Chapter Twelve:

I snuck down the alley with my friends, Akio, and Katashi. I looked around the corner and saw the police station. Looking closely it was clear that it was controlled by the gangs. One of the policemen began to walk in our direction. "Follow my lead." Katashi said as he grabbed Sela and I and dragged them over to the officer.

"I've caught these two." Katshi said.

"Good job" said the officer. He squinted at us. "Wait a second, aren't you..."

Genji and Akio suddenly slapped him in the back with their electric gloves. The officer stiffened up, then collapsed to the ground. We turned to the squad cars parked in front of the precinct. Tetsu lifted his foot up and stomped down on the ground. A pillar shot out of the ground and the car flew into the air.

We went to work on the other cars. Genji slammed a gas grenade against the window of one, and threw it in. I lunged to the ground and cables flew over me. I grabbed one, pulled myself up, and ripped it before the officer could grab me. I pulled rocks out of the ground and hurled them at the officers.

Katashi ripped through the cables and tore off and officers chest plate. Immediately Akio knocked him out with Chi-Blocking punches. Katshi and I then threw an officers cables back at him, tied him up, and Genji knocked him out with a shock. Two of the car pulled out, and the doors open. "Get in" shouted Sela from one of them.

We jumped into the cars and speed off in opposite directions. Akio was driving the car, with Sela riding shotgun, and Katashi and I in the back. "Their gaining on us." Sela shouted.

Katashi and I looked back to see officers closing in on us. We shoved our hands and the road crumbled to rocks. The cars spun out, and we hardened the road.

After we had driven far enough we stopped the car and got out of it. Katashi and I used metalbending to destroy it, and then we headed back the base.

When we got their, Takumi and Kuma greeted us. "Good job guys." Takumi said.

"If we keep up this harassment." Kuma added. "We'll be able to take back the precincts."

A few days later we had carried out some more successful operations and we were ready for another one. "What's the next plan?" I asked Takumi and Kuma.

They looked at us with concern. "It won't be easy." said Kuma.

"We know that." said Sela.

"It's going to be different than what we usually do." said Takumi. "As well as this war is going, we aren't going to be able to win forever. We need outside help."

"That's why we need to smuggle you out of here." said Kuma. "We need you to go get help from the Fire Nation."

"Sounds like a good idea." said Kaze. "I can also get help from my father Naoki, the Eastern Air Temple Head Elder."

"That might help too." said Takumi.

"How can we get to the Fire Nation." Sela asked.

"We can use my Sky Bison." Kaze replied.

Genji spun his head in shock. "You have a Sky Bison?!" he exclaimed.

"Of course." Kaze replied. "I'm an Air Nomad. You Want to see him."

"Wow." Genji remarked. "I'd love to."

"Good thing I had it removed from my house." Kuma said. "It's this way."

Kuma lead us down a hall to a cage and opened it. The bison rushed out to greet Kaze who threw herself onto his head stroking his fur. She backed off, and motioned to us. "I'd like to show you by new friends Sela and Genji."

"We need a plan to get a large creature like him across town." said Sela. "Why not set up a diversion."

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea." said Akio. "We need to know the right place to fly out of town, and do something big somewhere else."

Kuma pulled out a map, and pointed at a police precinct. "Right here is one of the biggest precincts in the city." She said, then pointed somewhere else. "This road over here is the best place to fly down before taking off. If we hit the Precinct, we can divert their attention, and you guys can fly to the Fire Nation."

Kyoko and Yuval looked out the window of the precinct. "Some of the other precincts were attacked." Yuval remarked. "I heard some of the attackers were ex cops."

"Yeah, quite a few of them." added Kyoko. "What are the odds of them attacking us."

"What are the odds of Tsume stabbing you through the head for that lazy mentality."

Kyoko shuddered in fear. She and Yuval knew how Tsume dealt with failure. She and him had been lucky it was not them. "You're right." she said "That guys a psycho."

Suddenly an alarm blared. The officer jumped up and ran down the hall. "Man, what perfect timing." one of them complained.

The officers ran into a Captain. "Captain, what is the situation?" they asked.

"We have a New Equalist attack on our hands." the Captain replied. "Kuma Beifong is among them."

"Kuma Beifong?!" Yuval remarked.

The officers continued down the hall. They stopped when they heard windows breaking and saw a group of new equalists jump through them. Yuval saw a shock glove wielder lunge at him and ducked. He heard the glove crackle as it went over his head, threw his cables wrapping around the new equalist's knees, and pulled him to the ground.

Kyoko grappled with an ex-officer and a Chi-Blocker. She furiously swung her cables while keeping those of the enemy away. Kyoko felt jolt beneath her ribs, and turned to see the Chi-Blocker. He had hit a joint in her armor, and it felt numb.

Kyoko dodged another punch, wrapped her cable around his wrist, and threw him in front of his comrade. The ex-officer tried to get his cables around the Chi Blocker, but Kyoko blocked them easily.

The shock glove wielder continued to struggle against Yuval's cables. Yuval tried to control him, but his cables suddenly slackened. He looked and saw Kuma Beifong cut his cables to shreds with her Katana. "Kuma Bei..." he tried to shout but was cut off by a jolt of electricity.

Kuma hacked though Kyoko's cables just as effortlessly and the new equalists jumped at her. The ex officer ripped off her metal vest and the Chi-Blocker punched her out.

Kuma easily turned the tide of the battle, with her metalbending hardened katana slicing though the officers cables. Her forces effortlessly grappled all of the officers to submission. "I miss it when she was on her side." Yuval groaned to Kyoko.

I stood on Kaze's Sky Bison with Tetsu, Sela, Genji, and of course Kaze. We stood on a street leading down to Yue Bay where we would take off from. Kaze gripped the reins tightly. "You guys ready?" she asked.

"Were all ready." I replied, and everybody nodded in agreement.

We clung on to the saddle as hard as we could, and Kaze's Sky Bison charged down the street. After gaining enough speed, we soared up into the air. "My sister is making a distraction for us." said Tetsu. "But they'll still be police coming at us, so keep on guard.

Sela pointed across the sky. "Look over their." she announced.

It was a zeppelin, flanked by a group of helicopters. "Attention to the Sky Bison." came a voice over a megaphone. "Surrender now and land on our deck."

"I don't think so!" Kaze shouted back.

The helicopters flew towards us and lowered cables from their cabins. The cables stiffened and pointed towards us likes snakes. We were jerked to the right as a cable grabbed one of the bison's legs, but Tetsu grabbed and sliced through it. I launched fire and air blasts at the chopper forcing it to took evasive action. Sela hurled a Bola, and it wrapped itself around one of the choppers' tail rotor. The tail swung side to side as the pilot struggled to keep the chopper under control. It backed off and drifted downwards.

The remaining helicopters closed in on us with cables continuing to reach out at us. They grabbed on to the sky bison and wrapped around its head. The bison swung around wildly trying to We all climbed off the saddle, and onto it head to remove the cables. I grabbed the bison furs tightly as the sharp winds blew by.

I pulled a cable up, heated it up with firebending, and tore it in half with metal bending. Tetsu ripped through several cable, and pulled on of them down towards the bison, and Genji threw a cannister into the cabin. The helicopter filled up with green gas and the crew rappelled down to the ground.

Tetsu grabbed a pair of torn cables and fused them together. Kaze shoved her hands outward, and the gusts sent the helicopters spiralling out of control.

While we were battling the helicopters, the zeppelin started to loom over us. Metalbenders leaped down from it, and onto the bison. Genji shocked one of the metalbender, and he froze in shock before grappling back to the zeppelin.

I ducked under a cable and shot two fire blasts at the metalbender who dodged them. I grabbed his cables and threw him off balance. The metalbender collapsed onto one of his allies, and Sela quickly wrapped them up.

Another metalbender lunged at Sela and I. I grabbed him by the shoulders and tore at his vest, trying to peel it off. Sela hurled punches, trying to his armors weak spots, but the effect was minimal. Tetsu threw a metalbender at the zeppelin, and came to our aid. "Need my help?" he said as he grabbed the vest of the metalbender we were fighting, and ripped it off.

Sela punched out the metalbender and he collapsed limp and weak. All of the metalbenders had been defeated, but their was not time to celebrate. Another group of metalbender grappled from the ship, and with them came bending gangsters.

I crossed my arms, blocked a fireblast, and threw it bend at it sender. Sela threw a bola at him, and Genji shocked him with his glove. I felt a sting on my back, when it was hit by a water whip.

I turned and faced the waterbender. When the whip came at me again, I thrust out my hands and it splashed across them. I lunged at the waterbender and threw an airblast at him. We furiously grappled, shoving and jerking, trying to pull another down. Tetsu grabbed his wrist, yanking him to the ground, and dragged him on the bison's fur.

While we were winning the fight, more trouble cfam when the zeppelin got closer. Cables came down at wrapped their way around our bison. Another group of benders jumped down from the ship, lead by, Hibiki, the Triple Threat Leader. He looked at Kaze and smirked. "So I get to fight a fellow Airbender.

Kaze put down the reins, and threw back her hands. She then shoved them throwing a sideways tornado at him. Hibiki struggled forwards, squinting in pain. "You're not bad." he snarled.

I leaned towards Sela. "You and you brother hold them off." I said. "Tetsu and I will cut the cables."

I grabbed on to one of them, and and swung my arms, fraying it. I dodged a series of fire and water blasts then turned back to the cable.

Someone had repaired the damage, so I continued swinging and slashing at it. The cables eventually cut through, so I ducked a water whip and got to work on another cable.

Air Blasts whipped by me as Kaze tried to redirect them away from me. Hibiki and her, continued to struggle throwing powerful gusts back and forth.

Someone grabbed around my waist and tried to pull me away from the cable. I clung on to it as hard as possible, so I could keep cutting it. I felt a jolt as the man's grip slackened. "Don't touch him." Sela barked as she punched him out, threw him down, and tied him up.

I looked over to who was ripping a cable in half. "You haven't cut through the rest of them" I shouted.

He looked over to the rest of them. "Huh?!" he asked.

I looked behind me, and saw the cable I cut had been repaired to.

"Their fixing the cable!" I said.

"Then we take down the ship." Tetsu replied.

Tetsu threw a cable at Hibiki, and it wrapped around his arm. He continued trading shots with Kaze, even with the cable around him. Kaze threw a powerful blast, and Tetsu yanked Hibiki into it. Hibiki doubled over in pain, but continued to fight.

I dodged a few attacks, then threw a series of air blasts at Hibiki. He shrugged them off, but was hit by a punch from Sela. Hibiki, dodged a few more punches, but Tetsu tugged on the cable again. Hibiki doubled over, and Kaze threw me the cable.

Hibiki was worn out from the punches, but he was not through yet. He furiously hurled air blasts randomly at us. He dodged and blocked whenever they came near us. I pulled and yanked on the cable but Hibiki continued to struggle. I handed the cable to Genji, and he squeezed it with his electric glove.

Hibiki froze and collapsed to the ground. Sela, Genj, and I moved in and surrounded him. "Did we get him?" Genji asked.

Hibiki stood up. "Long as I have my ship, you guys aren't going anywhere."

"Look up." I replied.

Kaze had push the airship's bow down facing towards us, and Tetsu pulled his fist back. He swung it forward and it hit the zeppelin with a powerful crunch. The airship, shuddered, then pieces started to fall off. The zeppelin, started to drift downwards.

While Hibiki was staring in shock, I shoved him over the edge of the bison. He fell down towards the water, but slowed his fall before he made impact.

The metalbender clung to the wreckage of the airship while it descended, and the rest of them used their elements to cushion there falls. "That's it, I think we've shaken the off."

"Fire Nation here we come."

Arashi sat in his office, going over the recent events in his head. Everything at first was going smoothly, with the plan to unite the gangs going surprisingly well. Even the resistance was something Arashi could deal with. But having the Avatar, meant to be the centerpiece of his plans, was not complying. "What am I going to do about the Avatar?!" he grumbled to Tsume.

Tsume turned to Arashi and looked him straight in the eye. For a while he said nothing. Just looked at him with a piercing gaze, helped by the nails literally piercing his eyes. Then Tsume spoke. "Kill him." He said firmly and tersely.

Arashi stared in shock. "You want me to kill the Avatar." He said. "Who is the centerpiece of my plans, and is meant to be the symbol that unites the bending world to start an unending empire?!"

"Kill him, and find the next one." Tsume said.

"But how can you do that?" Arashi asked. "We know he's likely to come from the Fire Nation, but not much more."

"Trust me." said Tsume.

Arashi growled in frustration. He knew that trusting Tsume was not the best idea. At the same time his skills where very useful, and if the Fire Nation was planning on siding against him he might as well strike fist.