"I've come to reclaim the contract. Johnny, your mission has ended. Now you can return to a normal life." Without paying Tohka any attention, Mephisto looked straight at Johnny, who was comforting his girlfriend.
"I refuse. And I'll keep using this power against you." As Tohka expected, Johnny was even bolder than his predecessor. Not only did he refuse to surrender the power, he directly declared he would use it against Mephisto.
After all, becoming a Ghost Rider required meeting no small requirements, and every Ghost Rider had suffered tragic experiences. So probably every one of them hated Mephisto to the core. This was also why Mephisto always hurried to void the contract after his objectives were met.
"But are you sure you want to reject this offer? Look at the old Rider. As a Ghost Rider, he lived a life of loneliness." Watching Mephisto turn into smoke and vanish, Tohka walked over to Johnny.
She wasn't making things up—becoming a Ghost Rider did grant humans great power and longevity. But at the same time, the thing sealed inside them also brought endless calamity.
"I know. But no matter what, I can never go back. So, I have to make that bastard pay." Hearing Tohka's words, Johnny gave a bitter laugh. No matter what, he was still a fugitive—without this power, he wouldn't be able to survive. Of course, he could try making another deal with Mephisto to make everyone forget he had ever been the Ghost Rider. But then again, who knew what he'd have to lose in exchange.
"All right, then be careful. I'm leaving. But if anything happens, you can ask me for help. After all, it seems that guy has taken an interest in me too." She wasn't just guessing—before Mephisto left, he had glanced back at her, which made her feel a little uneasy.
Who knew if he'd cause trouble for her in the future. So, it was good to have another ally on the same side. After saying that, she didn't speak further but instead left with Miku Izayoi.
"Where are we going now? Is this business over?" Being pulled into the air by Tohka, Miku Izayoi looked at her in confusion. After all, their whole plan had just been to watch the commotion. Now that they'd seen everything, they had no idea where to go next.
"Back to New York." Without even thinking about it, Tohka answered. After all, her armor had been blown apart—she still needed to find Tony to get another set made. Worst case, she could retrieve the spare armor she'd left with him.
"All right. I just wonder how New York is doing now." Hearing Tohka's reply, Miku Izayoi didn't object. Their objective was achieved. New York might not be as it was before the battle, but it must have recovered somewhat by now.
So, the two of them flew toward New York as fast as they could. Unfortunately, without her armor, they were much slower and had to watch their heading carefully. Otherwise, who knew what strange place they'd accidentally end up in—for example… an air defense identification zone.
"Tohka, what are you doing again? How did you fly into a place like this?" Glancing back at the fighter jets pursuing them, Tohka calmly pulled out her ringing phone. When she answered it, she saw Tony's good buddy, Colonel Rhodey.
"Ah, sorry, Uncle Rhodey. My armor was destroyed, so I can only fly back by myself." As she spoke, she looked over at the slightly nervous Miku Izayoi. After all, no one liked being chased by supersonic fighter jets.
"Relax—it's fine. We're already working on it. Just don't stop—fly straight out of here." After comforting Miku Izayoi, Tohka said to Rhodey, "We'll be out soon. I swear we didn't mean to fly over your airbase."
"All right, just hurry up. What's with everyone these days—why does someone have to crash through the airbase every other day?" After giving Tohka instructions, Rhodey grumbled and hung up. The way he said it, it sounded like trespassing into restricted airspace was some sort of fun hobby. Well… it did feel kind of exciting.
"Phew, finally out of there." Just then, the fighter jets broke off pursuit, turning back to base.
"Honestly, why does America have airbases absolutely everywhere?" Muttering her complaint, Tohka stopped caring and headed for New York at full speed.
"Recovery's not bad at all—at least most of the buildings are functioning again." Looking down at New York, Tohka realized it really deserved to be called the financial center of the world. So much money passed through here every day that the city had bounced back incredibly fast. The buildings that weren't too badly damaged were already operating normally—though traffic was still a mess.
"Mm, you're back." When Tohka landed on Stark Tower, she saw Tony, Thor, and the Hulk all there—along with Nick Fury, the one-eyed spymaster.
"Wahahaha—look at this guy. He got kicked out of his job not long ago and still hasn't been reinstated, so he has to hang around here." Seeing Tohka's puzzled look, Tony pointed at Nick Fury and burst out laughing maliciously. After all the times Fury had messed with him, Tony couldn't pass up the chance to gloat a little.
"You bastard… Forget it." Rolling his eye, Fury turned to Tohka instead. "What have you been up to the past few days? Looks like you've been clashing with some serious players. Do you have any idea who those people were?"
"Wait, you really got kicked out?" Tohka stared at Fury in surprise. She knew he'd be back in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. soon, but she hadn't expected his intel network to stay so sharp even after being removed. It seemed those leaders had never intended to get rid of him for good—otherwise his channels wouldn't still be this smooth.
"Just some little demons from Hell—nothing much." Of course, he only knew she'd fought someone, not who they were.
"You said Hell—those bastards are coming to Earth again?" Hearing Tohka, Thor was the first to react, standing up with a frown. As a prince of Asgard, he obviously knew about the other dimensions in the universe. As for Nick Fury and Tony, they were more bewildered. What the hell was going on in this world? Gods, demons—was there anything else they didn't know about?