Chapter 11 of the Ghost Rider crossover; I am really happy to see so many people liking this story (this is a new personal record for me. I want to see if we can hit a hundred like, so tell your friends, post it on facebook, twitter, I do not mind. Also, I have been getting some help from a co-author so shout out to Jebest4781 for helping me out with giving me ideas for future chapters. Anyway onto the story now cause the voices in my head are getting agitated.
Rhode Island, Providence Docks
In Rhode Island, things could have been going better; better for the military that is. They were currently tracking down one of the Leagues regular foes: Solomon Grundy. Normally, a person would avoid a confrontation with a seven-foot tall corpse capable of taking a punch from Superman, but the military was coming prepared for Grundy; armed with tanks, semi-automatic weapons, rocket launchers; everything a small army needs. The Leader of the squad was stationed in a command vehicle with several other soldiers, one was operating an infrared scanner trying to find the zombie. Looking around the docks, the soldier spotted Grundy hiding around a corner through his heat signature; which is odd since a corpse should not produce any heat at all.
"Wait I think I see him," reported the soldier as he zoomed in on the signature. Upon closer inspection, he could definitely see the hulking form of Grundy inside a warehouse, "Oh yeah, way too big to be anyone else." The Soldier almost seemed bored, most likely due to having to deal with the zombie on a regular basis.
"All units in position sir," reported another soldier from a console to the left of the leader.
"Get his attention," was the man's only order. Two soldiers outside the tank crept up to a nearby set of crates, one was holding a rocket launcher. Lining up a shot, the soldier fired a rocket at Grundy. Grundy did not appreciate being shot at and charged the incoming missile. Grundy and the rocket made contact and a large explosion erupted from the projectile. There was no sign of Grundy, only a large crater, smoke, and fire. An army jeep came rolling up, the leader had taken the time to investigate the remains himself. The leader exited the vehicle and approached a soldier that was looking into the fire and rubble.
"Got him, sir," reported the soldier standing at attention. The squad leader did not look so convinced.
"I've heard it before; search the rubble, show me a body," ordered the commander. The soldier stood at attention at this.
"You heard him; let's start digging-woah!" exclaimed the soldier as the ground beneath him and a few other cracked and began to rise. Beneath a large boulder, Grundy stood up looking very pissed off for being shot by a rocket. Grundy glared at the military personnel.
"Leave Grundy alone," snarled the walking Zombie as he threw the boulder he was holding at a jeep, causing it to explode on impact. Several soldiers ran to find cover from the debris and fire.
"Open Fire!" yelled the leader as he went to find cover himself. The soldiers followed the order and began to shoot Grundy. Grundy roared at the soldiers, the bullets bouncing off his pale skin, but still enough to cause Grundy to raise his arms to shield his face. Taking a step back, Grundy bent down and grabbed some of the road beneath him and hurled several chunks of rock at the soldiers, some pieces slamming into several vehicles and tanks. Grundy leapt up into the air and crashed down onto the barrel of a tank, narrowly dodging a blast from a tank to his left. Grundy then grabbed both tanks and lifted them into the air and slammed them into each other. He threw both vehicles into a building.
He then jumped into the air and crashed down near several soldiers, causing them to be thrown in the air. A few tried shooting Grundy with their assault rifles, but Grundy just charged past them and punched a tank away with his bare hand. He then grabbed another tank and lifted it into the air, ripping it in half above his head. A tank barrel began to charge up as the gunner tried to shoot Grundy, but Grundy charged forward and flipped the large vehicle into a building.
"Grundy told stupid soldiers to stay away," snarled Grundy as he glared at the leader who was standing calmly watching the fight rage on, "But soldiers still come." A jeep was tossed by Grundy which landed near the leader, but he was not worried about getting hit. Grundy grabbed the ground beneath him and lifted a huge chunk of rock above his head ready to toss it at the soldiers. "NOW GRUNDY CRUSH!" Grundy roared at the soldiers. Before he could the chunk of road, a tank had charged up its barrel and fired a huge beam of energy at Grundy. The beam slammed into the zombie, causing him to roar in pain and be thrown back a few feet. The chunk of rock he was previously holding crashed down on top of him.
The tank that fired rolled up so that it was closer and allow the drivers to see their target. The chunk suddenly split in half and both halves flew into the air as Grundy stood up and roared the vehicle. Before he could attack, he was shot again by the same tank, this time he used his arms to shield his face. Another tank joined in and fired at Grundy, causing the zombie to be thrown back, closer to the waterfront. Grundy flew through some crates till he slammed back down the ground, howling in pain as the beams of energy were still on him. Grundy was losing consciousness as the energy was wearing him down. He then fell onto his chest exhausted as the energy overloaded his nerves.
"He's finished; get the cage," ordered the leader. A large vehicle came rolling up, a crane sat on the back, carrying what could be described as a safe with metal bars underneath it. The bars retracted and the cage was positioned above Grundy. Before it could be lowered onto the passive zombie, a geyser of water shot into the air then was followed by a huge monster, similar to what could be the Lochness Monster. The beast roared at the soldiers, prompting them into firing at it. The beast glared down at the men, it;s frill folding back to reveal a very unexpected guest; Aquaman. He raised his hook into the air and he jumped down to the dock where the soldiers were firing and he sliced a machine gun placed on top of a tank in half with his hook. He then grabbed the tank barrel that was firing at Grundy and ripped it off with little effort. He then swung the top half of the tank into the other tank which was still firing at Grundy, causing both pieces to explode. The monster from earlier slithered over to Aquaman and lowered its head to allow Aquaman to ride it. It pulled back but stopped just in front of Grundy.
"Do you want to live; come with me," it was less of a question and more of a demand from Aquaman. Grundy thought about it for a moment but decided to go with his new buddy to escape the military. Grundy climbed onto the back of the serpent and he and Aquaman escaped a moment later. The leader of the military group narrowed his eyes into a glare as he watched his quarry get away.
ONE HOUR LATER...
The military was still cleaning up what was left of the tanks, vehicles, buildings and whatever else was damaged during the fight against Grundy. A few soldiers were moving the remains of a tank via a crane and some cables. One soldier was overseeing the removal, guiding the crane operator as he raised the tank into the air. While in the air, the cables that were used to hold the tank in the air began to break till the cable snapped. The soldier underneath had no time to react, and shield himself from the impact, but the impact never came. Risking the chance to look up, he saw that Superman had caught the tank was lifting it into the air till he set it down on a large flatbed nearby.
"Looked like you needed a hand," explained Superman for his intervention. The leader had come over to Superman to greet him, but the scowl on his face was far from welcoming.
"I've had more than enough help from your kind for one day thanks," retorted the leader. Wonderwoman and Hawkgirl had landed nearby to hear the remark. Before Wonder Woman could question as to why a familiar deep rumble of a motorcycle drew their attention. A silver demonic chopper came rolling up, a young man about a little over twenty stepped off wearing sunglasses (which was odd considering it was night time) and walked casually over to the formed group. To the league, he was known as Jason Leverage, but to anyone else, he was known as the infamous Ghost Rider.
"Is that supposed to mean something," asked Jason as he looked at the leader.
"My men had Grundy well in hand until your friend showed up," seethed the leader, this reveal caused Jason to raise an eyebrow at this.
"What friend?" asked Hawkgirl as she was not the only one confused at the leader's implication, "No one in the Justice League would-"
"Don't tell me what happened I was here," cut off the leader he then began to recount the events that just occurred, "He wrecked our tanks, grabbed Grundy and then hightailed it on the back of the flippin' Loch Ness Monster."
"Who?" asked Jason.
"Aquaman," answered the leader as he glared at the young man. "And why do you care, last time I checked, the League doesn't have punk biker's." Jason's head then burst into blue flames revealing him to be the Ghost Rider. The Rider walked over to the leader and leaned over to tell the leader something.
"Well now you know," was the only sentence the Rider said as it leaned back and changed back to Jason. Superman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and Jason began to leave when a Javelin landed nearby. Jason rolled his bike onto the aircraft and the aircraft itself lifted into the air before taking off towards the open ocean of the Atlantic. Inside the Javelin, the four leaguers were having a mini conversation as to Aquaman's purpose for attacking.
"We can't just assume that he's gone bad," argued Wonder Woman as she tried to find a reason behind Aquaman's actions, "Aquaman helped save the world, remember?"
"He helped save Atlantis. He couldn't care less about the world," retorted Hawkgirl as she was briefed about the League's last encounter with Aquaman.
"It doesn't make sense to jump to either conclusion," said Superman entering the conversation. Jason nodded as that was correct; the league does not have all the facts yet.
"I'm with Superman on this one," commented Jason as he piloted the Javelin to Atlantis, "From your description of Aquaman, it sounds like he doesn't do anything without a reason and if he was willing to come to the surface to 'rescue' Grundy; then something deeper is going on here, we just can't see it." Superman nodded in agreement, but Hawkgirl decided to remark about Jason's none committedness.
"You ever get chafed for straddling the fence?" asked Hawkgirl as she looked at Jason. His only response was to look at her blankly, till Wonder Woman interrupted their miniature argument. In the distance there was a cruise ship being attacked by a large monster with dozens of tentacles; smashing holes into the hull and crushing the upper deck. Jason piloted the Javelin towards the monster, stopping and hovering a good distance from the monster to avoid getting caught in one of the thrashing tentacles. Jason pressed a button that opened up the landing ramp, allowing Superman, Diana, and, Hawkgirl out so that they could deal with the monster while Jason drew its attention.
"Care to weigh in on the Aquaman question now?" asked Hawkgirl as she, Superman, and Diana flew off to engage the monster.
"I'll get back to you on that," responded Superman as he flew from the Javelin. He flew towards a tentacle that was about to crush some innocent people on the ship's deck and punched it away as hard as he could. Another tentacle came up from behind him but before the tentacle can do any harm, a stream of blue fire turned the tentacle to ash. Following the source, Superman saw that it was Jason, or the Ghost Rider in his current form, riding his HellDragon. That's when another tentacle wrapped around Superman and started shocking him. Superman grunted in pain till he used his heat vision to slice a part of the tentacle off and free himself. When he was free, he groaned slightly and looked at his chest. There was a cut across his chest that brought up an unfamiliar feeling; pain.
"Ow," was all Superman said as he checked the wound. His attention was drawn back to the current situation when he saw Diana being wrapped by a tentacle. He tried to fly in and help his teammate but a tentacle batted him away where he flew into the ocean. Hawkgirl was using her mace very effectively, bashing several tentacles with it till she flew up above the monster, swinging her mace around till she was caught by another tentacle, causing her to drop her mace. The monster then began to pull her down to the water. Diana was trying her best to escape.
"Hera, give me strength," said Diana, a sentence she regularly said in combat.
"Do you have to say that all the time?" asked Hawkgirl as she was now waist deep in the water. Diana was on the verge of breaking free when a familiar roar drew her attention. Looking up, she saw the Ghost Rider jump off the HellDragon and form its scythe. Dropping down, the Ghost Rider sliced the tentacle in half before landing on another tentacle near Hawkgirl and slicing her free. Before the Rider could do any more assistance, a tentacle wrapped around him and yanked him quickly under water. The flames around the Rider went out for a moment, Jason coming around to see a massive monster with a gaping maw full of razor sharp teeth snarling at him underwater. Jason attempted to get free using his augmented strength, but the monster began to squeeze it's tentacle, crushing the air from his lungs. Jason began losing consciousness and he went limp. The monster roared in satisfaction, or that was until Jason's eyes shot open.
"Surprise!" snarled the Rider as his eyes glowed a bright blue. The monster seemed to do a double take at this. The Rider then flexed his arms, easily breaking free from the tentacle, his skull burst into flames creating several air bubbles that rose to the surface. The Rider cackled loudly underwater, and swam towards the monster's face and grabbed ahold of it. He snarled and poured his hellfire into the massive creature. The monster howled in agony as its flesh began to burn away. Above the surface of the water, Superman had returned to the fight with Hawkgirl's mace; the three Leaguers were about to go rescue Jason when the saw the tentacles began to thrash violently while beginning to turn charcoal then into ash. Within seconds the tentacles burned away, and some bubbling followed underwater. Superman, Hawkgirl, and Diana flew down to the water, when Jason broke the surface, coughing up some water and putting his sunglasses on. Diana flew down to Jason and grabbed his hand.
"After we're done, we're going to have a long chat with whoever is responsible for this," muttered Jason as Diana flew him up to the deck of the ship and put him down. Jason was soaked from head to toe. With a quick burst of fire, the water was evaporated.
"What happened to the creature?" asked Diana as she looked around in the water. The only that was visibly present was the ashes and some blood in the water.
"My fault sorry," answered Jason as he raised a hand to indicate that it was him. Superman just looked out into the ocean, scanning it for any other monsters like this.
"Could it be that Aquaman is-" began Diana, but Jason was quick to relieve their suspicions.
"Innocent; while I was in the Rider form, I tried to see who was responsible for this thing. I got something and it definitely wasn't Aquaman," reassured Jason as he explained his reasoning. "But still, we should head to Atlantis to find out more about this monster and Aquaman's actions."
Superman, Diana, and Hawkgirl nodded in agreement while the HellDragon flew down to the side of the ship, turning back into Jason's Javelin, and the three were off to Atlantis for some answers. The Javelin took off and began to descend into the water, Jason following the directions given to him by Superman. A minute later, the four were pulling up to the lost city and heading straight for the castle.
Atlantian Royal Palace
Inside the castle; Jason, Diana, Superman, and Hawkgirl headed to the throne room, where Aquaman should have been, but was not. However, his wife was there to greet them.
"My friends, welcome back to Atlantis," greeted Aquaman's wife. She walked down the steps to better talk with the four.
"Thank you, your highness," greeted Superman. He, Diana, Hawkgirl, and Jason were standing by each other.
"We have come to speak with your husband; Aquaman," inferred Jason as he stepped forward.
"I'm sorry, but Arthur is not here at the moment. May I ask why is it that you wish to speak with him?" asked Mera as she was slightly concerned about the wellbeing of her husband.
"As of recently, Aquaman was reported seen in the escape of a known criminal; Solomon Grundy. He assisted in his escape, we only want to know what his reasons are for this action," explained Jason, as he took off his sunglasses.
"I do not his reasons for such a claim, but I do know that my husband would never do anything that would warrant suspicion," answered Mera as she explained her reasoning.
"Even having one of his pets attack an ocean cruiser?" asked Hawkgirl sarcastically. This caused Mera to frown and narrow her eyes.
"Hawkgirl," warned Jason as he placed a hand on her shoulder to tell her that was a bad move. Hawkgirl shrugged it off but remained quiet for better reasons.
"Do you know of where we could find Arthur?" asked Diana as she picked up the situation. Mera's frown lightened for a moment.
"I remember him speaking about going to speak with a 'Doctor Fate', I believe his name was, he said he would be gone for some time," answered Mera. Jason, Superman, Diana, and Hawkgirl nodded thanks before leaving.
Javelin
"That went well," said Superman as he was changing shirts since his was still torn from the attack from the monster. Jason was piloting the Javelin with Diana, Hawkgirl was sitting in one of the chairs in the back.
"Did you honestly expect her to confess to an act of war?" questioned Hawkgirl sarcastically, gaining an eye roll from Jason and a scowl from Diana.
"There was no need for you to be rude, she is royalty," Diana frowned at Hawkgirl, she knew better than to start a fight just for the sake of one.
"Standard interrogation technique. I was Bad Cop," brushed off Hawkgirl like her actions were nothing. Jason rolled his eyes and turned back to piloting.
"You're always Bad Cop," commented Superman as he walked back to the front of the Javelin, a new shirt in hand. Jason could only nod in agreement; despite knowing Hawkgirl for little over two months since he joined the League, he could definitely tell that she was a person that went by punch first, ask questions never.
"Why play against type? Anyway, we got a name out of her," brushed off Hawkgirl as if it were nothing.
"Which brings a new question," added Jason as he piloted the Javelin, "Aquaman and Dr. Fate?" Jason knew of both heroes from the files on board the watchtower, but the odds of them crossing paths was highly unlikely given Aquaman is not fond of the surface and Dr. Fate does not normally leave his tower.
"Dr. Fate is some sort of Mystic, isn't he?" asked Diana as she has only heard of Fate from the files and the rest of the League.
"That's right, and only magic could have hurt me like this," confirmed Superman while gesturing to the scar across his chest. "But I'm still on the fence about Aquaman." Hawkgirl frowned slightly but that was the only change in her expression. Jason saw this out of the corner of his eye but made no move to indicate that he did. The trip to Dr. Fate's home was pretty tense given that Jason was certain that Fate and Aquaman were innocent and that Hawkgirl was still looking for a fight. In a thick forest, a large stone tower could be seen, one would not have given it a second glance at first thinking it was abandoned and that it was built as a sort of watchtower for a castle or something. But the four Leaguers knew better and were waiting outside the tower for some sort of welcome or sign that Dr. Fate knew of their presence.
twenty minutes had passed and no sign or action was met by the League. "No door?" asked Diana as she looked around for some entrance. Jason was also wondering how the Doc left and entered the tower. His patience was nearing its end and he folded his arms, looking up at the tower. Deciding on a different approach Superman walked up to the tower.
"Fate!" yelled Superman as he tried to get the Doc's attention. Jason began to tap his fingers against his folded arms, getting annoyed as it is.
"Nobody home," offered Hawkgirl who tried to give a reason as to why no one was answering. Jason walked up to the tower.
"We didn't come out here just to let a stone wall stop us," muttered Jason as he formed his scythe in the air. The blade rippled with blue flames. He lifted it above his head and swung it down into the side of the tower, the blade slicing through whatever magical shielding like butter. Jason then ripped the scythe out and pulled out several chunks of the wall. The entrance revealed a much larger interior; a series of staircases, and energy coursing around the inside of the tower like the universe itself.
"Impressive use of space," commented Diana as she saw the inside of the Tower. Jason nodded in agreement, but then again, this was magic they were dealing with. Jason led Superman, Diana, and Hawkgirl through the entrance he created and up a flight of stairs. His eyes glowing blue, Jason had the ability to track down anyone with a criminal history.
"This way," said Jason as he walked up a flight of stairs, one leading to a large portal. Walking to the portal, Jason began to hear a sort of chant and the howl of Grundy. He then picked up the pace, the others following behind. Upon passing through, he saw Doctor Fate, his wife, Aquaman, and Grundy on a large tower with three large pillars, wind blowing all around them, and Fate reciting the same sentence: "SO FATE DEMANDS!"
"Not on our watch!" snarled Jason as he turned into the Rider and charging forward with Diana, Superman, and Hawkgirl taking flight. Jason was running at full speed towards the four people. Fate's Wife, Inza shot a stream of magic at Jason, but Jason swung his scythe, deflecting the magic. She then created a large shield around herself, her husband, and Aquaman, and Grundy. Jason leaped into the air slammed the blade of the scythe into the shield, the shield cracked where his blade made contact. Diana tried to break the shield herself but was sent flying back into one of the towers and to the ground. She pushed herself to her hands, only to see that she accidentally tripped a spell that bound her in several ropes. Superman flew down to try and free her. Hawkgirl saw this and turned her attention to the dome the Ghost Rider was currently hacking his way into with his Scythe. The Rider snarled and he pushed the blade further and further into the shield. Hawkgirl ran to where the shield was being projected by Inza and slammed her mace into it, causing a jolt of energy that sent Inza to the ground unconscious. The Rider roared as the shield began to break apart and he shattered it with his scythe. He then glared up at Fate, Hawkgirl also forming up with the Rider. Fate tried to stop them by shooting a beam of energy from his eyes, but the beam was deflected by Hawkgirl, giving the Rider an opening. The Rider took a deep breath in and sent a stream of his hellfire right at Fate. The stream knocked Fate away, severing the spell. Aquaman and Grundy seemed pretty angry.
"Do you realize what you've done?!" demanded a very angry Aquaman. "Leave here! Now!" The Rider only scoffed in response.
"You may be a king, but you're not my king, and we aren't leaving without Grundy or an explanation to what the hell is going on." snarled the Rider as he hefted his Scythe challengingly.
"You've ruined everything!" shouted Fate as he came walking back. "Aquaman, stop them. I'll try to improvise something, but I must be allowed to concentrate!" Grundy, however, was also just as pissed as Aquaman.
"Go away! Superman always takes everything from Grundy, but not this time." With that Grundy tackled Superman, knocking Hawkgirl away. Diana was distracted for a second, allowing Aquaman to attack. Following the force of his attack, Diana flipped Aquaman over her so she could flip back to her feet. The Rider glared at everything that was going, though was brought out of his mild glare when he was shot by Inza since she regained consciousness a second ago. The flames around the Rider began to change color, a voice was heard in the back of Jason's mind. Telling him to end it all.
"Too much noise-" Before Fate could finish the Rider roared at the top of its not existent lungs.
"ENOUGH!" the Rider bellowed and slammed the end of his Scythe into the ground. Instead of his new blue flames since Jason now had full control over the Rider, the flames were now a mix of both orange and blue. From the base of the scythe, a huge orb of fire erupted beneath him, expanding around him. Fate was the first caught in the fire, sending him flying into a pillar. Hawkgirl being the second closest was also knocked back. Inza, Aquaman, and Diana were blown back by the fire, and Superman and Grundy were blown back a little but kept the footing. A huge cloud of smoke obscured the Rider from everyone's sight, that was until the smoke cleared up and the Rider was seen standing in the center, huffing from the release of power and from anger. The Rider glared at Fate who was on his back, sitting up from the force of the fire that knocked him back.
"You," The Rider pointed at Fate, "Talk, now."
Before Fate could answer, a huge flash of light erupted from the sky above them. A sort of portal could be seen, revealing a massive monster with a skull-like appearance and had tentacles from the bottom. It snarled and looked down on the group of people.
"We were trying to prevent that," was all Fate said as he looked up at the creature.
"Great."
TO BE CONTINUED...
And done, been a long as time since I last posted but I am keeping up with the story, it's just hard to do so with exams, relatives coming for the holidays and a bunch of other stuff going on. I will be taking ideas for future chapters from the readers. Leave a review for this chapter below and I will get to you all later.
