"Geh… Impressive. You are just as Master has said."
Inferno stood shakily; his right arm was missing, and blood slowly flowed from the stump. His overall condition was terrible. Bruises, blood, cuts, and burns lined his body.
"Enough talk."
The Ghost Rider stated as he walked forward. Their battle lasted for around ten minutes, and so far, Inferno has proven himself weak compared to Zadkiel. While Inferno's strength and durability were impressive, they paled compared to Ghost Rider's overall power and abilities.
All Inferno managed to do thus far was throw him around whenever he found the opportunity to do so. Inferno tried to engage him in hand-to-hand combat, but Ghost Rider's knowledge of martial arts gave him the advantage.
"Even if you defeat me today… more of my allies will come. We won't stop." Inferno weakly said.
In response, Ghost Rider spun his chain and wrapped Inferno in its fiery embrace. Inferno yelled out in pain as the chain tightened around him. With a pull, Ghost Rider swung Inferno over his head and slammed him to the ground behind him.
Jumping into the air, the spirit of vengeance stomped down onto Inferno's stomach. The demon cried out in agony as the foot tore all the way through his midsection. Bisecting him entirely. Bending over, Ghost Rider lifted the two halves of Inferno's body and ignited them on fire. The flames grew so hot that they turned blinding white. With a final roar, the demon was reduced to ashes and smoke.
Looking down after defeating his opponent, Ghost Rider stews in anger. He was expecting a worthy opponent to test his strength against, and all he received was a weak foe. What could Blackheart be thinking? Surely he knew what he was truly capable of?
"Could he be testing my strength?"
It was indeed a possibility. After all, Blackheart was the one to banish him into the in-between realm. He must have thought his strength would have waned during his entrapment.
The Ghost Rider looked up at the slowly rising sun. He completely forgot about getting any sleep tonight. Shaking his head, the Ghost Rider summoned his bike; it was no matter. He would find some time to rest. With a roar of the engine, the spirit of vengeance drove towards his home.
•••
"Who do you think would win in a fight? Iron Man or the Ghost Rider?"
Alex turned her head at the question. She saw two first-year students a few feet away, talking animatedly as they held up their phones and watched clips of both heroes. Alex couldn't help but smile at that. She was happy to hear that several people were supporting Harvey. This type of talk wasn't uncommon throughout the halls these days.
"Iron Man, no contest."
"Bro, seriously? Ghost Rider is a powerhouse! The dude can practically take down an army himself."
"You're delusional. Iron Man can freaking fly!"
Alex shook her head and closed her locker. As much as she looked up to Tony Stark, she was confident Harvey could defeat him. Walking into her next class, American History, Alex bumped into the new teacher. This caused her to drop the notebook she was holding.
"Oh my goodness, Ms. Dunphy! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there." Sarah McConner said as she bent down to help her pick up her scattered papers and notebook.
"It's okay! It was an accident." Alex said as she hurriedly picked up her papers.
"What's this? An… art project?" Sarah said as she looked at one of her papers.
"AH! Yes! An art project!" Alex said as she snatched the paper away from her teacher. "I can handle it from here! You have a class to start soon!"
Sarah slowly nodded and stood up; Alex finished picking up her papers and rushed to her seat. She completely missed the baffled and interested look from her teacher.
Alex sat down and looked at her notebook and papers. She knew she had overreacted back then. There was no way that her teacher would understand what exactly she had on her papers. Opening her notebook, Alex looked over several papers filled with calculations and equations. Several were scratched out and written over with a red marker. Towards the side was a rough drawing of a suit of armor.
This was Alex's secret project. She knew it was a long shot. Almost impossible to do, but she was intelligent. Alex knew that she couldn't even enter the realm of Tony Stark's level of brilliance; she knew that it would take a very long time until she had even a passable design to build a prototype of her invention. But Alex was determined; she was no Tony Stark. She was Alex Dunphy!
Nothing would stop her from building something that would allow her to have her best friends back! Alex wouldn't let Harvey always fight alone. One day, she would have his back and be with him every step of the way. Looking over at the title of the design, Alex couldn't help but smile in excitement. It was a little cheesy, but she couldn't help but include some of her idol's namesake.
Iron Heart.
•••
"-lex? Alex?"
Luke was trying to get her attention as they sat in front of the school, waiting for Haley to pick them up. Whatever she was writing down must be really complicated. Alex kept scratching out what she wrote down repeatedly. Having enough, Luke grabbed his sister's shoulder and shook it.
"What?!" Alex yelled. "What is it?!"
"Uh, you alright, Alex? I've been calling you for the past five minutes." Luke said nervously.
"No! I'm not alright! I can't figure out how to create a powerful enough power source the size of my fist!" Alex said irritatingly. "Especially one that isn't radioactive!"
"…okay." Luke said. "I was going to ask you: have you asked anyone to the school's homecoming dance?"
"Homecoming dance?" Alex asked slowly, with her eyes widening.
"Yeah? Did you forget about it?" Luke said slowly.
Luke couldn't believe Alex could have forgotten about the event. There were flyers and decorations everywhere. It was almost impossible not to notice and know about it. It was, after all, this Saturday. So, it would be challenging to get a date this late into the week; the dance was three days away.
"Psh! Of course not!" Alex said nervously. "How about you! Do you have a date?!"
"Uh yeah, I'm going with Jessica." Luke told his sister. "I could have sworn I told you a week ago."
"Oh, yeah! You did!" Alex said hurriedly. "Look! Haley is here! Let's not keep her waiting!"
Luke watched as Alex gathered her stuff and hurried to Haley's car. Getting up, Luke couldn't help but feel weirded out by Alex. Then again, this was Alex, so he shouldn't be too surprised. It was obvious Alex didn't have a date, so now he would have to watch her freak out over possibly going alone to the dance.
"Luke! Hurry up!" Haley yelled as she honked the horn.
"Coming!"
•••
"You're distracted."
Pietro stated as he looked down at Harvey. They have been training together for the past hour. Harvey suggested long ago that he and Wanda learn how to fight properly. So Harvey, being the most experienced in hand-to-hand combat, told them he would train them.
"Pietro! Harvey, are you okay?" Wanda said as she kneeled next to Harvey.
"Yeah… I'm fine. Just tired." Harvey said as he sat up. "I was out on patrol for too long last night. I guess this is what happens when I don't get those two hours of sleep."
Pietro raised a brow at that and nodded. It seemed like his friend was sleep-deprived and decided to power through the day. Pietro bent down and offered Harvey a hand; Harvey smiled and accepted the help.
"You should get some sleep. Right now." Wanda said in that tone of voice of hers, a tone in which she wouldn't accept anything but yes as an answer. "Go to bed!"
"I'm fine. We should finish our training." Harvey said as he waved off his sister. Pietro cringed. Wrong move, Harvey.
"Wow! Wanda!" Harvey said as he floated in the air, surrounded by red chaos magic. "Put me down!"
"No! Sleep!"
Pietro laughed as he watched his sister drag Harvey in the air behind her. There was no arguing with Wanda. You wouldn't win. Looking down at his watch, Pietro saw that it was still early. Looking up, he decided that he would run to Texas and back. Hopefully, he would make it back before nightfall.
"Wanda! I'll be back! I'm going on a run!"
•••
"I refuse!"
"That's too bad."
Wanda said as she stood across Harvey from inside his bedroom. Harvey just kept refusing to head to bed and get some sleep. He insisted on continuing training; however, Wanda wasn't having any of it.
"You're no good to us as you are now! So get some sleep, and we'll train tomorrow."
Wanda said as she tried pushing Harvey back into the bed. Harvey, however, stayed where he stood. His strength was superhuman, so using her physical strength wouldn't get her anywhere. Backing up, she raised her hands and lifted her friend with her magic, eliciting a surprised yell from him. Raising him over his bed, Wanda slowly laid him down. However, she didn't stop her magic; she was sure he would get up if she didn't keep him in place.
"How long are you gonna keep this up?" Harvey asked from the bed. "I know just bringing me here drained your energy a lot."
"I-I can keep it up for much longer now." Wanda stated. She started to feel sweat build up on her forehead. "So don't think you can get out of this. Just sleep already."
Harvey smiled knowingly at her. Of course, he did. After all, he was the one who knew her limits; all their training together had given him great insight into her and her brother's limitations. Wanda started to feel tired, so she sat down next to him to rest. Harvey laughed lightly at that, but then he let out a yawn.
"Ah, crap." Harvey said.
Wanda smiled in victory. His body seemed to know what it needed more than his stubborn mind. Slowly, his eyes started closing. Harvey tried to fight it, but his exhaustion won out in the end. Seeing him asleep, Wanda released him from her hold and let out a tired breath.
Harvey wasn't wrong that she went past her known limits by just bringing him in here and holding him down. She started to feel her eyes close, a side effect from when she exhausted all her magic too quickly. Looking at the door, she decided to get up and head to her room, but her legs refused to listen to her commands.
Wanda's body fell to the side. She found a comfortable pillow under her head. Turning to the side, she saw that her pillow was actually Harvey's shoulder. Wanda would have panicked at that revelation, but her current state of exhaustion prevented her from doing so.
Looking up at his sleeping face, Wanda couldn't help but feel her cheeks prickle and warm up. Slowly, she raised her hand and grazed his face. Closing her eyes, Wanda fell asleep—a small smile on her face.