Avatar: The New World

Chapter 2: The White Lotus

"It's not just me."

"Your cat doesn't count."

"You must have lived a sad, petless childhood to say something like that."

"Can you depend on your cat in a crisis? Can he keep a level head and personally fight off dozens of grown men without breaking a sweat? Can he lead you to the only place on this entire continent, possibly even the world, where you can live happily and safely until The Toro Corporation can be overthrown and balance is restored?"

"Well... I don't know about that last one."

"Cause I can, Rorrick! Give me your trust and I will get you out of this city and protect you from some gruesome mystery fate in some secret ToCo lab."

Rorrick closed his eyes and wished that all of this was a dream. When he opened them again and saw the woman's hands still holding his wrists, he sighed. "Okay. Let me go and I'll follow you." She relinquished her grip and he pulled back. "But we have to go to my apartment before we do anything else."

"I just told you we can't!"

"But we have to! I can't just leave Mr. Lucky in there to starve to death."

"Mr. Lucky?" The woman narrowed her eyes. "You're willing to risk your safety, possibly your life, for your cat?"

"Mr. Lucky is more than just a cat! You said I have no family, but you're wrong. He's my family and I can't just leave him locked up in my apartment starving while I pursue this fantasy safe haven of yours! I can't!"

The woman sucked her teeth and threw her hands in the air. "Fine, we'll stupidly go to your place, but the cat isn't coming with us!"

"Why not?"

"It's hard enough smuggling a wanted person out of the city, what makes you think it would be easier if you threw in a pissed off cat?"

"Okay, I get it, but I gotta at least just let him outside, give him a chance to make it on his own."

The woman shook her head and turned to lead the way to Rorrick's apartment. He followed close behind and said, "So, you know my name, my cat's name, where I live, where I work. Seems like you know everything about me, can I know something about you?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know, let's start small. What elementary school did you go to? What's your blood type? Oh, I got a good one, your name maybe?"

She stared at Rorrick and he knew he had pushed her too far. He gulped and as she turned to continue walking through the dark alleyway she said, "I'm The White Lotus."

Rorrick snorted. "The White Lotus? It's uh, catchy. Got a nice, uh, ring to it."

"People call me Lotus. Can you stop talking now and keep up? You're stunt might have bought you some time but we're on foot and Security always travels in style. If we wanna keep our lead we gotta move."

When they reached Rorrick's apartment, Lotus insisted on climbing the fire escape rather than going in through the front door. She leapt up to lower the ladder for him and he stared in awe at her acrobatic prowess. "How do you even do that?"

"I've been training all of my life."

"All your life? Really?"

"You don't choose to be The White Lotus, you're born into it."

"What exactly is The White Lotus? Where does that even come from?"

"Enough questions! Open up your window and let's go."

Rorrick peered into his dark apartment from the fire escape. He tried to open the window but it wouldn't budge. "It's locked."

Lotus rolled her eyes and smashed an elbow through the glass. She reached in and unlocked the broken window, then lifted it with a smirk. "There, it's open, let's go!"

"But I gotta say goodbye!" Rorrick started to climb into his apartment, calling out for his cat when a firm hand grabbed hold of his neck from inside.

"There you are! I've been waiting for you." Rorrick recognized the voice of the blond woman from the security detail who'd led him to Dr. Whynn's office. "Time to get you back to the doc."

Lotus grabbed hold of Rorrick's legs and he felt the two women pulling him back and forth through the window. "Now, normally," he said, his voice strained as the blond woman strangled him in an attempt to get a better grip. "I would love to have two women fighting over me like this but uh... it kinda hurts so if you'd just lay off--"

There was a sudden hiss from the dark apartment. A strong orange tabby came leaping through the air and landed firmly on the blond woman's face. As the animal yowled and hissed, the security guard screamed out in pain and released Rorrick. Lotus pulled him back out of his apartment and they quickly made their way back down to solid ground.

"I told you it would be too dangerous coming here!"

"Okay, okay, I believe your point was made! Can we just get out of here?"
They started down the alley, but it wasn't long before they heard on coming footsteps. Over his shoulder, Rorrick could see four security officers coming for them.

"We gotta fight," Lotus said.

"I can't fight!"

"Then just try to stay out of the way and I'll handle it." She turned on the officers and ran at them. She leapt off the ground and kicked off a wall, bringing her fist down hard against the nearest attacker's face. He fell down and as she hit the ground after him she swung out a leg to trip the next officer, who came down on top of her. As she wriggled free of the man, the last two security guards came for Rorrick. He made a nervous sound and leapt into the air, powered by a gale of wind that gathered beneath him like a miniature tornado. It fired him high over the guards and into the metal framework of the nearest back alley fire escape. From there he watched as Lotus dispatched their pursuers. She moved so fluidly that Rorrick was forced to accept her earlier claim. It was obvious that she had spent her whole life training, but for what?

"We gotta go!" She said as the four security guards lay groaning in pain around her. She hadn't even broken a sweat. "Before more come for us!"

Rorrick was awkwardly trying to climb back down to the ground, it seemed as though his new abilities were out of his control. In an emergency they took over but he couldn't use them on command just yet. He let go of the fire escape and fell. As he suspected a cushion of wind gathered beneath him just as he was about to hit the ground and he landed comfortably on his back.

"Stop fooling around." Lotus held out a hand for him and pulled him to his feet. They turned to leave again when suddenly they noticed the streets go black. Every light went dead as the electricity stopped flowing.

"They put the block on lock down." Lotus grumbled. "We gotta find a place to hide."

"I think I have an idea," Rorrick said and led Lotus down a different alley. They came to an apartment building and Rorrick led the way up to the second floor, again using the back and approaching through the window. He knocked gently against the glass and after a moment the window slid open.

"What are you doing here?" The person inside asked.

"Hey, Sully, Uh... could we come in?"

"Hurry up, hurry up!" She stepped out of the way and Rorrick climbed in, then Lotus. "What are you doing outside? We're on lock down!"

"I know, we just need a place to lay low."

"Lay low?" Sully looked a little nervous. "What do you mean? You should just be at home."

"Listen, lady." Lotus stood up straight and Rorrick truly realized how imposing she could be. "Can we wait out the lock down here, or are you gonna kick us out cause if we can't stay we gotta get the hell out, now!"

Sully glared at Lotus, then turned to Rorrick, who shrugged an apology. "Fine, just get in!" Sully pushed them into her apartment, then checked nervously out the window before closing it.