Captain Hot Devil and Icy Falcon stood in an empty desert, staring each other down. The sun shone down on them, a gust of wind blew a spiral of dust between them.

Without a word they leapt at each other, fists pulled back. Icy Falcon swung first, Captain Hot Devil dodged to the side and countered. Icy Falcon blocked with his left and jabbed his right into the Captain’s side. Captain Hot Devil answered with a swing that caught Icy Falcon’s jaw.

They traded blows for a minute before stepping back as if in sync.

Ice covered over two fists.

Flames blazed around two more.

They stepped back in and resumed the barrage, this time careful to catch fists with hands instead of faces. Flame met ice as fists collided over and over, a storm of bright red and shimmering blue.

Icy Falcon flew back, holding his cape wide to catch a gust of wind. He swung it forward, a barrage of ice flying out. Captain Hot Devil rolled to the side and swung his hand, a fireball burning across the sky. Icy Falcon spun around the ball and launched his counter.

Balls of fire met balls of ice. Puffs of steam formed as they collided until both men were obscured by the mist.

Captain Hot Devil grimaced as a wall of icy spikes flew from the mist. He thrust both his hands forward, a wave of fire surging forth. The spikes shrunk and vanished into thin air as the wave collided into the mist.

Icy Falcon leapt above the burning wave, taking to the skies as the wind wrapped around him. He swung his left arm, ice raining from the sky as he did. Captain Hot Devil ran to the side, a trail of icy spikes following behind him. He leapt and rolled. As he came out of the roll he held his fists down, jets of fire streaming from them, and launched into the air.

The winds howled and intensified around the Icy Falcon. Captain Hot Devil was knocked to the side, sent spinning through the air. He surged backward with a jet of flame from his feet, then righted himself with flames from his hands.

“Stand down, Captain. You can’t stop me.”

“I can’t do that, Falcon. You aren’t leaving until you beat me.”

Icy Falcon frowned. The winds around him howled and surged to gale force speed. Icy Falcon was shrouded in white as the vortex filled up with snow and hail. Captain Hot Devil let out a sigh.

“You can reach him, she said. You’re the best one to be here, she said.”

Captain Hot Devil wrapped himself in flames as a storm of wind and hail tore through the air. He let himself drop under the barrage of ice and then shot at an angle to the whirling vortex. He stopped his own movement as he collided with the wall of wind, allowing the gales to blow him around. He grit his teeth as chunks of ice pierced through his flames, cuts and bruises appearing all over his body.

He held, spinning around the vortex.

His stomach began to churn.

More and more cuts appeared, his flames started to flicker.

Now!

He poured all his power into his feet, rocketing into the sky. He left behind a ball of flame that continued to spin around the vortex as he launched straight towards the sun. He cut off the flames by his body. He hung in the air, looking down upon the vortex. Wind and ice tore through the ball of fire until it flickered and died.

And then the winds died down too.

Icy Falcon looked towards the ground, searching for his opponent.

Captain Hot Devil pulled back his fist as he began to fall, relying only on gravity to move.

BAM!

His fist collided with Icy Falcon’s cheek.

Both men hurtled towards the ground.

Wind and flame barely slowed the descent as they slammed into the ground.

Captain Hot Devil groaned. Every inch of his body ached. Several parts more than ached.

But he leaned on his hands, pulled his legs under him, and began to stand on shaky feet.

He took deep breaths as he looked in front of him. Icy Falcon stood, slouched over and breathing heavy. He lifted his hand. Wind and snow began to swirl around it.

Captain Hot Devil swore under his breath as he lifted his own, flame beginning to build.

The wind howled.

The fire raged.

The air began to freeze.

The air began to shimmer.

A blast of ice. A glacier growing before him.

A jet of fire that ignited the air. A small column of red swallowed by a sea of white and blue.

Icy Falcon panted for breath as he stared at the glacier in front of him.

It was over.

And then a red circle appeared on the ice in front of him.

A blast of smoke and shards of ice knocked him to the ground. He shook his head and looked up.

Captain Hot Devil was standing over him. Icy Falcon started to rise.

And then fell onto his back.

He stared at the sky as he took deep breaths.

Suddenly his arms felt so heavy.

His legs refused to move.

His chest curled into an even tighter knot.

He closed his eyes.

He was tired.

More tired than he had ever felt before.

He let out a deep breath.

He had lost.

Captain Hot Devil sat on a low wall and watched as ILS agents loaded Icy Falcon into the back of a van, strapped down to a stretcher with medics at his side. Agent Wilson walked up to him and held out a bottle of water. The Captain took it with a nod and tanked it down.

“That was impressive.”

Captain Hot Devil rolled his right shoulder and winced.

“That was painful.”

Wilson watched as the doors of the van closed.

“You don’t need to go with them? I’d think you’d need more than a couple straps to hold him down.”

Captain Hot Devil shook his head.

“I’m sure the Director has some tricks up her sleeve. But either way it doesn’t matter.”

Wilson waited as he took a breath.

“...I shouldn’t have beat him. Not if he wanted to win. Not at his peak. But that look in his eyes. He was already beat. He just hadn’t realized it.”

Wilson nodded.

“War wears down the best of us.”

Captain Hot Devil nodded and stood with a sigh.

“Thank you for your help, Agent Wilson. It was thanks to you I had a chance to talk with him.”

Wilson shook his hand.

“Anytime Captain. What will you do now?”

Captain Hot Devil began to walk.

“ILS still has some business here.”

Constanza leaned back into the raised hospital bed. She had her head turned, staring out the window. No expression on her face, not a word from her mouth.

There was a knock at the door.

Constanza tilted her head. Her parents were at work, and Antonio had gone to buy them some food. Who could it be?

She answered in a soft voice.

“Come in.”

She gasped as Captain Hot Devil walked into the room.

“C-Captain Hot Devil?”

“Hey kid, glad to see you made it.”

“What are you doing here?”

The Captain frowned slightly, then gave a sad smile.

“I’m here to apologize to you on behalf of the League and of Director Green.”

Constanza’s eyes widened.

“Apologize? To me? What for?”

The Captain let out a sigh.

“We can’t help but feel responsible. There should have been something we could’ve done. And in any case we should have reached out to you sooner.”

“N-No, that’s not true. I didn’t contact the League, so I don’t blame you. I-If anything it’s my fault. It’s…my…”

Constanza turned back to the window. Captain Hot Devil waited in silence for a minute.

“...you ok, kid?”

She shut her eyes tight, but the tears still welled up.

“It…it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t…Icy Falcon…he wouldn't have…”

She covered her face.

And then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Look at me kid.”

She let her hands drop and opened her eyes.

“It was not your fault. You did great work, and you were incredibly brave. Don’t blame yourself for any of this.”

The tears began to fall.

“It’s just…h-he was my hero, you know? I looked up to him, w-we all did. A-And I was, just, so happy when he agreed to train me. But then…and now…I just, I don’t know what to think anymore.”

The girl’s shoulders trembled as she began to sob. Captain Hot Devil sighed once more.

“Look, kid, that’s the thing. Falcon, us, heroes, we’re all just people. People look up to us, put us on a pedestal, but at the end of the day we’re no different from anyone else. We try our best, we try to do good, but it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we make mistakes, and sometimes we get messed up by what’s going on around us.”

He pat the girl on the shoulder.

“But that’s all we can do, one step forward. Own our mistakes and try to be better next time. And Falcon, he was a hero. He was the man you looked up to, someone trying to do some good. But he’s also just a man, and this time he made a mistake. And you were the one who paid the price for that. It’s fine if you can’t look at him the same ever again, if he can never be your hero again. But it doesn’t mean you have to forget the good he did before, or how he once inspired you. Even if he’s not the person you dreamt of, you can still hold on to the dream you had. Even he can’t take that away from you if you don’t want him to.”

The girl slowly nodded. Captain Hot Devil gave a soft smile.

“And who knows, maybe there’s still hope for him. I think he knows too, what he did. It might take him some time, but if there was a way back for me then maybe there’s a way back for him too.”

Captain Hot Devil took a phone out of his pocket and placed it in Constanza’s hand.

“You’re not alone, not anymore. The League will be there for you. If you need anything, even if you just want to talk, feel free to give us a call. And if this is the life you want for yourself, there’s a place for you there too.”

Constanza took the phone and gave a silent nod. The Captain rose to his feet.

“I know this is a lot to deal with. I’ll be in the country for a while longer, so I’ll check back in with you again, if that’s all right.”

Constanza looked up at him.

“What will you be doing?”

Captain Hot Devil narrowed his eyes, the edge of his mouth curling up slightly.

“Oh, just visiting some old friends.”

The doors slammed open. Men pulled out their handguns and revolvers.

Captain Hot Devil strode through the door.

One of the men laughed and raised his hand. The others lowered their weapons.

“Ah, Captain Hot Devil himself! What does a gringo hero have to do with our humble business?”

Captain Hot Devil waved his hand. Jets of fire shot through the air, wrapping themselves around the guns. The men in the room cried out and dropped the weapons. The leader stepped back.

“W-What are you doing? The ILS can’t just hurt civilians like us!”

Captain Hot Devil strode forth and grabbed the speaker by the collar, lifting him into the air. Behind him, armed ILS and DEA agents rushed into the room, securing the other men.

“The ILS doesn’t. But you’re not a civilian anymore. You see, this isn't the ILS getting involved in your business. You stepped into ours.”

Captain Hot Devil raised his fist. The man gulped at first, but then started to chuckle.

“Nice try, but you can’t threaten me, Captain Hot Devil. A gringo hero beating down us regular chicos? That’ll be all over the news, no matter what you say we’ve done.”

The Captain’s fist burst into flame, the man’s eyes drawn to it.

“You know who I am, right?”

The man turned to him and nodded.

“Then you know I blew up a skyscraper in downtown New York.”

He brought his fist closer, the man starting to sweat from the heat. The Captain stared into his eyes.

“So what do you think I’ll do to you? Especially after what you did to some of our own?”

The man began to tremble.

“Start. Talking.”