"The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw three foul spirits like frogs coming from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet. These are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty." Revelation 16:12-16
- Chapter 1: Raising Hell -
Johnny Blaze rides down a dark highway on his motorcycle, a roar from his engine as he shifts gears, slowing as he comes upon a object in the middle of the road. Johnny brakes and shuts off his chopper; he waits, trying to look and see what exactly is in the road but its too dark to make it out. He looks around the area, notices no one, then hops off his bike and slowly approaches the object, no more then fifty feet in front of him. As he approaches... closer... and closer... the object becomes more and more visible, light from his motorcycle barely lighting the area. Johnny is nearly on top of it. He finally makes it out and the horror causes him to fall backwards - its a skeleton charred to a crisp. He jumps to his feet and begins running frantically back to his bike, but before he's even half way there, a figure, out of his peripheral, knockes him dozens of feet off the road and into a shrub.
"Blaze!" Screams the figure.
Johnny gets to his feet and looks to see none other then the demon hell warrior Mephisto. Without warning and in an instant flash, Johnny sets himself ablaze, consumed in a ball of fire. As the fire dissipates the transformed Ghost Rider stands, skull ablaze, chains in hand, ready to do battle.
"What do you want Mephisto!"
"I've been looking for you for some time now, John."
Johnny cocks his skeletal head of flames and looks dead on, "What do you want..."
Johnny begins to circle Mephisto, keeping his distance from the demon. Johnny is ready to pounce.
"I want you to do something for me... something is brewing underworld."
Johnny raises his chain, "What's brewing!"
"Armageddon, Jonathan. Fire and Brimstone! Hell on Earth... A summing of souls."
Johnny steps closer to Mephisto, "What does that have to do with me?"
Mephisto in his red cloak and dark skin raises a rolled up piece of paper.
"You're going to help me carry it out."
Johnny believes otherwise. "Like Hell I am!" He screams.
He swings his chain and sets it ablaze, striking Mephisto and knocking him onto his back. Johnny goes to retract his chain, readying himself for another attack when he finds that the chain is stuck. Mephisto stands and holds the other end of the chain in one hand.
"You're a fool Blaze... You can't win."
Johnny drops the end of his chain in his hand and lets out a fierce scream; again fire consumes him but this time it doesn't dissipate. Like a powerup of intense heat and energy, Johnny stomps his feet into the ground, securing himself. He winds his arms up and SLAM'S! his hands together as hard as he can, causing an immense spark and flare to engulf Mephisto. Like a nuclear blast the explosion is enormous, the aftershock is so powerful Johnny struggles to hold his ground, covering his skeletal face from the winds. But the force is too strong and the winds pull him off of the ground and hurl him through the air.
Hours later Johnny awakes and finds himself on a bed in an unfamilar room, now back into his human form. He is surrounded by a familiar face.
"You ok, John?"
The man is none other than Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, and standing no more than five feet from him is Ben Grimm. Reed helps Johnny as he tries to sit up. Johhny looks around the area and notices he's nowhere remotely near Interstate 15.
"Where am I?" Johnny says in a scratchy voice.
"I call this the Beta Base. Its a back-up to our facility in New York." Reed heads over to a medical monitor screen and checks Johnny's vital signs.
"Stretch thought it was a good idea to test some new energy ramifaca-- something or another."
Johnny slides to the edge of the bed and looks directly at Reed, who pays no attention at first, but soon turns and notices both Blaze and Ben are staring at him.
"Cascading Bio-Cosmic Energy Rectification..."
Johnny's beyond confused at Reed's statement and turns and looks at Ben, who just shrugs. Reed notices neither understand what he is talking about and heads to a console near him. He pushes a few buttons and up pops a diagram.
"This is CaBCER. Theoretically all life in the universe has the same energy abilities as "we"..., members of the Fantastic Four, have."
A light bulb goes off in Johnny's mind. "You soaked the area with Bio-Cosmic Energy... trying to mimic the effects of your exposure--"
Reed nods and brings up a few more diagrams showing the Nevada area and the field generator.
"--Thats why my combustion attack was so strong... your damn device amplified not only your own, but my powers as well..." Johnny stops mid-sentence and realizes the horrible truth - that if the device can amplify their powers it could also amplify Mephisto's.
"Turn it off Richards... Now."
Reed shakes his head is disagreement. "It can't be shut off... It uses a Thorium-Thoride core, once the reaction process starts it can't be shutdown."
Johnny jumps down from the bed and rushes over to the wall where his clothes are hung. He tears off his hospital tunic and slides into his leather pants and jacket. As he's sliding on his boots, Reed walks over.
"What is it John?"
Johnny takes a moment, then finally looks up at Reed. "Mephisto has been freed some how and he has a plan for Armageddon... How long has this device of yours been on?"
Reed takes a moment to think. "Only a week or two."
Johnny pulls his gloves tight and looks over at Ben. "Grimm, get the good doctor here back to New York."
Reed grabs Johnny by the sholders and slams him against the wall. "Blaze whats going on? What does Mephisto have planned?"
Johnny suddenly combusts and transforms into his Ghost Rider form causing Reed to take a few steps back.
"Mephisto is going to use your device to amplify his ability to keep a portal open between our world and Hell. You just gave him the added strength he needs."
Reed stumbles backwards and falls onto his butt in shock.
Johnny looks over at Ben again. "Grimm! Get Reed out of here now!"
Ben shakes his head. "We can help you out Blaze."
"Mephisto used me to confirm that Reed was the one who had the device, He's most likely already on his way here... Now get the hell out of here!"
Ben grabs Reed and helps him up, both head out of the room.
"Grimm--" Ben stops and turns to Johnny.
"--If I fail the Fantastic Four are all that's gonna stand in the way of Mephisto's plans. Reed you better find a way of shutting that device off."
Reed nods as the two exit the room. Johnny turns and heads out a seperate door leading to a very long chrome hallway.
In a New York building, home to Reed and Sue Richards, Ben Grimm and Reed rush in through the front door. They're met by Sue and Reed's special provisional assistant Doctor Nicole Griffin.
"Reed what are you doing home?" Sue asks.
"No time to explain. We've got to figure out how to shut off the CaBCER, right now."
Reed rushes past Sue and Nicole and heads up the stairs to his Lab, the other three follow behind him. On the way Ben explains everything, the CaBCER, Ghost Rider, Mephisto, the entire story.
In Reed's Lab Nicole and Reed stand around a table with a scale model of the CaBCER device, pondering how to deactivate it.
"The Thorium-Thoride core was designed to become completely inert after all the fissable material was extracted." Reed motions for a folder sitting on the table next to him and Nicole picks it up and hands it to him.
"What if we were to overload the core?" Nicole suggests.
"The core is nucleagenic, but it would require an enormous amount of power." Reed states as he goes over the papers in the folder.
"What if we remove the core. Without the nucleagenic core... it wont operate."
Reed sets the folder down and shakes his head. "The entire device is encased in a Osmium-Tungsten shell, its impenetrable."
Nicole lets out a sigh of frustration and begins pacing around the room as Reed continues to go over the relevant data.
"What if we've going about this the wrong way?--"
Reed looks up at Nicole.
"--Instead of destroying or disengaging the device... what if we shielded its effects?"
Reed hadn't thought of that. He stands from the stool he's been sitting on and walks around the table.
"If we were to encase the CaBCER in a Gravitomagnetic Shield Barrier it would theoretically absorb the bio-cosmic energies!"
Both Reed and Nicole rush out of the room to go test the idea.
Johnny Blaze stands transformed into his Ghost Rider state, he runs down a hallway in Reed Richards Beta Base as alarms sound and lights flash. A voice comes on over the loud speakers, obviously a computer recording.
"Alert. Alert. Intruder in the Gate Room."
Johnny realizes that Mephisto must have found a way to use Reed's Trans-Diemensional Gates to gain access into the base.
Johnny gets to the Gate Room and notices the large metal doors to the room are sealed shut. Never one to let a little metal barrier to stop him, Johnny runs to the far wall and draws his hands back... then lets loose a giant fire stream from his mouth. When the smoke clears a hole has been melted by the intense heat of the fire. Johnny rushes into the room and is met by arch enemies Deathwatch and Blackout. Deathwatch takes a step forward, as the giant Diemensional Gate swirls with energy in the background.
"Deathwatch! and Blackout... you half-breed Lilian bastard. What are you two doing working for Mephisto." Johnny yells.
"We work 'with' Mephisto, Ghost Rider... Not 'for' him." Deathwatch says as Blackout begins to circle behind Johnny.
"What? Your little bio-toxin game didnt work out so now you're trying again?" Johnny refers to his previous encounter with the two in their attempt to set about a massacre in New York with a stolen bio-toxin.
Deathwatch chuckles. "That was child's play..."
"What are you two doing here then?"
Blackout and Deathwatch share a glance at each other.
"You're here for Richards aren't you..."
Both stay silent and Deathwatch motions Blackout to head out of the Gate Room. Blackout turns and walks out. Johnny bolts around and raises his chain, sets it ablaze and is about to swing it at Blackout, when suddenly Johnny falls to the ground and grabs his head as if he is in an intense amout of pain. Johnny lets out an enormous yell!
Blackout runs back over to the telepathically tortured Johnny, he draws his leg back and kicks Johnny across the room with his enhanced strength.
"Damn you Ghost Rider!" Blackout yells.
Blackout rushes over to the beatup Johnny and draws his claws out and clenches Johnny's midsection, placing his sharp claws deep into Johnny. Blackout picks up Johnny and tosses him to the otherside of the room, the force of his impact leaves a giant dent in the metal wall. Johnny is now clearly unconscious from the constant pent-up grudge beating that Blackout has been laying on. As Blackout is about to throw his foot down hard onto Johnny's head, Deathwatch grabs him by the shoulder.
"Ghost Rider is not the one we're here for. Mephisto was clear."
Blackout steps back, clearly pissed off for wanting to finish Johnny off.
Both Deathwatch and Blackout proceed out of the Gate Room and head down the hallway in the Beta Base. Leaving Johnny unconscious and definately beat...
What are Deathwatch and Blackout in the Beta Base looking for? Will Reed and Nicole succeed in shielding the CaBCER device? What is Mephisto's grand plan? and how does it involve Ghost Rider?
- TO BE CONTINUED in Chapter 2!!! -