Tempest, previously thrown into a pile of shattered machinery, rises—lightning now coursing through his body. His armor is cracked. His expression is livid.
"You should've stayed down," Raj mutters, stepping forward.
Tempest growls, fists clenched, energy snapping at his heels. "I'm not done."
Tempest snarled—and then lunged.
He moved like a tank fired from a railgun. Raj barely had time to brace as Tempest hit him square in the chest, the impact slamming him through a storage locker and into the reinforced wall.
Peter gasped. "Raj!"
Tempest didn't wait. He turned, charging Peter next, one arm glowing with crackling voltage. Peter dove under the swing and countered with two quick webs to the face. Tempest ripped them off with a growl.
"Okay, rude," Peter muttered, flipping over a console.
Meanwhile, Raj pulled himself out of the crater his body had made in the wall. His breath came fast, but his light was growing stronger now, brighter.
"I've had enough of being tossed around."
He took a deep breath—and let go.
His body burst into light.
The faint gold shimmer from earlier exploded into brilliance. Veins of solar fire lit beneath his skin, his eyes glowing like miniature suns. The room dimmed around him, shadows erased in the sheer force of his radiance.
Tempest paused—just long enough for Peter to capitalize.
He shot a line of web to the ceiling, launched himself feet-first into Tempest's back, and flipped off as Tempest stumbled.
Raj didn't wait.
He shot forward in a streak of light—bam—slamming into Tempest's side with a shoulder charge that would've leveled a truck.
Tempest staggered, sliding ten feet, boots gouging into the floor. But he didn't fall.
Instead, he roared, his arms rising. Bolts of lightning burst from his chest and lanced outward. One hit a steel column, which exploded in sparks. Another grazed Peter, sending him skidding backward across the floor.
"Okay!" Peter coughed. "Bad plan, bad plan!"
Raj growled, stepping into the lightning. His glow intensified, absorbing part of the heat and deflecting the rest off his radiant skin.
"You'll have to do better than that," he said.
Tempest bared his teeth. "I was made to be better than you."
And then he charged again.
This time, the fight turned brutal. No finesse. No tactics. Just raw power.
Raj met him in the center of the room. Fists collided—sunlight against lightning. The air cracked. The floor beneath them fractured.
Every blow Tempest threw was heavy enough to collapse walls. Every punch Raj countered with was supercharged by absorbed solar light. Sparks and plasma flew.
Peter, recovering at the edge, circled fast, firing web after web at Tempest's legs, arms, anything to slow him down. Tempest ripped through them with brute strength, but each distraction gave Raj just enough of an opening to land the next hit.
"Left hook!" Peter shouted.
Raj twisted mid-punch and slammed a blazing fist into Tempest's side.
Boom.
Tempest crashed into a control panel—sparks exploded from the shattered screen.
But he was already up, eyes wild with power. Lightning coiled down his arms like serpents, and with a deafening scream, he released it.
The bolt struck Raj dead center.
He was lifted off the ground, body locked in the surge. The glow flickered—for just a second.
Peter screamed, "Raj!"
But Raj didn't fall.
He absorbed it.
The light around him flared as if devouring the electricity, wrapping it into his glow, twisting it into something purer.
Tempest's eyes widened. "What—what are you—?!"
"I am the light," Raj said, voice deep and echoing.
He charged, solar light streaming from his body.
Tempest brought both arms up to defend, building a shield of electrical force—but Peter jumped in first, webbing the conduit above Tempest and yanking it down. A section of the ceiling collapsed with it, knocking Tempest slightly off balance.
It was all Raj needed.
He pivoted—his right fist charged with every ounce of stored power—and drove it into Tempest's chest.
The solar haymaker hit with the force of a star.
CRACKKKK—
Tempest flew across the room and slammed into the base's containment wall—specifically, an arc-reactor housing unit.
Electricity met electricity.
Tempest's body sparked violently as his own charge was absorbed, redirected, then shorted out in a brilliant cascade of light.
He spasmed once… then slumped.
Smoke curled from his chest. His armor sizzled.
He didn't move.
Peter limped over, breathing hard. "So… that looked expensive."
Raj stood in the center of the devastation, breathing like a locomotive. His light began to fade back to a softer hum, veins dimming under his skin.
"Yeah," Raj said. "Expensive win."
They both stared at Tempest's unconscious body, now webbed to the wall for good measure.
Peter clapped Raj on the shoulder. "That… was badass."
Raj allowed a small smile. "Felt good."
From the far corridor, they heard something metallic snap.
Alarms triggered again. More red lights. A secondary failsafe activating.
Peter glanced toward the far end of the lab—the RESTRICTED section.
Raj nodded grimly. "Whatever's next… it's waiting there."
But they weren't afraid now.
They had each other.
And they just beat Hydra's best.