Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If anyone asked, Jae Beifong would tell them that the best thing about living in Republic City was the view of the Kyoshi Bridge at sunrise. However, no one in his life had ever asked this question to date—nor would they—because the only thing Zaofuans and Ba Sing Seers had in common was an ironclad contempt for the United Republic’s capital. 

He was sitting out on the fire escape of his one-bedroom flat, drinking chrysanthemum tea from an oversized thermos and sketching concept designs for the smart armor the Shuijing city guard had ordered from Varrick Global Industries, when the phone started ringing. Before he picked up, Jae steeled himself for whatever outlandish request Lily was calling to make at this hour. 

“You’re up early,” he said. 

“Jae, it’s me, not your walking human resources violation.” 

Jae couldn’t help but smile at the playful, slightly derisive tone of his younger sister. It was almost endearing in small enough doses. “Oh, hey Shreya,” he said. “How’s...what random town are you in this week?”

She laughed. “Somewhere north of Chin. It doesn’t really have a name. And it’s been fine. My team and I came in after a cholera outbreak, and now we’re doing an overhaul of the water systems.”

“Fuck. Cholera? In this day and age?” Jae shook his head as he watched the Spirit Wilds bound trolley glide down his street. “Maybe they should’ve just left mom in charge.” 

Shreya made a sound caught partway between a scoff and a sigh. “I refuse to engage with that train of thought. It only leads to dangerous places, especially now that Avani’s a general.”

“I mean, she’s also White Lotus,” Jae pointed out. “I’m pretty sure she took an oath to uphold peace and balance. All that good stuff.” 

“So did the Dragon of the West, and he laid siege to Ba Sing Se for damn near two years,” Shreya quipped. “Anyway, what have you been up to lately? Any new projects?” 

“Just the usual—mech suits, smart armor.”

“Sorry I asked,” Shreya said. “Almost forgot you’re a fucking arms dealer.” 

Jae rolled his eyes. Under the influence of their Aunt Opal, Shreya had gone vegan and pacifistic—lifestyle choices that only sent her natural self-righteous streak into overdrive. “That’s just one branch of the company,” he reminded her for the nth time. “Anyway, I should probably head over to work soon.” 

“Enjoy sucking Lily Varrick’s toes, or whatever it is you do there.” 

“Fuck off.” 

“Likewise,” Shreya said. “Oh, and don’t forget to call dad for his birthday tomorrow.” 

Jae sighed. “Dad doesn’t want to hear from me; you know that.” 

“Yeah, you made that up. It’s your guilty conscience; congrats on still having one,” Shreya said. “If only it had decided to kick in before you gave away trade secrets and went to work for a guy dad hates.” 

“Trade secrets? I just leveraged what I knew to correct a design flaw.” He shook his head, absently reaching for a cigarette. “But yes, you made your point, Shre. I’m the bad son to your perfect daughter. Now get off the phone. That’s probably the only line in that entire town, and you're using it to dredge up family drama.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” she said. “Just make sure you call dad, or Tai might finally replace you as mom’s second favorite.” 

“Second?” he asked incredulously. 

“You’re so annoying. Bye,” Shreya replied and then hung up. 

When Jae reached Lily Moon Varrick’s duplex—Harmonic Convergence would come and go again before she got to the office earlier than noon—the Chief Technology Officer was standing on her head in front of the waterfall in her study, while a tsungi hornist played the chorus of a popular rock song. 

“That’s an insane amount of upper body strength,” he said as he entered the room.  

“Jae!” She gave a broad smile as she brought her legs down to right herself. She wobbled a little bit getting back on her feet and squinted in his general direction. “You’re like a magnificent blur right now. Could you hand me the thing—oh, thanks!”

Before she even could finish the sentence, Jae passed her the pair of sleek designer glasses resting on the side of her desk. 

Lily gave a sigh of relief as she put them on. “Much better.”

“Any new ideas?” Acrobatics and tsungi horns were the usual symptoms of a major brainstorm. 

“Seventeen or so since I woke up, though I’ve forgotten half of them by now.” She rolled her neck, and Jae could tell she’d start regretting the headstand in a couple of hours. “If you were here earlier, I would have told you as soon as they came up. Honestly, it’d be so much easier if you just moved in; there’s plenty of room on the second floor.” 

He thought it better not to dignify the latter bit with a response. “Highlights?” 

“Let’s see...I had...a gene therapy that gives bending to nonbenders, a man-made lake in the middle of the Si Wong Desert.” Her features contracted in concentration, nose scrunched up and forehead creased. “Also, record players that can fit in your pocket. The future of music is all portable; I just know it.”

At this, the tsungi hornist in the corner let his shoulders fall, dejected, and slunk away. 

“Not to mention animal telepathy using radio waves. And defibrillators charged with spirit vine energy. And maybe alarm clocks that read your to-do list for you, and...” 

Jae watched on, bemused, as she rattled off her impossible ideas with the utmost confidence. It was this sort of chaotic innovation that had first drawn him to Varrick Global—so different from the pragmatic, dispassionate science his dad and sister peddled in. 

“Earth to assistant,” Lily said, waving her hand in his face, a blur of lapis bracelets and gold rings. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Oh, sorry.” Jae flushed a bit under the intensity of her powder blue stare, her face oh so close to his. “Just...really good ideas. I’ll send a memo to research and development.”

Lily beamed. “You’re such a doll. Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Actually, I haven’t.” This was always the right answer, whether he’d eaten or not. 

“Perfect. I asked Chef to make some of those custard buns you like.” She tied hair back into a ponytail, then started walking down the hall. “Come on. I’m dying to see what you’ve come up with for our Shuijing clients.” 

Down in the dining room, Lily perused his sketches over an assortment of steamed buns, seaweed bread, and puffin-seal sausages. Jae watched her in silent anticipation, waiting for the telltale moment when her eyes would go wide and her grin grew broad enough to reveal the little dimple in her left cheek.

“Fucking brilliant,” she said after a while. “I’ve never seen such good tech for metalbenders. The stuff the police force uses is so clunky. How’d you think of it?” 

Jae merely shrugged. “I’ve been watching metalbenders since I was a kid. I figured the best armor would provide both defense and offence—sort of an extension of the way they naturally move.” 

Lily nodded, clearly deep in thought. “So this is the kind of talent we’ve been missing out on?” 

“What do you mean?”

“The firm gets virtually no applications from north of the Si Wong Desert,” she said, rolling her eyes. “All the top Ba Sing Se University graduates rush to work for Baatar Beifong. Speaking of which, I’ve always wondered—did you ever consider it?”

Jae took a long sip of his tea. “The idea never really appealed to me.”

“Hmm...Lucky for us.” She turned her gaze back to the designs. “This one’s going to be so fun to build. Did you call a car?”

“No, I figured you’d want to walk in this weather.” 

“I did! Jae, I swear you think of everything. Come on.”

After a leisurely stroll through the city’s west end, past the docks and through the Spirit Wilds, they arrived at the Varrick Global headquarters. It was the tallest skyscraper in Republic City, when one counted the antenna that put it a meter above the Cabbage Corps Tower. 

In the lobby, Lily’s dad—the CEO and founder—stood surrounded by a veritable army of directors and producers from the mover studio. 

“There’s my tiger-shark!” The old man pulled Lily into a tight hug, lifting her off her feet. 

“Hi, dad,” she said. “How was the meeting?”

“Fantastic! The Nuktuk revival is off to a great start!”

Lily shot the man a look. “But have you talked to Bolin yet?”

“I knew I was forgetting something.” Varrick shrugged. “Oh well, we’ll just put out some finger sandwiches on the set, and he’ll come running. How’s it going up in tech? I noticed the terminations are way down this quarter.”

“We’ve been great. Actually, we’re about to start prototyping the new metalbending armor Jae designed.”

Lily handed over the folders with the sketches, and Varrick took a look. The old man nodded a few times as he went through the pages. “Interesting...Who’s this Jae, again?”

“My assistant.” Lily gestured in his general direction, and Jae gave a tepid wave. 

Varrick narrowed his eyes for a moment. “Wasn’t your last assistant Jae, too? Or is that just what you call all of them?” 

“You’re so silly.” Lily laughed a bit. “This is the same Jae you met last year, the college kid from Ba Sing Se. He still works here.” 

“Well, alert the media! I never thought I’d live to see you keep one for more than six months.” He looked back down at the sketches. “Lil, do me a favor and talk some sense into the pyrotechnics director; the TV explosions haven’t been half as screen-shattering as we need them to be. I’d also like to have a word with Jae about these designs.”

Lily crossed her arms. “Just...nothing weird. If this one quits on me, I’d have to bring on five engineers and a business analyst to replace him.”

“Don’t worry, tiger-shark. Just some shop talk between scientists, I swear.”

“Well, alright…” Lily cast a slightly worried glance in his direction before she walked away. 

Once she was gone, old man Varrick watched Jae for a long while without speaking, stroking his chin as though deep in thought.

“About the designs—”

“A rich Earth Kingdom kid—who has no real problems, but feels stifled in the city his father built—leaves home to make a name for himself. Now where have I seen this one before?”

Jae felt the blood drain from his face. “Uh...I’m sorry?” Was it even worth playing dumb at this point? 

“I’m not!” Varrick said, smirking. “It probably drives Baatar crazy that you work here!” 

Jae scratched at the back of his head. “More or less.” 

“Excellent! Zhu Li’s gonna love this one!” the man laughed. “Now, your mother isn’t upset about all this, is she?”

Jae shook his head. “She doesn’t really care.” 

“Good, good. She’s the one to be worried about,” Varrick said. “Nice job with the armor by the way. We’ll be swimming in cash with that one.” 

“...Thank you, sir,” Jae replied, unsure how else he could possibly respond. “If you don't mind, how did you know who I was?”

“You’re really gonna make me do this?” Varrick chuckled, flipping absently through the sketches once again. “You’re probably going to hate to hear this, kid, but you think just like your father—only less annoying, and slightly more interesting. This is exactly what the United Earth Army gear would have looked like if we’d had the technology back then.”

Jae made a face, despite himself. “I don’t see it.” 

“Good for you. I hope you hold on to that,” Varrick said. “A word of advice, though, kid. You better hurry up and tell my daughter you’re a Beifong. My family doesn’t do well with secrets, what with Zhu Li having been an Earth Kingdom spy before we met.”

Jae blinked once. Twice. Each and every day, a new question about the origins of former President Moon revealed itself. “Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind.” 

Chapter Text

It had been five weeks and three days since the last explosion or fire in the R&D lab—a new record at Varrick Global Industries—but with testing of the spirit-vine powered battle robots fully underway, Jae had figured it was only a matter of time. 

As soon as the first sparks started flying from the prototype’s power core, he had the junior researchers and interns duck behind the Varr-Acrylic shatterproof glass. He then reached for the fire extinguisher and a magnetic disc to draw all the shrapnel, while Lily dipped her arms deep into a vat of industrial coolant. 

Lily turned her fingertips to claws of ice and drove her hand into the chest of the robot, then yanked out the power core just before it blew and all the metal debris flew towards the magnet in Jae’s hand. He then walked the disc over to a hazardous waste receptacle and pressed the demagnetize button. 

If chaotic, their process was at least highly effective. 

“Disinfect the lab, then take the rest of the day off,” Lily said to the employees behind the barrier. “Jae, walk with me.”

 “I keep forgetting you’re a waterbender,” he said as they entered the executive elevator. 

Lily shrugged. “At this point I really only use it to put out factory fires.” 

Jae shook his head. “You’re just like my older brother. The guy can pick up a mountain whenever he feels like it, but instead he went to law school.” 

“Law school.” Lily scrunched her nose up in a way that put her glasses in danger of sliding off. “I’d sooner let someone drop a mountain on me.” 

“That’s what I said,” Jae told her as they exited the elevator and stepped out into her office. “So I guess it’s back to the drawing board on the robots.” 

“Not necessarily.” Lily tossed the power core into the air and then caught it. “This should save us some time on the redesigns. And thanks to your magnet discs, the damage to the lab is minimal, so we should be back in business tomorrow morning. How’d you come up with a thing like that, anyway?”

Jae shrugged. “The prototype was something I designed as a kid,” he said. “My older sisters are both metalbenders, so magnets were my only recourse back then.”

Lily laughed a bit. “I bet stealing their metal got you in even worse trouble with them.”

“It’s like you were there,” he said. “On the bright side, I got fast enough running from them that I sort of became a track star in high school.” 

“And suddenly I’m glad I was an only child.” She placed the power core down on her desk. “What else do we have on the schedule for today?”

“You’ve got a meeting with Lu Park on the yacht—”

“Which—”

“The Moon Flower this time because the Tiger Shark’s still in Chameleon Bay with the media team…” Jae cleared his throat a bit before continuing, “and the Jae from Ba Sing Se is still under construction. Are you really going to call it that?”

“Absolutely. So, Lu Park…” She leaned on her desk and gazed out the tall window that overlooked the bay. “He’s that media mogul who just bought the Zaofu Times, right?”

“The very same.” 

“Then you need to come with me,” Lily said. “We’ve been locked out of the Zaofu market ever since my dad fell out with their matriarch some forty years ago.

“And you think I can help get us back in?” Jae tried to keep his tone natural, but couldn’t help but wonder how much her father had revealed. 

“You haven’t let me down yet. Now come on. The Moon Flower has a hot tub and an open bar, and I intend to make thorough use of both—for the sake of our guest, of course.” 

An hour later, a sleek dark SUV pulled up at the marina while Jae and Lily slipped out of the hot tub. Out stepped Lu Park, looking every bit the polished journalist. He then reached back to help an even more familiar face out of the car. 

Jae went pale the moment he set eyes on her. 

“Lu Park, I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to meet!” Lily said. 

“An oversight on the part of the Times, to be sure,” he replied, smiling in the self-assured manner of a former college athlete. “It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Varrick.”

“Call me Lily. And this is my brilliant assistant, Jae,” she said. “Now, I assume this gorgeous person isn’t your photographer.” 

“I’m Priya Beifong,” Jae’s sister said and extended her hand. “I hope you don’t mind my tagging along.” 

“Not at all! The more the merrier,” Lily replied. “I hope you’re up for drinks in the hot tub.” 

“You just put two of my favorite things in the same sentence.” Priya smirked and fell into stride beside Lily, fixing Jae with an amused glance as she went. 

“So, what brings the next matriarch of Zaofu to my humble boat?” Lily asked as they lounged in the hot tub. 

“Future matriarch?” Priya adopted a familiar expression of faux-shock. “Now where did you hear a rumor like that?”

“I like to stay informed on important people,” she said. “They say you’re making almost all the executive decisions in Zaofu these days.”

“Well, my grandmother does confide in me.”

“She’s smart to do so,” Lily said. “So, what can I do for the Metal Clan?”

“The tech you’re making for Shuijing? Sell it to Zaofu instead.” 

“That’s quite the proposal.” Lily took a small sip of her drink, her eyes sharp despite the playfulness in her posture. “Why should we accept?”

“Because the conflicts our families have had in the past shouldn’t get in the way of progress. Zaofu’s security force is larger than Shuijing’s by far, and this deal will bring Varrick Global back into our markets.” 

“The Youngs won’t be happy,” Lily said and sipped her drink, trying to hide her pleasure behind the rim of the glass. Jae knew his older sister saw right through her. 

“Your shareholders will be, should we come to an agreement.” 

“I’ll admit, I’m intrigued, but I need to discuss the matter with our legal team.”  

“Of course.” Priya stood up. “Anyway, I’ve taken enough of your time. I’ll let you get on with your interview.” 

“I’ll show you where the towels are,” Jae said and followed her out of the hot tub. 

“I leave you in the hands of my brilliant assistant,” Lily said before turning her attention back to Lu Park. 

“What are you doing here?” Jae asked as soon as he and Priya were out of earshot. 

His older sister gave a smirk. “I believe the word is business. I’m sure you’re familiar with the term.” 

“Did mom put you up to this?” 

“I don’t do our mother’s bidding, Jae. I just saw an opportunity and went for it.” 

“You could have talked to me first.” 

“I could have, but I won’t lie, it was more entertaining this way. You should have seen the look on your face when I stepped out of that car!” 

“Pri.”

“Alright, alright,” she said as they turned a corner on the deck. “Lily's a smart girl. I see why you like her so much.”

Jae ran a hand down the length of his face. “It isn’t like that between us.” 

“I never said it was. But it should be—”

“Pri—”

“I’m just saying,” she replied. “So I take it you haven’t told her who you are yet.” 

“I’m going to. Soon. I mean, I have to since her father figured it out.” 

“Yikes.” 

“It actually wasn’t as bad as you’d think. He was just very excited about sticking it to dad.” 

“That’s fair,” she said. “You know it’s his birthday today.” 

“I’m aware,” Jae told her, thinking back to his conversation with Shreya the day before. 

“And if you’re not ready to talk to him yet, don’t.”

Jae tried not to let the relief show on his face. “You know, that’s not where I was expecting you to go with that.” 

“You think I’m gonna judge you? I took a five year break from mom once.” 

“I remember that.” It had been an awkward time to say the least.

“Look, I get it. Families are complicated, especially ours, and sometimes you just need some time away.”

“Thanks, Priya.” 

“That’s why I’m your favorite sister,” she said. “Now come on, let’s get you back before your girlfriend starts missing you.”