C11 Tongue-Tied

In a dark, abyss-like room only ever visited by one "man", a pair of sapphire eyes opened for the first time in what seemed like centuries.

---

*Cough*

"Ah. Oh. Woah."

"It felsh… so weeerd.. bein aable tho tak wit an rreel mooth."

'I must say, going that long without a body does mess you up a bit. Especially when you're still functioning the whole time and have to learn to live without one. It will take me some time just to be able to walk right, though it won't take too long with my new brain.'

"Hooly fook!"

'I can think so much better now!'

The only reason I could think before was that ROB preserved my previous level of intelligence and then I "upgraded" it by allowing emotions. The keyword being, "allow", everything was still barebones as shit.

And right now it's like someone turned on the lights, while I never knew it was dark.

The best part though is that I can use my new brain as a model for my "soul brain" so to speak, and I will have this level of brainpower even without a body.

But, I will still need my physical brain to use my body, and I can't have two thought processes at once since my physical brain will just mirror my soul.

"Itss all reddy eeseer tooo tawk."

'Anyway, enough jibber-jabber. I need to make sure I can break these chains.'

Their draining effect doesn't mean much to me, so it just depends on if I can break them or pull out the anchors. I would just elementalize my body into Soulfire but the chains prevent that.

'I'm glad this kind of situation won't happen again once I unlock my escape tool.'

Slowly, I get my feet under my body and, very shakily, stand up. After gaining my balance I start to tug on the arm chains. They do nothing but straighten out.

Then I slowly start empowering my body with soul energy, as I do not want to break them until Mephisto leaves, and just want to be sure I can get out.

Even at 5x the chains look the same, but the anchors are starting to wine a bit.

At 10x the anchors are wining noticeably more and the ground is starting to crack around them slightly. Strangely enough, the chains are still fine.

At this point, I stop since I am confident in breaking free if I switch to Soulfire empowerment which broke through to 23x after learning how to make Holy Hellfire.

'Speaking of which, I can upgrade the core of my Soulfire Engine(SE) along with my "brain". I wonder how much stronger it will get?'

Now it's time to check on Johnny since I know he had just left Blackheart, who had taken Roxanne, and started heading back to Slade's place when time froze.

Stopping my train of thought I focussed on my connection to Johnny.

--- [A/N: Yes, I looked at the script for Ghost Rider since I couldn't remember how it all went. I did not copy the script, however, and this is still my writing. No plagiarism here.]

I see Johnny getting off his motorcycle and jogging up to Carter Slade who's just leaning against a tall gravestone.

'I'm not connected to him anymore, but he still has enough juice for "one last ride".'

"You're back." He says.

Getting closer, Johnny asks. "Where is it, Slade?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb Slade! They have Roxanne. I need the contract to get her back."

Carter didn't respond so Johnny grabbed the shovel next to him and starts to go grave robbing. "I'll dig this whole place up if I have to!"

After a few minutes of digging, Carter came up to him. "What you want could bring Hell on Earth."

Johnny didn't stop digging but still responded. "I can't let her die! Not because of me, and not when I know how to save her."

"And when Mephisto brings an army of demons to earth, what will you do then?" Carter asks, almost as if talking about the weather.

Johnny answers back in the same way. "You'll just have to trust I don't let that happen."

'It's not quite how I remember the movie, but it's close.'

Carter thinks to himself for a moment, then sports a small grin. "... Why the hell not? You sold your soul for as good a reason there is, instead of greed or power. So if anyone can pull it off, it'll be you."

Johnny finally stopped digging at this point. "Just like that? You're going to give me a contract that could end the world?"

"I already did." Carter's grin just grows.

"Huh?"

"It's in the shovel. Just take off the blade."

Carter even started to chuckle after seeing Johnny's face.

'Too bad I can't see his face, it's probably pretty funny.'

Carter continued. "There are 500 miles from here to San Venganza. We better start riding now, or Blackheart might get impatient."

"We?"

"I got enough juice for one last ride," Carter says with a look of reminisce. "And I've been saving it for a moment just like this."

By this point, Johnny had already retrieved the contract and was walking over to his motorcycle. "Thanks, Slade. I mean it."

Carter back to his normal self, just replies. "Don't mention it. I would have given it to you eventually anyway, and I'm too old for this shit. I have been for a long time now."

Two riders. One on a motorcycle and one on a horse both start to turn as the sun conveniently sets.

---

"An thas weere I stoop watcchin bcuz Im not goin too set her and just watch heem ride."

'I'm getting better, just a bit more.'

Alright, I need to get my body fully functioning for what's to come. I don't want to be dealing with Mephisto and end up tripping over my own feet or getting tongue-tied.

First, I'll upgrade the core of my SE and have it make sure all my Soulfire related abilities work. It should also be able to help in battle more too.

After that, I'll work on getting my body in working order, especially my wings, and then work on my other abilities if I have time.

As for ensuring Blackheart opens the gateway allowing Hell to come to Earth.

I'm not that worried, because as far as I can tell, he didn't go rogue like in the movie, and Mephisto told Johnny to help him, not stop him.

'Unfortunately, that probably means there are other factors at play I am going to have to counter that wasn't in the movie.'

"Ma onle advantij iz unpredictability."

'... How the fuck can I get the biggest word spot on, but the small ones are shit?!'

---

In a desolate location, many things were normal, like the weather or the tumbleweeds. There was nothing wrong with them at all.

One abnormality did exist, however.

There is a road, with a motorcycle driving down it… while on fire. Oh, and there's a flaming skeleton riding on it as well… can't forget that.

'Pfft. Hahaha! Why am I thinking with the style of a god damn narrator?!'

Anyhoo, Johnny is almost to San Venganza to exchange with Blackheart.

I get that it's in the middle of nowhere, but this guy must have been driving in circles because it's almost dawn, and he's riding a motorcycle that can go hundreds of miles an hour.

'Well, I guess that's just how Marvel Is, so I better get used to it.'

I'm all ready on my end, and just need Mephisto to leave Hell. I don't think I need more than an hour to claim the "throne", so I hope whoever tries to stop Mephisto can prevent too many casualties.

If not… well… that's alright too. Resurrecting people shouldn't be too hard even with my current skill set, let alone with the power of a Hell Lord.

'I don't plan on staying a Hell Lord though. It's far too restrictive, and it's too much work.'

But that doesn't mean I won't take as many benefits as I can before I give it up and let the other Lords fight over it.

I'm going to "eat up" as much of Hell as I can without destroying the cycle souls naturally follow after death in Marvel.

'Hell is like an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet for me, and I plan to eat as much as I can.'

Back to Johnny.

He's just pulling into the ghost town that is San Venganza just as the sun rises and his pasty ass face reappears.

[A/N: Why am I being so mean??]

He parks his motorcycle next to an old well and starts walking to the most likely place a demon is to inhabit.

The church.

That and Blackheart's goons are standing outside of it, so he probably just figured he would be in there.

As he walks up, he notices something strange. The "Spirit" isn't getting rowdy and wanting to burn them, but he shakes it off since Roxanne is more important to him at the minute.

'That's obviously because I'm not insane like OG Zadkiel, and I didn't keep up the guise to see if that's enough to influence the outcome.'

If it isn't enough, then I'll just make it so he "conveniently" stays in the sun or his powers malfunction at just the right moment, so he can't stop Blackheart.

And if there is someone else that tries to stop him… I'll think of something.

'Speaking of which, I think I already noticed something… Oh, hahaha! Interesting.'

//Note//

It's been like five years since I last watched Ghost Rider so… I think I did pretty good.

The next chapter will have the first real "action" in it, so it will probably be shit.

But hey, who knows? I sure don't!

P.S.

If you're wondering what the MC looks like, and haven't been able to piece it together while reading, then too bad…

Nah, but really. His appearance will change a bit when he does his "rebirth", so you will learn then.

Embrace the mystery!!

P.S.S.

I was just reading through some comments before posting this chapter, especially one from KoroSensei14.

I have decided that Hell will not just be a pit stop.

So, with the power I wield as the Author, I may contrive some plot device in order to make him stay a bit longer and flex his muscles as a Hell Lord.

P.S.S.S.

OHHHH, I just got a really good idea!

Imagine, instead of leading an army of demons, it's an army of little chibi Ghost Riders on little chibi motorcycles!!!

Wait! No… That's… That's just too powerful.

*Sniffle*

Oh, how glorious it could have been…