Ghost Rider #4

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Ghost Rider #4
Long, Hard Road Part 4

Written by Mike Bowen
Edited by Daniel Dyer

Blaze stood frozen in the kitchen doorway, staring at the man who was in his house, cooking of all things. He wanted to rush and attack this intruder, beat him until he told him where his wife was. But what if he was armed? He had to play by his rules this time, at least until he could come up with another plan of action. Johnny stumbled over towards the kitchen table and used the back of a chair to support himself. This was all too much. The accident, last night and now this man in his house.

“Who are you,” Blaze asked as he sat at the table. “And what have you done with my wife.”

The man turned and smiled, displaying his yellowed teeth to Blaze. “Relax Johnny, Clara’s fine,” he said. He fixed two plates and brought the breakfast over to the table and placed one in front of Blaze and then sat down. “As for who I am, you can call me Caretaker.”

Blaze pushed the plate away, he was too angry and disgusted to eat.

“Not hungry?” Caretaker asked. “Well, I have a question for you Mr. Blaze. Where were you last night?”

Blaze shook his head. It’s not that he didn’t want to answer the question, it’s that he didn’t know. “I... I don¹t know, I can’t remember.”

Caretaker laughed heartily, bits of scrambled eggs falling out of his mouth. “He screwed you,” he said between shoveling another forkful of eggs into his mouth. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming. You think Mephisto would have sent you back without some kind of benefit to him?”

As Caretaker spoke the word Mephisto, time seemed to slow for Blaze. The syllables of the word dragged out and the images of the operation and his time in Hell exploded in Johnny’s head. “I remember now...” Blaze muttered. “The accident, the operation, all of it. But what does that have to do with last night.”

“Come on, boy, think!” the man shouted. “You made a deal with the devil. Do you not think that he got the better end of the deal? Do you really think that operation he had performed on you was necessary.”

Blaze had a sick look on his face. He had a feeling the man was telling the truth, but he didn’t want to believe it. “That was to make sure I kept up my end of the deal, that my sou...”

The man poked his fork in Blaze¹s face. “Stop,” he interrupted. “It’s a lie. That’s what he does. You ended up there on your own just fine when you crashed that motorcycle. Why would he need to do anything to make sure you come back?”

Blaze looked like he was going to be ill all over the table. He lifted his shirt up and ran his hands over where the scar from the operation should have been. “Then what did he put in me?” he asked quietly.

Caretaker pushed around the remaining food on his plate with his fork, like he didn’t want to answer. “It’s not what, it’s who,” he finally said.

Blaze shook his head like he was trying to wake himself up. “Did you just say who?” he asked.

“That’s right. Inside of you, boy, you have one of the worst demons this world has ever known. His name is Zarathos. And up until a few days ago, he was imprisoned in a medallion. Now that medallion resides in you. And it has a large crack in it, letting just a little of his essence out to overtake you when you are at your weakest.”

Is that why I can’t remember where I was last night?”

“Partly. You see, your family is cursed. A long time ago, one of your ancestors made a deal with Mephisto to save his dying wife. In exchange, the first-born son of every generation is destined to become the Ghost Rider. The Spirit of Vengeance. Its been going on for a while now, a couple hundred years. You are just the latest in a long line.”

Blaze laughed. He could deal with the Hell thing. He could even believe he made a deal with the devil. But to hear that his family is operating under a centuries old curse and that he is this Ghost Rider, it was just a bit too much to handle. “So, I’m this... what did you call it, Ghost of Vengeance?” Blaze asked. “But you still haven’t answered my question, why the hell can’t I remember what happened last night?”

“It’s Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance,” Caretaker said emphatically. “And what it has to do with last night is that whenever innocent blood is spilled, you transform into him. During that transformation you’re at your weakest point, allowing just enough of Zarathos take over that your half him, half yourself. That’s why you don’t remember where you were last night. You were out dispensing vengeance.”

Blaze couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Why was this happening to him? He started to get up from his chair and Caretaker was instantly at his side providing a steadying hand. “I need to get out of here,” Blaze muttered as he went through the side door towards the garage. As soon as he rounded the corner he nearly ran right into his wife, frozen while putting a bag of trash in the can.

“Hey, I didn’t think you’d want to have that conversation with her around,” Caretaker said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Blaze didn’t answer as he hopped on his bike and kick-started it with a roar. A few minutes later he was pulling into the street that ran in front of the house and riding away.

As Caretaker stood watching Blaze leave, Mephisto appeared with a loud thunder crack. “You shouldn’t be interfering,” he said with a sneer.

Caretaker looked incredulous as he turned to face the demon, jabbing a stubby finger into his chest. “And you changed the rules!” he shouted. “That boy has to deal with the curse, that’s my fault. But the cracked medallion, Zarathos, that went too far. Why to him? Why did you decide to change things with this one, after all these years?”

Mephisto just laughed heartily as he began to dematerialize. “It’s always fun to spice things up a bit.”

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The demon-lord was in full rage when he returned to his throne room. He shed his mortal guise and stood seething in all his demon glory. “Summon them!” he screamed. “Summon them all! I want answers!”

Miscellaneous demons scattered, desperate to do their masters bidding, or eager to get out of his way. Within minutes all parties were standing before Mephisto as he stalked back and forth in front of them. One by one he stopped and examined them, dismissing the surgeon, the guard of the room the medallion was kept in and the others. Until only Blackheart was left.

“Why have you betrayed me my son?” he asked, hot breath hissing through his clenched teeth. “That fool has told Blaze everything, things he could not possibly know without help from someone here.”

Blackheart looked stunned. It was an act, of course, but he played it perfectly. “Never father,” he started. “I would never aid your enemies. Was I not the one who arranged for Blaze’s soul to be delivered to you in the first place?” At least not directly, you old fool. “It was in fact Gieall, I even caught him in the act,” Blackheart said. “He must have been turned by someone, but I dispatched him as soon as I learned of his plot.”

Mephisto stared at his son for several minutes without saying anything. Finally he broke eye contact and waved his hand. “Get out of my sight!” he bellowed. “I have too much to worry about
without the rest of you screwing things up all the time.”

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Blaze rode for most of the day, hitting the suburbs and the mountain roads North of the city. It allowed him to clear his head and forget about the mysterious stranger that appeared in his kitchen and the supposed curse he was under.

It was approaching midnight when Blaze was returning home. He was tired and ready to get to sleep. He turned on the familiar street that would lead him home and almost collided with the bumper of a stopped Buick. After screeching to a halt, he put a foot down and flipped up his visor. There was an accident ahead, two cars. It didn’t look serious, but they were blocking both lanes of the road.

“Dammit!” Blaze said. “It never fails. I just want to get home and go to sleep and forget about this day. Now I’m going to have to wait forever.”

He kicked the peg on his bike down. He reached down to shut off the key when he noticed he was right near the entrance to the Cypress Hills Cemetery.

Blaze looked up at the sky and gave a wink. “I knew ya loved me,” he whispered as he kicked up the stand and roared down the path of the cemetery.

As he crested the first hill he slowed to a stop. Just west of him, near a mausoleum he saw three men, two of which had guns, holding another man hostage.

Blaze quickly shutoff the engine and coasted to a small plateau and laid the motorcycle down in the underbrush. Without hesitation he started creeping towards the four men. I must be stupid for doing this. I should just wait it out and get home. When he got within earshot of the gathering, he heard one of the armed men, with a deep New Jersey accent start asking the man held at gunpoint questions.

“You knows you shouldn’t have done what you did, right?” he started. “Mr. Lords has been more than kind to ya, and you go and steals from him.”

“Listen, I didn’t mean to do it,” the guy stammered. “I’ll give it back, I swear, just don’t kill me.”

The third man stepped forward between his two goons. He was wearing a fine, black Italian suit, his dark hair greased back. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses, even though it was the dead of night. “Now, now, Barry,” he started. “You know what you did was wrong, but still you did it. I gave you a job, a paycheck and then you steal from me.”

The two goons started to affix silencers to their guns.

“Please Mr. Lords, I’m begging you. I’ve got a family, you don’t need to kill me.”

Lords shook his head. “You’re right. I don’t need to kill you.” Both goons quickly brought their weapons up and put a bullet each in Barry’s head. “But,” he pulled his glasses off to reveal a pair of glowing green eyes, “I want to.”

Blaze was so intent on the scene that he didn’t realize he was changing again. The flesh on his hands started to melt away. Smoke started to roll from his clothes and the heat grew even more intense. “Noooooooooooooooo!” Blaze wailed as his skin disappeared, leaving the hulking remains of the Ghost Rider behind.

The thugs quickly looked in Blaze’s direction, but instead of the man they thought they would find they were face to face with the blazing skull of the Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider quickly got to his feet and advanced on the party. The two thugs immediately started pumping bullets into the chest of the creature but to no avail. One turned towards his boss, looking for direction.

Lords eyes, still glowing, were wide. “After all these years...” he mumbled.

The two thugs quickly dropped their weapons and ran for their lives. One made it, but the other was snared by the collar by Ghost Rider.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” he screamed as the creature hauled him up to eye level.

“Hurt you,” Ghost Rider replied. “I plan to do more than hurt you. I intend to show you the exact pain that you have inflicted on the people around you. Starting with than man right there.” He pointed to the body of the man the thug just shot. “Now.. feel the pain of your victims as my penance stare lays bare your soul,” Ghost Rider said as hellfire leapt from his empty eye sockets, connecting with the man’s eyes. The man screamed as the pain of all his victims was magnified ten-fold and experienced all at once. It only took a minute before Ghost Rider tossed aside the babbling husk of the man and approached Lords menacingly. “And now, demon, it is your turn,” Ghost Rider said, stalking toward the man.

Lords shook his head and smiled. “It has been a while since we last met Rider,” he said with an eerie inflection in his voice, much unlike how he spoke to the murdered man. “You should know by now that you can’t defeat me.”

Ghost Rider’s teeth ground together in anger. “You will kneel before me in pain demon!”

Lords laughed, something very few have every gotten away with in front of the Ghost Rider. “Deathwatch kneels before no man, even the mighty spirit of vengeance,” he yelled. “But I must admit you caught me at an awkward moment, unprepared for your return.” Black shadows started to creep up the man’s legs, swirling around and enveloping him in darkness. “But rest assured, our paths will cross again.”

With a roar, Ghost Rider lunged for the mobster/demon but came up with nothing but air.

After a few minutes of checking the area for the other thug, Ghost Rider silently moved to Blaze’s motorcycle parked on the nearby ridge. As soon as his hands touched the handle bars, hellfire careened over the cycle, transforming its wheels to fire and twisting its frame to a whole new design.

The Rider sped off through the cemetery, leaving a trail of fire in his wake.

* * *

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Blaze awoke with a start, the harsh light of morning burning his eyes. He knew he transformed last night, but wasn’t exactly sure what had happened. He struggled out of bed, quickly got dressed and headed for the door and the newspaper.

He quickly picked up the paper off the lawn and unfolded it. The shock nearly made him lose his balance. There on the front page was the headline: “ANGEL or DEMON?” above a picture of Ghost Rider breaking up a mugging.

“Dammit,” Blaze hissed under his breath.

Continued...