After arriving at the B.P.R.D., Marie went to her room. The room was about as big as Hellboy's but looked more spacious because there wasn't stuff everywhere. The woman wanted to be left alone and forgot last night.
Marie began unpacking her things and setting up her room. The walls of her room had symbols painted on them with special paint, making them invisible to all but her. Marie uses the symbols in the absence of consecrated ground. She places the books on the large bookcase. Marie had nearly filled the shelves with all her books and journals. She hung up her corkboard with Polaroids on the wall beside her bed. The wooden chest sat at the foot of her bed.
Marie then put her clothes in the armoire closet and drawers. Her record player and the crate of albums sit beside the bookcase. Marie puts her Walkman and cassette tapes in the nightstand drawer.
Marie finishes setting her room up by placing the four framed photos of her and her family on the nightstand. The woman sits at the edge of her bed, staring at the pictures. Marie thought that her life was under control. She thought she had her powers under control.
Marie was broken from her train of thought when she heard someone knocking on her door. She stands up and approaches the door before opening it, revealing Professor Broom.
"Hello, Marie," Broom smiled. "I hope I'm not bothering you."
"No, no," She told the Professor. "I was just unpacking. Please come in."
Marie stood aside, allowing Broom to enter her room. The Professor sits on the young woman's bed before she joins him.
"How are you feeling?" Broom asked.
"Better than before," Marie answered.
"Would you care to tell me everything that happened? What do you remember that could have possibly triggered your episode?" He inquired.
Professor Broom thought it was odd that what happened to Marie had happened. He knew the consecrated ground of the church and convent would sedate Zarathos and prevent Marie from turning into the Ghost Rider at night, allowing her some peace. Marie can transform into the Ghost Rider whenever she desires, but when it is night, the darkness attracts the evil hidden in the shadows. And in the presence of evil, Marie feels the irresistible urge to become the Ghost Rider.
"I remember having these nightmares when I was sleeping. Except they were memories. Pretty bad ones," Marie replied.
"What were they?"
"The first was when I was imprisoned in Hell. The assholes had finished torturing me for the day. I was feeling pissed. The next thing I dreamt about was the night that asshole showed up. He schmoozed me like a damn used car salesman to get my soul. Then I was in the hospital from the car accident a week later. While my daddy and I were going to be alright, my mama was dead. Then the son of a bitch showed up. I told him he didn't keep our deal, but he said he did. He said he did what he promised. He cured her cancer. Then he explained my end of the deal. He told me that he owned my soul and would do his bidding as the Ghost Rider. The asshole gave his condolences before disappearing. I became so overwhelmed with anger that I screamed at the top of my lungs."
Broom had heard of these memories during his interviews with Marie. He knew they were some of her most painful memories. The memories which helped shape her into the woman she is.
"What do you think could have caused this?" Broom asked.
Marie stands up from her bed and begins pacing back and forth.
"I don't know. Concentrated ground gives me greater control at night. I should have been fine," Marie responded. "I think someone or something was in my room last night."
"What makes you say that?" The Professor inquired.
"I just have this gnawing feeling. And it's driving me crazy," Marie said, stopping her pacing and standing before Broom.
"Perhaps, you should do something to take your mind off it. I find it best to distract myself with something to allow the answer to come to me."
"How is it that I'm older than dirt, yet you're coming up with all this sage advice?"
"You may, as you put it, be older than dirt," Broom said with a smile as he stood up, "but in this form, you have the curse of youth."
The two share a smile and hug before Broom leaves Marie's room. Marie stands with her hands on her hips as she glances around her room, looking for a way to distract herself. Then Marie got an idea. The woman approaches her closet and grabs her workout clothes: a gray University of Notre Dame T-shirt, black shorts, and black tennis shoes.
Marie changed into her workout clothes before heading to the B.P.R.D.'s onsite gym with her gym duffle bag. Her duffle bag contains clothes to change into after her workout, boxing gloves, grappling gloves, shin guards, a water bottle, a walkman with headphones, and a couple of cassettes. The gloves and shin guards were purely for show.
When Marie arrived at the B.P.R.D. gym, she saw a few agents working out on the machines, doing weights, practicing hand-to-hand combat with each other, or running on the second-floor track. Marie spotted an available punching bag and walked toward it. As Marie approaches the bag, she hopes that it will help her.
The woman sets her bag down before taking out her walkman and boxing gloves. Marie grabs a KISS cassette and puts it in the Walkman before attaching it to the waistband of her shorts behind her and putting on the headphones. Marie needed to punch something as it had been a couple of stressful days. She felt the need grow as she put her shin guards and boxing gloves on. But knowing her strength, Marie has to pull her punches and kicks to avoid breaking the bag.
Before putting on her right glove, Marie hits play on her Walkman. After a few seconds, Marie hears the guitar of Detroit Rock City. Marie stands in a right-forward stance and starts punching the bag when she hears the drums beating. While pulling her punches and kicks, Marie lets out her anger on the bag, causing it to swing.
Song after song, Marie continues punching at the bag. The agents in the gym stopped their workout and watched Marie. They were amazed by her endurance and strength. The agents were gobsmacked that Marie was able to make the punching bag sway with every hit because the bag weighed over four hundred pounds while she was under a hundred and thirty.
After side A of the cassette is finished, Marie takes a break. Marie removes her gloves and hangs the headphones around her neck before digging through her duffle bag for the water bottle. After flipping the cassette to side B and headphones back on, Marie was about to put her gloves back on when she felt someone standing behind her. Marie didn't have to look behind her to know who it was.
"What do you want, Hellboy?" Marie asked before dropping her gloves. She turns to face the half-demon man and lets her headphones hang around her neck.
"Oh, nothing. Just want to talk with you," Hellboy responded.
Marie quickly became suspicious of Hellboy. She felt he either had an ulterior motive for wanting to talk to her or Broom or Manning forced him.
"What do you want to talk about?" Marie questioned, already fed up with the half-demon man.
"I read something interesting."
"You read? I didn't know you could read," She quipped. Marie kneels and removes her shin guards. "What did you read?"
"Your file," Hellboy replied.
Marie froze. She couldn't believe that Hellboy had read her file. Marie knew there were things in her file she didn't want anyone, specifically Hellboy, to know about.
Marie decides to ignore Hellboy. She continues putting her things back in the duffle bag before standing up. Marie attempts to walk away, but the half-demon man steps before her, preventing the woman from leaving. The other B.P.R.D. agents watch captive of the standoff between Hellboy and Marie.
"Get out of my way, Hellboy," Marie demanded, trying to maintain her composure.
"I will, but I have a question to ask you," He responded. "Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?" She questioned. "You have to be a little more specific. Do you mean, why did I take this job? Or do you mean why I helped you instead of kicking your ass?"
Marie walks around Hellboy and goes toward the door. All she wanted to do was clean up and relax in her new room. But what she wanted would have to wait when Hellboy put his left hand on Marie's shoulder and turned her to face him.
"I mean, why did you sell your soul?" Hellboy asked.
Suddenly, Marie felt like she was hit with a ton of bricks from Hellboy's question. It caught her unprepared. Marie thought his question would be something else.
"I plead the fifth," Marie replied. She tried to leave again, but Hellboy stopped her.
"Why? Scared, we'll find out you sold your soul for some stupid reason. What did you sell your soul for your looks, or did you screw up so bad that you thought the only way out was to give a demon your soul?"
Marie's blood boiled with rage. She wanted nothing more than to prove Hellboy wrong, but she didn't want the other agents in the gym to know her secret. What happened next shocked Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. agents. Marie slapped Hellboy so hard that there was a ringing in his ears. The slap echoed through the gym before there was a deafening silence. The agents couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. They were even more surprised that Marie was still alive.
The half-demon man looked at Marie with wide eyes, unable to believe that someone Marie's size had hit him, and it hurt.
"You got some balls, Marie."
"I can kick your ass a lot harder than that, Hellboy," Marie stated.
"That a fact? Well, why don't you put your money where your mouth is."
"With pleasure," Marie smiled before she dropped her duffle bag.
Hellboy charges at Marie, not wasting any time. But Marie steps aside and grabs Hellboy's arm. She uses his momentum and flips the half-demon man over, knocking him to the ground and the wind out.
The agents let out a collective 'oooh'. They could almost feel the pain from the flip. But they were also impressed. Hellboy weighed a lot compared to any male agent in the B.P.R.D., and they were shocked to see Marie able to flip him.
Marie lets go of Hellboy's arm and says, "If you'd read my file, then you would have seen that I know martial arts. And that I've competed in and won several tournaments."
"Lucky shot," Hellboy grunted. He wraps his tail around Marie's ankle before swiftly pulling her leg, Hellboy's version of a foot sweep. Marie falls to the ground on her back.
"Alright, a hundred bucks on Red," Moss said, initiating a bet with Stone.
"I don't know, man. She's got a lot of rage."
The woman and half-demon man stand up, ready to continue their fight. Marie pulls her right fist back, preparing to punch Hellboy. The half-demon man quickly puts his stone hand up to block the attack and cause some damage to Marie. But he didn't realize Marie duped him until it was too late.
After using a fake punch to distract Hellboy, Marie quickly kicks him in the chest with a front/back kick combo. The half-demon man is sent backward and lands on his back again. Hellboy couldn't believe Marie was kicking his ass.
"You want to fight dirty? I'll fight dirty," Marie told Hellboy before running toward the half-demon man with a plan of attack. When Marie was close enough, she jumped in the air a little and raised an elbow before falling to one side and striking Hellboy on the stomach.
"I'll take that action," Stone told Moss.
Marie quickly stands and backs away, creating space between her and Hellboy. The half-demon grunts as he stands up. Red looked at Marie and was ready to kick her ass.
Hellboy charges at Marie and throws punches at her. But the woman either steps aside to dodge or blocks the punches. The half-demon man grows more angry with each failed attempt to hit his nanny. He was getting sloppy. And Marie noticed it.
Marie saw her window of opportunity and took it. She threw a punch at the half-demon man, hitting him square in the nose. Hellboy holds his nose in pain, feeling drops of blood fall onto his left hand. Marie decides to knock Hellboy to the ground, and as she goes to punch him in the jaw, the half-demon man grabs her fist.
"Not gonna happen, Mary Poppins," Hellboy said before punching Marie in her face with his stone fist.
Marie flew back by the massive force of Hellboy's punch. The woman hits the wall before she falls to the ground and slumps against the wall, not moving. The agents let out a gasp or held their breath in shock. Dread overcomes Hellboy as he fears that he has either seriously harmed Marie or killed her.
Hellboy slowly approaches Marie, praying she will move something to let him know she is alive. When Hellboy stood before her, he saw no movement and couldn't tell if she was breathing. The half-demon man kneels before putting a finger under Marie's nose to feel her breathing.
Suddenly, Marie's hand reaches out and grabs Hellboy by the wrist. The quick action shook Hellboy a little. It was like a scene out of a horror movie. And it was going to become even more so. Marie suddenly bursts into flames and transforms into a flaming skeleton. Every agent in the gym was scared damn near shitless. The Ghost Rider grabs Hellboy by the collar of his shirt. She lifts the half-demon man off the ground as she stands up.
"You asked for this, fool," The Ghost Rider spoke before doing to Hellboy what he did to her. A powerful punch to the face and Hellboy fly back to the wall.
When Hellboy's back came into contact with the wall, it created a Hellboy-sized dent. The half-demon man almost went through the wall. He slides down the wall before shaking his head. Stone, Moss, and the other agents stared in disbelief at Hellboy. They are having a hard time processing what they have just witnessed. The Ghost Rider approaches Hellboy as he looks up at her. They stare at each other as the agents wait with bated breath for what happens next.
"Let this serve as a lesson, Cambion. I am not one you wish to have as an enemy," The Ghost Rider told Hellboy.
As the Ghost Rider's flames disappear, she turns back into Marie. The young woman glares at Hellboy before grabbing her things and leaving the gym.
"You go, girl!" Stone cheered.
Hellboy watches Marie walk out of the gym. He thought the sound of the door closing was deafening. The half-demon man could hear his father telling him how rude he was to Marie and that Hellboy was not raised that way.
Almost an hour after the incident in the gym, Hellboy is in the B.P.R.D. library receiving a scolding from his father. One of the agents in the gym informed Broom about what happened between Hellboy and Marie. The Professor became furious with his son and asked the agent to bring him to the library.
"I can't believe you're taking her side!" Hellboy exclaimed.
"My son, I know you started the fight," Broom told his son. "And you had no right looking at Marie's file. She is entitled to her privacy."
"File? Try, files," Hellboy corrected his father. "There were tons of them. She's hiding something, Pop."
"I know. But Marie will tell us her past in her own time."
"Did you know that she or whoever the hell is Zarathos meant to kill me?" The half-demon man asked Broom. Hellboy observed his father's face and saw no reaction to his question, meaning Broom knew. "What do you know about her?"
"Fate dealt Marie a bad hand when she was younger," Broom informed Hellboy. "And it cost her something very precious to her. More precious than her soul. Marie is a good woman, my son. I have known her for a long time, and she is one of the few lights in the darkness."
The father and son stood in silence. Broom watched Hellboy continue to try to figure out what Marie had sold her soul for as if what he had told his son was a clue.
"My son, I suggest that you apologize to Marie. Since the two of you will be working together for the foreseeable future," Broom told his son before walking toward the library doors.
Hellboy stands in the middle of the room, watching his father leave before asking, "How do I do that?"
Broom stops and turns to his son, "That is up to you. Figure out a way of expressing your apologies for your actions and compliment Marie. Good night, son."
Broom continues toward the doors before leaving the library. Hellboy stands alone in the room and ponders his apology to Marie. And he had no idea what to do.
A couple of hours after Hellboy was scolded and lectured by his father, the half-demon man walked toward Marie's room. Red had come up with a simple plan for the apology. He would go to Marie and say he was sorry for what he said and did in the gym. Hellboy thought it was a simple and effective apology, even though he hated apologizing to Marie.
When Hellboy stood before Marie's room, he raised his hand to knock on the door. But something prevented him. Hellboy heard a faint sound coming from within Marie's room. Red presses against the door to listen better. He hears two voices: one is Marie's while the other is Ray Charles'. Hellboy listens as Marie sings along to one of Ray Charles' most famous songs.
"I said, Georgia. Oh, Georgia, no peace I find," Marie passionately sang. "Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind. Other arms reach out to me. Other eyes smile tenderly. Still, in peaceful dreams, I see the road leads back to you."
Something overcame Hellboy as he listened to Marie's singing. It was as if how he felt toward Marie shifted. His deep hatred of her lightened. He felt new feelings for Marie. Hellboy became confused. How could he begin to feel this way about the woman who was supposed to kill him as an infant? How could his feelings for her suddenly change after hearing her sing?
Hellboy shakes his head before he decides to return to his room. As he walks, he tries to understand his change of feelings for Marie.