Ok, so this was just a thought that came to me; and I decided to put it down. It's Team Avatar from Legend of Korra vs Robbie Reyes aka Ghost Rider from Agents of SHIELD. Also, just an FYI, this is a sequel to the Legend of Korra chapter in Accounts of the Flood conflicts.
Disclaimer: I do not own any franchise that appears here.
EDIT: 09/24/2017: A little announcement to those unaware, I have made a continuation of this one-shot in another fic, entitled Spirits and Shields. If you want to more of this, then I'd recommend taking a look. And to those who have come to read this chapter because of the above story, well, I hope you enjoy this.
It had been nine months since Kuvira attacked Republic city, and three months since the alien parasite known as the Flood had been burned out of their world by the Republic and Separatists. Since that time, life had managed to go back to some semblance of normalcy, but at the same time, it wasn't.
The Red Lotus had become increasingly active in the wake of the Flood attack, seemingly willing to cause chaos wherever they went. Their current goal was unknown, seeing as Zaheer was still locked in prison and any attempts to kidnap the Avatar again would end badly, as Korra was actively hunting pockets of agents down herself. Now though, a new player would make himself known.
At one of the Agni Kai triad's known hideouts, one suspected to be used by Red Lotus agents from time to time, an explosion of flame erupted from the doors and windows, as screams echoed throughout the streets, drawing the attention of onlookers to the fighting inside.
One of the firebending criminals stumbled out of the flames before he started running, desperately trying to escape the carnage. He didn't get far; a flaming chain emerged from the inferno, wrapping itself around the runner and pulling him back, screaming at the top of his lungs.
After that little display, it didn't take long for the police to get called in, as the first responders arrived on the scene rather quickly. They were just in time to witness a strange black car driving away, a model completely unknown to them, leaving them surrounded by dozens of scared and innocent people.
...
Mako was one of the detectives at the scene in the morning, utterly baffled by everything he had heard from the few civilians who were willing to talk, as well as the medical report from the hospital.
"Rough night, I see." Mako turned in surprise at the voice.
"Chief Beifong." He stuttered in surprise. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"An Agni Kai Triad hangout and suspected Red Lotus facility gets torched during the night." She pointed out. "This is definitely something important."
She wasn't kidding. In the last month, there had been three similar attacks on criminal hangouts that were suspected to be used as either meeting or recruiting points for the terrorist group. It couldn't be a coincidence that what seemed like the same person was attacking those locations.
"Eyewitnesses say that after the attacker locked one of them in the trunk, he fled the scene in some unknown design of Satomobile. Apparently, the licence plate had the word 'California' on it." Mako shrugged. "That's all they can remember that stands out."
"What about the attacker?" Lin asked. "Did we get a description on him?" Mako sheepishly looked back at his notes.
"The only thing we've got to go on is a 'man on fire'." Mako said. "That was also the last thing the survivor said before he died."
Lin grimaced at that. There had been one survivor of the hideout's destruction, who had been suffering from horrific burns all over his body. He had been rushed to a hospital, but the strange thing was, waterbending had no effect at all. The healing waters failed to even ease the effects of the burns and the man had died in pain.
"We might want to call Korra for this." Mako suggested. "Flaming chains? Burns that won't heal? That definitely doesn't fit your normal Firebender capabilities."
"And it's not like we've had any better luck." Lin sighed in frustration. "Besides, if it's tied to the Red Lotus like this, then it's definitely something that needs the Avatar's attention. I'll call Tenzin. He'll know where Korra is."
...
Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse, the survivor in question was chained up in front of the car that had driven him away. The driver, who went by the name of Robbie Reyes, was currently standing in front of the begging criminal.
"Please, I don't know where they are!" This answer earned him a hard punch to the face.
"You're lying." The firebender coughed, blood coming out. "They contacted you, and you helped them take it." Another punch. "You don't owe them anything, so make this easy on yourself." The man spat out more blood, then looked at Robbie with a determined look in his eyes.
"The Red Lotus gave me purpose." He said proudly, his head held high. "I would sooner die than betray them."
"Through respect or fear?" Robbie countered, grabbing his chin with one hand and forcing him to look him in the eye. "Ah, it's both. Well, let me tell you something; they're not the ones you need to fear right now."
"You think I'm afraid of you?" Robbie's answer was a brief smirk devoid of any humor.
"I'm not who you need to be afraid of. If you don't talk to me," His eyes took on an orange tint. "you'll have to talk to the other guy. And he won't ask as nicely as I will." The firebender paled at that thought, his bravado evaporating in an instant.
...
It didn't take long for the rest of Team Avatar to arrive, most of them having been close by Republic City anyway. Korra and Bolin had been traveling around with the Air Nation, assuring the nearby populace that the world wasn't under threat from another orbital bombardment any time soon, while Asami was helping by coordinating the restoration of the glassed regions.
During that time, they also had to tangle with agents of the Red Lotus, who had come out of whatever hole they had been hiding in after the multiversal superpowers had left. Fortunately, without Zaheer and his group leading them, they weren't as much of a threat, but they seemed to be gaining new members every day.
The Avatar and the airbenders had spent a lot of time searching for whoever was running the show now, but without much luck. The Four Nations had basically been forced to an observing role for the moment, watching suspected hotspots of criminal activities for clues. And now, they clearly had a new issue in doing this, one which the Avatar hoped to deal with quickly.
"So you're sure about this?" Mako asked.
"I can find him." Korra confirmed. They were standing at a cluster of spirit vines, one of many clusters all over the city. "If we find this guy's captive, we'll find him."
"Then we'll take him down." Bolin said, giving a mini-fist pump.
Initially, Korra had wanted to use the spirit vines to find the man himself, but she didn't even know where to look. She had asked the spirits, but strangely, they either couldn't or wouldn't identify the one responsible.
Shaking out of her musings, Korra walked over to the nearest spirit vine, letting her consciousness spread throughout the city. Instead of searching for him, she sent her awareness after the man who'd been taken. She quickly found their target's signature at an old abandoned warehouse. Screams of fear could be heard even in this state, and she rushed in to see what was happening.
Inside, Korra saw the possible Red Lotus member chained to a wall in front of a strange black car, his face battered, bruised and bloodied. He had a look of terror, and it was all directed at his assailant, who Korra now turned her attention to. He was wearing mostly black clothing, with a strange white symbol on the front of his jacket, and his face was currently framed in shadow. Just as she was about to leave, something disturbing happened.
The man's face turned, still concealed in shadow, only to halt his gaze right where her perspective was pointed, looking right at her, as if he somehow knew he was being watched. Quickly, she pulled herself back, now standing with her team again.
"I know where he is."
...
Back at the warehouse, the Triad member was all but broken inside. He had been forced to reveal everything he knew to this horrible monster, who was now currently looking away at something the firebender couldn't see. This moment of peace gave the Agni Kai member a moment to think, a shiver travelling down his spine.
The Red Lotus sympathizer realized that if it was found out he told, his life was forfeit. The Red Lotus wouldn't take kindly to his confession, and the only way to fix it was clear. He had been using his firebending to cut through the chains when his captor wasn't looking, and now was almost free.
Having finally melted enough of the chains, the firebender screamed from the molten metal and sent a burst of flame at Robbie. The man made his last mistake, as the unharmed Robbie retaliated on instinct and drove his flaming chain through the bender's skull.
Looking down over the body, Robbie felt no pity over the man's death. He had murdered a number of people during his work with the Triads and with the Red Lotus, would have killed so many more. At any rate, there wasn't anything else he would've been able to tell, but the Rider knew that they had another problem; someone had been able to track this guy using the Spirit Vines.
Having sensed the spiritual change, Robbie knew that someone would be on his trail pretty quickly. He got in his car and took to the road, aware of how conspicuous his vehicle was compared to everyone else. Still, he was hoping that he could blend in to the night traffic, but that hope was quickly dashed as he drove along the river.
...
"Korra, my officers are at the address you gave us." Lin's voice crackled over the radio. "Our Agni Kai victim is dead and the suspect is missing. Judging by the tire marks, he left in a hurry."
"Copy that Chief." Korra replied. "We'll keep watch from the sky, see if we can't spot him."
"Alright, call us in if you get a visual."
"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to spot him up here." Bolin said.
Team Avatar had borrowed Oogie from Tenzin, and were currently using him to get a bison eye view over Republic City. Police airships were also flying around, but at the moment, none were in their airspace.
"He took off quickly." Mako noted. "Almost as if he was expecting us."
"He might've been." Korra said. "When I was looking through the spirit vines, he seemed to notice me. I was hoping I was wrong."
"It's not your fault." Asami said. "You couldn't have known he would sense it."
"Still, it might take a while to find him." Mako sighed. "There are still a lot of cars out tonight. Finding his will be like finding a needle in a haystack."
"Maybe not." Asami had her eyes through a pair of binoculars. "I think I've found him."
"You're sure?"
"It's definitely not any satomobile I've seen before." Asami handed the binoculars to Korra. "And the driver seems to be moving quickly, but not too quickly. I'm pretty sure he's trying to avoid too much attention."
Korra's eyes widened. It was the same car she had seen in her vision, and it definitely did not match any of the other vehicles driving through the street. Putting the binoculars down, she reached for the radio.
"Lin, we've got eyes on him." Korra reported. "He's on east and 2nd, heading for the river."
"Alright, I've got one officer nearby." The chief replied. "Meet up with him and try to slow him down."
"Copy that." The rest of Team Avatar turned to Bolin. "Are you ready?" The Earthbender nodded.
"Let's do this."
...
A pool of lava appeared in the middle of the road, and with no time to stop, the Charger drove into it, completely undamaged and unstopped by the intense heat. Robbie's car was halted however, when the lava abruptly hardened again, leaving his tires jammed into the street. Snarling, he got out and pushed the Charger, his enhanced strength sufficient enough to get it free.
At that moment, a metal cable wrapped itself around his arm, pulling Robbie back, away from his car. He turned to see one police officer trying to wrangle him, but with his strength, he pulled the man onto the ground before unwrapping it from his wrist. He didn't get very far before more metal and earth appeared, binding him to the dirt.
Korra leapt onto the street floor, airbending slowing her fall as she came to a halt in front of her quarry. She noted the strange design of the car, as well as the fact that she couldn't metalbend the vehicle, before putting her full attention on the man himself. He didn't exactly look like much, but then again, most of her worst threats never did. Meanwhile, the rest of Team Avatar emerged from their vantage points.
"This is the guy?" Bolin asked, walking out alongside Mako and Asami. "I thought he'd be tougher to catch than this."
"Well he wasn't exactly subtle." Asami pointed out, gesturing to the vehicle. "I don't know where he got that, but it's a little too distinct to go unnoticed."
"Damn, I thought he'd be harder to catch than this." Mako rubbed the back of his neck in an embarrassed manner.
"Better safe than sorry." Korra pointed out. "And easy or not, we need answers from him."
"You're the Avatar?" Their conversation was interrupted by Robbie, who was simply looking at them in curiosity. "The 'bridge' between humans and spirits?"
Korra and Asami exchanged a brief look of confusion and concern: the emphasis he placed on the word 'bridge' was rather odd. Nor did he seem rather concerned at meeting her. He was hiding something, that was clear.
"What's it to you?" Bolin interjected, to the exasperation of the others.
"I'll take that as a yes." Robbie said, rolling his eyes. "I have no quarrel with you."
"Well, we have to disagree." Mako interjected. "You've been hunting down Red Lotus members. Why?"
"My business is my own." He barely acknowledged Mako, keeping his gaze on Korra. "Walk away, Avatar." The Hispanic man said. "This doesn't concern you."
"I'm afraid it does. Even if they were Red Lotus, you've killed people." Korra responded. "I can't turn a blind eye to that."
"They had it coming." With nary a groan, Robbie broke free of his restraints with ease, to the surprise of everyone. He rolled his head and shifted before turning his attention back to Team Avatar, who were now in combat positions. He just smirked.
"I know what you're trying to stop this Red Lotus group, but those guys wouldn't have been able to give you anything useful. Besides, this is something beyond you."
Confused, Korra was about to ask what he was talking about, but she was interrupted: More rocks appeared, along with cables and metal bars, forming a small makeshift cage around him. The metalbending police landed on the ground, swinging and retracting their cables, Lin at the front of the group.
"It doesn't matter. You don't get to decide who lives or who dies." Lin said angrily. To everyone's surprise, Robbie let out a humorless chuckle and looked down for a moment, his hands grasping the 'bars'.
"Deja vu." He muttered before turning his gaze at them again, his eyes glowing orange. "Like I've told others before you; I'm not the one who decides." The stone and rock he was holding began glowing. Smoke started emerging from his head, which was when things got really freaky.
Korra's eyes widened at the sight. His skin bubbled and boiled away, flakes of flesh disintegrating into ash. Hellish fiery pupils appeared where his eyes had been, glaring at them. A demonic growl emerged from what remained of his head, which was nothing more than an unnatural looking cracked skull wreathed in flames.
Irritated, the flaming demon shattered the bars of his makeshift cage, the rock and metal being less of a challenge than the walls of SHIELD's containment module. Ghost Rider broke free of the makeshift prison, tanking the bombardment of stone and metal that followed without even flinching.
"Asami, get back." Lin ordered the Future Industries CEO. "We'll handle this." Reluctantly, after a brief reassuring nod from Korra, Asami retreated to a safe location.
Bolin stamped on the ground sending a small wave of lava into the Rider's path. To everyone's shock, he just moved right through it, with absolutely no signs of pain or damage on the demon's end. Mako then hit him with a long burst of fire, but again, the Rider just shrugged it off, actually raising an eye-ridge slightly as if to say "Really?"
Unwrapping his chain from his body, he swung the metal at the nearest officers, sending three of them flying. The rest of the metalbending police reacted by sending a barrage of smaller rocks and metal disks at him, followed by one larger boulder.
The Ghost Rider easily took the smaller chunks of earth and metal, sidestepped the larger rock, then managed to grab the boulder mid flight with his chain, using the momentum to swing it around and hurling it towards Bolin. The Earthbender drew up another pillar to intercept it, but the momentum was strong enough to break the barrier and send the lavabender flying.
Mako charged up a bolt of lightning and released it, the bolt of energy striking the flaming skeleton head on. The Ghost Rider was pushed back for a half second, then charged forward, utterly ignoring the continuous bolt of electricity that was shot into his chest.
Too late, Mako attempted to move out of the way, but the Rider was on him, punching him hard in the chest and knocking him to the ground, leaving him wheezing painfully from the injury.
Suddenly, a metal cable wrapped around the demon's arm pulling him off balance and allowing Korra to hit the Rider with a burst of water from the nearby canal and freeze it completely. For a split second, it seemed like they might have subdued him, then the ice prison exploded, having done nothing to even temporarily extinguish the flames for an instant.
The Rider instead grabbed onto Lin's cable, sending fire up its length and into her armor. The chief screamed as the pain wracked her body before collapsing, the Rider letting the fire dissipate as soon as she was out for the count. This was enough for Korra to take things more seriously.
Activating the Avatar state for a power boost, Korra tried to metalbend the chain against him, but found she couldn't move it, just like his car. So instead, she lashed out with a massive gust of wind and several boulders, strong enough to send the Rider flying and burying him under a fairly large chunk of the street.
For a brief moment, it almost seemed like this might have stopped him, right up until his fist broke through the debris. In no time at all, he had broken through the boulder and was back on his feet, now looking really pissed off. She responded by launching him in the air with Earthbending, then waterbending a hail of ice crystals at him.
The demon was thrown by the force, but quickly regained control by using his chain to latch onto a rooftop, swinging and transferring his momentum before launching himself at her. She quickly air dodged away as his fist cracked the ground she'd been standing on a moment ago.
She launched herself into the air with earthbending and kept in the sky with airbending, hoping to throw her opponent off balance. But unfortunately for her, the Rider had had enough of that: The flaming chain wrapped around her arm and the Rider pulled hard, pulling her into range of his fist. A single hard clotheslined punch was enough to knock Korra out of the fight.
The other metalbenders still standing paused in shock as the Avatar hit the ground, right next to the rest of her team, and their chief of police. Asami ran over to the team, then sighed in relief when she saw they were alright. The sound of an engine starting up drew their attention back to the Rider, who had gotten back in his car after breaking it out of the trap it had been stuck in.
Hastily, they erected a stone wall in an effort to stop him, only for the Charger to bust it down without a scratch. The debris scattered in the direction of the officers, sending them flying to the side as the Ghost Rider drove past them, the noise causing Korra to wake up.
"Are you alright?" Korra couldn't help but give a soft comforting smile at Asami's concerned expression.
"I'm fine." She got up to a sitting position and looked around, Bolin and Mako now stirring as well. "Where is he?" The roar of a car engine answered her question.
She rose to her feet just in time to watch as the strange vehicle drove away in the distance, leaving behind brief flaming tire tracks and several battered and bruised officers. Further in the distance, she could see the yellow and green pillar of light that represented the Spirit Portal, and with a start, realized the Charger was heading in that direction.
To the outcome: Korra technically has more power, but the thing is, Ghost Rider is far more durable, so everything she does may slow or inconvenience him, but she can't actually hurt him in the slightest with her bending.
Also, in case it wasn't clear, the reason no one can metalbend Robbie's car or chain is because both are infused with hellfire, which is also something that can't exactly be firebent either.
We know that sufficiently pure metals can't be manipulated with metalbending (which, incidentally, would probably include most metals created by spacefaring civilizations), so I doubt it can manipulate metal that's mixed with supernatural flame.
That said, Robbie and the Rider can clearly control the damage their hellfire inflicts (his bouts with Daisy and capturing James alive is proof of that), so yes, Lin and Korra didn't suffer any permanent damage from his attacks.
Anyway, I was thinking of maybe adding a chapter or two after this, or just adding more as a separate story altogether. I'm undecided at the moment, but if I do, here's something that you can expect.
EDIT: Now that Spirits and Shields is out, the snippet below can be considered an omake.
Suddenly, the ground started shaking, rather violently in fact, and the lights all around them began flickering, some exploding in a shower of sparks. She looked around, and saw two people on a nearby building, one male and one female.
The two of them leapt to the ground, strangely using what appeared to be focused beams of electricity and waves of vibrations respectively, to give themselves a gentle landing. They immediately proved who's side they were on in the next moment.
A wave of vibrations emerged from the woman's hand, sending the cars flying away as the drivers quickly bailed out. The drivers and metalbenders didn't have time to retaliate, as the man fired off streams of electric energy from his hands, shocking them through their armor, and somehow tossing them aside with electricity.
The mech suits emerged and attempted to retaliate, but a stream of vibration energy shattered one into pieces and electricity shorted through the other one. With their opponents out of the picture, the two arrivals ran to their friend's car.
"Wasn't expecting to see you here." Robbie commented as the new arrivals quickly entered his car.
"We could be saying the same thing." The woman replied.
"You know, maybe we can have this conversation later?" The electrokinetic said.
Robbie didn't need to be told twice. Hitting the gas, he drove away, Daisy firing off shockwaves that shattered the barriers the Earthbenders brought up in their path, while Lincoln just knocked out the benders themselves with bolts of electricity.
...
So yes, Daisy Johnson and Lincoln Campbell would join up with Robbie. If you're wondering how the latter's alive right now, I'd recommend reading my story Losing Control. And really, they'd just be the start.
With all that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and reviews are always welcome.