Chapter Ten:

The President of Republic City President stared intently at the report he received from the police. It was terrible, the city's three largest gangs had united and taken over most of the city.

Crime had gone up rapidly. People where no longer safe. There was a claim that Arashi of the Order of The White Lotus was behind it all. He had arranged a meeting with the Police Chief so she could explain it to him, and she said she was going to bring in the Avatar and his companions.

Kuma Beifong had taken my friends and I to the government building for a meeting. She lead us into his office where a suited man was standing. Kuma motioned to him. "This is the President of Republic City." She turned to him. "Mr. President this is Avatar Arata, and his companions Testu, Kaze, Sela, and Genj."

I shook his hand. "Its nice to meet you Mr. President."

"And you too Avatar Arata." he replied. "But lets get down to business. There has been a recent wave of crime, and even Chief Beifong's vigilance is not enough to stop it. I have been informed that the cities bending gangs have been united under the command of Arashi the leader of the Order of the White Lotus."

"Unfortunately." I replied. "This is true. Arashi arranged a meeting so they all can be united. I doubt he'll stop with Republic City. He plan to turn the world into a bending supremacist empire, and he wants me in charge of it."

"That makes sense." the President replied. "Of course he wants the most powerful bender to be in charge of his empire."

"What's most important. Is that we have a plan to take back our city." said Kuma pointing to the map. "We need to take strategic points of the city."

I peered over at the map."I definitely agree that the police station are a big priority."

"The apartments are also important." Sela added. "A lot of non-bender were forced out of their homes, and its important to give them their homes back."

"We need to make the public more aware of what is going on." the President added. "I need to give a speech."

"With all due respect I believe that is not a good idea." said Kuma. "It would be very dangerous."

"What you do is dangerous." the President replied. "This speech will be very important."

"I understand." Kuma said. "My police will help you all they can."

"And I will too." I added.

"Thank you." said the President. "I will introduce you to my security detail to see how you can assist them."

Kosuke walked into the room where Arashi and Tsume where waiting. "Their something I need to tell you about." he said. "I heard that the President is giving a big speech against you."

"How did you hear about this?" Arashi asked.

"Trust me, I have my sources." replied Kosuke. "With the gangster alliance, Habiki, Jiang and I could pool our resources. We need to get rid off this guy, I..."

Before he could finish Tsume thrust his hand in front of Kosuke's face, and extended the nails from his fingers. Kosuke's head jerked back in shock, and he stared at Tsume hand in fright. "I'll take care of it." Tsume snarled.

Kosuke couldn't help but agree.

A large crowd had gathered and the President was ready to give his speech. I standing somewhere I could keep a good eye on him. I glanced casually to the left and right, noticing two people were plainclothes bodyguards. The head of security informed me that there were many in the crowd.

For the speech, the President wanted it to be extra secure. That's why he had brought his own guards, the Metalbending Police, and my companions and I.

The President tapped on the microphone and feedback came through the speakers. "Ladies and Gentlemen of Republic City, our city is under attack."

They were mixed reactions from the crowd. Some of the people seemed to understand, but some where not from the affected areas did not. "There has been a rapid increase in gang violence in this city. They have teamed up with each other and are taking over neighborhoods as we speak. The person behind this is none other than Arashi, the leader of the Order of the White Lotus."

That was something that shocked the crowds. They gasped in confusion and muttered questions among themselves. The President waited for them to quiet down, then resumed talking. "Yes I know. The same organization that liberated Ba Sing Se with only five men. Well that was hundreds of years ago. Times have changed and the Order has gone corrupt."

My mind quickly snapped away from the speech when I saw a suspicious person. He was wearing sunglasses, and he was moving closer and closer to the President's stand. I prepared to earthbend some of the pavement and approached the man. "Excuse me sir I..." I tried say.

The man suddenly jerked towards me. "Avatar Arata." he snarled.

He threw off his sunglasses revealing nails in his eyes. He extended more nails from his fingers, but I threw a clump of rocks before he could attack. A couple of stones hit him, but he blocked most of them and only seemed annoyed.

Knowing not to stick to one element, I threw a quick blast of fire. The assassin pulled the rocks together and the blocked it. He grabbed me by the arm and thrust his hand at my head. I shoved him as hard as I could and I broke out of his grip and fell to the ground.

I earthbended the ground to cushion the fall, but it still left my head spinning. Tsume lifted up his hand for another strike. Suddenly the assassin's head lurched back in pain. "Tsume" shouted a voice.

It was one of the president's security guards. I quickly got up and threw an airblast at Tsume. The security guards lunged at Tsume and grappled furiously with him. I coated my fist with stone and slammed it into Tsume's gut. The stone cracked, but I kept at it, punching him repeatedly.

Tusme broke free from the guards and took another swing at my head. I lifted up my hands and hardened the stone around them. My arms prevented the blow from piercing my skull, but I was knocked to the ground.

After a few seconds of disorientation I jumped up, and saw that Tsume was gone. I ran through the crowd, trying to find him. After pushing past bystanders, I came across Sela, Genji, and a Metalbending Officer, fighting a man with spiked eyes. That must have been him.

Tsume deflected three punches from Sela and dodged a swipe from Genji. I threw a barrage of alternating fire and air blast, which Tsume blocked, while trying to dodge Genji, Sela, and the officer.

One of Sela's punches hit Tsume, and when I closed in the officer and I made rock fists and simultaneously punched Tsume in the head. Tsume took a clumsy swing at us, but it missed and Sela punched him a few more times.

When the assassin was on the ground, I got a better look at him. While he resembled Tsume a lot it was not quite the same. "Who is this." I asked.

"It's an Iron Assassin, one of Tsume's followers." replied the officer.

I looked up and saw Tsume on the stage, who had pushed past the guards and gotten to the President. We lunged at the stage, but it was too late.

Tsume swung an open handed blow, and hit the President on the forehead. The President stumbled back clutching his forehead in pain. He moved his hand a few inches from his face, and went wide eyed in terror when he saw blood on it. The President then collapsed like a ragdoll.

By then we had gotten to the stage. I climbed up and looked at the President who has on the ground motionless. Tusme and his followers had escaped by now, and there was nothing we could do.