From the spectators' seats, the Dai Lee agents watched. They were blended with the crowd, dressing normally. Tonight, Amon had promised them that he'd catch Akashi while delivering a message to the world.
And so, they had waited while looking at the clueless Akashi watching the match.
The Dai Lee agents were shocked when they saw that Amon had the power to take people's bending away.
They discussed among themselves, and they realized that such a power was too dangerous and too applicable.
With the bloodbender Tarrlok and the one who could take bending away, they both could be enemies or tremendous reliable allies.
Their collaboration may not have ended yet.
When Akashi had jumped into the water, electrocuted, they thought that it was time to take him away.
Yet, from nowhere, a shark appeared.
And then, the only thing left was blood.
It was painfully obvious that the airbender, inside water, had no chance against one of the apex predators, and had lost his life to the shark.
Although they wondered how a shark got there, such luck was not unheard of.
"Her majesty would be disappointed."
"Yes. She was excited to torture him."
"Even in death, that son of a bitch is lucky."
The Dai Lee agents cursed Akashi for being so lucky. He didn't have to be tortured before his death. Nor did he have three generations of his family to be punished. Not even a lover. He had simply died peacefully, buried inside a shark's belly.
"We need to report to her majesty about the bending-disabling power."
"That's right."
After standing up, the Dai Lee agents met with Amon in secret. They told him that he shouldn't have his expectations high, for he didn't do the job perfectly, and that he should await her majesty's decision.
Amon simply glared at them, not saying a word. The silence from the man behind the mask got on their nerves, making them nervous, even if they didn't show it, and then, they left for the airport.
Amon turned and went back to his basement, only to see Akashi silently glaring at Tarrlok, who had a smirk on his face.
-x-X-x-
When Akashi fell into the water, the original plan had been to pretend to sink while Tarrlok made a shark swim.
Tarrlok, who had been controlling the shark through bloodbending, had another idea in mind.
And so, he began playing with Akashi.
He controlled the shark to make it faint bites, hit him with its tail, and all.
That somehow scarred the shit out of Akashi, and made him feel angry at the same time.
What Akashi did next was exhale softly, turning air from his lungs into a sphere in the water, and then, he controlled that air to clog the shark's respiration paths, creating a vacuum around them. It took some time, but eventually, it died. And then, Akashi had used another breath to create a sharp wind blade, which cut the shark deeply, making blood reach the surface of the water.
Akashi swam out of the arena and into the ocean, only to find someone looking at him smugly.
Tarrlok, who had been controlling the shark from a distance, had been laughing.
"Hey, looks like you lost your shit." Tarrlok mocked.
"And you look like you don't have a shit to lose anymore," replied Akashi in an annoyed tone as he climbed out of the water.
"Hahaha!" Tarrlok laughed out loud.
Akashi clenched his teeth. "Son of a bitch, the deal wasn't to attack me with the shark."
"What attack? I was simply making it bite the water." Shrugged Tarrlok, knowing fully that he had done it on purpose to scare Akashi. "Drowning an airbender in water is way easier than you think."
"Do you want a fight?" Akashi asked, ready for another round.
"Preferably, I kick your ass now." Nodded Tarrlok.
"Humph." Akashi reached into his pocket and grabbed a face mask, something Amon gave him to fool the others.
"You two, stop acting like kids." Said a voice.
Turning, both found Amon on a boat.
Akashi looked at the airship that flew away.
It seemed to act as a feint to fool the police into following it.
But for now, they were leaving through the sea.
"Now, we're going to hide for now," said Amon.
Akashi got into the boat, while Tarrlok clicked his tongue. Very soon, he accepted the reality that he couldn't do a thing about it.
-x-X-x-
Akashi went with the Equalists to their base, an isolated island near Republic City.
It was quite a good location to build an army, with ships, and even robots on sight.
Akashi followed Amon while staring around, seeing that there were even yards to train their people.
On the far sight, there was a plane of an early design with one or two seats.
'I guess that being sponsored by the Earth Queen led to an earlier development of the technology.' Akashi thought.
With planes on sight, creating bombs and attaching them to the planes wouldn't just make it possible for the Equalists to achieve their purpose, but to conquer every nation easily.
But that was a story for another time, because Akashi didn't believe that they could defeat a pissed-off Korra in Avatar State.
'But if they take her bending, that would be problematic,' he thought to himself as he followed Amon to the leaders' room.
He took a seat opposite him and his brother.
"Man. I've said so much cringe things that my balls shrank… better it worths all of the effort." Akashi grumbled as he removed the mask and put his legs on the table.
"It's worth it to not be on the radar of the Earth Queen for now." Replied Amon.
"Yeah…" Akashi sighed. "So, what do we do now."
"Obviously, you stay hidden here until we're finished with cleansing the city." Amon gestured with his hand.
A smile took over Akashi's face. He sighed mockingly and laughed.
"What's so funny?" Amon asked.
"Man. I was waiting for you to show up and reveal your true colors." Akashi said.
Now that the alliance has been broken, both of them would back-stab each other.
Akashi had that fake partner who knows about Amon being a bloodbender and could issue a warrant for him.
But that one would be weaker leverage now that Amon gained an army and robots and all.
"Humph…" Amon sighed, "You're the one who has yet to have a color to define by."
"That's true… So, what are you going to do, kill me?" asked Akashi.
"No. I'm going to have you stay here, dead… not really killing you, since everyone believes that you are dead," Amon smiled behind the mask, "If you want to leave, you have to turn on your partner that knows about my identity as a bloodbender."
Amon knew that Akashi was a big threat, bigger than the Earth Queen herself, for he knew things he shouldn't know about.
"Yes, brother. We should punish him by house arrest, and hard work in the kitchen." Commented Tarrlok.
Akashi ignored Tarrlok and stared at Amon.
"You think that I cannot kill you after leaving here," said Akashi. "It's wiser to kill me."
"Without airbending, you are nothing." Amon stretched his hand to Akashi, his intentions were clear. He would take Akashi's bending, rendering him a useless human, or so it should be.
Akashi resisted the blood-bending.
Under the table, there was a small gas can.
And it was opened.
Just as he was about to bend the gas, Tarrlok extended his hand to him.
"He can resist bloodbending. let me help," said Tarrlok, adding his power to his brother's, rendering Akashi motionless.