Seconds in Hell
ALEXEI reformed in an instant; maybe barely a second. His body completed itself again and, as soon as it did, the first thing that came out of him was a scream of rage directed at Owen, while a laser-like blaze burst from his mouth and eyes, shooting directly toward the man who remained standing with a cold stare.
"aaaah" Alexei shouted as he unleashed all his power in that attack.
Owen simply raised his right hand. The powerful beam split in different directions upon crashing against that single hand, while Owen walked toward him with slow steps, not stopping for even a second; not even with all the heat crawling across his skin and armor.
Alexei, despite having his eyes turned into two flamethrowers, seemed to see Owen clearly approaching. He screamed with more force. The laser became thinner, more intense, more destructive.
But before it could harm him, Owen's hand grabbed him by the face.
Alexei only managed to feel how his body smashed against the ground. His back left a deep mark in the earth, as if he had been thrown from the sky.
Owen lifted his left hand and placed it over his own right shoulder.
Then a reddish pulse traveled through his body and descended to the right glove, to the hand that held Alexei.
In the next instant, Alexei's body exploded again into pieces of orange blood and red flesh. The ground also split in several directions, leaving perfectly ordered cracks as if they were cuts made with surgical precision.
Owen straightened again, calm, while shaking his right hand to remove Alexei's remains.
Then he stared intently at how the man's body regenerated at full speed. The pieces moved across the ground grotesquely, dragging themselves until they reassembled.
Alexei finished forming and looked at Owen with ragged breathing, stepping back to gain distance. He seemed aware that Owen was only playing with him.
"One point fifty-six seconds" Owen said coldly. Then he added "double the first time, which was zero point seventy-eight."
"Damn you" Alexei growled as his red muscles grew slightly. His own rage was breaking impossible limits.
His body grew only a few centimeters, but his muscles and heat seemed to have doubled.
"graaaa" Alexei roared while using multiple explosions to propel himself toward Owen. Before striking him, he aimed at the ground near him. Owen tilted his head with slight confusion before making a short hop backward.
At that moment, as if a geyser of pure lava erupted from deep within the earth, a column of molten rock rose, falling as a burning rain over both of them.
"That's new" Owen said with an almost casual interest.
Alexei jumped toward him again with his fists blazing, overflowing with fury.
Owen simply waited for him.
A punch aimed at his head. Owen moved just slightly to the side.
A front kick. He stepped back, letting it pass by him.
A hammer-like downward strike. Another step forward and the blow hit the ground, opening blazing cracks all around.
Owen took Alexei's arm and spun on his own axis, lifting him over his shoulder before slamming him into the earth with such force that he created another crater in the shape of Alexei's body.
He punched him directly in the chest with his right arm, destroying him again.
Then Owen straightened, waiting calmly as he watched the disgusting remains move across the ground to reassemble.
When Alexei was fully formed again, Owen commented with the same calm as before:
"three point twelve seconds."
That only enraged Alexei further.
A rough scream, full of loss of control, burst from him. His body grew again; this time almost half of his original size added on top. And with his height, his total loss of judgment also increased.
"You… you… you" he repeated, barely having enough control to speak.
"Die. Die. Die" he yelled while slamming the ground with destructive fury. The impact generated a tremor around them. Cracks opened and from them emerged flames and molten stone, rising like geysers all around.
"graaaa" he roared again before leaping toward the sky.
His body descended like a flaming comet. The flames wrapped him with greater force as he fell like a cannonball directly toward Owen.
Upon seeing this, Owen jumped backward propelled by a red flash, dodging the attack. Alexei's strike was devastating; the shockwave eradicated everything around it. It looked as if a meteor had landed.
The wave reached even the distant city. Several houses exploded their windows. Nearby trees were ripped from the ground. An immense crater was left marked, with boiling rock everywhere.
Alexei rose from the center of the impact. His body grew again; this time he didn't even need to be destroyed by Owen.
Now he was almost twice Owen's size.
Meanwhile, Owen landed softly and watched him in silence for a moment.
Then he calmly took two daggers out of his pockets.
He stared at Alexei. The other had already lost any trace of reason; every breath expelled fire. His mouth was deformed by rage and hatred. His veins, once marked like incandescent lines, now looked like living tattoos pulsing to the rhythm of his heart.
His hair, once only golden from the flames, now had a white tone at the roots; a sign that his heat had increased even more.
"groooww" the roar that followed did not belong to a human.
Owen saw Alexei's back ignite. They weren't explosions; they were flames bursting directly from his pores before he disappeared in an instantaneous movement.
Alexei appeared in front of him.
Owen opened his eyes for a brief moment before dodging the punch coming straight toward his face.
That punch, once dodged, didn't release flames like the previous ones. This time it threw only pure, concentrated heat. The heat was so extreme that the fallen trees around them ignited instantly. Even the ground itself began to burn in spontaneous combustion.
Owen counterattacked with a direct right punch to Alexei's chest using his glove.
But upon impact, that same blow that had previously split him apart didn't achieve the same effect. Alexei's body barely opened, releasing his flaming golden blood, but the wound closed immediately, as if the flesh welded itself shut under unbearable heat.
Alexei looked at Owen and opened his mouth. Owen reacted instantly, stepping back with speed and almost unnatural reflexes as a white flame erupted from Alexei's throat. The attack hit the ground and left a red pit of molten rock sinking deep.
At that exact moment, when Alexei saw that Owen had dodged, he raised his head.
A black thread wrapped around his neck suddenly before tightening with force.
Owen had used the thread. He was standing on Alexei's back, pulling with all his strength, trying to sever his head while the giant's golden, burning blood started to gush out only to seal itself immediately.
The thread vibrated like a living saw. It was a material obtained from the Destroyer of Asgard; its resistance was enormous. Combined with Owen's power to make it vibrate, it became the sharpest cutter in existence.
The problem was that, even while it cut, Alexei regenerated behind the cut.
When Owen finished passing the thread around the neck, Alexei tried to grab him with both hands.
Owen jumped backward, spinning in the air as he threw both daggers toward Alexei's back, embedding them deeply.
Then he used them as leverage. With a fluid motion, he redirected his momentum and struck him with both legs, using the friction of the swinging threads to intensify the blow.
The impact sent Alexei several meters into the ground.
Owen landed effortlessly, keeping the daggers held by the threads, swinging them on either side while he watched Alexei, who stood up immediately, looking at him as if he wanted to devour him right there.
"You're only making this harder" Owen said while shaking his head tiredly. He took his daggers after one last spin and adopted a guard stance for the first time in the entire battle, facing what was no longer anything human; only a furious furnace filled with destruction.
And taking that stance meant he was now taking Alexei seriously.
…
"Guys, I think I found Owen" said Nicolás as he looked out from the open hatch of the Quinjet.
Wanda leaned out immediately, followed by Barton and the others.
Everyone widened their eyes at the scene before them: a massive stretch of molten stone, a gigantic crater as if a meteor had fallen, an entire forest burning, the battlefield reduced to ashes, and several lava geysers rising at different distances. All of that not very far from the city.
"Now I understand why he went alone. If we had started a fight against Ultron and also that flaming guy, I don't know if we could save all the civilians" Nicolás said seriously.
"Should we help him?" asked Scott Lang with his Ant-Man suit on. He had joined because he ended up involved in the disaster thanks to Dr. Pym.
"No" Nicolás answered with a firm tone. "If he came by himself and didn't ask for help, it means it's something he wants to finish on his own." Nicolás spoke like someone who had known Owen best since childhood.
"Friday already located him. I'll take the lead to buy some time" Tony said with his suit powering up before jumping out of the aircraft. He flew at maximum speed toward the center of the city.
"Alright. Remember the plan. Get everyone you can out and assist with the evacuation. Pietro should already be alerting the authorities. The evacuation planes and patrols sent by the general should also be nearby. Our job is to protect the people" Steve said with a serious look, taking leadership of the mission for now.
The others nodded as the aircraft began descending and everyone split quickly in different directions.