A/N: Sorry for the delay, it's just that I have a lot on my plate right now. I'll try to update regularly but schoolwork is priority right now. Anyways, I would just like to thank those of you who reviewed the story; reviews are what inspire to continue writing so thank you.
I quickly ran out of the church with Azula in tow as we made our way to our destination. I didn't know particularly where we were going, just that I knew we had to put as much distance between us and them as quickly as possible. "Wait right here, I'll be right back." I say to Azula. With a quick nod I take off, searching for a getaway vehicle. I hate to steal, but in times like these it's the only option. Thankfully no one spotted me as I made my way over to a parking lot. Finding a beat-up Volkswagen, I noticed that the door was unlocked. Whoever owns this pile will thank me for jacking it. Using my limited knowledge on hotwiring that my uncle showed me before I was deployed, I was able to get the vehicle running in a matter of seconds.
I pulled up next to Azula, and upon seeing her confusion, I rolled down the window and yelled for her to get in.
"What is this contraption that you are in and where did you get it?" She asks bewildered.
"It's called a car, and let's just say I… uh… borrowed it from a friend." That seemed to do the trick as she complied and got in. "You're gonna want to strap in and hang on tight," I said as I pointed to her seatbelt. After a few, and rather funny, unsuccessful attempts, she was able to buckle herself in. Now let's ride.
I was thinking about where we were going and what we had to do when Azula brought me out of my muse. I turned to look at her when she repeated her question, "I said, where are we going?" She asks as she looks out her window.
I ponder about it for a few seconds and just decide to tell her the truth, she'd find out sooner or later. "Azula, look," I sigh as I prepare myself for what's about to happen. "We are going to a buddy of mine to find out where whatever that device thing was is located. Azula… wha- what if my mother is right? What if it is just better for you to go home?" I hesitantly turned to look at her and was met with a stare of ice that could easily kill a person if looks could kill.
"Stop. The. Car. NOW!" She spoke in a no-nonsense tone. Not wanting to turn this into some giant ordeal, I complied. Pulling off into an abandoned parking lot, I turned off the car and looked at her.
"Now I'm only going to say this once so pay attention." She said in a stern voice; I simply nodded in response. "Austin, I love you," wow that's the second time today she's said that today, "and I never want to leave your side. We are in this together no matter what. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," okay who are you and what did you do with Azula?
"Alright, alright, you are completely right." Her face brightened greatly as I said this. "I love you too and I don't want to lose you either. But what are we going to do for money and food? In case you forgotten, I'm a rebel deserter who is wanted by the government – though they just don't know it yet – and you are, I hate to say it, a minor, which means you can't get a job." I didn't want to lose her, it's just that I didn't know how we were going to survive. It looked like Azula was thinking of something, then she quickly responded.
"Come back with me to my world."
"What?!" I shouted as I spit water out of my mouth from the bottle I had just been drinking out of. "You can't be serious?" I said in an astonished tone.
"Of course I am, please tell me you will." She said in a pleading manner. When I looked into her eyes, every bone in my body wanted to say yes, it's just that I couldn't.
"If it's possible – I'm not saying that I'm gonna go – but if it's possible, what about my family? I just can't leave them behind."
"Sure you can, it's just your stupid family. They just want to hold you back, use you for what your worth than throw you away-" she was getting an angry look in her eyes and I needed to put an end to her rant before she started destroying what was left of the vehicle.
"Azula, Azula, l know that you didn't have the greatest relationship in the world with your family, in fact far from it, but I truly love my family. I just can't walk away from them." I took her hands in mine to try to calm her down but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
"How can you say that?! Your mother hates you; she doesn't want you in her life!" She was reverting back to her old self again and the hatred was clearly evident in her eyes.
"Azula," I sighed, "is this about my mom or yours?" That seemed to do the trick as she burst into tears and collapsed into my arms.
"H-how c-could she just l-leave without saying g-goodbye?" She was sobbing loudly into my chest. I held her tight and ran my fingers through her hair as I whispered loving thoughts into her ear to try to calm her down.
"Shh… shh… everything is going to be alright, I promise." I calmly said in a soothing tone as I continued to massage her back and run my fingers though her hair. She stopped crying and looked up at me with red, puffy eyes.
"Y-you promise that everything is going to be better?" She asked in a soft yet sad tone.
"Yes I promise," I said as I wiped away a couple of stray tears and brushed her hair out of her face. "Look I don't have a complete and honest answer on your proposal yet, but I will tell you this. I will think long and hard on it and give you my thoughtful opinion in due time." She looked more hopeful and sat back upright in her chair.
"Okay, that sounds good to me." She paused for a second, "so where are we going to again?"
I just gave a small chuckle and slightly shook my head, "to the house of the craziest guy on the planet."
"Alright, now remember, just keep calm and let me do all the talking, okay?" I said as we stepped up to the front door.
"Keep calm and let you do all the talking, got it." She repeated as she clung close.
DING-DONG
I waited patiently at the front door for someone to open it as I nervously checked my watch. I was just about to give up and turn around when an elderly woman opened the door.
"What do you want?" The woman said in a harsh monotone voice. Wow, sounds just like an older version of Mai.
"Yea, hi, I was wondering if Jeff is home." I replied meekly.
She stepped aside and motioned for us to come inside. "He's upstairs in his room." She said before she went to the foot of the staircase and yelled up, "JEFF YOU HAVE VISITORS! AND PICK UP YOUR DAMN SOCCER BALL!" She said as she kicked his soccer ball across the room.
Azula was getting more nervous and was somehow managing to cling even tighter to my arm as we made our way to the living room. "Just remembered what I said and everything will be fine." I said to reassure her. However, as soon as I said that, we both saw a silhouette of a person coming down the stairs with nun chucks hanging over his shoulders. When he finally stepped out of the light and was visible and could be recognized, he spoke.
"What the hell do you want?!" He asked in a firm and harsh manner. Azula paled at his statement and I got more nervous, but I held my ground.
"Jeff it's me Austin, remember? We were in computer science class together and we had chemistry." I said as tried to regain my composure. He thought about it for a second and then relaxed and brightened up.
"God dammit, why didn't you say so? Come here man; bring it in for a hug." He said as he reeled me in for a fairly tight and painful hug. He then turned to Azula, "who is this lovely young lady that you came here with?" He asked as he took her hand and gently kissed it. Same old Jeff.
"She's uh… an acquaintance of mine." I said as I badly lied to cover up who she really was. He seemed to believe it as he motioned for us to sit down.
"Well good thing she's just an acquaintance of yours, that's jailbait you got there bro." I got beat red at what he said and thankfully Azula had no idea what he meant. "Anyways, what's happening man, how've you been? I haven't talked to you in forever. You guys hungry? HEY MAH, CAN WE GET SOME MEATLOAF! "
"Jeff, I think we're good, we had a bite to eat before we got here."
"You sure? Alright. So tell me, how's it going?"
"It's going pretty well for me. The Marines have been pretty kind to me so far." I somewhat lied. He doesn't need to know that I am technically considered a deserter.
"Oh that's right," he deadpanned as he said it, "you're in the Marines."The way he said it made it sound like it was an evil and corrupt institution. Azula also picked up on his tone and promptly called him out on it.
"Why do you hate the Marines so much?" She asked with a hint of malice. "Austin tells me they teach values like courage, honor and discipline; why is that a bad thing?"
"It's not that I hate Marines per se – actually I respect them greatly – it's just that it was such a waste for Austin to go into them. It truly was a waste of your amazing ability." He said almost as if he was disgusted with me.
"Hey it's not that simple, man. I had no choice." I firmly stated as I stood up from the couch.
"I do not understand." Azula said, obviously confused.
"Austin here was set to go to MIT with me, the greatest college in the world to develop young and brilliant minds. We were set to go, he even signed his letter of consent, when over the summer he signed up for the Marines and was shipped off to basic training."
"Austin, is this true?" Azula asked. All I could do was solemnly nod my head. "Why would someone so brilliant chose to join the military instead of further advancing their knowledge?"
"Like I said, it's not that simple. I wanted to go, I really did, it's just that my mom used up all of my college money and still needed more. Ever since my dad left, I had the responsibility of looking after my little brother and sister. They needed the help and welfare certainly wasn't getting the results so I joined the Marines so I could send home money to support them." I was going down a path that I did not want to venture, but it was too late. Mixed emotions were coming back to me.
"Oh," Azula said in a sad surprise. "I did not know that, I am sorry." She said as she wrapped her arms around me. "Is this why you have so much animosity towards your mother?"
"I would imagine that's part of it." Jeff said as he took out a tablet and started entering data into it, reminding me of why I came here. "So tell me, why did you come here in the first place, not that I mind the company."
"I need your help," I sighed as I let go of Azula. "I need your expertise in hacking in to some top secret files."
"Well you came to the right guy," he said as he put down the tablet and a smile appeared upon his face. "Sure I'll help you out."
"Really, you'd do that for me?" I asked hopefully. His response was just a simple nod. "Ah man that's awesome! You know what, I think we will have some of that meatloaf!"
"I knew you'd come around! HEY MOM, THE MEATLOAF, WE WANT IT NOW!" Turning his attention back towards me, he spoke again, "so exactly what is it that you need me to hack in to?" He asked as he started to get excited. Typical Jeff, getting excited at the thought of hacking into something like a kid in a candy store.
"Well there is this device that I was delivering during one of my tours, created by Stark Industries," I said so as to build up his suspense so he would be more willing to do the job.
"Yea, the Transdimensional Vortex Inducer, what about it?" He asked.
"Right that, so I-"the realization of what he said hit me mid thought. "Wait how do you know what I was transporting?" I asked skeptically.
"Who do you think designed the thing?" He said smugly.
"Jeff, you are a hacker for the US government, besides you don't even work for Stark Industries." I said pointedly.
"Okay so I had nothing to do with the creation of it," he said deflated. "I did, however, happen to run security detail for the government of said mission. Therefore, I know exactly what you were transporting and that not only did it get activated, but that you were transported to another world." And the smugness was back at full effect.
"Alright, well since you know exactly what I am dealing with," I said, "I was wondering if you could hack into the CIA's main database and locate where they are storing the Inducer device." That smug look quickly disappeared into a look of despair.
"You want me to hack into the CIA's main database, which is not only highly illegal, but is also my employer?" He asked in disbelief.
"Look if you can't do it that's fine." I said enticing him into a trap I knew he couldn't escape.
"Oh I can definitely do it; it's just that I want to know why you want me to risk me life." Well I guess he masterfully evaded that trap.
"Look, it's… it's just complicated. The more you are in the dark about this, the better it is for everyone." I said desperately, hoping he would just drop it.
"You owe me big time for this." He said as he started to work his magic. I knew I could count on you, Jeff! After a few minutes of typing in a bunch of codes and random numbers, I saw what looked like the schematics of the TDI and a map to where it was shown. His facial expression was quickly replaced with that of gravity and somber. He turned to me and hesitantly spoke, "I found out where it's located, but you're not gonna like me when you find out where."
I calmly and slowly tried to find out the answer, "it's okay Jeff, just tell me where it is. It's back in Iraq isn't it?"
He just shook his head and with a faltering voice spoke, "no it's worse, it's… it's… Austin, it's at Langley." As soon as he said that, I felt like the air was forcefully removed from my lungs. How the Hell am I supposed to break into the CIA headquarters?!
"On the bright side," he said gingerly, "I found out the schematics and how to operate it, here" he said handing me a paper that looked like a diagram with a bunch of numbers and instructions I couldn't really understand at the moment. "That will tell you how to activate it and where you want to go. I assume last time it just involved a bunch of random kicking and punching," my facial expression was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. "As long as you magically don't get arrested or shot for trespassing, it should be a breeze to get to where you want to go." He said as he shut off all of his equipment.
I just stared at the paper before stuffing it into the pocket on my pant leg. I was about to thank him and leave when a knocking on his door interrupted us. All three of us turned around and froze when we saw who we were looking at.
"Hello Austin, long time no see." The mysterious and feminine voice spoke.
"Ah did I forget to mention that Elle is coming over and is also working for the CIA as a bounty hunter." Jeff said as he shrunk in his seat.
"You want to tell me what the hell she is doing here!" I yelled at him.
"Well she is a professional bounty hunter; my guess is she tracked you down." He replied meekly.
"Wait, who is this girl?" Azula asked baffled.
"She's my crazy ex-girlfriend." I replied emotionlessly.
A/N: And the plot thickens! That's right I decided to throw in another character. In case you didn't pick up on it, Langley is where the CIA's headquarters is located in Virginia. Also, instances of Jeff's character were an allusion to Wedding Crashers. If you could review that would be awesome. Until next time