mix_it_up | And the Winner Is...

"Well folks, it's a controversial call –"

"Asami, where are you going?"

She had already risen from her seat, heading for the exit. She doesn't look back to her father, but tells him, "I want to meet them in the locker room. I'll see you at home, okay?"

Asami doesn't hear him call after her as she steps through the door, leaving it open behind her. The box seats run in a ring beneath the stands, nearly level with the platform. But rather than heading for the Ferrets' side, she races up the stairs, hoping she can make it into the stands before the throng of spectators begins filing out of them. As angry as she is about it, the confusion at the final call might help her – enough fans will probably be distracted as they argue over it that she'll have time to slip in and out before they begin to leave.

Twenty-five seconds after she left her box, Asami moves past a police officer as she hurries into the stands. She makes her way down a few steps, then slips onto the bench next to Autor, and without speaking (it's too loud to hear anything), signals him to follow her. She doesn't see the man across the aisle reaching into this popcorn box, or the woman four rows in front of them pulling a mask over her face. Nor does she see the sudden, bright flash of electricity from the other side of the arena.

But she does hear it when the officer she'd passed collapses down onto the stairs between the stands, blocking their path out. One masked man stands in her place at the exit; the woman rises at the front of the stands. They're both wearing what look like bulky gloves, but Asami can see the circuits running through them, and the soft glow at the center of the palm. With another look at the officer lying sprawled across the stairs, something clicks in her mind.

" – metalbender cops are dropping like bumbleflies – "

Behind them, someone starts screaming. On the arena platform, the centerpiece rises back into place, with a new set of opponents for the bending champions.

She wouldn't have believed it was all over in less than four minutes. There was nothing anyone could do to stop it, or interfere. For a show of non-bending power, Asami had never felt so powerless in her life. Amon's speech about the "unnatural advantage" and being "cleansed of their impurities" and the future Equalist government seemed to stretch on as she didn't know what had happened to Mako, Korra, and Bolin, as she couldn't get Autor out of the arena to safety, as she didn't know where her father was, and as she had last seen Tahno and the Wolfbats being tossed over the side of the platform. Unarmed and outnumbered, she can't risk getting hurt now. All she can do is wait, until finally –

"The Revolution has begun!"

The glass dome of the arena shatters, and both of those wielding the electric gloves run up the stairs and out of the stands. The moment they're through the threshold, Asami leans over and seizes the arm of the still-unconscious cop, pulling her up onto the bench beside them. The other spectators are already parting around them, jumping over the benches and fleeing the stands any way they can. Snack boxes and programs lay crumpled on the floor behind them.

"Come on, let's get her out of the way and get out of here."

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Autor checks the officer's pulse, and then nods at Asami. "She should be all right," he says, frowning. "Where do we go?"

Asami shoves the officer up onto the bench - she still slumps, but at least is out of the way of the spectators flooding past them toward the exit.

"Any door that will get you out of here -"

She's barely said it before the first explosion rips through the platform at the arena's center. Two more follow, flames billowing up high enough for her to feel the heat on her face. Instinctively, she raises a shielding arm over Autor and the cop, until it seems to subside. The cop begins to stir.

"Come on, let's go."

"Oh!" Autor says, startled by the explosions. He shakes himself out and turns to Asami again, his back to the arena but still seeing the fire out of the corners of his eyes.

"Yes, let's," he says, and after glancing at the cop, he takes Asami's hand and starts picking his way through the stands.

She holds onto his hand as they head up the steps, and toward the doorway out of the stands. They're shoved along with the remaining spectators - no more explosions follow, but there is as loud splash and rush of water. Asami doesn't look back, but when they're just through the door, she hesitates - when a voice cries out from back inside the arena.

By the the time she's turned back to look, Korra has been caught by a metalbending cable. She lets out a breath, and keeps moving, pulling Autor out of the way of the door.

"I'm sorry," she calls, trying to keep against the wall as others pass them. "We can try a door downstairs."

"It's okay!" Autor calls back, cupping his hand around his mouth to try to have his voice carry across the noisy arena. Someone bumps into him, and he nearly loses her hand in the crush of people.

He clings to her tightly, gripping her wrist instead. "Lead the way, Asami."

She turns, and pulls him down another staircase. This one is empty - it doesn't lead down out of the arena, but down to the line of box seats. It's a long hall, lined with sliding doors to the left, and the only sound is the rustling of feet along the floor above them.

"Everyone's probably gone," she says. "We can try finding a way back for you with the doors down here."

Autor nods, glancing around for people behind them. He peeks past the first sliding door to find an empty room.

"One hopes," he says, his voice loud in his ears after all the noise of the arena. "You don't sound like you're coming with me."

"I have to stay here," she answers, closing another door. "I need to know my friends and my father are all right. If I find another way back after I'll -"

She slides another door open, and light spills out onto the floor. There's a quiet hum of voices - out of place in the tense arena. Asami waves him over.

"Autor, here -"

Autor scurries over, heading to the door. He reaches out and squeezes her hand when he reaches her. "Asami, please be careful. They could still be out there. Good luck."

Then he passes through the door, ducking his head.

"I'll be fine, Autor," she says, though she returns the gesture. "Don't worry about me, just go."

She waits until he's through the door, and then slides it firmly closed behind him.

And the Winner Is...

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