Tarrlok already had a hold on the two metalbenders who came to arrest him.
Despite knowing who he was, they sent only two after him.
What kind of idiots were they?
'They know they're too powerless to stop me. Even their whole unit may not stand in my way.'
Just as he was focusing on the two soldiers, the window broke.
Two fire beams, each hot and large, landed next to his feet.
He jumped, letting go of the earthbenders' grip.
Just as he turned to control the firebenders standing in the other building, the metalbenders hit the ground, making the earth swallow his legs.
Aware of the firebenders sniping at him from the other building, he bloodbent the earthbenders and made them float in front of him, covering the window.
He looked at his feet, cursing under his breath.
"Damn it." He cursed again.
He looked around and saw a bottle of water. With one hand, he grabbed it and made a high-pressure jet stream attack under his feet, strong enough to make a small crack. He then froze the ground and defrosted it, allowing his legs to break free.
But the floor crumbled, forcing him to fall to the lower floor.
At the lower floor, a few fire beams landed on him from behind, hitting his back and giving him a severe burn.
"I've got no choice."
Tarrlok opened his eyes wide.
Knowing their strategy now, it was clear he would lose if he stayed any longer.
He grabbed one of the metal-armored men, bloodbending him with his eyes. The man floated horizontally before heading quickly to the window. Tarrlok jumped after him and landed on his back, using the bloodbent man as a medium to fly.
The police, taken by shock, couldn't do anything.
Lightning bolts flew after him from everywhere.
Tarrlok concluded one thing:
These guys knew how to take down a bloodbender.
And he would have died if he had stayed, since he had been resisting.
The only wise choice left was to escape and never return, while silently building his underworld empire and claiming his power.
Now all that was left was to get back to his secret residency, take his money, and leave.
-x-X-x-
'Well. Better than ending up in a corrupt official's hands. We are the ones who do all the work.'
Akashi, who was at Tarrlok's residence, had swept over the house.
Using his experience as a cop from his previous life, he had found the exact location of the money.
It seemed since this world had metalbenders, firebenders, and other types of benders, having a strong safe wouldn't stop a thief. So the best course of action was to hide the money in places they wouldn't think of.
And Akashi had found those places and hid the money where his colleagues wouldn't look.
-x-X-x-
Tarrlok couldn't believe his luck.
His back was burned, and a few lightning bolts had almost gotten him if not for using a few police cops as hostages.
He had never believed things could take this turn.
Sweat covered his face, and he had to resort to taking civilians as hostages before getting to his car.
As he drove, he stuck a few people with bloodbending.
If any car chased after him, he would throw that person along with the armor.
No. He could bloodbend the people inside the police cars or that police airship and make it blow away.
But it seemed no one chased after him. They knew about it and had already studied a plan.
In that case, he should take into account that someone—or some people—were waiting for him in his residence.
But that was unlikely since he had kept it very secret.
And he needed to go there.
He couldn't bring himself to start from zero.
He needed to take his money, then get into a boat or the sea and leave. Because he was a waterbender, as long as he got into water, he would be fine.
Tarrlok's stomach growled uncomfortably. Something that had never happened before. He thought it was due to stress… something he hadn't felt in a long time.
Feeling a slight urge to poop, he let go of the hostages flying alongside his car.
He then drove as fast as he could, reaching his destination in no time.
He entered the two-story residence.
The first thing he looked for wasn't the money, but the bathroom.
He needed to relieve himself first.
Just as he entered, he found Akashi sitting at the table, looking at him calmly.
"You've arrived, at last," Akashi said in a bored tone. "I almost fell asleep waiting for you."
"You son of a bitch!" Tarrlok pointed his hand at Akashi, who was sitting on the couch, trying to bloodbend him.
The man didn't move.
Instead, he smirked and lifted a middle finger.
Tarrlok didn't understand for a second until he saw a ball of light floating above Akashi's head.
"Mirror illusion," Akashi said.
Just as Tarrlok turned, a strong air blade hit his chest, forcing him a few steps back and engraving a shallow wound.
Akashi then ran, hiding somewhere in the house.
"Give up. This place is surrounded," Akashi said.
Tarrlok clenched his jaw. He realized this son of a bitch must have been plotting something.
That's right.
This is an airbender who plays dirty.
He pointed at the window, and water flew from a nearby fish tank, breaking the window open—just in case Akashi thought of using gas.
"Are you that much of an idiot? I'm an airbender. I can make the gas stay," Akashi jumped down from the upper floor confidently, landing in front of Tarrlok, who stared at him with eyes intense with hate.
"Aren't you afraid you've finally shown up in front of me?" Tarrlok said, sweat covering his face, feeling suddenly hot.
Akashi's limbs were suddenly controlled, and he floated in the air. He forced a sneer through the pain.
"Did… did you enjoy the taste of coffee?" Akashi said, and Tarrlok felt more pain in his stomach. "I bet you want to poop so badly that you don't have enough mental strength…" He kicked the air, sending compressed air that hit Tarrlok, flying back.
"You son of a bitch, you poisoned me," he said, standing up slowly.
"Yeah, a bloodbender who bends with his eyes wide open…" Akashi shook his finger. "Obviously, you can't bend with your mind if it's in your ass."
Tarrlok withstood the pain and clenched his butt cheeks.
Farts escaped.
Akashi waved his hand, bending the smell away.
"I put some medicine made for people with extreme constipation. A drop is enough to make them poop like crazy. I wonder what dozens would do." Akashi looked around, amused.
"My hand alone is enough to kill you!" Tarrlok said, pointing his arm toward Akashi.