Chapter 10: Custody
When next I came to, I was in a metallic room with a bed, a small lavatory, and bars blocking my way to the corridor... almost like a prison. There wasn't really anybody else around that I could see, but for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.
Sure enough, as I got out of the bed I woke up in, I began hearing footsteps encroaching closer. Closer they came... closer... that clunk-clunk of their metallic boots on the stone floor edging towards me... and right in front of me appeared a woman in a black coat, with black hair reaching down to her shoulders even though the back was tied up with a grey ribbon, along with brown eyes and a linear scar on her right cheek. "You finally awake?" she asked. That voice... she was the same person who took me away and threw me against the door of the room.
"What do you want from me?!" I asked, trying my best not to show the anger and panic I was feeling.
"What was a kid like you doing working with the Triple Threat Triad?"
"The what?"
"That's the oldest trick in the book! The bending triad of Republic City that is only lacking in Airbenders."
"I've heard of them before. Why do you think I'm with them?"
"You claimed the room they used as a hideout as your own. If that doesn't yell 'admission of guilt', I don't know what does."
"That room was a vacant room that was rented to me and my friend. You and your thugs broke in and Bloodbent a cord to kidnap me!"
"How- What makes you think I'm a Bloodbender?!"
"You made a metal cable behave like a pythonaconda!"
"That's not Bloodbending, that's Metalbending!"
"Since when is metal bendable?!"
"Since it has particles of earth embedded insi- wait, since when does a Triple Threat not know how Metalbending works?"
"Since when do tyrants like you abduct children?!"
"It wasn't an abduction, it was an arrest!"
"What do you mean 'arrest'? I didn't do anything wrong! You were the ones breaking the law!"
"All we did was act on a tip-off from the innkeeper!"
"What do you mean?"
"The proprietor of the inn tipped members of the police off that two major Triple Threat members had returned to their hideout yesterday evening."
"Wha- I knew something was wrong!"
"Ready to start talking?"
"When we booked the room in the evening, the innkeeper didn't write anything down in his logbook! He just gave us the key and let us go!"
"Are you saying you were set up?"
"You won't listen to me anyway-"
"No, go on."
"What happened to that Triple Threat lie you love so much?!"
"I can't establish whether its a lie right now, but it is kinda odd how someone supposedly from a triad that has Earthbenders doesn't even know how Earthbending works. Then you say you rented that room in the evening without the innkeeper making any kind of entry in the books, which coincides with the time of his tip-off about there being Triple Threats in that same inn and asking that we make the arrest quiet- oops, guess that part slipped out."
"So that's why you threw me into a wall, monster!"
"What was I to think at the time? When you're dealing with Triad criminals, you don't have the luxury of strolling up to them for a handshake, some lychee juice and a friendly chitchat! Tell you what; I'll go back and question the innkeeper, maybe get him to show me his logbook. He should keep track of who rents his rooms, and if there's nothing for the room he claims was a Triple Threat base, I'll have proof that there's no evidence against you and can release you. Until then, just sit tight, kay?"
She walked back down the corridor, but I knew she wasn't going to keep her word. She would just throw me to the komodo rhinos like every other woman I met when she was finished toying with my emotions. Even as her body had moved out of sight, I could still hear her footsteps as if they were right by me. They became fainter, but they were still clearly audible.
"Daiyu," I heard a faint male voice speak. "We've got another call from the inn: the other Triple Threat has returned. He's again asked; quick and quiet."
"Good," the woman from before spoke, her voice also faint, yet recognisable. "I need to run by there anyway."
"What were you discussing with the Triad kid?"
"Not much, really. I was just curious to see why he was making such a terrible life decision."
"Daiyu, you're not even from round here, so let me put it this way; people here don't lie. If they say he's a criminal, he's a criminal."
"Well... you've known them a lot longer than me, so I guess you're right. Let's go. Once this is done, I could use a fresh spice tea."
I knew it! She can't be trusted! The voices fainted as the footsteps got further and further away, but I heard all I needed to; she was lying to me the whole time! That was all women ever seemed to do; lie, and manipulate people they hold in the palm of their hand. But if what they said was true, then Shandian was in danger. I needed to find some way to escape, to find some way to stop Daiyu's imminent raid.
The only other thing that I saw was a tray of komodo chicken and some water... which I could maybe use to unlock the bars. Feeling that water, I moved it up to the lock and streamed it inside. When the water filled the whole lock, I closed my eyes, and felt its push and pull, felt it wash up against certain areas.
Maybe I could use the feeling of where it was washing up to unlock the bars... wait, the water was just breaking on the inside of the lock. That wasn't going to work. What else could I do? I can't sustain any fire, and even if I could, how could I use it to break out?
Wait, maybe what Shandian kept saying about me being the Avatar had some truth to it. I could bend fire and water, who was to say I couldn't bend earth? Considering what Daiyu said, metal had some relation to earth, so it was worth a try. I grabbed onto the lock, closed my eyes and tried to focus on the metal. How could it be bent? There had to be a way.
By my estimate, at least half an hour had passed, and I was no closer to figuring out how to bend metal. All I could feel was the cold iron of the lock. When I tried to twist the lock, it just wouldn't budge, and I continued to struggle in vain. The only things I could feel I was bending were my fingers as I struggled against the lock. After a while, it looked as though the sun was gone from the sky, and I started hearing footsteps in the distance again.
"She must've been really desperate for that drink," I heard a faint voice speak... one of the earlier voices. That must have meant that I failed.
"That's the problem with outsiders; they think they own the place," another faint voice argued. "Why'd she have to dump the old Triple Threat on us?"
"Everyone needs a drink once in a while, but she seemed too eager to send us off."
"She was talking with the Triad kid we've got in our cells, so maybe you're right. We should probably send him off to the Asylum with that old man before she gets back from her drink."
"Too risky. If they meet up with each other, they could try and escape."
"With a police escort guarding them?"
"You forget, Daiyu is the only one of us who has tangled with the Triads before. She knows their tricks."
"And you forget that she is an outsider! How do you know we can trust her?"
"She's been with us for a few years, and she's been pulling her weight here. Her loyalty will only concern us if she gives us a reason to be suspicious."
"Still, I'm uncomfortable leaving that Triad kid she spoke to in our cells."
"As soon as we finish delivering his partner, we'll haul him through there. Less of a security risk that way. Until then, get back to work."
So now I was on borrowed time and without much knowledge of how to escape? I tried twisting the metal lock even harder, but it still wouldn't give way, and my hands were throbbing with pain by this point. With Daiyu out enjoying dinner and Shandian being taken to this Asylum, I was completely on my own. Maybe if it came to this, it was better to conserve my strength and try to fight my way out when they came to get me.
After some more time had passed, allowing night to fall, I started to hear footsteps coming down the hall to my prison. It sounded like... two feet in the same second, and another two feet in the next. That had to mean there were two of those people coming for me. Klip-klip, klop-klop, echoing down the hallway to me, getting closer, and louder.
From the right passage outside my cell, the two people emerged, both with a large grin on their faces. One of them placed his hand in his pocket, but then looked as if his jaw was about to drop. He searched another pocket, and then another, but eventually: "Do you have the cell door keys?"
"Of course not!" his partner replied, his voice sounding like the one supporting Daiyu. "You're the one in charge of the cells!"
"Well I don't have the keys. Wait... maybe one of these Triple Threats stole them from me!"
"Can't be. We locked this one's door and the other was strip-searched."
"Who else could have done it? Come here, boy!"
I remained where I was. I didn't want to go to this Asylum.
"You're testing my patience. Get your sorry excuse for a body over here this instant!"
Why did he sound exactly like my parents?
"Get yourself over here now, before I make you!"
Wait, did this mean that he was a Bloodbender?
"Fine, if you want to play it the hard way-"
"How will you do that? You can't get inside the cell," the partner reminded.
"We've got a few thieves around here someplace. They should know a thing or two about lockpicking!"
"They're all at the Asylum."
"That's just great. Get the hammer!"
"So breaking in it is," the partner joked as he ran back down the corridor. Were they actually going to break down their own cell door like he said?
"That's right, you little piece of scum, the cell door won't be your shield for very much longer. But before we take you to the Asylum, I'd like to reward you for pickpocketing those keys from me."
I didn't say a word. This... inhuman... thing... was almost as monstrous as Yue.
"Or how about this: you hand me my keys back right now, and things won't have to get cold."
"I don't have your keys!" I finally spat back at him as I heard footsteps running back towards us.
"Tsk, tsk, never lie to the law. You'll only get the cold shoulder. So, are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?"
"Got the hammer!" his partner shouted, coming into my view a second later.
"Why do you outsiders always like the hard way?" the monster grunted as he took the hammer... it looked like the same type of hammer that I saw in my dream where Mother crushed my hands. He raised the hammer much like Mother did, but swung it horizontally so that the head SMASHED into the lock, creating a large bulge on my side of the cell door. Another swing, BAM, the bulge grew larger. A third, BAM, and it was even larger, Finally, with the fourth one, the lock was completely mangled, and the door slid open effortlessly.
"What are you going to do to me?" I asked, feeling both fear and anger within me.
"Triple Threats like you go to the Asylum; the best care for the worst cases of criminal," the partner responded.
"But first, there's the mandatory strip-search. Come with us!" spoke the monster, as he dragged me down out of my cell and then pushed me to the left. They kept dragging me further down the corridor until they got to a flight of stairs, with us descending and seeing a metal door.
With my captors opening that door, I saw a large metal tube, also with a door, which had a pipe at the top that led to the ceiling.
"Okay, I want all your clothes off immediately!" barked the monster again.
"No!" I didn't want to take any more of this.
"Hot-headed eh? You're going in the cooler!" He hauled me up, walked to the long metal tube, and threw me in there before closing the door. It was... cold. Very cold, to the point of me shivering.
"W-w-w-what are you hoping to g-gain with this torture?!"
"This doesn't have to last, you know. Just promise to give me my keys and fall in line, and I'll let you out."
"You d-d-despicable man!"
"He's still heated. Inject some ice!"
"Why?!" From above me, ice cubes started pouring into the tube, continuing until they reached up to my feet.
"Are you going to cool down and fall in line?"
"Torturing people is bad. You are not police at all!"
"We need more ice!" Right then, ice blocks flooded in until I was knee-deep in ice, and was struggling to stand with the freezing pains in my legs. Maybe water would be warmer, so I reached out to the ice below me, and urged it to turn into water.
"I am right about you! You're not officers, you're bullies!"
"More ice! Watch your mouth, Triple Threat Trash!" More ice flooded down, and again, I urged the ice to turn into water, which now reached to my waist.
"You lie, you torture, you-"
"More Ice! I thought I told you to watch your mouth!" The water I had now created with their ice flowed up to my shoulders. It was then that I was finally able to see a way out at last.
"Fine, I'll talk!"
"Now, was that so hard?" I heard the metal clinking at the door, so I readied myself, feeling harmonized with the water's push and pull.
The door opened to reveal the monster, and I immediately streamed the water over his face and urged it to freeze. His whole head was now encased in ice, and before his partner could react, I also streamed water into his face and urged it to turn to ice. With those two flailing about, I staggered out the cooler and ran towards the open metal door.
Once I was out of that room, I ran past all the cells in that corridor, heading for where the footsteps originated. I came to a staircase, and running up towards a wooden door, I burst into a brightly lit front office area. I could see the main doors, and I knew that once I was through there, I'd be free!