Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 12:59:08 -0800 (PST) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Marvel Knights: Era of Hatred 10 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 10 What's To Come The group arrived back at the mansion looking distraught and battle-worn. Cloak went up to Whistler and handed him the Ashtoroth amulet. Whistler thanked Cloak and began to search for a safe, secure place for it. "Where's Ryan?" Harris asked. He saw the look on everyone's face and deep down he knew something bad happened. "No," he said. His voice cracked. "No, no, no." The young man stood and ran upstairs. "Harris," Davey said. Blade put his hand on Davey's shoulder stopping him. "Let me." The Daywalker headed up the stairs to the foyer where he found Harris leaning up against the glass crying. "Harris." "No," Harris said. "He can't be...why did it...why?" Harris turned and moved around. "He shouldn't have...he was so smart, so attractive. He could have succeeded in life. He could have..." Blade grabbed Harris's shoulder. Harris turned and wrapped his arms around Blade's waist tears pouring down his face. "Why did he die?" "He killed himself, Harris," Blade answered. "Sometimes people are so corrupted by the wrong message because it comes from someone they trust. If trouble is bad enough, they feel the only way to escape is to end their life. I'm sorry for your grief. I wish I could have stopped him." Harris cried hard, his entire body shaking and the tears pouring from his eyes like Niagara Falls. "I wish I could do something for him," Davey said. "I know," Weatherby replied placing his hand on Davey's shoulder. "The only thing any of us can do is be there for him. Only time can heal the hurt he is feeling right now." Davey nodded. After a moment, he went upstairs to find Harris holding onto Blade. The two males were crying, Harris the louder and more obvious one. Blade had tears coming down his cheeks. Davey walked up to Harris and placed his hand on his boyfriend's back. "I'm so sorry," he whispered in Harris's ear. Harris reached over with one hand and pulled him close. The three stood there hugging, holding and supporting one another. At the beginning of July, Davey said his goodbyes to Harris, who was leaving for the month to see his grandparents for a month. Davey felt lost without Harris but he was soon occupied with other things. The Marvel Knights continued their patrolling and had dealt with a few muggers, some robbers and a whole slew of vampires. One such night, they were in the German Village. Davey and Tandy were silently moving down Third Street toward The Loft, a bookstore that resided in one of the old buildings. As they made their way, a young girl pushed passed them running. "God, what's her problem?" Tandy asked. The Vampire Slayer was soon answered by a group of guys pushing passed them chasing after the girl. "Now we know why," Davey replied. "Come on." The two young heroes headed out after the group of young guys. Davey, with his mutant ability, ran faster than Tandy and was able to leap into the air tackling one of the guys. They rolled on the ground and ended up with Davey on top straddling the young man. "What's going on?" Davey asked. "None of your damn business, homo." "Damn, am I that obvious?" he replied putting his hands on his hips. "I guess I'll have to butch it up." "If you want," the guy replied, "you can just wiggle." Davey jumped off the guy. The guy stood up and swung a fist at Davey. Davey caught the youth's fist in mid-air. He reached up with his other hand and grabbed the guy by his throat lifting him off the ground. "Is this butch enough for you?" The guy nodded. "Now, kindly tell me what you are doing?" Tandy caught up with Davey as Davey lowered the guy down. "What's going on?" the blonde asked. "He was just getting ready to tell me." "The girl...she is going to lie on us." "Lie about what?" The guy became silent again. "Either it is really embarrassing or you are lying to us," Davey replied. "Now, speak." "She...she got evidence of us doing stuff." "What kind of stuff?" Tandy asked. "Of us sucking each other. She's going to tell everyone we're fags." Davey's eyes narrowed. "And that is wrong because...?" "We don't know if we are gay or not. I mean, we like girls. But we mess around with each other to explore and to get off." "There is nothing wrong with that," Davey answered. "Easy for you to say. You're gay!" "There's nothing wrong with that," Tandy said. "Does that make it easier for you to accept?" "You're a girl. We wouldn't mind watching two girls get it on." "He's either hetero or bi," Davey replied rolling his eyes. "And he's corrupted by society to think that any sexual attraction to guys is wrong." The mutant released his grip on the boy and the youth dropped to the ground. "Where did they go?" Tandy asked. "I think they went into the Loft." Tandy nodded and headed toward the store with Davey dragging the boy behind him. When they entered, the two split up hoping to run into the girl first. If they had her, they would be able to get the guys to gather round. Tandy headed toward the clearance section on the left moving slowly, looking for any of the boys that were in the group. She made her way through to the end and found no one. "They must have gone the other way," Tandy said to no one in particular. She turned and headed back to the entrance. Instead of going on the ground level, she went up the stairs. Davey headed toward the front of the building on the second floor. As he neared a stairway heading down, several books flew at him. He ducked and rolled. As his legs came around, he kicked his legs up and kicked the thrower in the balls. The youth clutched at himself and dropped to his knees. "Where are the others?" Davey asked. The boy, however, was in no condition to respond. Davey turned and saw two of the youths at the bottom of the stairs. He grasped the railings and held on loosely. Lifting his legs forward, the mutant slid down the railing and kicked the two young men, knocking them into the wall. One came running up at him on his left. Davey jumped into the air and kicked him in the chest. The young man fell backwards into a shelf. "Help!" a female called out. Davey turned and saw her being pulled into another small room. He ran toward her and jumped in the air kicking one of the young men holding her. He fell backwards into a shelf and then fell to the floor. "Duck!" Davey called out. The girl ducked as Davey jumped in the air and spun around kicking the last youth in the head. He fell to the ground and the girl was free. She grabbed Davey and pulled him into a deep kiss. At first Davey was shocked by what happened, and then he pushed her away, grossed out by the fact of kissing a girl. "Thank you so much!" she said to Davey. "You saved my life!" "Well, I wouldn't go that far." "I would! They were going to rape me!" "Why were they going to do that?" Davey asked. He had a feeling why but he wanted to see what she would say. "I don't know. Maybe because they want to show off their manliness or something." "They were going to because of what you threatened to do. They are not sure if they are gay. It isn't any of your business to be spreading what you saw them doing." Slowly the guys filtered in behind Davey looking at the girl, anger on their faces. Davey kept his eyes on the girl to watch her reaction. She looked scared. "Maybe gossip isn't something you should be promoting," Davey added. The girl nodded in understanding and hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry," she muttered. Davey turned to the guys. "And as for you, your reaction to a rumor was totally out of whack. You thought to rape someone simply to prove you aren't gay? How stupid is that?! Maybe you should try talking to someone who is spreading rumors. Sometimes, even ignoring a rumor is the best response. After all, if you adamantly deny something, others may think you are denying it too much. That will make them all the more suspicious." "True," the guys muttered. "We're sorry." They filtered out of the room and left the building. Tandy came down and saw Davey and the girl. "Everything under control?" the Slayer asked. "Yeah, everything is fine." As August came around, Harris arrived back in Columbus and met Davey with anticipation. The two love birds missed each other greatly and were happy to be in each other's company once again. The group had grown a bit as well. Ty mastered his mutant ability somewhat and had worked on his level of magic abilities. Tandy practiced her fighting as well as her light dagger abilities and could do much better with both. Johnny had only begun taping into his mystical ability with the help of Whistler. And Davey had learned to control his mutant abilities even more so. They all could easily access their powers if need be. One night in the middle of August, the Marvel Knights went out on a routine patrol. While driving down East Broad Street, he noticed shadows moving near the Columbus Museum of Art. "I'm checking out something at the art museum," he radioed to Whistler. Whistler acknowledged and relayed the message to the others. Ghost Rider turned into the parking lot in the back and headed to the doors. He pulled gently to find them locked. Using his chain, he wrapped it around an overhang and climbed to the roof. A vent had been opened and so he climbed down to investigate. He landed on the second floor and started to look around. Then he heard noises coming from a nearby room. Moving silently, he arrived at the doorway and peered around. There were several figures attempting to take some artifacts. "Petty larceny," he muttered as he stepped in the doorway. "Hold!" he replied. The figures jumped at the loudness of his voice. When they looked at him, their eyes widened in fear. "I will not hurt you unless you force me to. Come away from the artifact with your hands up." Then Ghost Rider noticed they were looking at something behind him. He turned around to see a blue man behind him standing approximately seven feet tall. The man looked different from everyone else, not only because of his skin color, but his very presences seemed to give off a sinister vibe. "What do you want?" Ghost Rider asked. "You," the man replied. Ghost Rider brought his fist up at the man. The man easily caught it and swung Ghost Rider into the nearby wall. The figures freaked and ran out of the room. The man turned to Ghost Rider, who was pulling himself up from the rubble. "You are strong," the man said in a deep voice. "Perfect for what I have in mind." Ghost Rider looked carefully at the man. He was very tall and very well-built. He wore a blue outfit, with red boots and a blue cape, red on the inside of it. And blue lips that seemed to run up to his ears, although his mouth did not open all the way. Blade made his way through the museum after dispatching of the thieves and tying them up outside. He had received Whistler's transmission and was close to the area. The others would arrive shortly, but he didn't want to wait when he heard the mumblings of the thieves as they came running outside. Blade went up the stairs at the prompting of the criminals. Wearily, he made his way down the hall. The impact of something hitting a wall and crumbling it gave him pause. Then he realized it was Ghost Rider when he slowly stood. By the direction Ghost Rider was looking, the Daywalker knew to go around to the other side. Silently and swiftly, he jogged around the upstairs until he came to the other side of the room. To his surprise, there was a large, blue man standing looking at Ghost Rider. Knowing that no human looked like that, he drew his sword and walked up to the creature. He stuck the pointed end of the sword at the man. "Don't move," a voice ordered. The blue man smiled and turned grabbing the sword and jerking it out of Blade's hand. He looked at the blade and then snapped it in pieces. "Who are you?" "Blade. And you are?" Just then, everyone else piled into the room taking up defensive positions. Dagger's hands were glowing ready to launch light daggers. The usual green energy surrounded Cloak's hands when he was readying to toss out some energy bolts. Punisher was standing beside Ghost Rider, concerned when he saw the rubble. And Marvel Boy took up a defensive position behind Blade. The blue man turned and looked at everyone. He smiled and said, "En Sabah Nur is my given name. However, you may call me Apocalypse." "That's a good demon name," Dagger replied. "Perhaps you aren't aware of the Marvel Knights. We fight demons." "Oh, I'm very aware of the Marvel Knights. I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not a demon." "Then what are you?" Cloak asked. "I'm a mutant." "So are we," Marvel Boy replied. "The question is, which side are you on?" "Easy, boy. Mine." "Why are you here?" Punisher asked stepping forward with his shotgun ready. "I'm here to collect something I need." Apocalypse looked up and rope shot down and wrapped around Ghost Rider. He tried to grab it and pull it off but it would not budge nor break. "Don't bother," Apocalypse said. "We've done our research and know what you can and cannot break. There is a supernatural energy that you cannot destroy. The rope has been placed under the energy's enchantment." "Let him go!" Punisher said aiming at the new mutant. Apocalypse just laughed in response. Punisher fired but nothing happened. Apocalypse looked up at the hole in the ceiling. A pale man in a blue suit and red cape smiled. He looked like a vampire. He pulled on the rope and hauled Ghost Rider up through the ceiling. "Johnny!" Punisher called out. He changed his aim and fired at the vampire. "Keep pulling, Sinister," Apocalypse said. Blade grabbed Apocalypse from behind. The mutant flipped Blade over his shoulders and tossed him into Cloak and Dagger. Marvel Boy jumped in the air and kicked Apocalypse in the back. Apocalypse, however, didn't budge. He turned, grabbed Davey by the arms, and spun him around into Punisher, knocking him to the floor. The Marvel Knights looked on as Apocalypse floated into the air smiling at the group. Punisher jumped up and called out to Johnny, but it did no good. Marvel Boy stood and placed his hand on Punisher's shoulder. "We'll find him." "I'll contact the X-MEN," Cloak offered. "I'm sure they can help us." "We'll find him," Dagger reassured. "We'll find him." The End Coming soon, "Marvel Knights: Apocalypse". Many of events the Knights go through will be found in "Judgments of a Real Dark Knight", so keep up with that story as well. It would be silly to repost the same chapter in both stories. Also, please let me know what you think, if I should continue this storyline or not. If not, I will have their story solely in "Judgments".