The first thing Shindo did was study the man in front of him. His oily black hair, his yellow eyes, and his trenchcoat were oddly familiar. However, the dimly lit room made it so that he could barely see the silhouette of the man.

Seeing as the villain wasn’t making any moves, Shindo used his visor to scan the room for Ben and Angela. In a few seconds he found their figures near the villain’s left side, but the darkness made it hard to make out in what state they were.

This uncertainty made Shindo's arm vibrate a bit faster, but he could not dwell on his pain. He pried his attention back to the man, who leaned forward and oozed an extremely familiar heatwave.

The intense atmosphere between the two men continued building up as Shindo started formulating what words he would say next, despite his immense pain.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know you, Mr. --."

"Pyro." The villain interrupted. "A simple name so that you won't forget."

"Right, Mr. Pyro." Shindo corrected himself. It was better to act friendly than hostile in this situation. "As I was saying, I don't really remember ever meeting a villain."

Pyro chuckled at those words. "But we did meet, Mr. East! I was thanks to you that HOC captured me."

At those words, Shindo almost cursed aloud. That’s why he felt so familiar! It was the villain Professor White captured! And it all linked up. He was one of those villains who escaped into the sector!

But why would Pyro search Shindo, instead of biding his time. Searching for a civilian was a great risk for villains. So why would he risk it all for Shindo? Was he looking for Shindo to enact a certain vengeance for his capture?

No. Pyro’s body language and diction told otherwise. He didn’t seem angry at all when they interacted. Yet, whatever his motives were, Shindo still had to play the word game here; he needed to cause him to speak. Just like he did that day on the subway cart.

"Well, then onto more serious matters," Shindo said as he gripped the small pyramid on his left pocket. Pyro leaned forward in interest, his aching intensifying.

"Show me that they are fine."

Pyro simply smiled at the demand. He lit his left hand on fire and motioned to his left. The light allowed Shindo to see that Angela and Ben were gagged and bound. Angela herself was looking at Shindo with teary eyes, while Ben was simply looking at Shindo in fear.

Shindo's arm threatened to rip itself in response to the anger he felt.

"Don’t get angry now," Pyro said as he extinguished the flame on his hand, “We still haven’t got to know each other.”

His heat emanated at a more excited pace, which paralleled Shindo's own vibration.

"I think we don't understand each other, Pyro," Shindo commented, annoyed. However, he tried to calm himself as his eyes settled on a security camera behind Pyro. "What would you want from me? I'm just a simple gadgetsmith!"

Pyro clicked his tongue in disappointment. "That's where you are wrong, Mr. Shindo. The way you act is nothing close to normal."

Shindo's aching intensified. He gritted his teeth in an attempt to hide his anger. However, Pyro surprised him.

He stood up. "Those ants always do the same thing."

Pyro started pacing. Shindo controlled himself from smiling as he saw him drift away from his coworkers. He finally got him monologuing!

"You show them a little flame, and they cower away in fear. And they always have that fear. That little light of despair in their eyes that screams that they are about to die. And that’s where they run. Sometimes they even snivel pathetically on the floor!"

Pyro had an apathetic tone in his voice. However, Shindo didn't care. The villain's apathy opened the chance for Shindo to scan his surroundings. Pyro blocked the main way into the smelters, which was good because those hallways were very closed spaces to deal with Pyro. That’s why it’s best to lure him to the closest open space there is: The main store.

He was about to inch away, but he couldn’t move away. Even when monologuing, Pyro's whole undivided attention was on Shindo.

“However, you are the second man to ever challenge me like that."

This simple phrase caused Shindo to completely stop whatever he was doing. The crazy undertone of the villain's voice, brought forth an emotion Shindo had sworn to forget four years ago: fear.

"Who was that other person?" Shindo asked. However, his aching back and vibrating arm confirmed his worst suspicion.

"PFTT HAHAHAHAHA!" Pyro went into full maniacal laughter. His hands flared red, which illuminated his now ecstatic face, and lightning yellow eyes. "The 'undaunting' villain Herttz! The bastard who caused The Night of Fear! He was the one who challenged me!"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

At the mere mention of that name, the vibration started to spread into his back. A dam of memories he had blocked came rushing back in. Memories of a smiling man saying incomprehensible words. A small tear had fallen. A city aflame in a manhunt. Blame. Sadness. The emptiness he had forsaken for four years.

"He challenged me, just like you! luring me into falling for his trap! I thought my search was going to go nowhere until I finally met someone like my idol! That is why I came here, Shindo!" Pyro extended his arms in twisted ecstasy. At the same time, Shindo was paralyzed at the zealot's rambling.

"I will make you become the new Herttz!" He declared, his arms ablaze.

Shindo looked straight at Pyro's eyes, the anger reflected in his deadpanned mouth. His words stuck to his throat, as his eyes went straight at Ben.

Ben looked flabbergasted, horrified at what the villain implied. However, Shindo couldn't look more at him, as everything darkened. He could never be compared to that abomination again. Never.

"I will never relate to that thing again." Shindo declared back through his seething pain, as his eyes locked with that of the Herttz' fanatic.

Shindo’s declaration caused Pyro to rage, throwing a ball of flame directly at his face. Entertaining the villain had gone south.

This was when Shindo's reflexes kicked in. He rolled behind a display to get cover, as the flame ball went straight by his previous position. The roll caused immense pain to Shindo, as his aching back disrupted his concentration.

Still, Shindo decided to take a quick glance at the flames, but his eyes widened at a sudden miscalculation. On top of all the disadvantages when he had come here, this was a gadget shop! Some things were extremely volatile here!

However, Pyro didn't let him rest. He threw fireball after fireball, while Shindo dodged and dodged. Each new flame was a new risk, but Shindo hadn’t been successful in saving Ben’s and Angela’s lives. They were still gagged and bound, and time was running out.

As he ran for cover, Shindo's thoughts went to Oscar. Where was he? At the pace the fight was going, Shindo would be cornered, and potentially, all three of them would be killed in a fire.

Pyro threw another ball of flame to where Shindo was hiding, taking out his cover and exposing him to Pyro.

This was bad. Extremely bad. Especially when he noticed that Pyro was in between him and the hostages.

“You will join me, Shindo East!" He said slowly. His blazing red hand was eerily pointed at Ben. "Or they will scream."

Shindo blanked out at the words. While holding his small pyramid, a small and straightforward decision clung to his head. Should he run? Leave everything and the city? No. Shindo couldn't leave this behind. Hadn't he known everything would come to this?

A small fragment of his memory passed through Shindo's head. A smiling man with a simple tear started falling. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you." That's all he managed to say, before falling entirely to the ground.

To this day, Shindo abhorred those words. He could not understand them. He couldn’t understand why they crossed his mind now. Yet, all he knew was that at the pace he was going, he was never going to save the future of Ben and Angela.

No. Shindo would not falter. They were going to live. They will be saved. And for that, for that measly angry desire, he would send everything to hell!

To hell with being cautious! To hell with his past! To hell with Diva! To hell with Manny! And to hell with Pyro!

His new determination filled every core of his being, as for the first time in his life, he didn’t feel the pain his vibrating arm caused him. He will gamble all he had on the fallback plan. It was a bet: risk his newfound life, to save the future of those he held dear.

"Well, Mr. East, will you come?" Pyro's hand was blazing white. Ben let out a muffled scream, slightly shaking his head in denial. Angela silently weeped.

Shindo didn't respond. He had his face downcasted, yet he took a small step forward, making the villain smile. However, he slowly brought out his small pyramid, turning the top, which caused the pyramid to let out a faint metallic hum.

As Shindo raised his head to give Pyro the attention he wanted so badly, his face was twisted by a devilishly dangerous smirk.

Just like a week before, the two men stared at each other. However, unlike before, they didn’t laugh. They sized each other up, readying themselves for what came next. Only Angela and Ben reacted in fear, scared of whatever happened next. The security camera zoomed in to capture all of Shindo's actions.

Shindo was the first to charge forward. He dashed straight at the villain, throwing the small pyramid straight at Pyro’s feet. The villain didn’t have time to react. because as soon as it made contact with the floor, an electrical surge spread around the gadget, shocking the villain.

However, Shindo did not let up.

He didn't stop. No, He couldn't stop. He took a step forward, followed by a kicking form. In quick succession, Shindo kicked Pyro twice in the face. The heat that Shindo felt was nothing compared to the damage Pyro received.

The villain staggered but was barely conscious. In an attempt to stop Shindo's momentum, he spurred a heat field around him. Yet... It didn't activate. The surprise in his eyes was evident as Shindo closed in again.

He tried swiping at Shindo, but he dodged effortlessly. He tried to get away, but Shindo pushed him closer and closer towards the corner of the room. And then, silence. Pyro raised his hands in fear, for he was at the mercy of the monster he had unleashed.

"Are you...?" He said weakly. However, Shindo would not hear more from the zealot. He brutally kicked him once more in the neck, and the villain crumpled on the floor.

Shindo's absolute victory was usurped by silence. A silence which he took to calm down. The adrenaline he generated in the fight, nulled the pain the vibration was causing in his right arm, letting it function normally again.

Thankfully, the fires didn't spread in the store, as they faded away once Shindo had defeated Pyro. It seem's Unwin's was going to be okay.

He then turned his attention to Angela and Ben, who had horrified eyes. Shindo quickly released them, but the two didn't even say a word. And that was what hurt him the most.

It was obvious. The two of them didn't even know that Shindo could do these things, and he could understand why. What he did just now, was simpy horrifying to ordinary civilians.

So as to not show them any more emotions, he turned his back at them, but not without saying something to Ben first.

"Ben, I've paid my debt to you. I—I'll be leaving."

If Ben made a motion to try and stop Shindo, he didn't know. He only knew that he was already three blocks away by the time he heard the police sirens in the distance.

However, Shindo knew this far from over. After walking for a few minutes, he stared at the CCTV, which was staring right back at him. He had managed to save his friends, but it wasn’t without consequence. It was only a matter of time before Diva herself would come for him.