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At the beginning, Shelby’s job was wholly good. The subjects were volunteers and were studied safely in an above ground facility with good accommodations. She loved her job. Studying bending and how it impacted human life and the world around them was incredible. Especially when considering if they could learn enough they might be able to invoke bending in nonbenders! Up until now, if someone wasn’t genetically predisposed to bend they would never be able to, but that could change. With this research, things could be different.
“Begin testing in five, four, three, two, one,” Shelby instructs into the microphone. Her voice booms through the loudspeakers within the white room.
Two subjects stand within padded walls both wielding a staff. Sausage, a man with short dark brown hair and ocean blue eyes, crouches in a sturdy stance exactly like his instructor had taught him, clutching the metal staff in both hands. Sunflower, a woman with river blue eyes and sunflower clips holding her light brown hair in place, moves the staff from resting over her shoulder to gripping it tightly before her. Attached to their hips are black devices which monitor information from their bodies coming from patches stuck to their skin.
The moment Shelby’s voice fades out, Sunflower leaps forward, swinging down with her staff and clanging it loudly against Sausage’s as he pushes upwards to block. He laughs and shoves against her, sending her stumbling several steps back. Sunflower grins and launches forward, swinging out with her staff. Sausage’s eyes widen as he meets hers in the middle, blocking it in a cross.
As Sunflower sweeps her staff downwards, Sausage rolls out of the way and jumps to his feet. While he avoided the immediate threat, he now finds himself pressed against a wall. Sunflower leaps into action, darting towards him while he runs to the centre of the room. She cuts him off by jumping in front of him and swinging out with her staff. He barely manages to block the attack; a clang echoes loudly through the empty room.
Sunflower jabs at Sausage’s chest; he narrowly avoids it by pushing out at her staff from the side. She swings out towards his face and he darts backwards out of the way, consequently tripping over his own feet and landing on the floor. Before he has a chance to rise, Sunflower points the tip of her staff at his face.
Shelby, having scribbled down all the notes of the events of the fight on her clipboard, leans towards the microphone. “The victor is Sunflower. Fight ended.”
Sunflower grins, lowers her staff, and offers a hand to Sausage. While her voice is muffled through the glass, Shelby can still hear her words, “Good fight, Sausage. You did a great job.”
Sausage chuckles and takes her hand, rubbing the back of his head. “Thanks.”
“Please move to the clinic to be checked over and return your monitors. Good job, guys.” Shelby smiles at the subjects in the room beside her, giving them a thumbs up.
---
It’s been a week since avatar Aeor passed away. He was quite old, but his loss sends grief spiking throughout the entirety of the Watchers. Shelby especially feels it since she had been chosen specifically by him nearly five years ago as soon as she had graduated medical school. Aeor had been a kind man with the mission of protecting all those around him regardless of their histories. When he had started the Watchers several decades ago, it had been with only the kindest of intentions and Shelby had been honoured to be a part of it.
Today, it’s been revealed that a new head of the Watchers has been appointed and every worker in the compound has been called to the cafeteria since it’s the largest room to hear their speech. Shelby has no idea who it could be. There were several people within Aeor’s inner circle that might have been put in charge, but no one has heard any whispers of which one stepped forward.
“Dr. Shelby!” Sunflower calls, pushing past a few of the technicians to stand beside Shelby, dragging Sausage behind her.
Shelby smiles as the two subjects approach. She’s quite a small person so the two taller people have to look down at her as she clutches her clipboard against her chest. “Hi, guys. How are you feeling today?”
“Good,” Sausage answers with a grin, his eyes twinkling in the sun shining in from the windows beside them. “Did they tell you anything about the new Head Watcher?”
Shelby shakes her head. “No, I think the only people who know are Aeor’s inner circle. But they were bound to choose a new Head Watcher at some point.”
Tapping sounds reverberate throughout the room as someone pokes the microphone from where they stand on a makeshift stage. Everyone’s head snaps to face that direction. “Hello and welcome, everyone.” Cod, as he’s fondly known, opens his arms with a solemn expression on his face. “As you all know, we had a tremendous loss in recent days. Aeor will be reborn, but his death affected each and every one of us. Still, the Watchers need a new leader. With careful consideration, the members of Aeor’s inner circle have decided to appoint Xornoth as the new Head Watcher.”
Sunflower and Sausage’s faces pale and Sunflower takes an instinctive step back, grasping onto Shelby’s arm painfully tight. Upon Cod beginning to clap, the others follow their lead, but Shelby turns to the two terrified subjects.
“It’s going to be okay,” Shelby assures, not removing Sunflower’s bruising grip on her pale skin. “I know Xornoth can be a bit-”
“Sadistic?” Sausage exclaims under his breath, glancing around at the clapping workers with terror in his gaze.
In truth, Xornoth has a tendency to push tests too far. While they are instructed to end tests before any of the subjects get too injured, he sometimes insists they continue until one is unconscious or bleeding profusely. Aeor has warned him against this on several occasions. Why he was part of the inner circle, Shelby has never understood.
“Nothing is going to change,” Shelby insists, slipping her clipboard under her armpit to reach out and rest a comforting hand on Sausage’s shoulder. “Just because he’s in charge doesn’t mean he can suddenly make anything different. As scientists we have to follow a rule of ethics to do anything. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”
---
“Begin testing in five, four, three, two, one,” Shelby announces through the microphone, her voice echoing through the stone room.
It’s been a few months since Xornoth’s ‘coronation’ as people have been calling it. Things have changed significantly. They are now exclusively underground. Earthbenders carved out a compound deep under the surface. The subjects are escorted from their living quarters to testing rooms and back. Shelby and the other scientists are only permitted in certain areas and are generally supervised by people who used to be technicians. What they are now, she isn’t too sure. Their uniforms have changed from colourful clothes to black jumpsuits and purple masks. Others have been appointed as Eyes, dressed in black cloaks and white masks with a new symbol of Watchers - a purple rectangle with circles on two diagonal corners. Only the technicians are allowed to leave the compound. Shelby hasn’t seen the outside world since the day she and the other scientists were loaded in the van and taken below ground.
The subjects have been hurt beyond recognition. Their screams are now imprinted in Shelby’s mind. She’ll never be able to sleep again without hearing their begs for mercy. Every day she remembers promising Sunflower and Sausage that they would be okay, but they are the furthest thing from okay.
Sunflower mouths ‘I’m sorry’ to Sausage. He nods and lowers himself into a sturdy stance, holding his fists in front of him. She slides one foot behind the other and raises her hands, bringing seven stones from the floor into the air. Extending her arm, two of them fly at Sausage. He jumps to the side; both stones slam into the wall behind him.
Sausage runs forward at Sunflower, leaping from side to side to avoid the rocks she flings in his direction. When he reaches her, he punches at her face, but she ducks under his fist. Thanks to her stance, she’s in the perfect position to hit his side and chest with her balled up hands.
With a grunt, Sausage stumbles back a step and lowers his stance to sweep out at her legs. Sunflower shouts as she falls to the ground, landing harshly on her back and bashing her head into the stone underneath. Sausage reaches down and grabs her shirt, holding his fist above her face in the perfect position to knock her out.
“Victor is Sausage. Fight over,” Shelby declares through the loudspeaker.
“No,” an ominous voice argues behind her. Shelby whirls around to see one of the Eyes standing in the doorway. “The fight is not over until one of them is unconscious or dead. You are aware of the rules.”
“He’s clearly won!” Shelby insists, gesturing at the window looking into the arena. “There’s no need to hurt either of them beyond this.”
The Eye practically glides into the room to stand above Shelby, leaning down until their faces are almost touching. Her heart pounds in her chest and sweat breaks out across her pale skin. “Are you refusing to follow the Head Watcher’s rules, Doctor?”
Shelby gulps and looks back at the subjects. She can’t do anything to help them if she’s dead. “No. I’m not,” she relents. Leaning into the microphone with trembling hands, she announces, “Finish the fight, Sausage.”
Sausage’s wide eyes meet Shelby’s. She nods and he turns back to Sunflower’s dazed face, her shirt still in his grasp. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers.
After looking up to the sky and murmuring something under his breath, Sausage pulls his fist back, and punches his best friend in the face. Sunflower’s eyes slide closed and her body goes lax, blood sliding out of her nose.
The Eye, seemingly pleased, exits the room while Shelby is left watching Sausage fall to his knees, pulling Sunflower into his arms. Two technicians enter the testing room and pull Sausage away despite his kicking and begging. Another two grab Sunflower’s ankles and drag her across the floor, away to whatever horrors are waiting for her. At that moment, Shelby makes a decision. She’s going to get all of the subjects out of here even if it kills her.