Inferno lunged into the room with all his might, yelling like a crazy person, and tackled Geowar from behind, setting everything on fire as he crossed the room. The two Starborne tumbled down the room, and slammed against the wall, the impact causing a fiery explosion, and sending the hurdling down the hill into the field below.
Everyone's attention was diverted to the source of the explosion, that had nearly demolished the meetings room. A large hole was now in the wall, clearly showing to the Kane and the Elite Devoted what was going on inside. Everyone close to the walls had gone a couple feet back or fell down, and everyone else was desperately trying to put out the fire.
"Everyone stop!" Kane shouted. The crowd calmed down. "Koulis, McLame, we're going inside to check if anyone was hurt. Bring the first aid kit."
Fortunately, everyone was fine, and their attention was focused at the field in which Geowar and Inferno had landed.
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Geowar was dazzled by the blow, but he managed to regain his composure. Inferno was standing up, and he looked pissed.
"GEOWAR!" He roared. "After all this time, we finally meet again."
"Oh hey, I know you. Uh, Volcano, right?" Geowar asked, adjusting his tie. "Look, I'm all for reunions, but I'm a bit busy at the moment..."
Inferno unsheathed his sword. It was made out of a red metal, and the hilt was black and orange. He stared at the sword for a bit, then spoke up.
"Do you see this? It is adamantite. Incredibly heat resistant, and perfect of channeling." Inferno explained. "It will be the instrument to bring forth my fiery revenge upon you, who has wronged me."
"Look, pal, we can fight it out later if you want, but I'm a little occupied now." Geowar said, frowning at the yellow-clad warrior. Inferno showed no signs of backing away.
"I am the real hero between the two of us! And you took it all away!" Inferno said. Fire was building up in his hands again.
"Look, you're making a mistake here, so I'll walk away, and give you a chance to leave too. Goodbye dude." Geowar said, brushing him off, and floated away. Inferno looked confused, then angry.
"You don't get to ignore me." Inferno mumbled under his breath.
Back at the castle, everyone was staring at the scene.
"What is he doing!?" Renee exclaimed. "Is he just letting him walk away!? Do they know each-other?"
"Relax, Renee, I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation to all this." Leo said, looking at the scene. He then glanced at inferno, who looked like he was about to explode "OH SHIT, EVEYONE GET THE HELL DOWN!"
Inferno launched a catastrophic flame directly towards the castle, aiming to hit the spectators. Geowar notices the blaze just in the nick of time, and stepped in front of it's path, blocking it with a shield construct.
"Okay, I gave you a chance." He finally said, then teleported right in front of Inferno, and punched him right in the chest, sending him flying into some trees.
Inferno quickly regained his composure and started punching flames at his opponent. Geowar had created two shield constructs on each of his hands, that he used to block and deflect the fireballs, as he moved closer to Inferno.
Noticing Geowar's steady approach, Inferno decided to switch up his tactic. He thrust his blade into the ground, and a pillar of fire appeared beneath Geowar, who barely got away. However, his suit caught fire.
"Oh, shit!" He exclaimed, and then started patting himself down in attempt to put out the fire. While he was busy doing that, Inferno ran up to him, and punched him twice in the face and once in the jaw, making him go up in the air.
Geowar spun in the air for a bit before managing to stay up straight. He glared at Inferno who was staring at him from the ground below. Geowar's eyes glowed as bright yellow streaks of hardlight enveloped his left arm, forming the shape of a drill. He then quickly lunged at Inferno, and started swinging the drill at him.
The two men used their respective drill and sword to quickly block each other's attacks, and they quickly ended up in a standstill. Inferno took the opportunity to try punching Geowar's gut, but he used his right hand to twist his hand. Inferno let out a yelp of pain, and Geowar lasered his face while he was distracted, sending him hurdling into another tree, which he smashed into pieces upon landing.
Thinking Inferno was defeated Geowar carefully flew up to his landing spot, scanning for him.
Inferno lunged out of the trees, a trail of fire following him and setting the grove on fire in the process, and tackled Geowar out of the sky. The two crashed back in the field, and Inferno raised his fist in the air, intending to hit Geowar's face with them. Geowar instead headbutted Inferno, disorienting him, then grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him away.
Inferno still wasn't done and again lunged at Geowar once more. In turn, Geowar punched him square in the face and sent him back where he came from.
"Stop this." Geowar said, frowning at Inferno. "I don't want to fight you anymore."
"I'm not done yet..." Inferno managed to say with some effort. He looked down on the ground, took off his mouth guard and spat out a tooth on the floor, before putting it back on. "You can't espace the karma for your actions for long."
"What are you talking about, you madman? What did I ever do to you?" Geowar asked, fed up with Inferno.
"You took my destiny from me." Inferno scoffed. "I was supposed to be the hero. I was MEANT to be the Guardian of Terra!"
"That's what this is all about? Because I won and you lost, fair and square!?" Geowar shouted. "You endangered all these people because of THAT!?"
"You ruined my life! I'm the hero here!" Inferno coughed out, then let out a loud war cry before catapulting a huge fireball towards Geowar with all his might.
Geowar created a construct to protect his foot, then kicked it away into the air, where it exploded. He looked back to see Inferno dashing towards him, but this time he didn't just dodge. Instead, he smacked Inferno across the face with a shield construct, then punched him in the jaw sending him upwards. Then he grabbed him by the ankle, and slammed him on the floor with all his might. After that, he swung him around, and threw him away, making him crash through a nearby boulder and fall down face first on the grass.
Geowar slowly levitated towards Inferno and looked down upon him. He had managed to get up on one knee. The fire that started earlier was roaring in the background, and sirens could be heard as the fire department was closing in.
"It's over." Geowar said. "You're done."
"No, it can't be over! There's too much at stake!" Inferno yelled, then grabbed Geowar by his shirt collar (or what remained of it). Geowar shoved him away, and he slumped to the ground.
"You won't get away with this you- you- monster!" Inferno wailed.
"Fuck you, fireboy." Geowar said. "This suit was a rental, and I'm broke as shit!" He yelled, then kicked Inferno's jaw, sending him flying.
Inferno landed in the meetings room through the hole in the wall, and crashed on the table. He tried to get up.
"I'm not done yet..." He mumbled, and started breathing heavily.
But before he could do anything, Edward brought a chair down on his face, finally knocking him out for good.
"Night-night." He said, smirking.
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Following the end of the fight, Leo ordered Inferno's arrest. Nick came in from his permanent lunch break and took the unconscious warrior away in titanium handcuffs, the kind that could hold even Geowar himself.
Nick had left his permanent lunch break to take Inferno away, the young guardian now occupying one of the titanium cells in the castle basement.
The protesting crowd had dispersed, leaving only Kane and the people who had stayed behind to help with the cleanup. Detective McCord had also arrived from the precinct, but no arrests had been made yet.
"Hey, you!" Leo yelled, then marched over to Kane, McCord following him closely. He narrowed his eyes at Kane. "You knew this was gonna happen, didn't you? And you have the gall to come here with your first aid kit, try and save face!?"
"What are you talking about? I had nothing to do with this." Kane said, not even bothering to look up from what he was doing.
"Oh, so the flaming maniac hiding in your crowd was a complete coincidence then?" Leo mockingly said, crossing his arms. Kane didn't react.
"Yes. This was a peaceful protest." Kane said.
"Shut it, you prick! Detective, arrest this man!" Leo ordered, and finally got a reaction out of Kane.
"Excuse me? You can't arrest me, I had every right to protest!" Kane put his hands in the air in frustration, but this didn't stop the detective from cuffing him.
"You're under arrest for domestic terrorism, destruction of state property and reckless endangerment. You have the right to remain silent-" Before the good detective could continue reading him his rights, Kane started yelling.
"Hey you can't do this! I had nothing to do with that freak!" Kane objected. He tried squirming out of the Detective's grasp as he was led away, but failed.
"Yeah, we'll discuss this in your trial, bucko." Leo smirked and flipped him off. Kane shouted about democracy as he has taken away to the detention center.
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Following that, everyone met again in the meetings room, or rather what was left of it. The roundtable was broken down the middle, as was the chair Edward used on Inferno's face. The entire right wall was missing.
"I don't suppose we can continue this meeting under these conditions." Edward pointed out.
"I don't think there's much more to be said." Wilhelm said. "Fortunately, I kept the contract on my person."
Wilhelm took out a contract marked with the official IF stamp, and set it on the (remains of) table.
"King Lucius, will we proceed with this?" Wilhelm asked, pointing towards the contract.
"Not yet, I'm afraid. I have a lot to process, and I'm not ready to make my decision at this time." Lucius finally said, and pushed the contract away. Wilhelm nodded in understanding. "I'll be calling you regarding this soon."
"Of course. In that case, I'm afraid I must bid you farewell. I have other matters to attend to." Wilhelm said, took off his hat to bow once more, then excused himself.
"I'll be going now, too." Edward said. He shook Lucius' hand and walked out, nodding at everyone else on the way. He looked at his pocket watch the moment he stepped out.
"You should have made law to prevent this from happening, Mr. President." Czar Vladimir told Leo, smiling. "Like I did, back in Russia. My journey will be long, so I must go now."
Vladimir put his fur coat back on and walked himself out.
Before leaving too, Sultan Mehmet walked up to Geowar, who was sitting in the corner of the room, trying to relax from the fight.
"Boy." He announced when he walked to him. Geowar forced a smile and turned to look at the imposing man.
"I'm not certain of what I witnessed today, but issues such as this distract you from your duties. As of now, I don't see you fit for your position as minister. I challenge you to prove me wrong." Mehmet said, caressing his mustache. Geowar smirked.
"You're on, Mr. Sultan!" He said. Mehmet didn't smirk back, and instead turned around and walked away, not another word spoken.
Louis, noticing he was almost the last one left, quickly gathered his stuff, and went on to leave. Renee was sitting by the entrance of the room, and he as was going out, Louis blew her a kiss.
"Au revoir, mademoiselle!" He said, and left. Renee then mimicked killing herself again.
Francis looked around at everyone dispersing, the walked up to King Lucius.
"King Lucius, sir." He coughed out. "Do you mind if I speak to your for a second?"
"Not at all. What is on your mind?" Lucius smiled at him, and nodded at him to speak his mind. Francis scratched the back of his neck.
"Uh, you see sir, I've been- uh for the past few years, I mean- I've been looking for a lost sister of mine, that my old man had uh 19 years ago, and I know that she was sent somewhere here in Soweiland..." Francis said. He was constantly fidgeting. Lucius' brow furrowed.
"So I was hoping if you could show me your citizenship and police records, so I can find her, now that Frederick isn't in the way of that all." Francis said, and flashed him an awkward grin.
Lucius closed his eyes and thought about it for a second, then said a loud and firm "No."
"Wh-huh!? Wh-why not!?" Francis stammered, looking shocked.
"No means no, Duke Francis. Now, if you could take your leave, that would be appreciated." Lucius said, frowning at Francis. The Duke was left with his mouth agape.
"Well... Alright then. Thanks for your time, sir." Francis said, and looked at the King weirdly, seemingly trying to read him. After finding nothing, the turned around, untied his tie, put his hands in his pockets, and dragged himself out of the castle.
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Geowar was still by the corner of the room, alone with his thoughts. The entire situation was confusing him, as he had never expected another Starborne to follow him to Terra, and especially not him.
As such, he didn't notice when Renee approached and stood in front of him.
"Uh, hey dude." She said, her gaze not directly meeting his. "I just wanted to apologize."
"For what?" Geowar tiredly said.
"Well, back there, I admit I thought you might have been working together with that fire guy. But, I suppose you didn't since you beat his ass and everything." Renee admitted. She was tugging on her jacket's sleeve.
"It's fine. Meeting my predecessor probably did a number on your reputation of us Guardians. I hold not ill will towards you." Geowar smiled at her. "You don't know this, but where I came from, Blaze -- or Fred Gaspar, as you know him -- was hailed as a hero. So this all came as a surprise to me too."
"I still shouldn't have judge you as I did. So I'm sorry for that. And I guess you were pretty cool out there today." Renee said.
"So, does that mean you'll stop avoiding me like death's touch?" Geowar asked.
"Sure. But I still have my eye on you." Renee gestured to her eyes, and then said goodbye and walked away, leaving Geowar with his thoughts again.
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Back at the Elite Devoted base, everyone was left panicking.
Well, everyone except Gray, who was quite pleased with himself for framing his supposed ally for domestic terrorism.