Chapter 8: Mr. Tuber-Vine
Thankfully, the huge blast in the center of the city did not vaporize all of Varrick's assets - in fact, the only reason he had for not being in Future Industries Tower right now was that the power was still out. Varrick still couldn't figure out why Kuvira hadn't simply vaporized all of Team Avatar, plus friends, while they were in Future Industries Tower. He figured her for crazy, sure - but not stupid.
Varrick shrugged, and returned to his work inside the small tent on the outside of town. He wasn't happy that he and Zhu Li had to start their married life together and do The Thing in a refugee tent instead of in style and comfort. At least he had managed to connect himself to one of his personal portable generators properly, and could work under a dim light if he felt inspiration in the middle of the night. He had connected some lines from the local power supply to a box with some old blank film reels submerged in a proprietary solution he used for his feet calluses when Zhu Li couldn't help him on a whim from a strange dream he had last night. His brain usually did not lead him astray, awake or otherwise. He noticed a small ripple in the liquid's surface, and saw a leaf settling towards the bottom - but he knew this was no ordinary leaf.
He gazed over at the odd thing he had picked up in the city yesterday - he called it Mr. Tuber-Vine, noticing it was missing one of its few leaves. He hadn't dared to touch it since yesterday, as he still didn't know what to make of its strange behavior the night before. He knew it sounded ridiculous, but it had almost felt like the plant had judged him somehow. As he snickered at the ridiculous idea of even a spirit being able to judge a man just by touch, the divider opened behind him.
He heard a familiar voice behind him - it appeared that Zhu Li had gotten up from her afternoon nap. She gave him an odd look, and asked, "Varrick, I know you love money, but really - up since 6:30 AM, working, the day after our marriage? Why don't you stop working on that 'color mover' idea you've been obsessing over, and come sit back down on the cot with me." He told her, "Not just yet - I'm not going back to sleep until my dream comes true. I did something like what I have here," he said, pointing at the wires dropped into the box with blank film reels, "and when I popped the rolls into a camera, they were in COLOR! Just think - no more black-and-white movers!" He held up a large sheet of blueprint paper, and pointed to a pair of humanoid figures. "I've also been working on a little side project for the both of us - I know we're both smart, no, geniuses - but I am getting tired of playing second fiddle to benders when stuff hits the fan. These should help even the gap."
Zhu Li's eyes widened, and Varrick could clearly see Zhu Li liked what she saw. She began excitedly, "Sir, is that a- " and Varrick's cheeks turned a deep red. Zhu Li still hadn't gotten used to marriage yet, despite her earlier feistiness, and every time she called him "sir" it made him feel all guilty. He said calmly, "Honey, I thought I asked you to stop calling me that - it makes me feel all horrible." Luckily, Zhu Li was still excited about the blueprint in front of her, saying, "Okay, honey - are those custom mechasuits for the both of us?" She pointed at the larger, more complicated design on the right, and snickered slightly. "I assume that one is mine, given how much trouble you had with one of Kuvira's gruntsuits." His cheeks darkened again - he had botched that escape attempt pretty badly, admitting, "Yes, Zhu Li, that one is yours, and I plan on making this project a priority. Just as soon as I can find an ethical power source- no spirit vine abuse here. Not after it vaporized half our city."
As he finished saying this, he swore he heard an odd sound - halfway between a continuous hum and a croak. He didn't have any animals with him, and he had no clue what would make a humming croak anyways. Zhu Li moved the paper from in front of her face, and pointed at Mr. Tuber-Vine, mouth slightly agape. Varrick stuffed the blueprints back where it came from, and looked at Mr. Tuber-Vine. The odd plant pulsed, much as it had yesterday with one of its tendrils over his heart, producing that same strange humming croak he had just heard. "HMMM HMMM…. HM HMMM." Getting an idea, he took the blueprints back out, and held them close to Mr. Tuber-Vine. The odd plant flashed a bright white - the same color it had settled on when it felt as if it were judging him yesterday. Putting the blueprints in range of the plant's tendrils, two pointed to the large question marks where he intended to put the suit's power source, then back at itself. The plant hummed "HMMMMM HMMMMM", and twisted the ends of its tendrils into what appeared to be check marks, and placed them back on the blueprints, covering the question marks. Zhu Li said, "I think you found your powersource - it appears that odd thing wouldn't mind powering those suits." Varrick jumped when he heard the plant seemingly exclaim "HMMMMM HMMMMM," almost like it was agreeing - and vehemently, at that! Varrick folded the blueprints back up, and stepped aside to let Zhu Li get closer to Mr. Tuber-Vine.
Varrick said, "Be careful! I don't know much about spirit stuff except how to use it for weapons or as a power source, I'm afraid." Zhu Li grabbed the odd thing by the pot he had put it in, and brought it closer to her chest to inspect it. Just as it had last night, the plant began changing colors rapidly, immediately settling on a bright white after a tendril touched Zhu Li on the left side of her chest. Varrick felt vaguely offended, yelling, "Hey! When Mr. Tuber-Vine did that to me last night, he briefly flashed red and purple before settling on white." He laughed along with Zhu Li, and said, "Never thought a plant would try and insult me," noticing Mr. Tuber-Vine shivered slightly, as though offended by something. Varrick got another idea, and he grabbed a loose newspaper - one with a portrait of both Zaheer and Kuvira. He held Zaheer's portrait the closest, and the tendril on Zhu Li's chest shot up to meet it. Again, it flashed many colors, before finally settling on a familiar angry red and purple and neatly charring the airbender's portrait out of the paper. As Zhu Li snickered slightly, Varrick felt a chill run down his spine - Mr. Tuber-Vine had been judging him after all. Trying to distract himself from the implications of the plant's earlier indecision between white or red and purple as its tendril had hovered over his own heart, he held Kuvira's portrait next to the plant, fully expecting it to immediately incinerate the entire page. Much as before, the plant cycled between various unrelated colors, seemingly settling on the same red and purple he could now see denoted unworthiness. Much to his surprise, the plant suddenly flashed white, and merely tore out the text "The Great Uniter" in the portrait's caption instead of incinerating it. The tendril snaked around, flashing many colors to denote uncertainty, forming a questionmark shape over where Kuvira's heart would have been.
Both he and Zhu Li looked at each other in confusion, and said at the same time, "Surely Mr. Tuber-Vine doesn't see Kuvira as anything but evil?!" Both turned to the plant, and Zhu Li said " 'HMMMMM HMMMMM' for redeemable, and 'MM MM' for not." Mr. Tuber-Vine merely made another "HMMMMM HMMMMM" sound, much to Varrick's confusion. Feeling rather ridiculous, he yelled at the plant ,"Okay, I can't take anymore of this spirit judging shenanigans. Who should I talk to about all this claptrap?" Varrick and Zhu Li both yelped as the plant sprouted two more tendrils and used all four to flip over the newspaper page, which was now on the floor. All four tendrils then pointed to a picture of Korra, and the plant - said? - "HMMMMM HMMMMM." Zhu Li finished placing the ridiculous talking spirit-plant back where it had sat, and before Varrick could say anything, he heard an enormous crack - as if a huge spirit had just struck out at the world with a lightning bolt.
Zhu Li pointed at where Varrick knew the submerged films reels were, and exclaimed, "The current in those wires better not burn off all that water and set those film reels on fire - we both know you don't exactly use nontoxic ingredients in your film! Remember the explosion - your eyebrows!" Before the water had been boiled off completely, the current stopped - a flash of lightning must have struck a power line somewhere. No, no - lightning didn't provide constant current like that. Varrick began to stroke his chin, then stopped.
Varrick stood perfectly straight in excitement - he was pretty sure that his dream had involved an electric current now. He grabbed the film reels, and told Zhu Li, "Find the camera- we've got some film to test!" Zhu Li hurried off much as she always did, and Varrick tried to think of something to test the film on. He heard a loud "HMM HMM!" and turned around, to see Mr. Tuber-Vine flashing all sorts of wonderful colors. As Zhu Li returned with the camera - how did she always find whatever he needed, anyways? - he grabbed it out of her hands, carefully inserted the precious film reels, and began shooting footage of Mr. Tuber-Vine. The plant seemed to make a show of shooting some spirity energy out the window with all four tendrils for reasons Varrick didn't understand. When he finished, put the film into a portable mover projector, and pointed it at the tent wall, he noticed Zhu Li had already shut all the tent's windows. Before he turned the film on, he kissed her in the low light, and said "You're always one step ahead of me, and I like that. Good work, honey." He made sure to stress the last word, and could feel that Zhu Li appreciated it. They were definitely doing The Thing tonight.
Much as he had hoped, the film displayed full color, as well as those odd little energy blasts. He could hear flapping yuans already, boasting, "Honey, we're going to be RICH! Just look at that beautiful color." Before he could continue, Zhu Li added, "And look at those spirit blasts - I bet this film could capture images of spirits as well. Never heard of that before." Not really caring about that just yet, Varrick finished, "Now to only find out what made it possible." He heard a loud "HMM HMM" from the other room. Running in, he saw Mr. Tuber-Vine wildly pointing at one of its leaves, and then at the container the film reels and solution had been sitting in. Suddenly, in a burst of insight Varrick yelled "So, you take a leaf from a friendly spirit tuber, put it in some … proprietary solution" - "One can never be too careful of spies", he whispered to the plant - "along with the film, apply strong electrical current, and BAM! Color movers that show spirits accurately."
As he felt a playful tap on his shoulder from Zhu Li, Mr. Tuber-Vine merely intoned "HMMMMM HMMMMM."