Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

Johnny Blaze crawled out of the rubble and stared at the wreckage around him.

For several seconds, he simply stood there.

He had absolutely no idea what the hell had just happened.

The last time he’d seen Evenson had been in New Mexico, when he’d refused Mephisto’s offer and vowed to use the Ghost Rider’s power against him.

He’d been wrong.

Controlling the Rider wasn’t nearly as easy as he’d imagined.

At night, the Ghost Rider was practically unstoppable. That much was obvious.

But even during the day, Johnny had noticed something terrifying.

He was becoming more volatile.

More aggressive.

It felt as though the Ghost Rider was slowly eating away at his soul, taking a little more control every time he transformed.

So Johnny had made a difficult choice.

To keep innocent people from getting caught in the fallout, he’d broken up with the girlfriend he’d fought so hard to save and left everything behind.

On a moonless night, he’d climbed onto his motorcycle and driven across the sea.

Literally.

Johnny Blaze had ridden his motorcycle over the surface of the ocean and smuggled himself into Europe.

Once he reached a foreign continent where he knew almost no one, he simply wandered wherever the road took him until he’d eventually ended up in Eastern Europe.

He wasn’t entirely sure why.

Fate, perhaps.

Though Johnny preferred to believe it was because the weather was cooler.

He didn’t believe in fate.

Unfortunately, fate believed in him.

And apparently, it had decided to kick his door in.

Johnny had finally found a place to stay and was resting there, making plans to head somewhere north in a few days. Maybe the Arctic Circle. The colder, the better.

Then disaster fell from the sky.

There hadn’t even been a warning.

A little dramatic announcement before the artillery started would have been appreciated.

Johnny had barely heard the first explosion before the warehouse collapsed on top of him.

Now, after digging himself out of the wreckage, he was still trying to figure out what had happened when a familiar voice reached him.

"Long time no see, Johnny."

Johnny froze.

His entire body went rigid.

Slowly, painfully slowly, he turned around.

There he was.

The last person on Earth Johnny wanted to see.

Evenson.

And apparently, he hadn’t come alone.

Two unfamiliar faces stood nearby. One looked like he hadn’t quite caught up with reality yet. The other was a woman whose expression suggested she had developed a very personal grudge against Evenson.

Melinda wasn’t with them this time.

Claire was.

And Claire’s bad mood had a very simple explanation.

After leaving the church, she’d decided that Evenson and the others were having a conversation far too boring to justify her attention. So she’d slipped into a private cabin and started playing a game.

Nothing wrong with that.

Until Melinda, apparently possessed by the spirit of an irresponsible race-car driver, suddenly banked the aircraft ninety degrees.

Claire fell straight out of bed.

Her controller went with her.

Worse, the sudden movement yanked the cable right out.

And when Claire scrambled to her feet, the first thing she saw on the screen was a giant:

GAME OVER

No save file.

Claire had considered several possible responses.

None of them involved forgiveness.

She’d stormed out, found Evenson, learned what had happened, and nearly cracked a molar from grinding her teeth.

Evenson had privately decided that if someone murdered him one day, Claire might not be nearly this angry.

The grudge had officially begun.

"You..."

Johnny’s face twisted with outrage.

He raised his right arm and pointed accusingly at Evenson.

He’d used that exact gesture against Blackheart.

He’d used it against Mephisto.

So Evenson naturally expected the next words to be something dramatic.

Perhaps Go to Hell!

Then Johnny would transform and attack.

Instead, Johnny violently dropped his hand and started shouting.

"Why did you blow up my house?!"

Evenson’s eyebrows rose.

To be fair, Johnny had a point.

Facing Evenson while unable to transform was terrifying enough. Johnny knew perfectly well that he couldn’t win.

And even if he did become the Ghost Rider, there was a very real possibility that Evenson had already figured out how to counter him.

So perhaps a little heroic intimidation was out of the question.

"Hmm."

Evenson thought about it.

"I don’t know. Maybe I just enjoy doing that."

He gave Johnny an innocent smile.

He’d done something similar the last time he’d gone looking for Carter Slade.

Apparently, blowing up people’s homes was becoming a habit.

Moru finally caught up with what was happening.

"You two know each other?"

Judging by the way they were talking, this wasn’t their first meeting.

"Did I never mention that?" Evenson asked.

He glanced at Moru.

"We got along wonderfully the last time we met."

"Wonderfully?!"

Johnny bent forward, both fists clenched as he waved them furiously.

He remembered exactly what had happened.

He’d been on the front lines, desperately holding off the Destroyer.

And Evenson had attacked from behind with absolutely no concern for fair play.

"You turned me green, then sucked me dry!"

Johnny’s face reddened.

"And you call that wonderful?!"

Silence.

Moru and Claire both slowly turned toward Evenson.

Their expressions were identical.

What the hell does that mean?

Evenson immediately realized how that sounded.

"Don’t look at me like that!"

He hurried to defend himself.

"It’s not what you’re thinking! I used fire to turn it green, then absorbed its flames. That’s all!"

He shot Johnny an irritated glare.

Damn it.

Can’t beat me, so now you’re trying to make me look bad?

While Evenson was busy desperately explaining himself to Claire, Moru stepped toward Johnny.

"Johnny Blaze, we’re here because we need your help."

"Hmph."

Johnny didn’t even look at him.

He turned back toward the rubble and started digging through it, trying to salvage whatever remained of his already modest collection of belongings.

Moru had no choice but to follow.

"You think you can control it. Control its hunger. This condition..."

Maybe he’d said the wrong thing.

Maybe Johnny had been waiting for an excuse.

Whatever the reason, when Moru stepped behind him, Johnny suddenly spun around.

A brick was already in his hand.

It was red, jagged, and looked remarkably suitable for settling disputes.

WHAM!

The brick smashed into Moru’s head and sent him sprawling.

Help you? Help you my ass!

You blew up my house and then came here asking me for help?

Do I look that easy to bully?

Johnny wasn’t finished.

He raised the brick again.

This time, however, it never came down.

Someone had caught his wrist.

Johnny turned.

Claire stood there, slightly shorter than him, holding his wrist with one delicate hand.

She smiled.

It was not a reassuring smile.

"Let go. I don’t hit wo—"

Johnny didn’t finish.

His world suddenly spun.

The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back.

What?

That couldn’t be right.

There was no way he had just lost to a woman.

He must have slipped.

That was it.

He’d slipped.

"Listen... I have principles..."

Johnny slowly pushed himself upright.

He didn’t even make it all the way to his feet.

The world blurred again.

THUD.

He was on the ground.

Again.

And again.

And again.

By the time Claire had thrown him somewhere around the seventeenth or eighteenth time, Johnny had begun questioning every decision that had brought him to this point in life.

Finally, he raised both hands in surrender.

"Okay! Okay! You’re the boss! Please, ma’am, have mercy!"

Only then did Claire decide her revenge was complete.

She dusted off her hands with a satisfied little smile and finally let him go.

Evenson watched the entire spectacle from the side.

He shook his head.

Somehow, a mage had mastered a grappling technique so ridiculous that it looked like she could throw anyone the instant they touched her.

At this point, Evenson didn’t even know what to say.

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