Level Up, Mecha Mage!

"Phew… Here goes nothing."

David breathed out, feeling nervous. He looked up at the mechanic shop, already imagining the reactions of those inside. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if they attacked him immediately, though he hoped it wouldn't come to that. 

"6 years…" 

He thought back to his interactions with Jamie and his family back in the slums, cringing. David regretted the person he used to be, which was even more of a reason why he had to apologize. He steeled himself and approached the garage door, intending to knock.

"Let's hope they give me a chance to speak…"

"Who are you?"

David flinched at the sudden voice, turning to see a young man with purple hair leaning against the wall. Looking at the man's cold gaze, a chill went down David's spine, but he attributed this to his nervousness.

"I'm here to meet the people living here." David coughed, shaking off the chill before awkwardly offering the man a handshake. "My name is Agent Matthews."

"I know. I'm one of the people living here." Armin didn't even glance at David's hand. "What do you want?"

Armin had no clue who David was and his connection to Jamie and the others. However, he recognized the uniform that Dynamos Agents wore, and remembering Victor, Armin was very much on guard.

"Oh…" David was surprised, not expecting someone unfamiliar to be with the family he used to harass. 

"I came here to speak to mainly Amy, though it would be nice to speak to Aiden and Amanda, too."

"Why?" Armin asked coldly, silently gathering his mana. He really didn't like the sound of an Agent suddenly coming over for a family visit.

"I came to… apologize." David gulped. "I'm not sure if they told you, but back when we were all in the lower class sector, I treated them terribly, to put it lightly. I did some nasty things to them back then."

David felt embarrassed to talk about it with a stranger, but in an instant, that embarrassment turned into alarm as he felt mana surge from behind him, feeling something sharp press against the back of his neck. He looked at Armin, seeing his previously calm purple eyes now glowing bright. 

"You hurt my family?" 

David grit his teeth as he felt a hot breath hit the back of his neck, and heard a low growl. This purple haired guy was a fucking Wizard! 

"Wait- Damn it!"

Armin bolted towards David before the Agent could explain himself, purple energy rapidly spreading across his pulled back arm. From behind David, a transparent, purple creature swung down its massive claws, intending to tear him apart.

Scrambling to defend against both threats, David cursed and reached behind him, pulling out an object that looked like a thin, half-meter long cylinder. He swung the cylinder behind him, intending to block the monster's claws.

As the cylinder tore through the air, it extended, revealing itself to be a staff, its full length almost 2 meters long, the tip sporting multiple, inch-long spikes. David spun the staff tangent to his back, the circular motion deflecting the monster's claws.

Not wasting a second, he twisted his body sideways, thrusting the staff towards the incoming Armin's face, whose eyes widened in shock. Unable to move away fast enough, he immediately shaped the energy on his arm into a needle, which rapidly extended towards David's eye. Now, it was just a matter of who received the other's attack first. 

"What are you guys doing?!" 

The two immediately froze in place, the force creating a gust of wind that blew across their faces. A drop of sweat went down David's forehead as the point of a purple needle hovered in front of his pupil. Armin was sporting a similar expression, as compared to how close his needle was to David, the spiked tip of the Agent's staff was directly resting on Armin's forehead, having stopped just before it broke through the skin.

"Amy?"

"Amy… Amanda?"

They both turned to the open door of the mechanic shop, where Amy stood in the doorway, face scrunched up in confusion. She looked at the alarmed Armin.

"Why are you fighting out here?"

"Amy, this guy-"

Before Armin finished, her eyes drifted to David's face, who immediately felt like he was about to have a panic attack. Her frown deepened, wondering why she felt deja vu while looking at this random man.

"...Who are you?"

******

"Oh man, it really did rain…"

Jamie groaned as he began to feel small droplets of water hit his head, knowing it was going to rain harder in a few minutes. "At least all these trees provide some cover, aaaand nevermind."

Stepping into a wide clearing devoid of trees, Jamie saw the man who called him there leaning against a tree on the other end.

"You made it." Terry called out, moving away from the tree and towards Jamie. He had to raise his voice a little to overcome the pitter patter of the growing rainfall.

"Yeah, I'm here." Jamie waved with his stump, walking to meet Terry in the middle of the clearing. They stopped in front of each other, water dripping down their heads as Jamie clicked his tongue. "Do we really gotta stand in the middle of the rain?"

Jamie ran his right hand through his soaked hair and ruffled it, shaking off the rainwater. He pushed it upwards so that it wouldn't cover his eyes and sighed. Terry only watched silently, ignoring the incoming water droplets from Jamie. He copied Jamie, pushing his own hair upwards, sucking in his teeth with annoyance.

"Did you come straight here after our meeting?" Terry asked Jamie, who finished messing with his hair.

"Nah, I took my brother home first. David chased after me, too. He wanted to apologize. Did you have a hand in that?"

"I wouldn't know." Terry shrugged. 

The two were silent for a moment, as Jamie waited for Terry to start talking, while the Agent kept his mouth shut. The rain continued to pour, now so strong that it partly obscured their vision.

'What is this guy waiting for?' Jamie thought, exasperated by how soaked he was by this point. 'Is he purposefully waiting for the rain to grow stronger?'

As if confirming Jamie's thoughts, the rain grew stronger once more. If earlier it only obscured their vision, now it was practically roaring in their ears as torrents of water droplets fell and hit the trees and ground around them.

Just as Jamie was about to run out of patience, Terry spoke, almost yelling to be heard over the rain.

"You haven't talked much with Beck after coming to this sector, have you?"

"What does Beck have to do with this?" Jamie clicked his tongue, annoyed. "Look, I just want to know what you meant by what you told me?"

"What did you mean when you said that Victor is alive!?"