The moment Embercore let loose her first wave of fire, the world seemed to dissolve into red and gold.
Raj barely had time to throw up his hands before the furnace-like wall of flame struck him full-on. The impact was blinding, searing, the kind of heat that should've melted skin off bone. The lab erupted into chaos—glass shattered, wires popped, metal warped under the sudden spike in temperature.
Above them, the fire suppression system kicked in with a hiss, sprinklers opening like panicked eyes. But the water vaporized before it hit the ground. This wasn't just heat—it was power, volcanic and angry.
Raj stood through it.
His body shimmered gold under the onslaught, his solar defense kicking in just in time. The heat rolled across his skin like a desert breeze. But it wasn't easy. His body was holding strong, yes, but his breath caught with every pulse. Embercore wasn't just flinging fire. She was controlling it, superheating the very air, tightening it around him like a noose.
"You're not as invincible as you think," she said, stepping through her own flames like a shadow made of lava. Her long coat was untouched by the fire. Her eyes glowed orange like coals, and every step she took left melted footprints behind.
"I've never said I was," Raj muttered, adjusting his stance. "But you're not as original as you think either. Fire powers? Really?"
Embercore's hand flared, a spiral of flame twisting up her arm. "Let's see you keep that smug mouth when I melt it off."
She hurled the flame spiral. It snaked through the air like a serpent, slamming Raj across the chest. He skidded backward, boots carving into the scorched floor.
Raj exhaled sharply. His chest was glowing now—not uncontrolled, not panicked—but harder to contain than before. His solar core reacted to the heat, absorbing and storing it, but it was nearing overload.
"I can do this all day," Embercore hissed.
Raj smirked through the sweat dripping down his temple. "You stole that line."
He charged.
Moving through fire was like punching through molten air. His suit, built to handle high-pressure heat, shimmered but held. Embercore launched another burst—this time a concentrated cone that could've incinerated steel. Raj ducked through it, pushing his enhanced strength to the limit.
He closed the distance and landed a punch square into Embercore's side.
She flew backward, crashing through a support beam. The metal twisted around her form as she rolled to a stop. But she didn't stay down. With a growl, she exploded outward again in a fiery pulse that sent nearby debris clattering against the lab's far wall.
"I don't go down that easy, kid," she snapped, rising with flames licking up her arms.
Raj's breathing grew heavy. He wasn't hurt, not physically. But each burst of her power tested his limits. His solar defense worked best against sudden bursts, not prolonged suffocation-level heat.
And Embercore knew it.
She raised both hands, and the room shimmered. The temperature climbed—100… 110… maybe more. Raj's vision warped at the edges. Paint blistered off the walls. Lightbulbs shattered.
"I'll boil the blood from your veins if I have to," Embercore hissed.
Raj dropped to one knee.
Not from injury—but from strategy.
He placed both palms flat on the scorched ground. Beneath him, the floor still vibrated with radiant energy—from the fires, from the flickering lights, from Embercore's rage. He closed his eyes and drew it in.
It was raw and unstable, but it was power.
And it was his.
His veins pulsed gold, brighter than ever. His skin flared like a small sun wrapped in flesh. The ambient heat—once suffocating—flowed into him like a tide. Even Embercore paused, eyes narrowing.
"What are you doing?"
Raj rose slowly, golden light blooming in waves around him. "What you never learned to do."
He raised one glowing hand, and the flames around them began to swirl—not attacking, but converging, caught in his field like metal shavings to a magnet. The fire bent toward him, not in obedience, but in awe.
"You take power and throw it around," Raj said, voice calm. "I take power and make it mine."
Embercore screamed and hurled twin columns of flame.
Raj stepped through them.
His skin crackled with radiant energy, each step sending rings of gold across the floor. When he reached her, he didn't punch. He touched her chest with his palm—and let it all go.
A pulse erupted, bright as a flare.
Embercore flew backward, slammed into the reinforced wall, and dropped to her knees, coughing. Her flames flickered, dimmed. Her hands shook.
Raj stood, glowing from within, chest heaving but body unburnt.
"You're… absorbing it?" she gasped.
"Every time you try to burn me," he said, stepping closer, "you're feeding me."
He raised a hand again.
She snarled, summoning one last fiery whip—but it fizzled before it reached him. Her body trembled, drained.
Raj's suit dimmed slightly as he pulled back his energy. He didn't want to kill her.
But he could've.
That realization hit him harder than any fire ever could.
He turned slightly, listening. Above, Peter still fought. Below, alarms blared from deeper levels of the Hydra base. But here, in this scorched corridor, it was over.
Embercore slumped forward, groaning. Raj caught her before she hit the ground. She was still breathing, still alive. She stared up at him with wide, bewildered eyes.
"You're not just a kid," she muttered.
Raj nodded. "Neither are you. You just forgot it."
He left her in the corner, bound her with scorched piping, and jogged back toward the sound of Phaze's battle. The floor shook beneath his feet—Tempest must've rejoined the fray. It wasn't over yet.
But now Raj wasn't just a boy learning his power.
He was its master.
And the fight had only just begun.