Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 17:56:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Marvel Knights 11 Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. It has no intentions of resembling any real persons dead or alive. This is entirely from my imagination, with a little help from already established sources. This story is based loosely on the comic book character "The Punisher" from Marvel Comics. Other characters may appear from Marvel comics as well as DC Comics. Punisher and all related characters copyright Marvel Comics. Blade and all related characters copyright Marvel Comics. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel copyright Joss Whedon, United Paramount Network and Warner Bros. Respectively. The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice. I have written another story on nifty entitled "Tales of a Real Dark Knight". It is in the Celebrity/Boy Bands section. Batman may appear in this story once or twice, as the Punisher may appear in "Tales of a Real Dark Knight". Any comments may be sent to authorjames2002@yahoo.com Thank you and enjoy. Chapter 11 Freeing Vengeance Johnny walked down to his motorcycle. He was going to free Michael tonight. That was his plan, anyway. As he mounted the motorcycle, it seemed to change right before his eyes. It became larger, louder and tougher. "Tonight, for the first time," a rather haunting voice said, "Ghost Rider rides!" Ghost Rider revved up his motorcycle and took off for the Friends of Humanity detention block. "All seems quiet," the commando at the gate radioed to the communications officer inside the installation letting him know all was well. The night was quiet. Even after Reverend Exeter's murder, they had support for what they were doing. In fact, it only strengthened the resolve to get rid of mutants in the city. The news had reported it was a psychotic mutant who burst in and killed Reverend Exeter. It wasn't true, but it was close enough. Everyone knew the Punisher wasn't a mutant. He was a mutant-sympathizer, which was worse in most of the commandos' eyes. The Punisher allied himself with the enemy. He was a traitor to his people. The commandos always had that thought in mind. If they ever saw him, none would hesitate to open fire on him. The sound of a loud motorcycle caught the guard's attention. He looked around trying to find where it was coming from. From the vantage point of the gatehouse, he couldn't see too much, so he opened the door and exited. He walked to the end of the walkway that bordered on the street and looked one way. The street was empty. Looking the other way, he saw nothing but the noise of the motorcycle was getting louder and louder. In the distance, the guard noticed a light, more like a flame hovering so far off the ground. The sound of engines roaring seemed to coincide with the flame getting larger and larger. "What the hell..." he muttered as the motorcycle came upon him. His eyes enlarged in shock and fear when he saw the flame wasn't a ball of fire but a flame that consumed the head of a skull on top the body of a biker. Ghost Rider let out a hideous laugh when he saw the face of the terrified guard. He drove up and grabbed the guard by the throat lifting him off the ground. "What...are you?" the guard muttered. "I am vengeance reborn. And you will be my first." Ghost Rider threw the guard through the glass of the gatehouse twenty feet away. He turned and drove up to the gate. Revving his bike, he popped a wheelie and drove right through the down gate guardrail. The wood splintered to pieces and he headed toward the building. Weatherby lay on the floor of his cell bloodied and beaten. The commandos enjoyed interrogating him. He didn't give them any information. His military training helped him keep it together. And these soldiers were mere rank amateurs. The F.O.H. hired concerned citizens from off the streets. Only the high-ranking officers were former military. Many of them had a beef with mutants because mutants had taken their position by being more intelligent or more powerful. He even heard somewhere about a mutant called Mutant X created by the Canadian military who was more powerful than all the soldiers in its garrison. And the mutant was altered by the Canadian military to be more powerful. "Their own fault," Weatherby muttered. "They created the soldier and now they fear him. Serves them right for whatever experiments they did to create him." Weatherby chuckled despite the pain he felt in his body. "Gatehouse, come in," the communications officer in the command room radioed. "Come in. Over." No response. She turned to the commando with her. "There is no response from the gatehouse." The guard nodded. "I'll send a unit out to check things out. He might have stepped out for a quick jerk-off. Last I heard, he hadn't had sex in a while." "Still," the Comm. officer said. The guard stepped out and gathered two men to escort him to the gatehouse. As they approached the doors they saw the motorcycle and fiery head coming toward them at top speed. They pulled their guns up to know avail. Ghost Rider smashed through the glass and skidded to a halt. He pulled out his chain and twirled it around the gun of the guard taking him. He yanked hard and pulled the guard into a second guard. A third guard stood up and Ghost Rider leapt off his motorcycle and tackled him. The guard fell backward and Ghost Rider rolled head first over onto his back bringing the guard on top of him. The guard laughed thinking he had a superior position. Ghost Rider pushed him off and into the ceiling. Ghost Rider moved as the guard fell back down unconscious. Ghost Rider turned to see the other two guards climbing to their feet. The vengeance spirit produced another chain and wrapped it around their hands and pulled. The guards flew forward and Ghost Rider punched them both knocking them out. He recoiled the chain, grabbed his other chain that wrapped around his body, and mounted his motorcycle. Ghost Rider drove through the doors and turned into the communications room. He looked over at the Comm. officer and pulled out his chain. "Where is the Punisher being held?" he asked. "I'm not allowed to give out that information." Ghost Rider dismounted his bike and walked up to her. Grabbing her and pulling her to his face, he said, "Does it look like you have a choice?" The woman shook her head and went over to the computer system. She typed in a few commands and nothing happened. "It is useless. The system has been locked down. That happens when there is danger. It's a fail-safe program in case someone is trying to bust out mutants." "But Punisher isn't a mutant. He's like you. The only difference is he lets facts be his morality, not some psycho's superstition. " The Comm. officer looked up at him. "There's nothing more I can do for you." The computer screen monitored the location of the commandos. Ghost Rider had an idea. He grabbed the radio and said, "All units, what is your current location." One-by-one they sounded off their location and their blip on the screen flashed when they spoke. One said they were near the Punisher's cell, which was what Ghost Rider was hoping for. Ghost Rider climbed back on his motorcycle. He looked back and saw the Comm. officer slowing reaching for her radio. He whipped out his chain and swung downward. His chain smashed the radio to pieces, not to mention part of the equipment. Ghost Rider took off down the hallway on his motorcycle. "I'm coming, Michael," Johnny thought. "I'm coming to rescue you." Punisher heard the sounds of shuffling feet outside. He slowly pulled himself up off the floor and walked over to the door. Looking through the narrow window, he saw commandos running past with their weapons ready. "What's going on?" he said. "Maybe there are mutants coming after the F.O.H." Punisher thought for a moment. 'Now might be a good time to make an escape.' He began looking around for anything he could use to pick the locks on the door, first on the floor, then near the sink. Finally, he lifted up his mattress and saw something he could use, a spring. He pulled it off and straightened the end a bit to use as a lock pick and went to work on the lock. Ghost Rider drove down the hall toward the Punisher's cell. Several F.O.H. guards readied their weapons to stun him. Ghost Rider just laughed at them. He pulled out his chain and swung it over his head like a lasso. He then let it rip through the air knocking the guns from the soldiers' hands. He kept going staying focused on his objective. Turning the corridor and traveling a few more feet, he pulled up at the cell occupied by Michael Weatherby. As he neared the door, it opened and Michael came out. "Who are you?" Weatherby asked. "I am Ghost Rider. The host wants you to free. Come." "The host? Who is the host?" "The man who invoked me to free you. You know him as John Blaze. There isn't much time. Come." Ghost Rider climbed onto his motorcycle. Weatherby climbed on back and Ghost Rider took off back where he came from. As the passed the guards who were picking up their weapons, Weatherby reached his hand out and snatched a rifle from the nearest F.O.H. commando. He pointed the gun back and fired at the commandos killing them. "That will teach you to fuck with me," Weatherby muttered. Ghost Rider drove the motorcycle back through the foyer and out the door. Once on the open road, Ghost Rider slowed down. "Now can you tell me what's happened?" Weatherby asked. "After you were taken into custody, the host went home. Using his books, he invoked me and my abilities to free you." "Does it wear off? Will I have Johnny back?" "Soon he will have power to come forth. He will be able to exert his personality with me so long as he does not take over." "Let me speak to him." Ghost Rider paused for a moment, staring off into space. Slowly the head turned and the jaw moved. But this time, it was Johnny's voice that came forth. "Michael?" Johnny muttered. He grabbed Michael and pulled him close. "Thank God you are alive." "I owe it all to you," Weatherby answered. "But why did you do this to yourself?" "Because I like you, Weatherby. In fact, I think I may be falling in love with you." "You've only known me a short time, Johnny. You couldn't possibly love me." "Maybe I don't," Johnny said releasing his embrace, "but I want to find out. And I can't do that if you are dead." "But what you did...it is dangerous. I've seen what magic can do." "I don't care." "Can you look like you used to? Try." Johnny concentrated hard to emerge from the fiery head he now had. The sound of engines revving in the distance, however, quickly brought Ghost Rider back in control. "We must flee. The Friends of Humanity is coming." Ghost Rider mounted the motorcycle and Weatherby climbed on behind him. The two drove off into the night fleeing from the oncoming Friends of Humanity vans. After a long drive, Ghost Rider pulled the bike off the road. With the situation calming down, Johnny was able to assert himself back into control of the body. "Are you injured?" he asked Weatherby. "Nothing a little time and some bandages won't cure. How about you? Are you okay?" "I'm okay. Scared, but okay." "I can understand. What you've done is...well, it is something I have never seen before. Are you sure it is safe?" "It's a bit late for that," Johnny snapped. "Sorry. I still don't understand why. Eventually I would have gotten out." "I needed to free you. And I need you to help me find my son. The F.O.H. has taken him away and I have no idea how to find him." "They took your son?" "Yeah, and I don't know why." Weatherby thought for a moment, then realization dawned on him. "I know why. They've been watching me. They saw you with me and got the information about your family from their database. I'm sorry. They are using your family to get to you so they can get to me. The bastards." "And you know how to locate my son, right? You can help me get him back, right?" "I don't know if I can. I will have to come up with a plan." Weatherby paced back and forth on the ground while Ghost Rider looked on. Ghost Rider reverted back to Johnny, who now watched Weatherby. Weatherby stopped and looked at Johnny. "You look normal." "What?" Johnny asked. "And your voice is normal. You've reverted back to your normal self." Weatherby walked over and placed his hand on Johnny's shoulder. "I'm glad to see your face again and know you are okay." Johnny took the initiative and kissed Weatherby full on the lips. "And, I think I have a plan," Weatherby said after pulling away from the kiss. "What's that?" "We need information, right? We can infiltrate one of the smaller, F.O.H. headquarters and find out where your son is being held. From there, we can determine our next moves." "Sounds good," Johnny replied. To Be Continued... Weatherby is free and Johnny can change back to looking normal. More good stuff to come.