"Do you think they're fine?" Michael says, while pacing around the living room.
Roy would be sitting down, unamused.
He'd say, "You know, after the 10th time you've asked me a variation of that, you'd think that my reply would stay the same. They're fine."
Michael replies, "Yeah, but I'm just too worried if something goes wrong... I should have gone instead."
Roy groaned before saying, "It was a fight in an apartment building; you'd probably burn the place down."
Michael says, "Lena shoots electricity; wouldn't she do the same?"
Roy says, "The difference is that I already trust Lena with not exploding, yet I have been proven that I cannot afford that same trust to you."
Michael exclaims, "What do you mean by that?"
Roy says, "Would you like to remind me of the reason that you haven't learned any other styles of magic apart from Flame?"
Michael replies, "Because it's the best one?"
Roy responds, "Because most of the other magic types explode in your face whenever you get emotional. While Flame Magic only burns."
Michael says, "Dang, that's cold, man."
Roy smugly replies, "Really? I'd think it would be hot."
Michael turns to him with a deadpan expression and speaks, "Wow, you'd make for a great dad."
Roy says, "I already have to deal with you brats; all I need is a Mrs. Martin."
Michael says, "On the topic of things that will never happen, when are you going to fix that rusty old arm of yours."
Roy states, "I'm not giving up the hunk of scrap for a while, gives me a hell of a throwing arm. Might paint it to look a bit less metallic, you know, for the ladies."
Michael says, "I'm sure that's not the only thing scaring them away."
Michael's radio would suddenly start buzzing, and as he raised it to his ear, he could hear the operator on the other end.
The operator says, "Calling all free operatives to Aurel Police Headquarters, there has been a terrorist attack. I repeat, there has been a terrorist attack. We are currently evacuating the area."
Michael grimaced before turning to Roy, saying, "Looks like we can't rest either."
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Michael and Roy rolled in, driving in Roy's van.
Michael says, "Couldn't you let me drive it once?"
Roy frowns, as if the thought of that caused him distress, "Have you ever actually driven before?"
Before Michael could answer, they parked a block away from the headquarters. But, even from down here, they could see the smoke. Michael jumped out the window, with his sword already in hand, while Roy opened the door. They both started to run to the headquarters, with Michael's footsteps creating small sparks upon hitting the ground. Upon making it to the site of the attack, it was astonishing. Almost half of the station was alight, with the walls being cracked and shattered. The rest of the officers there stood there, afraid to go into the building. Michael, however, leapt into the fire, running headfirst into the building.
Roy yelled, while following, "Not all of us are fireproof! I expect you to learn some basic Healing Magic after this!"
In the lobby area, there was a group of people in flame-retardant clothing who appeared to be a part of the group who carried out the attack. The moment they saw Michael, they opened fire, aiming for his head. Michael slid under the bullets before jabbing the legs of the man closest to him, his sword piercing the clothing and into flesh. The man fell down, looking up at Roy holding a fire extinguisher, before Roy hit him in the head with it, with enough force to just knock him out.
Roy says, "You know, we're gonna have to clean this up, so don't make too much of a mess."
Michael, seemingly not listening to Roy, rushed at the other men. He grabbed the closest one, and held him by his shoulder.
Michael asked, "Where is your leader?"
The man tried to pull out a knife, but the moment Michael saw the gleam of steel, he threw the man through the wall, out of the front door. Michael then turned to look at the other man, who simply pointed to one of the hallways that splintered off from the lobby, the hallway having the tag of "Vault". Michael and Roy ran past the man, straight to the vault, which seemingly had taken the brunt of the damage.
They saw a man with the mask of a medieval plague doctor and an outfit fitting one, with syringes and papers in his pockets, and with his clothes having a silver gleam, holding Police Colonel Roland.
Roland says, "You damn monster, I'll kill you..."
The spear that Roland usually fights with was shattered on the ground, but the arm of the mysterious man had gone straight through the chest of Roland.
The man said, "I'm sorry, but you started the fight? Should I be blamed for your injuries when you walked to it? You should have just said, "Please kill me, I don't deserve to live." If you're gonna challenge me for no reason, please provide me with enjoyment in battle."
The man slowly withdrew his arm from the chest of Roland, letting him drop to the ground.
Roland started to crawl to Michael, who he saw at the entrance of the room.
Roland croaks out, "P-please, get someone..."
The mysterious man says, "Didn't you just say that you'll kill me? Pretty hypocritical to beg for life."
The mysterious man raises his hand, with purple energy coating it. Michael could feel his mana starting to tighten, as if it was trying to hang on.
The mysterious man says, "What a shame."
In the flash of a second, a purple beam emerged from the hands of the mysterious man, and, after the light from the attack had started to fade, Michael saw nothing of Roland, except for a pile of ashes on the ground.
The mysterious man turned to Michael and Roy, saying, "Now, which of you government dogs wishes to do battle with The Doctor?"
Roy says, "The Doctor? Really?"
The Doctor replied, "Or Doctor, for short. By the way, weren't there three guards? I still sense them all, quite surprising that you'd let them live. But, anyways..."
Right as it seemed that The Doctor was about to go on a monologue, Michael launched himself at The Doctor, grabbing him and slamming him through the wall of the vault into the sewers.
"I'll make you pay!" Michael yelled.
The Doctor dusted himself off before getting up. "You see, that's exactly what that other guy said before we fought. Going on and on about "his" police department, he seemed more dictatorial than any real officer. But you, you're different. I feel a spark in your mana, one that I didn't feel from that washed-up soldier you call an officer."
The Doctor thought to himself, "This battle will be so good!"
Michael immediately brought his sword up, imbuing it with fire, before swinging it up, slashing through one of The Doctor's arms. The Doctor grabbed it and, simply put it back on, with the cut-off arm instantly binding to his body. The Doctor then swung his arm back before slinging it at Michael. Michael quickly reacted, jumping to the ceiling of the sewer, but as he looked back down, it seemed as if The Doctor's arm had turned into a sword.
"What the hell?" Michael exclaimed.
As Michael landed, both of The Doctor's arms had turned into swords and seemingly had much farther range. Michael started to block since The Doctor had started to launch a flurry of sword attacks at him. A couple drew blood, cutting his cheek or leg.
Michael says, "Why are you here?"
The Doctor replies, "Because someone ruined my shipment and took my supplies, including a very important piece of paper. Say, would you know a guy that took papers from the internals of a mech?"
Michael says, "No clue."
Michael followed his statement up by raising his palm, and, as it glowed, ready to explode, shot a wave of flames at The Doctor. The Doctor slammed his arms into the wall, seemingly trying to balance himself. After the blaze had subsided, The Doctor had only sustained minor burns.
Michael says, "What kind of Doctor are you?"
The Doctor replied, "A good one."
As he said that, the walls of the sewers rumbled, and in the blink of an eye, the sewer collapsed. Michael used Flame Magic to explode out from the rubble and saw The Doctor, whose arms, after colliding with the sewer walls, had spread out through the cracks in it, before using the force from it to collapse the pipeline. Surrounding them on the surface were the same officers who previously stood outside.
The Doctor laughed, saying, "How much could you have cared for that guy? Seemed pretty lame to me."
Michael responded, "Not much, just don't like seeing people die. Which is a common human trait with most people, except you."
The Doctor replied, "True, I am most certainly not common."
The Doctor raised his arms, which quickly restored themselves to their natural state.
The Doctor blitzed to Michael, dashing from left to right, before raising his arm up to do an aerial strike. Michael raised his blade to parry, but nothing came. Instead, the Doctor's other arm had extended behind him, and punched into Michael's back. Michael, recoiling from the punch, looked up and saw that the other arm had turned into a spike. Michael performed a backflip away, throwing bolts of fire as he jumped through the air. The Doctor grabbed a large chunk of rubble and chucked it at Michael. Michael charged his blade before cutting the rubble into many pieces in a few seconds. Michael then raised his hand and shot another wave of fire at The Doctor, who blocked it by turning his arm into a shield.
The Doctor says, "Fireworks won't do it anymore, give me something real good to chew on.
Michael raised his sword into the air, and as he did, circles of mana inscribed with magic runes would circle around it.
Michael replies, "I'll give you something to chew on."
Michael slammed his sword into the ground, before saying, "Flame Magic: Eruption!"
Lava would burst out of the rubble, and the very ground would ebb and flow, as if it was turned into lava itself. The Doctor jumped from cooled spot to cooled spot, avoiding the lava that flung through the air. But, behind a regular lump of lava, Michael emerged through it. He gave The Doctor no time to react, stabbing his sword through The Doctor's heart and slamming him to the ground. He immediately started cutting through The Doctor, decapitating every body part, till there was only the head. As he did, instead of blood, only some kind of black substance would ooze out of his limbs, and instead of skin and organs, the entire body seemed inorganically black, like the deepest parts of space. Just like space, it was intermixed with sections that seemed more silver. Michael wouldn't notice that in the heat of the moment and would just sit back, covered in blood.
Roy ran over, saying, "Am I too late?"
He'd say, looking at the body, "Seems done. You did good."
Michael says, "I don't have the same regret with that one, not the kind I had before."
Roy extended his hand. "Here, let's get out of here, I don't want any more ash on me."
As Michael got up, a shadow started to loom over him. Before he could turn back, he felt sick to his stomach. The shadow moved down, making deep gouges in Michael's shoulders.
Michael yelled from pain and turned over, seeing a syringe in his back.
The Doctor had seemingly regrown from just his head.
The Doctor says, "Don't worry about the syringe, it'll just induce a little tummy ache. Worry more about the six-inch-long gash in your chest. And, while I'd love to beat up you and your little friend, I have business to attend to. Until we meet again, my dear combatant."
The Doctor pulled out the paper he had earlier, the same papers that had been on the console of the mech. The Doctor took one of the vials that had been left unbroken by Michael's assault and shattered it, creating a gas cloud.
Michael, despite how much it pained him, raised his hand, trying to stop The Doctor, as he walked away and out of the gas, leaving him and Roy.
As he faded out of consciousness, he heard Roy say on the radio, while running to Michael, "You both need to come back. You wouldn't believe what just happened."