Chapter 2: Ready for a Smackdown?!

The Stormcloud split up to find better positions to aim their heavy weapons from. Bullet after bullet they fired at the stranger, but none could hit him. He wore a fully covering helmet that symbolized his mystery in its chrome reflective surface. A practical, black combat uniform with a couple muted floral patternings on his sleeves gave him a strange dichotomy of beauty and dirty gruffness. The uniform had a bullet-proof vest, and yet he didn't need it. A flaming, draconic form swirled around the man, absorbing the bullets. The man hadn't even unsheathed the dual blades on his waist holsters yet and he was already at a clear advantage in Pouria's eyes.

Thunder even had to back off a little, but the moment he saw that his men were only tickling the surprise attacker, he shouted to them. "Cease fire! I'll handle him."

The men did as instructed and backed off into the corners of the warehouse, leaving the two in a standoff as the stranger's Soulflare came to an idle beside him. It was a robot about twice the size of a person. In a flaming swirl of energy, it was practically formless until it slowed to a halt, growing a tail, a pair of glider wings, a metal carapace, and a green visor. Pouria felt the tension in the air as the two stood off. Even Thunder looked a little disturbed after the man hadn't taken a hit through all that.

"That's a mighty powerful Flare you've got." Thunder said with an iron grit, unlike his cocky attitude before.

"You're that guy who stole his Soulflare from us." the stranger growled. "Holding the doctors hostage… and then you shot them dead. Despicable."

"Hah! You pissed about that?" Thunder laughed. "What? You're part of the Blueberry Corp or something?"

"I am the Boss' personal guardian. I make sure hooligans, like you, get erased. Especially if they are trying to kill the person I was sent to protect." the stranger replied, his flare snapping into a battle stance with a whip-like sound that caused Pouria’s heart to skip a beat in surprise.

Thunder laughed once more and readied his flare, releasing it from his body with a deafening clap of his hands. Energy pulsed out from his skin, forming around him like a growing cloud, raising him up onto the top where he stood upon it. He surfed upon the newly formed thundercloud as his body began arcing with electricity. He was like a power plant, and the stranger seemed to want a blackout.

"You're just a fuckin' lackey. Making a big ol' show out of my lovely little kidnapping, and giving me some flashy fireworks to spook me." Thunder said, peacocking his arms and posing to look more threatening. "But I'll let you know something, guardian…"

Pouria shuddered when he felt the air in the room turn still. Static ran wild, and in a blinding flash, a crackling bolt of lightning surged upwards through Thunder and into the sky. The exiled mayor's ears went partially deaf for a while as the rumble of thunder sounded out once more. The sky split open with the storm and a well-timed rain began to fall through the broken roof.

"I am the fireworks, maggot!"

The stranger finally let loose his blades at the challenger before him. They were dual wielded swords, each sparking with fire as they channeled their Soulflare magic, the flames spinning like little teeth around their edges like a chainsaw. Pouria could feel the heat course through the room, and the downdraft from Thunder’s storm pushing against it in a dance of dueling temperatures.

The stranger stood with patience, preparing for Thunder's first strike, and it quickly arrived as he flew headfirst at him. The gang leader's asymmetrical tubing tirelessly pumped lightning until he unleashed a surge of power outward in a sphere. The stranger leapt back just in time, turning his gaze to Pouria and sending his Soulflare out to free him.

The robotic beast flew backward to Pouria's chair with heat in its wake, then snuffing out its own fire to stop itself from burning Thunder's prisoner. With a swift motion, it flew around Pouria, much to his surprise. One slash from his bladed wings, it smashed the chair, and a second slash from its sharp claws, it cut the cuffs clean off both wrists.

The choices of what to do all hit Pouria at that moment; he was a prisoner no longer. His fight or flight instinct kicked in and screamed at him to run, but his better judgment said that there could still be men with guns aiming at him. So when faced with whether to fight or flight, he chose neither, simply to stand his ground, and pray he didn't get shot.

The cyborg's duel raged on in front of him, and he knew he couldn't help. The stranger dodged attack after attack as Thunder shot bolts of lightning from his large fingertips. It only proved that the stranger was even more capable than Pouria had assumed, his lesser flare not useful right now. And as the stranger called his Soulflare back to him, Pouria was surprised by what he did next.

As he dodged a final flurry of attacks of Thunder’s combo, the Soulflare flew back inside his chest as the stranger performed a backflip, landing beside Pouria. With a surge of energy, the stranger's skin flashed with silver light. The robot merged with him, turning into a mech suit around his skin, merging their powers even further than Soulflares and their owners already were.

He fired a beam of flaming energy toward his opponent in a quick flash to keep him busy. It hit a bloodthirsty Thunder straight in the chest, knocking him into some scaffolds in the corner of the warehouse.

"Hurry up," the stranger said, his voice projecting out of a speaker on the mouth of the mech. "Get the hell out of here. My boss told me to keep you alive."

Pouria stood awestruck. He had seen powerful Soulflares before, but this man was clearly trained onto another level. Pouria guessed he was easily a dozen times more powerful than himself, and far more trained.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It took him a second to obey the command, he knew better than to question the plan if it meant staying alive to take his city back.

He turned, seeing a door with a green exit sign above it, and knew what he had to do.

"What is your name?" he asked, prepared to run.

"You'll see me again." the stranger replied, focusing on Thunder as the deranged gang leader came to his feet. "Go."

Pouria knew he wouldn't get anything else out of him. He'd met his fair share of silent types in the Wastelands, this man was no different, but he was certainly the one silent type that Pouria wished he could hear more from.

Until then, he ran toward the door, praying to whatever gods he could that the Stormcloud would let him leave. But before he could reach the handle…

"Why hello, Mr. Mayor." a man said as the door burst open in front of the fleeing exile. Pouria came to a screeching halt, face to face with an old enemy.

The man wore a black, pinstripe suit, a fashion often worn by men of illegal power. A wide brimmed hat on top of his thin, unsettling skull, sporting an assortment of several different exotic feathers on it. His face was entirely black too, only colored by glowing purple eyes, illuminating thin veins of the same color running all over his face. The rain fell behind him, and he stood there, under the shelter of an awning, extending a spindly, dark hand to Pouria.

"Have you got space in your busy schedule for a meeting tonight?" he said. His lack of mouth was made up for by his telepathy, projecting words out of where his mouth would be.

"With you?" Pouria asked with an angry tone. "I'm not surprised you found me already, but I am not interested in your deals and offers."

"I'm saving you from the fifteen men with guns in the parking lot, ready to shoot you. And I'm doing it all for free, if you'll just give me a minute of your time, Mr. Mayor." he said, his tone even more sly and charming than Penove’s. "This doesn't have to be your end."

Nervously, Pouria turned to see the cyborgs still dueling, but Thunder then noticed Pouria's absence from the chair. His eyes darted around, and then locked with the escaped mayor's.

"You'll have to wait, corporate slave." Thunder bellowed with excitement. "Your pathetic Soulflare will get to live another day, cus I am snuffing out this dirty exile's first!"

The Soulflare wielding stranger, seemingly desperate to protect Pouria as Thunder dashed past him, made a reckless attack with his buzzsaws to stop Thunder before he disengaged from him and onto the exiled mayor.

Not letting his eyes off Pouria, Thunder countered the slash with his electrified fist, exploding in a cone of energy as he struck the blades with his raw flesh. The stranger rocketed backwards from the force of the blast, unable to regain footing as he tumbled away, leaving Thunder free to charge. He laughed, finally free to perform his execution.

He leaped off his cloud, propelling himself forward. The ground shook with each mighty running step that Thunder made, only raising the tension in Pouria's chest. He was only a hundred feet away, and Pouria knew he was out of options.

The man stood in the door, still holding out his hand, and time felt like it slowed. "I think you should take my hand, Mr. Mayor." he whispered, Pouria able to hear it in his ear if he was right next to him.

Before he could even choose, Thunder chose for him, slamming his fist straight into Pouria's stomach and launching him out the door with the force of a charging bull.

Pain surged through Pouria's entire being as he flew backward across the pavement and out into the rain, so much he couldn't even process what was going on. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't willing to go down without a fight on his own terms.

He prepared to unleash his Soulflare.

He quickly felt more focused as his body flushed with pent up power and energy, coursing through every pore of his being. His identity split in twain, forming into a force of his own will; a being of raw power. His soul flared with energy as it came into reality.

The bear with red boots and scarf, sporting a tophat. It was locked in his memory from years ago, a time that he couldn't even remember, but he knew that it was his Soulflare for a reason. He didn't know what that reason was, but he knew one had to exist. In this moment though…

It had to protect him.

He sat up from the pavement, at gunpoint from every angle. The Stormcloud soldiers, knowing better than to finish off their boss' long-desired kill, spread out behind sparse parked cars as their leader ran forward and held out his hand.

"I wonder if they'll ever be able to put your body back together, Soulflare maggot!" he screamed with a voice only someone truly crazy could make, launching an electric rocket the size of a blender from his palm. It twirled forth, screeching with the sound of a firework as it flew toward its target.

Pouria wasn't deterred though. His soulflare manifested right in front of the rocket, blocking the electrifying explosion inches away from him. He still felt pain, but much less than what it would've been had the rocket hit. He wasn't able to use his soulflare like a full-on shield like the robot-wielding stranger could yet, but it was still protection in some form, just like he’d done on that fateful day where his city fell into anarchy.

Was it a temporary defense to protect his fleeting life though? He felt like it was the only way to stave off the inevitable. Thunder began to close in slowly, firing another rocket.

The bear blocked it again.

And then another rocket.

The bear stood strong, but Pouria was getting overwhelmed. Each explosion, more pain flooded over him, and the weaker he felt.

He knew the only option. If he wished to live to see Soulflare Metropolis saved from the people who had hired Thunder, he had to take it.

This 'Exodus Angel’ as the city now called them was out there. They had spoken to Thunder, they were a real, living entity. They needed to become a dead entity, and Pouria knew he had to make the difficult, but obvious choice to make that happen.

"Dustman!" Pouria screamed, and the man from the door reappeared in front of him.

He still held out his hand, an enigmatic, sly expression across his mouthless face. His eyes told Pouria that it was going to be okay, but deep down, there was a certain sense of unease.

Another rocket flew forth, but before it could hit the bear…

Pouria grasped The Dustman's hand, and in a blink, he was whisked away.

"Thank you for your trust… Mr. Mayor."