"Listen, I am truly sorry for the mess I've caused. Let me make it up to you, take Zhu li," Zhu li then gave him a small glare which Varrick noticed. "My battleship, and everything on it," Varrick explained.
Avatar Korra seemed pleased, "It's not the fleet we were looking for but it's the next best thing,"
Bolin cheered, "Alright looks like Team Avatar is back in action!" and then he swooped everyone up in a hug. Chief Beifong just watched their merriment and guided them out of the prison.
"Thanks for all the help Varrick, take care," Bolin shouted back to the cell. You could hear muffled confusion coming from his brother as they departed.
Zhu li took a deep sigh then went back to her book, a scowl still prominent on her brow. Now if working together for so many years taught Varrick anything, a mad Zhu li was never a good thing. She wouldn't say anything but the levels of passive aggression was unbearable. He knew he had to address the issue head on or it would only build.
"Zhu li is there something wrong?"
Zhu li took another deep sigh. She knew she couldn't beat around the bush on this. "You tried to get me out of prison. We both know that at first you didn't mean your battleship. I joined you in prison by my own choice and I would appreciate it if you didn't try to concoct an escape plan for me, Sir."
"I was trying to help you. I had never meant for you to even be in here with me. I expected to go down with the ship alone. You were supposed to go free. You can't blame me for trying to protect my employees," Varrick said with his head in his hands.
"I have gone over this with you, Sir, You never go anywhere without your assistant. It would be unprofessional of me to leave your side in your lower points," It was still very obvious that Zhu li was frustrated, and getting more so the longer the conversation went.
"But you don't have to be here! I don't understand why you stay!"
Varrick immediately regretted his words when Zhu li uncharacteristically let out a groan of grief. He had never seen her be this frustrated. He knew that if he didn't do something soon he could possibly lose the best assistant he has ever had.
"Zhu li, I'm giving you something I have never given to anyone before. I'm giving you fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes where I'm not your boss and you're not my assistant. We are just two people in jail. Now tell me what's wrong,"
"Sir, this…"
"No calling me 'Sir', for the next fifteen minutes. Now don't waste your time and tell me what's wrong," Zhu li wanted to persist but Varrick gave her a look to show her she had no choice.
"Okay, the reason I stay is because I am nothing without my work," Zhu li said with her head down. Varrick was confused. She was far from nothing. How could she even think that way?
"Zhu li, you aren't nothing. You…" but he was cut off by Zhu li in a frustrated rant.
"But I am! I am nothing if I am not working! It's why I stay with you through thick and thin, it's why I stayed with Doyle for as long as I did, even though it was HORRIBLE! When I am not working I have NOTHING. I read to spend the time but I am never interested unless it's about some project we are working on. I was nobody before I was your assistant! I have seen and done so much with you that I would have NEVER been able to do in my life without you. I still sometimes wonder why you hired me! Doyle told me he hired me 'to make the guys try harder to impress a dame'. That's all I was there, a dame who delivered paperwork! Doyle beat me when THE MEN did wrong. Then you come along and everything changed. All of a sudden I was beside one of the most brilliant minds I've ever met! And still I was no one. Yet I loved it! I went to jail with you because without you I am back to being nothing!"
Zhu li was panting from exertion. Varrick just stood there shocked. She truly believed her life was nothing without work. She had been beaten and humiliated by her last boss and she still stayed with him. She saw him as a genius but at the moment he felt so foolish. He took a few steps in front of her and enfolded her into his arms.
"You are so much more than 'just work'. I hired you because you were so brilliant. You could hold yourself together even in the worst of moments. You are strong, and bright, and more composed than I have ever been in my life. Now our fifteen minutes are almost up but I want to tell you that without you by my side I would not have gotten half as far as I have. Not because your life is just work, but because I needed you, the person, by my side. There is no one like you."
As he said all of this, he looked her straight in the eye. And she couldn't help but believe him with that much conviction in his eyes. "Thank you, Varrick. I needed that,"
"Good because our fifteen minutes is up and the tea is cold,"
Zhu li sighed and got to work. The sigh was different than the one that started all this. This one was not frustration but exasperation. He may be brilliant but he had no tact sometimes. But at least now he understood; she was not going to leave his side.