Ghost Rider: Ultimate Vengeance

"It's so cold." A lone figure stood in the midst of a large black view that stretched as far as the eye could see. He feel to his knees, chains scraping against the side of his leather jacket. The fire that flickered around his bones seemed to shrink as surely as he sunk to the ground. "And yet...."

His gloves reached out into the depths of the darkness, seeing images of the past. Things appeared to his eyes that he had only remembered in dreams. Images of life, of love, and most importantly of vengeance. Flames burst out of his sockets at the mere thought of the word. To think, one word could encompass everything that he lived and died for. Although, he wasn't really dead now was he? He was a spirit. A spirit of vengeance to be precise.

"My flames dwindle. Is it because I have not enacted vengeance for such a long time, or is it something more?" Placing his right hand on his opposite hand, he pulled off the glove as quickly as he could and immediately looked down at his fingers of bone. The hellfire went on and off as a candle would, blowing in the wind.

"The lack of vengeance does this to my form. I have not been out in the world for such a long time, it takes its toll. Vengeance is all I am and all I seek in my existence." The Spirit of Vengeance known as the Ghost Rider's voice began to rise in volume as he spoke more and more sentences, flames bursting around him. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE WITHOUT VENGEANCE, DANIEL? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"

Danny Ketch woke up in his bed in a cold sweat. He flung the cover off his body and went to his bathroom down the hall. Nervously swinging open his medicine cabinet, he scrambled through a number of different pills and liquids. Just as he found the pills he was searching for, he dropped the capsule that was holding them into his sink.

"No. No! NOOOOO!" Daniel held his hands against his head as flames began to spring forth from between his fingers. Looking into the mirror in front of him, he watched as his flesh began to run off his face. Becoming near hysterical, he reached for his pills and pushed down as many as he could. As he felt the pills slowly slide down his throat, he sunk to the floor shaking with his arms crossed over his head. Danny once again put his hands up to his face and head and was relieved to feel no melting skin or burning hair. "Oh thank God."

"Daniel..." A voice burst forth from Danny Ketch's mind, a cold raspy voice that sounded like nails scratching across a chalkboard.

"What is it Noble?" Ketch said with his arms still crossed over his head."

"You realize you cannot keep this up forever."

"Oh can't I, Noble?" Danny pushed himself off the ground and placed his pills labeled 'emotional suppressants' back into the cabinet. His hands reached for the water faucets and turned them so a small stream of water would flow through his hands. Splashing the water across his face, he looked into the mirror not to see his own face, but the face of the Ghost Rider.

"No Danny, you can't. We need to have a conversation. NOW!"

"At that very same time, in a lone skyscraper overlooking the skyline of the city, something was brewing within the mind of the owner of this large monument to mankind's advancement. This man in an expensive black suit that seemed to be undistinguishable from the shadows that surrounded him was watching the lights of the city flicker.

"Mr. Black?" Another man walked out on the terrace where Mr. Black was standing, hands on the rail.

"What is it?"

"I was just wondering if I could leave for tonight, seeing as how much of my business is taken care of."

"Not as of yet, Colin, I still have one set of business for you to take care of. Take a note."

"Very well sir." The young assistant straightened his glasses and took out a notepad.

"Spread the word that we're going to give the NYPD a little love tap to show my arrival in the big apple. Although, I am a little out of ideas on how to send them the message. Any suggestions, my good boy?"

"I think that a more forceful tone is needed to deliver the thought."

"Clever as always." Mr. Black smiled with his teeth glaring in the moonlight, seemingly sharp enough to be considered fangs. "Very well Colin, tell the gangs to give them a bloody nose. The mob bosses come later."

"Will do sir."

"Oh and Colin." The young assistant spun around in his tracks.

"Yes sir?"

"You know the problem with these new mob bosses and gangs nowadays?"

"What's that Mr. Black?"

"They're human." Mr. Black smiled as his assistant looked at the albino-skinned, white haired man. "And lay off the Mr. Black stuff, its Blackout."

"NO!" Danny Ketch yelled out as he found himself standing in front of the Ghost Rider in the landscapes of his mind.

"Daniel, I know how you feel about me." The spirit stretched his arms out to his human side, trying to show some semblance of comfort.

"I SAID NO!" The spirit's arms were slapped away as tears began to fall down Danny's face. "How could you know how I feel, you bastard? The first time you were allowed to come out of me, the flames from your 'arrival' killed my whole family."

"I cannot tell you anything else besides the fact that vengeance needed to be served Daniel."

"....." Ketch remained speechless for a few seconds as his anger began to reach the breaking point. "That's your excuse? That? You killed a whole family simply to stop an accidental hit and run that had happened outside our door. She was barely even hurt, you know that don't you?"

"Blood spilled is blood spilled, Daniel. We have been bonded with one another since the day you were born, you would think that some losses were acceptable to deter the loss of innocent blood."

"Not at that cost Noble. Not only did you kill a family of innocent people, but you also exposed that man who was responsible for the hit and run to that horrible stare of yours. You destroyed his soul."

"He spilled blood, therefore the penance stare was necessary. Sinners will sin again, its part of their nature. I am truly sorry for your family Daniel. The only comfort I can give you is that my penance has been served out for them and vengeance has been served in my case."

"Why you cold son of a..." The young Ketch threw a fist at the rider's face and made contact. The spirit's face turned slightly to the side, unharmed. Danny's hand, however, was burned from the hellfire that surrounded the spirit's head.

"We're finished here."

"Daniel wait!" But before the spirit of vengeance could get Ketch to stay, he was gone from the mindscape.

"Damn it Daniel, there will come a time when you will suffer because you did not allow me to be released."

End of Chapter 1

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Ghost Rider: Ultimate Vengeance. Stick around, read, review, and all that good stuff. If you thought this chapter was good, wait till things start to heat up. Around the corner, there'll be blood, death, questions answered, mysteries discovered, and of course, Vengeance.