Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 06:23:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Judgments of a Real Dark Knight 10 Disclaimer: This story, though maybe not in this chapter but in subsequent chapters, will have celebrities in it. I have no knowledge of their sexuality and this is not intended to imply their sexuality. This is all from my own mind. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss Whedon. Copyright 20th Century Fox. Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics and Warner Bros. X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice. Star Wars and all related concepts created by or based on the universe created by George Lucas. Copyright 20th Century Fox, LucasFilms Ltd. and Lucas Books/Ballantine Books. I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered. I have received many emails from people who have enjoyed it and some from those who do not. I would enjoy hearing from you. Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks. authorjames2002@yahoo.com I also have several online messenger services. If you want to chat with me in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you my screen name. Chapter 10 Dance with Death The demonic creature grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground. I could feel the searing flames on my face, hoping it didn't melt the mask to my face permanently. I kicked at the being several times, but it had no effect. The people around us were screaming and running, trying to get as far away from us as possible. Across the street, Blade staked the vampire, and he and Punisher headed this way. "Put him down!" Punisher called out. "Ghost Rider!" Blade added. "Drop him!" The creature's head turned and stared for a moment at Punisher. Then he turned around with me in his grasp. "You look familiar to me," Ghost Rider stated to the two approaching. "That's right," Punisher said. "We are familiar to you." Suddenly the flames surrounding his head turned blue and he shook in pain. Ghost Rider then tossed me into the air. To my surprise as the back of my head came in contact with the lamppost, it impacted, and then it passed right through along with the rest of my body. I landed on the ground with incredible pain in my head from the initial impact. "I'll check on Batman," Blade replied. The Daywalker ran over to me leaving Punisher and Ghost Rider alone. "Are you okay?" he asked me. "My head hurts horribly. It hit the lamppost before going through." "It's a good thing your mutation kicked in, or you would have been dead." "Yeah," I replied. But something didn't set right with me about why that happened. Blade helped me to my feet and we made our way back toward Ghost Rider and Punisher. "Johnny," Punisher said. "Can you hear me? Deep down I know you can. You've got to fight this. You've got to come back to me." The flames turned blue again and the spirit inside Johnny said, "Johnny doesn't exist any more. It is only I, Death." Ghost Rider, or Death now, backhanded the Punisher, but not nearly as hard as he backhanded me. Punisher spun and fell to the ground. I ran over to see if he was okay while Blade went after Death. "I'm not going to let you hurt anyone any more." Blade swung a fist at Death. Death caught it in mid swing and squeezed. Then he kicked Blade in the stomach and Blade flew across the street into a building. In a darkened area Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse monitored the activities of his Horsemen. He watched as Death took care of Blade, Punisher and Batman. "His strength has increased greatly," Apocalypse replied. "More than I believed," Sinister answered. "I didn't think it would be so great. Apparently, however, the spirit that possesses him has been taken over by the treatment. His full strength is being unleashed uninhibited by the human vessel." "Excellent, Sinister. Excellent." I pulled out a bat and hurled it at Death while he wasn't looking. Somehow he knew, though, and turned. A burst of flame came forth from his hand and melted the metal shape in mid air. The bat fell to the ground as a metal blob. I looked up from the futile act onto Death. As strange as it sounds, it seemed the skull was smiling at me. "You can't defeat me," he muttered. "I am Death. I am a certainty in life. I am what defeat others. I am eternal." "Death may be a certainty," I replied. "But it isn't defeat." I jumped in the air and flew at Death feet first. Both feet landed in his chest and he stumbled backwards. I fell to the ground having not completely knocked him over. Death regained his balance, reached down and grabbed me by my ankles. "You will die," he replied. Death picked me up and swung me into the wall like I was a sack of sand. I felt the concrete give way with the impact. I also felt pain shooting through my body. 'This guy was going to kill me,' I thought. Death pulled me back and lifted me over his head. I waited for the downward swing but it didn't come. In fact, Death dropped me to the ground. I looked up to see a large dart sticking out of his chest. He grabbed it and pulled it out. "You think...this will...stop...me? Think...again." Death hurled the dart at Punisher, who was taking aim with his rifle. Punisher dodged out of the way as the dart flew past and imbedded into the concrete street. Death turned and leapt up to the rooftop and disappeared into the night. I struggled to stand up when Punisher and Blade came over to me. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Surprisingly, I'm still alive. That should have killed me." "You are lucky to be a mutant," Punisher stated. The two men helped me back to the Suburban. After helping me in the back, they climbed in the front and headed back to the lair. "I'm sorry," Punisher said as he pulled into the garage. "You're not responsible," I said. "But still. If I hadn't brought you on this, you wouldn't have been hurt." "It was my decision to come, too. In fact, you wouldn't have been here at all if you didn't include us. I got here through Professor Xavier's help." Punisher remained quiet as we pulled into the lair's parking area. Lance, Justin, Jessica and Shiro came up to the Suburban. When I opened the backdoor, Lance and Jessica both gasped. "What?" I asked. "You're bleeding," Lance said pulling me out and reaching for the mask. Jessica helped him take it off and my face was covered in blood. "What happened?" Lance asked. "Ghost Rider," Punisher answered. "Death," Blade corrected. "What?" Shiro asked. "Somehow Ghost Rider has been taken control by the spirit inside him," Blade answered. "The spirit wants to do evil and is willingly following Apocalypse as a Horseman. The question is how." "Um, I hate to interrupt," I said, "but would it be possible for me to get some help? I'm in some pain here." "Oh, yeah," Jessica replied grabbing me and helping me out of the Suburban. She and Lance helped me into the infirmary where Shiro led them. Shiro took off my mask and suit and attended to my wounds. Lance stood beside me holding my hand. The room was silent as everyone thought about what could have enabled the spirit complete control. "Magic," Lance said out loud. "What?" Justin asked. "There's a spirit inhabiting Ghost Rider, right? Somehow the spirit was given power to assert itself completely, taking control of the host. But what kind of magic invoked it?" Blade turned to Punisher. "What kind of spell created him?" "I don't know," Punisher answered. "I was being held by the Friends of Humanity. That is the reason he became Ghost Rider." "How long were you held before he came to rescue you?" I asked. "I'm not sure. Not quite a day, maybe." "Then he had to have had the supplies necessary for the spell at hand." "What kind of books did he have?" Blade asked. "Again, I don't know. I don't study that stuff and have no interest in it. I didn't ask." "If you saw the covers, do you think you could identify them?" Jessica asked. "Maybe. What do you propose we do?" "Shiro, do you have a computer terminal you could spare?" "Of course," Shiro said. After fixing me up some, he led Jessica and Punisher out of the infirmary, leaving Blade, Lance, Justin and myself alone. Justin came up on the other side of me and took my hand. He smiled at me and Lance. "That is some crazy mutation you have," Blade said. "Why? Because I can control molecules?" "No. Because at first it didn't work and then it did." Lance and Justin both looked at Blade. "The lamppost," he clarified for me. But the other two still had no idea, so he continued, "your head hit the lamppost, but then your body passed through it. You would think your head would have gone through as well before impacting the metal." "True," Justin replied thinking it over. Lance was silent, and then he looked at me. I smiled up at him. Shiro sat Jessica and Punisher down at a computer terminal. After giving them some of the passwords they would need, he left them alone to return to his work. Jessica typed in a few keys to get started, and then her fingers danced on the keyboard giving the machine commands and access to the Watchers' database. "What is this?" Punisher asked. "The Watchers' Council database of mystical texts." "Don't they have a lot?" "Definitely. But I'm going to limit the search to a few keywords. Give me some words you can remember Ghost Rider saying when he described what happened to him." "Let me think," Punisher said. After a few moments, he gave Jessica the words 'spirit,' 'vengeance,' and 'possession.' Taking the words Punisher gave, Jessica also allowed for the location of Johnny and what types of books could be found. She also took his name and ran it across online purchasing of mystical books. The Watchers' Council had access to just about everything. "This won't take too long," Jessica replied as the computer compiled the list. "How did you two meet?" "At a coffee shop in Cleveland. We ended up talking for hours and then he invited me back to his place. Things went from there." Jessica nodded realizing she wasn't going to get too far in Punisher's personal life. "When were you going to tell me what happened with your mutation?" Lance asked. "What do you mean?" "First your body not passing through, then your body passing through. What is that? Did you forget to activate your mutation?" "It doesn't work like that. It only kicks in when my emotions are in high gear." "When your adrenaline is pumping." "Right," I answered. "Then why didn't it kick in? You were in the middle of a fight. Not just any fight, but a fight with someone possessed by a powerful spirit. It should have activated automatically." I thought for a moment and then remembered when the center was first being built. I stood up and stumbled after praying. My hand went through a two-by-four, but there was no reason to cause it. That was a case when my mutation activated when it shouldn't have. And earlier, it didn't activate when it should have. "I'm fine," I finally answered. "It's probably due to all that happened in England. I'm sure it will go back to normal." "It better. Maybe you should have Professor Xavier or Dr. Grey look at you. They understand the genetics behind mutations. They might know if something is going wrong." "We'll see," I said. Cyclops and Northstar headed out for their patrol. They first started where the other three left off. Their first objective was to look for clues as to where Ghost Rider's lair might be. "Do you really think we can stop him?" Northstar asked Cyclops as they looked at the battle field. "Who? Ghost Rider? I think so. Everyone has good ideas and has had experience dealing with mystical stuff. I think we have a good team of specialists working on this." "What about Apocalypse?" "I don't know. He might be a lot harder to beat. He's immortal." "Which means he can't be killed." "Not necessarily. Vampires are immortal, but they can be killed." "Have you ever fought a vampire?" "No. But the Huntress has. So have Blade, Punisher and Batman. They have all had experience in that area. That's why I think we can save Ghost Rider." Northstar nodded. "The least we should be able to do is stop Apocalypse's plans of creating mutants. If we can stop him, he may think twice about doing anything like that again." "Wasn't the Huntress supposed to be out here with us?" "Yeah. But her expertise in research is needed back at the lair." The two were quiet for a while as they continued searching for clues. "Is Batman really gay?" Northstar asked breaking the silence. Cyclops looked up. Before he could answer, however, the sound of shrieking came their way. They both turned and put on their game faces. Then they headed in the direction of the cry. As the two mutants rounded the corner, they saw the source of the scream. A little girl curled up against a wall looking across the street. The two men looked in that direction and saw strange looking creatures coming out of an alley. "Demons," Cyclops whispered. He reached up and activated his visor. A blast shot out and hit the demons pushing them into the building and alley. "Grab her!" Northstar ran to the girl with lightning speed and scooped her up. He ran down the street around the corner and dropped her off. Then he joined Cyclops's side to face off with the demons. Cyclops continued to blast the creatures but more kept coming out and spreading out making it impossible for him to keep up. "There's too many!" he said. "Not a problem," Northstar replied. He ran across the street and picked up a metal pipe he noticed lying on the ground. He ran around one of the demons and hit it in the head. A normal person would have been knocked unconscious. However, this only served to anger the creature. The creature backhanded Northstar and knocked him back to Cyclops. He got back to his feet. "Not a problem, huh?" Cyclops said. "Ha, ha," Northstar replied sarcastically. "That only served to piss me off." Northstar ran at the creature that backhanded him. As he neared, he jumped forward, pulled his body together and rolled onto his back in front of the creature. As he came up feet first, he pushed out with his arms and kicked out with his legs. The strength of his legs, due to his mutation, was sufficient to kick the creature over the top of the building. Imperceptible to anyone, Cyclops widened his eyes in amazement. But he didn't spend too long admiring Northstar's ability. He had demons to fight. His blasts did some good, kept some demons at bay. But they kept coming. It seemed as if the darkness and shadows were multiplying them. To everyone's surprise, one demon launched a blast from its eyes, much like Cyclops's beam. Cyclops jumped out of the way and the spot he stood on was demolished. "What the?" Cyclops said. Northstar ran over to Cyclops. "Are you okay?" Cyclops nodded affirmatively. "Why didn't they tell us demons had powers?" Northstar exclaimed. The two mutants looked up to see the creatures closing in on them. To Be Continued...