13 Bandits - E

Michael frowned and crouched down to be level with the thug. He was at arm's length - Cordato held the man by the hair so the distance was obvious - the bastard's face was perfectly visible. And Michael will be the first to say that he's seen nicer people than this one.

Sparse eyebrows, a balding spot on the top of his head, a torn left nostril, beady eyes, and decay-scented breath. The teenager was sure that his newest charge had rotten teeth.

"I'll give you one last chance to escape the sea of ​​pain. All you have to do is answer my questions."

The man chuckled and sneered. He wasn't afraid of some brat, the guy in front of him was taller than anyone he'd ever seen, but so what?! As if a child could do anything to him! So he collected as much saliva and blood in his mouth as he could and spat in the brat's face.

But the unholy mixture froze in the air and fell to the ground with a liquid squelch. And then the man felt fear. This was no ordinary brat, he was a Waterbrat! A Bender who could control water without a single movement! He thought that couldn't be possible!

"Wrong choice."

-_-_-_-

The next scene contains a description of torture. Skip if you don't want to see this shit. I didn't want to write this. I'll leave one more note at the end of the scene to let you know where to scroll.

-_-_-_-

Water gathered around Michael's fingers and he set to work. He always started with the hands of his... clients, whoever the person was. Bandits, deputies, policemen, enemy gang members, all felt pain in their hands first. This bastard was no exception.

Michael created the thinnest tentacles from the water and they moved like snakes. One by one, each tendril stuck under one of the bandit's nails and pushed. Screams filled the building, but no one outside heard them. Michael limited the sounds with Airbending, a neat trick he learned while fucking around.

When there was a water needle under each of the man's nails, Michael stopped and looked at his prisoner. He looked back with such hatred as if Michael had fucked the bandit's mother in front of him.

'Well.'

With one twitch of his fingers, the needles sharply became wider and tore off all five nails from the bandit's left hand. Blood splattered over Michael's face and hands, leaving his bandages red.

'Hmm, I need to know his name...'

The man again let out a scream of pain that drowned out the sound of the ripped nails hitting the floor.

"What is your name?"

The man did not answer immediately, but as soon as the tendrils, red with blood, moved towards his right arm, he spoke.

"K-Kerr."

Michael nodded in satisfaction, that was progress. He hated when he came across hard cookies. He hated what he had to do to get information, but it was the fastest way.

"Kerr. Tell me where the rest of your people are and how you got into town."

Kerr was silent, so Michael continued.

The water on his fingers became needles again, which immediately stuck into Kerr's arm. And then Michael felt something he did not expect at all. He could feel the blood flow in this bandit's body.

'What? But it's not a full moon right now... Maybe it's because of direct contact with his blood? Ho... I can do a lot of cool stuff with this. All later, work first.'

"Do you know what happens if I push water into your bloodstream? I doubt you have enough brains to know, but I saw it with my own eyes. The water will bring with it the smallest air bubbles that can go anywhere. Into your arteries, heart, brain. In my opinion, the worst thing that air can get into is the brain. You have no idea how much pain it can cause. I know. Even grown men screamed like little girls from it."

Michael knew he was exaggerating, but fear worked great on thugs like this. Cordato couldn't even inject water into his bloodstream, he only aimed at the muscles with his strikes.

The water tendrils tore the muscles in the man's arm and he screamed again. Michael knew he wouldn't be able to use his arm for a month with the right treatment, and never if the bandit left it at that.

Michael froze the tendrils in Kerr's hands and turned them into ice needles. He smiled brightly and squeezed the man's wrist, breaking the ice and driving the shards into his flesh. Kerr roared like a hunted animal and looked in horror at his torturer.

"Tell me. Tell me and the pain will stop."

Kerr was crying and trying not to pass out from the pain, but Michael didn't care. The only downside to Michael being able to feel all the fluids in the pig's body was that he knew exactly when the pig wet his pants.

"I-I'll tell you. J-just p-please stop."

And Michael stopped.

-_-_-_-

The torture scene is over, you can keep reading.

-_-_-_-

Michael watched the bandit's pulse the entire time he spoke. His new ability to feel the blood in the human body when touched helped a lot with this. He could feel the bastard's heart beating and knew when he was trying to lie.

After Michael learned everything he needed, he tried to heal the bandit's wounds. He knew the theory behind the healing in the Avatar world - why he needed it in everyday life only Loki knew - but in practice... Well, he was able to stop Korr's bleeding and somehow stitch his muscles back together.

The bandit will be able to use his hand, but never get rid of the pain.

Interrogating the second one gave him the location of a secret passage to Omashu. These were tunnels under the city that only Master Earthbender could find his way through. And the gang leader was an Earthbender.

Slowly, a picture began to appear in Michael's mind. He learned that there were ten people in the gang - eight, not counting his prisoners - they have weapons and one Master. The remaining eight were longer in the group than the two that Cordato caught, so they were better in fights. They came to Omashu to rob a couple of fools and restock.

Results: seven Non-Benders, one Earthbender - Michael did not know how true were the words about 'A Master who could concur Omashu if he wanted to!' - against one Dual Bender with a staff.

Michael felt that he had every chance of winning. Now he had to search and destroy these bandits before dawn. Great.

---

Michael walked through the underground tunnels for quite a long time. His internal clock said he spent about two hours underground. The air here was heavy and wet so it stuck to his lungs with every breath. The teen didn't like it.

Following the instructions of the second idiot, Michael was able to reach the underground camp of the bandits. The fact that they didn't even think of closing the passage to the city was suspicious, but he threw it off on the newcomers' arrogance. He squatted down and hid in the shadows, avoiding the eyes of eight people. Cordato heard the sounds of laughter, talk of money, jokes, plans, stories. The bandits talked among themselves and did not even try to keep a lookout.

'It feels like I'm playing STALKER or some shit.'

He shook his head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts. Now he needs to get rid of all eight, and preferably quickly.

'I can take all the air out of the room, but then the fact that I'm a Dual Bender may slip somewhere. Probably half the world already knows, given that I told Aang about it, but still. Better to keep this part of my life a secret for the time being. Waterbending it is. Now, which one of you is an Earthbender...?'

He continued to watch the bandits for a while, trying to understand their hierarchy. Oddly enough, it was quite difficult to figure out which of them was in charge, but Michael was able to notice a difference in one of the bandits. The one who sat closest to the fire moved the coals with sharp waves of his hands.

... Yes, those idiots lit a fire in the tunnel. If it wasn't so spacious, all eight would suffocate on the spot.

And yes, it took Michael about half an hour to notice this movement. He was not pleased with himself at the moment.

'Why is the leader of the gang supporting the fire? And how he moves the coal, it's burned wood- he moves the earth under the coal. Okay, maybe they're not idiots. Maybe it's not even the boss.'

Michael abruptly changed his mind. He didn't want to fight eight people without all the information. It is possible that one of them was hiding the fact that he was an Earthbender. Moreover, the paranoia of the Cordato family would not allow him to attack head-on without proper information. So, Michael spun his staff and the air around the bandits suddenly became thin.

They clutched their throats and began to franticly look around, two of them immediately fell to the ground in shock. Michael just watched as one by one the bandits fell to the ground from lack of oxygen.

He took almost all the oxygen out of the room, leaving only a small amount so that no one would get brain damage or become a vegetable.

'At the very least, they'll think the Avatar did it.'

Michael took a deep breath and exhaled, returning much-needed air to his opponents. Several water strings appeared on his fingers and stuck into the unconscious bandits' wrists to monitor their condition. He forcibly filled their lungs with air using Airbending and nodded in satisfaction. Now he only has one small problem...

How can he bring eight unconscious men into the city without attracting attention?

---

His solution was painfully simple: collect all the moisture in the tunnel and create several water platforms. He wisely chose to ignore the fact that it was probably shit water. Michael lifted the eight bandits into the air and walked towards the exit of the tunnel, thanking Loki for his good memory.

He climbed the stairs and pushed back the stone slab that blocked the passage. Michael took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled. He was just happy that he didn't have to be in that tunnel anymore.

His happiness didn't last long, howewer, in the next second, a stone cart with Aang and an old man landed in front of him. The cart flew down the street and crashed into something with a wet crunch. Michael didn't even flinch and slowly laid the eight unconscious bodies on the ground so as not to kill them as they fell.

The Avatar and the King laughed with happy faces that quickly turned into shocked ones at the sight of Michael. Now, it's worth saying that the teenager was not shy about bathing his hands up to the elbow in blood while working so his appearance was not that surprising. It was also not surprising that his face was covered in blood.

Without changing his expression, Michael opened his flask of water and used Waterbending to wipe the blood from his face - the bandages could wait. The teen bowed to the king with his hands forming a token of respect from the Air Nomads.

"It's good to see you in good health, King Bumi."

Bumi looked at the bandits behind Michael and then at Aang. The Avatar shrugged and pointed to his mismatched-eyed friend.

"That's the friend I was talking about! He's a total badass!"

Bumi thought for a couple of seconds, but just shrugged. He was insane himself, so he couldn't judge other people for their moral compass.

"It's good to see you too, a friend of Aang... Now. Who are we throwing in jail?"

"MY CABBAGES!"