Chapter Ten
Danny Ketch caught his breath in a spasm as blood spurted out of his mouth and splashed on the cold concrete floor. He stared at it for a moment as the blood continued to drip from his chin and pool on the floor in front of him. He was on his knees and his hands were chained above his head, connected to some kind of mechanical contraption. Where was he? What had happened? He glanced to his left and blinked a few times. His eyes were swollen, making it was difficult to see anything. He could faintly make out the images of Namor, Madrox and Captain America chained in a similar manner as himself. He turned his head, fought back a wave of nausea and pain, and glanced to his right. Logan and Magneto were in the same shape as well. He tried to work through the cobwebs inside his brain and remember what had happened to them. There was a scent, something in that corridor, something familiar. Logan had sensed it too, and then? Blackness. Pain. He moved his arms to try and wiggle against the chains but it was useless, he had neither the strength nor the powers.
"Your friends will be out for hours. I was disappointed with them, I thought for sure the animal would have lasted longer," a cold, harsh voice said from the shadows. Danny didn't need his vision to know the source of that voice.
"Mephisto," Danny said coldly through clenched teeth.
"Please Daniel, let's not do with the melodramatic, it's unbecoming. I'm sure you have a thousand questions, and I'm not going to answer any of them. Well, except one perhaps, I'll at least let you know that I'm behind all of this. I know how much that irritates you, so that's why I'm mentioning that one. Consider it a freebie. And secondly, that was no Skrull you've found. Its not even alive." Mephisto laughed aloud as he stepped out of the shadows, his elongated crimson body visible in the dim lighting of the cell. "It was a demon, one of my numerous servants."
"You mean slaves," Danny spat. Mephisto let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
"Ah Daniel, always so self righteous. Perhaps that's why I selected you in the first place to carry the Spirit of Vengeance. But that is neither here nor there. That is all I'll say, is that Banner, god, this will be so fantastic when it actually plays itself out, is not on Earth. You and your pitiful band of misfits here better locate him soon, because the events I have set in motion will surely bring an end to your world, and fill mine with countless innocent souls," Mephisto continued as he walked over to Danny and placed his hands around Danny's head. "I could devour you Daniel, at any given moment. But you amuse me. Sometimes. So have fun while I leave to finish what I started. I leave you a small token of my appreciation. You will relive your worst fear. And it will drive you insane. The others were magnificent, the animal moaning away about some woman from his past, Steven was a dreadful bore about Bucky, Erik was nice and pleasant with his holocaust memories, not to mention his daughter going insane, Namor whined about Susan for quite some time, and that pathetic Madrox fellow just gave up entirely. Let's see what you have inside, my friend, because none of you will ever get out of here. Might as well wake the others now as I depart, so they can watch you go about your business, then each of you will fall asleep again. Toodles Daniel, enjoy the show," Mephisto said as he vanished in a puff of red smoke.
Danny looked to his sides as the others came to. Then suddenly his mind warped around him. He was somewhere else and had no memories except of the moment surrounding him. He was making out with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. She was shorter than he was, barely five feet tall. Her hair was a chestnut brown with the slightest touch of red throughout. Her eyes were the color of the Earth's soil and in them he found eternity. Their kiss grew in passion, and then she pulled away from him and said goodbye. Danny was eighteen and this was the woman he was in love with more than anything in the world. He was so happy to be with her, and he couldn't believe that she loved him as much as he loved her. The memory sped forward a few months, and the two were arguing now. Again, Danny could only remember the moment he was in, nothing else. The two were fighting, an argument of sorts, and then the woman slapped Danny across the face and ran into the street shouting she never wanted to see Danny again. Danny wanted to run after her and take her in his arms but he knew that she didn't want him anymore, for a mistake he had made. As he watched her run off into the street a car screamed out of control around the corner and slammed into her. Danny whispered her name at first as he ran over to her fallen body.
"April…" Danny found her lying in the street, blood streaming from her nose and ears.
"Danny," April coughed between a mouthful of blood. She gasped for another breath. "I love you. I shouldn't have run away…. You are everything to me…" Then she went quiet and limp in his arms.
"April… I love you too… April….APRIL!" The voice of Danny Ketch rose and climbed into higher levels of anger. He felt his knuckles turn white with rage and he wanted nothing more than to punish the person responsible for her death. He knew it was his fault, his fault that she had left him. The rage built within him and grew to unprecedented levels. Back on the cold concrete floor, Danny Ketch was no longer present. The flesh melted and burned from his face, as the spirit of vengeance consumed him. He ripped himself free from his chains, sending hellfire left and right, freeing his teammates. Ghost Rider whirled around and destroyed half of the cave cell as his anger was unleashed with the ultimate power of hate and rage. Finally, the tantrum subsided, and the flames around Danny died down as he fell to his knees.
"Holy shit… I guess that's why we brought him along after all," Logan said as he ripped the last chain from his arm. Steve walked over to Danny and put his arm around the boy's shoulder.
"You did good, soldier, you did damn good," Steve said. Danny wiped away the tears from his eyes and collected himself.
"We have to go off world. I know where Mephisto has gone to," Danny said coldly.
"And how do you know that? Did he tell you?" asked Magneto curiously.
"No. But I can feel him. I know where he is. Let's go," Danny said coldly. The gathered commandos departed the cell cave.
"This is getting crazier by the moment," Madrox mumbled to himself as he and his duplicate followed the others.
