-Steel-

Bolin had no knowledge of what was happening on the other side of town. His anxiety over the task ahead was consuming all of his attention. When the traffic let up he passed the bridge to Pratt Street and continued on to an area of Republic City which, while it wasn't littered with drug addicts, was not the safest area. This added to Bolin's uneasiness.

He pulled up to a stoplight. The street read Decatur. It was a rough neighborhood. He was glad his car could still lock, but he didn't think any one of these thugs would try to steal his heap of crap.

Bolin found the building. 1200 Block. Right on the corner, it looked like it would fall apart. Fourth floor looked normal from where Bolin was.

Just breathe, he told himself. Just a fiend. I mean how bad can it possibly be? Nothing can just make you super strong. If anything it is probably that one drug that makes you more resistant to pain. You aren't actually invincible. If he had to, Bolin was ready to shoot or earthbend for his life. He actually brought a gun with him this time even though he trusted his earthbending. He had never been on a mission like this where he had to apprehend a dangerous man, not even with Lin. And now his first time and he was all by himself. But it was just a fiend. Just a guy. He couldn't bend. Lin was right. Bolin felt he could handle this. Once he did, nothing would be as bad. Anything is better than the events that happened the previous night with Oni.

Bolin walked up to the desk and showed his badge. "Republic City Police here to investigate the resident in room 1407." His badge was very old and dirty. The police station didn't want him to have a nice one. The guy at the desk just waived him off. Bolin wanted to seem important so he felt he'd introduce himself.

Up the stairs, he was on the fourth floor. Room seven was at the end of the hallway. No noises. No crazy rumbling. Bolin wasn't really sure what he had expected. He slowly approached carefully as if being too loud would alert the man inside the apartment who called himself Steel. He thought maybe he should ask the neighbors some questions first. Get some background.

Nah, he had come this far. No point in delaying it. He knew what to do. He knew Steel had to go down. He could subdue this guy if he had to. Bolin stood in front of the door but to the side in case Steel noticed the shadows from his feet underneath the door. He stared at the door knob.

Now or never, buddy. Bolin's radio was going off, but it was out in the car. He had no idea about Lin's warning to not go up against Steel because he was actually a deadly firebender.

Bolin kicked open the door. His gun pointed, he barged in. "Hands in the air!" he yelled. No one was in this room. He walked into the next and found a large, muscular tattooed man sitting at a table. "Hands in the air!" he yelled again. The man looked at him. A mask that resembled a gas mask sat on the table. An empty syringe was there too. The man was pulsing, veins were visible on his forehead. He was red and sweating. Drug-use from the looks of it.

"What is the meaning of this?" Steel asked. He struggled to speak. After a few seconds, though, he cracked his neck and seemed fine all of a sudden, breathing out a deep breath.

"Steel, I am assuming? You are under arrest for your involvement in the drug trade and warfare over the last few months. Also the murder of…uhm," Bolin blanked the name.

"Some Agni Kai firebender?" Steel said. He stood up. He wore a wife beater so all of his tattoos were visible. He was incredibly intimidating to Bolin. He looked as though he could snap Bolin in half. Steel's eyes were crazy eyes.

Bolin had a gun, but he felt that it could do no damage. "Don't move, hands on your head!" Steel backed away from Bolin a few paces. Bolin didn't know whether or not to shoot. Steel slowly put his hands up.

"I don't have any excuse, kid. But I can tell that this whole experience I've been forced through has really made me a better man. I've finally undone the misery of my old life. You wouldn't believe the things I've been able to learn. Things that no one in history has ever done."

Bolin removed his cuffs. "You have the right to remain silent…"

"You don't have to feed me my rights. I have no human rights. I am…no longer human," Bolin stopped. "You have stepped into the lair of a god, my young friend." Steel's two fingers were pointed in the air. The sound of thunder grew extremely loud instantaneously as Steel charged a lightning bolt and shot it. Bolin leaped into the other room, dropping his gun. The bolt completely destroyed the wall.

Steel let out a roaring laugh and walked into sight. He began charging another lightning bolt. Bolin fled and made it to the hallway just as Steel blew up his apartment. From the ground, Bolin saw Steel walk through the door and send a fireball blazing down the hallway straight for him. The blast was consuming both the floor and the wall, forcing Bolin to go out the window. The ground luckily was cement below, so Bolin was able to use his earthbending to raise a platform and safely land. Bolin knew it was illegal to earthbend manmade surfaces like this, but he thought he'd make an exception for this situation.

Steel followed him out the window landed hard on the ground in the alley, across from Bolin. What the hell, I never signed up for this. Firebending? That wasn't what I heard. The drug must have enhanced his firebending somehow, Bolin thought. But now, Bolin realized he had earth around him in the form of cement. Steel had stepped into Bolin's terrain. "You stand no chance out here, Steel!"

Bolin kicked the ground and square of cement was uplifted and rose before him. With a swinging kick, Bolin used his earthbending to launch the cement block at Steel. "Enjoy some nice rock to the face!" he yelled. The block went full-speed through the air right at Steel's face.

Steel got into a stance, stretched out his arm, and stopped the cement in midair. It was just there, floating before his face. Steel smiled.

Bolin couldn't speak. "What? How did you…"

Steel spun around and countered by kicking the rock back at Bolin, who just barely got out of the way. Bolin tried to concentrate and attempted to slam Steel with a few more. Hardened cement blocks were flying back and forth, but Steel proved to be an amazing earthbender as well as firebender. He would break all of Bolin's blocks with his lightning or smash them with other blocks. Bolin had never had to fight someone who knew two elements. He didn't know how to approach it.

Steel flipped forward and pulled a large chunk of cement out of the ground which crashed in front of Bolin. Bolin backed away until he fell. Steel then used his firebending to launch himself onto the roof of the apartment building four stories up. Bolin lied on his back for a few seconds trying to figure what just happened. He saw Steel take off and quickly rose to his feet and launched himself onto the roof as well using earthbending. Steel was far away already. Bolin resolved to chase him. He was getting tired of all these rooftop chases. He took off, but didn't get very far before he lost sight of the firebending, earthbending fiend.

"What in the hell?" was all Bolin said as he panted. Bolin thought he was dreaming. He didn't know what to make of this. Things seemed way over his head.

When he returned to his car, he heard the sound of Lin's voice coming from his radio.