Chapter Text
The next morning, Daisy drove them out of the city, the van rumbling over uneven roads as they left the noise and chaos behind. She didn’t say much, and Arjun didn’t ask where they were going. He could tell she wasn’t the type to talk just to fill silence.
Eventually, they reached an abandoned stretch of land on the outskirts—a quiet, open space surrounded by dry grass and scattered trees. No people. No buildings. Nothing to break, nothing to hurt.
Daisy killed the engine and hopped out. Arjun followed, squinting against the bright morning light. The air smelled fresher here, untouched by exhaust fumes and city life.
She turned to him, arms crossed. “Alright,” she said. “We need to start with the basics.”
Arjun frowned. “Basics?”
Daisy took a step closer. “Your breathing,” she said simply.
He blinked. “What does that have to do with anything?”
She gave a small, humorless laugh. “You’d be surprised.”
Arjun shifted uncomfortably, rubbing his arms. “Look, I appreciate the help, but controlling my breathing isn’t gonna stop me from messing with gravity.”
Daisy tilted her head. “You think powers just happen? That they’re some force outside of you?” She shook her head. “They come from inside. Your body, your emotions. If you can’t control yourself, you can’t control them.”
Arjun hesitated. He wanted to argue, to say she was wrong—but deep down, he knew she wasn’t.
She sighed, the weight in her shoulders visible. “Look, I’m not saying this is gonna fix everything overnight. I’m just saying… it’s where you start.”
Her tone was distant, her gaze flickering to something far away—memories, maybe. Something painful. But just as quickly, she pulled herself back.
“Close your eyes,” she instructed.
Arjun hesitated again, then did as she said.
“Breathe in,” she said. “Deep. Hold it.”
He followed her voice, inhaling, his lungs filling with air.
“Now let it out. Slow.”
He exhaled.
“Again.”
They repeated the process, over and over. At first, he felt stupid—this wasn’t controlling his powers, this was just… breathing. But as the minutes passed, he realized something. The usual tremor in the air around him had lessened. The tiny floating pebbles near his feet had stilled.
It wasn’t perfect. But it was something.
Daisy studied him, her face unreadable. “See?” she murmured. “Told you.”
Arjun opened his eyes, exhaling one last time. “I think… I think it helped,” he admitted.
Daisy gave a small nod. “Good. Because we’ve got a long way to go.”
For the next hour, Daisy put Arjun through a series of exercises—not to control his powers directly, but to control himself.
“Alright,” she said, stepping back, arms still crossed as she observed him. “Let’s try something simple. Lift your hand.”
Arjun frowned but complied, raising his palm.
“Now, focus on what you feel,” she instructed. “Not your powers—just your body. Your heartbeat, your breath, the way your muscles tense. Stay in control of that.”
Arjun took a slow breath, trying to follow her words. At first, nothing happened. Then, the faintest shimmer of distortion rippled around his fingertips, like the air itself was bending.
Daisy nodded slightly. “Okay. Now lower your hand, but keep breathing steady.”
He did, and the distortion faded. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Daisy gave him a pointed look. “See the difference?”
Arjun hesitated. “I think so,” he admitted. “It’s like… when I stop freaking out, it’s not as bad.”
“That’s the point.” Daisy started pacing a little. “Your power isn’t just gonna turn off because you want it to. But if you can control yourself, you can stop it from taking over.”
She stopped in front of him. “Now, let’s make it harder.”
Arjun arched a brow. “Harder?”
Daisy smirked faintly. “You need to learn how to control it, not just suppress it. Try lifting something small. A rock, maybe.”
Arjun glanced around, spotting a pebble near his foot. He swallowed, nerves creeping in, but he crouched down and extended his fingers toward it.
“Don’t force it,” Daisy advised. “Don’t think about the rock moving—just feel it.”
He tried. He really did. But nothing happened.
Daisy sighed. “You’re overthinking it.”
Arjun groaned in frustration. “This is impossible.”
“No,” Daisy corrected. “It’s new. There’s a difference.”
She knelt beside him, her voice losing some of its usual sharp edge. “When I first got my powers, I couldn’t do anything except make everything around me shake. It took me months just to learn how to use them without breaking my own bones.”
She met his gaze. “It’s gonna be hard. And it’s gonna suck. But you can do it.”
He hesitated, then nodded, taking another breath.
This time, when he reached out, the pebble trembled. Just for a second.
Later, Daisy watched as the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows over the open field. The air had cooled, a soft breeze rustling through the dry grass. Arjun was still sitting on the ground, staring up at the sky, a look of quiet awe on his face.
“Alright,” Daisy said, stretching her arms. “That’s enough for today. We should head back.”
Arjun didn’t move.
She narrowed her eyes. “Arjun.”
“Just… five more minutes?” he said, still looking up.
Daisy crossed her arms. “We don’t have five more minutes. We have a long drive back, and I’d rather not be on the road all night.”
Arjun finally turned to her, his face lit with an almost childlike excitement. “Come on, Daisy. Just look at this.” He gestured toward the sky. “When’s the last time you actually stopped to watch the stars?”
Daisy hesitated, glancing up. The sky was a deep blue now, stars slowly emerging against the vast expanse. It was beautiful—peaceful in a way she hadn’t let herself appreciate in a long time.
Still, she shook her head. “That’s nice and all, but we don’t exactly have the luxury of stargazing. Let’s go.”
Arjun groaned dramatically and flopped onto his back. “Ugh, you’re no fun.”
Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“You’re always so serious,” he complained, still staring at the sky. “We’ve been training all day, and this is the first time I’ve actually felt… calm. I don’t want to go back to hiding in a van just yet.”
Daisy exhaled, rubbing her temples. “Arjun—”
“Please?” He sat up, giving her an exaggerated pleading look. “Just one night. We can sleep out here. It’s not like we have a curfew.”
Daisy stared at him, unimpressed. “You really expect me to camp out here just because the stars are pretty?”
“Yes.” His tone was completely serious. “Look, I haven’t slept under an open sky in forever. It’s nice. Peaceful. First time in a very long time I can just be….”
Daisy sighed. She wanted to argue, to tell him they had more important things to do, but… maybe he had a point. When was the last time she let herself just stop?
She ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head. “Fine. One night. But if we get ambushed out here, I’m blaming you.”
Arjun grinned. “Deal.”
With a reluctant sigh, Daisy sat down next to him, leaning back against the grass. Arjun was already lying down again, watching the stars like they held all the answers.
Arjun sat cross-legged in the van, unwrapping a protein bar and taking a bite. It was dry and tasted vaguely of cardboard, but food was food. He had just started flipping through one of Daisy’s scattered research papers when she climbed inside, her expression tense, brows furrowed in confusion.
Arjun paused mid-bite. “Uh… you good?”
Daisy didn’t answer right away. She moved to the front of the van, grabbed her laptop, then hesitated, rubbing her forehead.
Arjun swallowed his mouthful. “Okay, that’s not your normal ‘I’m brooding but fine’ look. What happened?”
She exhaled, crossing her arms. “I was tracking some members of the Aryan Brotherhood.”
Arjun blinked. “Right. Because that’s totally normal.”
Daisy ignored him. “They were moving through the industrial district, and I was just keeping an eye on things when…” She trailed off, shaking her head like she wasn’t sure she even believed what she was about to say. “A car pulled up.”
Arjun frowned. “And?”
“A black Dodge Charger,” Daisy said slowly, her voice unusually cautious.
Arjun raised an eyebrow. “Okay. And?”
She finally turned to face him. “The driver’s face was on fire.”
Arjun stopped chewing. Stared at her. “What?”
Daisy ran a hand through her hair. “Like, actually on fire. Flames everywhere, but he wasn’t burning. And the Brotherhood guys? They freaked. I mean, really freaked.”
Arjun set his half-eaten protein bar down. “You’re serious.”
Daisy gave him a flat look. “Why would I joke about this?”
He leaned back against the van wall, processing. “So… you saw some guy with a flaming skull roll up in a muscle car, and the Aryan Brotherhood lost it?”
“Pretty much.”
Arjun let out a low whistle. “Yeah. That’s not terrifying at all.”
Daisy sat on the edge of the cot, arms resting on her knees. “I’ve seen a lot of weird things, but this? This was something else.”
Daisy’s fingers tapped rapidly against the laptop keyboard as she pulled up every piece of surveillance footage she could find from the industrial district. Arjun watched her work, still processing what she’d just told him.
“So,” he said slowly, “flaming skull guy shows up, and the Brotherhood runs. What happened after that?”
Daisy didn’t look up. “Did some digging, found out one of their guys barely made it out. He got wrecked—third-degree burns, broken bones, but somehow he lived. So I went to the hospital to ask him some questions.”
Arjun raised an eyebrow. “And?”
She finally looked at him, expression unreadable. “He was terrified. Not of me. Of *him*.”
Arjun shifted uncomfortably. “What did he say?”
Daisy exhaled. “He said, *When the Rider burns you, he burns your soul.*”
Silence settled between them. The words hung in the air, heavy and unnatural.
Arjun frowned. “Okay. That’s… not normal.”
“No kidding.” Daisy leaned back against the van’s wall, crossing her arms. “I’ve seen people get scared before, but this was different. He wasn’t just afraid of dying—he was afraid of whatever this Rider did to him. Like he’d already been to hell and back.”
Arjun rubbed his arms. “So… what do we do with this? If this guy can actually burn souls, do we even *want* to find him?”
Daisy glanced at the laptop screen, then back at him. “I don’t know yet.”
Daisy shut her laptop and stood, grabbing her jacket. "Stay here," she said, already moving toward the van door.
Arjun frowned. "Where are you going?"
"Checking some things out," she said vaguely, pulling the door open. The night air was cool, the city alive with distant sounds—engines, sirens, muffled voices.
Arjun sat up straighter. "Yeah, that sounds reassuring. Want to try that again with details?"
Daisy shot him a look. "Just stay put, alright? This could be dangerous."
Arjun huffed. "So is everything you do."
Daisy didn’t argue. Instead, she stepped out, shutting the door behind her.
Arjun stared after her, biting his lip. He knew Daisy was capable, probably more than most people. But after everything he’d seen—after the way she’d described *him*—he didn’t like the idea of her going alone.
So, against his better judgment, he waited a few minutes, then quietly pushed the van door open and slipped into the night, following her at a distance.
She moved fast, weaving through alleys and side streets with practiced ease. Arjun had to stay light on his feet to keep up, ducking behind trash bins and parked cars whenever she slowed.
*This is a terrible idea*, he told himself. *She’s going to notice. She’s going to kill me.*
But he kept going anyway.
Arjun crouched behind a stack of wooden crates, his breath shallow as he watched Daisy talk to a man near the entrance of a dimly lit scrapyard. Without warning, the man struck.
Arjun gasped as he lunged at Daisy from behind, but before he could even think about running to help, Daisy was already moving. She twisted, her hand snapping up, and with a powerful quake, she sent the man flying backward. He crashed into a pile of metal with a loud *clang*, groaning as he pushed himself up.
Arjun exhaled, a little awed. *Okay, she’s got this.*
But then, something changed. The man wasn’t just getting up—he was *fighting back*. His hands ignited with an unnatural heat, and before Daisy could react, he sent a burst of raw power surging toward her. She staggered, barely catching herself.
Arjun tensed. He had no idea what kind of power this guy had, but Daisy wasn’t backing down.
She straightened, her voice sharp. “You’re burning people alive. Innocents.”
The man’s face twisted, his eyes dark. “They weren’t innocent.”
Daisy took a step closer, her fists clenched. “You don’t get to decide that.”
The man’s gaze didn’t waver. “I’m not the one who decides.”
Then, before Arjun could fully process what was happening, the man *changed*. His skin melted away in an instant, replaced by fire and bone. The air rippled with heat as his skull blazed, hollow eyes burning with something far worse than rage.
Arjun’s breath hitched. *What the hell…he's the rider.*
Daisy barely had time to react before the Ghost Rider lunged. He moved too fast, his strength unnatural, and within seconds, he had her on the ground. She fought back—tremors shaking the earth as she tried to throw him off—but he barely flinched.
Then, with a single motion, he grabbed a massive rack of car parts and *threw* it down on her.
Arjun shot forward instinctively but stopped himself. Daisy was still moving.
Pinned beneath the wreckage, she gritted her teeth, her hands shaking as she used her powers to keep the crushing weight from pressing down on her. But instead of struggling to escape, she looked up at the Ghost Rider, her expression shifting—grief overtaking pain.
Her voice was quiet, raw. “Do it,” she said.
Arjun froze.
Daisy’s breathing was heavy, but her eyes were steady. “Just finish it.”
The Ghost Rider loomed over her, flames flickering in the darkness.