Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 18:56:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Marvel Knights: Apocalypse 3

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.

Author's Note: For the events between the previous chapter and this
chapter, read "Judgments of a Real Dark Knight" chapter 3 - 5.

Chapter 3 Assignments

	After the report on Apocalypse, the Marvel Knights convened in the
lobby whispering.
	"What do we do?" Davey asked.  "We've got a freaking vampire war, a
crazy mutant wanting to conquer the world, and some Muslim radicals
attacking American soil.  We all can't stay and help with Apocalypse.  We
have Columbus to worry about."
	"True," Blade answered.  "What we need to do is split up.  Tandy,
Ty and Davey go to Columbus.  You three can handle the vampire situation.
It will be a bit rough, but you can do it.  I have faith in you, and your
powers are for dealing with supernatural."
	"So are yours," Tandy pointed out.
	"That is true.  But one of ours is in trouble.  I'm going with
Punisher to help him get Ghost Rider back."
	Tandy gave Blade a look that no one else but the Daywalker noticed.
	"There is no room for 'buts' right now.  There are many going to
fight the Apocalypse battle.  And the Watchers and Slayers are organizing
for the vampire war.  We can make sure Marvel Knights are included in those
who kicked ass."
	Davey and Ty smiled at Blade's enthusiasm.
	"If there is nothing else," Blade said.
	No one had anything else to say so they left.
	"Thanks," Punisher said to Blade after everyone had gone.
	"Ghost Rider is one of us.  I'm not going to let a mutant take him
for whatever reason."
	Punisher nodded and walked down the hall.  Tandy came up to Blade
and watched as Punisher turned the corner.
	"Are you going to ever ask him?"
	"Ask him what?"
	"Why he isn't afraid to kill human beings?"
	"He was trained in the military.  That is why."
	"Are you going to ask him if he enjoys it?"
	"No."
	"Why not?"
	"I don't want to know the answer."  Blade turned his attention to
Tandy fully now.  "I want you to take care of Davey.  He is a mutant only.
You and Ty can hold your own since you are designed, like me, to fight
demons.  Davey gets too enthusiastic and wants to play around.  Watch out
for him.  Help him stay focused."
	"Yeah," Tandy said.  "You stay focused, too.  I don't want to lose
you."
	Tandy leaned up and gave Blade a hug.
	"I'm going to talk with the Professor about getting you out of here
and back to Columbus."
	Blade turned to walk away.
	"Blade," Tandy said getting him to stop.  "Talk to Michael."
	That was the first time anyone really used Punisher's real name.
Blade slightly nodded and continued his trip.  He walked to Professor
Xavier's office and knocked.
	'Come in, Blade,' Professor X said in Blade's mind.
	Blade opened the door and entered.  Then he closed the door behind
him.
	"Please, have a seat," Professor Xavier said.  Once Blade sat down,
the mutant continued.  "What can I do for you?"
	"Tandy, Ty and Davey need to be sent back to Columbus.  The city
has no protectors and the vampire war can start at any time.  I'm going to
stay here along with Punisher and help you find Ghost Rider."
	"That can work out just fine.  I'll have someone take them this
afternoon, if you like."
	"The sooner the better."
	Professor Xavier nodded to Blade. Blade stood up and walked toward
the door.
	"I know who and what you are, Blade," Professor X stated.  "You do
not have to be ashamed."
	"Somehow I feel I do.  Especially with the way others have looked
at me.  They have no idea what I am and are concerned.  I'm not a mutant,
and that bothers them.  Some may even know what I am."
	"You mean Blake Alexander."
	Blade nodded.  "I think he sees me as a vampire.  But I'm not
completely vampire."
	"I can talk to him if you wish."
	"No.  It isn't your place to reassure him I'm on your side."
	Blade exited the office and headed out to the garden.

	Punisher left the garden where he was talking with Eric McCoy,
a.k.a. Batman.  He had some concerns about what could be happening to Ghost
Rider.  Eric reassured him that they would do all they could to find his
lover.
	As the human walked along the corridor, Davey came up to him.
	"Are you afraid, Weatherby?"
	Weatherby turned to Davey and his emotions were very readable in
his eyes.  He nodded.
	"You'll find him.  I worked with some of these mutants before.
They will do all they can to help get Johnny back."
	"That's what Eric just said."
	"Eric?  Oh, the bat-mutant.  What's his deal, anyway?"
	"I'm not sure.  It never came up.  Maybe you could ask him."
	"Is he family, like us?  I saw him with that horrible Lance Bass
look-alike."
	"I'm not a look-alike," a voice said behind Davey.
	The young mutant turned around and saw Lance looking at him
perturbed.
	"Oh, sorry," Davey said with a pathetic smile.  "I didn't mean
to..."
	"Don't worry about it.  We've got more important things to worry
about than this."
	Weatherby walked passed Davey and Lance leaving them.
	"So, why does your boyfriend do what he does?"
	"My husband does it because he feels that is his calling, so to
speak.  He knows he can make a difference so he does what he can."
	"Why a bat, though?  I mean, I think he is the only animal person,
except for that Phoenix guy.  But his powers come from the supernatural
being Phoenix.  So it makes sense.  But Eric doesn't get his powers from a
supernatural animal."
	"Why don't you ask him?"
	Davey nodded.  "I think I will."
	Davey turned and headed to the garden with Lance.

	A few hours later, Tandy, Ty and Davey were carrying their bags off
the ramp with Blade and Punisher following.  The X-Jet had brought them to
Columbus to drop the three young mutants off.  They found a quiet place to
land and Whistler was waiting for them with Punisher's Suburban full of
weapons and Blade's weapons.  The Marvel Knights climbed out to say their
goodbyes, with the exception of Punisher, who drove his Suburban into the
cargo area of the X-Jet.
	"We will be in touch on a weekly basis to apprise you of the
situation with Ghost Rider," Blade said.  "If you need us for anything, Ty
knows how to get into contact with us."
	"I still don't see why Ty couldn't use his powers to bring us back
to Columbus," Davey remarked.
	"I haven't done that great a distance yet.  I have control over
short periods.  I don't think I can do this big of distance, not without
practice."
	"Take care of yourselves," Blade said to them.
	Tandy gave Blade a hug and then turned to Punisher.  "Good luck.  I
hope you find him."  Then she exited the plane.
	Davey gave Blade a hug.  "Take it easy!"  He gave Punisher a hug
and lingered a little bit longer than normal.  "Sorry," he said pulling
away, his face a little red.  "I've been wanting to hug your muscular body
for some time and cop a feel."
	Punisher rolled his eyes as Davey grinned from ear to ear.  He left
the plane leaving Ty, Blade and Punisher.
	Ty walked up to Blade and they looked each other in the eye.  Then
Ty gave Blade a strong embrace.  "Be careful," the young wizard said.
	"You, too," Blade replied.  "And take care of them.  You are going
to have to watch over all of them now."
	"I will.  You can trust me."
	"I know."
	Ty released his embrace and turned to Punisher.  "Don't worry.  I'm
not trying to cop a feel."
	"I appreciate that," Punisher said.
	Ty gave Punisher a quick hug.  "Good luck in finding Johnny."
	"Thanks."
	Ty grabbed his bag and exited the plane.
	Punisher and Blade stepped back from the ramp and Scott joined
them.
	The three teens watched as the ramp closed up.  They waved and then
headed over to the car where Whistler waited.
	"It's about damn time you three got back," he exclaimed.  "It's
been hell!  The vampire population is growing as well as attacks!  I think
we're going to be busy for awhile."
	"It will be good to get back into action," Davey said.
	"Very good," Ty replied.
	"I can't wait to kick some demon ass!" Tandy said excitedly.
	The three males looked at her surprised.  For as tiny as she was,
she could be awfully enthusiastic about violence.  They climbed in the car
and headed toward Columbus, their home city.
	"Where's Harris?" Davey asked.
	"He's back at the house doing more research on vampire weaknesses.
You've got a lot of information to remember to fight some of these
vampires."

	Harris sat typing on the keyboard searching for any information
about vampires and where to find weapons to defeat them.  Of course there
was the "Fly-by-Night" story they could check out for supplies.  But they
didn't have much in the way of fighting vampires.  It was a store mostly
for Wiccans to get oils, candles, jewelry and other supplies for spells.
From what Whistler had indicated, they would need lots of weapons made out
of pure silver, along with holy water and garlic to fight these other
vampires.
	The sound of footsteps coming into the room distracted Harris and
he turned to see Whistler, Ty, Tandy, and, finally, Davey enter.  He stood
up and ran to his boyfriend taking him into a tight embrace.
	"I've missed you so much," Harris said.
	"I've missed you, too."
	"Things have been scary.  School was cancelled on Tuesday and
everything is nuts!"
	"It's worse than you think."
	"What?  What is it?"
	Davey looked over at Ty who took the initiative and shared with
everyone what else had happened on September 11th.  He shared with them the
missile attacks on college and high school campuses across the globe and
more information on the mutant Apocalypse.
	"That is a lot to deal with.  This vampire war is not boding well
at all for anyone," Whistler said.  "And now a damned mutant wants to
conquer the world, we are going to be spread thin for a while."
	"That's why Blade wanted us here.  We can do more good fighting the
vampires than anything.  He and Punisher are helping with the Apocalypse
situation.  They headed to Florida with Batman to meet a contact with
information.  I don't know what is going on from there, but I can get a
hold of Blade if I need to."
	Whistler nodded at the information.  Harris looked petrified.
	"First a radical group of Muslims, then vampires, now a mutant.
What is this world coming to?"
	"Just some trouble," Davey said.  "We can handle this."
	"Speaking of handling things, I want you three to get some rest.
I'll wake you an hour before sunset.  Then, I'll let you know what's been
going on and you can start patrolling."
	The three teens nodded.
	"Harris, I need you here to help me with the computers."
	Harris and Davey kissed each other and then parted, Davey joining
Tandy and Ty up the stairs and Harris to the computer.

	"You can't possibly get away," a vampire said to the dark-haired
woman.
	"What is a girl to do?" she asked.
	The vampire's snarled in delight and then the leader moved in.
	"I would watch that," a voice said from behind.  "Feeding in
Columbus can be dangerous to your health."
	The vampires turned around to see three familiar figures standing
at the end of the alley.
	"Ah," the leader remarked.  "You're the Slayer."
	"Sure am," Dagger remarked pulling out a wooden stake.  "Want to
see what I can do?"
	The vampire smiled.  Two vamps leapt into the air going at least
ten feet high at the apex of their jump.  As they came down, Cloak and
Marvel Boy readied themselves.  The vampires tackled them and they rolled
out onto the sidewalk leaving Dagger alone with four vampires.
	"I can take you on alone," she remarked.  "I'm the Slayer."
	"You won't have to worry about it," the dark-haired female said.
	Suddenly the business end of two pointed stakes emerged from two of
the vampires' chests.  They turned to dust leaving two left.
	All eyes went to the dark-haired lady.  She jumped in the air and
kicked the vampires in the face.  Then she staked them through the backs.
As they turned to dust, she replaced her weapons inside her long overcoat.
	Dagger's eyes widened in shock.  "Who are you?" she asked.
	"The name is Elektra Natchios.  But you may call me Elektra.  I'm a
Vampire Slayer."

To Be Continued...

My friend has gotten into Elektra's comic book since hearing about her on
the upcoming Daredevil movie.  She is really tough.  When he grabbed a
comic book, I noticed she was part of the Marvel Knights titles.  After
reading one of the comic books myself, I thought she would make one tough
Vampire Slayer.  So here she is!  I hope fans of her reading this are not
disappointed.  She is only temporary, though, to help out Columbus's Marvel
Knights deal with the Vampire war.

For Blade and Punisher's adventures, read Judgments of a Real Dark Knight,
as they are helping Batman deal with Apocalypse and rescue Ghost Rider.