Burning Vengeance
The Gauntlet, Part II

This is the Gundam Kaizer speaking, and this is a crossover between Neon Genesis Evangelion and Ghost Rider. I have now also seen EOE and Rebuild, if I haven't said so somewhere else. Therefore, I know lots more about the crapsack world that is Evangelion, and this story should be all the better as a consequence.

Since Mephisto took up most of the last chapter with exposition (and otherwise just talking a lot), Shinji getting some experience with his powers got pushed back to this chapter.

It had been three years since his mother had returned. In that time, Shinji and Yui had moved to a different city – and by Shinji's insistence, one with a high crime rate. After all, it would be better to try and burn through the curse as quickly as possible.

By Yui's insistence, they were occasionally moving about the world. Partly to drop Shinji off of Gendo's radar, partly just for the experience. Italy, for the time being. What's left of Vatican City, to be more precise.

Which meant that Hell's bounty hunter was living in the city of the Pope.

Shinji had actually met him, once. Some closet anti-gypsy psycho named Jean-Claude Frollo. For the sins of hatred, envy, corruption, and uncontrollable lust (1), the Ghost Rider scorched him to a crisp.

The next Pope was a blonde person named Lucius who was so feminine that for three months Shinji honestly thought that Lucius was a woman. He was not, which would have led to trauma if Shinji weren't obsessed with his mother, Yui Ikari. Lucius, however, was a very nice and accepting person, and was actually spiritually pure enough to deserve the position and do it justice.

Fast approaching midnight, the full moon cast a pale light over the city.

Wincing as his skull lit on fire and burned away the flesh, Shinji Ikari said to himself, "It's hunting time."

As the flames engulfed his body, a rapid series of sickening cracks could be heard as Shinji screamed in absolute pain, his bones constantly snapped and re-formed, expanding as the boy grew until he had the height and build of an average man twice his age.

While technically he could go out any time at night, there was just something special about midnight, the witching hour. Working out the kinks in his neck, the Ghost Rider raised his face to the moon, allowing the stench of greed to filter through his senses, giving him the power to detect evil and hunt it down.

And, a strong stench of evil reaching him, the Ghost Rider set out like a bloodhound.

The Ghost Rider casually stepped off the roof of the nine-story building he was on and allowed himself to fall for a few floors, before grabbing the wall with a hand to get some traction and slow down. Once he was at a manageable speed, Hell's enforcer used the wall as a springboard and leapt off into the distance at a ninety-degree angle.

Despite the increase in bone mass, the lack of any other sort of tissue meant that he was considerably lighter than usual, and with that lightness came exceptional speed and jumping ability even without the hellfire augmentation.

After having made it a block or two, the Ghost Rider stumbled upon a motorbike and, despite knowing that Yui Ikari would frown a bit about it, nevertheless borrowed it and converted it into a hell-cycle. As the supernatural flames began to course through the bike, the metal screeched as it twisted and warped until it had become more sleek and angular. (2)

As the Rider straddled his new ride, he appeared to grin as the pull of the sin of greed grew ever stronger. And with a roar of the engine, the Ghost Rider was gone, a trail of hellfire and molten concrete the only sign that he had ever been there to begin with.

Riding at over two-hundred miles per hour, it was only a matter of minutes until he had arrived at the base of a massive skyscraper – the Italian headquarters of a multinational cosmetics company: Shirogane Corp. And the founder/CEO of said company just happened to be in town for a meeting.

As he neared the wall, the Rider quickly leaned back and forced the front wheel of his ride high into the air and as it came into contact with the side of the building, Shinji psychically transferred most of the bike's traction to the front tire, further increasing the hellfire-augmented grip, allowing him to drive up the side of the wall.

At a right angle to the ground.

Nearing the top floor, however, the Ghost Rider leaned back again, and then pitched forward, hard as he slammed the breaks so to speak, causing the front tire to smash through a window and the bike to enter an office.

Where a man in a suit that must've cost him ten million dollars was calmly staring at the Rider with his hands before his face in a very particular pose. Yes, that pose.

The executive, Shinjiro Shirogane, asked, "Good evening, sir. Perhaps you'd like to try some of our moisturizing cream? Perhaps it can even solve the burning irritation of your skin."

Getting off of the bike, Ghost Rider replied, "The only cream I'm here for is your greasy, rotten, worthless soul, ya son of a bitch. So then, are you going to just hand it over nice and willingly, or do I need to bend you over the table and shove a railgun up your ass, then fire it and scrape what's left off the opposite wall?"

Smug, Shinjiro replied, "Sir, despite your impressive entrance here – and I must applaud you for your sense of theatrics – I do not believe that you have the capacity to create a railgun out of thin air."

Apparently sneering, the Rider shot back, "Don't have to. I'll just take your damn Glock, charge it with my hellfire, and wham-bam-thank-you-sam, I have a railgun pistol, ready to be shoved up and fired into your ass."

Unconcerned, Shinjiro countered, "Despite your obvious skill with special effects, I highly doubt that you're capable of magical transmutation."

Laughing uproariously, the Ghost Rider gathered hellfire into his right hand and fired it at the far wall, welding the door to its frame, cutting off the businessman's only means of escaping alive.

Then, he knelt and punched the floor, forcing a massive amount of hellfire into it. Contorting to suit the needs of its new master, numerous bright orange cracks appeared, as though the two were standing on molten lava in the process of solidifying.

The change crept across the floor and then up the walls, Shinjiro Shirogane no longer secure in his lack of belief as he realized that his private office in the Vatican had begun transforming into one of Hell's torture rooms.

As fear and terror gripped him, the temperature rising ever higher, Shinjiro jumped out of his chair and attempted to flee, but the molten ground beneath him suddenly became much less solid, trapping his feet within the rock.

And then, implacable as death, the Ghost Rider began to advance, one step after another, taking his time. Allowing his target to bathe in his sweet, delicious terror.

For the first time in his life, Shinjiro Shirogane had lost control of his own life.

Just before he could attempt to scream, the Ghost Rider clamped down on his jaw and decreed the corrupt businessman's sentence.

"The nine hells call. The earth cries out. The crowd roars. Can you hear them, Shinjiro? They are all calling out to me. To defeat evil and to purge the world of your sickening taint. Listen well, you scumbag. I am the Spirit of Vengeance, the Ghost Rider!"

With this declaration, Ghost Rider lifted Shinjiro out of the ground and then chokeslammed the corrupt corporate executive through a wall and into the corridor, effortlessly tore his arms off by brute force alone, torched his soul with the Penance Stare, and then shattered the brimstone remains with a mere twitch. As an afterthought, he pulled the Glock from the late Shinjiro's desk before imbuing it with hellfire, and then swiping the late bussinessman's iPhone. Infusing it with hellfire as well, the Ghost Rider made a call. After only a second, an enthusiastic voice answered.

"Hey there, Shinji my man! So tell me, is the warlock dead?"

"Yeah. I'm sending you his handgun, which I turned into a portable railgun. Give it to the most sadistic demon you can find and have them shove it through his ass and fire it every now and then. … And before you ask, no, they can't use lube."

"Whoa man, I knew you'd be kinda… barbaric, every Ghost Rider is when compared to their human self, but you just go above and beyond the call of savagery, don't you?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"Weeeell~, you could, you know, tune it down a wee bit. After all, what would your mum think?"

"…Tch. Fine, I'll try to rein it in a bit. Not like he deserved any mercy anyway."

"Not saying he did, but don't go out of your way to be cruel just because I pointed him out to you."

Ending the call, the Ghost Rider shoved the gun through the hell-iPhone's screen, sending it to Mephisto's Realm along with the soul it was going to be used at.

Getting back on his bike, the Ghost Rider looked over the Vatican and Rome, his home for the last five months (and for the next month also), and he detected a couple of new sensations.

A choice for his next mission. A massive cluster of lust was beyond the borders, in Rome, but he couldn't sense any malevolence. 'Meh. I'll look into it later, but unless it's actually rape I'm not going to interfere.'

Next, there were a few minor pinpricks of envy, probably just schmuck jealous of their coworkers.

Then, he felt something else.

A demonic presence. Getting back on his bike, Ghost Rider turned around, allowing the eldritch room to revert to its normal form. Then, twisting the accelerator hard, the hellcycle shot forward in a burst of speed and launched itself out the window, into the obsidian sky.

Landing on a rooftop, the Ghost Rider continued on his way, seeking out the source.

The previous Ghost Riders had usually just focused on killers, burglars, rapists, and the like. Shinji, however, had a different priority set. He organized potential targets in importance by the sin that he felt from their aura. Greed and Pride had the highest priority, followed by Envy, Sloth, and Gluttony. He kept Wrath rather low since, being the Spirit of Vengeance, punishing people for it without investigation of the circumstances would be hypocritical. Lust, to Shinji at least, was generally the least important.

However, that was only among humans. Demons in general instantly had top priority.

After a few blocks, Shinji had found his target, half a mile into Rome.

A rebel incubus moving towards a pair of twins, barely into adolescence.

With one last leap, the hellcycle landed directly in the rogue demon's path, and the Ghost Rider got off of it. "Mind tellin' me what you're doing here?"

Curiously, the demon was emaciated, and had a peculiar expression, that Shinji recognized after a moment. Madness, born of sheer desperation.

"Out of my way, Rider! Can't you see I'm literally wasting away? I want only to LIVE! Is that too much to ask for?"

"Given that you're flying at a couple of girls that can't be more than – what, eleven? Twelve? Yes. It is. Find some older targets. There's probably a few dissatisfied housewives around here, go look for them."

"I DON'T HAVE THE TIME, RIDER! I can't believe you side with the new King's worthless laws and restrictions! I would never be suffering like this were the TRUE Mephisto still in power!"

With that, the incubus lunged for the Ghost Rider's neck, intent on breaking it. While something that minor wouldn't be enough to kill the Rider, it would put him out of commission for the next few minutes, by which point it would be too late.

Seeing that the rogue, rabid demon was beyond reasoning with, the Ghost Rider grabbed his pocketknife and, with a surge of hellfire, morphed it into a longsword. Then, after a moment to predict his timing, Hell's enforcer took a single step forward and in one strike, cleaved the demon in two. As the separate halves of the demon burned to ashes, the Rider declared, "Mephisto said it, and I'll say it too. CHILDREN ARE OFF LIMITS."

Having settled the matter, Shinji again used his sensory abilities to determine if there would be another target for the night. The pinpricks of envy had vanished, although the intense aura of lust remained. Actually nearby, coincidentally. How the incubus had managed to not sense it confused the demonic enforcer, but decided that it was just a symptom of how far gone that poor bastard had been.

With a sigh, he did his duty and headed towards it, despite already having a good idea of what he'd find. Not having detected any sort of hostility, it probably wasn't worth his attention, but it's always better to check. The apartment complex was also mostly empty, except for a cluster of souls in one area.

Probably a condemned building that the local government had forgotten about, or something to that effect.

Upon arrival, the Ghost Rider noted that everything was quiet, and not wanting to alert anyone, returned to his human, child form. Softly padding through the front door and a few hallways, he came to an apartment that reeked strongly of sex, with the door wide open.

Glancing through, he saw a beautiful young woman with relatively large breasts, her slightly plump ass in the air, white 'cream' coating much of her face and chest. Shinji also noted the same 'cream' leaking out of both her lower holes. The sight of at least ten guys in the same room, all of them passed out, confirmed what had happened.

After a second, the woman's eyes opened, and Shinji saw that she was both completely lucid and absolutely, utterly satisfied. "Oh, hey there, kiddo. You're free to look all you want, but sorry, no action tonight. Come find me in three years or so, though, and I'll probably change my mind."

Outwardly apathetic, Shinji asked, "Wasn't looking for any. Detected a mass of lust and was wondering if I needed to intervene."

Mildly curious, the woman looked at him, but then shrugged and said, "As I think you can guess, everything that went on here was totally consensual. And if you're some kind of supernatural punisher or something, then whatever. I know I'm going to hell anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me."

"If I may ask… why?"

Pausing for a moment, the woman – still in an extremely provocative position, having deigned not to move yet – replied, "Why would I do this to myself? Strip away all of my dignity and just let anybody do whatever with me? Because it's my escape. My life sucks even more than I do, so… this happens. Pretty often, really. Basically, I'm running away from my problems and trying to drown myself in pleasure."

Most of his nerves hadn't fully recovered yet, so Shinji didn't feel any pain upon transforming back into the Ghost Rider, simply to show the woman that she was correct in her presumption about his true nature.

Even though he could see the slight fear in her eyes, she controlled it well, as she sounded rather uninterested. "So I guess you're here to punish me, then? To burn my soul and send me to my eternal damnation or whatever?"

Shaking his head, the Ghost Rider replied, "No, I'm not. As I said, I came here only to investigate. So you're the biggest slut I've ever seen. Hell, maybe even the sluttiest slut in all of slutdom. I can sense that there has been no conflict here, no malice. Fuck yourself into oblivion if you wish; so long as you maintain the status quo – that being that there is no malice and no betrayal involved – you probably won't ever see me again. If there's no one being wronged, then there's no reason for the Spirit of Vengeance to get involved. You are probably going to the place you think of as Hell, but we're under new management. So long as you play by the rules, it's actually no worse than this world, on average. I see flames and darkness in your future, but not much in the way of suffering."

With the closest approximation of a kind smile that a flaming skull could manage, he left, casting only a few more words over his shoulder. "Even stained with more Lust than I've ever seen in one human so far, your soul is still far kinder than most. I honestly hope that your life improves and that the rest of your days on Earth are happier than those before, miss."

Smiling back at him, the woman began to rise as she replied, "Please, Lucrecia. Although you're rather merciful for the agent of heaven's vengeance."

Stopping just short of the door, the Ghost Rider instantly turned back, the flames giving the impression of a soft scowl. "I'm not heaven's vengeance. To be honest, if I were to ever meet God, I'd punch Him in the face and ask what the hell was wrong with Him, letting things get this bad. If He's our father, then shouldn't He give more of a damn about His children? On the other hand, were I to meet Christ, I'd probably shake his hand and ask if he could make the rounds down here without causing the Apocalypse. I figure that he was a pretty cool guy. No, I'm Hell's bounty hunter. I'm the Spirit of human Vengeance; of Hell's justice. I only hunt down humans who wrong other humans. Sin all you like, so long as nobody gets hurt by it. Farewell… Lucrecia."

Having clarified his nature, the Ghost Rider left, and deciding that he'd done enough work for the night, returned home. Still needed to get some damn sleep for school in the morning. Thank the heavens that he could infuse his vocal chords alone with hellfire, which could translate whatever he said into another language.

(1) If nobody gets any of the reference regarding the first Pope, I'll cry. And then I'll explain it in a reply if you ask me. If nobody gets the reference for the second Pope… I'll still be sad, but I'll be a lot more understanding about it.

(2) Basically, the bike that Daniel Ketch rides in the comics.

This just in! If you need to send merchandise to the lower rings of hell, there's an app for that.

Also, I know that this chapter is likely going to be rather controversial. … Deal with it.