Chapter Three: Push Comes to Shove.
Adam stared up at the towering column of dirt that had sprung up around them when they, as Theresa had aptly put it, "spawned" in Virginia. When the residual magic wore off and the column fell, they stepped from the pentagram that had been burned into the dirt they stood on. Adam stood with his hands on his hips, his coat hanging like a cape off his right shoulder, he frowned at the surrounding trees and squinted up toward the lush green hills. After a moment Adam turned to face Theresa.
"Where are we?" he asked, wandering away from her in the direction of a road.
"Virginia,"
"Are you sure you punched in the right coordinates?" he asked loudly as he stopped in front of a large sign.
Theresa scowled at him and yelled back. "Of course, I did!"
"Then why are we at the Northern Shenandoah National Park entrance?"
"I told you before we left, North of Charlottesville,"
"You said South," Adam mumbled.
"Alright! So, I misinformed you by accident, big deal," Theresa snarled.
"Might get us killed one of these days,"
"You're really irritating,"
"Oh well," Adam shrugged, then gestured to nowhere in particular. "Shall we?"
"Shall we what?"
"Get moving, obviously, the rift is clearly not here,"
"Why are you putting on your stupid English accent?"
Adam looked baffled. "I am English!"
"Well stop, it's distracting,"
"There's no winning with you," Adam sighed.
"No there isn't," Theresa smiled and produced a small pouch from her jacket pocket.
"Oh, here we go, pixie dust," Adam put his hands on his hips and looked around.
"No pleasing you, is there?" Theresa muttered as she launched a handful of dust into the air. It spread out to form a ring around her, its colour changing from red to blue before a section of it rippled.
Theresa smiled triumphantly.
"Quality pixie dust," she said walking in the direction of the ripple. The ring remained around her as she moved and with its ten-foot radius Adam had to keep his distance.
"Think it could be underground?" Adam asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.
"Yeah, could be, which makes our job a bit harder,"
"Where's this SHIELD team we're supposed to meet anyway?"
"I've no idea,"
"Maybe if you hadn't teleported us to some random location and-"
Theresa's body suddenly jerked, and she bounced backward onto her arse with a scream of pain. Adam, with a startled cry, shielded his face with his arms, his coat falling to the ground. "Shit!" he yelped, his hands coming alight with magical flame. "What the fuck was that?"
Theresa was holding her face and rolling around on the ground like a football player. "Shit! Fuck! Shit! Fuck! Adam!" she shrieked.
Adam dropped to his knees beside her. "What happened?"
Theresa removed her hands slowly. Her nose was a mess and running blood. "Adam!" she whined.
"Oh. Oh! That's disgusting," Adam heaved. He wasn't a fan of blood.
"Fix it!" Theresa's nasally voice demanded.
Adam clasped a hand over her face like he was about to crush her skull then quietly muttered in an alien tongue. He heard a crack and Theresa grabbed his shirt tightly with a gasp.
"Fuck!" she spat as Adam released her head.
"Better?" Adam asked. Her nose now back to normal though blood still stained her upper lip and chin.
"Well, it still hurts," she grumbled and sat up.
"What happened anyway?"
"I walked into something,"
Adam glanced around in the direction they'd been walking. He couldn't see anything at first but then something wavering caught his eye about six feet away. He tipped his head to the side in confusion, then slowly realised what he was looking at.
"There's something cloaked right here," he said getting to his feet and cautiously taking a few steps forward. He waved his arms in front of him like it was pitch black until he struck something hard and metallic. He ran his hand over it. Whatever it was curved upwards above his head. The more he focussed the more obvious it was at how large the cloaked thing was.
"What is it?" Theresa asked, she was still sat on the floor wiping her face.
"I've no idea but it's big,"
"Yeah? Well, it broke my nose whatever it is,"
Adam backed away. "You good?" he asked, looking at his partner.
"Fine,"
"You've got some blood on your chin," he pointed at his own face to indicate where on hers.
"Here?" she tried mimicked him.
"No," he grabbed her hand and repositioned it. "There,"
"Right, thanks,"
Adam squinted. "Jesus Christ you bleed a lot," he tipped her chin up.
"What?"
"Give me a baby wipe," he wiggled his hand at her. She handed him one. He held her head steady by the base of her skull and wiped her throat which somehow had lines of blood running down it.
"Could you not grip my head like that?"
"What?"
"I said-"
"Excuse me?" a voice said from behind them.
Adam turned quickly and raised his hands.
"Was I interrupting something here?" the man asked. He was middle-aged and friendly looking despite the gun he had pointed in their direction.
"Um, hi, we were- uh-" Adam stammered.
"We're looking for someone," Theresa finished, her head poking up over Adam's shoulder, she noticed the man was walking exactly where the invisible thing was not. "Are you them?"
"Depends, who are you looking for?"
"A guy called Coulson," Theresa said.
"So, you must be Oric's son?" Coulson looked at Adam.
Adam lowered his hands and nodded slightly. "Yeah, that's me, this is my partner, Theresa,"
Coulson lowered his gun.
"I'm Agent Coulson, nice to meet you,"
"Likewise," Theresa nodded.
They shook hands. Adam pointed at the cloaked thing.
"What is it?"
"Ah, my plane, why?"
"Broke her nose," Adam shrugged and picked his coat up off the floor, this time putting it on. "Which is pretty ballsy, she'd kill me if I broke her nose,"
"Right," Coulson quirked a brow.
Adam cleared his throat. "So… The rift?"
Coulson gestured for them to follow.
"How'd you know we were here?" Theresa asked.
"You tripped a proximity alarm,"
"And you investigated by yourself?" she frowned.
"Not exactly," Coulson gestured with a hand and a large black male rose from the grass nearby.
Adam jumped when he saw him. Theresa laughed.
"Easy, you alright?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Adam sniffed quickly. "Who are you?"
"Mack," he replied.
"Nice to meet you, I guess," Adam said, his heart still rapidly beating.
"The Captain's pretty shaken up about this so, I hope you can fix this," Mack told him. Adam looked up at the taller man.
"Did you say, the Captain?" he asked. "As in Captain America?"
"Something wrong with that?" Mack asked.
"Oh man," he looked at Theresa. "We're going to meet the Captain!"
Mack quirked a brow. "Man, how old are you?"
Adam rounded on him, pointed a finger. "You didn't react the same the first time you met the Captain?"
Mack's half-hearted shrug told him all he needed to know.
Adam and Theresa followed the two agents down a series of tunnels below the national park until they eventually emerged in a large chamber filled with people. Everyone turned to face the newcomers, Adam could feel them all sizing him up before Coulson broke the silence.
"Everyone, this is Adam and his partner, Theresa,"
Adam didn't pay attention to the smiles and minor greetings from the team as his eyes were drawn to the corner of the room where the rift warped. Adam felt his eyes dilate, Theresa's would be doing the same, being this close to a power source like this triggered their demonic genes and sent them into near overdrive.
Their flesh rippled, and they took subconscious steps toward it. Drawn like moths to a light.
"Hey!" a voice boomed and the two of them were forcefully yanked away.
Theresa shook her head to snap out of it.
"What was that?" she asked Adam as the two of them panted heavily.
"The energy, we're not used to it,"
"Never felt anything like it,"
"No." Adam looked at her, Theresa's cheeks had turned a radiant white colour, it was as if her face had been splattered. "Your face,"
"Yours too,"
They turned their heads back to the rift.
"That's not a rift to hell," Adam muttered.
"Then?"
"I don't know, I didn't resist the energy from here at all,"
"What're you two thinking?" said the same voice that had yelled before.
Adam and Theresa got to their feet and dusted themselves off. Their faces returning to normal.
"Sorry, caught us by surprise," Theresa answered.
Turning they came face to face with Steve Rogers himself.
"Holy moly!" Adam exclaimed, bowled over with excitement.
Theresa noticed the Captain looked equally surprised, and not from Adam's outburst.
"It's so good to meet you, sir," Adam grabbed the Captain's hand and pumped it enthusiastically.
Steve smiled in return. "Good to meet you too,"
"Man, a dream come true," Adam continued. "This must be really important if you're here,"
"It is," Steve nodded, then looked at them both.
Adam, composing himself much quicker than Theresa was expecting, nodded his head and looked to Coulson.
"So, what did my dad tell you about this?" he asked.
The agent shrugged slightly. "Not much, just that there wasn't a rift here on his mystical map or something,"
"What?" Adam frowned, he looked at Theresa for a moment. She shrugged. "Map?"
"Yeah, he said it shows up all the-" Coulson saw the two Cambion's faces. "Is there not a map?"
"No, there's no map," Theresa said.
"The only reason my dad knows where the Hell Rifts are, is because he, and the other Upper Demons, are the ones that open them,"
Steve frowned. "Why do they do that? It puts everyone in danger,"
"They have no choice, Hell is a realm of magic and magic, like pressure, builds up, and needs to be released, if it's not then, who knows what'll happen, but it'll be worse than a single rift,"
"So, these rifts are like pressure valves?" Jemma suddenly chipped in from across the chamber. Adam looked over and nodded.
"Pretty much,"
"So, your job is to close them?" Steve asked. "Shut these valves off?"
"No," Adam shook his head. "A certain amount of magical energy needs to be released each day, our task is to be on standby and stop anything that comes out, we're like border control between Life and Hell,"
"Then why, if he opens them, does he not know about this one?" Steve pointed at the rift.
"Because it's not a Hell rift," Theresa told them. "Not one we're familiar with anyway,"
"What is it then?"
"I-"
"We don't know," Theresa chipped in. "But it's powerful, and it's messing with us at the moment,"
"Messing with you how?"
"We've got a link to magical sources, it's the demon half of us, but this… This is activating those genes in a way we've previously learned to suppress, overriding us, in a way,"
"Is that a problem?"
"Not really, we just need a little while to adjust," Theresa explained.
"What happens if your genes get activated?"
"Not entirely sure," Adam said bluntly.
"Great,"
"Look, it won't happen," Theresa said. "However, that does mean we'll take a little longer in getting this job done,"
Adam looked at the rift again. "We need to contain it,"
Theresa nodded and dropped her bag on the floor.
"Has anything… Strange come out of it?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, a little red demon thing," Natasha said.
"And?"
"We killed it," Steve answered.
"The ashes?"
Natasha pointed to the pile a few feet from her.
Adam looked at Theresa. "Imps,"
"Imps," she agreed and produced a small tome. "I could use the ashes,"
Adam scraped up as much as he could into a small pouch. He straightened and stepped up beside Theresa who was facing the rift and flicking through the book, he tucked the pouch into her jacket pocket and folded his arms.
"We good to go?" he asked.
"Yeah, one sec, need to find the right spell,"
They lapsed into silence. Adam looked blankly around at the chamber walls. There was nothing special about anything, it was just a cave. As Theresa murmured to herself, Adam turned to some softly approaching footsteps. It was a pale skinned girl with brown hair. She smiled.
"Excuse me, but I- Fitz and I, that is, well, we were wondering what this all is,"
"As in the rift?" Adam frowned slightly.
"Well, all of it, really, how is this all possible?"
"Ah, you mean magic,"
"Not magic, obviously, because that doesn't exist," Jemma said adamantly.
"It doesn't? Damn," he looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Theresa, we need to quit,"
"Why?"
"Magic doesn't exist,"
"Oh ha, ha, very funny," Jemma made a face.
"But honestly, it's a concept that's very rarely been explained to me, I just don't know how else to explain the concept of hell without using the word magic,"
"I see," Jemma nodded. "Are we able to run some tests?"
"Uh-"
"No," Theresa said quickly. "Definitely not, we don't even know what we're up against here let alone having you near it,"
There was a crackling sound from the rift. Adam spun abruptly, watched the rift dilate to twice its size.
"Tess?" he asked with concern.
"I have no idea, I didn't do anything,"
From the rift emerged a mammoth of a creature, spiny and orange with mottled dry flesh covered in a weird armour, it gurgled unpleasantly as it eased its way into their world. Adam recoiled away from it, a few of the others yelped in horror, a sound which was abruptly followed by swearing and gunfire. The creature, roughly the size of an adult rhino, fixed its gaze on the two Cambions that stood closest to it.
"Oh mother-" Adam grabbed Theresa and tackled her to the side as the creature stampeded straight by them and into the wall on the other side of the chamber. Guns cracked loudly, the creature roared in pain as it was hit. It spun and charged once more, this time toward Jemma. Steve hurled his shield at it, the force, surprisingly, staggered the thing and switched its attention to him.
"Adam tether it!" Theresa screamed at him as the two of them sprung to their feet.
"To what!?" Adam yelled back as the Captain avoided a savage claw swipe from the thing.
"The rift! Tether it to the rift!" She screamed in response.
"Bloody hell," he muttered, a javelin appearing in his right hand, when he threw it, chain ran from the shaft and endless length that seemed to appear from nowhere. The weapon buried itself in the creature's shoulder, it cried out and turned to face him.
"Give me a break," Adam huffed as he ran straight at it, he dropped to his knees and skidded through its legs, as he emerged from the other side he lobbed the chain that had been accumulating in his hand straight into the rift. The chain was gobbled up and immediately went taunt, dragging the creature back into it. Coulson's team were still unloading clip after clip into the thing but that only pissed it off and made it struggle even harder against the rift.
"Stop!" Theresa ordered, worried a stray bullet would catch her partner. "Stop!"
Adam conjured a second javelin and threw it, this time into the demon rhino thing's back, he yanked hard on the chain in an attempt to reel it in like a wild dog. However, that only seemed to piss it off more.
"A little help here!" Adam grunted.
Steve watched for a moment, when the demon's attention was momentarily on someone else, he bolted forward with his shield raised and shoulder charged the thing in the face. Surprised the demon stumbled backward a few feet toward the rift.
Theresa stared in shock as the chain Adam was holding went slack and he lost his footing.
"What are you doing?" she screamed at the Captain in horror.
Steve said nothing and charged again, this time dipping down and springing upward to send the demon over backward. Theresa out of instinct threw a ball of flame into the Captain, and though it sent him hurtling across the room, it was already too late for Adam.
She could only stand by and helplessly watch as both the demon and Adam were swallowed entirely by the unknown rift.
A/N: Well, it's been a few months since I last updated anything. I really just haven't been in the mood to write anything in all honesty, now that I have, I can't guarantee that the updates will be regular from now on but I'll do my best. Hopefully, I can get back into things. Anyway, if you've been waiting for the update, here you go, hope you like it; if this is your first time reading, I hope you enjoyed.