"Yo, Happy Birthday," he shouted as soon as he woke up and noticed Sahej on the ground, "you holed up rat."
His curt smile was uncomfortable, sending a strange shiver down Sahej's spine.
"It's supposed to be the day after tomorrow!" Sahej shouted back.
"What?" He shouted louder, not being able to hear it.
Sahej removed the mostly torn-apart cloth mask that protected his identity, "I said, it's supposed to be the day after tomorrow, NOT today"
"Oh, is that so", the Death Angel tilted its head sideways, "Then Happy Birthday in Advance" he smiled wickedly again, this time the smile looking more like a child's than a monster's.
Sahej calmed his nerves before uttering the next words, "Could you call off attacking Mumbai for a couple days?"
"Man, this really reminds of when you used to shout at the gate after my mother banned you guys from ringing the bell, doesn't it?" The Death Angel shouted back, his voice muffled by his mask.
"Just answer the fucking question"
The Death Angel removed its cloth or plastic mask and gently put it in the black robe's pocket, going so slow that it was mocking, revealing his now symmetric mug, still recognizable as Ajeet's, his beard well-shaved to display the sharp jawline. Sahej kept looking up for an answer, the bright cloudless sky making him uncomfortable. Ajeet pressed his hands on the sides of the black robe and fell, stopping midway with a sudden jerk that made his clothes flutter.
"How about - No", his eyes widened, his smile broader than ever, baring his teeth.
Ajeet's face could now show whatever wicked thought was behind it, overcoming the restraints of society as he no longer thought himself to be a part of it.
"Then I am compelled to ask for a favor, do not attack Mumbai for the next couple of days!" Sahej understood that the reins of this situation belonged to Ajeet, and this situation allowed him to get what he wanted so desperately.
"The city wasn't part of the deal about exempted people, and who could it be, no one I remember had transferable or remote jobs", Ajeet looked intently towards the edge of the city, they were in the clear just outside the city, surrounded by overgrown and yellowed grass. "Who on earth could have made you desperate enough to come here? Don't tell me! It's Riya, isn't it? She struck around? Man I owe your mother now"
"I don't think she meant it."
"Probably"
"So can you please, for the love of God, call it off for today?"
Sahej anticipated the next words.
"Fuck No"
A fight was inescapable, but Sahej was prepared for it from the beginning.
"I guess then I will have to resist the Angel of Death"
****
They put their masks back on. Ajeet had an overwhelming advantage in this fight: his ability to fly, greater familiarity with his powers, and thinner build to grant him speed. Sahej had better fighting techniques for a close range combat situtation and knew how to enhance his blows with the energy, so it was unlikely for Ajeet to give up the higher ground and take the morally high one.
"Tsk" Sahej muttered as he took a ready stance, his left hand forward with two fingers up, his right hand behind rolled up into a fist, clearly inspired by Dragon Ball.
"Come at me when you feel like it", Ajeet said mockingly, his hands behind his back and standing on thin air with the posture of a Noble. For a moment, Sahej had to admit that the all-black was Ajeet's coolest outfit ever.
Sahej leaped up at full speed with a punch prepared for Ajeet's face. Ajeet simply avoided it by moving backward, gliding effortlessly like an ice skater, sending Sahej to fly off on his own.
Sahej looked back down on Ajeet as he rose up in the atmosphere, his cool demeanor had faded away with just one failed blow and he wore rage on his face. He folded in his legs as the momentary stop of his free fall came and kicked the air with both of them, sending a burst of energy out to push, falling at Mach speed, the fall was short enough not to be slowed much. His fist made contact this time, not with the torso but with the palm of Ajeet's hand, who grabbed it, pulled Sahej in, and before he realized it, pressed his other hand on his lower back and threw him towards the city with his momentum.
Sahej failed to avoid getting his face in the concrete. The regeneration started immediately, and he had adrenaline in his veins forcing him to stand up. He stared in Ajeet's direction with the unaffected left eye, who was looking back at him with a look of both pity and superiority.
Sahej and Ajeet launched at each other, although with different mechanisms. Their bodies streamlined and their fists made contact. Sahej overpowered Ajeet in force, causing the bones in his hand to crumble.
Sahej reached out and grabbed Ajeet's forearm with his other hand before they separated and pulled on it to rotate himself vertically, delivering a powerful downward kick on Ajeet's back, potentially breaking his spine. Ajeet flew to hit the earth while Sahej fell with control. The dust hadn't settled as he approached the ground when something shiny and white arose from within and hit him in his face and exploded with the force of a small plastique bomb, bruising Sahej's face
Hordes of similar orbs arose with the dust, targeting Sahej in lethal numbers. He deflected the large ones with his palm while letting the small ones hit. Sahej fell into the ever-rising dust cloud but was thrown out quickly by the onward blasts, he emerged with his forearms covering his chest and face, his legs folded on his stomach. His clothes were ripping, and the regeneration didn't care for the dust on his skin.
His temporary defense allowed Ajeet to unleash an onslaught with more ferocious attacks streaming in to destroy Sahej's bones. Sahej taking them on without a choice. The stream changing direction to drive him into the ground. The pain was excrucitating, but his arms and feet were strong enough to not break.
The attacks ceased and he lowered his guard in an instant, receiving a energy-covered fist right in the sternum, crushing his ribs and lungs. He spat blood as the fist drove and energy kept driving into his body, and now his flattened chest was getting filled with blood.
"You want to resist me?" Ajeet asked. "The Death Angel, what would that make you? The Life Demon?" Ajeet laughed so loudly and demonically that Sahej could bet he heard some shrieks from the direction of the city. "Life Demon, that sounds so dumb!"
Ajeet had tears from the laughter as held his stomach. Saheej's throat and chest cleared with the blood slowly being reabsorbed with the energy, his chest acquired some volume as he spoke through his pain, "Death Angel's no good of a name either"
"I know, right" Ajeet made a gesture as if he was deep in thought. "I didn't give it to myself, you know, some dumb American journalist said it on CNN after I blew up Orange County, my first if you remember."
"I don't care" Sahej said calmly.
Sahej wanted to stall as long as he could by talking, flattened lungs were a serious issue that needed full recovery, he needed a way to make this a fair fight, he wanted to save someone.