Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 19:24:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Judgments of a Real Dark Knight 25 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. Other stories set in this universe: "Marvel Knights" "Tales of a Young Mutant" (postings have resumed or will be resuming) "Tales of a Superhero Band" "Tales of the New Phoenix" 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. If anyone has artistic talent and/or design capabilities, check out the "Real Dark Knight" Contest. Please email me at either address if you are planning on participating in the contest. Thanks! Chapter 25 Apocalypse Now Punisher pulled off the grating covering the air vent. He attached a rope and turned to Lance and Justin. "Are your weapons on safety?" he asked. Both men checked their weapons. "Check," they replied in unison. "Good. I would hate for one of you to shot yourselves in the ass." The Punisher attached the rope and slid in to the air vent. Lance went next followed by Justin. Ghost Rider entered ahead of us but we could hear the voices on the other side. "Death, why are you here?" Apocalypse said. "I did not summon you." "I'm not longer under your employ," Ghost Rider replied. "What?" We threw the doors open and poured into the main chamber. It was large round room with a throne erected in the middle of a circular platform in the center of the room. Upon the throne sat the mastermind behind the attempting in creating more mutants: Apocalypse. "What have you done?" Apocalypse replied. "I led them here," Ghost Rider answered. "We're here to stop you," Cyclops stated. Apocalypse smiled. "You are welcome to try." "Oh, we will." Cyclops reached up to his visor and released a blast. The three men arrived in a small room filled with machinery. "Where are we?" Justin asked. "These machines pump air throughout this structure," Punisher answered. "Should we destroy it?" Lance asked. "And risk someone finding out we're here? No. Our objective is to destroy their records. That's what we do. That's ALL we do." The two young men nodded and followed Punisher out into the corridor. "According to Johnny, this is the lower level," Punisher whispered. "Look for the door that's marked LAB." The two nodded and spread out throughout the corridor searching for those three little letters. Punisher found it shortly and made a "psst" noise to get the attention of the singers. Both men nodded and made their way to the door. Once there, Punisher reached for the knob. Finding it was not booby-trapped like he might have thought, he turned it to find it unlocked. From there, he opened it fully. "Well that didn't work," Northstar said, referring to Cyclops's blast. "It did something," I stated, "Just not enough." "Then lets make it enough." Northstar ran toward the mutant and the rest of us followed. I pulled out several bats and hurled them at the man. He was able to block one before he had to beat off Northstar. With one punch, Northstar went flying across the room and into the hallway. He stood, brushed himself off, and headed right back into the fray. Huntress ran toward Apocalypse and swung away at him. First a right, then a left, followed by a right. She stepped back and swung her leg at him. He caught it and picked her up, swung her around and threw her into a wall. "Huntress!" I called out. She looked up at me and nodded, giving me the signal she was fine. I acknowledged it and went after the mutant. The three men saw a dark-haired man sitting at the terminals. He was busy typing away not noticing what was occurring right behind him. The Punisher chambered a round and the man turned in his chair. As he stood up, Lance and Justin's eyes widened at his size. He stood a little taller than six foot, but his visage is what caught their attention. His eyes were red as fire. His hair as black as sackcloth. His skin as pale as death. With blue material that wrapped him up like a mummy and a red cape flowing behind him, he looked like the Horsemen wrapped into one being. "Hello," he said. Then his hand went out and grabbed the barrel of the gun Punisher aimed at him. I dodged a punch by Apocalypse. Having seen his power when he punched Northstar and threw Huntress, I didn't want to be on the receiving end of fisticuffs with him. Another punch came at me and I leaned backward. Grabbing his wrist, I swung my legs upward and kicked him in the chin. My momentum carried me completely around and I landed on his wrist. Then I swung my leg out and kicked him in the face. He threw his arm upward into the air and jerked me off balance. Luckily, I still had my grasp on his wrist. As he brought his arm down, I swung around again and kicked him between the legs hoping that he still had genitalia. He winched slightly. Then his fist found my face and I flew across the room and through a pillar. His image blurred in my field of visage, then all went black. Mr. Sinister took the gun in his hand and bent it up. Lance and Justin took the safeties off their guns and took aim. "Go ahead and shoot," Sinister replied. "I'm immortal." "Okay," Justin said and open fire on the mutant. Sinister backhanded Punisher, who went flying into a wall, and continued on toward Justin and Lance. Lance swung his gun at Sinister seeing that the bullets did nothing. When the gun impacted, it bent. Sinister then grabbed Lance by the throat and lifted him in the air. "You puny Homo sapien. You can't possibly understand what it's like to be a mutant." Sinister then threw Lance into the wall and the singer slumped to the floor. Justin looked from where Lance lay up at Sinister. He dove between Sinister's legs and rolled up to his feet. He looked to his left and saw a table with chemicals and test tubes. "You can't hurt me," Sinister said. "No matter how many bullets are fired upon me, I cannot be killed that way." "Our job isn't to kill you," Justin stated. "Just kill your work." Justin opened fire on the table smashing the glass flasks and vials. Sinister's eyes widened as his work was being destroyed before his eyes "NO!" he screamed as bullets shattered his work. Lance looked up, cocked his gun, and fired upon the tables, too. "No more Horsemen," Lance replied. "I can get more! The last four were recruited and I can easily get more!" "No, they weren't recruited," Punisher said. "One was taken by force." "Ah, you mean Ghost Rider," Sinister said. The two singers stopped firing, having done enough damage to the biological aspect of Mr. Sinister's work. Now their attention was on Punisher and Sinister. "Yeah, I mean Ghost Rider." "He was so noble. He fought so hard to resist my serum. I was able to subdue his soul long enough for the spirit to gain strength. Then, with the help of magic, he became our willing lap dog." "Your 'willing lap dog' is now upstairs with a bunch of others kicking the ass of your boss. Somehow, I don't think that was part of the plan." Sinister swung his fist at Punisher. Punisher flipped backward and cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass, too." Punisher dove at Sinister tackling him. Sinister rolled backwards and flipped Punisher over. Lance took advantage and ran over stomping on Sinister's chest. Sinster's leg flew up and kicked Lance in the face knocking him away. Then Sinister flipped to his feet and turned to be met by a fist in the mouth. Punisher landed a well-placed blow in Sinister's face and knocked him backwards. He punched him again and again. Then he ran at the mutant and tackled him knocking him into the hallway. Lance and Justin looked at the fighting in the hallway. Then their eyes met the bag on the floor by the door. The two looked at each other and knew instantly what Punisher was doing. He was giving them time to plant the explosives on the computer hard drive. The two went to work pulling the charges out and placing them where Punisher instructed them to be placed. Blade ducked underneath an attempted blow by Apocalypse. He swung his fist upwards and hit Apocalypse in the stomach. Then he wrapped his arms around Apocalypse and pulled. He shifted his weight the right way and pulled Apocalypse over backwards. The others watched in wonder at Blade's feat. He was the only one to knock Apocalypse over. It wasn't Blade's strength so much as it was his leverage. The others took advantage and ran up jumping on top of the mutant. Fists and feet flew at the mutant impacting him, beating him, doing all they could to somehow hurt him. I looked up at what was going on and my heart jumped. In my mind flashed all beatings I had ever seen on television, from Rodney King up to the description of Matthew Shepard's beating. From my vantage point, it didn't look much different to me. Sure, Apocalypse has done horrible things. But did he deserve to be beaten like this? Granted he was practically immortal, but did that give any of us the right to jump on him and beat him like this? Suddenly, everyone flew off of him and he stood up. "Pathetic fools!" he replied. "Did you think that you could stop Apocalypse?" "Not really our job here," Cyclops stated. "We're here just to keep you occupied." "What?" Apocalypse said. The mutant tried running for the door but Dr. Strange stood framed by the metal. His hands went up and an energy blast shot forth hitting Apocalypse and knocked him into his throne. The chair crumbled under the impact. "Going somewhere?" Dr. Strange asked. I stood up and ran to the sorcerer. "Can you put some type of energy shield around him to keep him here?" "I can try. I don't know his strength or familiarity when it comes to the magics. He could very well know how to get around it." "Try," I said. Dr. Strange's hands went up. His eyes turned dark and an energy barrier formed around Apocalypse sealing him into the erect platform. We moved forward and surrounded him so that, in case the barrier fell, we would make a living barrier. Sinister brought his clasped fists down on the back of Punisher. Punisher slumped but didn't release his grip on the mutant's waist. Sinister grabbed Punisher's waist and brought his knee up connecting with the man's stomach. He then grabbed Punisher by the collar and lifted him into the air. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Sinister said. Lance and Justin ran out of the laboratory and tackled Sinister causing him to fall and drop Punisher. They pulled themselves up and grabbed Punisher urging him to run. They helped him get to his feet and hustle down the corridor. When they got to the end, Justin pressed the button and the corridor echoed with the explosions. "NO!!!!!" Mr. Sinister screamed as flames burst from the laboratory door. "What have you done?" Upstairs the floors shook with the vibration of the explosion. Ghost Rider looked up at Apocalypse. "There goes your dream of creating mutants," he said. "You can kiss your plans goodbye." Apocalypse looked from him to Blade to Huntress and to me. Then he ran at the energy field and threw himself into it. The impact stretched the barrier and it finally broke. I grabbed his wrist and punched him in the face. His head jerked, then he grabbed me and swung me around like a baseball bat, using me to knock my friends down. Then he hit me against the floor, swung me through the rubble of his throne and then threw me at the wall near the door. I felt a prick in my arm and looked up to see the man known as Mr. Sinister with a needle full of blood. He looked up at Apocalypse and then disappeared down the hall. The room rocked with more explosions. Punisher, Justin and Lance came up to me and asked if I was okay. I nodded and Justin went to Huntress, Punisher to Ghost Rider. "We got to get out of here," Punisher called over the explosions. Lance helped me up and I looked around unable to find Apocalypse. He had snuck out through some secret exit no one knew about. It didn't matter, though. We completed our objective. We stopped his plot to make Homo sapiens into Homo superior. We made our way through the corridor and out into the air. After a short distance, we found Punisher's Suburban and piled inside. Ghost Rider's motorcycle formed and he and Dr. Strange climbed on that while Punisher drove his Suburban. Northstar ran along side and Shiro flew. We drove a safe distance hearing the explosions. Lance and I, sitting in the area with Punisher's weapons looked out the back and saw the hill go up in a ball of flame. Right behind it, the sun appeared. I looked over at Lance, pulled off my mask and said, "We did it." "Together," he replied and we kissed. After all our wounds were healed, we packed up Punisher's Suburban. "Thanks for your help," Punisher said to Dr. Strange shaking his hand. "Thank you for giving me a reason to help." "You gave me back my lover." "You gave me back my life." Punisher smiled for the first time I had ever seen him smile. It seemed almost creepy. "Thanks for everything," Scott said to Shiro. "You were an immense help." "It was my pleasure. It's our job to help others, including those who don't think we are worth saving." "The world has a long way to go," Jessica said, "when it comes to accepting those who are different. But with people like us who are different saving the rest of humanity's butt, acceptance should be right around the corner." "You would think with all that we've come up against, getting society to give us equal rights would be a cinch." "Nothing is ever easy when the enemy is organized and can work within the system," Blade said. All of us nodded and we climbed aboard. Lance, before getting in, went over to Northstar. I couldn't make out what was being said, but, by the posture of Northstar, it looked like he was apologizing. He looked over at me and then back at Lance. Lance shook Northstar's hand and put his other hand on the mutant's shoulder. Then he came to the Suburban and climbed in. "What was that all about?" I asked. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Lance then kissed me and the Suburban took off. The plane ride was uneventful. The first stop was Orlando, where Lance and I got off. The plane would then go to Columbus and drop off Blade, Punisher and Johnny. Jessica and Justin were going to continue ahead to New York with Cyclops and Northstar where Garrett was waiting for them. We waved as the plane took off from the airport. Then we called a cab to go home. "That was something," Lance said as we took our things into the house. "I never thought I would be part of something so major." "You were on our honeymoon, remember?" "It wasn't global threatening, though. Turic was just after revenge." "Still," I said. "You held your own against a vampire. And now a mutant. You are ready for the big leagues." "Like hell," Lance said. "The only thing I'm ready for is a nice, hot, bubble bath with you in my arms. Then making love with you all day." "Sounds like a plan to me," I replied. To Be Continued... What do you think of the storyline with Apocalypse? Were you satisfied with the ending? I would love to read your reactions to this. Don't think for a minute, though, that this is the end of "Judgments". I still have 25 more chapters ahead filled with some excitement and surprises. More to come!