Before Sunrise

T opened the file cabinet in his office and pulled out some documents. T gave the documents to Erika and took out his lighter and lit a cigarette.

''Read it, dear.'' T said.

''What is this?'' Erika asked.

''Oh? You don't know? Are you sure, my fellow exterminator?'' T asked mockingly.

''I don't, what is all of this?'' Erika asked.

T smiled and pointed at the documents. 

''Read the highlighted parts.'' T said.

''Curse suits consuming the exterminators wearing them? I know what happens when a curse is too strong for the suit.'' Erika said.

''Doesn't F seem stronger than before?'' T asked.

''What do you mean?'' Erika replied. 

''He was pretty strong when he joined but now his strenght is unnatural for a non curse user. He threw one of those big dumpsters to your apartment on the ninth floor after being thrown through the wall of said apartment on the ninth floor. Don't you think he's a little too superhuman for an exterminator?'' T said.

''He joined us a few days ago, there's a chance he was holding back on his first mission.'' Erika said.

''Holding back on mission where people could die, only captains do that to minimize collateral damage.'' T said.

''Could it be that his cursed suit is merging with him?!'' Erika asked, shocked.

''So you finally get it, dear comrade. I believe he's being consumed by his suit, there's no other way to explain his sudden growth in strenght.'' T said.

Erika looked down.

''It's my fault for giving him a level 2 suit.'' Erika said.

T put his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

''Correct, this situation is entirely your fault. But don't be so upset, Erika, we'll go exterminate his cursed suit, and by ''we'' I mean you. If it turns out to be a false alarm you're still at fault.'' T said.

''Yes sir!'' Erika said.

''Now let's go find F. Do you happen to know where he went?'' T asked.

''He's in the gym, I gave him a key when we entered.'' Erika replied.

''That might be troublesome, F with heavy weights would be a problem for most low level exterminators like you. But since I'll be watching the fight, you'd survive.'' T said.

''Thank you sir!'' Erika said.

''Now let's go to the gym.'' T and Erika left the office and went to the gym. They found F doing squats.

''Well hello, my dear comrade, how are you?'' T greeted.

''I'm fine, I wanted to try some squats cuz I've never done any.'' F said.

''And you're squatting with how much exactly?'' T asked, stalling for time.

''I think that's 120kg, pretty good for a warm up.'' F said.

''Not bad for a beginer, mind if I try?'' T asked.

''Not at all, I'm almost done with that set.'' F did a couple more squats and puts the barbell on the squat rack.

''Your turn.''  F said.

T smiled.

''Allow me to impress you.'' T put 25kg plates on the barbell.

''It's time to show off with 170kg.'' T said.

''Alright, want me to spot you?'' F asked.

''No thanks, I'm just doing my warm up. I'd advise you to watch out though, the axe is quite deadly.''  T said. 

''The what now?'' F said before Erika hit him with the axe and pinned him down.

''I'm sorry, F, but I have to exterminate your suit!'' Erika said, her voice shaky.

''Calm down, dumbass, it's pretty obvious that I'm not wearing it.'' F said.

''But there's a chance that you're possessed! A piece of the suit might be permanetly stuck to you!'' Erika said.

''It's not, now please get off my body, I'm uncomfortable.'' F said.

''It was a false alarm, Erika. F is alright, I didn't feel any cursed energy in his system. Get off him and put the damn axe away, you're embarrassing yourself.'' T said.

''Oh, alright. Sorry.'' Erika got up and offered F a hand.

''Do you need help getting up?'' She asked.

''Nah I'm fine, I just need a moment to rest, which I'll be doing on the ground.'' F replied.

''Oh okay.'' Erika said, still embarrased.

T smiled while he did his squats.

''Now that we know you're not possessed we have to find the real reason behind that strenght of yours.'' T said.

''What do you mean by that?'' F asked.

''Well you weren't borderline superhuman when you joined us. Now you pull off insane feats of strenght without trying too hard, which is quite concerning if you think about it.'' T said.

''I get it. How are we gonna figure that whole thing out?'' F asked.

''Well we might need a few cursed items from office. We'll go there and check a few things with you. After we're done, I'll remove the super strenght factor since it can't be anything safe.'' T said.

''Are we gonna go now?'' F asked.

''Of course, we can't afford to waste any time.'' T said.

T suddenly stopped squatting.

''Stop what you're doing, something strong just landed on the building.'' T said.

''How strong is it?''  F and Erika asked.

''Between level 3 and 2, it's dangerous either way.'' T said.

''How strong is that?''  F asked.

''The monsters you've faced were level 4 at best, the two curse users would be level 4 as well and the anomalies could be cnsidered semi-level 3. This thing is at least a full level 3.''  T said.

''And what level are you exactly?'' F asked.

''Semi-level 2.'' T replied.

''So you're stronger?'' F asked.

''If it's level 3.'' T said.

''Well shit.'' F muttered under his breath.

''Let's go to the roof and investigate.'' Erika said.

''What do you mean investigate?! If we go there, we're fighting wether we like it or not.'' F said.

''F is right, we're fighting this thing if we go there. But we're going to exterminate it now before it evolves into something else.''  T said.

''Let's go to the armory first, we need some equipment.''  Erika said.

''Very well, let's go.'' T nodded.

The three exterminators left the gym and went to the second floor. Erika unlocked the door to the armory and let everyone inside. 

''F, you're permitted to use grade 3 weapons today! It's a special case so I'll make an exeption.'' Erika said.

''Alright then, cursed traffic sign it is!'' F said enthusiastically.

''I don't have that.'' Erika said.

''Oh.'' F replied, his face became blank.

''I can give you cursed gloves, brass knuckles, spear, frying pan, handgun, knives, baseball bat, crowbar, sledgehammer, golf club, longsword, katana, kukri, kilij, fire axe, spear, whip, chainsaw, maybe a cursed hand grenade or maybe eve-'' Erika said.

''I want two cursed crowbars and a chainsaw.'' F said.

''Why the chainsaw?'' Erika asked.

''It's epic.'' F replied enthusiastically.

''Makes sense.'' Erika said.

 T grabbed a white katana from the wall.

''I like this one, I might even take it for myself later.'' T said. 

Erika grabbed a small backpack and put a bunch of regular and cursed grenades in it. 

''If we're ready with the weapons, let's get some armor.''  Erika said and opened the door to the suit room and took out three level 5 suits.

''Those are grade 5 suits, they will keep us safe.'' Erika said.

''How durable are those?'' F asked.

''Around 3 times more durable than the prototypes.'' Erika replied. 

''How durable were the prototypes again?'' F asked.

''Enough to shield you from 7 or 8 sticks of cursed dynamite simultaneously exploding in your face, or a ton of tnt.'' Erika said.

''So the grade 5 suits can take 3 tons of tnt?'' F asked.

''A little over 4 but not enough to say that the grade 5 suit is 4 times more durable than the prototype armor.'' Erika said enthusiastically.

''It's still pretty hard to destroy so it doesn't matter all that much.'' F said.

''Just put it on before the thing decides to leave.'' T said.

''On it.'' F said.

F put the grade 5 suit on and covered it with his hoodie. Erika put the grade 5 suit over her regular grade 3 suit and T put the grade 5 suit over his grade 4 suit. The three exterminators left the suit room and Erika locked it. They used the elevator to get to the 6th floor and go up to the roof using the stairs. They saw two white-clad figures on the roof, one curse user with a dark red mask and a humanoid monster with a bull skull for a head, long, white coat, black sash, white baggy pants, black socks and gray sandals. The dripped out monster looked at the three exterminators and then looked at its partner. 

''We have company.'' It said.

''I can see that, big guy. Do you want to deal with them?'' The curse user said.

''No, I don't want to waste energy by fighting them. Kill them and bring me their corpses.'' The monster replied.

''You've got it, big man.'' The curse user walked over to F, Erika and T.

''Yo. I'm here to kill you.''  He said.

He looked at F.

''You're that guy from the hospital.'' The man said.

''Yeah, I knocked you out with a bed last week.'' F said.

''You sure did, I couldn't even get serious for you. This time is gonna be different though, I'm already serious.'' The curse user said.

''And so am I.'' F said and got ready to fight.

''Bailemos, cabrón'' The curse user spat a fireball at F.

''I don't speak Spanish, dipshit!'' F dodged the fireball. F kicked the curse user away.

''I have a name, asshole!  The curse user spat another fireball at F.

''I don't care about your name!''  F dodged the fireball. 

''My name is Adrian, asshole!'' The man said.

''Nice to meet you, Adrian Asshole, now go to sleep!''

F tried to punch Adrian but he dodged. F went for a kick but Adrian punched him first. Adrian spat another fireball at F and this time he hit him. F stumbled back and almost fell but he regained his balance and kicked Adrian in the face. 

''You're no match for me, Adrian Asshole, give up and let me arrest you.'' F said.

''Fuck you, dude! I don't want to get arrested!'' Adrian replied and tried to attack F.

''Then stop being a criminal, dumbass.'' F said and parried the attack.

''I don't want to work for the rest of my life! I want to be rich and do whatever I want!'' Adrian said and tried to punch F.

''Not happening any time soon.'' F said and dodged the punch.

The monster looked at Adrian.

''Stop wasting time, human, I'm getting impatient.'' The monster said.

''Right!''Adrian spat fireballs at F like a machine gun but F dodged all of them. F pulled out the cursed crowbars.

''It's time to end this, Adrian.'' F said.

''Yeah, time to kill you!'' Adrian yelled.

F lunged at Adrian with the crowbars, trying to hit him. Adrian dodged and spat another fireball at F. F hit the fireball with the crowbar, sending it back at Adrian.

''He deflected it?! His crowbar must be cursed!''  Adrian's mask opened and he ate the fireball. Adrian closed his mask's mouth and laughed.

''It's finally ready! I've accumulated enough energy to end you!'' Adrian spread out his hands and two fireballs start forming in them.

''Shit! That's not good, I have to knock him out before he can use that move!''  F thought.

F rushed at Adrian, trying to knock him out with his crowbars. Adrian dodged him and jumped back to create more distance between them. The fireballs in his hands grew bigger and he laughed. 

''They're ready!''

''Remolino de dragón de fuego!''

Adrian shot the fireballs at F at an incredible speed.

''Shit! I can't dodge them!''  F assumed a blocking stance.

The two fireballs hit him, creating a whirlwind in the shape of a dragon. The fire dragon flew into the air and dive bombed F, creating a huge explosion. 

''I won! I fucking won! See that, big guy? I took him out!'' Adrian said.

''He's still alive, human, I can sense him.'' The monster said.

''That's not possible! The fire dragon killed him, I'm sure of it!''  Adrian said.

''You're wrong.'' F came out of the explosion with no injuries and hit Adrian in the face with both crowbars, knocking him out.

''Those grade 5 suits really are durable, I should keep this one.'' F said.

''I can hear you, F, don't even think about it!''  Erika yelled.

''Humans, always bickering.'' The monster said.

''You're pretty calm for a monster, big guy.''  F said.

''Unlike the others I have gained a soul by consuming a compatable curse. I am intelligent. I am Amenaza Vortexclaw.'' Amenaza said

''Cringe name.'' F said.

''I used to be a vortexclaw monster before I gained my soul, I use that as my last name now.'' Amenaza replied

''That's srtill kinda cringe. Just use Amenaza.'' Erika said.

''No, I need a last name for my driver's license.'' Amenaza said.

''You want one?'' F asked.

''Yes, cars are fascinating machines, I want one.'' Amenaza said.

''You're gonna die before you get one, Amenaza.'' F said.

''Are you implying that you're going to kill me?'' Amenaza asked.

''Yes.'' F nodded.

''Fool, you're going to die trying.'' Amenaza said.

T put his hand on F's shoulder. 

''That monster is right, you're going to die before you do any significant damage.'' T said.

''I have a name, human.'' Amenaza said.

T looked at Amenaza and his eyes turned yellow. 

''I didn't allow you talk, monster. Be quiet while I'm talking to my underling.'' T said.

''You're going to die first, つみき.'' Amenaza said.

T instantly appeared behind Amenaza and tried to decapitate him. Amenaza dodged the attack and jumped to the other end of the roof. 

''Are you angry with me because I am too powerful? Or is it beacause I know your name?''  Amenaza asked.

''I'm upset because you exist.'' T said and continued attacking.

''You are mean, つみき.'' Amenaza said.

T rushed at Amenaza and tried to stab him through the heart. Amenaza dodged.

Amenaza kicked T away. T got up with no injuries. 

''He looks angry. Also why isn't he dead? Don't curses kill you when they know your name? Also why can't understand what T's name is?'' F asked Erika.

''Yes, in most cases curses kill their host, however, T isn't dead for one simple reason.'' Erika said.

''And what's that?'' F asked.

''He defeated his curse to use its full power.'' Erika said.

To be continued.