The Marvelous Legends of Republic City
Legend of Korra and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon. All Marvel characters belong to Marvel Comics.
Chapter 11: Monsters of Legend
It's said that the world was built on legends as a way to understand things greater than ourselves. Tall tales that help us make sense of things too great or too terrifying to believe. The thing about legends is…sometimes they're true.
Nighttime had descended upon the world as a van pulled into a warehouse about a mile outside Republic City. Five men got out, wearing street clothes that signified them as members of the Triple Threat Triad. They quickly entered the small office in the warehouse.
"What took ya?" A man with gray hair sitting behind a desk asked. It was Lightning Bolt Zolt himself, head of their little criminal organization.
"Sorry Zolt, we had trouble. That Spider-Freak chased us all ova' the city, but lucky fo' us, this nut-job wearing an orange hood came outta nowheres n' started goin' after 'em." One of the gangsters said. The man behind the desk pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What's this city comin' to!? Freaks and crazies are dressin' up like it's the Ghost Festival every day!" Zolt yelled as he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of sake.
"So, did ya at least take care of that lousy lawyer in Inferno's Kitchen like I asked?" Zolt asked, causing his men to look nervous, suddenly finding everywhere BUT directly in front of them very interesting.
"Well, ya see boss..." One of the men started, but stopped the moment a sake cup went past his head.
"How hard is it to off a blind lawyer?! We all know he ain't no Toph Beifong!" Zolt ranted, ready to throttle everyone in the room.
"It ain't our fault boss! We couldn't find him! We went by his office and roughed up his secretary and partner, but they didn't know where he was!" A gangster said in defense. Zolt leaped up from his chair and reached across the desk, grabbing said gangster by his tie and pulling him close as he scowled at him.
"You five have been screw ups ever since ya joined! I take a little pity on ya and hope you'll shape up. I give ya an easy job: off a little blind lawyer that's been sendin' our guys up the river and won't be bought." He pushed the thug backwards hard enough for him to tumble into the others and cause them all to hit the ground like bowling pins.
"Now get out there and hope I don't see you again unless the first words out of your mouth are 'Mushu Muranaka is dead,' or else you're gonna burn!" Zolt ranted, scaring his men as they fumbled to get back to their feet.
However, before they could leave, the sound of an engine began to roar from outside. Suddenly, something crashed through the office wall, crushing three of the five bootlicking thugs in the room. The remaining people in the office looked in silent terror at what was before them: a flaming skeleton wearing a black leather jacket with spikes on the shoulders, a chain wrapped around its torso, spiked leather gloves, as well as black pants and boots that sat atop a black motorcycle with a fanged skull for a headlight and flaming wheels.
"Guilty." The skeleton said in an unearthly voice, looking Zolt dead in the eye. One of the gangsters suddenly bent a large rock at the skeleton, knocking both it and it's bike out of the warehouse.
"G-good w-w-work Jin. Let's, uh, g-get outta here." Zolt stuttered out as he quickly made his way out the back door to the office and headed for his car, leaving his men to fend for themselves.
"Boss, wait!" One of his men yelled as he ran after him.
"You gotta van! Use it!" Zolt yelled as he drove off. The gangsters turned around when they heard the roar of an engine yet again, looking to see the skeleton walking towards them, chain in hand.
"That wasn't very nice." The flaming creature said as its chain began to catch on fire.
The head of the Triad drove as fast as he could into the countryside, the warehouse long gone. His heart nearly stopped however, when he saw the ghostly rider coming up on him, and fast. He floored the pedal, but his skeletal pursuer kept up with him easily. The rider drove up alongside the van and reached over towards the car door, tearing it off single handedly. Zolt saw they were driving next to a river and rammed his car into the rider, knocking him into the water. The ex-firebender chuckled in triumph as he drove, happy that the ordeal was over. Suddenly, he heard a motorcycle engine and looked to see the rider driving on top of the water, the flames still going. The ghostly rider sped past Zolt's car and made it to the end of the road, laughing madly, and stopped. Zolt slammed on the brakes and stared at the flaming skeleton.
"You wanna play possum-chicken? FINE!" The gangster yelled as he put the pedal to the metal and sped toward the rider. The skeleton laughed again and mimicked his action. When they were no more than ten yards away from colliding, Zolt leapt out of his car, which smashed into the rider and resulted in a rather audible explosion.
The ex-firebender groaned as he slowly got up. "That's right! NO ONE MESSES WITH LIGHTNING BOLT ZOLT YA FLAMIN' FREAK!" The gangster yelled in victory.
The victory was short lived however, as the rider slowly rode out of the flames, completely unharmed. The rider quickly grabbed his chain and threw it at Zolt, the hot metal wrapping around and burning him the as the rider yanked on the chain and yelled, "GET OVER HERE!"
Zolt flew through the air and was caught by the rider's free hand. He held the gangster easily with one arm as he stared at him.
"What do ya want? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Zolt screamed in terror.
The rider brought him close to his flaming skull, the fire turning the gangster's skin red from the heat. "Look into my eyes." It said simply, sounds of terror and pain beginning to fill the night air soon afterwards.
BONUS CHAPTER: THOSE WHO KNOW FEAR
It was a typical, serene night on the outskirts of the Foggy Swamp; a night filled with the chirping of crickets, the scuttling of small rodents, and the hooting of owls. Two men were entering the swamp proper, carrying a body.
"I don't feel right about this Bao. I heard stories about this place." One of the men said.
"Shut up Lee! All we need to do is dump the body and then we can get that insurance money. The last thing we need is you getting scared of the Boogy Man." Bao whispered as they continued to haul the body deeper into the swamp.
"Why do we have to go so deep into the swamp? Can't we just dump her near the edge?" Lee asked.
Bao growled and replied, "No you idiot! The deeper we take her, the less likely it'll be for someone to find her! If we just dump her at the edge, anyone would be liable to find her and then we'd be the prime suspects!"
Lee was about to reply when he thought he saw a large bush move.
"Um, Bao? I think something's in that bush." Lee said, causing his partner to sigh.
"It's probably a possum-chicken or something. When did you become such a wuss?" Bao chastised, losing his patience with his partner.
"I ain't no wuss! It's just…I heard things about this place. There's supposed to be some kinda monster here, a really big one. It can burn people to death just by touching them!"
"Yeah, that's right. And there's a half-human/half-vampire that kills other vampires." Bao said, sarcasm clearly evident in his voice.
"Really?" Lee asked, the other man's intent lost on him.
"No you moron! Grow up! There ain't no such thing as monsters!" Bao said as they went deeper into the swamp.
Lee noticed a river and said, "Hey! We can just chuck her in there! A catgator will eat her and they'll never find her!"
Bao stopped for a moment and said, "That's the best idea you've ever had Lee!" The two murderers then began to swing the body back and forth before letting go and tossing it into the river.
"Well, that takes care of that." Bao said as he watched the body sink.
Suddenly, both smelt something foul in the air. "UGH! What is that?" Lee asked as he held his nose.
"Must be swamp gas. That stuff really reeks." Bao said, also holding his nose. The two turned to leave, but walked right into something somewhat soft and moist. The looked up to see two large, red glowing eyes gazing down at them. They both screamed as two large, damp, and moss covered hands (each as big as their torsos) grabbed them. They were hoisted forcefully from the ground as the red-eyed creature let out a roar that split the previous tranquility of the night asunder. Soon, they felt a sensation that felt like their skin was being roasted as acid flowed from the monster's hands. The two's agonized screams intertwined with the beast's roaring to create a most deafening and terrifying of cacophonies. Soon, the two were but skeletons in scorched remnants of clothing.
The monster dropped the bones and headed back into the swamp. Not long afterwards, a couple of Foggy Swamp locals came along, one tall and one short.
"What do ya think done went and did this cousin?" The tall one said, poking the bones with a stick.
"I reckon it's the Man-Thing's handy work." The short one said.
"The what?" The tall local asked.
"You know. 'Those who know fear burn at the Man-Thing's touch' and all that." The short one answered.
"Oh yeah! Well, some'a their clothes are still good. Let's take 'em!" The tall one said.
"Cousin, you done read my mind!"
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