A/N: And I am back with the latest installment. I would like to thank all of you who reviewed the story thus far. As is always, I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of its characters; however, I do own the original characters that I created. Now on with the show… err… story!
"My, my, my, it certainly has been a while." Elle said as she snaked her way into the room.
"What do you want Elle?" I questioned solemnly. I was definitely not in the mood for what was about to go down.
"What? I'm not allowed to check up on my previous boyfriends? You know, you still owe me an explanation as to why you left me." She replied as she took a seat in a chair across from where I stood. An awkward silence filled the room as we continued to stare at one another. Finally, Azula spoke up and broke the uncomfortable quietness.
"So who exactly is this woman again, Austin?" Azula asked as she motioned at Elle with her thumb.
"Like many things, it's a complicated matter. But, to make a long story short, we used to date throughout high school, but I broke it off right before I went into the Marines. I assume that is when she decided to work for the CIA as I had no previous knowledge of the matter."
"Correct again; someone's on fire. Yes after you left, I too decided to work for the government. However, instead of working for the military like you did, I decided to go the CIA route and become a secret agent of sorts. After many – and interesting to say the least – twists of fate, I ended up becoming a professional bounty hunter. So tell me Austin" she said as she gestured towards Azula, "who's the pixie stick? Your sister? Shouldn't she be in school right now?" Elle nonchalantly made the off-hand remarks as if it were nothing. However, before I could do anything to defuse the situation, Azula shot up and exploded in Elle's face.
"I AM NOT HIS SISTER! In fact," Azula smirked, "I am his girlfriend, something that you failed to do." Azula had a smug look on her face and regained her usual demeanor as Elle did a double take.
"You? His girlfriend?" Elle gave off a fake laugh as she regained her composure. "You're like twelve; there is no way a pipsqueak like you could be his girlfriend?" She continued to laugh in a sarcastic manner. This, on the other hand, only seemed to make matters worse as Azula went right back to being up in Elle's face.
"I will have you know that I am not twelve," Azula sneered, "I am in fact fifteen years old; I had my birthday the other day." Azula then took a different yet familiar facial expression, resembling the one she usually had that told people she was looking down on them and thought they were the scum of the earth. "I don't need to justify myself to you, I am royalty and you are nothing but a filthy peasant." Azula spat back at her. I could have sworn that World War III was going to break out at any second.
"LISTEN HERE YOU ROYAL BITCH! I don't know this fantasy land that you come from, but in the real world, in this country, there are no fairy princesses and queens. So why don't you take your wild imagination and run off to make-believe-land while the adults sort everything out."
That seemed to do the trick as Azula delivered a swift kick to Elle's stomach that sent the bounty hunter flying into the adjacent wall. Azula looked ready to pounce on Elle's downed body like a hungry lioness and I knew I had to act quickly to defuse the situation. Promptly stepping in between them, I pushed them back far enough to dissolve the violence before it reached dangerous heights.
Elle looked at me in disbelief before she quickly spoke up, "she can't be serious Austin? There is no way that you two could be romantically involved in a relationship."
"Well…" I replied sheepishly, "you see-"
"Okay hold up," Elle cut in and took charge once again. "You mean to tell me that you and her," she hissed as she harshly pointed at Azula, "are in a relationship? And you're boyfriend and girlfriend?" Elle looked bewildered and definitely looked like she couldn't believe anything that was going on.
"Yes Elle," I replied calmly, "that is exactly what I am telling you."
"Okay it's been a crazy day for everybody here." Elle said as she stood up again after a momentary rest. "With you mysteriously returning from God-knows-where and me having to work a stupid ten hour graveyard shift, I think we should all go home and get some rest. Why don't you tell your little friend goodbye and come on back to my place so I can make you a nice cup of tea and we can all relax." She took my arm and started to make her way out of the door when Azula immediately intervened.
"If you think you are about to walk right out of this house with Austin and to never return, then you have another thing coming to you. I've gone through enough trouble as it is without you, so why don't you calmly step aside and let me and Austin make our way out of here." Azula talked in a no-nonsense tone that issued a warning to those that dare defy what she says.
"So that's how it's gonna be." Elle said as she released her hold on me and defiantly glared down at Azula. "Sister, I was looking for a reason to fight and you just gave it to me." Without warning, Azula delivered an abrupt punch to Elle's face that caught both of us off-guard. Elle just simply shook her head and spat out some blood. "The first one was free, that one's gonna cost ya." And with that, Elle struck Azula back with just as much force.
For the first time since the whole ordeal started, Jeff decided to speak up. "Shouldn't you do something to stop them? Not that I don't like hot women fighting, it's just that I don't want them to tear up my house." He was hiding in his chair as best as he could.
"Gee thanks for helping out earlier to defuse the situation." I replied in the best sarcastic tone I could muster. With a heavy sigh, I decided that he was right and that I did indeed need to intervene before major damage was done to the property. Separating the women wasn't the hard part; it was doing so without getting injured that proved to be impossible. As I lifted them off of one another, I suffered a few blows from both sides to the ribs and back.
"Okay let's try to settle this like rational adults. Azula," I said as I gave her a stern yet concerned glare, "can you please not hit Elle every time she says something that makes you mad?"
She simply looked at the ground and muttered to herself, "I didn't hit her every time."
"Azula," I said softly as I lifted her face so that she was looking directly in my eyes, "please."
"Fine." She huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest.
"Thank you." I said as I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. I then turned to face Elle and spoke to her, "and you Elle, can you stop with the little kid remarks and enticing her with insults?"
For her part, Elle just looked at me then gave me a defeated sigh. "Yea I guess I can do that. I just don't get what you see in her."
"That's not important right now. What is important, however, is that we come to a sensible solution that doesn't result in someone getting thrown across the room into a wall. Now, does anyone have any ideas that we can all agree on peacefully?" I knew it was a longshot but maybe there was a way that didn't involve violence.
"Austin, you are aware that you will be considered a deserter of the United States Navy if you do not cooperate and come in with me? If you do not willingly come in with me, I will be forced to report you as a deserter and you will be subject to government prosecution. The only sensible solution is for you to tell your companion over there goodbye and come oblige to report back. What they will do with you I have not a clue, but what I do know is that you will get a much more favorable outcome if you submit yourself voluntarily." She spoke in such a way that made one think they would be the stupidest person alive not to accept the offer.
"That may seem nice and all, but you forgot one thing," Azula shot back, "Austin is not about to leave me, especially not with someone like you. Now," Azula going into her queen b voice, "why don't you run off and let us figure out what is best for us."
Elle took offence to her statement and quickly shot back. "You don't think I know what is best for Austin?! I know exactly what is best for Austin! Besides, if you two left together he would always be looking after you; you have no idea how to take care of him like I do."
"I don't know about that," Azula replied smugly, "I took real good care of him the other night." At that particular moment I thought for sure all hell was going to break lose.
"WHY YOU LITTLE SLUT! I swear to god-" Elle was never able to finish her rant as her motionless body fell to the floor. I looked up and saw Jeff standing over her body and holding a vase in his hands.
"Jeff! What the hell were you thinking?!" I screamed as I rushed over to Elle's body.
"Relax man, she's just knocked out, she'll be fine." Jeff replied in a surprisingly calm and collected tone. I was taken aback from his tone and hesitantly moved away from the prone body.
"Are you sure that she will be fine? There won't be any harmful injuries sustained?" I was already going to be breaking a number of laws that would completely destroy my life, the last thing I needed was to be involved in a murder of a federal agent.
"Nah dude she'll be fine, you should know, you are trained in this kind of stuff. The worse thing that will happen is that she will have a bad migraine. You can thank me later, right now you should get a move on, she'll regain consciousness in a few hours and I wouldn't want to be around when that happens." He started ushering us out of his room as I shot once last glance at my former girlfriend.
"Alright man, thanks, I owe you another one." I took Azula's hand as we made our way out of his house. He was holding Elle in his arms to more-than-likely drop her off at some government building so that way she couldn't destroy his life… well... at least not right away.
"Don't worry about it dude, I'm sure you'd do the same for me, unless you become a millionaire, then I expect compensation." I just laughed at his remark as I helped Azula get settled in the car. Just like Jeff to make funny remarks during the most serious of conversations. As I was about to get in the driver's seat, I cat one last glance at the house I had come to love over the past few hours. All I heard right before I took off was Jeff's mother yelling at him. "JEFF IS THAT ANOTHER DEAD HOOKER?! YOU CAN'T KEEP BRINGING THEM HERE OR THE COPS ARE GONNA BUST YOUR ASS!"
"So where are we again?" Azula asked as I opened the door to the room and motioned for her to step inside.
"This place is called a 'hotel.' Unfortunately the safe house that I originally planned for us to stay at was compromised by yours truly. Since we don't anywhere else to stay, we will have to make do here for the night." I sat down on the bed and began taking off my boots as she did the same.
"Oh okay. I guess this place isn't that bad." She said as she carefully folded her dress and put them neatly away. "What are we going to do after that?" She asked as she slid under the covers.
"Ah that's the million dollar question. Well getting in to Langley is going to be virtually impossible; luckily I have a guy that can help get us in with the added bonus of not getting shot at the entrance." I said as I too got underneath the covers.
"You have a guy for everything." She replied as she got closer to me.
"That I do, that I do." I laughed as I wrapped my arm around her and nuzzled my head into her neck and drifted off into a deep slumber.
I would like to take this time to go over the reviews. I know I haven't done this in the past, but I feel that it provides more interaction between myself and you guys.
ChainzOfThePast- "Well i love it and cant wait for your update and Azulas reaction!"
Thanks and I am glad that you love the story thus far. I will do my best to update regularly.
RJCA27- "omg i just had heart attack when he said she was his exgirlfriend! Holy crap i need to know how azula is going to react!
only concern is that azula fell in love with austin really quick and in such a deep manner...quite unrealistic"
Well I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and my cliffhanger was effective. As to how Azula is acting, well yes, that was one of my concerns as well. I don't consider myself a great writer of romance but I am certainly doing my best to improve that. As to her acting out of character, well that is a difficult task that few, talented righters can pull off. Since there was zero romance for her character in the actual show, it's kind of hard for me to do an accurate representation of her character in the romance spectrum. With that said, I feel that her journey in these two stories put her on an emotional rollercoaster that would help alleviate this concealment of emotions if you will. However, I did try to make her more realistic in this chapter and will do my best for future chapters.
Pir84lyf- "so he leaves his family behind, runs to an old friend for help, and gets found out by his ex. well done, well, just well done. *slow clap*"
I don't know what to say other than thank you. I really do try my best to make this an entertaining and captivating story that keeps you on your seat. It's nice to have fans that support you in something that is purely for the enjoyment of others (though I do enjoy writing this story).
A/N: Well that is that. As you can see I am including reviews at the end of stories now. I found that this technique employed by other writers to be a useful strategy in making the story more captivating and entertaining. Until next time