Marie stood in the B.P.R.D.'s grand library with Broom and Abe. Broom sets a few books on the stands for Abe while the Fishman removes his breathing apparatus. The three were discussing an important matter. Marie was hesitant to speak about it with Abe present, but Broom informed her he knew.
"He's back, Broom. I had a vision of him when I was running to help Hellboy," Marie said. "Rasputin is here to finish what he started. He's going to destroy the world."
Broom watches Marie with worry, knowing that she must feel somewhat responsible because of a decision she made years ago.
"Don't worry, Marie," Broom consoled her. "Hellboy will have you at his side."
"I don't know if I can do this job, Broom. The son of a bitch hates me. He doesn't listen to me. I'm way in over my head. I know that much."
"You're doing fine," Broom said, reassuring her.
"No, I'm not. Hellboy respects Clay. Not me. I don't know why you chose me, Broom. But I'm not your girl," Marie told him. "I'm not qualified. If anything, I'm overqualified. I have thirteen doctoral degrees. I could teach a lecture on quantum physics in ancient Greek before switching to Latin. But instead, I'm serving pancakes and playing Mary Poppins to an overgrown man-child!"
Discouraged and angry, Marie turns away and heads for the door.
"I'm dying, Marie," Broom announced.
Marie stops in her tracks from shock before turning around to face Broom.
"That's why I'm here," Marie said, seeing all the pieces come together.
Broom and Marie knew about her extraordinary life expectancy, making her the perfect candidate. She was the only one who could take a hit and hit back twice as hard in this line of work, like Hellboy.
"Like any father, I worry about him. In medieval stories, Marie, there is often a young knight who is inexperienced but pure of heart."
"Oh, please. I'm not pure of heart," Marie told him with a scoff.
"Yes, you are," Abe corrected.
"No, I'm not!" Marie shouted, her eyes briefly burning. Abe noticed the fire in her eyes and stepped back, slightly scared. "Look, Abe, I'm the farthest thing from pure of heart because I'm pretty sure to be pure of heart, you have to have a goddamn soul."
"Rasputin is back. What I ask of you is to have the courage to stand by his side after I'm gone," Broom said, looking into Marie's eyes. "Help him find himself. Who he must be. He was born a Demon. Can't change that. But you will help him, in essence, to become a man."
Marie walks out of the library, heading to the garage. Once in the garage, Marie gets on her bike and returns to the convent.
Meanwhile, Hellboy sits before a computer in the B.P.R.D. Archive room. The half-demon man was curious about his new nanny. He knew the archives would be the best places to start. Hellboy types Marie's full name into the computer, and seconds after hitting enter, countless files fill the screen.
"Someone has a past," Hellboy muttered.
Hellboy looked at the picture of Marie on the screen. But he noticed something below it: a white business card with black lettering. The card reads:
MARIE DARKH
Private Paranormal Investigator, Exorcist, Demonologist, and Mistress of the Dark Arts.
"Uh, guess there's more to you than I thought, Mary Poppins," Hellboy commented.
Hellboy decides to bring up Marie's personnel file first. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about Marie. Something he wasn't quite sure about, but Hellboy suspected that Marie wasn't entirely human. But he was met with disappointment when the file read human. Soon, his curiosity was peaked when he took notice of her birthday.
"October 13, 1962," Hellboy read. "You pretty look good for someone over forty."
The file also said that Marie is biracial and was born in the Bronx. Her father is Caucasian, born and raised in New York. Her mother is Creole, born and raised in New Orleans. Hellboy suspected that Marie must know some Vodou.
Hellboy brings up a file on her parents. Her father is a prominent self-made businessman named Alastor Darkh. He was born into poverty during the Great Depression. Alastor served in the Korean War before going to college and starting one of the biggest businesses in New York. He practically made an empire. Claudia Laveau came from a middle-class family in New Orleans. She was a practitioner of Vodou, like others in her family. Claudia served in the Korean War as a nurse when she turned eighteen. After the war, she went to medical school and became a doctor. Alastor and Claudia eventually met, fell in love, married, and had Marie.
He brings up a small photograph in an old issue of the New York Times. The headline: "FAMILY MOURNS DEATH OF WIFE, MOTHER, AND REOWNED DOCTOR." There's a photo of a man and a little girl. It was Marie and her father. The two are dressed in black, attending Claudia's funeral.
The article discusses Claudia's, Marie's mother, achievements as one of the country's top doctors and life. It also mentions the tragedy of Claudia's death. She had died a week after going into remission from metastasized cancer. According to a separate file, Marie's mother had less than a year to live. The doctors said they could only make her time comfortable and that Claudia should get her affairs in order. But after almost three months, Claudia's cancer had vanished. Hellboy thought Claudia's remission to be suspicious because metastasized cancer doesn't go away without a trace overnight.
Hellboy went on to another file and read about Marie's life. Marie lost her mother when she was seven years old. Her father remarried after five years, and she became a big sister at fourteen. The file mentions Marie's academic achievements: graduating high school at thirteen and going on to attend some of the best universities. Marie has thirteen doctoral degrees in quantum physics, medicine, chemistry, history, theology, ancient languages, parapsychology, mythology, psychology, archaeology, biology, astronomy, and mechanics. She is fluent in every language, from still in use to ancient/extinct. Marie does ice skating, hockey, soccer, volleyball, ballet, gymnastics, roller skating, martial arts, fencing, and baseball. She plays the guitar and piano. And can sing.
Hellboy reads newspaper articles documenting more moments from Marie's life, from her graduation to performing at Carnegie Hall and other achievements. Everything that Hellboy has read has made him wonder why someone like Marie works for the B.P.R.D. Marie could be anywhere in the world with all her degrees and skills. Which begs the question, how did she get wrapped up in the B.P.R.D.?
Hellboy clicks on another file, and a video interview pops up. The caption reads MARIE CLAUDIA LAVEAU DARKH, first interview, B.P.R.D., September 29, 1980, conducted by Professor Trevor Broom.
Hellboy hits play. The video shows a teenage Marie. She is sitting in a chair and gazing at the floor. The half-demon could tell the teenager didn't want to be there as she exuded that desire and boredom.
"Why don't you start at the beginning, Marie?" Broom suggested.
Marie signs in annoyance and looks up before saying, "In the beginning... God created the Heavens and the Earth. And the Earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep."
"I don't mean that beginning, Marie."
"Which beginning do you want? The beginning of me killing the guy? The beginning of me killing my mama? Or the beginning of when my life turned to shit!?" Marie snapped, feeling agitated.
"Whatever you feel is best," Broom replied.
"I, I guess, the beginning of what I can remember. I get visions of another life. A life that is mine but someone else's at the same time. I remember that I was going to see my brother. I didn't tell anyone where I was going because we were all forbidden to see him. Then, I was kidnapped and chained in a dark hellhole. These assholes showed up every day and tortured me. I remember feeling scared and angry. I also remember feeling the hope I had faded and replaced by a thirst for vengeance. I wanted nothing more than to kill them."
Hellboy could practically hear the venom dripping from Marie's voice with every word she spoke. He saw hatred in her eyes.
"One day, I used a weapon that one of them had left behind to kill all but one. The head torturer served as my messenger. But I made sure she had something to remember me by. I gave her a scar just like the one she gave me." Marie touches her eyebrow scar. "Right here. When I escaped, I felt this need not to carry out justice but vengeance."
"Why do you think you killed your mother?" Broom inquired.
"Because I did!" Marie angrily snapped.
Tears began forming in Marie's eyes. The mention of her mother brought anger and sadness.
"Tell me about the man you killed?" Broom asked, taking Marie's mind off her late mother.
"A few of my friends and I were out celebrating," Marie began her story. "Or rather, they were celebrating while I was watching them get shit-faced. We just passed our finals and wanted to blow off some steam. I started to get a migraine, so I stepped outside to get some air. My head started pounding like a drum when this guy named David Wilson showed up. His friends called him Tin-Tin. It's funny how you always remember your first. I could feel the evil in his soul. Every sin he ever committed. Every person he ever harmed. He was a notorious criminal who had killed and hurt several innocent people just for his amusement. When David got closer to me, I felt like I was burning from the inside out and that something inside me wanted to get out. I told him to stay away, but he wouldn't listen and pinned me against the wall. And then it happened."
"Then what happened?"
"I started feeling this intense pain," She continued. "I was writhing in absolute agony. Then, I started giving off smoke before catching on fire. My voice distorted amidst my grunts. My eyes glowed orange flames as my skin started burning off while I laughed like a psycho before I became this flame-coated skeleton with a distorted voice. David looked at me like he pissed and shit his pants. I grabbed him by his shirt collar with one hand before lifting him off the ground. I stared right into his eyes and made him feel every ounce of pain and fear he inflicted on the innocent, every one of his sins. He started screaming, but then he stopped when his eyes became lumps of coal. I had burned his soul. When it was all over, I transformed back. I went back inside and told the bartender to call the cops because there was a dead body in the alley. I didn't tell anybody that I killed him. Luckily, there were no cameras."
Hellboy paused the video, having difficulty believing what he just heard. His Mary Poppins had quite the past. After seeing the video, it was no wonder she got wrapped up in the B.P.R.D.
The half-demon man's curiosity is peaked again when he spots a file labeled "Zarathos/The Ghost Rider." He clicks the file open and looks through countless photographs. Some are biblical images of an angel fighting battles, protecting people, or trapped in Hell. Others are the same woman at various times, such as the one that immediately captures Hellboy's attention. It was the group picture on the day he came into the world. He notices a woman standing beside his father.
Hellboy had seen the picture countless times but realized he saw a retouched one. So the woman wouldn't be in the photograph. Hellboy then spots another video interview dated the same as the first one he watched. He wondered why the video was in a different file. The half-demon man hits play.
"Tell me about Zarathos," Broom said.
"What's there to tell?" Marie scoffed. "You already know about her. You worked with her."
"Yes, but I want to know about her as you from you. Tell me about the bond you share."
Hellboy was confused by what his father said. The half-demon man's suspicions about his new nanny grew.
"It's hard to explain to people. It's complicated for them to understand, and they'll get a headache. But it's like a Jekyll and Hyde situation, except we're the same person. We just melded into the same person. My memories are hers, and hers are mine. I'm her, and she is me."
Hellboy could feel a headache coming after hearing Marie explaining her bond with Zarathos.
"That does sound awfully complicated," Broom commented. "You said that you share memories. I remember you telling me when we first met that sometimes you get flashes of memories."
"Yeah, a few years after my mama died, I started getting these weird dreams. At first, I thought my subconscious was doing it because I was studying theology. But they didn't stop. I still get them. I dreamt that I was fighting demons, tortured in Hell, and on Earth punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent. But at the end, just before I wake up, I always see the same thing."
"What do you see?" Broom inquired.
"Not what. Who," Marie corrected. "I see the half-demon who will bring the end of the world. The one I was supposed to kill that night in 1944. The half-demon named Anu-."
The video stops when Hellboy hits the pause button. The half-demon man sits back, feeling overwhelmed by what he has heard. The woman his father assigned to be his nanny was supposed to kill him as a baby.
Later that night, Marie, still wearing her clothes from the day, lies asleep in bed. The church offered her the peace to do so since it was holy ground. Unbeknownst to her, a figure hides in the shadows in the corner of her room. Rasputin emerges from the dark corner. He gazes down on the bed, extending his right hand.
"The Master is calling your name now, Zarathos. We are all part of his plan. You must be with the child. So, once again, dream of vengeance."
Rasputin gently caresses the scar on her eyebrow. Under his skin, a hideous movement, a writhing rearrangement of muscles. His fingers start to glow.
Marie's peaceful slumber ends as she begins to toss in turn. Her face shows pain and anger as she dreams.
In her dreams, Marie is held prisoner in a dark room with stone walls. Her arms are up as they are chained to the ceiling while her knees rest on the floor. Various cuts and bruises covered Marie's body. Her head hung low from the exhaustion of being tortured by demons. Her little rest would be over as soon as her injuries healed. Besides, the demons didn't want to leave their favorite plaything alone for long. Marie wants nothing more than to escape and show the same mercy to the demons as they have to her. A great rage fills her heart.
The dream changes. Marie is a little girl in her room. There is a thundering storm outside as she prays for her mother, who is sick. Marie's mama was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, it was too late. The cancer had metastasized. Doctors said Marie's mama had a few months to live. They said the only thing to do was make her last few months comfortable and get her affairs in order.
After three months, Marie couldn't take seeing her mama in pain anymore. She had to help her mama. Marie kneels by her bed while praying to God. She prays to whoever would listen to her.
"Please, let my mama be better. I don't want her to die," Marie prayed, tears running down her face. "Please, save my mama. Please, please, please. I do anything if it means my mama will get better."
"Anything?"
There was a loud clap of thunder and lightning as Marie turned around to face the mystery voice behind her. A formally dressed and deathly pale man with white hair and a silver skull knob cane stood in her room.
"Who are you?" Marie asked the man.
"My name is not important. But I'm someone who can help your mama," He replied.
"You can?" Marie's heart began to fill with hope.
"Oh, yes. But the question is, are you prepared to give anything for your mama?"
"Yes, anything. I want my mama to be better."
"Perfect," The mystery man said with a devilish grin. Lightning struck outside, revealing his silhouette as a devil.
A scroll contract appears in the man's hand before he gives it to Marie. The girl unrolls the scroll before she runs the thumb of her right hand at the top of the contract. Marie hisses in pain when something cuts her thumb. A drop of blood falls on the signature line of the contract.
"That will suffice," The man said before taking the contract. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Marie. Sweet dreams."
Thunder roars as lightning flashes outside Marie's window, causing her to turn to the window. When Marie returned to the man, she saw that he had vanished. The young girl went to bed that night, not knowing what she had done.
It had been a week since that night. Marie and her parents had been celebrating her mama's remission at her favorite restaurant. When they were driving home, a drunk driver crashed into the front passenger's side. Marie and her daddy got lucky. Marie's daddy got a couple of broken bones and cuts. Marie got a slit-shaped cut on her eyebrow that would leave a scar, a few scrapes, cuts, and a broken arm. But Marie's mama died on the way to the hospital.
Marie lay quietly in her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling with tears running down her face. Her daddy lay unconscious beside her. Alastor has been unconscious since the crash, but the doctors told Marie that her daddy would be alright. But Claudia would not. The doctors told Marie about what happened to her mama.
"I'm sorry to hear about your loss."
Marie's tears dried up, and anger replaced sadness when she heard a familiar. Marie sat up and looked before her. She saw the man who was in her room a week ago.
"You didn't keep your promise! My mama is dead!" Marie furiously exclaimed.
"Oh, I did keep my end of the bargain. I cured your mama's cancer," The man explained. "I never said she would live."
The man approaches Marie and stands beside her bed. The young girl looks at the man with deep hatred.
"Since I've fulfilled my end of our deal, I think it's time I explained your end."
"What are you talking about?" Marie glared at the man.
"Oh, that's right. You didn't read the fine line of the contract, did you? Well, to put it bluntly, I own your soul. And, in time, when you're all grown up, you will do my bidding as the Ghost Rider. Oh, and before I go, my condolences on your loss."
The man wickedly smiled at Marie before he disappeared before her eyes. Marie feels a great rage burning from within. Eventually, the rage becomes too much for her to bottle up. Marie lets out a scream filled with anger.
Meanwhile, in reality, Marie erupts into flames while in her bed. Marie, now a flaming skeleton, gets out of bed. The woman was unrecognizable, except for a slit-shaped crack on the brow ridge. She grabs her leather jacket off the bedpost and puts it on before leaving her room.
The Ghost Rider walks through the convent halls and towards the garage. The concentrated ground of the building is not enough to sedate her desire for vengeance.
When the Ghost Rider enters the garage, she approaches her motorcycle. She grabs a long chain from the saddlebags and wraps it across her body, from left shoulder to right hip. When the Ghost Rider gets on her bike and kick-starts it, causing the motorcycle to transform. The bike's appearance is frightening and on fire in most places.
"Tonight, the guilty suffer," The Ghost Rider said.
The motorcycle roars as the Ghost Rider rides it out of the garbage and through the streets, looking for the guilty who has escaped justice.