Crossroads and Crossbones: Ghost Rider vs. Atomic Skull
It is a cold Wednesday night in a small town in Texas near the Rio Grande, a few cole miners and truck drivers are drinking away life's burdens at an old bar off the side of the road. However, one man was sitting in the corner with a trenchcoat on and a large hat completely covering his face. The mystery man goes up to the counter and orders another beer, when one of the truck drivers sitting at the bar counter begins to question him. "I ain't seen you around here before. We don't take too kindly to strangers around these parts. How about you finish that drink and get on out of here?" the truck driver said. The mystery man didn't acknowledge him, and just took the beer and started to journey back to his spot in the corner. The truck driver was offended by the man's attitude and grabbed his arm. Almost as an act of instinct, the mystery man turned around swiftly and picked up the man, hurling him at the jukebox on the other side of the bar. The mystery man took off his hat, and to the surprise to everyone in the bar, he appeared to have no skin. He had a flaming skull for a face, green flames protruding and flickering off his head. Most of the people at the bar immediately ran out the door, except for the bartender, who pulled out a shotgun from under the counter and pointed it at the strange man. As soon as the skeletal man turned, he shot out a fire-like energy blast at the man's gun, melting it on contact. The bartender, now shaking out of fear, staggered back to the back wall and yelled, "Who are you?! You-You're some kind of demon! " The strange man took off his trenchcoat, revealing the rest of his body. Miraculously, his arms as well as the rest of his body were normal, and he was wearing a strange metal collar around his neck. He smiled, or at least he appeared to have smiled through the skull that was his face, and said, "Please, call me Joe." 'Joe' blasted the bartender, who was thrown through the wall, and then proceeded to burn the bar down. He then made his way outside, and noticed a motorcyclist struggling to start his bike. He knocked the motorcyclist aside and pounded his foot on the gas, revving the engine, and rode off while the bar exploded behind him, the intense fire reaching the gasline underneath the bar. Clearly the man was not the legend the people around here have come to know as the Ghost Rider, and this man was not looking for vengeance. Of all things, he traveled here for a sick and twisted form of redemption.
The next day, the small town has a town meeting at their city hall to decide what actions they should to the seemingly supernatural incident that had just happened the night before. The sheriff stood up and approaching the podium. "We obviously know who was responsible for this, so the only question in my mind is what to do to this bastard once we find him! I've seen that Ghost Rider with my own eyes and I've seen what he's capable of… There's no way that could be anyone but that freak!" Sitting in the audience was Johnny Blaze, known as few as the motorcycle-riding hellfire superhuman Ghost Rider, who had heard about the news earlier and was absolutely shocked. He had never even gone in the bar that was burnt down, and through meditation, hasn't let the Ghost Rider part of himself take form in weeks. He hoped moving to this small town would help him finally relax and not worry about crime, but unfortunately, sinners and criminals always seemed to follow him wherever he went. Johnny Blaze got out of his seat to speak up. "Excuse me, I know I'm new to this little town here, but I have also heard of the Ghost Rider. The sole survivor of the incident said the assailant was covered in green flames. How can you be so sure it's the Ghost Rider?"
The sheriff retorted back, "I've seen the Ghost Rider with red flames, orange flames, even blue and white flames! I wouldn't be surprised if that demon starting sprouting purple at this point! If that's all you have to say, then I suggest you sit back down, young man." Johnny sat back in his seat; he knew if he continued to defend 'himself', he could possibly be questioned, and he certainly didn't want to end up in jail, especially with this new foe in the area. Another person stood up and said, "That guy has a point, this could be some kid trying to be a copycat killer. He wasn't wearing a leather jacket or nothin' like the Rider usually wears according to the description…" The sheriff interrupted, "I've had about of this! I'm certain it's him! My men are fully prepared to take down this freak, and finding him has just become our number one priority! This discussion is over. Now to advance to our topic, city property laws. All in favor of the ordinance change?..."
That night, under the shroud of the night, Johnny Blaze left the hotel room he was staying at and rode to the scene of the crime. Once he arrived, he parked his motorcycle and looked around for anything that could be used to clear his alter ego's name.
It wasn't long before he found where the bar once stood. There was hardly anything left, and all you could see was scorched planks of wood and bars of steel, and he noticed the steel bars glowing a faint green.
He picked up one of the bars, and it burned through his leather gloves, and Johnny threw down the piece of steel and shook his hand in the breeze to regain feeling in his hand. "And those were good gloves…"
Meanwhile, the culprit of the incident last night was sitting on an office chair inside an old warehouse. It was the only place he could stay where he wouldn't burn the whole place down. Out of nowhere, he said his own name to himself.
"Joseph Martin."
It was one of the few things that kept him sane, to remind him of what he was before the fateful day where he gained his remarkable powers… and lost his sanity.
Walking around a bit, Joe found an old VCR, to his delight. He put in one of the only things he had always kept on him: a tape labeled "The Atomic Skull", a movie that was a favorite of his in his past life.
He put the tape in and it started where he left off, where Atomic Skull infiltrated Doctor Electron's lair, which was disguised as a bar, and defeated the mighty Doctor , who very conveniently resembled Superman. Skull would then rescue his love interest Zelda Wentworth. The tape seemed to show static but then immediately starting showing the opening credits of the sequel. The plot of the sequel showed that this movie superhero Atomic Skull had an evil twin. The only difference was that the evil twin appeared to be covered in flame.
And that was all Joseph needed to determine his next target.
The next night, Ghost Rider was at the power plant after hearing that someone witnessed a skeletal man tampering with equipment there. He drove through the gate and parked his motorcycle, and wrapped one his mighty chains around his torso, ready to face whatever this thing was and what it was capable of. As he walked into the plant, he was barraged by a blast of radiation, one that would kill a mortal man, but for Blaze it knocked him down with incredible force. Ghost Rider looked up and the villain and asked who he was "so I know what I can put on your gravestone".
"My name is the Atomic Skull, and on this day you will die, brother!"
Ghost Rider was puzzled at this, of course couldn't show that he was puzzled, but he retorted, "What in the hell are you talking about?"
Ghost Rider assumed this being was obviously crazy, and wanted to finish this quickly and not destroy too much of the plant; he still wanted a clean slate. Blaze whipped his chain at Skull and it wrapped around Atomic Skull's waist, and he pulled him forward as Skull hit the ground. Ghost Rider then took out a shotgun and focused his power through it, firing a hellish fireball round into his head. A confident Blaze walked away from Skull and simply laughed to himself. "That was almost too easy…"
However, Atomic Skull was not so easily defeated. Skull got back up, then opened his mouth and as he yelled he shot out a huge beam of radiation at Blaze. The blast did more than knock Blaze off his feet, and then Skull rushed towards him and picked him up. Skull then threw Blaze into one of the machines inside the plant. As Blaze recovered, Atomic Skull speared him through the machine and also through the wall behind it.
Blaze got back up as quickly as he could and countered one of Skull's radioactive attacks with flame shield uprooting from the ground. Ghost Rider got his chain out again and started twirling it in the air. The chain started catching fire and eventually created a cyclone of fire burning everything in the vicinity. Joe struggled trying not to be pulled in by the force of the cyclone inferno. The effort was futile, and he was thrown back after he was whipped in the face hard with the chain.
As Atomic Skull got up, Ghost Rider walked towards him to finish this. Ghost Rider readied his fist for a flaming punch when Skull reversed his punch by putting his arm up, then turning his arm causing Blaze's arm to be trapped in Atomic Skull's underarm. Then Skull elbowed the arm of the Ghost Rider, and Blaze winced in pain. Ghost Rider put his other hand on Skull's face. Even though the fire on Blaze's hand doesn't phase him, the contact caused his hand to burn intensely. Without haste, Ghost Rider positioned Skull's head directly in front of his eyes.
"Look into my eyes… Your blood is stained by the blood of the innocent."
Skull tried to divert his contact, but Ghost Rider's penance stare was too much. However, Skull passed out before Blaze could kill him with the stare.
When the Atomic Skull became conscious , his face felt like it was being beaten to a pulp. His face was being dragged into the pavement at 180 mph by Blaze, who hitched Skull to the back of his motorcycle with one of his chains. When Blaze came to a stop in front of the police station in the city, Skull felt like he was near death. Blaze saw the chief of police come running out, and Ghost Rider unhitched the villain of his ride. "This is the man that caused your trouble. The energy he projects matches the rubble of the bar exactly. Next time you try to frame someone.." Ghost Rider said as he got back on his bike, "…make sure that man isn't a demon."
The chief of police and the officers who joined him, watching on in shock, were speechless as Ghost Rider rode off into the sunset. Blaze knew he couldn't stay in the town, as they would probably find another way to make him a wanted man.
"I need another place to crash. Tijuana is nice this time of year…"
-The End-