Morbius wandered the streets of Death City alone. It was late at night, and the usual heavy traffic had died down. Now everything was quiet, just the way he liked it. He looked up at the Cathedral, at the gargoyles that decorated the ancient stone walls.
We have much in common. We are both protectors. Just as they use their frightening visage to scare away demons, I use my dark powers to protect this city. Not that Morbius was pretty to look at. With his pale skin, glowing red eyes, and sharp teeth, he looked like a vampire. Which was fine with him. He was, after all, a vampire. Might as well look the part.
A van marked Oscorp. drove past, probably at double the speed limit. Morbius glared at it. Oscorp. was a large technological corporation. On the surface, they made and sold household appliances, but Morbius knew their dark secret. They were really a weapons manufacture for the crime lords of Death City. And there were many crime lords, Owl, The Big Man, Hammerhead, Silvermane, The Gorgons, Arachne and Medusa, Asura, even Tombstone, the rising star as it were. But little did these small names know that they, along with almost everything else in Death City, were being controlled by one man, a crime lord known only as the Kingpin.
So Morbius glared at the van that served to supply the wars between the crime lords. Yet he had another reason to hate Oscorp. His thoughts were interrupted by a faint ringing. The ringing was faint because it was miles away, in downtown Death City. But Morbius' advanced hearing allowed him to pick up such high-pitched noises, even at this distance. It was the ring of a burglar alarm. Morbius quickly leaped into the air, and flew off following the noise.
Minutes later, he found the glass doors of a bank broken, and a figure moving inside of it.
Idiot, if he wants money from this bank, he will have to get through three feet of solid steel. Robbing banks was nearly pointless nowadays, yet here was some amateur trying just that. Morbius stepped quietly through the opening in the door, and approached the man.
"You should not be here." Morbius knew his visage and his eastern European accent were enough to frighten most petty crooks. The man turned around his eyes wide with fear. Then with a sizzling sound, he collapsed.
He is not the first one to faint. Morbius thought with amusement. But this time it was not me. From the shadows, a teenaged boy, perhaps 17, emerged holding am oddly-shaped gun in his hand. The boy, checked the thief's pulse.
"Still alive. I guess I missed his spine." The boy holstered his gun, and looked up at Morbius. He was wearing a block hoodie and pants, a large skull decorated his chest. He looked very large under his clothing, but Morbius quickly realized that they boy was wearing body armor.
"What horror movie did you escape from?" The boy asked, glaring at Morbius.
Morbius laughed, long immune to remarks on his appearance. "The same as you it seems. But are you not a little young for this job?"
"What do you care, Dracula?
"I have sworn to protect the innocent." Morbius answered.
"Well then scram, I don't need your protection." The boy waved him away.
"So I noticed." Morbius said, glancing at the holster on the boy's hip. "You use a taser, and yet you seemed to want to kill that man."
"He's already shot three policemen on his way here." The boy shrugged, clearly he hardly cared about his justification. It was a lie though, and Morbius knew it. It there had been three men dead from gunshot wounds, he would have smelled it. Smelled the blood….No, don't think about that. To distract himself, Morbius decided that someone needed to teach this boy why being a vigilante was a bad idea.
"Listen boy, this is not the life for you. Go home to your family, and live your life."
"I don't have a life, and I don't have a family, and you can thank Asura for that!" The boy's face turned very angry. "And my name is The Punisher now."
"So is that it, vengeance for your family? Believe me boy, I have walked that path, and it does not lead anywhere nice. I have lost my entire clan, and my humanity, and now I do what I do, not for vengeance, but because it is right. I have a responsibility."
"So do I, freakshow, to the ghosts of my parents!" Morbius sighed.
"You want to take on Asura, you cannot do it alone."
"Says who. It'll be easy, shut down his power grid, plant one bomb, and that's it."
This boy does not mess around. He could get many people killed, he plans on it. I doubt very much, that I can persuade him to give up his quest. "What of the innocents you will kill with this bomb. You must know of Asura's slave ring.
"Let them die, what do I care?"
This boy needs guidance, and I must give it to him. "That is the wrong answer boy." Morbius grabbed the boy and flew out of the broken doors, and up into the air. "We do not kill innocents, or criminals, we let the law decide their fate."
"Maybe you do, but I don't, now let me down!"
"No. Someone must teach you how to live this life, and that someone is me."
"I don't want your help!"
"I did not ask you." Morbius pricked the boy with one of his claws, and the sleeping agent knocked him out. He flew back to the cathedral, and set the boy down in the bell tower. The bats opened their red eyes, inquisitively, but Morbius quickly calmed them.
He is to be our new ally, my children. And the bats whispered back, let us mark him, he can be as strong as you. Morbius glared at them. I have told you many times before, I will not let another share my curse. The bats went back into hibernation. Morbius moved to the window, and looked out at the moon. It grinned back him as though reminding him that he would have to deal with a very angry teenager with a taser when the dawn came.