Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 06:38:55 -0800 (PST) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Marvel Knights: Era of Hatred 2 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 2 On the Prowl The vehicles pulled up near the Axis and the team deployed. "Where do we go?" Ghost Rider asked. "What do we do? I'm not familiar with doing this type of work." "Stick close to Punisher," Blade replied. "You two go with Dagger. She will show you the ropes." Punisher, Ghost Rider and Dagger headed east through the nearby neighborhoods. Blade, Cloak and Marvel Boy watched them go, and then Blade turned to address his group. "We take it nice and easy. Standard patrol. We don't want to frighten anyone." "You say that and you notice how Cloak and I are dressed?" Marvel Boy stated. "You and Punisher are the only ones dressed remotely normal. You're not wearing masks." "Stick to the shadows," Blade said. Marvel Boy rolled his eyes but nodded his head. The three vampire hunters headed south through Short North. "Is there any way you can douse that flaming head of yours?" Dagger asked Ghost Rider. "It's going to scare the demons away." "They must know of those coming forth after them!" Ghost Rider declared. "We want the demons slain, not moving to another town to terrorize. Douse that light!" Ghost Rider's flaming head dimmed to almost non-flaming. It gave a nice glow to the scenery. The three made their way through the neighborhoods heading in the direction of Interstate 71, though they knew they wouldn't come close to it. A scratching noise was heard faintly and Dagger, since she was the more experienced one of the three, decided the noise was worth investigating. They walked down a nearby alley and saw several forms at a warehouse. "Burglars?" Ghost Rider asked. "It's possible. In this town, almost anything is possible. Stay sharp." Dagger approached the fence guarding the warehouse perimeter. Crouching low she pushed off, leaping over the fence and landing softly on the concrete parking lot. "Stay here," she ordered. "I'll investigate." Punisher and Ghost Rider nodded and watched Dagger move stealthily toward the figures. "She is a Vampire Slayer," Ghost Rider stated. "In all my eons of existence, Slayers have always existed." Punisher looked at Ghost Rider. "Johnny, are you still in there?" "We are one," Ghost Rider replied. "The spirit of vengeance and the man who conjured it. Together, they form me, Ghost Rider." "It's weird to hear you discuss eons of existence when I know you inhabit the body of my boy...the body of Johnny." Ghost Rider considered Punisher's words, or almost words. Dagger crept closer to the forms near the warehouse. She realized they were only teenagers looking for some teenage high jinks. 'Grow up,' she thought. "What are you doing?" she asked coming out of the shadows. The young boys screamed at being startled. They turned and saw Dagger in her form-fitting leather outfit. "Be still my heart," one said. "Something else needs to be still," a second replied, "or I'm going to need to take off my jeans." "Cute," Dagger replied. "You think so?" the first said. "I've got a big cock to match." Dagger mockingly smirked. "Whatever," she replied. "You guys need to skedaddle. It isn't safe out here at night." "Then it's good you're here to protect us." "No, I'm not here to protect you. I'm here to give you the opportunity to get the hell out of here before you get caught and thrown in the detention hall." "We could always go inside and go a round at it." "If say one more sexual innuendo, I swear you are going to get your ass kicked." "So you are a dominatrix, huh?" The guys were laughing by now at the bravery of their leader as well as the responses of Dagger. Little did they know she was a Vampire Slayer. But soon they would find out. The most vocal of the group walked up to Dagger and placed his hand on her shoulder. "What a nice outfit," he said rubbing his hand across her shoulder and slowly moving down her back. "You look really hot in that." He grabbed her on the ass and she immediately went into action. Dagger reached back and wrapped her arm around the guy's head. Pulling on him, she succeeded in flipping him over her shoulder and onto the ground. "Don't you ever touch me, again." The humiliated member of the street punks got up to one knee. "Don't just stand there. Get her!" he ordered. Dagger brought her foot up and kicked him in the face knocking him back down to the ground. The guys rushed her and she moved quickly to deal with them. Kicking one in the stomach, backhanding another, she moved backwards toward the fencing. Punisher and Ghost Rider saw what was going on and Punisher climbed the fence, dropping down on the other side. Ghost Rider just shrugged his shoulders, put his hands together at the wrists, fingers outspread, and part of the fence melted away giving him a hole to walk through. As a nice touch, his head flamed up to full brightness. The two men approached the battle ensuing between Dagger and the teen thugs. Dagger pushed one away and he rolled to Ghost Rider's feet. Ghost Rider reached down and grabbed the youth by his neck hoisting him up over his head. The youth looked down at who picked him up and found himself face-to-face with a flaming skull on a large biker's body. "What are you doing here, boy?" Ghost Rider asked. The boy fainted and relieved himself in his pants. Ghost Rider dropped the unconscious kid and moved on toward the fighting. Punisher grabbed a nearby kid who was ready to hit Dagger. He pulled the boy back and the teen hauled off and punched Punisher in the face. Punisher jerked with the punch and looked back at the boy. "Oh, shit," the boy replied. Punisher open-handed smacked the boy and the boy fell to his knees under the impact. "Stop!" Ghost Rider yelled. All stopped and turned to see Ghost Rider. The teens who did not faint screamed and ran off. "That worked like a charm," Dagger said. "They stopped their brawling," Ghost Rider remarked. "Just don't do that to the demons." "I promise not to." Blade, Cloak and Marvel Boy walked amongst the shadows searching for any sign of demonic or vampire activity. "This mask is cool," Cloak said. "Not only do I have the hood, but I have this small mask to cover my eyes in case my hood gets removed." "Yes, yes," Blade replied. "You all have cool costumes. Be quiet. You're scaring the vampires away." All became quiet. In the stillness, a soft scuffling noise could be heard. "What's that?" Marvel Boy whispered. "Ssh," Blade said. The three moved along the alley and turned the corner. There, in the middle of the alley was the winged demon Whistler recognized, the Lanithro demon. "Oh, shit," Cloak replied. "What the hell is that?" "Some kind of demon," Blade replied. "We've never fought demons before," Cloak said. "Give me a room full of vampires and I will do fine. I know there weaknesses. What can we do against demons?" "Relax," Blade said. "They are just creatures that can be dealt with." The Lanithro stopped what it was doing and sniffed. Slowly, it turned its head in the direction of the three men and reared its head letting out a loud screech. Blade drew his sword and prepared to fight. The creature's claws elongated to the size of large knives and swatted at the sword-bearer. Blade blocked the attack and swung at the creature, cutting its chest. It clutched at the wound and let out another cry. All grew quiet again as the three men looked upon the demon waiting for it to retaliate. The sound of wings flapping was faint and slowly got louder. Marvel Boy looked around at the sky and saw several more Lanithro demons heading their way. "Incoming!" he called out. Blade and Cloak looked in the direction Marvel Boy was looking and saw a small group of Lanithro heading their way. "We can't take them all," Blade said. "Find cover." The three vampire hunters ran back down the alley they came from and saw the Lanithro head toward their wounded friend. Two rested the wounded one on their shoulders and then lifted off into the dark sky. The others looked around in search of what wounded their companion. One saw the three in the alley and let out a loud screech. "Oh, shit," Cloak replied. "Run!" Marvel Boy replied. The three ran down the alley as one Lanithro headed their way. He reached out its claws and attempted to grab Marvel Boy. The three vampire hunters neared the other side of the alley and leapt out rolling in separate directions hoping their separation would confuse the Lanithro. It worked. The Lanithro did not know which one to follow and soared up into the sky. Blade pulled out his sword. Cloak held his hands up and a ball of energy formed in his palm. Marvel Boy stood with his entire body ready to fight if he needed to. The Lanithro turned and saw the three on the ground and headed back down toward them. "Get ready," Blade replied. As the demon neared, the three readied to strike. Suddenly, in mid-air, the Lanithro demon pulled up, turned and headed up into the sky high above to where it was nearly out of sight. "What's up with that?" Cloak asked. "I was ready." The ball of energy faded away. Blade looked around and then returned his sword to the sheath on his back. Marvel Boy relaxed his stance. "I don't know why it turned around or what the other one was doing." "Let's go and investigate." Blade nodded and the three men headed back down the alley to the spot where the first Lanithro demon was sited. It had been digging around at the base of the building. Cloak kneeled down and examined the broken up concrete. "The claws on that thing are sharp. It tore through the concrete like it was butter." "I wonder what it was looking for," Blade thought out loud. "We could dig," Cloak replied. "That would take hours, time we don't have to spend. We have a city to protect. Let's get protecting." Marvel Boy started giggling. Cloak and Blade turned to him. "What's so funny?" Cloak asked. "Harris is talking to me. There are tiny transmitters in your masks that enable you to talk with Whistler and Harris. Harris just turned it on. Whistler forgot all about it." Blade chuckled. Cloak, however, got a little upset. "You mean, we could have talked with Whistler about the demons that attacked us? What if we needed help?" "Relax," Blade said coolly to Cloak. "Whistler," he said a bit louder. Can you hear me?" "Loud and clear." "We just had an encounter with the winged demons. I believe you called them Lanithro demons." "Yep, that's them." "One was digging by a building. It tore up the concrete. Do you know what it could have been looking for?" "Not sure. Lanithro are foot soldiers, hired creatures by those with mystical powers strong enough to control them." "When we first encountered them," Marvel Boy said, "you said it looked like a family of Lanithro." "That's true," Whistler replied. "Lanithro usually stay in packs and very seldom venture out on their own." "Except the one we encountered was on its own. Something tells me they aren't here under their own volition. Can the mystical powers override their usual pack-instincts?" "Lanithro are very susceptible to magic, Blade. Given the right spell and power of the one using the magic, they will venture out on their own." "Then we need to find out what it was looking for. Any suggestions?" "We can't go digging around the city. How far did the Lanithro get?" "The concrete is already torn up." "Cloak," Whistler said, "have you ever done an extracting spell?" "No," Cloak replied. "We may need to do that. But if we don't know exactly what we are looking for, we can't go doing extraction spells. If a water main or gas line is under there, we could cause major problems." "It would keep the Lanithro from coming around for awhile," Marvel Boy said. "True. But if the authorities find it, we won't have a chance in hell of getting it back. Come back and we will research the area. Cloak and I can get things together and work an extraction spell. I could use everyone else's help doing research." "I'll send Cloak and Marvel Boy back. I'll meet up with Dagger, Punisher and Ghost Rider and the rest of us will continue the patrolling." "Sounds like a plan." Whistler radioed the other team and told them to meet Blade, Cloak, and Marvel Boy back at the vehicles. Once there, Cloak and Marvel Boy headed back to the mansion while Blade waited. As he stood by the remaining vehicles, he noticed a figure standing near the mouth of an alley. The figure appeared to be facing his way. "Blade," Dagger yelled. Blade turned his attention toward the Vampire Slayer. When he looked back, the figure was gone. "Just my imagination," he said to himself. "What's going on?" Punisher asked. "Lanithro demons again. One was digging near a building searching for something. Whistler wants Cloak to do a spell with him. He and Marvel Boy headed back to the mansion to help with the spell and do research. I figure we can patrol some more and perhaps get some vampires taking care of." The group nodded and headed out into the night to hunt vampires. Miles away, the Lanithro demons flew carrying their wounded. They landed in a heavily wooded area and rested where they could tend to their wounded and awaited their next orders. To Be Continued...