Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. It has no intentions of resembling any real persons dead or alive. This is entirely from my imagination, with a little help from already established sources. This story is based loosely on the comic book character "The Punisher" from Marvel Comics. Other characters may appear from Marvel comics as well as DC Comics.
Punisher and all related characters copyright Marvel Comics.
Blade and all related characters copyright Marvel Comics.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel copyright Joss Whedon, United Paramount Network and Warner Bros. Respectively.
The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice.
I have written another story on nifty entitled "Tales of a Real Dark Knight". It is in the Celebrity/Boy Bands section. Batman may appear in this story once or twice, as the Punisher may appear in "Tales of a Real Dark Knight". Any comments may be sent to authorjames2002@yahoo.com
Thank you and enjoy.
Chapter 13 Widows and Magic
Punisher opened his eyes and looked around. His head hurt and he felt groggy. At first, his vision was blurred but slowly focused, and the first thing he saw was Whistler looking back at him.
"You woke up," he greeted. "It's about damn time."
Punisher looked around and saw Blade and Johnny, both completely naked laying on the machines. He looked down and saw he was naked as well.
"You know, I got rather jealous looking at you three naked men there. You have great bodies, big cocks, and the funny thing is, you don't share it with women. Well, maybe Blade does. Strange said it was best for you three to be naked, though I don't know why. Maybe it's a doctor thing. Or it could be a wizard thing. Hell, it could just be a queer thing and he wanted to see you naked. Who knows?"
"How are the other?" Punisher asked as he sat up, the room spinning. He teetered on the bed and Whistler ran over to steady him. "Thanks."
"The others are fine and should be waking up within the next few hours," Dr. Strange replied as he entered the room. "Those two received a large amount of the tranquilizer."
"How did we escape?"
"You have Natasha to thank for that," Whistler answered.
"Whose Natasha?"
"Our new Vampire Slayer. She showed up to save your three asses."
"And what attracted asses they are," Natasha muttered as she walked in. The three men turned to her. "It doesn't mean I want to do anything with them, just pointing out beauty."
"Right," Whistler said not sounding very convinced at the Slayer's motives. "Anyway, the Council just sent word that she was coming. She's our replacement for Tandy. And Dr. Strange agreed to help us out, too."
Slowly Blade opened his eyes and sat up. "What the..."
Whistler explained what happened to both Blade and Punisher.
"So whoever the big evil is, it hit us last night. The question is, what is it?"
"We don't know," Natasha said folding her arms and walking across the room. "But it is very powerful. We need to get a visual on it in order to defeat it."
"Then we'll do that," Blade replied.
"How long will he be unconscious?" Punisher asked referring to Johnny.
"He will be out for a while longer. His human body could not take the violence or the amount of tranquilizers it received. He will be fine, though."
Punisher stood up and walked out of the room. Blade stood up and followed.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Blade said once the doors closed.
"I'm sure he will, too."
"Look, I don't see why we have to be like this."
"Like what?" Punisher asked turning around.
"Angry at each other."
"You don't like my methods, Blade. You don't like what I do and how I do it."
"All true. But we are team mates. We don't have to be so angry at each other. Do you hate me that much for telling you about my feelings?"
Something stirred inside both men. For Blade, it was about being honest with his feelings. He was being vulnerable, and it bothered him. Yet it also told him that it was the right thing to do. For Punisher, it was acknowledging something deep inside, something that he never considered before.
"I don't hate you," Punisher whispered.
"Why do you act like it?"
Punisher turned around. "Because I don't know what to do about it. I am with Johnny. And I love him."
"So?" Blade said. "Another person can't like you because you are with someone else?"
"It isn't that. I shouldn't like two people at the same time."
This statement floored Blade. In the Daywalker's mind, Punisher never liked him. This was the last thing he expected Punisher to say.
"What do you mean? Do you..."
"Have feelings for you? Yes. No. Sort of. God, I don't know."
Weatherby ran his fingers through his hair as he made his way up the stairs. Blade followed behind him.
"There isn't anything wrong with having feelings," Blade said.
"Even having feelings for two people?"
"Even then. Feelings can't be controlled. Sure, you can repress them, ignore them, hell, even deny they don't exist. But that doesn't control them or the effects they have on you. You haven't done anything wrong with your feelings. You haven't cheated on Johnny."
"Though at the moment it's tempting," Weatherby replied referring to the fact that both men were standing naked in front of each other.
Blade looked down and then chuckled. "I finally got to see what I've fantasized about. I must say, it's bigger than I expected."
Weatherby smiled. "Yeah, well. Genetics made it that big."
The two stood silent for a moment.
"I don't want to come between you and Johnny," Blade finally said.
"Literally taken, that would be a good image for a porn cover."
Blade chuckled and continued. "I know you two care about each other. I don't want to be the reason for you two splitting up."
"I appreciate that. And...I'm flattered."
Blade nodded.
"I guess we should get dressed now."
The two men headed upstairs to their respective rooms and, after a short while, joined Whistler, Black Widow, and Dr. Strange in the lair.
"What all do we know about this big bad?" Punisher said.
"Aside from the information you uncovered from the young man in the hospital, nothing. I'm still doing research and having the computer search for Internet references to the same thing. Without Harris here, things are going slow."
"I hope things are going okay for them in Orlando," Blade said. "I don't want this opportunity to be ruined by a bunch of vampires or demons or anything."
"You don't have to worry about that. Batgirl the Vampire Slayer is down there. I'm sure they are living it up not having adult supervision."
"What about Harris's mom?" Blade asked.
"As I said, without adult supervision. She is probably still in shock from the Vampire War."
"Do you want me to check on the young man?" Punisher asked.
"That might be a good idea."
Punisher nodded and left taking his Suburban.
"What do you want us to do?" Black Widow asked.
The telephone rang before Whistler could answer. "Hello?...he's right here."
Whistler handed Blade the phone who took it upstairs. "Hello? Oh, Hi, Tia. How are you? Sorry I haven't gotten back to you. There were some problems that I had to take care of."
"Well, I found a lead on my brother," Tia said as she walked through her apartment. "It's a fresh one. I'm feeling good about this."
"That's good," Blade replied from the other line. "When did you want to check it out?"
"As soon as possible would be nice."
"I'll see if I can get away tonight and we'll go."
"That would be great," Tia said. "See you soon."
Blade entered the lair again. "That was Tia. She has a lead on her brother. I'm going to go help her. I should be back in the morning."
"You're going to leave us with this?"
"Punisher is off trying to get more information; you have a wizard and a Slayer at your beck and call. You don't really need me at the moment."
"Fine, go," Whistler said waving his hand. "Maybe I can find a replacement for you, too."
Blade hopped on his motorcycle and left the mansion.
"I don't know why I even bother," Whistler muttered.
"You don't have much control over your charges," Black Widow pointed out.
"The only one who is really my charge is off working on control over her mutant powers."
"A mutant Vampire Slayer? Intriguing."
"Very much so," Dr. Strange added. "Mutants have always fascinated me."
"What till you see Cloak. He's a mutant and a wizard."
"What's his mutation?"
"He can open up portals to a dark dimension, make whoever gets sucked there feel despair and all that. It drains their life energy and makes them compliant."
Dr. Strange nodded. "Why is he into magic?"
"I honestly don't know. That was something that no one has ever said. Johnny over there into magic, too."
"Believe me, I know already. I had an encounter with the spirit Zarathos, the spirit of vengeance. I was the one who helped give back control to Johnny."
"Yeah, they told me. I love the gas cap idea."
"Thank you."
Punisher arrived at the hospital and went right to the room the boy was assigned. He heard talking coming from the room and listened.
"You told them everything?" a sinister voice asked.
"As much as I knew, which wasn't a whole lot."
"You betrayed me."
"No," the boy said frantically. "I did what I could to be helped. I'm telling you so you know what's going on. I know who the winning side is. They did this to me in the first place."
"Did they?" the voice replied thoughtfully. "Hmm, sounds like the local heroes aren't quite as good as they put on. They have a dark side to them. I can use this to my advantage."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"The time has come for me to play my hand. I will reveal myself to them. They will know who is playing them and who will be their conqueror."
Punisher drew his gun and pushed the door open. The room was pitch black except for the silhouette of the being talking to the young boy. He could not make out the beings form so he could not identify whether it was a human or a demon. He took aim at the creature and fired. The creature let out a squeal of pain before leaping out the open window. When it was outside, it shot straight up into the air.
Punisher ran to the window and poked his head out, gun ready to drop the creature. But it was gone. He pulled his head back in and turned to the young man.
"What the fuck were you doing? We brought you here, promised to protect you, and now you tell our enemy what's going on? You are a fucking traitor."
"Please, don't be mad. I did it to..."
"To save your scrawny ass? You want your ass saved? Do you think that evil monster is going to save your ass from me? Like hell it is!"
Johnny shot up from his sleep-like state. He looked around and realized he was home. When he felt the breeze across his soft genitals, he looked down to see himself completely naked.
"You're safe, Johnny," a familiar voice said.
He turned to the source of the voice. "Dr. Strange. What are you doing here?"
"I believe you already know the reason for that."
"Yeah, I do," Johnny said rubbing his forehead. "Everything is coming back to me. That was the weirdest dream I had."
"Dream?" Dr. Strange asked. "What was it about?"
"I sensed betrayal surrounding Michael and Blade. There is something horrible going to happen, I can feel it."
"Do you know what it is?"
"No. Only that those two, Michael and Blade, will be affected tremendously. I fear for the worst."
"We'll see what we can do," Strange said as he left the room.
"I can't wait to see," Johnny said. "I need to know."
After getting dressed, Johnny exited the infirmary and found Whistler consulting with Dr. Strange. An unfamiliar female was exiting the training facility in leotards. Johnny ignored her and went straight to Whistler.
"Where's Michael?" he asked.
"He went to the hospital to check on the youth."
"What about Blade?"
"He went to help his friend Tia. Honestly, I wish I could have some supernaturally powered person at hand to actually do some damage to the world of demons."
"You have me," Natasha said.
"You see," Strange continued, "he is very worked up. I feel his dream may be a link to the spirit Zarathos giving him incite to a terrible event or events that may occur."
"What do you suggest?"
"Let them go out and find your warriors. Send Johnny for Punisher and Natasha for Blade. They may be able to protect the two."
"Fine," Whistler said. "Both of you go. Find them and make sure everything is all right."
Johnny nodded, pulled out the gas cap and muttered the incantation. His visage transformed into that of Ghost Rider and his mystical motorcycle formed. He mounted it and headed out into the night toward the hospital.
Natasha changed into her Black Widow costume and asked, "Where do I look?"
"Start with the Pub. I think he left Tia's apartment address somewhere around here," Whistler replied as he looked through some papers. "Here it is. Start from there."
Black Widow nodded, mounted one of the motorcycles in the bay and took off into the night in search of Blade.
To Be Continued...
What do you think is going to happen with Blade and Punisher? Do you think Ghost Rider's dream was prophetic? What about Blade and Punisher talking with each other while naked? What do you think that will lead to? Questions, comments, criticisms are welcome!