A hand rose to stifle a yawn. It was the tenth time Asami had to control her face to look interested as Varrick was going on a tangent away from the matters at hand. Again. Asami was reminded of Bumi, except Varrick's stories were more likely to be true. She looked at the Zhu Li and her lips tilted up at the tenderness in the older woman's eyes. For some reason or other, she truly loved Varrick and Asami knew without a doubt that Zhu Li would listen to Varrick's tall tales for the rest of their days if she could.
"And that's why we should build the tracks through the volcanoes!"
Asami was brought back to the present to frown at Varrick. They had this talk before. Many times in fact. "Platinum does have a high heat resistance but I would like to remind you that it is a very rare metal. We don't have the resources to create platinum trains and tracks. And even if we did, the lava would still melt it after a decade or two." Varrick was a genius, nobody could doubt that, but the man tended to look at short-term solutions instead of long-term. "We need to build around the active volcanoes."
"Well then I'm out of ideas!" Varrick huffed, slumping into the chair. It was the first time he sat down since the beginning of their meeting an hour and a half ago. Zhu Li laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and he gave his wife a grateful smile.
"We have to think of something," Asami urged. "We lost too much time on this project as it is." She had helped rebuild Republic City after the spirit vines had taken root and created the hummingbird mecha suits that took down Kuvira's giant mecha suit. She should be able to crack this problem.
The room filled with silence as the three tried to come up with any ideas that could help them. Asami's mind couldn't focus on the train or its tracks however. She felt so deliciously sore from the previous night and it was distracting. Her eyes flashed to the phone. Once they conclude the meeting, Asami might call Korra and drag her away from her Avatar training to pay a visit to the Chief of Police. Lin wouldn't be swayed to leave work for some relief but it would be fun to tease the older woman. Asami knew what buttons to push to make sure that as soon as her shift was over, Lin would want to spend some quality time with the two. She and Korra could get things started as they waited for Lin to come over. Just the thought was enough to get Asami excited again.
Now that she had a plan for the rest of the day, Asami refocused on brainstorming ideas of speeding things along for the Fire Nation Satostation. She was glad that Varrick had stopped suggesting that they bribe the officials to look the other way while they built their tracks without consulting an environment representative. The man she had flown out was still doing his work but it was a slow process due to him being so thorough with his investigation. He wanted to explore the entire area where the pillars of the train's track was going to be built. Which was why she had hired him.
A knock on the door brought the three out of their minds. The door to her office opened and a young woman peeked her head in. Her brown eyes were filled with a nervousness that made Asami narrow her eyes as dread plummet in her belly. The feeling intensified when those eyes met hers and they darted away to focus on Zhu Li. "May I have a word with you, Mrs. Moon?" Even her voice was soft and timid. Zhu Li excused herself with a frown and the two left the office to discuss whatever it was that brought the young woman to the office.
"That's Zoey," Varrick said when the two were alone. He seemed to be the only one that hadn't read the palpable uneasiness about the woman. He leaned back in his chair and pointed at the closed door. "When Zhu Li and I got married, I knew we needed an assistant. Zoey is a whiz at numbers but absolutely useless when it comes to engineering." Varrick grinned. "But Zhu Li and I are teaching her everything we know. Well, not everything in case Zoey decides to try and stab us in the back," he added with a shrug.
"Like you did to me?"
That wiped the grin off Varrick's face. "Hey, I apologized for that!" Before he could go into a long lecture of all the good things he'd done to make up for his momentary lapse in judgement, or lapses, Zhu Li opened the door. "Varrick, you should hear this." The way she looked at Asami made it clear what the talk was about. Varrick was still oblivious to the mounting tension as he strolled out to hear what Zhu Li had to say.
The mechanic took a deep breath to calm herself. She could hear Varrick yelling about something but she couldn't make out the words. Asami would know soon enough.
It was another minute before the door was tugged open. Varrick stomped to Asami's desk and slapped down two pieces of paper. He slumped into his chair and looked at Asami with sympathy in his eyes. "Damn kid, you really screwed the pooch on this one." Anything resembling his usual jovial behavior was gone from the man. Zhu Li took the other chair and rested a hand on Varrick's. Her silence conveyed her condolences for the news that they brought to the CEO.
Asami picked the two pieces of paper from her desk with a shaking hand. She flipped them over and her face paled as she stared at them. The pieces of papers turned out to be photographs. The first one featured Lin leaving the mansion, wiping her lips free of the lipstick that Asami had undoubtedly smeared during their kiss goodbye. The second picture was even more incriminating. It was of her and Korra sharing a passionate kiss at her doorway. The photographer managed to take a picture when Korra was grabbing her butt and Asami was fisting the Avatar's hair to pull her closer. Seeing it made color return to her cheeks and burn in her embarrassment. It looked like she and Korra were about to have sex right there. How could she be so stupid?
Varrick handed Asami a slip of note paper. Asami took it and felt her heart halt. "Resign from the position of CEO of Future Industries or else these pictures will be in tomorrow's front page?" she read aloud, her world crumbling with every syllable that passed her lips.
"Vultures," Varrick muttered as Zhu Li nodded in agreement, her eyes flashing in her anger. Varrick leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands. He looked more serious than he ever did during their meeting. "What now, Asami?"
Asami was looking back at the photographs. They must have come from a top-of-the-line camera. The images were clear and focused. Whoever took them didn't have to wait for the development of the film. Both times, the subjects were moving but the photographs weren't distorted or blurry. Thinking of herself and her two lovers as mere subjects made Asami sick. She looked at Varrick and carefully set the photographs down. "Did you have anything to do with this?" she asked, her voice void of emotion despite the storm inside.
For his part, Varrick actually looked offended. His eyes widened at the accusation and he stood up so fast that his chair almost toppled backward. "Of course not!" he yelled. "Did I encourage the Southern Water Tribe to rebel against the North and basically incited a war? Yes. Did I bring you under my wing only to rob your company? Yep. Did I frame your old boyfriend for said robbing. Yes, I did. Did I attempt to kidnap the President and his wife to win support for the Southern Water Tribe and then make myself richer? Of course! Did I help create the technology that Kuvira then abused to try and murder you all? You bet your last yuan I did!" Varrick looked lost in his thoughts and then looked at Asami. "What were we talking about again?"
"If you were responsible for these photographs," Asami answered, gesturing to them. She had almost forgotten all the bad that Varrick had done over the years since she met him on his yacht.
"Oh! Yeah I had nothing to do with that." Now that he finished his tirade, Varrick sat untroubled back in his chair. "Look kid, I don't care who you're with as long as they make you happy. You deserve it after all that, er, unpleasantries you went through." Zhu Li smiled and nodded to show that she held the same sentiment. "In fact, I gotta hand it to you, both the Avatar and the Chief of Police!?" Some of the old Varrick was showing. "Nice catch, besides Zhu Li of course." He grabbed his wife's hand and gave it a swift kiss.
The compassion exhibited did little to sooth Asami. "I'm not with Korra or Lin because of their titles."
Varrick nodded like he understood and gave Zhu Li's hand a squeeze before letting go so he could raise his hands to show he didn't mean any harm. "I get that but there are people in this world who won't try to understand your relationship," his face scrunched up in uncertainty, "relationships? Whatever. The point is because these people won't be able to openly discriminate you, they'll go the roundabout way and claim that you're shacking up with Chief Beifong and Avatar Korra for less than ethical benefits. And unfortunately Asami, some of those people are big in business and hold a lot of influence."
Asami leaned into her chair, her fingers rubbing at her temples. She could practically see herself being pushed into a corner. "So no matter what, I'll lose private support for my company which will plummet my profits and I may end up losing everything if I don't resign." Asami hated that tears were gathering at the corner of her eyes and wiped at them angrily.
"You don't have to lose everything."
Asami looked up from her desk to Varrick, hope in her eyes.
"Sign Future Industries over to me." Varrick saw how the hope was crushed in Asami's eyes and he was quick to continue. "Just listen to me, please." It might have been the first time Asami ever heard Varrick use that word. "I know I messed up a lot in the past, with you particularly. But you have to trust me when I'm telling you that I'm not taking advantage of the situation this time. I'll be the CEO of Future Industries, but you'll pull all the strings that you want."
"I'll consider it," Asami heard herself say after a long minute. She picked up the two photographs and the note. She stood up and felt a wave of vertigo. Asami held herself up with her desk and immediately Varrick and Zhu Li stood to help her. She waved off their help. "I'm fine, I just need to go home."
"I'll have Zoey drive you home," Zhu Li offered.
"No." The word came out too harshly but Zhu Li didn't take offense. "I think better when I'm the one driving." Asami grabbed her satchel and slung it over her shoulder, taking care to place the photographs and note far down the bag. She said goodbye to the married couple and felt their eyes on her back as she left her office.
The assistant jumped when the office door opened but Asami didn't have the energy to apologize for startling the woman. She left the building without a word to anyone else. Asami climbed into her car and drove back home. She felt like she did during the first couple of days after her father's death. It was like she wasn't there, like someone else was in her flesh, pushing the gas pedal down and turning the steering wheel.
Somehow Asami ended up in her driveway, safe and sound, although she couldn't recall really driving there. She sat in her car, staring at the door where her life crumbled around her without her even knowing it. It was her fault. She should have shared Korra's suspicions, Asami knew, but it was too late. Lin had warned her of being together too often would increase the risk of them being caught, but all Asami could think was how great everything was going. Not only was her affections accepted and shared by the two most amazing women in the world, but they also had grown to care for one another deeply. Asami was a part of something truly special and it made her greedy. She wanted to have Korra and Lin at the same time, regardless of the risk factor. And now she was paying the price. After everything, after having to rebuild Future Industries from the wreckage her father created, after dealing and rising from Varrick's betrayal, after combating Kuvira, she was able to keep Future Industries, the last piece that made her feel like a true Sato, it could all crash and burn.
Tears escaped Asami's eyes and she tried to wipe them away but new ones would replace them right away. She took the two pictures from her satchel and looked at them. Her eyes drifted back to the satchel where the note was hidden, mocking her for letting her love and desire for the two women make her reckless. She slammed a hand against the steering wheel, screaming fuck. How could she be so stupid?