The Marvel Knights Group presents: Ghost Rider #2

Somewhere Else

His brother was dead.

Dan Ketch stared into his coffee cup as he thought about the last few hours. He had gone from being as happy as he had ever been to a state of numb shock. He was glad he had left his girlfriend Dana at the apartment. He had never told her of his time as the Ghost Rider or of his family’s lineage as the Spirit of Vengeance. He had thought that part of his life was gone for good. The spirit of his ancestor Noble Kale had become a separate entity, a life apart from Dan’s own. Dan was as normal as anyone was now, and he reveled in that normalcy. He had left the life of demons and the supernatural behind.

He hadn’t heard from his brother, John Blaze, in months. John was off in search of his family, missing for some time now. John had followed trail after trail around the world for any sign of his wife and children, but nothing had panned out. John was increasingly difficult to be around, and after a while he and Dan had decided to part ways. It was pretty obvious Roxanne and the kids were long dead. The kind of enemies that John and Dan had encountered as the Ghost Rider were not the type to let innocent prisoners live long after their purpose was fulfilled.

Dan was sitting in a posh lobby in the offices of Landau, Luckman & Lake, a firm that represented interests in many fields, particularly for those of a supernormal nature. Dan had seen what could only be aliens walking the halls of the massive place, and wondered how far and vast this firm dealt with clients. Was it galactic? Extra-Dimensional? In the end, it didn’t matter. Dan was here because John had left instructions for him to be contacted in the event of his death. LLL had informed Dan that John was dead. The details were not known yet, but Dan knew he would find out soon enough.

“Can I get you anything to eat, Mr. Ketch?” asked Anton Kosar, the representative of LLL that had given Dan the sad news.

“No, thanks,” said Dan.

“When you’re ready,” said Kosar, “we can begin.”

Dan looked again out the massive window onto the moving throng of people below. He took a deep breath and stood up. “Let’s get this over with.”

“YOU DO NOT STAND A CHANCE AGAINST MY MIGHT, LITTLE DEMON!”

The trees of the Pacific Northwest gave off eerie shadows as they were illuminated by bright yellow bursts of hellfire. A massive, red-skinned and horned demon was lashing out at its attacker, a decidedly smaller but no less dangerous opponent.

The opponent wore a dark leather jacket with a spiked chain taut between his two hands. A black sleek motorbike with flaming wheels stood beside him. His head was a white skull ablaze in flames.

He was Noble Kale, the Ghost Rider.

Kale whipped his chain around, sparks flying from it as it contacted the rocks around them. The red demon in front of him dwarfed him, but that seemed to make no difference to Kale.

“I think my chances are a mite better than yours, Malthax,” said Kale. “As long as I rule Hell, that’s exactly where you will stay.”

“HA!” said Malthax, his eyes blazing with red fire, “A RULER IN ABSENTIA METHINKS! HELL WOULD BE BETTER SERVED WITH MYSELF IN YOUR PLACE….AND OUTSIDE OF THAT INFERNAL PLANE, YOU ARE VULNERABLE TO MY PREDATIONS.”

Kale’s flaming skull gave a hint of a smile at Matlhax’s words. “I may not have the realm of Hell at my disposal at the moment,” said Kale, “but on Earth….I am far from powerless.” He whipped his chain around a thick branch and it shot back down, whipping itself around Malthax’s immense neck. Kale heaved on the chain and lifted Malthax off the ground.

Malthax struggled as he hung suspended in the air, his eyes emitting panic splashes of fire. Kale calmly anchored the first chain into the ground and removed another from his jacket. This chain lengthened and then straightened into a makeshift spear. “I’ve informed everyone back home to expect you,” said Kale. “Have a nice trip.” Kale flung the chainlink spear at Malthax and impaled the demon squarely in the chest. Malthax screamed….and then erupted into a flash of flame. When the blaze dissipated, the demon was gone.

Kale nodded at a job well done. His chains flew back to him and resumed their place on his jacket. Kale got onto his jet black bike as hellfire enveloped him. In seconds he was human again, a young man with long brown hair. The bike was identical to its previous form with the exception that normal tires were now where hellfire treads had been.

He kicked the bike’s engine running and spun away, heading back to the highway…and to search for another demon to hunt.

Noble Kale’s life reached back more years than most. He was originally an ancestor of Dan Ketch and John Blaze who had struck a deal with the demonlord Mephisto that went bad. Years later, his very soul was bonded to Dan Ketch with the infernal powers of the Ghost Rider. Everyone believed Kale to be Zarathos, a demon that had been bonded to John Blaze as the first one publicly known as the Ghost Rider. Eventually this was proven false, but it was still years before Dan learned that the Spirit of Vengeance he had been bonded to was that of his own ancestor.

Mephisto had been killed by his son Blackheart, who then took his father’s place as ruler of the infernal realms. Blackheart had plagued Ghost Rider many times, until finally Noble Kale’s spirit was able to challenge Blackheart in Hell and kill him, thereby taking over the mantle of leadership himself. Kale and Dan Ketch were separated and Kale was left alone with the power of Ghost Rider and dominion over Hell. Now, Kale divided his time between the infernal realm and the mortal plane, hunting escapees that had left Hell during the rule of Blackheart and Mephisto.

Kale drove along the interstate for hours, reveling in the feel of the air in his hair. For too long he had been imprisoned in the form of the Ghost Rider, never knowing the true feel of mortal life outside of a driving need to exact vengeance. He often thought about why he spent so much time on Earth when he had duties in Hell. Truth was, he missed being human. He may still be the Ghost Rider, but he still considered himself human, no matter what changes fate had brought on him.

A semi approached him on the opposite side of the highway. He noted its presence as he would any other vehicle on the road and continued with his journey. Gradually, the semi came closer, closer….and began to change.

“What in Hell,” said Kale.

The vehicle transformed into an infernal chariot, the semi itself a demon steed with wheels of hellfire, its trailer the spine of some sort of horrific creature. It was being driven by a man wearing black leather, his face encased in a hard black metal that made it seem as if he were perpetually laughing. He drove the demon-truck with a whip made of barbed fire. The semi turned towards Kale, on a direct collision course.

“Very well,” said Kale. “Hell it is.” He concentrated, willing the transformation to Ghost Rider, accelerating as he did so.

Nothing happened.

“No,” said Kale as he collided with the infernal demon truck.

“Your brother,” said Anton Kosar, “Left specific instructions to have you receive certain things upon his death.” Kosar motioned to a wooden case with a brass lock. “Here.” Kosar extended his hand to Dan. He held a golden key.

Dan took it and looked at it. The key looked no different than any other, with the exception that the handle was a replica of the mystic medallion that had empowered Dan and John with the power of the Ghost Rider.

“I will leave you to go over the contents,” said Kosar. “Under John’s instructions, this key was warded so only you could use it to open the box. I do know that the box contains a message, and so have provided a television and playback equipment should you require it.” He motioned to a recessed entertainment centre in the office of Kosar’s opulent office.

“Th-thanks,” said Dan, turning the key over and over in his hand.

“Should you require anything else,” said Kosar, “please ring the buzzer on my desk. Take as much time as you need.” Kosar paused briefly, then moved to the door to the lobby beyond. Seconds later, it clicked shut, leaving Dan alone with the key…and the box.

He was hesitant to open it. On the one hand, it was effectively the last will and testament to his brother’s life. On the other, the key alone reminded him of what their lives had consisted of, the commonality they shared: the Ghost Rider.

Dan took a deep breath, and inserted the key.

He turned it.

The lock clicked, the wooden box opened up.

Dan looked inside.

He felt pain, more pain than he had ever thought possible. When he was the Ghost Rider, pain was different. It was surmountable. Manageable. When he was Ghost Rider, vengeance was all that mattered. Now, all he could think of was how much pain he was in.

His vision was clouded. He couldn’t move. Beyond him, he saw his bike, bent and destroyed. It was on fire, but this was the fire of man, not Hell. His mind swam….he had been trying to transform into Ghost Rider, but couldn’t. He had been blocked….but how?

A man clad in black stood over him, dark leather covering every inch of his body. His face was encased in black metal, a laugh framing his head.

Kale tried to talk. “H—H—Howgh…” was all he could say. His mouth could hardly move. His tongue was swollen.

“You should have stayed in Hell,” said the dark man. “You would have been safe there. Here, you are vulnerable. Here, you will die a mortal death.” The man tightened his grip on his flame whip, sparks of heat snapping off it every few seconds.

“N-N-No,” said Kale. God, the pain was excruciating.

“Yes,” said the figure, as he brought the whip up. The dark man then reached up with this free hand and removed the metal faceplate, revealing his true face.

“Y-Y-You!” said Kale as his mouth gurgled blood.

“Me,” said the dark man as he slashed the whip down on Kale’s face.

Noble Kale’s last thought before dying was Not you….anyone but you….Dan, John….No…

Next Issue: The Last Will and Testament of John Blaze….and the new Ghost Rider encounters Daredevil!