At night, raining, and out in the open streets...

"I still don't get it," despite being an archaeologist, Archie was surprisingly inattentive, "this whole situation with the... man on the sun and all of this shit, what does this have to do with me?"

"'Cause Tom needed you here for... reasons I won't disclose just yet," he raised an eyebrow, preparing to ask why but I answered it for him, "after that whole thing in the observatory, no one really wants to trust you on... anything really."

"Tom still hadn't forgiven me?" he scoffed, "I'll have you know that he had it coming."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say."

I still didn't know why Tom decided to pair me up with this clown, all he's been doing this entire time was complain complain com-fucking-plain! Honestly, I still don't know how I managed to put up with him back in archaeology school!

"Hey Dan," I turned my head, both of us were still walking towards our destination, "funny how that theory you made in freshman year came true, huh?"

He smirked, I really want to deck him in the jaw right now, what an asshole, "yeah, and I remember you being a real piece of shit about it when I brought it up."

"What can I say?" he raised his hands in surrender, "it was too absurd for any sane person to believe."

"In a world without magic, sure," I sighed, "sometimes I wish that science was the main thing rather than this bullshit magic."

"Look on the bright side at least," he patted me on the back, I shrugged off his hand as fast as possible, "jeez, real sensitive are you? Anyways, at least magic makes everything more convenient."

"At the cost of any kind of sense..."

We both just kept walking around the streets, looking for the thing that Tom said that we needed, Tom said that we'd know it when we saw it and that him describing it wouldn't make much sense. I scoffed at that notion when he said that, but frankly, I'm in no position to oppose what Tom said. Despite the fact that the phrase 'know it when you see it' is complete bull and is just an excuse for whoever the speaker is to avoid talking about whatever it is that they're afraid of.

The rain's quite calming though, the loud static-y noise of the water hitting the ground's almost loud enough to drown out the sound of crackling fire behind us.

Wait.

I kicked Archie to the side and ducked down to avoid a flaming leap kick. The ambient heat scorching the back of my head.

I looked up to see a man on fire, the water from the rain not extinguishing him one bit, only evaporating the moment they come in contact with the whirl of orange and red surround the man. Every inch of his skin is covered in fire, dangerous, I might be able to hold him off but if Archie's part of this too then it might get complicated.

"Archie!" I shouted, dodging a roundhouse from the fire man, "can you fight?"

"Wha- what?" he stumbled a bit as he stood up, "I can but I don't know what I can do against someone like... him."

"Damn it!" I raised my hands to block a jab, the knuckles of the fire man searing right into my suit as it burned off a portion, the embers luckily extinguished by the rain, "Archie! Fucking do something!"

As soon as I yelled that out, the fire man was drop kicked by the archaeologist and flung into a nearby wall, Archie then raised his foot, only to see that the soles of his shoes were not severely burnt, "damn!" he swore, before stamping it down into a nearby puddle, "something about that guy is real familiar."

As the fire man stumbled upwards, Archie snapped his fingers as his eyes widened in realization, "wait a fucking minute! That's right!" he laughed as he pointed at the fire man, "Ignacio!" his expression then turned sour, "how the fuck are you still alive!"

This prompted a reaction in the fire man, Ignacio, who then shouted back, "you motherfucker! It's Igna! Not Ignacio! Cio's my last fucking name!" the man fumed, it looked like the flames got more intense, "I'll deal with you first! Then that stupid fucking newscast who got my name wrong! And then I'll kill that fucking librarian bitch who did me in!!"

Ignacio, no Igna, then dashed forwards, a trail of fire behind him as he flew across the street, through the rain, surprising how the water hadn't hindered him so far. I tried sidestepping but he seemed to anticipate that, twisting his body to turn at the precise angle to land a clean jab straight to my abdomen. The fire burning the fabric of the suit and shirt as his fist made contact. Fortunately, magic seemed to always come in handy during combative moments like these.

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Igna seemed surprised that I hadn't been flung back by the impact of the punch yet, I used this momentary distraction to deliver a hook to the fire man's cheek, the fire touching my knuckles and burning the collar of my shirt. Igna spun around quickly before spewing a jet of fire from the bottom of his feet to correct his landing, the puddle of water that he landed in began boiling instantly, "heh," the fire man scoffed, before cracking his neck and knuckles, "I figured out your shit now astronomer man, time to fucking die!"

Igna crouched down again, preparing to launch himself towards me, but this never came to be as Archie ran up and kicked him the chin, knocking his head upwards. Archie winced a bit as he felt the top of his shoes began burning, he gritted his teeth before bringing his heel back down, embedding the back of his foot into the fire man's nose, slamming his head down into the water. Archie then slid his shoes across the water, boiling hot or not, it'll still extinguish outside fires.

"Dan! This fight's mostly yours man!" Archie backed away, sweat began forming on his head, although it was hard to see because of the pouring rain, "I don't think I can do much when he's on fire like that! I'm dealing more damage to myself than him at this point!"

"Then go!" I motioned for Archie to leave, "go tell Tom that I'll be late! You can do that right?"

"You sure?" he scratched the back of his head, "you sure that you can take his ass down?"

"I'm positive."

"Alright, sure, whatever you say," Archie then ran back to where we came, I watched as he turned the corner before looking back at the fire man, who now was pushing himself out of the puddle after being dazed and knocked out by Archie's kick.

"Argh!! Fuck this! I'm done with this shit!!" I raised an eyebrow as I prepared myself for another predictable explosive launch from Igna, only to find out that he... vanished? I lowered my arms before a flash of orange filled my vision.

He had gotten close to me within a blink of an eye. Igna raised his hand, still on fire, and jammed it into my mouth, "IGNITE!!!" fire filled my mouth as it traveled down my airways, the flame filling my lungs as heat began to spread throughout me.

I sighed.

It's going to take a pretty hefty amount of cash to replace all of these clothes.

Igna's eyes widened as instead of my body bursting into flames like his, my clothes began scorching instead, with the sidewalk beginning to look more and more burnt as he kept the ignition going despite the fire not reaching the ground at all. I bit down on the man's fingers while he was distracted, drawing some blood before Igna grabbed me by the upper jaw and threw me off.

"What? WHAT?!" Igna yelled, examining his hand before shooting out a jet of flame, "HOW THE FUCK?!"

"Magic, bitch," I wiped the blood from my mouth, "don't gotta explain jack shit!"

"You- you!- YOU'LL FUCKING PAY FOR THIS!!" This was going to be a very tiring night, is it?

----------------------------------------

On the rooftops...

"Was it... what's the word... wise to send Ignacio instead of doing it ourselves?" I asked my partner, who was now more concerned with filling her bucket hat with water despite the obvious hole in it than actually participating in the mission, "I mean, he's a new recruit and all, and we're sending him to fight Dan of all people?"

"Come on, come on..." Arma muttered, her hands covering the slit of the helmet as rain dropped into it, this proved ineffective however, as water began leaking through her fingers, "fuck! But yeah, Dan should be a good initiation test for good ol' Igni down there."

"He could be killed very easily," I voiced my concerns, knowing damn well my words were coming in one end and coming out the other just as fast, "not everyday we get a new recruit, and we're just sending him to fight a veteran?"

"Bah! He wants to impress the Director, right?" I nodded, Igna made that very clear when he yelled that out in front of her, "this is how, if he can scorch that astronomer to ash then the Director'll surely be impressed."

"She's a very hard woman to please, you know that right?" I sighed, eyes still following the brutal fight below, "I don't think I've ever seen her smile once! That's saying something."

"Yeah, yeah, uh huh," god damn it, she's not listening again, "fuck! God damn it!" Arma poured out the excess water and placed her helmet back on her head, "that's her thing, sometimes she just looks at us and nod, seriously creepy too."

"Then why are you working for her?"

"I could ask the same about you."

"True."

"Anyways, you think Igna can hold his own down there?" Arma leaned over the building to watch the fight too, it was getting real exciting now, Igna's finally using his fire abilities more brutally and efficiently now, unlike that last fight with Manniemaru, "he's in his environment right now, water's good for his fire so he has the advantage. But..."

"He's getting his ass kicked?" Arma sighed as she nodded.

"He's getting his ass kicked."

I peered over too only to see Igna getting hit with one of the most prolonged and brutal combos in the history of hand-to-hand combat, as Dan continuously jabbed, hooked, and uppercutted Igna as he was being pushed back by the punches alone, I caught myself wincing a few times too as Dan pushed his fists and knuckles through several points of Igna's body.

"My gods!" Arma laughed, "he getting fucked up out there!"

"Should we go help?"

"Nah nah nah! This'll be a good learning moment for the guy!" Arma then crossed her arms, head still leaning over the side of the building, "besides, he always needed some humbling."

"It's true that he was an asshole but like..." the combo was still ongoing, "I feel kinda bad for the guy, I mean, he's getting the magic beaten out of him down there!"

When Igna first came to work for the Director, he spewed some shit about winning the 'reincarnation jackpot' and that his death on TV was a minor setback. When me or Arma would ask about how he survived, he just shrugged it off as if we're not important and said something along the lines of 'got lucky' which was not an answer and felt more like a cop out.

While Arma's intent on watching him get the manners beaten into him by Dan, I can't help but feel for the guy as I see him get beaten to a pulp. Maybe sending him after Dan was a bad idea, hell, even when the weather's on his side he can't even catch a break! Igna might've deserve a smack or two to the back of the head, but not this kind of beating.

I fear he may develop some kind of psychological problem after this. Because let's be real here, that beating was fucking crazy!