly. Huang Ji never had thought that Future Industries CEO would be that great a mind, sure he heard stories of Asami Sato being equal to an engineer but he pushed it off as sweet-talk.
"Coming here was my main objective – this ruckus was just plan B Miss Sato… Really we have bigger problems than some beat up office workers." He responded "That´s…" one of the guards fumed. Miss Sato moved like a blur, the clashing sound of a fist meeting a palm, Huang Ji smelled the sweet odor of the young woman who towered over his, now kneeling, figure. She wore a perfume composed out of elderflowers, dragonlily and sweet musk, he inhaled deeply. "This man is not to be beaten unless I say so. Gentlemen – out!" Asami rumbled in an almost sweet voice. "Y-Yes Madam." The bulky men bowed and disappeared without questioning her. Then the terrible goddess of the industrial world seated herself on her desk. She looked at her meticulously manicured fingernails, which were coloured a deep purple. "If you´re not a crazed equalist on cactus juice, what are you here for Mr. Yu? And why could you not call my secretary to make an appointment." She stated with a dangerous edge in her voice. "W- Welll Mrs. Sato. Because somebody in – in the higher ups is stealing things. Ex-Expensive things li-like the new Ma-Machinist 4s!" he squeezed out stuttering. Asami Satos expression wavered, she looked disturbed and a bit frightened until her nonchalant business face returned.
"The crates from warehouse six are gone? I, wanted to send a team to retrieve the goods tomorrow." She responded in thought, her eyes fixing the poor engineer. "Y-Yes Miss Sato. I checked, I looked everywhere with my guards. Heavens we checked the books, nobody did misplace the entry. Not even on the board – there was nothing wiped off! And these guys came with a farmer longbed. A longbed! If you wanted the stuff to be moved in secrecy, you shouldn´t write procedures in the fucking business plans!" the engineer defended himself with a flurry of words.
"First things first – who are these guards, and can they confirm your testimony." Miss Sato spoke, while grabbing a pencil and a notebook from her table. "A-Ah. Xian Chin and Tung Do. Xian is guarding warehouse six now, while Tung was the one who arrested me." He responded truthfully. Asami scribbled everything down, most likely the poor guards also would be arrested and questioned, Future Industries almost was a state on its own. "And what are you babbling about the car and the men who got the crates?" she questioned again, while her voice seemed to lose the chilly tone. "Chrm..The men were clad in Sato Automotive uniforms, and they had even a Patch on the car – BUT it was a farmer longbed!" he responded in triumph, while Miss Sato looked at him with a rather dumb expression. "What´s with this longbed thing?" she asked. The engineer's eyes bulged "Spirits – don´t tell me you don´t know you company's sixth most popular model!" his voice almost toppled. "The beautiful Satomobile farmer longbed, most charismatic of all delivery trucks, clear lines…bamali wooden longbed, full leather interior…." He sighed. "Well the point is. The farmer long bed is not built any more since about 5 years, and he was an exclusive earth nation car…meaning…" Asami´s eyes glinted
"That car is not from our fleet, correct Mr. Yu!" she sighed and pulled a small key from her jackets pocket and opened his handcuffs. The young man was shaking his prickling, numb hands. "You´ve more than done your duty Mr. You. In the name of Future In…ahh screw it, just thank you." Asami Sato responded with a somewhat seductive smile on her lips – which she would of course have commented with a disturbed wrinkling of her brows if somebody had pointed it out. Huang Ji was speechless, he had just tried to save his own neck and was thanked like he had done something brave. Everybody knew that Engineers never did something brave, engineers were people who did things SAFE that was what they were paid for! Furthermore, he was feeling far from heroic, with his body aching like hell. "Oh gods – Zhu will kill me…" he muttered in silent horror as he realized that this morning had not been some kind of freaky dream. His girlfriend never would believe him and would assume he just had brawled with somebody over something stupid.
It was not always good to marry one's childhood friend, Zhu knew perfectly well, that the little Huang Ji always got into trouble about something unnecessary and sadly his character had not changed much in the last decade of his life. Asami Sato was fighting a laugh. "Stop looking like that, you don´t know that woman – she´ll be like firelord Ozai´s reincarnation when I come home like that!" he whined. That did it and a flushing Asami Sato giggled behind her upheld hands, Huang Ji looked just funny it seemed. He blinked disturbed, which made Miss Sato giggle even harder until she was grasping for air. "Geez Mr. Yu -you really should have gone into the cabaret business, as a friend of mine tells it pays off much better than engineering, if you haven´t inherited future industries of course." She trailed off. "Whatever Miss Sato." He interrupted slightly impatient. "At first you have to take care of my reputation, bribe the employees to not make a report to the police. Furthermore, I suggest you transfer me into another branch of the company because – ehm it would lead to the wrong people nosing around, right?" he stated. The young woman returned into business mode.
"Yes, of course I´ll take care of this as soon as you´re on your way home. Would you like to work in the naval technology labs in the harbor? That is the only thing I can offer you without you leaving the city." She responded thoughtfully. "Leaving Republic – sounds awesome if I get a promotion." Huang Ji almost crapped his pants in awe of his own courage! Asami Sato coughed and sighed. "Satomobile customs Ba Sing Se – pays better because you´ll get the paycheck paid in in the republic but live in the Kingdoms." She sighed. "Deal Miss Sato." Huang Ji cheered almost jumping from the chair. Than again pain seared though his head and he tumbled around dizzy. The young woman had to help him sit down. "You should not overdo it Mr. Yu – take that from a girl with more experience than you." Even though the context was definitely non sexual Huang Ji could not help his blushing. Luckily it was not very noticeable in his bloodstained face. Miss Sato already had picked up the phone that was located on her desk. "Yes, send the healer and a suit I…" she looked into Huang Jis direction "guess size 32 Varrik standards." She responded. "To my office, yes. Nobody needs to know about this.. Thank you." She hung up and started dialing another number. It took some time until she put down the phone. It was than the door opened and a water tribe woman entered the room.
She was pushing as small cart laden with ointments, leaves, bandages and other kind of medicines. She wore the traditional blue leather garments of the tribes. How she did not sweat herself to death in the thick robes was a mystery to Huang Ji. "I guess that´s the patient Madam?" she responded with a deep, dull sounding voice. With a fluid motion she uncorked the water hose and bended a slightly flirring coating on her hands. Huang Ji closed his eyes, water healing was amongst the few things connected to bending, which were not frightening. The water connected with his skin and a warm, stinging sensation washed through his body, while the pain was dulled.
The woman changed the water a few times until she was finished. "Gargle with this please." She responded and handed the young man a small bottle with a whitish liquid." What´s that?" the engineer asked skeptical. "Medicine." The woman retorted with a scruffy voice. "Yeah – that´s really scientific of you." The engineer grumbled opened the bottle and drank. The liquid tasted salty an was warm, not all that unpleasant. The most important fact was, that his head did not ache and there was no blood in his face anymore. Asami Sato was on the phone again, this time she seemed to have reached whom she wanted to call. "Asami here Chief. We have a problem here; some gangsters stole the big game. Could you send Mako to my office." She paused "Yes, I know you´re busy, but I need Mako here even if he has an important case." Asami Satos brows furrowed. "No – I´m not being dramatic, we´re talking about almost a million here and furthermore nobody should have known the wares were there and there is no blackmarket for the goods." The young woman rolled her eyes.
"Thank you Chief..You´ll send him over when he comes back. Yes, thank y… No definitely not …. well if you care that much you should visit her yourself!" Asami Sato bickered into the phone and put down the ear piece. While the young woman was muttering something under her breath a new Uniform had been delivered by her secretary, a slim and plain looking young woman. Huang Ji looked at the Uniform, was he expected to undress himself here, in front of women? He felt slightly embarrassed by the lone thought. "Erm excuse me – is there a room I can erh…?" he asked the secretary, who eyed him through round spectacles. She smiled a bright smile. "Of course, the men's bathroom is right around the corner, follow me please." She responded kindly.
While Yu Huang Ji wanted to get home as fast as possible, mostly because he was sure that Miss Sato eyed him as an inconvenience, the latter turned towards him. "Would you like to join us for luch?" the woman asked. Huang Ji felt baffled, it was the first time a woman like Asami Sato invited him to anything. "Erm…Eh yes – I´m just changing Miss Sato." He rambled and left the room with a surprising speed for somebody that beat up. In fact, Huang Ji felt a slight twinge of guilt searing through his chest. Even if he was rather flattered by the invitation it felt not right to dine with Miss Sato. He had a fiancé after all, and even if he sometimes thought about having an affair with somebody besides the girl he knew since aged four, he never actually considered it. The uniform was a tad too big for him, which was amazing given the fact that Asami Sato had not even taken a close look at him.
His fingers were trembling slightly as he tried fastening his tie, until he decided to simply threw the tie into the small bin under the washing dish. He splashed some water into his slightly fatty hair and smiled at himself, revealing yellowish teeth. "Mother of faces, grant me luck." He spoke to himself, while staring into his own, watery green eyes and slapping his cheeks thrice. He heard a low chuckle from one of the toilet cabins. Beautiful, now he also was making himself hilarious. He returned to the office of Miss Sato and waited for the ladies to step outside. Whatever the women were doing in there, it took time – or had they already forgotten him and went their ways? "Right – you should always remember you´re nothing but an expendable asset Huang Ji." He told himself, feeling slightly hurt. But he was used to it, he had been born poor and for him there always would be a thousand other men that were willing to do his job. Nevertheless, he wanted this job in Ba Sing Se and so he would do what ordinary people could do best. He would ask polite until Asami Sato was so annoyed that she gave him what he wanted – or called the guards to show him the exit. While he stood in the rich ornate hall like a lost puppy suddenly the high voice of the secretary cut his train of thougts. "Mr. Yu, why are you standing outside?" she asked him humoured. "Erm…because I was waiting for – you and Miss Sato?" he asked. "Your Boss had invited me and so I waited until somebody would come to show me the way out." He responded truthfully. The secretary giggled. "Miss Asami is not like – ordinary rich people – Mr. Yu. Also I guess she has a weak spot for nonsense rambling cute looking guys like you…." The woman furrowed her brows. "Did I really say that?" she blushed, while Huang Ji gulped hard. If this young woman did not dress herself like his long dead grandmother she would definitely look hot. And she was flirting with him, something Huang Ji experienced not very often. "If you say so- erm – so what is the plan exactly - Miss?" he asked.
"There´s no plan, there is just food, I hope you like earth nation cuisine, the cooks just sent a usual meal to the office. You know – Miss Sato eats as much as a catogator in autumn, it´s so unfair that she doesn´t gain weight." The secretary grumbled looking rather adorable. "And I´m no Miss – call me Rin Hua." She responded brightly. Huang Ji was rather sure that simply being rude and going home would be the best thing he could do right now – but alas he had not the resolve to do what was right.