Michael, honestly, had never felt so angry in his life. Over anything. This? This anger hurt. The rage… but not only that, no. He was terrified, downright terrified. And that hurt too. His chest, it was practically exploding on the inside. He wanted to hit something, or someone - Preferably Pierce, actually - But Pierce wasn't there. Lucifer was there, but… Somehow, Michael didn't want to take this out on his younger brother. He just wanted to find Ella, he just wanted to make sure she was safe. And then? Then he wanted to bash Pierce's head into a wall, because yeah, he could now.
"Why would he do this?" Michael asked quietly after a moment, rage and terror making his voice shake as he finally met his brother's gaze again. Lucifer looked wary, but seemed to relax when he realized Michael was mostly keeping himself calm for the time being. "Why go after her? Why her?"
"... To make you angry," Lucifer mumbled, eyes narrowing with the realization. Michael stared at him in confusion for a moment, but it quickly turned into understanding when Lucifer continued. "Pierce wants… To die. And…" He trailed off, looking down for a moment. "I fear that… This… Might be my fault. I told him your Sword would, theoretically, be able to kill him, and he just had to get you angry. But I never assumed he would…" He trailed off, gritting his teeth.
Michael didn't know who to be pissed at at that point. After a moment, though, he just shoved himself back and rubbed a hand down his face, taking a deep breath and resisting the urge to punch his brother. "What the fuck, Samael?!" He finally snarled, slamming his hand down onto the desk and looking up to fix Lucifer with a glare. His younger brother visibly flinched, but he held his ground.
"Remember, now, brother you're the one that got attached. Pierce wouldn't have even done this if you hadn't gotten close in the first place," Lucifer snapped. "Can we agree that we're both at fault here and focus on the bigger picture?"
Michael continued to glare for a moment before shaking his head and turning his gaze away, looking out the window for a second and narrowing his eyes. "Do you think he killed her?" He asked quietly after a moment, rage lacing his words. Lucifer hesitated slightly before just giving a slow, helpless shake of his head.
"I… I couldn't say, Michael, I don't know his intentions," he mumbled, looking up at the ceiling for a second. Michael clicked his teeth together, fury and fear battling inside as he fought to keep himself calm. But, wow, he'd never felt anything like this before and it was hard to control. He'd felt it from other people before, but it was much different firsthand. The archangel sucked in a sharp breath and looked up, focusing his amber gaze on his younger brother and shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Cain wants to die, huh?" His voice dropped, going dead quiet as he forced a neutral tone. Lucifer seemed more nervous from that than he had when Michael was yelling, but he nodded. Michael chuckled dryly, spinning around. "Then he's dying, alright. But I'm making sure Ella's alive before I do anything. No reason to end his suffering so soon if she's dead, am I right?" He seethed, storming out of the room. Lucifer hummed quietly in agreement, following after him and falling into step with him easily.
"Where's the fire?" Chloe questioned as they both started to leave the precinct. Lucifer paused, and reached out to grab Michael's arm, surprisingly, pulling him to a halt. The archangel glanced back at his younger brother, who tilted his head toward Chloe, then cast a quick glance back toward Pierce's office.
"Have you seen Pierce?" Michael grumbled, reluctantly turning to Chloe. The Detective stared at him for a moment with obvious distrust, and stayed silent, seeming to think about that for a moment.
"Not since this morning…"
"You know what? Fuck it. I'm done. I know an easier way." Michael stepped back, amber eyes blazing much, much brighter than before. At that point, he didn't even care that Chloe was there - He was only worried about Ella, about killing Pierce and finding her. Lucifer seemed to realize what he was about to do, because he immediately stepped forward, eyes widening in alarm.
"Michael-"
"I said I'm done, Samael!" Michael interrupted, raising his voice. And with that, he spread his wings out and left. Thankfully enough, he was able to sense exactly where Pierce was - And, while confused as to why he couldn't sense Ella, he brushed it off quickly. But he didn't go to where Pierce was - Not just yet. Instead, he went straight to where he'd stored all his weapons - Ella's basement, actually. He kicked the other blades and daggers aside and picked the sword up, turning it over in his hands and staring down coldly for a long, long time.
Then, taking a deep breath, he turned away. When he'd turned completely around, he was in a completely different place. A dark place, to be more exact. Where was only a little bit of light around him, not enough to be able to see anything. But his eyes flamed up with ease, fire flickering in his pupils and lighting up the area as he turned to look around. "Come on, Cainy, I know you're here. This is what you want, isn't it?!" He yelled, taking a deep breath. "Come on, then, come get what you want!"
"Finally. Thought it'd take you a little longer to put the pieces together."
Michael tensed, grip on the sword tightening and turned around. His amber gaze met Pierce's blue ones, a strange satisfaction glittering through his eyes as the man walked forward, his face as stone-cold as ever as he approached. Michael didn't say anything, didn't move, holding his gaze with ease as he stopped in front of him. "Let's cut right to it, then, huh? You stab me clean through the chest with that, and I'll tell you exactly where your girlfriend is."
"Or I can just torture it out of you," Michael sneered, fury flashing through his eyes as he stepped forward and grabbed Pierce by the shirt, yanking him up and pulling the blade of the sword up against Pierce's throat. The man narrowed his eyes, raising his head. "Why let you off easy, huh?"
"Easy. I won't tell you where Ella is until I know I'm dying for sure," Pierce growled, lowering his voice a little. "So go ahead and torture me, but until that blade is through my heart? You're not getting any information."
"I'll hold you to that," Michael growled, eyes lighting up once more. "Dick." He shoved Pierce back, dropping the sword and grabbing him by the shirt, slamming him into the wall. "Hey, didn't I say I wanted to do this?" He sneered, tangling his fingers into Pierce's hair and slamming his head back into the wall.
Pierce just chuckled, completely still. Michael stared for a moment before throwing him to the ground, kicking his sword away and walking forward. "Hey, how about this. I'm not killing you until it's a fair fight, huh? Get your sorry ass up and fight me."
"So you're not going to kill me until I fight you?" Pierce snorted, pushing himself to stand. He shook his head, blood trickling down the side of his face now as he took a slightly unsteady step forward, his blue eyes dark as they held Michael's amber ones. "Fine then, angel, I'll fight."
"Good," Michael breathed, spreading his wings out and bracing himself. When Pierce lunged and swung, he was ready for it. He grabbed the man's fist and dodged another hit from the other hand, spinning Pierce around and snapping his arm back, grinning in satisfaction as he heard the bones crunch. Pierce just grunted before slamming his arm back, elbowing the archangel right in the face and causing his grip to weaken.
"See, the thing is, I really, really want to die," Pierce growled, spinning around and slamming his fist into Michael's face, this time more forcefully than he had a few days ago. It was enough to make the archangel stagger, wings bristling now. "And if putting up a good fight is what it takes, well, then, I'll fight with everything I have."
"Good for you," Michael chuckled and lunged, one of his wings lashing out, sweeping the man's feet from under him and causing him to fall back. However, Pierce grabbed a handful of feathers as he did, ripping them right out of the archangel's wings, and Michael bit back a sharp yell of pain, doubling over immediately. Pierce scrambled to his feet, eyebrows raising.
"Ooh, weak spot," the man muttered, blue eyes glittering with malice. "There we go, that'll make this a lot better."
Michael growled, glancing up and straightening up once more. "Well." He leaned back, the fire in his eyes burning brighter. "At least I can enjoy crushing you like a bug now."