Clash of the Elements Part 7: Trails of Fire

by mewmaster93

Peace has been kind to our heroes, and now the story picks up twenty years later, with their kids about to experience a drastic shift in their lives. From coming of age stories, to tales of heroism, to the struggles of adulthood, this part shall prepare the next generation for the turmoil to come.

15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Wailing Flames

Another slow night at the police station. The rain beats against the windows. Thunder stirs from afar.

Mark turns in his chair while gazing at his phone.

He's not seen hide nor hair of Julius and S.A.N.C.T.U.M since the last time, but it'd be hard to believe that taking a look at his phone.

Julius has sent him a few messages every day about tips to improve his skills, or to engage in general chit-chat.

Short conversations to be sure, but appreciated one's.

Take away the air of mystery and Julius knew how to brew a mean hot chocolate from home grown ingredients. He had a huge fascination with, not spy movies surprisingly, but medieval fantasy.

It was hard to think of a way to start a subject though when it felt like the man knew everything about him.

Tonight, Julius gave this piece of advice to him, "Always look back whenever you go around a corner. Twice for good measure."

Mark mumbled to himself in intrigue, "Huh, that makes…sense."

Mark opened the message and wanted to type a question, something he did want to learn more about, "Say…what ARE your ties to the President?"

The door opened and Mark shut the phone off on instinct, but it was only Vida coming in with some late night Jarritos sodas.

"Yo, amigo!" He tossed a lemon flavored one over and Mark barely caught it.

Vida then walked over and sat on the edge of his desk facing the window, "The weather's hitting hard tonight ain't it?"

"Just standard Washington procedure." Mark remarked.

"Ha, right. Still, it's kinda nice isn't it?" Vida said, taking a drink from his bottle.

Mark looked at his bottle and after popping the cap, said in a dramatic voice, "I curse the rain. It's always there when it's least convenient."

Vida turned with a scoff, "Isn't that a little much, hermano?"

Mark looked at the moisture formed on the bottle and imagined a past where rain fell upon those flames. Maybe then…

Vida snapped his fingers twice before his face and remarked, "Oi, don't zone out on me."

"S-Sorry…" Mark took a drink to get some much needed sugar.

Vida then looked at him with worry, and then back at the rain, "We can probably stop early tonight. It takes some really stupid people to do crimes in the rain."

Mark leaned back and said, "Go ahead, I got a few more things to do."

Vida got off the desk and turned around, "Yo, hermano. You need to go home at the right time at least once in a while."

Mark looked the other way and said, "...If I told you I finally had a new lead, you wouldn't believe me."

"Si," Vida said bluntly, "Cause it doesn't exist. But you know who does?"

He leaned in and said out of concern, "Your daughter. At home alone again."

Mark's eyes winced with immense guilt, and as Vida backed away he whispered, "I can't keep filling your role, hermano."

"I-I know…! Look…" Mark looked him dead in the eyes and stated, "If this goes nowhere, I'll stop."

Vida replied, "You'll stop? Swear on the cross in your heart?"

Mark had no greater faith in what he was doing then when he said, "Yes."

Vida breathed a sigh of relief, then walked by him and patted him on the shoulder, "We're doing honest work for the sake of nuestros familia. Remember that."

When Vida left far enough, Mark slowly pulled his phone out and muttered, "Yeah…"

He looked at his messages and to his surprise, the one he sent to Julius was gone.

Then, a quiet rumble went off as S.A.N.C.T.U.M's master sent a text, "Meet up here. It's time to move."

"Hmm…" Mark's hand shook as he answered with "On my way".

And immediately, Julius sent a file, downloading a specific route to take on the GPS from the police station to a nearby warehouse district.

"No car." He added with a wink emote.

"...Alright." Mark tucked his phone away, took a moment to hold his locket, and then gathered his things for what was sure to be a long night.

Tensions were rising inside as he traversed the wet city streets. The rain was settling down, enough to dodge incoming traffic.

He passed through many streets and between buildings, saving his breath for short bursts of speed in more densely packed areas.

Eventually he traversed down an alleyway and upon turning a corner, his immediate thought was to turn around, where he saw a figure behind him and pulled his gun, only for the figure to grab his wrist mid-raise and make him drop it into his other hand pointed at his gut.

It was Julius, and after Mark's heartbeat started to slow down the man smiled and then turned the gun around to put it in his possession, gently fixing his posture in the process.

"You want your hands roughly around here and…here. This will let you pull out your weapon before a successful ambush."

Mark looked at his hands and then put his gun away, with Julius remarking, "Still, you did well."

Mark had some frustration at the compliment, "This was just about a test…?"

Julius shook his head, "No. We found where 'Dregs' is gathering."

Julius walked past him towards the end of the alleyway, then started to climb the scaffolding.

Mark followed, though struggled in a couple parts. At the top of the building, S.A.N.C.T.U.M had one foot on the elevated edge and was hunched over, his cape fighting the rain as it swayed in the breeze.

A dark knight with a metal sheen, he was laser focused on the blacked out warehouse district near the sea.

"This is it?" Mark whispered.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M turned his head and remarked, "Ah, welcome, Sir Julius. And you as well, Mark."

Julius approached him and began a conversation in their own complex world, "So, did you confirm the target?"

"Signal stopped moving in this warehouse. Thermals confirmed he was moving in a pair."

"And what do YOUR eyes say?"

"...There's a possibility that this is a trap."

"Then did you finish my request?"

"...S.A.N.C.T.U.M."

"Yes, Master." The machine turned and reached into his chest, pulling out two guns that seemed like pistols.

"The best that science and a little pawn shop searching can buy."

Julius took one gun and then tossed the other Mark's way.

Upon closer inspection, these guns were not loaded with a chamber, but a small, coated electric turbine.

Julius took time to explain, "Our enemies are likely armored. One quick charge in the barrel will unleash a concentrated electric bullet that will spread through the armor and force it off, simultaneously delivering enough voltage to knock the person out."

He then tucked the gun into his coat and Mark did the same, "And recoil?"

"There shouldn't be any. Can you trust me that much?" There was clear scorn there.

Mark glared at the machine and they returned to overlooking the warehouse, "We'll move in a few minutes. Give them time to settle."

Mark took this last chance to walk off to the center of the rooftop and smoke. As he pulled out the cigarette, Julius spotted him with his lighter, an old-style one.

"Thanks." Mark said, enjoying the few puffs he could get in this rain.

Julius then walked past him and whispered, "I didn't delete that message to be rude, for the record. But it was a reckless call to ask that sort of question."

Mark took a moment to remember what the hell he was even talking about, "O-Oh…yeah, I guess so."

"I DO use an older phone. Even geniuses never expect that sort of move. They're always focusing on hacking into the latest technology…" Julius propped his phone out into view, and then laughed a little, "Though it's funny. In my day, this WAS considered new…"

Mark spoke out, "There's always room for old things among the newest stuff."

Julius turned and looked at him, "Music, art, movies, literature. Windows into the ideologies of those who came before us, lessons that…by all means…we should take to heart to make society better."

Mark said his mind on the matter, "Me? I'm into comics…S-Superhero comics."

As he rubbed the back of his head, Julius smiled, "Why are you embarrassed? Clearly they inspired your sense of right."

Mark replied, "You're a lot more tolerant than I expected."

Julius said, "You don't make friends putting down other people's tastes."

"Heh, true…" Mark then took another puff of his cigarette while Julius continued the conversation.

"So. About my ties to the President…"

Mark flinched and then waved his hand out, "Y-You don't have to say anything."

"I choose to," Julius said with a quiet forceful tone, "So, you have never killed on the job."

Mark raised a brow and then slowly answered, "Yeah…?"

"Yet you carry a gun."

"..." Mark put out his cigarette under his foot and tucked his hands into his jacket, turning away to look at the rainy sky, "I'm not so idealistic that I can pretend violence doesn't happen. I need to be able to defend myself."

"And…" He scratched the side of his head, "I also believe in second chances. Some people are evil, others are just in a bad spot. But all of them are human. If we made a better effort to reach out and understand their circumstances, maybe, just maybe…we can help them out."

"Once you put a bullet through the heart, or head…that's it. End of story."

"For you, a bullet is the absolute last resort," Julius remarked, only for his tone to change midway through, "But for me, it's always been the first."

Mark turned around and his heart skipped a beat. Julius closed his eyes and it was now his turn to turn his back on his company.

"As far as the world is concerned, I have never existed. But my mark is everywhere. In morgues, in graves, one bullet per every life, and a river of blood follows my every step."

"Hmmm, I could've killed a relative of yours. Perhaps a friend. You wouldn't know," Julius turned to Mark, still holding on to his friendly smile as he said the coldest of words, "And I'll kill again, until my one bullet comes."

"...I-I…" Mark couldn't separate the man who took lives with pride in his voice with Julius, someone who was helping him like a friend.

"And after everything I just said…" Mark grit his teeth and instinctively put his hand on his gun, his sense of right compelling him to take it out while he had the distance.

But he stopped. Thought about everything the man told him.

He stared at Julius with his eyes quivering, "Y-You're doing all this to protect the President…"

Julius cocked a small smile.

"...He really doesn't know any of this?" That proved to be too much to believe for Mark.

So he was hardly phased when Julius told him, "He did. Telling the truth was convenient at the time, when his dreams were small, and his life at a crossing point."

"But as his ambitions grew, as he found more reasons to love, to lose, to fight…I recognized that I no longer had a place by his side as the good man I tried to be."

"'I will suffer for my consequences alone', and thus I once more stepped into the darkness to save the light."

Julius then looked at Mark and smiled, "Right now we have a common goal. Afterwards, arrest me if you must. But you will need to make swift improvement to have a chance."

"Khh…!" Mark grunted and took his hands out of his pockets slowly, "What are you EXPECTING out of me?"

"That's for me to know, and you to learn. Now then…" Julius looked at his phone and then started to march back towards S.A.N.C.T.U.M., "We have work to do."

The machine had turned around and bent towards the ground, even then still barely taller than the two grown men.

From his chest came a projector detailing the warehouse building blueprint, and the machine's master started to go over the plan, "You two will take the East and West entrances. S.A.N.C.T.U.M. will position himself on the roof. The window there remains damaged from age."

"You two need to cause a scene, rough up a few soldiers, and spread them out. Then, S.A.N.C.T.U.M. will come in and pick them off while they're unorganized. If we execute this properly, we should have them all unconscious within two minutes."

Mark inquired, "...What are we after? Usually an operation is run by someone. You believe they'll be there, or what?"

"We have no leads. And I doubt they'll suddenly show themselves in a random warehouse. But what we WILL find, are the supplies they're carrying. So try not to damage any of the crates."

At that point, all Mark could hope was that he could keep up with these two, and through this…start finding the answers he sought.

"I'll go on ahead and take the west side. Good luck to all of us." Julius offered, and headed down the scaffolding quietly.

Before Mark moved after him, he followed S.A.N.C.T.U.M. getting into position with a question for his master, "Hey…how much do you know about Julius' past?"

"...Enough to trust him."

"...Then have you-"

"We're on a time limit. Get going."

"Sorry, Mark." S.A.N.C.T.U.M. said.

"...Right." Mark realized he was probably overthinking things. He couldn't help it.

After one moment to rub the back of his head, he headed down the scaffolding and made his way to the warehouse, checking around the corners, but barring a few rats the coast was clear.

There was one obstacle standing between him and the inside of the warehouse, the lock. It was electronic and likely keyed to a thumbprint or some other code.

But given there was zero forewarning of this, there had to be some alternative method…or the robot's master was too cocky.

Mark briefly scanned the immediate area and noticed that there was a hole in the corner of the warehouse just big enough for a man his size to push through.

But not surprisingly, it was being guarded by a Dregs soldier inside.

"Good as time as any…" He grabbed his new gun and held the charge while running at the corner. He immediately fired it off when hit footsteps splashed against a puddle and hit the soldier in the leg.

The current went up his body in the blink of an eye and did as intended, forcing the armor off and making them fall to the ground with a few twitches of their fingers demonstrating they were still alive.

Mark then ducked into the building and looked around. There were enough crates to mask the flash, but just to be safe he pulled the soldier further into the shadows and took cover to get a survey of the inside.

The majority of this warehouse was filled with abandoned shipments shoved aside into irregular shaped monuments, leaving an open space perfect for the rest of the soldiers to cover all their bases with their vision.

"Then the crate we're looking for should look fresher than the others…" Suddenly, he felt a vibration in his pocket and pulled out his phone with a message from Julius on it.

"Do not aim for the nearest targets. You want to be able to close the distance quickly on the soldiers once they're alerted."

Mark tucked the phone away and then poked his head briefly around the crates. There were at least a couple dozen soldiers marching around. The helmets obscured most of their faces, but they seemed to cover a variety of skin tones.

"A multi-cultural organization?" From his experience, he had primarily dealt with dismantling smaller organizations, but this group seemed to be united under a single goal instead of cultural reasons.

His hands trembled as he raised his gun and readied another shot, "This is the largest shootout I've ever gotten involved in…One wrong move and I'm dead."

He couldn't put his trust in the skills of his partners. His survival was all on him, and the daughter he NEEDED to return home to.

And then his eyes sharpened all on their own, causing him to focus in on a guy wandering in the middle of the warehouse, "Perfect!"

As he raised his gun and prepared to fire, Julius emerged from out of cover on the opposite end of the warehouse and fired two shots into the crowd with pinpoint accuracy, immediately falling into a roll that got him behind the cover of the crates on the opposite side.

With two soldiers immediately out of the fight, the rest raised their weapons and slowly approached Julius' position.

Mark committed to his own shot and just barely hit his target. This redirected some of the soldiers' focus his way but by the time they trained their weapons on him, he was able to get two more shots out in quick succession to thin their numbers.

His heart racing for his life, he dashed over to the other side of the crates and dove for the ground once he was fully out of sight.

The bullets pierced through the crates and building wall with ease and flew over him.

Once they had to stop and reload, he cautiously stood up and looked around him. Thanks to the roughshod nature of the crate arrangement plus the damage to the bullets, he gave the bottom crate a light kick and the stack came tumbling down, gravity blessing him by making the crates fall on his assailants.

This gave him enough time to charge his gun and fire through the moldy dust at the last man coming his way. A lucky, blind shot…

The glass window up high shattered and S.A.N.C.T.U.M.'s illuminated frame filled this building, inflicting terror on those still in the fight.

"How did they-?!" Was what one soldier started to ask before the machine zipped over, grabbed him through the helmet, and then expelled knocked out gas directly into their mouth.

The machine then tossed the soldier into two more to throw off their balance, then propelled forward and slammed dunked them into the ground with a punch to their chests.

Mark swallowed his amazement at the speed he was witnessing and readied his gun to help out.

Between him and Julius, they were quickly picking off the soldiers that had their attention focused solely on S.A.N.C.T.U.M.

It was nothing but luck that allowed Mark to keep up with these two. Even in his old age, Julius was outpacing most humans and never missed a shot.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. was a vision into the evolution of combat, tanking bullets without any mark to his sheen, and having every tool of trade to dismantle criminal operations.

One soldier was bold enough to march towards the one-man vigilante operation with a shotgun loaded with armor-piercing rounds, and though two point-blank blasts budged the machine, by the third S.A.N.C.T.U.M swiped the air and caught it and crushed it before using his fists to smash the shotgun in half and follow through with a backhand that threw the soldier into the nearby stack of crates.

And as the dust settled on their unconscious body, there were no more soldiers left to put up a fight.

Mark's adrenaline was in high gear, his pants labored and quick. Comparing that to Julius, whose exertion was only visible via the sweat illuminated by S.A.N.C.T.U.M.' body.

Julius approached the machine and remarked, "That was sloppy on my part. Sorry."

"It happens," The machine then was made to face Mark, their master's tone clearly irate, "You…! What did I say about damaging the crates?"

"O-Once I saw the condition they were in, I figured it was ok to damage the older looking ones." Mark said quickly.

Julius hummed, "That's the conclusion I arrived at too, for what it's worth."

"Hmph…!"

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. then pretended to cough and remarked, "We're on a time limit, remember?"

"You're not an alarm clock. I know. Let's move fast."

As Mark began the search on his end he wondered aloud, "Are you SURE what we're after is even in here?"

"No. But if we're wrong, then at least we have full reign to interrogate the soldiers for information elsewhere."

"I thought you said it wouldn't do anything."

"If these are still decoys, then they're on a higher level and should know more about the supplies."

Julius added to the conversation, "Plus, this time I am here."

"Kh…" Mark uttered, feeling uncomfortable.

As he rummaged through the crates for anything noteworthy, he received another message from Julius, "Good job for your first time."

It made him crack a smile and feel a minor amount of relief.

The rain continued to pound against the warehouse. Time passed, and it didn't seem like they were making any progress.

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M., I need you to bring up the logs on the crate."

"Right, master, give me a moment to-" S.A.N.C.T.U.M. paused and his cautionary gesture towards both his teammates made them stop what they're doing.

"Wait, I'm detecting a rise in thermal energy to the east."

Mark looked at the direction of the door and pulled out his gun. He started to sweat, and felt dizzy, "W-What is this feeling…? It's like…I'm going to get sick…?"

"Mark, get behind S.A.N.C.T.U.M., now." The machine's master warned with urgency.

Mark's pupils shrank and he dashed over as quick as he could, with S.A.N.C.T.U.M. continuing to assess the situation, "The thermal energy is continuing to rise…It's spiking beyond human standards."

Julius remarked while preparing his regular pistols, "Has our enemy procured a new type of weapon?"

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. responded, "I…don't know what to make of these readings. It's not just heat…I sense a rising heart beat…and minor radiation output."

"Radiation?!" Mark blurted.

"Julius, prepare to take Mark out of here." The machine's master remarked.

"Understood." Julius complied.

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M…."

"No need to say it, master. I'll assess the target, and engage as necessary."

Before Mark could make heads or tails of what was going on, he heard a ghastly wail coming from the door.

A human-sized space burned into the metal, starting off orange and then quickly getting brighter and brighter until it was white hot and melted into malleable sludge.

Someone walked through the molten metal unimpeded, the wailing of fire spreading throughout the door, as steam seethed off the figure's back.

Their footsteps immediately reduced the puddles on the ground to nothing, it warped the metal roof and singed even the far off crates.

Mark struggled to breathe, his vision was already getting faint.

What he made out was a demon in human-shape. It wore a dark red helmet with three horns, the middle one curved and long. The rest of their face save the eyes were covered by a fanged black plate, with their skin painted over with an ash-like substance.

Their armor was that of a…samurai, pulled from the grave. Burns marked most of their armor and prevented any of its crimson colors from standing out.

In its hand…a single katana, painted black with ashes.

As the flames rose from the figure's body, the non-red parts of its armor heated up, making them exude a strobe effect that gave off the appearance that there were many of them.

These destructive flames were their servants, and their presence burned white-hot, suffocating the very air.

With a clear cut, detesting tone, the figure yelled out in a language Mark did not understand and swung their sword at the machine vigilante to challenge him.

"J-Japanese…?" Is the most Mark could deduce from the dialect.

As his visions continued to blur, his sight melded with the visions of the past. Fire, so much fire. A figure moving in a flash of white.

Pain quickly gave way to anger, causing him to focus tightly on this figure and raised his gun, his heart beating like primal drums, "Y-You…! It was…you!"

He took a shot from the electric gun without a second thought and the flaming wraith snatched it out of the air without breaking its march.

It then grabbed hold of its sword in both hands and shouted something in its native tongue, it seemed to be…confused.

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M.! Take him down, NOW!"

Before Mark could finish blinking, he heard the wailing get closer and then retreat, and suddenly the machine had tackled the wraith back out the entrance, standing under the molten door with what appeared to be the armaments of the soldiers inside.

The sound of multiple blows then caught up to his eardrums, but were not made to last as he was hit with a disarming chop to the neck and fell unconscious…

He woke up under the presence of the rain with a resounding gasp, then patted down his chest and checked his neck.

Nothing was out of place. No pain firing up at the last minute to suggest a terrible fate.

Julius was at his side on his knees, with a few lingering burns on his jacket. And S.A.N.C.T.U.M. was close by.

His condition was…rough. He had taken damage on his legs and arms and the cloak had been burned away. The cuts weren't too deep, but they were THERE.

The untouchable vigilante had been shown humility against that…thing, that wraith…

"No…why am I thinking about these things like they're normal?!" Mark suddenly sprang to his feet, only to be inflicted with a bout of dizziness.

As he stumbled back, Julius was there to catch him, with the machine's master remarking, "You need to be careful. You had minor radiation poisoning that needed to be dealt with."

"U-Ugh…" Mark grabbed hold of his head and after a quick shake, focused on what mattered most, "What the HELL was that…?"

In a blunt tone the voice replied, "That's no longer going to be any of your concern. You're off this case, officer."

"Excuse me?!" Mark blurted out in an offended tone, "You can't expect me to return home and ignore what I just saw!"

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. was forced to turn away but Mark ran in front of the machine and stared it down to face the voice on the other side, gritting his teeth in defiance, and rage towards those haunting flames from his past, "We were supposed to be taking down a criminal organization, find the TRUTH, but that right there…WAS A GODDAMN SUPERVILLAIN!"

He waved his hand out at the warehouse they were just in, only now realizing how heavy the damage to it was. It was hard to believe it hadn't collapsed under its own weight.

"Oh my god…"

"Do you see what we're dealing with? That would've been you. In an INSTANT."

Julius then got in closer to the conversation and remarked, "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to side with the officer on this one."

"Julius…!" The voice spoke in a gravelly tone.

Julius stared the owner of the voice down through the machine and remarked, "Don't try to shake off the consequences of your actions. You CHOSE to bring this man along to help solve this case, and now the enemy has gotten a look at his face."

"And unless you plan to tell them of what's going on, the only people who can safeguard his life now…are us."

"...This wasn't supposed to get this complicated."

Mark was confused by the voice's tone, "Did you…not expect this to happen?"

"NO! Criminals shouldn't have access to superpowers!"

Julius remarked, "Lets not escalate this anymore than necessary. Though this was an unexpected roadblock, we have learned a few vital details…"

"One, that the enemy has figured out a way to develop superpowers in humans. And related to that, this may very well have something to do with the supplies we were after."

Mark strayed away from his anger and confusion long enough to remark, "W-What happened to the supplies anyways?"

Julius closed his eyes with shame, "Unfortunately, our unexpected guest managed to abscond with it. We will have to restart our search from scratch."

"...Assuming they don't take it to another city…" Mark pointed out.

"They won't. Our intel confirmed that they NEED to deliver the supplies to this city."

"But…" Mark was too full of confusion to manifest any response, and with the infliction of dizziness weighing down on him as well he gave up and admitted, "Forget it…"

Julius then let out a couple coughs and calmly mentioned, "And finally, we can say there's a possibility that 'Dregs' is a global organization."

"...R-Right, the supervillain was…Japanese," Mark assessed, and when Julius showed genuine surprise at that Mark awkwardly mumbled, "I-I had to learn the dialect for my honeymoon trip."

Julius said, "We shouldn't worry about the scope at the moment. If they're sending their strongest asset here, then there's desperation behind their actions."

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. cut in with his own thoughts, "I feel I am mostly to blame for this escalation."

"...It's not your fault, S.A.N.C.T.U.M."

"...So what now?" Mark wondered.

Julius put a hand on his shoulder and quietly said, "Go home and rest. I'll stand guard outside your house just to be on the safe side. We'll start over from scratch, find our mark, and get you the closure you need."

"...Got it."

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M., we're done here as well. It's time you headed back."

"Right, master. Mark…I'm sorry we dragged you into this mess." The machine then took off silently into the night, heading towards the water and then curving away elsewhere…

Mark followed Julius slowly down the scaffolding, with one last, lingering thought that would keep him from sleeping if left unanswered, "Say…Julius…Y-You didn't seem too…shocked by the existence of superpowers."

As Julius reached the bottom, he paused and turned his head over his shoulder with a taunting, knowing smile to send a chill down Mark's back, "Welcome to a whole new world, officer Mark."

Mark froze and gulped tightly.

And wondered…how much did the voice behind the machine know as well?

…

As S.A.N.C.T.U.M. flew through the night sky, his master was delving into what happened during that encounter.

The samurai swung their sword at S.A.N.C.T.U.M. and yelled in fluent, bitter Japanese, clearly masculine in tone, "So this is the new weapon of destruction you American DOGS have created!"

"This person has powers…?" They thought, in sync with S.A.N.C.T.U.M.'s hearing alone.

In the brief moment they were stunned, Mark started shouting "Y-You…! It was…you!" and fired his weapon at the flaming wraith.

"Idiot…!" They thought, watching as the samurai instantly showed off reflexes capable of catching it.

After which the samurai turned their aggression upon Mark and exclaimed in confusion, "What are you saying? You are the violent one here!"

"Shit…!" The voice vocalized their thoughts quickly so the others would get the damn point, "S.A.N.C.T.U.M.! Take him down, NOW!"

The samurai dashed across the warehouse in an instant and S.A.N.C.T.U.M's sensors doubled in output, allowing him to snatch the warrior in the gut with a punch.

But the samurai did not budge, growling in rage as it delivered two swift attacks to the machine's arm.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. grunted and shoved the samurai off through the hole it burned into existence. He then quickly scooped up two guns with a magnetic pull and fired them at the samurai.

Even suspended in the air, the samurai masterfully cut through every bullet in a few dozen slashes, the halves flying off and melting through various parts of the building.

But S.A.N.C.T.U.M. relocated its gravity field to his feet and propelled forward faster than any rocket, ramming the samurai to the ground, where the rain barely put a dent in his flames.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. then opened his hind vision and showed his master that Mark had been knocked out by Julius and carried off to safety, the agent nodding his head to confirm he was still in this fight.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. nodded on his master's behest, and then dropped the guns and reversed his gravity field to slide them back to Julius.

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M., this powered individual seems to be able to control where his radiation goes. Try to keep him within a few feet of the entrance perimeter. Inside."

The machine connected his own thoughts to his master with an observation, "I have noticed that there has been no radiation injected into the soldiers so far."

"Interesting…We can use that. For now, keep engaging in your basic combat mode."

"As you wish…" S.A.N.C.T.U.M. then tightened his fists as the samurai stood up and increased the size of his flames around his body.

"You will not escape your grave, man of war!" The samurai compressed his flames into his blade to make it white-hot and then ran at the machine, slashing in what appeared to be random places that the machine's reflexes allowed it to block every time.

But then after blocking off a few of these strikes, the samurai suddenly broke off from commitment to an attack and managed to sneak in a cut to a spot it struck before, deepening the wound.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. peeled back a little ways into the warehouse and clutched the wound, with his master muttering in disbelief, "This shouldn't be possible…"

"We hadn't had the chance to run these sorts of durability tests before, master." S.A.N.C.T.U.M., able to maintain his cool.

"Guess now is as good a time as any…"

The samurai came charging in with the same seemingly random flurry, but this time S.A.N.C.T.U.M. caught wind of their plans and deactivated his gravity field briefly to drop his few tons of weight on the samurai's right foot.

As they held their screams, S.A.N.C.T.U.M reupped the shield concentrated solely around his left palm and pushed the samurai back, then spread it back throughout his body.

As the samurai switched the position of his sword to the other side, a rain of bullets came from up high, smoldering against the wraith's aura and melting down onto his skin.

"Ghhh…!" The samurai turned to the crates and saw Julius running atop them using his weapons.

The samurai hesitated to attack him, clearly worrying about damaging the supplies.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. thus used this opening to try and go for the sword, but what the samurai did was melt his gauntlets into the hilt and swing free from his grasp.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. ducked under the attack and went for a sweeping kick. The samurai jumped off his leg and brought his sword down on top of his body, but the machine propelled away with his gravity field while still carrying the momentum of his kick to knock a gun off the floor.

He then kept spinning, spraying a few bullets into the samurai per rotation, while Julius continued to lay down fire from the other direction.

After emptying his gun, the machine tossed it at the samurai to force their cut, then dashed forward and grabbed their hands to suspend them up high.

There were enough soldiers around them to keep their flames from getting hotter, a fact the wraith almost didn't catch, and growled with irritation, "Using lives as shields, how typical of you, lacking in honor…!"

The machine's master spoke directly to the samurai in fluent Japanese, "Your actions threaten the peace, you do not deserve honor!"

"I threaten peace? The entitlement in your words disgusts me, but I should hardly be SURPRISED!" The samurai broke his grip off his sword and condensed his flames into a single short burst into S.A.N.C.T.U.M.'s gut to push him back.

He then grabbed his falling sword during a jump and slashed it down on the machine's head, only to be blocked by his arms.

He kept slashing away, unable to make the machine bent to the ground.

"Master, I think it's time for a change of strategy." The machine suggested.

"Agreed. Swordsman Mode, NOW!"

In an instant, S.A.N.C.T.U.M. compressed his nanofiber muscles, released sharp protrusions from his elbows and knees, and locked down a polyfiber helmet around his head and neck.

Two carbon-based swords then ejected from his thighs and gravitated to his hands, getting swung out the moment he grabbed hold.

This launched the samurai through one of the support beams and towards the ceiling. Julius unloaded the last of his bullets to suspend the samurai until S.A.N.C.T.U.M. could close the distance at even greater speeds than before, dragging the samurai into the stormy skies.

The samurai doubled the intensity of his flames all for nothing, as S.A.N.C.T.U.M. broke off and through a series of quick gravity field shifts, propelled around the samurai faster than they could react and sliced them up, each attack releasing a flash that melded into the lightning that just fired off.

And just as the lightning faded, S.A.N.C.T.U.M. hovered over the samurai with both his swords and delivered a cleaving slice like two moons intersecting.

The samurai was smashed into the pavement below, and the machine had to drop fast to make sure Julius wouldn't lose their balance on the crates.

Turns out he was fine, having dropped to grab fresh weapons just in case. The impact had left him mildly surprised, however.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. took a stance as the samurai managed to pull themselves free from the ground, rising like the undead.

He cracked his shoulders and neck and took a few deep breaths, the rage in his eyes worse than any flame produced so far.

"He survived that onslaught?" The machine's master remarked.

"American pride is strong…Bah! You do not know true suffering, what it takes to survive!" The samurai remarked.

"Egotistical, blood-soaked slimes…! Look upon me! I am the emissary of ghosts bathed in ashes and screams!" The samurai raised his sword into the air and the flames he charged spiraled around it like a spectral dragon.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M.' warning signals started to flare up.

"S.A.N.C.T.U.M.! Grab Julius and Mark and get out now!" The machine sheathed his blades and turned around to grab the agent.

The samurai didn't break their concentration, declaring to his enemies, "This battle has just begun! Now feel but a taste of the vengeance…Of The Ghost of Hiroshima!"

"QINGLONG!" As the machine sped past the samurai's circular slash, the spectral dragon enlarged rapidly to sweep through the warehouse.

S.A.N.C.T.U.M. managed to grab Mark's unconscious body and smashed his way out of the warehouse before it was brutalized by the flames.

Judging from the samurai's actions, the soldiers were probably unharmed. As for the supply crate, well…they never did manage to find it.

Back in the present, S.A.N.C.T.U.M.'s master let out a frustrated growl, "We shouldn't have lost that encounter. Damn it…! What the hell…"

"...If I could be granted a moment to speak up, master." The machine remarked with some hesitation.

"...Go ahead." The voice said with some degree of ease.

"Perhaps…Julius had a point. It may better serve our interests if we…got your parents involved."

"Out of the question! Senpai trusted ME to handle this case. A-And besides…they're happy living their lives not having to fight anymore."

"We just got taken by surprise once. Next time, we'll be better equipped to fight this…Ghost of Hiroshima."

"I trust in your judgment…Master Lunalei."

In a secluded laboratory deep underground of her home, Lunalei sits inside of a pod. Her body receiving all the benefits of sleep, but with her mind still active and connected to her creation.

"Still, powered individuals…How could this be possible?"

Next Time: The Quarterback's Counterattack