No matter how hard Jake tried to push Mephisto's words to the side, they haunted him for the next two years. On certain nights, the same nightmare would repeat.
He would see nothing but a large, golden gauntlet with multiple glowing stones embedded on certain parts: purple, then red, then light blue, then green, then gold, and finally bright orange in the center. The gauntlet would slowly close its fist as a massive, shadowy figure loomed over Jake as screams of fear and pain overwhelmed his senses.
The year was now 2018, and in his hotel room, Jake snapped awake with a loud gasp following the nightmare. Breathing heavily, he scanned his surroundings. Zadkiel's voice didn't ring in his head or give him any mental imagery, it was just radio silence from the Spirit of Vengeance.
'Nothing out of the ordinary, just a regular hotel room.' He thought as his eyes turned to the woman in bed with him.
Wanda was still fast asleep, wearing nothing but a sleeveless gray blouse and jean shorts. However, it didn't take long for her to sense Jake was awake.
"Jake...you okay?" She groaned, rubbing her eyes as she sat up next to him.
"I keep having the same nightmare, but this is the first time I've had it two nights straight." He sighed.
Wanda put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but his eyes were wide open and he was on edge.
"Why don't we go out for a late night walk? That always cheers you up." She suggested.
Later,
The two were now walking down the empty, nighttime streets of Edinburgh, Scotland. Wanda kept her gray blouse on, but she slipped on a black hoodie, jeans, and black low-heeled ankle boots.
Jake, on the other hand, wore a long trench coat over a mostly-buttoned short sleeve Hawaiian style shirt, black pants, and black lace-up work boots.
They held hands as they walked down the street.
"Yeah, you're right." Jake mused. "This is nice. At least we have the streets to ourselves for now."
"Ever wished life was this...quiet?" Wanda asked him.
"Of course, I do." He quickly replied, squeezing her hand a little tighter. "I wish we didn't have to jump countries every week or month."
Wanda squeezed back as they saw a lone figure who seemed all too familiar to them, a tall, Caucasian man in a baggy fur coat, loose cargo pants, and white shoes. What caught the couple's attention was the glowing stone on his forehead.
"Vision?" Jake's eyes widened, remembering his fight with the android in the airport.
"Good evening." He greeted.
"What are you doing here?" Wanda asked.
"Just wanted to see you two...and I need your help." Vision sighed.
Jake's left eyebrow raised slightly. "Nightmares?"
"It's more than that, Jake. Something's comi-"
Vision couldn't complete what he said as he screamed in agony with a blade sticking out of him from behind, much to Jake and Wanda's horror.
"VISION!" Wanda screamed.
The two could only look on as a gray-skinned humanoid lifted Vision up with his blade, the pain forcing him back into his true form, and threw him to the side. The humanoid turned to Jake and Wanda, who took battle stances, but something strong blasted them from behind, sending them flying in separate directions.
While Wanda landed in the nearby restaurant, Jake crashed against an empty car, its alarm set off by the impact.
With an audible groan followed by a roar of frustration, both from himself and Zadkiel, Jake transformed.
The gray alien was now joined by a feminine alien with a similar polearm and blue warpaint and he was about to jam his weapon onto the Mind Stone in Vision's head when a plume of hellfire forced them away. They turned to see an angry Ghost Rider charge towards them with a pair of extra-long wrenches he pulled from the trunk of the ruined car, now burning with hellfire. (Imagine the ones used in the Furious 7 parking garage fight, but on fire)
Hissing with annoyance, the gray alien charged towards Jake with the blue alien trailing behind him.
Jake swung a wrench to meet his enemies' weapons head on. He managed to kick the female alien away during the struggle but the first one managed to run him through with his glaive. The Rider hissed in pain before slamming a wrench on the alien's head, dazing him, before kicking him away as well.
As he pulled the glaive off of his body, Jake saw Wanda emerge from the restaurant to blast the female alien away from the still-prone Vision with a psionic blast.
"Let's go!"
As quickly as she could, Wanda began levitating out of the area with Jake and Vision until they were at least a block away from the attackers.
"I thought you could-"
Jake was cut off as Vision groaned and said "That blade kept me from phasing."
"How?"
"Who are they?" Wanda asked.
"Don't know, but they want Vision's stone." Jake growled as they set Vision down against a pillar.
"We can't let them take it. It'll kill him..." Wanda muttered.
"I know you both won't. You two are just that stubborn." Vision said with a small smile as they turned around to see his first attacker back in action.
In an instant, Vision took flight and tackled him against one of the nearby towers as the female alien charged at them.
"Help Vis, I'll hold her off!"
Wanda quickly levitated to where Vision was as the female alien attacked Jake with her spear. The two fought in the center plaza as Vision's laser was reflected towards the ground near them in the middle of their clash.
Despite putting up a fight, Jake was getting peppered by small hits from the female alien, thankful that his Rider form was helping him resist the hits. Each successful wrench swing he threw at her made her stagger back every time, but the fight remained even.
In the midst of the clashing of spear and wrenches, Jake quickly parried a thrusting attack as he caught his opponent with a surprise headbutt that stunned them, but he was sent flying with a blast of energy from the alien's spear before he could do anything else.
The Ghost Rider slowly got up as he tried going on the attack again, but in a few seconds, the female alien had disarmed him, impaled him, and pushed him against one of the pillars in the building.
"Stay out of our way, demon. You cannot escape the inevitable." She hissed.
"Escape this." As he said that, Jake opened his mouth and blasted the alien away with another blast of hellfire that made her yelp in pain while sent flying a few feet.
As she got up, the alien saw the Ghost Rider running up to her with a battle cry, flaming wrench in hand, and swinging it at her. Though she blocked it, the force knocked her down before a golf-style swing sent her flying a few feet.
Jake prepared to press on as he turned around and was impaled for the third time of the night, second time with the first alien's glaive. A cold look of anger was transfixed on the alien's face as he pushed him back while Jake stood his ground,.
"Barbarian!" He snarled at the Ghost Rider before turning around to be hoisted up in the air by Wanda's psionics and punched down to the ground by a groaning Vision. Jake pulled the glaive off and threw it aside.
"We have to keep moving!" Wanda said as she quickly gathered her psionics and let herself, Jake, and Vision float away from the attackers even further until a blast from the female alien's spear disoriented them and caused them to crash into a train station.
Vision sat against the metal railing, the stab wound he got from earlier failing to mend itself.
"Go..." He told the two. "Go, you two..."
"Like hell we will." Jake retorted, kneeling down and trying to help Vision up somehow.
"We can do this...together." Wanda added as they heard the sound of someone crashing through glass. They turned around to see the two aliens were back, and this time, they had no way of running.
Jake and Wanda stood their ground between them and Vision with nothing but hellfire, a wrench, and psionics in their hands. The two aliens slowly loomed toward them until the female saw someone just past the train tracks as a train passed by. She threw the spear, but the figure caught it as they slowly walked into clear view, revealing none other than Steve Rogers.
To say that Jake, Wanda, and Vision were relieved was an understatement. They turned back to the attackers to see Sam swoop in from the side, knocking one of the aliens down with Natasha and Steve entering the fray.
As quickly as they entered, the aliens were trounced and knocked down, the female alien even getting her weapon destroyed by Steve. Now, they were held at gunpoint by Sam.
After some ominous warnings from the two aliens, they were beamed up into the night sky, the first alien's glaive flying out of Steve's hands as it rejoined its wielder.
All Jake said after everything that's happened was "Ah, fuck."