Chapter 24: Fire in the Sky

In which there is a (fire) storm brewing above New York City.

Leslie had barely even reacted when her friends left to their respective battles. She could only stare silently at the red mark that was glowing ominously on the map of New York City.

Inferno was in the middle of Manhattan, only a few blocks away from here.

Why? He could've attacked anywhere. Anywhere in the city, anywhere in the state. So why did he return here?

'Once I deliver this thing, I will find you and make you beg for death. Then I'll kill the rest of your pathetic friends and burn this whole fucking city to the ground!'

Leslie dug her nails into her palms, Inferno's threats still ringing in her ears. She felt queasy and her knees were trembling.

"Miss Lee? Are you well?" a voice asked over the intercom: the same guy as before. J, Iron Man had called him.

"…No, I'm not," Leslie whispered.

She had been running on pure adrenaline for several days straight, constantly pushing herself forward and refusing to acknowledge how scared she was…

And now it felt like everything was crashing down on her: from the cold terror of being assaulted by an alien that she thought was going to kill her to the sharp sting of betrayal when someone she used to care about abandoned her to her fate, from almost having her free will stolen to watching someone bleed out in front of her, from being attacked with knives and guns to having to fight a superpowered murderer.

Leslie bit back a hysterical laugh. Oh god… She had shot an immortal serial killer who had sworn revenge on her personally.

Who even now was trying to burn down the city and set an interdimensional demon free. Who could attack this place at any moment–

Leslie lurched up to her feet in a sudden surge of panic. "I– I need to leave. I can't stay here."

Inferno was too close. He was too close, it would take him only a minute to fly here and blast in!

There had to be a reason he had reappeared so close to Stark Industries, and it didn't matter if there was security in this building: they couldn't handle him yesterday and they wouldn't be able to handle him now either.

It wasn't safe here. (It wasn't safe anywhere, not while Inferno was still free.)

Peter was fast, his webs giving him the ability to outrun a car with ease, but War Machine was in a different league altogether. The moment Inferno had been detected, War Machine had blasted off, barely waiting for the windows of the conference room to open, and left Peter and Venom completely in the dust.

Thankfully, the area Inferno had attacked was close to SI headquarters, so it took them only a few minutes to get there. (In the back of his mind, Peter wondered why Inferno had chosen it. Was he specifically attacking close to Stark Industries to draw out Iron Man and War Machine? Did he choose the most overcrowded part of New York City to have more people to drain energy from? Or was it completely random?)

When they arrived, War Machine was already battling Inferno high in the sky, the two combatants exchanging fireballs and energy blasts. It was a smart move on War Machine's part, getting Inferno away from the innocent bystanders, but it also meant that they were both too high for either Peter or Venom to reach.

In that case…

"War Machine is keeping him busy, so we gotta get the civilians out," Peter said and pivoted down to land on the ruined street. Venom landed next to him, heavy enough that their landing cracked the already damaged pavement further.

Peter looked around the street and shuddered briefly at the sight.

Everything was covered in foam, so at least the fire-suppression grenades had worked as advertised, but he could see where fire had been raging mere minutes ago. Several cars were nothing but piles of molten sludge and the nearby buildings had massive holes blasted through their walls.

Worst of all, Peter could see human bodies lying everywhere, unconscious or dead, he couldn't even tell.

He leapt towards the closest ones: a little boy who looked barely out of kindergarten and a teenage girl who could've been his sister. Neither of them looked injured – no blood, no burns, no broken bones – but their brown skin was tinted sickly grey and unnaturally dark branching veins were visible beneath it.

Worse still, there were soot-black handprints on both their necks. They looked more like ink stains than regular bruises, and Peter could guess why. These weren't normal injuries, they were a sign of Dormammu's demonic power.

Peter pressed his fingers against the side of the boy's neck then the girl's and sighed with relief when he felt a flutter of pulse beneath.

They were still alive.

But when he tried to shake them awake, all his attempts were fruitless, and the children remained completely unresponsive.

So this was what it meant to have your life-energy stolen… A permanent coma.

Peter looked at the unconscious kids and felt his stomach churn. He knew full well that Kasady was a remorseless murderer, but to do this to innocent children…

His spider-sense flared up suddenly – a flash of static against his spine – and Peter jumped away with the kids in his arms. A large slab of stone broke off the nearby building and landed right where they had been mere seconds ago.

…Right then. If Peter couldn't wake up Kasady's victims, he had to at least get them to safety.

Venom wanted nothing more than to sink their teeth into Kasady's neck and tear him apart bone by bone, but the damn monster was flying too high for them to reach. So instead they directed their rage into something a little more constructively-destructive.

They lifted a broken lamppost from a ruined car and ripped the door open, their claws rending metal like paper. The driver within had his blond hair matted with blood and his right arm was bent at a wrong angle. He was unconscious, though probably not comatose: he had none of the dark markings the rest of Inferno's victims had on their skin.

Venom snapped the seatbelts and pulled the driver out, using their tendrils to keep his spine steady. Before they could decide whether to find medical help for him or if he was stable enough to wait for the paramedics (they could already hear the sirens in the distance and there were other people around who needed help as well), a screech of tearing metal echoed from above, the awful sound just this side of painful.

Venom put the injured man down and quickly webbed up a broken billboard before it could fall down on them. A cracking of stone signaled the wall of a nearby building starting to fall apart, and Venom had to quickly create a large web between the lampposts to catch pieces of stone that rained down.

They cursed under their breath. This street was a death trap. Spider-Man was right: they needed to get everyone out and quickly.

Damn, Inferno really had been holding back yesterday, hadn't he?

Rhodey had punched the bastard into the sky as soon as he arrived, but keeping him there was proving to be a challenge.

At first, the layer of flames around Inferno's body was barely a foot thick, and the temperature was low enough that Rhodey's armor and the improved cooling systems Tony had installed could handle it without much issue.

Now the fire was ten times that size and hot enough that Rhodey couldn't get close. Worse still, it severely limited his arsenal, since both the fire suppression grenades and the regular missiles detonated prematurely, unable to take so much heat.

Thankfully, fire couldn't block pure energy, so at least the repulsors still worked. But while he was much slower than Rhodey, Inferno was just agile enough to dodge most of his attacks and regenerate the damage from what he couldn't avoid.

Rhodey himself could do the same: dodge what he could and his armor would tank the rest. Which meant, they were currently at a stalemate: they couldn't really hurt each other and their allies either couldn't reach them up here or were otherwise occupied.

Except this stalemate wasn't sustainable. Rhodey was sharply aware that Inferno was not aiming his flames downwards, where all the innocent people were. Dormammu needed their life energy, so Inferno was playing by the rules and leaving his victims alive.

For now.

How long would it be before he got tired of this game and decided to just kill everyone and try again elsewhere?

Rhodey had to take him down.

Frances silently looked into the sky that her husband's fire flared across. She hated to admit it, but she really would've been of no help to him up there.

They had argued about it early in the morning, right after the demon's second visit. Frances wanted to be by her husband's side, to help him in any way she could, but Cletus was terrified of losing control again, so with great reluctance Frances had agreed to stay back.

So here she was: standing on the sidelines.

Back in the day, she had been the muscle of their little team. She liked having the power to protect her love, and she hated seeing him put himself in danger.

And now it felt like she was stuck in prison once again.

Useless. Helpless.

Frances slowly exhaled, trying to calm down. No, no, this wasn't the same.

'You have protected me so many times before,' Cletus had said. 'Let me return the favor for once.'

She hated this situation, but she would trust her husband, just like he had always trusted her.

Shoulders hunched and head kept low, Leslie hurried back home.

Her apartment was in a different direction from the battle raging in the middle of the city, and while she could still hear the distant explosions and see the flames painting the sky sickly orange, she had managed to get home without any trouble.

Her hands were still shaking, but with every step taking her further away from the monster burning in the sky, she felt her panic recede. When she finally entered her apartment and closed the door behind her, Leslie felt like she could finally breathe.

There was still fear churning in her stomach, but now it was diluted with bitterness. Leslie herself was safe (or at least as safe as she could be under the circumstances), but her friends didn't have the same luxury.

They were fighting for their lives out there. And for all she knew, they could already–

Leslie scrambled towards her old TV. She turned it on and clicked between channels, her trembling fingers barely able to hit the right buttons, until she finally found what she was searching for: a live news report straight from the battlefield.

The news crew was keeping their distance, but Leslie could see War Machine fighting Inferno high in the sky. And down on the ruined streets, Venom and Spider-Man were rushing around, patching up the falling-apart buildings, and ferrying the victims towards the waiting ambulances.

Leslie slumped down with a sigh of relief. They were still alive.

She had no idea what Carnage and Iron Man were dealing with, but Mordo was a lesser threat compared to Inferno, so she hoped they were alright too.

She just wished she could do something to help them.

With a sharp ache in her heart, Leslie found herself missing V. She missed the power they granted her, the ability to fight, to help, to protect, and not just stay on the sidelines, watching others risk their lives…

At least with them, she wouldn't have been so alone. It felt like the walls of her apartment were closing in on her, and she wished desperately that there was someone, anyone here with her to lean on and share this burden of fear and aching worry.

A sudden change on the screen dragged Leslie out of her spiraling thoughts. She watched, uncomprehending, as a different news crew boarded a helicopter and directed it towards the heart of the battle.

What– what were they doing? Couldn't they see how dangerous Inferno was? Why were they getting closer to him?! If he noticed them–

And then there was no if, when an arc of flames headed straight for the helicopter.

Rhodey had rushed to intercept the flames, but even his armor wasn't fast enough. He could do nothing but watch as a narrow arc of fire cut off the tail of the helicopter and damaged its blades, making it spiral out of control.

Inferno laughed – a terrible, ear-grating noise that his audio systems picked on despite the distance.

He did it on purpose, Rhodey realized with sudden clarity.

Inferno was more than powerful enough to destroy the helicopter in a single hit. But with it merely damaged, the helicopter was going to crash down on the streets, killing everyone beneath.

Unless Rhodey stopped it.

Unless Rhodey abandoned the fight and stopped it.

"Damn you…" Rhodey whispered and rushed towards the falling helicopter.

He tossed a nitrogen grenade at its broken tail, freezing out the remaining flames before they could spread to the fuel tank. He dove beneath the helicopter and dug his gauntlets into its armor, trying to get a good grip. The repulsors in his boots whined under the strain as he struggled to pull it out of the tailspin.

In the corner of his eye, Rhodey saw Inferno diving down, back to the streets where more victims awaited.

Rhodey hoped to hell that his allies would be able to stop him.

His spider-sense flared up, sharp and nearly painful, and Peter dove away without thinking.

Inferno crashed on the street like a meteor, leaving a crater in the already broken road. His flames burst out on impact, melting nearby cars, and Peter spared half a second to feel glad that they had already pulled out any people remaining there.

"Oh, it's you again," Inferno commented mildly. He looked between Peter and Venom. "It's almost like our first fight! But shouldn't there be more of you? Where's the red freak of nature? Or that pest with her little peashooter? Soon to be dead pest, once I get my hands on her."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Venom roared.

They ripped an entire lamppost out of the ground and threw it at Inferno like a spear.

Inferno effortlessly dodged it and shrugged theatrically. "Well, in that case, I guess I'll just have to kill you first."

Peter grabbed one of the grenades he kept attached to a web wrapped across his chest and threw it at Inferno. "Not today!"

The grenade exploded with foam, knocking Inferno back and dousing out the foot-thick layer of flames around him.

For a moment, Inferno simply laid on the ground, unmoving. Then his fire reignited and he lifted himself up on his elbows. "You know, I've been feeling rather grateful to you, Spider-Man, so I thought I'd kill you quickly. But now, you're really making me reconsider."

"If I had a nickel for every nutcase who had ever threatened to kill me…" Peter snorted.

He webbed up a brick wall that was barely holding itself together right above Inferno and pulled.

Before it could fall down on him, Inferno blasted it into pieces with a dismissive wave of his hand. Then he slowly dragged himself to his feet. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

…Why was he standing? Wasn't he usually hovering in the air?

"I could say the same about you," Peter quipped. "Why don't you just spare everyone the trouble and surrender?"

Inferno laughed. It sounded odd, different from his usual maniacal cheerfulness.

It sounded… bitter.

"Do you really think I can afford to surrender? Now, when I finally–" Inferno cut himself off for a moment, then continued. "I can't lose. I can't. So I won't."

There was a flare of orange between his blackened ribs–

Peter felt his spider-sense shriek in warning–

And then there was fire everywhere.

Venom had thrown themselves straight through the wall of a nearby building in their attempt to avoid the fire. It worked, but only just: they couldn't entirely dodge a lash of flames across their back and the collapsing wall fell down on top of them.

With a loud roar, they burst out of the pile of bricks, ignoring the burns on their back. The injury was more painful than dangerous: the fire didn't reach their human skin, and Klyntar biomass regenerated fast.

They hastily looked around, searching for their enemy – and saw him pinning Spider-Man to the ground with one hand wrapped around his throat.

For once, Inferno wasn't covered in flames, and Spider-Man was physically much stronger than him. And yet, he wasn't fighting back. It looked like he had a seizure that left him shaking and twitching and helpless.

Venom snarled in rage and hefted up a broken car. Then they threw it at Inferno with all their strength, knocking him off Spider-Man and into a ruined building. The already-damaged walls collapsed, burying both the car and the undead monster beneath.

Venom hurried towards Spider-Man and knelt down next to him.

He had stopped shaking and now was lying limply on the ground. A severed skeletal hand was still clutching his throat. Venom pulled it off and tossed it away in disgust.

With a choked cry Spider-Man bolted awake. He clawed at his neck, gasping like he couldn't get enough air.

His frantic movements made his costume shift slightly, baring his skin, and Venom saw an ink-black handprint staining his throat. But unlike the other victims that Inferno had stolen life from, the mark was quickly fading.

Soon, Spider-Man stopped scratching at his neck and simply clasped both hands around it. Minute tremors ran through his body.

"Cold… It was so cold…" he whispered, sounding completely out-of-it. Then he looked up and some clarity returned to his voice, "Where's Inferno?"

Venom pointed at the demolished building. "Somewhere in there."

Strange… Why was it taking Inferno so long to dig himself out?

Spider-Man took a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet with a faint tremble. "Alright. He won't take me by surprise again… And thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it," Venom replied dismissively. They narrowed their eyes and detached one of the grenades they kept half-submerged in their biomass when they saw the pile of rubble starting to glow from within. "Get ready for the next round."

His entire body felt frostbitten, pins and needles digging into too-numb skin, but at least Peter could move again.

Inferno's fire was bad enough, but this new power was horrifying to experience: a painful paralysis that felt like his very soul was being ripped out of his body.

Peter never ever wanted to feel it again, but it also made him all the more determined to stop Inferno before he could hurt anyone else.

A blast of fire tossed the rubble away, and Peter tensed, ready to dodge a new attack.

…Except Inferno wasn't attacking. In fact, he looked like he was barely standing.

He was hunched over, his remaining hand clutching his ribs. His other arm was hanging limply at his side. Flickers of fire sparked around his severed hand and started to slowly drag it towards him, before dying half-way.

"You're all… so… annoying," Inferno hissed. He sounded like he was struggling to breathe, even though he didn't have lungs anymore. "Why don't you just die already?!"

Fire flared erratically around him, growing and dimming without any rhyme or reason.

"…He's burning out," Venom said suddenly. Their fanged maw stretched into a grin. "He can't handle this power anymore!"

Inferno snarled in rage and sharply straightened up. His severed hand blazed with fire and flew up to reattach to his wrist. "I have more than enough left to deal with you!"

And then a bright beam of light came from above and pierced Inferno through.

A unibeam ate up energy like nothing else, but Rhodey refused to take any chances. He was lucky enough that Inferno didn't notice his approach, so Rhodey used that opportunity to blast his ribcage apart from behind.

A jagged orange crystal flew out of his chest and clattered to the ground. And without the source of his power, Inferno collapsed into a pile of blackened bone like a puppet with strings cut.

Rhodey quickly scanned his body, but his sensors couldn't detect any movement or abnormal energy.

Inferno was dead.

Rhodey sighed in relief. He thought that taking out the crystal would simply remove Inferno's power and turn him human again, but this worked too.

Spider-Man took a wary step towards the body, "Is– is he–"

"Dead," Rhodey confirmed. He flew down and landed on the ground to conserve energy: just because Inferno was gone, didn't mean they were out of the woods yet.

"And good riddance!" Venom crowed.

It didn't look like Spider-Man agreed. He silently stared at what remained of Inferno. "Was there really no other way…?"

Venom scoffed, crossing their arms. "Don't tell us you're feeling sorry for that monster!"

"He was still a person."

"Yeah, and a really damn awful one! The world is better off without him!"

…Ah. Rhodey was starting to understand why those two had so many issues with each other.

Spider-Man seemed to be the type of person who thought that lethal force was unacceptable in any circumstances. Venom clearly didn't share the sentiment.

Rhodey sighed. Honestly, he knew that this was a very thorny ethical issue, but the truth of the matter was… Idealism was only easy in a perfect world.

Sometimes, there was nothing you could do but choose the lesser of two evils.

And really, what else were they supposed to do here? Yes, Rhodey would've preferred to take Inferno alive and let the court of law decide his punishment (although honestly, the only reason he hadn't been executed for his previous crimes was because New York state had no death penalty), but none of them were strong enough to subdue him.

And he wasn't going to stop. Yes, some people turned to crime out of desperation and could be talked around if given better options, but there was no deeper meaning to what Inferno was doing. He simply liked killing people.

So if the only options were taking the life of a remorseless murderer or letting him run free to kill more innocents, Rhodey knew what he would always choose.

"What's done is done," Rhodey said decisively, interrupting the brewing argument between his allies. "Mordo and Shriek are still out there and Dormammu is still a threat. We need to deal with them first, then you can hash out your personal issues between yourselves."

He looked at the orange crystal glimmering on the ground. It clearly had plenty of power left within and Rhodey really didn't like the way concrete was starting to melt underneath it.

"Need to contain this thing too," he added with a frown. The last thing they needed was for some poor schmuck to stumble across it and start this mess all over again.

Rhodey took out a nitrogen grenade and weighed it in his hand. Would it be enough to freeze the crystal? Because he doubted his gauntlets would provide enough insulation to handle it safely.

The crystal glowed brightly – and then rose into the air.

Rhodey backed away in horror as the orange fire flared around it and stretched towards Inferno's body.

No. No-no-no-no, this couldn't be happening!

Bone after charred bone floated towards the crystal, reassembling back into a humanoid shape, until the undead monster was once again standing before them.

"Well, this was an interesting experience," Inferno said cheerfully. "I admit I didn't know what would happen if someone else tried to take out the crystal. I guess we have all learned something today!"

They had been wrong, Rhodey realized with a sinking heart.

They knew that Inferno was powered by the crystal, but they had no idea what would happen if they removed it. They had simply assumed it would get rid of his powers.

They had just been guessing… and they had guessed wrong.