Marie groans as she stirs awake. Her vision is blurry before it slowly regains focus. Marie could tell that something was off. She glances down and sees chains around her waist and the stone pillar against her back. Marie also felt shackles around her wrists.
Marie looked around the snow-covered colossal church-like space, surrounded by funeral niches and statues holding swords. Marie saw Ilsa hammering at the timers on the explosives belts. Rasputin wears a ceremonial robe and carries a leather book. He stands at the altar. He faces a mural of the angel Abbadon holding a key. Marie then spots Hellboy, unconscious, kneeling on the ground, and trapped in a stocks that is chained to the ground. It was all just more shit being added to the pile.
Marie jerked at the chains as she tried to break free, but it was useless. There was something different about the chains. Marie looks closer at the chains to examine them. She discovers the chains to have etchings in Enochian, the language of the angels, on them. She was trapped. Marie knew that she and Hellboy were up shit's creek without a paddle.
"Ah, she awakes," Rasputin spoke, not looking away from his book. Ilsa stopped hammering the belts and looked at Marie. Rasputin closed the book and looked at Marie. "It is good to see you after so many years, Zarathos. You have changed since we last saw each other. But I must say this new form suits you well."
"Fuck you!" Marie shouted at Rasputin.
Ilsa did not like how Marie was talking to Rasputin. In a moment of anger, Ilsa swung the hammer at Marie, hitting her jaw. But the hit didn't harm Marie. In fact, she barely moved.
Marie angrily glares at Ilsa before saying with venom, "You and that Russian asshole will get what's coming to you, Nazi bitch!"
Ilsa was about to hit Marie again with the hammer but was stopped by Rasputin's voice.
"No, Ilsa!" Rasputin shouted before calmly speaking, "Our dear guest is merely angry. She must regret not fulfilling her task of destroying him sixty years ago. You and the late Professor Broom failed. Now, you will witness the end of this world and the beginning of a new one."
Marie's blood boiled with anger, but she soon forgot her rage when she saw Hellboy stirring awake. Hellboy slowly comes to. He is chained to a massive wooden pillory. He takes notice of his surroundings. Hellboy tenses, rage building. He tries to break free, but his binding doesn't bend.
"And I looked and beheld an Angel. And in his right hand, the key to the bottomless pit..." Rasputin recited before speaking to Hellboy, "These were the words I heard as a peasant boy in Tobolsk. And now, the door, sent by the Ogdruh Jahad so that they might at long last enter our world."
"You are the key! The right hand of doom," Ilsa told Hellboy. "Your stone hand. What did you think it was made for? Open the locks."
Hellboy's eyes drift toward Marie. Seeing the woman in chains caused Hellboy to be overwhelmed with a new sense of rage. The half-demon man grunts as he tries to break free again.
"Don't do it, Red! Don't do it!"
Ilsa kicks Marie in the face before telling her, "Silence."
"You touch her again, and I'll rip your damn head off!" Hellboy threatened.
"You care for her, but do you know her purpose? Did she tell you why she was there the night you came into this world?" Rasputin asked the half-demon man.
"Don't tell him," Marie muttered, pleading with Rasputin.
"She was there to destroy you," Rasputin revealed.
"I already know," Hellboy confessed, looking at Marie.
The news shocked Marie. Hellboy knew about that night, and yet he still cared for her. He wanted to protect her.
"You knew she was meant to destroy you. And, yet, you still care for her?"
Hellboy looks at Marie, not with hatred but love, "You bet I do."
"Imagine it... an Eden for you..." Ilsa proudly spoke before she glanced at the chained Marie as Hellboy followed her gaze,"...and her."
"No," Hellboy said.
Rasputin repeats the half-demon's response, questioning it, "No? Very well. Then you leave me no choice." Rasputin looks at the full moon, beaming down through the broken roof. Rasputin glances at Marie before he leaves the altar and approaches her. "For the spirit to be willing, the flesh must first grow weak."
"No!" Hellboy roared as he tried to break free. "Don't you go near her! Leave her alone!"
Hellboy continues his protests and attempts to break free as Ilsa uses a dagger to cut open Marie's shirt precisely enough to show the top of her sternum and nothing else. The woman then hands Rasputin the dagger. The man carves a sigil onto Marie's chest. Marie gritted her teeth as Rasputin continued to carve onto her chest. Even though Marie could not see it, she knew what it was because of Rasputin's movements with the blade. It was a banishing sigil. After the Enochian sigil was complete, Rasputin handed Ilsa the blood-covered dagger as Ilsa gave him a black box with an Enochian sigil Marie recognized as an angel trap. She knew nothing good was about to happen.
"Omnipotentis Dei potestatem invoco!" Rasputin began speaking in Latin. "Omnipotentis Dei potestatem invoco! Ab orbe terra, hunc angelum omne obsequendum! Domine expuet! Domine expuet!"
Suddenly, the ground violently shakes like an earthquake. A red light emits from Marie's eyes and mouth as she screams in pain. The extraordinary amount of pain felt as if someone was tearing her in half. The pain and light eased when a bright glowing wisp of red smoke left Marie's mouth and quickly traveled through the air into the box. When Rasputin closes the box, the ground stops shaking.
Marie's body became weak after what Rasputin put her through. Her body was cold and clammy. Marie didn't feel like herself. She felt incomplete and frail. Marie's head slumped over, no longer having the strength to hold it up. Ilsa removed the chains from Marie but kept the shackles on her wrists, knowing she was powerless. The Nazi woman grins at Marie like the cat who ate the canary. Rasputin hands Ilsa the box. Hellboy continuously tries to break free but is unable to.
"Names hold the power and nature of things. Your true name is inscribed around the locks that hold you. You cannot break them... no matter how strong you are," Rasputin told Hellboy.
"What the hell did you do to her?!" Hellboy roared at Rasputin as he jerked the chains.
"I removed Zarathos from her. Without the Spirit of Vengeance, I'm afraid your beloved Marie will die. But you can save her. I promise to return Zarathos to her if you open the door."
Marie mustered as much strength as she could to hold her head up. She was determined not to let Rasputin get Hellboy to fulfill the prophecy and win.
"No!" Marie exclaimed. "Don't listen to this asshole! Don't open the damn door, Red!"
Ilsa walked over to Marie before lifting her boot and kicking the powerless woman's face. Marie's head snapped as she fell to the ground. She tasted blood. Hellboy helplessly watches as Marie spits out blood. She coughs a little. He could see her slowly growing weaker without Zarathos. And it pained him.
"If you do not do it, then she will die!" Rasputin angrily shouted at Hellboy. He moved closer to the half-demon man and grabbed the stocks. "She will not survive long as her body holds no soul. But you can save her."
"The eclipse has begun," Ilsa informed Rasputin.
Rasputin looks at the moon and sees a shadow creeping on its face. He looks back at Hellboy, "Your true name... say it!"
Hellboys stares up at Rasputin, who glances at Broom's rosary on Hellboy's wrist. Rasputin rips the rosary off the half-demon man's wrist and holds it before him.
"Become the key," Rasputin told Hellboy before tossing the rosary. It lands in the snow near Marie, who looks at it.
Hellboy sags in the stocks. He looks at Marie again before he brokenheartedly and unhesitatingly speaks with a broken voice, "For her."
"Anung-un-Rama. Repeat it," Rasputin told Hellboy.
Hellboy closes his eyes before speaking, "Anung-un-Rama..."
The metal bindings on the stocks break and fall apart, releasing Hellboy. As he stands, the markings on his skin and stone arm glow red as do his horns. The eclipse creeps across the face of the moon and becomes red.
Hellboy rolls his head as his horns begin to grow. And flames burn atop his head like a fiery crown. Hellboy examines his glowing stone hand. The half-demon man looks up to the sky and exhales a red vaporous breath as his horns reach full length.
Hellboy then slowly walks towards the block of stone as Marie and Ilsa watch silently. Rasputin follows Hellboy as he approaches the door. The half-demon man glances at Marie, his face devoid of emotion. But Marie prays that the Hellboy she knows is still in there.
"No! Listen to me, you dumbass! Don't do it!" Marie pleaded, but her cries fell on deaf ears.
Hellboy then places his stone hand into one of the locks and turns it to the right, like a key. As he looks to the sky and roars, light courses through the runic stone. Suddenly, the stone door shoots a beam of fire at the moon, illuminating it with a firey glow and creating a portal. Deep in space, the crystal shell holding the Ogdru Jahad glows orange and shatters, releasing the entity. The dreadful being roars as it unfurls itself.
Marie manages to slip her hand out of the shackle. Careful not to attract Ilsa's attention, Marie quietly reaches for the rosary. Fortunately, the Nazi woman is too busy watching Hellboy to notice.
Ogdru Jahad makes its way to Earth, following the shaft of light through the portal. The dreadful being's tentacles congregate around the firey beam. Hellboy pulls his right hand out of the lock. Marie manages to grab the rosary. The woman holds it up and looks at it.
"Open the final lock," Rasputin said as Hellboy began to put his right hand into the second lock.
"Remember who you are!" Marie cried out.
Hellboy removes his hand from the lock and then turns towards Marie. She throws the rosary to Hellboy, who catches it; the heat given off by his body burns the crucifix into his skin as it falls to the ground. Ilsa prepares to beat Marie with her hammer again, but she quickly knocks her off her feet with a swift leg movement, then smashes her face with her foot.
"Believe me. I've lived long enough to know not a tear will be shed for this world!" Rasputin told Hellboy, trying to persuade him.
Marie limps forward with what little strength she has. The box in her hand and the grenade belt slung over her shoulder, "You have a choice. Your father gave you that."
Rasputin angrily looks at Marie. She was running his plans. The man looks at Hellboy and notices the half-demon man is pondering his choice.
"No, you don't!" Rasputin exclaimed before he pointed at the door. "Open it. Do it!"
Hellboy stares at his palm. He clenches his fists before reaching up, grabbing his horns, and forcefully snapping them off. Marie felt a sense of pride and relief, knowing Hellboy made the right choice.
"No... no," Rasputin said in disbelief. His plan is now ruined.
The door begins to seal itself. The fiery beam flickers and fades as the Ogrdu Jahad disintegrates. The portal and flames engulfing the moon die away as it returns to normal.
"What have you done?" Rasputin questioned.
The fiery crown-like halo disappears; then he turns and stabs Rasputin in the stomach with one of his broken horns.
"I chose," Hellboy spoke.
Hellboy pulls the horn out before Rasputin drops to his knees. The half-demon man then drops his broken horns and turns towards Marie as the moon turns its regular white color again.
"You will never fulfill your destiny. You will never understand the power inside you," Rasputin told Hellboy.
Hellboy picks Marie up and holds her bridal style, "I'll just have to find a way to live with that."
Marie looks at Hellboy with a smile. She is happy with the choice the half-demon man has made. Hellboy walks away but stops when he hears something shatter under his boot. He moves his boot aside, revealing a broken glass eye.
"Child," Rasputin called to Hellboy. The half-demon man turned so he and Marie could face Rasputin. Rasputin looked at the two, revealing his empty eye socket. In the socket, fleshy tendrils lazily shifted. "Look what you've done. You've killed me—an insignificant man. But you have brought forth... a god."
Rasputin grunts in pain and goes into spasm as a black, multi-tentacle-like creature bursts out of his stomach.
"Hellboy…" Marie began.
"Yeah. Come on, Marie. Let's go," Hellboy said.
Hellboy rushes off with Marie in his arms as the creature flops out of Rasputin's abdomen and onto the floor. Ilsa regains consciousness and gets up before walking over to the dying Rasputin. He sits with his back against the stone.
The tentacle beast writhes on the floor before the Russian man and Nazi woman. And it begins to rapidly grow. Ilsa kneels and embraces Rasputin, holding his face.
"Hell will hold no surprises for us," Ilsa told Rasputin.
She kisses him until the now enormous creature looms above them. Ilsa looks up before it crushes her and Rasputin with a blow from one of its tentacles.
In a passageway, Hellboy carefully places Marie on the ground. The half-demon man could tell she was feeble. The woman had dark circles under her sunken eyes. She could barely move, and her breathing was shallow.
Hellboy kneels before Marie and touches her face, causing her to lean into his touch. The two look into each other's eyes. Hellboy looks back in the direction they had come from. He had to destroy the creature.
"Stay safe for me, Poppins," Hellboy said, taking one last look at Marie before standing up.
"Hey, Clifford," Marie offers the grenade belt to him.
Hellboy takes the belt. He shoulders it and says, "I didn't get you anything."
"Don't worry about it. That damn Nazi bitch broke the timer. You're gonna have to pull the cable," She told the half-demon man. "You gonna be okay going alone?"
"How big can it be?"
Suddenly, a massive tentacle snakes up the corridor and grabs Hellboy. It drags the half-demon man back into the room. The lamps hanging from the ceiling smash onto Hellboy's head as he is pulled back at breakneck speed. Now alone, Marie looks at the box resting in her lap. The woman musters enough strength to raise her hand to open the box and reunite with the entity inside.
"Are you sure you want to do it?"
Marie froze when she heard the voice. It was a voice she had not heard for years. Not since she was a little girl. Not since the night her mother died. Marie turned her head toward the direction of the voice and saw the man standing there as bold as brass. It had been decades since their last encounter, but he looked the same. But something was different this time because Marie now knew his name.
"What the hell do you want, Mephistopheles?" Marie asked the demon.
"I came here to retrieve our dear friend Zarathos," He replied. Rasputin has separated you two, meaning the bond is broken. So, I'll take the box off your hands and be on my merry way to make another deal—make another Ghost Rider."
"No," The woman responded.
"No?" Mephistopheles repeated. "I'm giving you a chance to have your life back. Regardless of how little time you have left. But, on the bright side, you'll be able to see your mama. Maybe."
"And let you ruin someone else's life? No way. It may have taken me over ten years to figure this out, but I'm meant to be the Ghost Rider. Not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry. But me. And you're just gonna have to learn to live with that."
Mephistopheles clenches his jaw, and his grip around the silver skull of his cane tightens. He was displeased with Marie's words. And she knew it.
"Very well, Marie. You have Zarathos but don't think this will be the last time we see each other. We do have a deal, after all."
The demon disappears without a trace. Marie returns her attention to the box in her lap and briefly stares at it, knowing she is making the right choice. Marie unlocks the box, and the lid flies open. A bright glowing wisp of red smoke travels out of the box before it is absorbed by Marie.
Instantly, Marie is back to her full strength, and her injuries are gone. As the woman stands, she transforms into the Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider stares at the box in her hands before it bursts into flames.
"It's good to be back," The Ghost Rider turns to where the creature took Hellboy. "Time to save Hellboy's ass. Again."
The Ghost Rider runs down the corridor, hoping Hellboy has not been defeated by the tentacle creature. Within seconds, the Ghost Rider arrives in the church-like room and notices how large the tentacle creature has grown. It is a behemoth.
Hellboy is fighting the creature with a giant sword from one of the statues. The half-demon man hacks away the behemoth's tentacles while going to the steps where the grenade belt lays. Each time Hellboy cuts a tentacle, blue blood spurts out of the wound. The Ghost Rider notices one of the tentacles snake its way to Hellboy, who is unaware of it.
The Ghost Rider takes her long chain and engulfs it in flames before swinging it like a lasso. She twirls the loop over her head, going around and around before letting it go. The loop slips onto the tentacle and tightens when the Ghost Rider pulls on the chain.
Hellboy continues slicing tentacles as he watches the Ghost Rider pull harder and harder on the chain until it rips off the tentacle. The flames had cauterized the wound.
"Thanks for the save," Hellboy told the Ghost Rider.
"Anytime," She responded.
Hellboy picks up the grenade belt, and as he does so, his sword becomes trapped in one of the tentacles. Another one wraps around his waist and lifts him, hanging upside down. The creature lops Hellboy into the air and catches him by the leg with another tentacle, still upside down.
The Ghost Rider begins whipping the creature with her flaming chain, causing it to cry in agonizing pain. The burning chain left marks on the monster's skin.
The behemoth keeps its grip on Hellboy and carries him to its mouth, ringed by a prong of smaller tentacles. The creature opens its mouth.
"Oh, this is gonna hurt," Hellboy said before reaching down and pulling the pins from the grenades. He looks down at the Ghost Rider, "You better get out of here or find a place to hide!"
The Ghost Rider heeds the half-demon's warning and quickly hides behind a stone pillar. The creature shoots out its mandibles and swallows Hellboy and the grenade belt. Suddenly, the behemoth is racked by several violent internal explosions. The last blows it apart. Hellboy is thrown across the church and lands on the ground in a mishmash of the beast's guts and blue-goop blood. He pulls himself up to a kneeling position and hears his bones crack.
"Gonna be sore in the morning," Hellboy said.
The half-demon man stands and takes off the tattered remains of his jacket before holding it in his left hand. Hellboy turns to leave and notices the Ghost Rider is no longer in the church. Hellboy rushes out of the church to catch up to the Ghost Rider, leaving the quivering remains of the creature steaming in the night air.
The Ghost Rider walks down the corridor with a purpose. She wanted to get out as fast as possible. And avoid Hellboy.
"Poppins!" Hellboy called.
The Ghost Rider stops before turning to face the half-demon man. The flames of the Ghost Rider change to blue as her face softens before she looks down. Hellboy approaches the woman before standing before her. He lifts her head to look at her by the chin, unharmed by the flames like before, when Marie burned the Sammael's. The reason is that the Ghost Rider's flames only harm the guilty and damned.
The two stare into each other's eyes. The Ghost Rider's flames die as she transforms back into Marie. Hellboy's hand travels up the woman's face before cupping her cheek.
"You running out on me?" Hellboy asked.
"It's for the best. Take it as my resignation," Marie told the half-demon. The woman's heart began breaking. She didn't want to leave.
"Why?" He questioned, confused as to why.
"You were willing to destroy the world to save me," She responded. "My life isn't worth that."
"It is to me," Hellboy confessed without hesitation. "If you had died, I would have told those on the other side to let you go because I… I would cross over for you. And then they'll be sorry."
Marie was shocked to hear those words come out of Hellboy's mouth. She never thought she would hear them come out of anyone's mouth. Hellboy rubs his thumb against Marie's cheek as he looks at her in a way he's never looked at anyone before.
"I love you, Poppins. Warts and all," Hellboy told Marie, declaring his feelings for her.
"I love you too, Clifford," Marie smiled. "Warts and all."
The two lean into each other, closing the distance between them. When their lips touch, the two are engulfed by blue flames. Hellboy and Marie kiss each other with great love.
Thinking back to that night, Marie is glad she didn't kill Hellboy because if she did, it would mean Marie wouldn't be with the man she loves. The woman had closed her heart off for so long, fearing that if it was open, it would be broken. But Marie was glad that she opened her heart for Hellboy.
As Hellboy kisses Marie, the half-demon man feels like a man. He wasn't a freak or a monster to her. Marie saw Hellboy for who he was. For the first time since meeting Marie, Hellboy was grateful that his father hired her.
Who would have thought that what happened on that night sixty years ago would've led to this? True love between a woman possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance and a half-demon man destined to bring the end of the world.