Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 06:23:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com>
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.

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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.

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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...