Chapter 19

Chief Beifong was sitting in the living room. Chen was in the kitchen, bringing a couple of teacups with tea. Using his firebending, he heat up the tea in no time and placed it in front of her. Lin Beifong wasn't the type of woman who would wait for tea. She usually would get straight to the point, that's how Chen knew her from the Legend of Korra show. 

Seeing how patient she was, he knew that they are going to have one long conversation. 

"You have a nice place. Did you buy it with your underground fights earning?" She asked with one serious tone. 

Sighing at the police chief, Chen sat opposite her. 

"You can check my income. I gain around 10k from the energy station. Plus, my earnings in the arena. I think it's not illegal for me to buy a house." Chen shrugged. 

"That's how you wash money." She said, making eye contact for a long time. 

Chen lifted his eyebrow. She was looking at him aggressively as if she was a prostitute whom he used but didn't pay. 

No. Her glare is worse. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" 

"Never mind. You're just a reckless young person. I'll teach you a good lesson later."  She said. "For now, we have more important matters." 

Chen put a leg above another and sipped from his tea. 

"So, you've investigated my words." 

"Yeah." She said. "I checked up your story. Apparently, Tarrlok's father, Yakone, did surgery and went to the North Pole. Someone knew his new name. And it appeared that Tarrlok is his son. You're correct too, he's manipulating everyone and has something on most of the higher-ups. I can't even trust my men with the information you have delivered. For some reason, you're the only one who seems not to be manipulated by him" 

Chen nodded. Tarrlok, the brother of Amon, has people in the police. Beifong realised that, and that's why she'd come to him. 

"You believe he's a bloodbender?" Chen said.  

"I know for sure." She replied. "I've made one of my men comfort him alone. After he shackled him with his metalbending, Tarrlok moved his eyes. He knocked him out with a glance. Poor Fong, he suffered enough. Afterwards. Tarrlok locked him up and took him to a hidden place in the mountain. I made sure to free up that guy. He's a witness now." 

"And why are you telling me that?" Chen asked. 

"Well, even if I wanted to bust him off, I'll need to take a bunch of people. I can't just simply attack a member of the council. Also, he would knock out the people with ease." 

She sighed and said. "Apparently, from what I heard and seen, you are the best lightning-bender I've ever seen. Against a bloodbender, we need to be faster than him. As much as I hate to ask underworld rats for help, you seem to be on the redemption road, so I thought of giving you chance." 

"You know you can simply say: please?" Chen said, amused. She could ask him directly. Why would she bother with the indirect speech?  

Lin's eyelid twitched. She looked at Chen as if he offended her. 

"Just tell me if you are in or not!" she raised her voice. 

Chen cocked his head back and rubbed his ear with his little finger. 

He thought for a bit. 

His usual attitude would be like 'It's none of my business.' 

However, since his personal safety had been included, it was part of his business. 

Helping Beifong take Tarrlok would guarantee Chen's benefits.

He was sure that defeating a very powerful bender as Tarrlok would give him a high experience. Tarrlok is stronger than the Avatar when she isn't in her Avatar state. 

Also, it would hurt Amon. 

"I'm in, provided that you accept my deal." 

"What deal?" 

"You won't throw me in jail the next time you catch me fighting underground."

"You know, I can throw you for that bag alone. It has a Million Yuan. Even I can only dream of such sum." She said, annoyed by his offer. She seemed to have a solid personality and she was loyal to her job. "Don't let money takes over your mind." 

"You mean this money. It's not important to me." 

"And how are you gonna prove it." 

Chen held the bag. He opened the storage, and he unleashed fire from his hand. It covered the bag, and at that moment, the bag vanished with the flame. 

Beifong opened her eyes widely. "You realise you just threw one million Yuan." 

"I do," Chen said. "I also made everyone in the city richer without them realising. Also, about my deal." 

Taking a deep breath. "Fine, I'll give you one free pass. If I catch you twice fighting, I'll bust you to the jail." 

"Enough for me, although I doubt you would catch evidence on me." 

She half closed her eyes. "You didn't have someone to discipline you." 

"Sorry, Granny." Chen shrugged. 

"Be sorry for being yourself." She replied. 

"Hahaha." Chen laughed, finding her attitude fun. Seeing that she was getting angrier that he was mocking her, he took a deep breath and said. 

"By the way. What's next." 

"Good that you are thinking of that." She picked up the tea and sipped. "At this moment, I'll contact Tenzin. We would comfort Tarrlok with my man. We will fight him while you stay at a fair distance. Just then, in the worse case, I need you to use your lightning.

"Trust me, although you get on my nerves, you're the only option to guarantee this operation." 

"I'll do my best," Chen said. "But when?" 

Observing Tarrlok when he would use bloodbending would teach Chen how it worked. He may then find a weakness in Amon. 

"It's not decided yet. Do you have a busy schedule?" She said. 

"I have a date with Asami Sato." 

"Let me guess, having an important rich girl would make your life happy." 

"Hey, don't degrade me to a greedy person," Chen said. "I just burned a million Yuan." 

Lin put her finger on his forehead. "You think I don't know that you used a trick? I've been in the circus many times, and I know that you hid the money somewhere." 

Damn it, her police intuition was working well. 

"You're free to search my room." Chen extended his hand. "Take your comfort." 

Lin's metal armour moved away from her foot. She stomped on the floor. Chen knew that she could see the whole building and its people with that trick. 

Lin glared at Chen. "Tell me, how did you do it? Where is the money?" 

"I have no idea." 

"I know you're lying." 

"It vanished from this world." Chen laughed at her. He told the truth, but she would know that the money is somewhere else. His wording made it hard for him. 

As a previous mafia member, he knew this truth: it doesn't matter what the police know, what matters is what they can prove. 

"Whatever." 

-x-X-x- 

Chen finished jabbing three earth disks, blowing them up. He then jumped, flipping backwards. Waving his hand, he created a purple arc that vaporised the water that headed at him. 

Currently, he was in the gym training with his teammates, who were nervous about the tournament. 

"You're just getting stronger. Chen, why have you always been hiding that flame of yours." Hina asked. 

The obvious answer would be him being a Grand Master. 

Chen said. "I've been fighting more benders underground than pro-bending. Against these guys, you only get stronger. Moreover, I hid my flame so the Agni Kai wouldn't find out that I was pro-bending. Now that they are gone and the police know my title, there is no point in hiding it." 

"And here you said you're just a newbie when you came to our team." Mira sighed as she kicked a bunch of earth disks at him. 

Chen circled the fire around him, destroying the disks. As the fire vanished, he heard the notification. 

[Firebending +200 exp] 

He had been training for a long, and that's how his firebending was. 

[Firebending level 15 Mid Grand Master (10.000/50.000)]

[Flame Generation up to level 13 (1/20.000)] 

(+Black shaded flame)

Upon hearing the notification, he felt a bit excited to test his fire. 

"Girls wanna see my strongest fire." 

"We've seen it. That blackish purple fire, right, the one you used to burn the clothes of that man." Hina said. "Even I fear it." 

"Yes. But what about this." Chen opened his hand. 

This time, a black flame mixed with purple appeared. It felt hotter than the previous one. 

However, it burns a lot of Chi. Luckily, his Chi Control was high enough to keep up with the demand of the fire. 

"Can you use that in the tournament? It shouldn't be illegal." Mira remarked. 

"Yeah, but it can be lethal." Chen shook his hand, and the fire turned violet. It was less graded than the purple and the dark purple ones. Yet it was leagues above the common fire. 

"By the way, do you have something to do later." 

"Yeah, I have a date," Chen replied to Mira, who lowered her head. 

"Let's train later. For now. I have to go and take a shower." 

"Okay, see you by then," Mira replied with a low tone. 

Hina, on the other head, tittle her head. "You. Go on date. Wow! Never thought that may happen at any day." 

"Hey! I'm straight. I offered you to become my friend with benefit, and you accepted." 

"But we never fucked." Hina said, only to get smashed on the back of her head by Mira. 

"That's because of the equalists," Chen said, clenching his teeth. 

"You know, we can try doing that again." Mira took a deep breath and said. When Chen saw her face, it was turning red. He walked to her and patted her on her head. He liked this girl, but it wasn't the first time Chen liked someone, and nor would it be the last. He'd plenty of that in his previous life, and he'd moved on. 

"Sure. Just as soon as I finish my date." He said. 

"Who is she?" Mira asked, her attitude changed as soon as Chen hinted at the existence of a chance. 

"The Police Chief. I have a date with her tonight." That's right, his date with her is after his date with Asami. Lin had called him this morning, and she told him to be ready for the council meeting tonight. 

"That old woman." Mira and Hina froze. 

Chen didn't bother explaining and headed out of the gym.