"How much of an idiot does he think I am?" Akashi wondered as he put the banknotes in his pocket. It helped him forget that awkward situation he had put himself in with the police chief. But damn, she was getting playful.
Tarrlok had invited him to buy all the rights to his book and stop it from hitting the market. In another say, it's a bribe.
Had it been anyone else, they might have been blinded by greed.
Akashi was no better.
He felt an intense greed, like being at the end of No-Nut November and then attending some modeling show.
The desire to believe Tarrlok's offer made him want to believe he wanted it to help him financially.
But.
"That was just a small part of my plan," Akashi muttered. "Very well…"
Akashi grabbed a walkie-talkie, setting the frequency to contact the higher-ups.
"This is Akashi. The operation starts tomorrow. Let's meet again at 05:00 AM."
He said, opening his system and looking at his stats.
He had saved a few levels through intense training.
He had high agility, which was already good, and 5 points in stamina, which should be enough for him. Strength was decent; he believed he could punch fast without harming his hand. His airbending was around level 8, which was massively different from when he had departed from the academy.
He stood up, pointed two fingers up, then spun.
The air gathered around his fingers, and as he stopped, the air left like a whip, hitting the wall, causing a 3 cm deep cut and one meter long.
'Needless to say, I'm an airbender class and not a warrior class. Besides agility to dodge and perform bending movements, Wisdom is my airbending stamina.
'The target, however, is beyond that… he's a bloodbender. I may need HP recovery and Chi recovery equally since both stats seem hard to level up from the beginning.'
[Wisdom 4 → 6]
[Vitality 3 → 5]
[HP 250/250]
[Chi 150/150]
-x-X-x-
The next day, Tarrlok was at his office. A pretty secretary who had started yesterday came in with a coffee and an envelope.
"Mr. Councilman, Detective Akashi sent you an envelope," she said as she placed them on the table.
"Leave," he commanded. As she left, he sipped his coffee while looking at her pretty ass.
Then, he opened the envelope.
Inside was a portrait of a hand giving him the middle finger.
Tarrlok frowned at the pitiful childish act of a detective.
How could such a man be highly regarded and even mentioned once in the council?
"Not even decent enough to send the money back," Tarrlok harrumphed.
It seemed he needed to lure Akashi somehow out of the dorm.
It wouldn't be difficult.
Just have someone spy on him.
Then grab him with bloodbending and put him inside a car.
Then, he could find out who leaked the information about his bloodbending and make an example of him and Akashi.
He thought of every possibility while drinking his coffee.
-x-X-x-
The pretty secretary, who happened to be a police officer, nodded.
The building had already emptied, and everyone had taken their locations.
A dozen metalbenders, aka earthbenders, surrounded Tarrlok's office.
They kicked the door open and rushed at him, sending metal strips flying his way.
Taken by surprise, Tarrlok hid under his desk.
"What's going on!" he demanded angrily. "Do you know who you're attacking?"
"A dirty bloodbender," said one of them.
"A criminal," said another.
Tarrlok quickly realized how things were unfolding.
The story of him being a bloodbender hadn't just leaked to Akashi, but to the whole police department.
And they seemed to already have proof against him.
And they were going to arrest him.
At that point, feigning ignorance wouldn't work.
And he might end up shackled for life.
"Very well," he clicked his tongue. It seemed the only option left was to rule the city from the underworld.
As long as there was no Avatar, no one should be able to stop him. Considering he was even stronger than his father, that was a certain fact.
-x-X-x-
At the same time, Akashi was in Tarrlok's residency, looking at the people he had imprisoned.
One was a corrupt official who had the power to limit the police's budget. Since Akashi had checked their accounts, he knew this official had taken money from triads to let them operate.
Another was the head of a criminal organization. The other helped criminals escape.
Powerful and corrupt.
To Akashi, even if these people hadn't committed crimes with their own hands, they were no different from those who did.
If you gave a knife to a person who kills a child, that makes you no better than him.
"I came to save you," Akashi said, looking at them with a smile.
"Don't, please. Leave before he comes back."
"Yes. Do you want to get us in trouble?"
"Are you—"
Before they could finish, Akashi turned his head and looked at a gas container. He moved his hand slightly, releasing the gas used for warmth.
The gas, obviously methane or ethane or something similar, was odorless and tasteless.
Akashi waved his hand, making the gas slip and concentrate around them.
As they talked, they lost awareness and fell to the ground.
He waved his other hand, and a strong wind opened the window, letting the gas leave the room.
"Tarrlok will take the blame." He walked by them, dead.
The others were already taking their positions, so no one saw him killing them with gas.
[You leveled up to level 8.]
[+2 Attribute Points]
[+1 Skill Point.]
'Only worth this much,' he thought to himself. 'Well, at least the world is a better place without them.'
Looking at their lifeless bodies, he felt no pity, no regret, no remorse. He guessed that thanks to his previous life, shooting criminals in the head had become routine.
"By this time, he should have sipped the coffee," Akashi smirked, thinking about Tarrlok.
He reached for his walkie-talkie and brought it close to his mouth.
"The hostages are found dead. Add that to the charges," he reported.