Chapter Sixteen:
Yuzin placed his feet apart and moved his hands up. "Copy my stance." he instructed.
I inspected Yuzin carefully and tried to copy him. He glanced over at me. "Okay." he said. "Give it a go."
Yuzin thrust out his hand and a fireball shot out of them, and I copied him with the same results. Yuzin then did a series of punches, kicks, and thrusts, each emitting an impressive blast. I tried my best to emulate his movements, making decent fireblast of my own.
After this, Yuzin and I lined up with two of his bodyguards. Yuzin and the bodyguard began trading fireshots, and I did the same with the other guard. I threw a blast at the guard and went into a defensive stance. When the blast came near me I pulled my hands apart dissipating it behind me.
We continued throwing various blasts, underhand, overhand, and sidearm. I blocked each blast and sent one back to the bodyguard. Suddenly my stance slipped and I panicked. Quickly I waved my arms sending out a burst of air. Both bodyguards where caught of guard and knocked to the guard. "Chetater" the one I was practicing with complained.
The other bodyguard chucked, and Yuzin glared at them. "I did teach you to fight airbenders." he said.
"We didn't expect it during firebending training." one of the guards replied.
After some more training, Yuzin and I went over to the police station to continue the investigation. We looked at a map of the abduction sites. "We think Tsume's lair is in this area. He is mobile, but he can't travel far with a hostage." said one of the police.
"We need to comb this area for suspicious behavior. Since Tsume's assassin's are blind, they come out at night. It's best to find the site by day." Yuzin replied. "The Avatar and his companions will assist you anyway they can."
We joined the police going from door to door showing poster and asking questions. After a few blocks we looked at our map. "So these are the areas we covered." I said pointing. "We haven't got much info yet."
"I gave a few stomps." Tetsu added. "Didn't feel anything out of the ordinary."
Sela looked at the map. "Let's check out that area over there."
"Why that particular one?" I asked.
"It seems to be in a good spot." Sela replied, as she swiped imaginary lines between it and the sites.
"Sounds like a good idea." Kaze stated.
We went over to that area and continued to knock on doors. One of the residents had some information. "I saw a guy walking around at night." I showed him the drawing. "Yeah he looked vaguely like that."
After a few other bystanders reported sighting Tsume's men we continued in the direction they pointed us in. Suddenly Tetsu stopped. "I think I feel something." he said.
Tetsu stomped on the ground. "I swear it's coming from over there." he said as he pointed at a house.
We walked over to the house and knocked on the door. No one answered. "What do you feel"? I asked Tetsu.
"Something underneath the house." he replied.
"Forget going in the house." I said. "Just burrow to what's below."
Tetsu and I felt for a hollow spot under the ground. We dug into the street until we came across a dug out cavern. Sela pointed and ripped chain. "This is where he kept the women." she said.
"But why did he move them?" Kaze.
"He consolidated them to one location. That's why this one is abandoned."
With night growing we decided to return to the Fire Nation palace and reported back our findings to Yuzin. "So we have some idea where he is. But we still can't locate him, and we are running out of time."
Yuzin and his assassin's creeped towards the Fire Nation Palace. He was looking forward to soaking his nails in Yuzin's blood. What a sweet sensation that would be. He and is men snuck towards and wall and climbed over into a courtyard.
They snuck around, trying to stay out of sight of the patrols. Ever so often they would disturb a bit of earth, sending the guards looking in the wrong direction.
Tsume felt everyone's position and decided it was time. He tapped his foot as a signal and creeped behind a guard and stabbed him in the head. His men followed suite, wiping out the guards in the courtyard.
Tsume and his men went into seperate doors. He walked down a hall, and then felt a man's footsteps. A guard doing normal patrol routines. Tsume lifted his hand and fired nails at the guard. The nails sank into the guard who collapsed.
I heard a banging on my door. It flew open and a guard barged in. "Tsume!" he shouted.
"What?! Here?!" I groaned.
"I saw a body." he said. "Stabbed through the head."
I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall. My companions all had been awoken and where rushing with me. We ran into an Iron Assassin. I hurled a fireblast at him and Tetsu threw a large rock. The assassin dodged the blast, shattered the rock, and lunged at him.
Sela hurled a bola which wrapped around the assassin's arms. Sela lunged in, but the assassin ripped his way free and blocked her punches with his gauntlets. He swiped at her with sharp metal claws missing narrowly. Sela jumped back and the assassin swiped at empty air.
Kaze threw airblasts at the assassin who flinched and fired nails back at her. Kaze swiped them out of the air. The assassin lunged at her swiping with his claws. Kaze flipped and dodged to avoid the claws.
Genji hurled a gas canister at the assassin, but he launched it away with a pillar from the floor. The assassin shot nails at Genji who ducked. Tetsu grabbed the nails out of the air and sent them at the assassin.
I launched a series of fireblast at the assassin and Genji smacked him with his stun glove. The assassin gritted his teeth as he fell to his knees. Suddenly a series of nails flew at us. I turned around and there was a second assassin.
I launched fireblasts at the assassin and Sela jumped towards him punched and kicked at him. He blocked the punches, but I threw a fireblast at him. The assassin turned and blocked the blast, but got hit by a punch to the gut and a kick to the groin. The assassin doubled over, but sprung back and swiped at Sela.
He grabbed her by the arm, slammed her against the wall. He placed his hand on her head at extended his claws. "You little..."
"Let her go." I shouted as I threw a fireblast at the assassin.
He shrugged it off and moved his claws closer to her head. I shot blast after blast at him, but I was only stalling him. I then pulled the floor out from under him, and hit him squarely with a large blast.
He blocked it, but it staggered him. Quickly Sela grabbed a bola and wrapped it around the assassin's neck. He clawed at her, but she hit him with a series of blows to the stomach.
Tetsu and the assassin's slammed together, their iron gauntlets letting out a deafening crash. Tetsu tried to fuse them, but the assassin ripped himself free. The assassin thrust at Tetsu, who backed off. Kaze threw airburst at the assassin knocking him backwards.
Tetsu lunged at the assassin but he recovered and slammed Tetsu in the jaw with a iron fisted punch, and fired nails at Kaze and Genji. Kaze caught them and she and Tetsu flung them back the assassin. The assassin tried to punch Tetsu again, but Tetsu grabbed the assassin and slammed him into the wall.
Tetsu pushed Tetsu into the wall and tried to trap the assassin into it, as he tried to struggle free. Kaze threw blasts at him. Despite this the assassin pulled himself out of the wall. "Trap an earthbender in..." he said.
Suddenly Genji smacked him with a shock glove, and then dropped a gas canister at his feet. Kaze rushed the fumes into his mouth and nose. The assassin coughed and struggled but Tetsu grabbed him in a headlock. The assassin then slumped over unconscious.