Chapter Text
Matt felt the flames licking his skin as was on his knees, panting and gasping, his teeth gritted, trying to not give in.
"Abaddon, my son", Mephisto said to him from his throne. "This is your birthright, your destiny. This is what you shall do for your father here.
Then his senses left him completely like when he had been shot in the head by Frank Castle.
Next moment, Matt's skin was red, his suit black, his horns turned into actual horns, with claws coming out of his fingers, and golden fangs in place of teeth, his muscles had expanded, and he had grown taller, with flames spewing out of his mouth, and he also held a flaming sword in his hand.
He also had flaming wings, and was using them to fly over cities, breathing fire all over as they were burnt down into rubble and ash, people screaming and dying as they were turned into ashes as well by the fiery breath of Abaddon.
Abaddon then flew down and landed, the shockwave from that damaging the ground and sending many people flying back. The people were now all in a stampede as he swung his sword, chopping off their bodies, and heads, and limbs, blood flying everywhere as they all screamed in pure terror, trying to run off.
He thrust his sword forward, stabbing a guy in the face, and then swung multiple times, heads and limbs being sent flying around in a display of blood.
Abaddon then stood over the grotesque sight and let out a loud roar of rage and victory.
Matt shot out of bed, gasping, sweat on his face, and even a tear rolling down his cheek, to his surprise. Then he realized he wasn't alone and turned, taking the glass of water that was being offered to him by Faith, sitting on his bedside.
Matt drank all of the water first, gulping it down, and gave her the glass back as she kept it on top of the drawer nearby.
She then put her hand on his face, wiping that one tear, and finally asked him the obvious question. "So, same dream again?"
"Yeah", Matt sighed, relaxing his back a little. "He talks to me, turns me into his warrior, and I do what he says."
"It was just a dream, Matt", Faith assured him. "You're not that kind of guy, I know you. I mean, I have put up with you for almost 3 months now."
They chuckled dryly at that little joke as Matt said. "Thanks, for the water, and for coming here, I'm guessing I was-"
"Yeah, not too quite when you dream of that", Faith nodded. "No need to thank me, you do the same for me."
There was a small bit of silence after that. Matt's nightmare wasn't the only time either of them had a nightmare in 2 months after the defeat of Magus and the return of everyone who had been snapped by Thanos.
Matt had been suffering from nightmares regarding Mephisto turning him into Abaddon a lot, and all of them ended with him destroying multiple cities, and sometimes even killing his friends. Whenever he woke up from those nightmares though, Faith was next to him, by his bedside, a glass of water in her hand for him.
Faith too still suffered from nightmares of all the bad stuff she had done back in Sunnydale, and in LA before Angel had reached through to her, and some of her nightmares involved her snapping and killing again, starting with Buffy, and ending with Angel, Matt and Willow, the three people who had reached out to her during her time of need. Whenever she woke up from those nightmares though, Matt was next to her, by her bedside, a glass of water in his hand for her.
"Well, I guess you can try to sleep again", Faith finally broke the silence.
"I'll try", Matt told her as he lay his head down. "You should too."
"Yeah", she nodded as Matt tried to go to sleep again while she walked off to get some sleep of her own.
Next morning
The two ate breakfast as Faith said. "You are gonna go out tonight, aren't you?"
"Well, my arm is good now, finally, and I am bored of lawyer work", Matt cracked, the two chuckling again.
"I think we can go out together, there is that guy we've been hearing about", Faith reminded him.
"Yeah, he must be taken down", Matt sighed as he got up, walking to his two cases. Yes, he had 2 suits now, made for him by Tony and Fitz.
One was his normal suit. He had thought he'd lost it after Midland Circle had collapsed, but sometime before his death, Ray Nadeem had managed to pull in some favors, and the suit Dex had worn had been brought back to Matt's doorstep, where it truly belonged, and so he had used it up until wearing the Gauntlet had damaged it, but now it was fixed and usable again.
The other suit was a different one, it was to help in taking down Demons, and had different features from his normal one, though of course it wasn't to be used by him in New York, since it was mostly a Demon free zone aside from random Vamps.
The Hand's reckoning had made sure New York would be a Demon free zone, and if that wasn't enough, they had Daredevil to fear. Plus, the Sanctum's power kept them away too.
This suit was something he would use whenever he went to Los Angeles again, since that was the place with all of the Demons.
"So, we're going out tonight?" Faith asked with a smirk.
"We are", Matt said with a nod.
Night time
There flashes of light seen in the windows of a building, and gunshots were loud and clear as well, with screams of pain also coming from the building.
Suddenly one of the thugs was tossed out the window, falling amongst garbage bags in the dumpster below as he groaned in pain, knocked out obviously.
The door opened as the gang leader who also happened to be an arms dealer rushed out of the building, running to his fancy sports car as he pressed the button on his keys, opening it, and closing the door, turned the keys, flooring the gas, but to his horror, the car did not move at all, and was stuck in one place.
Then he looked at the rearview mirror, and noticed Slayer holding his car by the back bumper.
"Going somewhere?" She asked before flipping the car upside down. The guy groaned in pain, trying to crawl out when he was pulled out by Slayer, who held him up by the collar and punched him once, bruising his cheek, before tossing him away onto the concrete nearby.
His eyes looked down to see two boots in front of him, and looked up to see the Devil of Hell's Kitchen in all his glory, after 2 months. He didn't say a word, just slugged the guy unconscious as sirens blared.
Brett Mahoney arrived a few seconds later to see the arms dealer tied up and leaning against the flipped car, both the heroes out of sight.
Later, next morning
"So the guy, he's supposed to be real strong and durable, right?" Faith asked Matt as he opened a package he had gotten recently.
"Yeah, I am sure you can take him", Matt told her.
"I think I can", Faith smirked as Matt opened the package to reveal a sprayer of some kind.
"What's that for?" Faith asked.
"It's a counter-drug, based on what we know of him, it will work", Matt told her.
"That geek couple made it?" Faith chuckled.
"Yeah, Simmons produced this with help from Fitz", Matt confirmed. "So we shall take him down tonight."
"Can't wait", Faith said.
Night time
Tombstone stood in his warehouse, about to take a drink when he sensed a presence behind him.
"It's over."
He turned to see Matt and Faith, and shrugged. "Well, I knew that already considering you took down my supplier last night."
"So, why are you still here?" Faith asked.
"I am not him", Tombstone shrugged as he finished his drink, then put it down, and brandished a hammer.
He then swung as Faith grabbed the hammer with her hands, holding it back while Matt asked. "How did you connect with Martin Li?"
"I didn't, he came to me, I am on top of my game", Tombstone said as he freed the hammer from Faith's grip but she ducked to avoid his swing and flip kicked him back before spin kicking his gut, then elbowing his face as he staggered back.
Faith then did a flip and kicked his chin, sending him into some crates before she cartwheeled away to avoid any damage he could do on recovering.
"Boys, get in here!" Tombstone ordered.
"I've got them", Matt assured Faith as 3 thugs arrived, and he leapt over the table, punching one back before he spin kicked him, then flipped and kicked him away, knocking him out.
He then rolled away to avoid the next one's punch and rolling to him, kicked him back, before rolling and flipping to avoid gunshots, and threw his Billy club, disarming the guy while he grabbed the one he'd kicked and tossed him into that thug, throwing them both down the stairs as they rolled down and were knocked out.
Tombstone started rushing Matt but Faith leapt up and kicked his face with both feet, managing to stagger him back as she flipped and landed on the ground.
Before he could recover, she hurled a crate at him, which broke on impact but he staggered back while Matt gave an uppercut to another thug, then brought his face down on his knee, taking him down.
"Wanna take a break?" Tombstone taunted Faith.
"Why? You tired?" Faith shrugged, taunting back as he tried to strike with his hammer but she slid behind him and grabbing him, put her hand in front of his face, holding the sprayer, and sprayed it, making Tombstone cough and stagger around violently as Faith held on to his face tightly, before flipping and landing on the other side as some stuff fell next to the staggering Tombstone.
He then felt liquid on his right cheek and looked down to see blood dripping, and touched his cheek, as Faith had grabbed onto his face with her fingernails after spraying him.
Faith smirked as she realized the counter-drug had worked, as Tombstone got up, picking up a flaming chain which he hurled at her but she avoided.
"What did you doze me with? I feel funky", he said as Faith flipped at him, kicking his face hard, then gave him a combo of 3 punches followed by a spin kick, sending him back and crashing some more stuff.
"Deblocking agent", Matt shrugged as he knocked out a thug behind him without even turning around, since he didn't need to.
Faith leapt to avoid being hit by the chain again and kicked Tombstone back, then jumping in the air, punched his face hard, then spin kicked his face twice, and with a leap, kicked his throat hard, sending him crashing to the ground again, and boxes fell around him as he panted, exhausted clearly.
"Guess your drug-lord days are over now", Faith said as Matt tossed the last thug out the door and down the stairs too.
"Sure, for now", Tombstone snarled before chuckling. "Hell of a run though."
He then tried to lift a bottle of alcohol nearby but in his weakness, dropped it and it shattered as he groaned. "That's new."
"With your powers gone, it's better to stop doing all this", Matt warned him.
"Oh no, threat of death just ups the thrill", Tombstone said with a chuckle.
Matt and Faith just sighed as they turned away while Tombstone told Faith. "Hell of a left hook. Can't wait for a rematch."
"Uh, I can", Faith said as she and Matt both walked to the window and leapt out as sirens were heard.
And like that, the Devil and the Slayer took down the powerful drug lord known as Tombstone.