Escape
I really hated waiting, it always felt like doing nothing. I was really getting sick of it. Still this was my place in the plan, watching and waiting in case Arika needed back up. She seemed to be doing a fare job of keeping the guards distracted, I just hope that the sedative in the tea kicked in soon; I also made a mental note to ask later where Arika learned how to make something like that into tea.
I'd not done much of anything in this little adventure, Sheppard had broken us out and Arika had come up with this plan. Unfortunately there were no nearby Mecha-tanks for me to swipe; I really had to take a look and see if I couldn't try to scale down the size and make them portable, maybe more manoeuvrable too, that couldn't hurt.
I was pleasantly going over the designs of the hypothetical Mecha-tanks version two in my head when I noticed one of the guards start to sway , seeming dizzy. The he fell to the floor, his spear wielding companion almost instantly tried to turn his weapon on Arika after taking a moment to connect his friend passing out and the tea.
He tried.
The innocent, unassuming girl almost instantly leaned back on a single foot to launch it up into a roundhouse kick the side of still standing guard's face, sending him straight into the wall with enough force to knock him out cold. Seriously, where did this girl learn all of this?
"Asami," Arika called to my dumbfounded self, in a whispered tone, mentioning me over to help with hiding the unconscious guards. Quickly shaking my head out of the shock I ran over to do exactly that, grabbing a pair of legs and dragging their owner into through the double doors that Sheppard had gone though, Arika doing the same.
"W-What? What happened?" Yelled Sheppard, evidently the good commander was a little upset by the plan going off the rails. Finishing up with my guard I took in the room; it looked like an office of some sort, especially considering the large expensive looking wooden desk in the centre with Sheppard sitting behind it. It was hard to tell from this angle seemed to have had all the drawers opened and searched; I was guessing that what she was after was in here somewhere.
"Well, some people, react at a different rate and when one passed out the other tried to attack me and..." Arika trailed off, a look or embarrassment on her face as she tried to explain.
"Great, running out of time, still no sign of what I was sent here for and," The commander rose from behind the desk, scratching her forehead in frustration. "The next thing you know we'll be beset by the big boss man and some elite firebenders!" Sheppard punctuated the end of her sentence with a hard kick to the ornate desk; which seemed to give the commander the first bit of good luck she'd had all day in the for a small clicking sound.
"Huh?" came Sheppard's intrigued response as she looked over to the far side of the desk and leaned over.
"Huh?" I repeated wondering what the commander had found as she pulled out something from the side of the desk; a hidden drawer maybe?
"Huh?" Arika joined in, looking back and forth between me and Sheppard, seeming confused, "Why are we all saying 'huh'?" Good question, hopefully Sheppard would give us an answer in a moment.
"Ah Ha!" The commander called, seemingly excited about the handful of papers she'd pulled out of nowhere; what she was after it seems.
"'Ah ha' now?" Arika still seemed confused as to this turn of events, I was too a little; was that really it? Some type of document I would guess, considering what 'Prince Azulon' had said back in the cell about how his heritage would 'soon will be proven' I could make a decent guess, but it would have to be a fake so why send a spectre?
"That what you were sent to get?" I asked, hoping to get a little more to find out if my theory was right and maybe the details I hadn't figured out yet.
"Yep can't go into details, now let's get going." Sheppard's response was about what I expected, I still wanted to be sure; perhaps after the three of us weren't trapped in an underground network of caves with xenophobic firebenders.
Arika and I followed the commander out of the office, past the small guard post and around the corner with as much speed as we could; into a rather unfortunate situation.
"Well, what have we here?" Sheppard's arms sprung out to stop and protect myself and Arika as we came face to face with the man from earlier in the cell; the one claiming to be descended from Princess Azula, going by the name Azulon the 2nd. Sheppard just had to say it.
"Escaped prisoners coming from a most suspicious direction." He raised an eyebrow in the direction of the way we had come, clearly suspecting , where we'd been. "And who I would guess is their noble rescuer." As he gestured towards Sheppard I stole a quick look to notice the commander's eyes narrow towards him.
I took in the situation, two guards on either side of the 'prince' already in firebending stances', ready to attack. It would take a few moments to reach them for anyone of us and attempting to dodge fire blasts from four different enemies seemed bordering impossible, even for a spectre like Sheppard. We needed some sort of distraction.
"So tell me," The 'prince' addressed the commander. "Who are you?"
"It's impolite to ask a lady her name first." I noticed a smirk develop on Sheppard's face as she quipped back at her foe. With brief a roll of his eyes the 'prince' responded, "I am Prince Azulon the 2nd, rightful ruler of the Fire Nation, and you are?" He glared at the commander, clearly growing impatient.
"Commander Sheppard." The older woman responded, I noticed her eyes darting around, probably trying to figure a way out of this; I couldn't see one, but I wasn't a trained soldier.
"Ah, I suspected you might be with the United Forces." The glare shifted into a smirk, likes being in control of the conservation it would seem "Now then, why are you here?" 'Azulon' narrowed his eyes, smirk never leaving his face, "Are you going to be forthcoming? Or must I have my guards demonstrate their skill in the art of firebending."
A gulped at that, we we're stuck and without some sort of miraculous intervention it was hard to see any way out. And I never told Korra how I felt, what I wouldn't give to have her here right now.
Almost time...
"I'm here to relieve you-", Time! One swift motion, jump to the bars, shatter wooden restrains, reach through and touch earth. Fingers sink in, find the echoes...
"No! She's free-" Got them, twist and they crunch. Dead. Another twist, cell breaks, crawl out over the splinters .Fell the earth, see way out through rock.
"The smart choice would be to surrender." Our foe stated matter-of-factly, "Neither of those girls displayed any form of bending and I have four elite firebenders here, you are out-numbered and out-classed." He was smirking at his advantage, his entourage faces behind those skull white masks.
It was then that some miraculous intervention happened.
The entire corridor shook. How I don't know, all I know is what happened next; Sheppard.
Taking the opportunity, she grabbed the sword on her back and in a single swift motion sent it flying into 'Azulon's' shoulder before rushing the screaming jerk and shoving off his feet into the far guard to the left; quickly taking the sword on her hip to the far guard on the right kicking the nearer guard's hand as he tried to firebend at her.
The closer guard on the left was just about to fireblast Sheppard from behind as I reacted. I forced his extending hand up, interrupting his attack, also sweeping one of his feet to unbalance him so I could deliver a hard chop to the throat sending him to the ground gasping.
I then noticed the guard that had the 'Prince' thrown at him getting up just as I felt two hands pressing on my back and saw Arika, flying right him, planting both her feat on his helmet, knocking him out as he struck the ground.
I glanced around to the Commander noticing that the two guards she taken were both down, one slumped against the wall the other on the ground, his head rolling away; I had to swallow quickly to stop from freaking at that, the adrenalin helping.
I grabbed Arika's hand and moved to continue down the corridor, her freaking out at the headless body would not help. "Sheppard let's move!" I called back as we started running.
"Coming." The commander replied as I heard another scream from the 'Prince', a quick glance and I saw Sheppard retrieving her sword from his shoulder with a twist as she brought it up to put 'Azulon' down, "Goodbye."
Sheppard was about to bring her sword down to slay the self-proclaimed royal when she quickly had to duck a fireblast from a guard that had just come around the corner; then she had to jump back as the 'Prince' to the opportunity to breath a gout of fire at the commander forcing Sheppard to break off, catching up to myself and Arika.
"You'll never escape! You hear me! You'll never escape!" The 'Prince' shouted after us as he struggled to his feet holding his bleeding shoulder, his voice fading away as the three of us began running as fast as we could, Sheppard pulling out in front.
"Where are we going?" I asked the commander as she led us to some form of safety; hopefully.
"Garage! We need to catch a ride out of here, preferably something that won't die in the desert too fast." She called back to me. Most Sato-mobiles weren't built or deserts, there wasn't exactly high demand out here; luckily there might be an alternative.
"We can take my car! If they brought it in when they caught us!" I called to Sheppard as we all barrelled down the corridor in the commander's wake. "It's built for the desert!" I added as she came to a stop at another wooden door, equally as out of place as all the others against the rocky texture of the stone.
"Nice, custom built?" Sheppard inquired as slowly opened the door to peek though like earlier, swords at the ready.
"Something like that." I'd rather not get into the fact that it was built by my own company; we were in something of a rush.
As we peered through the crack of the open door, I noticed that there was a row of sand-sailers, no doubt from their allies, with more than a few guards, some with spears, probably non-benders. On one wall was what was obviously a large stone door with no visible mechanism for opening it; probably opened with earthbending.
"Crap." Sheppard hissed out as I imagined she came to the same conclusion. Peeking out the door a little more to see the far end of the large room, "Huh." I hoped that that was a doo 'huh'. "Asami that your car?" The commander nodded to something on the closer side of the room I couldn't see, peeking through the open I noticed that it was exactly that.
"Yeah, that's it." I confirmed as Sheppard gave a nod as she drew her knife, flipping it around to hold it by the edge.
"You two get to the car," She handed me the knife, for protection I guess, I was about to ask what she was going to do when she finished her thought "I need to get us a door." And with that she burst through the door sprinting over to the far end of the room. The door now wide open I could see what she was after; a tank.
"Come on." I tell Arika, who responded with a nod, eyes wide and trying to keep up with all the action. Luckily it seems that Sheppard's charge for the tank had attracted all the guards attention with the commander more than able to hold her own, dodging spears and fireblasts taking down her foes with relative ease.
Getting to the car I noticed the keys were missing, which I really should've expected, they wouldn't leave the keys in a captured vehicle. I quickly mention over my shoulder to Arika to watch my back as I try to hotwire it; having to hotwire my own car, that's new. Climbing into the driver's seat, I prise open what I need to with the knife Sheppard gave me and started sorting through the wires, looking for the right ones.
"Asami!" I hear Arika shout behind me and turn my head just in time to see the tip of a spear rushing towards me and throw myself backwards to avoid getting impaled in the head; reacting without thinking, I give a swift kick to the shaft of the spear just below the head snapping of the deadly tip.
The angry guard wrenched the headless spear back tossing it aside, drawing a crossbow from his back, quickly taking aim and readying to fire; before getting assaulted by Arika with the broken shaft he'd discarded. Arika knocked the crossbow from his hands with a thrust of the end of the makeshift staff before quickly spinning her weapon vertically in an arc twice, striking the guard in the face each time finishing with another thrust in the guard's face cracking his head against the wall hard enough to knock him out. After the unexpected display Arika was left breathless at her own reaction to the guard's attack.
I wanted to ask where the hell she learned how to do that, but I turned back to the exposed wires that I had figure out quickly; questions later, getting out of danger now. I thought that I had found the right wires and was delighted by the sound of the engine coming to life; she really did purr. I was also happy to hear a small explosion and look up to see Sheppard climbing out of the tank; she had evidently made the door for our escape, a smoking hole in the wall.
"Get in Arika." I call to the still shocked younger girl as I shift the gearstick readying to pick up Sheppard and finish this daring escape.
"Asami! It's Sheppard!" Looking over to the tank I saw the commander pinned down by 'Azulon' trying to drive a fire dagger in the woman's face leaning in with all his weight. Acting as quick as I could, I jumped out of the driver's seat, grabbed the unconscious guard's dropped crossbow, took aim and fired, hoping I'd hit the right target; I'd never used a crossbow before.
"Gaaahhh!" Came the bastard's cry of pain as the bolt found a place in his arm, his concentration broken for a moment in which Sheppard acted like lightning. Pushing the 'prince' up with one arm, ripping out the bolt with the other, letting the 'prince' fall back down to plant said bolt in his eye before finally kicking him off the tank sending him flying.
"Come on!" I again jumped into the driver's seat of the dune buggy mentioning for Arika to join me which she promptly did, still breathing heavily. Shifting the gearstick, stepping on the accelerator and giving the wheel a sharp turn, I swerved the buggy around the row of dormant sand-sailers, sped along them and came to a skidding stop right in front of the commander's makeshift door, along with the commander herself. "Get on."
"No need to tell me twice." Sheppard hopped onto the buggy's frame as I put my foot down, flooring it as best as I could. We burst out of the hole in the wall into the starlit desert, narrowly missing a sandbender who had just poked his head in and passing him and his friends. "Nice shot with the crossbow by the way, who made that -" Sheppard started, calling over the roar of the engine before stopping, "Oh crap! On our tail!" The commander cursed, prompting me to check the rear view mirror.
Evidently blowing a hole for the sand-sailers and alerting the sandbenders allied with our captors had not worked out well judging from the pair of sailers pursuing us. I noticed a wave of sand streaming at us just in time to swerve the buggy, calling to Sheppard to, "Hold on tight!"
The sandbender's attack missed as I started pushing the engine as hard as I could, trying to outrun the sand-sailers chasing us, with little success.
"They're gaining on us!" The commander shouted over the engine as the two sailers came up on either side of us preparing to strike. Again we were saved at the last minute as one of them suddenly exploded as sand erupted from beneath it. Taking advantage of the distraction I quickly swerved the buggy into the second of our pursuers causing the front of the sailer to stick in the sand, at high speed, sending the sailer's occupants flying into the air and throwing a large cloud of sand into the air around the buggy.
Skidding to a stop and coughing whilst trying to rub the sand out of my eyes I started to wonder; what had happened back their? The explosion from beneath the first sailer had come out of nowhere, then as my vision started to clear I noticed another sailer right ahead of us, it's two riders approaching; had they taken out that first sailer? I hadn't the slightest clue.
"Sheppard? Any Ideas?"I asked the commander, turning to her as she seemed to be evaluating the pair, one larger than the other trailing behind, the smaller one in front holding some type of metal stick, too short to be a staff.
"They're friendly, I think." I was hoping for something a little more assuring from Sheppard as hopped off the buggy walking around to confront them.
"You think?" My tone made it obvious that I had been expecting a little more, I was also took notice of the smaller sandbender's weapon, at this range it was pretty easy see it was a set of double cross swords.
"They did just help us, fair guess." The commander addressed me quicklly over her shoulder with a shrug; really hoped for something better than that. "Midori, is that you?" She called to the smaller one who mentioned her closer, just out of earshot. I was honestly not sure what to make of this, how did Sheppard know this 'Midori'? How was she sure that the sandbender woman (decent guess from the name) could be trusted? After a few minutes they returned to their sailer and Sheppard came back over to the buggy.
"They've agreed to lead us out of the desert back to Misty Palms, just follow them and we'll be fine." At the mention of finally getting out of the desert Arika visibly sunk into her seat as she let out a strangled breath, the younger girl obviously glad to be out of danger.
As the commander climbed back onto the side of the buggy I turned to her, already expecting the answer to my question, "I'd ask you if we were sure we could trust them but I'm guessing it's classified."
"Bit of grey area actually, but better safe than sorry, so pretty much." Not quite the answer I expected but pretty close. I chuckled and shook my head a little as I started up the buggy again, following the now moving sand-sailer. Sure enough we could trust these sandbenders as they led us straight back to the town.
I couldn't believe how glad I was to see this place, I was very much looking forward to being able to just sleep; it had been a very long day. It seemed that Arika had a similar idea but less patience, having already dozed off in the passenger seat; I'd probably find that cute if I wasn't so tired myself.
Arriving back at Misty Palms and parking the car, I was surprised by the two helpful sandbenders coming up to us as I shook Arika awake. The smaller one spoke in an authrotive, but obviously female, tone as she addressed us.
"You three, though your actions, have allowed us to deal a blow against our enemies the Hami tribe, and for this you have the gratitude of our people the Aswad." The woman gave a quick small bow as she finished before her and her companion moved to leave but she stopped for a moment, her eyes on Arika. "Have we met?" She asked the younger girl, who seemed surprised by the question.
"I, I don't think so." Givving a small shrug at Arika's answer the sandbender woman and her friend jumped back on their sailer and left; back off into the desert.
"Well, that was an adventure." Sheppard said after our brief allies were out of sight. I couldn't believe how casual she was about this, or Arika's enthusiastic nodding of agreement; apparently having enjoyed the whole incident, despite how overwhelmed she seemed earlier.
"That's one way of putting it I guess." I responded, running a hand through my hair as fatigue was really starting to get to me.
"I guess this is where we go are separate ways." Sheppard stated with a sigh, briefly mentioning over her shoulder with her thumb. "I need to report in about my mission."
"Yeah, I guess, look me up if your ever in Republic City," I extended my hand to the Commander to shake hers, "Remember, Asami Sato." Sheppard took my offer and I again I noticed how strong this woman was.
"Same to you Ms. Sato, look me up if your ever in..." She seemed to e lost in thought for a moment before continuing with a shrug, "I have no idea where I'm going to be stationed."
"I'm going to Republic City too." It seemed that we had both almost forgotten about Arika, till the younger girl spoke up.
"I'll look you up too, and take care, the both of you." Sheppard turned to leave, suddenly stopping mid step, "Sato, Republic City, You're not related to the guy who invented Sato-mobiles are you?" She asked with a raised eye brow.
"Yeah, my dad." I answered with a sigh, I was really not in the mood to discuss my father.
"Huh, well till next time, Ms. Sato and Arika." And with a wave and she turned and strode off into the streets. I couldn't help but let out a yawn as I began to make my way back to my room to get some much deserved sleep.
"Ummm, Asami?" Arika called from behind me, seemingly unsure of what to do.
"Aren't you coming?" I wave the younger girl over and she came running with a smile.
"So, Arika, you never told me what you were planning to do in Republic City." She also hadn't mentioned were she had learned the skills she showed, I imagined that was an interesting story.
"Oh, I'm going to become an Otome." That was not an answer I expected.
"An... Otome?"
AN: Bit of an odd end to the chapter, almost to the end now. I have a question for any one leaving a review,(both of you) I realised I have Femshep from Mass Effect, Arika from Mai Otome and Asami, in a high speed chase across the desert in a dune buggy; is this jumping the shark? I feel like it might be jumping the shark, which I hope it isn't since this is just the beginning and I have lots more insanity planned, sort of.