Capítulo 70: Chapter 70: The Door
"When will we hear from Master Blackheart?"
A short, fat demon with sharp claws on its hands and feet said. Its dark blue harsh skin shifted every time it moved, and the rows of sharp teeth were covered in greenish slime resembling drool. The pair of red eyes narrowed as it looked down at the shingles it was standing on.
"Patience, Braxl. Our master will soon allow us to indulge ourselves." A tall and lanky light green demon said. Its long limbs hung calmly beside it, and the Demon turned his small head towards its companion. "After all, if we disobey masters orders. Our lives are forfeit."
"I simply cannot wait, Zergle!" Braxl chuckled as he inhaled deeply through his nose. "There are three human women inside! It's been too long since I've indulged myself in their kind inner flesh!"
"I'll never understand how you can play with your food like that." Zergle made a disgusted expression. "How putrid. Humans are only good for food."
"How about you join me this time? After we feast on the males, I'll let you have the youngest female. That will surely enlighten you!" Braxl said as his large body shifted. "What do you say?"
"Focus on our duties, Braxl. We can't afford to fail-"
Before Zergle could finish his sentence, the Demon was launched off the roof and got sent crashing into the open street. The Demon rolled several times on the hard pavement until he stopped. Zergle looked down at his stomach and saw a large gash, blood, and entrails slowly flowing out.
"ZERGLE!"
Braxl yelled to his friend. The pudgy blue Demon turned his head and glared at the person responsible. On the other side of the rooftop, a human male with silver grey hair stood calmly. The human was dressed in a silver leather jacket. In his hands were a pair of silver daggers that glowed ominously. What the human said next sent shivers down Braxl's back.
"…I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you."
Once the human finished speaking, his two daggers were enveloped in a golden glow. Braxl took a step back in fear; sweat covered his face.
"H-Heavenly daggers?!" Braxl said. "Impossible! You are but a m-mere human! How could you have the weapons of an angel?!"
"They're gifts from a friend." The human said as he began walking forward. "I cut down the two Demons on my roof very quickly. Dead before they knew it. But you... I'm going to make it hurt."
Braxl turned around and tried to run away but fell flat on his face. Looking down, the blue Demon's eyes widened at the sight of his leg. Below his left knee was a stump, following a long trail of blood upwards. Braxl found his cut-off foot a few feet away.
"GAH!" Braxl screamed. "Y-You'll pay for that, you bastard!"
In the next instant, half of Braxl's vision disappeared. Almost as if he shut his right eye and left the other one open. It was then that pain shot up his face.
Before he could yell, blood and gore exploded in his field of vision. The sounds of several fast-moving objects rang loudly in his pointed ears. Almost as sudden as it all happened, everything stopped.
"RAAGH!"
Braxl's back arched as a wave of excruciating pain flooded his entire body. Thousands upon thousands of tiny cuts layered his body; shakily looking down, Braxl's eyes grew in horror at the sight of his mutilated body. Blood slowly seeped out of all his wounds and built up beneath him into a small pool of dark crimson.
In the corners of his vision, Braxl saw a dirty white shoe stop next to his face. Looking up, he saw the human with the silver hair look down at him with an expression of apathy.
"M-Mercy." Braxl said.
"Mercy? Those women you were so excited to violate are my friends." The human raised his right hand and aimed the dagger at him. "I won't show any mercy to those that threaten my friends."
In a blur of speed, the silver-haired human stabbed the dagger into the center of his head. Braxl could only look numbly into the human's eyes as he slowly felt himself nod off.
Braxl's body then gradually began to turn to black ash and float away into the air. Closing his eyes, Braxl's head then started to turn to ash. Finally, ending his life.
•••
"BRAXL!"
Pietro turned his head to see the skinny, green Demon standing. Intestines in his hands, Looking closely, the silver speedster noticed that the Demon was beginning to heal himself as flesh and skin melded over where he cut the creature's stomach.
"You insolent human! You'll pay for tha-"
"Manny's house should be closer to here. I'll head there and then to the Tuckers." Pietro said as he flicked his right dagger to the ground; the blood that was on the pristine blade fell onto the ground in a soft spalt.
Turning around, Pietro saw the green Demon's small head slowly slide off his neck, falling onto the pavement and rolling a few feet away. Like a puppet with its strings cut off, the Demon fell onto his knees and collapsed to the side. Its body began to turn to black ash until it completely disappeared.
"I didn't even need the dagger's incantation to kill that one. Are they all this weak, or are these daggers that strong?"
Smiling in satisfaction, Pietro looked down at the twin daggers and remembered how he got them.
...A Few Months Ago...
"This is mine! Open it!"
Pietro smiled as he saw Amy push Harvey back into the couch and land on Wanda, who was surrounded by several opened gifts, causing his sister to blush and ask him if he was alright. Around the room were multi-colored balloons and a red and blue cake on the dining room table.
"I-I'm fine." Harvey's face gained a hue of pink as he smiled and got off her lap. "Sorry about that."
"I-It's fine." Wanda said. "Amy, that was rude."
"Harvs already gave Speedy his gift and was holding up the line." Amy turned around and stuck her tongue out to Harvey and Wanda. "Move it or lose it."
"She's just mad she lost our race the other day." Harvey said as he rested his arm on the couch's cushion, subsequently resting his arm behind Wanda's back. Pietro watched his sister smile shyly.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever Harvs." Amy closed her eyes and pouted. "Next time, I'll leave you in the dust. You and that dumb bike of yours. Anyways! Speedy, open my gift!"
Pietro chuckled at everyone's antics, looking down at the silver wrapping paper wrapped in a blue bow; the silver speedster couldn't help but smile at the color choices. Tearing off the gift wrapping, Pietro opened the top of the box and saw two beautiful daggers resting on a pristine white cloth.
"Wow." Pietro said as he carefully lifted one of the daggers. "It's amazing."
"Hm, these daggers are making my skin crawl." Harvey and Wanda walked over to the dining table he was sitting at and inspected the daggers. "They're not ordinary daggers, are they?"
"That's correct!" Amy smiled and placed her hands on her hips. "These daggers were the first pair of weapons given to me by my brother when I was first appointed my position as one of humanity's guardian angels."
"Amy, are you sure?" Pietro raised his eyebrows in concern as he looked over to Amy. "I don't think I-"
"Stop right there!" Amy walked over and stood behind him; Pietro then felt her arms grab his head and bring him into her chest for a hug. "These daggers are my gift to you, Pietro. I want you to have these. They're a symbol, a symbol to show you that you are very important to me. You all are, after all. We're family."
Pietro felt his eyes begin to burn but quickly blinked away those unwanted tears. "T-Thank you."
"Don't mention it, Speedy." Amy said softly.
"All I got was socks on my birthday."
"You ruined the moment, Harvey."
...Present...
Pietro gripped the dagger in his hands and smiled. When Amy explained the function of the blades, Pietro didn't expect to ever run into any Demons. That was more within Harvey's department. Pietro was already impressed after hearing that these weapons were made in Heaven and could never become dull. But when she also told him that they had a unique property to exorcise Demons quickly, the speedster truly began to understand the value of the weapons.
"Thanks, Amy. Without these, I'd have more trouble dealing with these Demons."
Looking towards the direction where Manny's home was located, Pietro began running. Everything blurred around him as he ran. The danger wasn't over; he had to be quick and remove the Demons targeting his friends.
"I hope you find Harvey quickly, Wanda. Whatever is going on, I get the feeling we're gonna need his help for whatever is going on."
•••
"We're here."
Wanda nodded at Happy Hogan's words and walked over to the large open deck of Tony Stark's yacht. The night sky made it hard to see the ocean's waters; thankfully, the full moon gave them some much-needed light.
"Harvey is somewhere down there." Wanda said as she peered down at the slow-moving tides. "I know it."
"According to your coordinates, he should be somewhere around here. But being this deep into the sea, who knows how deep in the waters he is or if the water currents drifted him somewhere else." Happy said, a frown marring his face. "Is he... even still alive?"
[ "Happy, don't be so negative." ] Wanda heard Stark say from the radio within Happy's hand. [ "How about saying something positive?" ]
"Sorry, sir. I'm just being realistic." Happy said into the radio, earning him a glare from her. "Unless he can breathe underwater, then things aren't looking too hot."
"He's alive." Wanda said resolutely. "Harvey is not dead."
[ "That's the spirit, kid." ] Stark said. [ "We just have to- wait. One of the drones is picking up something." ]
Wanda felt her heart beat faster; running over to the railing, she looked at the tides anxiously. Raising her own radio, she listened to the sounds from Stark's radio. After Pietro called Stark and told him that Amy had found his location, Stark sent his head of security and one of his close friends, Happy Hogan, to pick her up and drive her to one of his large yachts. Meanwhile, Stark started the search in the area where the coordinates pointed to inside his Iron Man armor and a legion of drones.
[ "Wanda." ] Stark said.
"Stark, did you find him?" Wanda said quickly.
[ "I think so... just prepare yourself. Happy, we're coming up." ] Stark said, making the knock inside her stomach twist up even more.
After what felt like hours, Wanda saw the light slowly rise upwards in the dark ocean waters. With a large splash, Wanda saw Stark fly out of the water with something in his arms. Stark flew over towards the yacht's deck and slowly descended. With a loud clang, Stark landed down. Wanda could only look on with wide eyes at what he held in his arms. Stark's face armor slid up; he looked at her sadly.
"I'm sorry, Wanda."
In Stark's armored arms rested a naked, burnt skeleton. There was no fire surrounding the bones in glorious flames. No life could be seen inside the skull's empty, dark sockets. Stark then slowly bent down and laid the skeleton down onto the yacht's deck. The billionaire then stood up and took a step back, the loud clangs of his footsteps filled the silent space between them.
"N-No... no, no, no..." Wanda shook her head back and forth. Hot tears were slowly building up in the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision. "...Harvey."
Wanda numbly walked up to the skeleton that was once her dear friend and fell to her knees in front of the skull. Wanda brought her hands up to her face and silently cried; soft sobs escaped her mouth. Behind her, Happy had a frown on his face as he closed his eyes and looked away. Stark looked down and sighed deeply.
"Please don't leave me too..."
Wanda reached down and placed her hands beside the skull's sides. Unbeknownst to her, she was releasing a low amount of chaos magic into her palms. The red-twisting magic surged into Harvey's unmoving skull. With a loud gasp, Wanda's head snapped up. Her eyes glowed bright red.
...???...
"Where... where am I?"
Wanda spun around and saw nothing but black all around her. Even the space beneath her was empty and dark; it was hard for her to know whether she was standing upwards. She saw her hair float calmly in the air, gravity seemingly absent.
Confused about what was happening, Wanda spun around until she saw something odd. It was... an orange door? Why was a door floating within the empty space?
"Witch."
Spinning around in surprise, Wanda saw the space behind her ignite in blue fire. When the flames settled down, she saw a familiar red skull surrounded by blue fire.
"Zarathos!" Wanda said happily.
"That's a first." Zarathos said, floating up to her. "I've never been greeted by such an emotion before."
"Of course, I'm happy to see you!" Wanda smiled. "If you're alive, then that must mean Harvey is too."
Zarathos nodded and turned to the odd floating door in the distance. "Indeed, my partner is alive. A small explosion like that could never truly damage the Ghost Rider."
Wanda and Zarathos floated over to the door and stopped a few feet away. The door glowed a dull light, sporadically shining a bright orange light. Wanda jumped in surprise when the door knob rattled.
"Regardless of the lack of damage, the explosion had on us. Simon's unique form of energy affected us, primarily affecting some part of Harvey's consciousness." Zarathos said as he glared at the door. "Whatever is keeping his consciousness locked away has to do something with this door."
"Can't you just open it yourself?" Wanda said, turning to Zarathos. "Harvey and yourself are connected through each other's souls; this much should be easy for you, right?"
"You would usually be correct, but I believe Harvey himself allowed this to happen for some reason. All my efforts have had no effect on releasing him." Zarathos then turned to her. "But now that you're here, I believe that your chaos magic could help release him from that door."
"My magic?" Wanda whispered as she looked down at her hands. Narrowing her eyes, Wanda looked up at the door with determination. "If I can bring him back, I'll do whatever it takes!"
Zarathos stayed silent while he continued to look at her; after a while, the powerful Demon nodded in satisfaction. "It seems I might have misjudged you, Witch-no, Wanda. I'm now sure that you will be able to bring back my partner."
Wanda looked at Zarathos in awe; she had somehow gained the ancient Demon's acknowledgment. With a nod, she turned her head to look at the orange door; Wanda floated towards it and grasped the door knob. Twisting the knob, she found it not wanting to open. Closing her eyes, she focused and infused the door with chaos magic. With another twist, the knob finally clicked.
Pushing the door open, Wanda was blinded by a bright white light. Squinting her eyes, she raised her forearm before her face to shield herself from the light. Taking a deep breath, Wanda stepped forward and vanished within the light.
Zarathos watched the door slam close and lock itself. The Demon floated still in the darkness and watched the door containing his partner. Zarathos then turned around and stared off into space.
"Be quick, Wanda. Whatever Blackheart is planning out there will surely end in tragedy if we don't stop him quickly."
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