Ashur dropped down beside Amon's bodyguards, although he suspected Amon was the better fighter of the three. He projected a calming aura with his brass, and burnt zinc to enhance their sense of curiosity. Of course they'd be curious, a boy had just appeared next to them. The only thing was that it was logical that it would be easier to get answers from him if he was beaten up first.

He expected them to attack him, and he wasn't disappointed. The one on the left recovered quickly, throwing a strike out at his chest, aiming to wind him, as they took a step back to get a bit of distance. It was difficult to tell whether they were male or female under the baggy clothes, but like Mistborn, fighters here seemed to be gender indiscriminate.

He blocked with his left arm, grabbing them with his right. In a feat of strength that would not have surprised those who knew he was Mistborn, he swung that bodyguard into the other, who was coming at him from the side with a strike to his knee. An odd place to strike, but he supposed it made sense, since it would incapacitate him just as well. Unfortunate for his attacker that he could easily hear their footsteps on the pavement.

Ashur's swing did indeed hit its mark, and the bodyguards went down together, though one of them was immediately back on his feet, turning the fall into an easy roll. The other pushed himself up with a bit more effort, but didn't seem worse for wear either. They were tougher than normal skaa, though not as tough as Pewterarms. No-one was as tough as someone burning pewter.

He held his arms up, taking a step away from them. "I'm not here for a fight." He lowered them again when one of them took a strange weapon out, three metal balls attached by ropes that met in the middle. He could easily stop that, but he didn't want to be mistaken for a Metalbender, nor did he want to show off his powers. He looked to Amon. "I just want to ask some questions." He wished Amon wasn't wearing a mask. It was too hard to read people without being able to see their faces.

Amon raised his hand, and both of the bodyguards lowered their fists, though they did not relax. That was probably a wise thing to do, and they definitely wouldn't relax if they knew he was a Mistborn. "You fight well," he said, sizing Ashur up. "Better than one of your size would normally fight."

"I was taught well by my father," Ashur replied. Or at least, by some of his noble servants that he paid, so he was taught because of him. His father was far too busy to teach him personally. Still, it was close enough to not be a complete lie. "You fight better than I had expected as well. You were faster than I would have thought."

A compliment each. They were even. Despite his burning of tin and pewter, Ashur did not wish to fight against this man.

Amon stood there, watching him. It was impossible for Ashur to know what was going on behind that mask, but hopefully he had piqued Amon's interest.

After a long period of silence, Amon nodded. "Come inside then. I would assume you have questions about today's demonstration. I assume that can be the only reason you are here."

Ashur nodded. His bodyguards started to protest, but Amon waved their concerns away. "The boy is a good fighter, but not good enough to defeat me. In addition, there are more loyal to us inside. There is no cause for alarm."

Inside the safehouse were four more Equalists, masks off. It seemed they were relaxing, but they were immediately at attention when Amon entered the room. Amon nodded to them in a formal manner. "Bring our guest a drink," he said to one of them, as he gestured towards a chair for Ashur at a table.

Ashur sat on the table, looking around the room. He was curious to see what the room contained, not just because it was the first safehouse that he had been in. If a fight broke out, he needed to know where the furniture was, where the windows were, and so on.

Amon sat opposite him, and waved for them to have some privacy after Ashur received his drink. It was a cup of a local variety of tea that was favoured here. Much less bitter than those back home, probably due to the lack of ash. It could be poisoned. He was aware of such a risk. However, pewter helped protect him against poisoning, and he was already in over his head anyway.

"You're not concerned about me at all, are you?" He asked, after a small sip.

Amon chuckled a little. "Why should I be? I am surrounded by my guards, and you are just a boy. My most trusted lieutenant is going to be here soon as well. You are a boy quite skilled at fighting, that is true, but you are just a boy nonetheless. And I doubt you are a Bender. If you are, you are a foolish one that won't be a Bender for much longer. So tell me, why should I be concerned?"

"There's no reason," Ashur replied with a shrug. Even if a Mistborn was infinitely more powerful than this mere skaa man could imagine.

"Good. Now tell me, how did you manage to catch up with us here? Did you know where we would be before you came here? Or did you follow me somehow? Even the Metalbending Police would have a hard time reaching us that quickly."

"I was following on the rooftops," Ashur replied honestly. Honesty was the best policy as long as there was nothing to hide. "It was quite easy to keep up with you, because you double-backed so much. I just waited when you circled around buildings before you carried on."

Amon nodded. "I see. So what did you wish to ask me? I think I know. You wish to know how I managed to take away someone's Bending, don't you? As I said earlier, the spirits gave me such a power. I know not why they chose me, as there are many others who have lost as much as I have. Some have lost more. I only hope I prove worthy of it."

He sounded sincere, but it was difficult to take anything at - ha! - face value when his face was hidden. He also didn't accept the reason was that the 'spirits' gave him his power. It didn't fit anything he knew of this place's system. It had to be genetic. If not though, that meant that he could potentially learn it himself. "Which spirits would I have to find to request such a power?" Ashur asked, hating himself for accepting spirits as a reason.

"I am not sure what the name of the spirit who visited me was. I can barely remember the encounter as it is, because of how traumatic the experience was. You can, however, learn how to use chi-blocking, which has a similar effect but is temporary. The Equalists are happy to teach anyone who wishes to learn. Why, if I may ask, would a child such as yourself wish to learn such an ability? You carry yourself as someone who has never felt true loss or agony." Ashur had no doubt that Amon was scrutinising him right now behind that mask.

"I may not have lost my family, but they are dead to me here," Ashur said. That was pretty much true. Now came the lies. "The others in my family are all Benders. I was the youngest born, and I was also the least liked. My father taught me to fight, but only so that I could spar with my siblings and not embarrass him." A partial lie. He had no siblings to spar against, but the rest in that sentence was true. "I was considered worthless, without value, because I could not use Bending."

"You merely wish to get revenge upon Benders your family for treating you poorly?" Amon asked. "That is not a good enough reason for wanting such a power, is it? You sound as though you are a spoiled boy who has no idea how the world works."

Ashur scowled. "I don't want to get rid of Benders because of my family," true. "I want to get rid of Benders because the world can't work with them around. It doesn't work, with them around."

Amon pressed his hands together and steepled his fingers under his chin, elbows on the desk. "Explain your reasoning," he said. Behind the mask, there was interest.

"My family was just the starting point, it pushed me into thinking about it all. We're all different. That much is obvious. Someone who is not as intelligent as me will never be my equal. But the ability to Bend does not come in degrees of power, but you either have it or don't. This inherently makes it an unfair system. Your chi-blocking helps, but if you were being attacked by a Firebender from a distance, it would be useless."

Amon nodded. "Yes, that is an unfortunate limitation. One must be able to strike the opponent in such a way that your chi influences theirs. That cannot be done at a long range. There must be contact."

"But that's not all," Ashur said. "Power is generated by Lightningbenders and Firebenders. The Police is run by Metalbenders. Anyone else cannot hope to get a career in either field because they cannot even learn the abilities they need."

Again, Amon nodded. "It is certainly unnecessary. There are other ways to generate electricity than just abusing the principles of Bending. I have studied such things with a friend of mine. The Satomobile is an example of this. Depending on the model, they use coal and oil to generate heat."

"Mister Sato is quite lucky," Ashur continued on that theme. "He's probably the only person who has managed to become a big name here without being able to Bend. If he had worked with a Bender, I would have no doubt we'd know the Bender's name and not his. And then there's the name of this city."

"Oh?" Amon asked. "Republic City may not be perfect, but it is indeed a Republic. It has an elected council, so you cannot fault it for that."

"The Republic part is a lie because it is simply not representative. The council has five Benders on it. Two of them are Waterbenders. One of them is an Airbender. A single family of Airbenders has more say in this country than all the non-Benders here put together."

"Strictly speaking, that is not true," Amon replied. He seemed to be enjoying himself. "Theoretically, the non-Benders can speak to their representative on the council just as any Bender can. In practice, of course, this does not work as well as it should."

Ashur nodded. "The non-Benders are looked down on with disdain and therefore are ignored. But what about the people born here?"

"What do you mean?" Amon asked, curiously. It seemed he had stopped looking at Ashur as a 'mere' child, and was now speaking at him on a more equal level.

"This city has existed for over half a century," Ashur said. "Most of the people here were born here. Many of them feel an affinity for their country still, admittedly, but what about the people with mixed parentage? Who does a child of both water and fire talk to about their problems?"

"The representative of their father," Amon explained. "That is how it is enshrined in law. But, I agree with you, before you protest once more. It is not how things should be done. I am merely arguing against you to see what you are thinking on this matter. It was a test, you could say, though I was more curious than testing."

"So will you tell me the secret?" Ashur asked.

"There is no secret beyond what I have told you already," Amon replied. "But you may certainly join the Equalists to fight against the tyranny that you have seen in the system. We would be glad to have you in our ranks. Who knows? Perhaps the spirits will eventually reward your ardour with a similar gift."

Ashur was doubtful, but forced a smile onto his face. Hopefully it was genuine. "Thank you." He was glad to stop spouting those arguments. He was good at lying, there was little doubt at that. He had also manipulated Amon's emotions slightly with his mental metals to make him more trusting, less antagonistic.

The problem that he could see with the Equalists' argument was that they were arguing from a position of the abuse of such powers against those without power. But that was no different from real life itself. The strong always exploited the weak. He had no doubt that the corporations here did that either.

And the fact that they were taking away the powers of Benders ultimately meant that the Equalists were stronger than the Benders anyway. True, it was a single man removing those abilities, but it still meant that the organisation was acting upon a hypocrisy.

It was a similar position, interestingly enough to the supposed skaa rebellion. He had joined this place's equivalent. However, he had merely lied his way in for a different purpose. If he could learn this 'chi-blocking', then he could use it against them. If he could remove powers, all the better.

He'd never join the skaa rebellion back home anyway. It was a stupid idea for many reasons. The first was that the skaa both here and there were beneath the nobility anyway. Ultimately it all came down to Allomancy, and divine right.

The Lord Ruler was the Sliver of Infinity. He alone had touched the powers that were above mortal knowledge. These fools talked about spirits, but even if they did exist, they were nothing compared to The Lord Ruler. He had saved the world, and ruled it with an iron fist. He had never been defeated or bested, and could not be killed. In essence, he solved the idea of 'who should rule?' very easily.

Ashur looked at the time as he finished his tea. He had as much time as he needed to learn this ability, but at the same time, he had to try and find a way home. It was a choice between knowledge and expediency that was difficult to make.

He'd join the Equalists for now. Either the Benders would win, but would be weakened by the inevitable rebellion as Bender/non-Bender relations broke down and possibly succumb to another civil war easier, or the Equalists would win, and there would be no more dangerous Benders here, or there would simply be a perpetual state of war, with neither side winning.

He didn't really care which happened. The end result would be the same: Being annexed into The Final Empire (which would be much more Final when they took over this place. Then everyone would be in their proper place: all at the bottom).

In the end, he was on no-one's side here but his own.

I forgot to upload this one. Let's also count the parallels between Amon and the Equalists, and Kelsier and the Skaa Rebellion. This chapter is mostly because I really dislike how the Equalists are portrayed in Korra. They're shown to be Bending-hating, and that's about it. No acknowledgement that they're right in areas, nothing like that. In a way, it undermines the story for me.

Also, I hope that Ashur is, at least so far, believeable, possibly even likeable. I wouldn't want to throw a canon character into another world, not with this anyway. The canon characters of Mistborn have their own story to tell, and while they would fit in this world, the fact is that there's no development to be had with them, at least no new developments. They are, after all, fully explored in the works, with some exceptions.