The Man in Flames

Chapter 2 - Hot Pursuit

Arne woke up in a hospital bed, attended by a few nurses and paramedics. His body and face had a few scratches, but it was inexplicable how he survived with little to no injuries to being consumed by fire. One of his cousins was there, glad to see him awake. He thanked him endlessly for saving grandma and explained that the second fire that broke out in the building was due to a terrorist attack against the woman who had taken the elevator. Apparently, she owed a lot of money to very dangerous people.

Arne cried in silence with a blank expression on his face. He was still thinking about Janice, and told his cousin how he wished he would've had more time to save her life.

Soon enough, a pair of men in business suits entered the room, seemingly working with the FBI to investigate what they call "the man in flames" phenomenon, a.k.a. Arne's survival and resistance to fire. These men were not kind, and asked immediately by brute force for Arne to turn himself in. His cousin tried to comply with them, explaining the loss he suffered and the grief he is experiencing. They did not care, and pushed the cousin aside against a wall.

Arne was pissed off and unwired himself off the hospital bed, firing a punch at one of the FBI agent's face. The man tumbled down with more than a red cheek. Arne's fist was impregnated on his skin in a burned fashion.

The other guard reacts fast, pulling out a gun and threatening to shoot at Arne. He is pissed off and doesn't hold back, throwing himself onto the guard, causing a physical fight to break. Arne's cousin tells him to run and aids him by holding the FBI agent back long enough for his cousin to exit the room and run away. The FBI punches Arne's cousin with an elbow to face and follows Arne, calling for backup.

The hospital was already filled with armed FBI agents in case something went wrong, and now they were all chasing after Arne. The patients, doctors and nurses would take cover when gunshots echoed through the walls.

Arne was eventually cornered by an agent, but something shocking occurred once more. Somehow and amidst the rage, Arne shot him with a fireball that came directly through the palm of his hand, tossing the guy back all the way across the hallway. Arne's shocked and looks at his unhurt hand in confusion, but he has no time to think about what just happened because a couple more agents appear and chase him down.

Eventually, the chase is taken outside the hospital and civilians record what happens in the streets. A helicopter is called along with other forces and the media is live streaming it all. A man is being chased by FBI agents and he is taking them down one by one by shooting fireballs through his hands.

Arne blows cars up against the agents, sets trees on fire to fall on top of their vehicles, and directly punches them, leaving burned prints on their uniforms and skins.

At one point, he is cornered again, and this time is a crowd of men with fire arms aimed at him. He shouts, asking them what do they want, as an older male walks through them. A Sargent with a german accent responds that they do not intend to hurt him to which he responds with hypocrisy. Arne asks to leave him alone, and the man responds that he is currently causing chaos and is considered a dangerous subject, and if they must, they will shoot.

Arne takes a step and one of the men shoot at him, but Arne strikes the bullet back, completely melting it. The Sargent is scared and asks his men to fire, but once again and almost instinctively, Arne sets himself on fire. The bullets melt before they can even touch his skin and Arne walks slowly towards them menacingly. Some shooters drop their weapons and run away in fear. But just as Arne is about to take a closer step towards the Sargent, he is shot with a tranquilizer.

Arne scoffs victoriously, trusting that his powers melted the needle off, which did occur only after it penetrated him. This tranquilizer was fired at short range by a man behind him, which didn't allow the fire to act fast enough to melt it instantly.

Arne soon falls to the ground unconscious and he is taken by the group into a van where they tie him up and drive him away.

Some time later, he wakes up, but before he can do anything, he is instantly tranquilized again.

The van drives to a jet and Arne's tossed inside it destined to land in Germany.