Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 19:58:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Marvel Knights 4 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 4 Dialogue with the Enemy Blade moved cautiously toward the vampire Ahriman who was sitting at the bar wearing full motorcycle gear. Ahriman sat his motorcycle helmet on the stool beside him and waited patiently as Earl the bartender poured the vampire a drink. "You met some friends of mine last night," Blade began. "The Slayer. And her Watcher. Very interesting people." "What do you want here?" Blade asked. "If you talked with your Slayer friend, you know exactly why I'm here. In fact, you should have connections with your Watcher friend to get me what I want." "You're sister." Ahriman nodded in answer to Blade's statement. "And you are willing to subjugate an entire city to get her." Ahriman smiled. "I love my sister and have waited thousands of years for her. I will do whatever I can to find her. I'm sure you would do the same for someone you love." "What do you mean?" At the school, Davey sits in class but his mind is far away from the topic of lecture. He is planning in his mind what he needs to do to get to Harris. He doesn't notice the several people walking across the school campus and into the building. "She is somewhere in the building," one man said to the group. "We have the image in our minds transmitted by the Master. Let us find her." The men split up to search the school for the Vampire Slayer. "Can you believe what Michele wore today?" Jennifer said to the popular girls in her class. "That outfit is so nineties!?" Tandy laughed alongside her friends. She couldn't believe how anyone could be so stupid as to wear something so dated. "There she is," a manly voice said from out in the hall. Everyone turned to see three men in the hallway march into the room. "Excuse me," the teacher said as he walked over to the men. "You may not barge into my classroom and disturb my students." One of the men pushed the teacher onto the desk. The other two headed over to Tandy. "You are to come with us," one said. "The dark master ordered us to retrieve you." "Dark master?" Tandy repeated. "I don't take orders from anyone but me." Two of the men grabbed Tandy and drug her to her feet. She tried to pull away but was unsuccessful due to her balance being off. Her struggling, however, caused one to lose his grip on her arm. She used that to her advantage and pushed him away. Unfortunately, he fell into several students. Tandy swung the same hand back and connected with the other man's face. He grabbed his nose releasing his grip on the Slayer and the Slayer ran toward the door. The third man stood in the doorway smiling at Tandy. As she neared she swung her leg up and connected with the man's chest. He flew out the door and into the lockers across the hall denting the metal doors. Tandy ran out into the hall and turned to run away only to find herself facing down several men. Forming several light daggers in her hand, she threw them into the crowd. Two men were struck and fell to the ground unconscious. The two who were still in the classroom dove through the doorway and tackled her. The rest of the men jumped on top of her to subdue her. In moments of time, Tandy was unconscious and being carried out the door. Blade stood and marveled at the vampire Ahriman's audacity to tell his plans to the vampire hunter. "You couldn't possibly succeed," Blade said. "I could. And I have." "What do you mean?" "At this moment, those who serve me are now carrying your precious Vampire Slayer out of her school. In a short amount of time, they will be at my home with her." Blade, in a quick, fluid movement, pulled his sword and swung it at the vampire's head. Ahriman waved his hand in the air and Blade was thrown across the bar and into a booth at the other end. Ahriman smiled as he pulled on his helmet and gloves, again covering every inch of his body. Then he opened the door and left the bar. Blade pulled himself out of the table debris and ran to the door. When he got outside, the vampire Ahriman was gone. In no time, he climbed on his motorcycle and took off for the school, hoping against hope to find Tandy completely all right. Although, in the back of his, Blade doubted that she was okay. For some scary reason, he felt he could trust what Ahriman said was true and that Tandy was now in the vampire's custody. "What the...?" Davey said as he saw Tandy being carried across the courtyard. He jumped up in the middle of his teacher's lecture and headed for the door. "Where are you going, Davey?" the teacher asked angrily. "Someone's being kidnapped!" All the students jumped up at that and ran to the window. The teacher ran over as well and Davey slipped out the door. Once inside the bathroom, he changed into his Marvel Boy costume and ran out to the van that the thugs were putting Tandy in. Since his mutation granted him enhanced speed, it took him no time to get to her. "Look!" a student exclaimed from her desk. "It's Marvel Boy!" The students ran over to the window and looked out to watch the teen mutant. Harris stood up but didn't go over to the window. He could see fairly well from his seat. "Where do you think you're going?" Marvel Boy asked. "School is still in session." The thugs turned to Marvel Boy and started laughing. "You think some punk ass queer boy in a spandex surf outfit is going to intimidate us?" one asked between chuckles. "Shiiiiit." And everyone laughed harder. "Ah, but you forget one thing," Marvel Boy said. "This queer boy in a spandex outfit looks good. And he's a mutant and can kick your ass around the school and still look gorgeous doing it." One thug broke away from the group. "Get her in. I'll take care of The Boy Faggot." The others pushed Tandy inside and chained her to the loops in the van, securing her for transport. The brave thug approached Marvel Boy. "You going to kick my ass? You going to whoop me? I'd like to see you try it." "If you insist." Marvel Boy leapt in the air and flipped over the thug. As he came down, his foot darted out and he kicked the thug in the butt sending him forward and to the ground. The kids in the school watching the action outside cheered; everyone except for Harris. Sure he was glad that Marvel Boy was rescuing Tandy. 'You still have your fans. You are still liked by everyone. Good for you.' But in his heart he thought, 'I don't have you any more.' His finger went up and he wiped a tear from his eye. Marvel Boy spun around and kicked the thug in the head, knocking him out. Then he turned to the van ready to take on the next kidnapper. Unfortunately, one of the thugs came out with a machine gun. Marvel Boy knew all too well that he was not invulnerable to bullets, so he leapt to the side, rolled on the ground to his feet again and ran. The bullets rung out behind him as he ran until he rounded the corner of the school. The bullets flew threw the air hitting the thug Marvel Boy knocked out, and many continued on toward the school. The students dropped to the ground as bullets shattered the windows. When the bullets stopped, the teacher instructed the students to stay down. Slowly, she got up and looked outside. The van was pulling away, one of the kidnappers lay on the ground dead, and Marvel Boy was nowhere to be seen. Blade pulled up on his motorcycle as the police and paramedics pulled up, too. 'Oh no,' he thought. 'Please don't let an innocent be hurt.' He walked around the rescue vehicles to see a man lying on the ground dead. He shook his head to himself. Any loss of life is not a good thing. Yes, he was cold on the outside. But he reason for it was because of what he faced on a nightly basis. Sometimes he didn't save everyone. Sometimes the victims were turned into vampires and he had to stake them. But he always believed that life was precious. He wouldn't be doing what he did if he didn't care about people. "Psst," a voice came from the side of the school. Blade turned to see Marvel Boy motioning him over to the side of the school. Blade rushed over to his junior partner. "What happened?" Blade asked. "Some guys took Tandy. I tried to stop them but a machine gun-wielding NRA support got in the way. He kindly blew his friend away over there." "Was anyone else hurt?" "Not that I know of, but it just happened. There might be some people in need of help inside." "Get inside and check it out, as Davey. Get over to the apartment building as soon as you can after school. We've got a big problem." Marvel Boy nodded and watched as Blade made his way back to his motorcycle. As the vampire hunter drove away, Marvel Boy went back into the school and changed into his normal clothes. As he moved through the hallway toward the first floor classrooms facing the bullet shower, he passed Harris in the hall. "Hey, Harris," Davey said. Harris had his head down and didn't even look up to acknowledge Davey's greeting. Davey watched as Harris walked down the hall and around the corner. Then he ran back to the classrooms to look for victims of the gun assault. The Punisher drove his Suburban north on Interstate Seventy-Seven toward Cleveland and the destination of Reverend Exeter. He had left Batman behind in Canton to do his own thing. After getting rid of the vampire James, Punisher could relax much easier and focus more of his attention on his mission. The information he had gathered was that the Friends of Humanity headquarters was located at the Renaissance Hotel. That was where he would find Reverend Exeter. As he pulled off the highway onto East Ninth Street, the Punisher began planning his assault on the Hotel. Hopefully, no one but the guilty would get punished. Sometimes, however, he learned that innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire. He did his best to prevent that, but it didn't always work. If he couldn't prevent it, keeping it to a minimum was the next best course of action. The hotel loomed before him and he pulled into the parking lot across the street. After paying for the parking space, he parked, picked out his few small weapons, and headed toward the hotel. The lobby was very lush and elegant, scenery the Punisher was not very used to. He walked up to the front desk where he was met by a young lady with a pretty smile. He noticed her eyes looking him up and down. Granted he wasn't dressed up to the nines, but he did look good, with a nice body. The lady batted her eyes a few times. "Can I help you?" "Which floor can I find the Friends of Humanity organization?" "The organization is on the third floor." "Thanks," he said. "Thank you," the girl replied. She watched as Punisher walked over to the stairs and ascended. Then she looked over at her coworkers and smiled. "He was hot." The Punisher climbed his stairs to the third floor and found arrows indicating where the F.O.H. and other rooms were in the building. He followed the F.O.H. one to the receptionist. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked. "I'm looking for Reverend Exeter." "He's in a private meeting in the penthouse. Is it important?" "Very." "Have a seat. I will call and ask him to come down." The Punisher looked over as she began to dial the room number. "You know what," Punisher said. "Don't worry about it. I'll catch him later. The meeting must be an important one." The receptionist nodded and watched as the Punisher walked away. 'There are probably several important members of the Friends of Humanity in that meeting. I could crash their little meeting and punish them all for spreading hate.' The Punisher pressed the "UP" button on the elevator and waited for the car to arrive. When it did, he pressed the floor indicated by the phone number the receptionist began to dial. It was a big hotel, but it wouldn't take him long to uncover the room of the Friends of Humanity meeting. The elevator opened on the correct floor and the Punisher climbed out. The hallway was even more lavish than the lobby giving the feel of luxury. As comfortable as it was, the Punisher could not allow himself to relax. There was a war going on, crimes were being committed, and they had to stop. The Punisher made his way down the corridor listening at doors. The first few were quiet. Then he arrived at one and overheard the discussion going on: "The mutants in Cincinnati are rebelling thanks to the trouble in Columbus. We've had to increase our number of commandos drastically." "Cleveland has had some trouble, but not too much." "It wasn't my fault," Reverend Exeter remarked. "It was those blasted freedom fighters. If you had them here or in Cincinnati, you would have had the same problem as I." "What do you think, Mr. Fisk?" The voice that answered was garbled with static indicating a voice conference from some other place. "It happens some times. We cannot always win the battle. In the case of New York, we were able to chase the X-MEN away from the area for a while. Several have returned to cause trouble but we are dealing with them. Would you like us to send some troops to Columbus, Reverend?" That was all the Punisher needed to hear. He pulled out his pistols and kicked the door in. "Nobody move!" he ordered. The occupants of the room froze. A disconnection buzz rang from the speaker phone. However Mr. Fisk was, he didn't want to be known. "Who are you?" one of the men asked. "He's the Punisher," Reverend Exeter answered. "One of the psychopaths in Columbus. I didn't think you would be stupid enough to follow me all this way." "You calling me stupid? I'm the not the ignorant son of a bitch trying to enslave those different from me. You, on the other hand, and your organization, are. You are just as bad as Hitler was in Nazi Germany. It took this country's military strength to subdue that regime. Your organization hasn't gotten as out of control as the Nazis, but it is still a threat to humanity, of which you are definitely not friends. Therefore, I'm going to be the one to end it." "Please, Mr. Punisher. Listen to reason," one said. "He's a mad man!" Exeter exclaimed. "You can't reason with him!" "I'm a very reasonable man," Punisher answered. "That's why I'm here now." "If Lilandra were here, she would stop you." "Lilandra's dead. We got into a fight and the bitch fell out your office window. The police are looking for you to question you. Of course, you couldn't stick around for that. You are too busy building your little empire of hate to concern yourself with actual lost lives." "No. You're twisting what we are doing." "Not at all. I've been trained to recognize the enemy. To fight those who would take away the freedoms of this country's citizens. Those who you profess to hate are citizens of this country and you have curtailed their freedoms out of your own fear and self-righteousness. Your kingdom has been weighed, Reverend, and has been found wanting." "Wanting what?" "Punishment...for your crimes." Reverend Exeter jumped out of the way as the Punisher fired at his spot. The others dropped to the floor and covered their heads. Exeter, however, ran toward the balcony. "Stupid," Punisher said about Exeter. "Completely stupid. But it is to be expected." The Punisher made his way to the balcony gun pointed ahead of him. As he entered the balcony, a metal rod came down and hit his wrist causing him to drop the gun. He pulled his hand back and clutched his wrist. The metal rod came down and hit him in the back causing him to fall to his knees. "You vile, wicked man," Reverend Exeter said. "God will destroy you for interfering with His work." "His work?" the Punisher said. "Looks to me like the work of fearful human beings feeling insecure about who they are." Exeter brought the metal rod down and hit the Punisher in his ribs. The Punisher felt a rib crack and fire shot throughout his body. "Don't talk to me about fear. You look fearful yourself. I have no fear. I have complete trust in my Maker." The metal rod came down again but this time the Punisher was ready. He rolled to the side and it hit the stone floor. "Then meet Him." The Punisher kicked out and hit Exeter in the chest. Keeping his legs out he pushed Exeter over the edge of the balcony. The Punisher heard the scream coming from the minister as it faded with his descent. Then, suddenly, the screaming ended. Taking a few deep breaths, the Punisher pulled himself to his feet. He grabbed his gun and staggered into the room. One of the F.O.H. leaders was on the phone. Punisher shot the phone disconnecting the connection. "Are you going to kill us, too?" one asked. "No. I'm not going to punish. You have one last chance at redemption. Return to the other leaders and tell them the Punisher is waiting for your next move, whether it be good or evil. If you continue down the evil path this organization is heading, I will punish you for it. It is your choice whether you do right or wrong. If you do right, you will have my blessing. If you do wrong, I will be waiting to punish you." The Punisher ran through the door and down the corridor to the emergency elevator. He found it and descended to the first floor, where he exited and ran back to his Suburban. Revving the engine, he took off out of the parking lot and down the road leaving the paramedics to clean up the mess of Reverend Exeter's remains. Davey showed up at the apartment to find Ty and Whistler waiting for him. He took a seat in the central room and waited for Blade to begin the meeting. "It seems there is a new player in town," Blade began. "Tandy and Whistler found him the other night. His name is Ahriman and he is a vampire." "Why is he here?" Davey asked. "Simple. He's here to build an Empire." To Be Continued... Finally, some closure with Reverend Exeter. But it appears that the Punisher has made a vow to fight all of the Friends of Humanity. And Tandy has been kidnapped. Ahriman is a very powerful vampire, more powerful than any of the Marvel Knights have faced before. What could he possibly want with Tandy and will the Marvel Knights be able to stop him?