Midnight In the Marvel Universe

The Good Samaritan

You always thought that it was a Good Samaritan who saved me that night.

But the truth is, when I came to, it wasn't the Good Samaritan standing over me.IT WAS THE DEVIL.

And whatever was inside of him, he gave to ME.

________________________________________________________________________________

Los Angeles, California

"Look, all I'm saying is that your a real talented actor with a promising future. Seriously." Ms.Fa leaned forward, hands resting on her large glass desk, black painted nails clicking off one another.



She was so close, her green eyes not daring to blink, her seemingly ageless face locked in a small grin, attention fixed on the phone set to speakerphone sitting on the table and the phone alone.



"Your talents are really something both the studio and you can benefit from. We will launch your career and in exchange, you'll help us create a blockbuster for the ages. Further details, such as percentages and official payment can be worked out at a later date, but for now, all I need is a yes or a no. So, Mr. Williams, is it a yes? Or is it a no?"



The line was silent for a moment. Fa tensed, her smile broadening. This was the part she loved the most.

The decision making of a deal of the lifetime. It always tore actors and actresses in two, forcing them to decide whether to sell their souls or keep them and suffer a great loss. It was a silent picture that entertained Fa more than any movie or show in the world.



Finally, Williams shaky yet excited voice broke over the phone. "Yes! Yes, please! I would be honored to work for Dante Productions!"



Fa's hands unclasped, sliding over to her laptop. The smile was nearly breaking her face it was so large.



"Excellent! I'm sending over a few forms and documents to sign right now. Just basic stuff, liability and everything. Pretty boring to be honest."




Leaning in and lowering her voice like she and the phone we're sharing a secret, Fa whispered, "Honestly, I would just skip over it all and initial at the bottom. There's no need to waste time on all that."



Williams laughed. "Don't have to tell me twice! I hate reading that stuff ."



Fa sent the email, a crocodile smile plastered on her face not so much joyous as much as it was devious. "Don't we all. Be seeing you soon, Mr. Williams."



Fa ended the call and spun around in her chair, staring out the window overlooking the hills and buildings of LA beneath her. From all the way up in her tower, the city looked clean, lit up like a million Christmas trees, every skyscraper towering higher than the one before it.

Any visitor to LA would come through and be enchanted by it's wondrous sights and sounds. To a native like Fa, however, the cleanliness of the city faded away, revealing all the dirt and trash that littered the streets and filled the alleys.

It was a city where only the strong and the crafty survived. Ms.Fa was both of those and more.

Spinning back around, Fa swiped the phone from the desk, opening texts. There was only one phone number in the app. Every message was a number, the latest number being 4,567,102.

Fingers flying over the screen, Fa typed: 4,567,103. She never received an reply. She never needed one. It was all apart of her never-ending job, one she would continue as long as needed.


As long as she was needed to.

Stretching and rising from her desk, Fa grabbed her purse and phone. It had been a long day, and a reward was in order. Maybe a hot bath and a cold yet strong drink. Such a simple need. And yet, a satisfying one.

Striding towards the door, Fa's phone, cut her day dreaming short. She stopped halfway to the door, shoulders tensing once more, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.

Pulling out the phone and recomposing herself, the woman answered the call cheerfully,



"Hello, this is Ms.Fa of Dante Productions. How may I help you?"



"Hi, my name is Robbie, I'm an aspiring actor and was looking to see if I could set up an appointment." The deep, accented voice sounded hispanic– and somewhat familiar to Fa's ears. "I was hoping to get some information on your studio first, though. Haven't heard a lot about it but it sounds like a promising opportunity."



Internally, Fa was screaming. End of a long day and here was one more idiotic human standing in her way. Externally, however, she was all charm.



"Certainly! What questions do you have?"



"Well, for starters, I was wondering who owns the company? There's no mention of a studio head or owner of the company."



"Oh!" Fa swallowed back her surprise. "Well... truth be told, that answers a little above my pay grade. You'd be surprised by what I get told and what I'm not told."



"Huh. Ok..." Robbie didn't sound convinced by Fa's flimsy answer.



"Something else I found that I was hoping you could answer." Robbie's asked. "Where is the backlot that you shoot on? The website talks about this giant and fantastic set that you use for many films, but there's no address."

"Once again," Fa said nervously. "questions a little above my pay grade." She let out a breathe of air and wiped a hand across her brow, flinging sweat to the side. She stared at the back of her hand, surprised once more. Sweat? Since when did...

"Ok. One more question then." Robbies voice broke Fa's train of thought, the tone hardening. "At what point in the contract does it say 'your soul is damned to hell for all eternity?' Or is that also above your pay grade?"

For the first time in her life, Fa was speechless. Her jaw tried to move but the joints seemed to freeze up, locking in place. The woman simply stood there, shaken to her core.



"Are you still there Ms.Fa? I hope you are."



The jaw finally unfroze, words tumbling amid a blind rage.



"Whoever you are, you best hang up now before I call the police on you. What kind of sick joke do you think this is? Do you know who I am? What kind of company I work for?"



Robbie's response was cold and sharp, like a knife. "Oh, I know exactly who you are and what you work for Fa. Thing is, you have no idea who I am. So how about you look at your monitor, the one connected to the cameras in the lobby, and see who your dealing with?"

For a moment, Fa couldn't move. She stood there, eyes wide, face frozen in shock. It was as though someone had taken an hourglass and turned it on it's side, freezing time. Then the glass tipped over, and the grains fell freely.

Fa practically sprinted to her desk, nearly falling over herself. Flipping open her laptop, Fa selected an app that gave her access to every camera in the building. Clicking on the one labeled "lobby", the screen changed, giving way to the luxurious and plush lobby of Dante Productions.

Standing in the middle of the lobby, merely a few feet away from Mickey, the security man for the night, was a skinny yet tall hispanic man, phone pressed to his ear. The hair on his head, along with his face, was cut short, clean, just like his jeans and black with white stripes jacket.

Fa had never seen this man before. And yet, there was a sense that this man had a connection. One that the agent should remember well.

When he spoke, his lips matched the words coming through the phone perfectly.



"Do you recognize me, Fa? No?" Robbie turned his head, looking directly at the camera, eyes boring directly into it. "How about now?"



Robbie's eyes lit up, bright orange, a fiery inferno burning inside of a single man. The fire was much more than a simple inferno, however. There was something else in them. Faces that seemed to rise and fall in an instant. Faces locked in eternal screams. Eternal suffering.

If any normal person had looked at it, they would have assumed it was a trick of the light or bad meat. But Ms.Fa was no normal person. She was hardly a person at all. She knew this was no trick. It was a terrible sign.

One of death.

One of pain.

One of vengeance.

The phone clattered to the ground as Fa backed straight up against the window. Her hands clasped around her mouth, eyes wide, breathe ragged,


"God..." Fa's skin turned a bright red, like a bad sunburn, but she didn't notice. She didn't care.


"We both know this isn't him." Somehow Robbie had heard the cry all the way across the room. "We both know who this is, chica. And he's come to collect."


Robbie hung up, turning away from the camera. Towards the elevator.

That broke Fa out of stupor. She ran towards the desk, hitting a red button beneath it. A silent alarm that would set the LMD in the lobby and anywhere else in the building to an instant seek and destroy mode.

Mickey lurched into action, lunging out at Robbie, hands wrapping around the Latino's throat. The two struggled as Fa snatched up the phone.

Dialing the only number in the phone, she stood there, listening to the dial tone. Several tense moments passed. Then something answered.


"This is Alecto, assistant to the lord of torment. Make it quick."



"Alecto, it's Fa. I need to talk to him. NOW."



"You know the rules. He doesn't take the calls, only the texts. If you have a complaint, I can direct you to the eighth circle. The Fraud company would be able to–"



"God damnit Alecto!" Fa winced as her skin burned once more. "I don't have time for this. I need a teleport out of here right now."



"You know we don't allow those unless–"



"Zarathos is here!" The word brought Alecto's to an almost audible screeching halt.


"That bastards back and he's coming for me! Just like the others! Now, I need you to open a portal right–"



BBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP



Fa pulled the phone away from her in disbelief. She'd been hung up on. Lowering the phone, her eyes caught sight of the lobby.

Robbie had torn Mickey's arms right out off their sockets. The LMD's empty sockets spurted a mix of blood and oil, and yet it was still trying to tear Robbie limb from limb with it's teeth and legs.

Effortlessly, Robbie lifted the robot high into the air, tossing it right at the camera, screaming in inaudible rage.

The camera went to a winter wonderland of static. For several moments, all was quiet. Fa backed away from the desk, chest heaving, lips shuddering.

Her back hit the glass once again and she screamed in terror, jumping away and spinning, her eyes falling on the beautiful yet dirty city beneath the tower.

At the front of the office, the elevator dinged, the doors sliding wide. Silhouetted against the elevators florescent light, Robbie stood, once clean jacket splattered with blood. He stepped out of the elevator, striding towards the terrified woman.

Fa looked around the office frantically, trying to find anything, some way out–

Her green eyes locked on the glass. She hesitated for a moment.

Then the glass shattered into a million pieces and Ms.Fa tumbled out the window, falling down into the filth of LA.

The buildings and lights blurred together as she spiraled past them. Her right leg clipped a nearby building, snapping into an awkward angle. The ground flew towards her, growing closer and closer and–

Fa hit the ground like a locomotive hitting a brick wall. Bones snapped. Teeth broke. One of her green eyes even popped out, spiraling off into the alley.

And yet, Fa didn't scream. She didn't cry out in pain or gasp a dying breathe. The only noise that escaped her lips was a single word.

"Shit."

Fa somehow managed to bring herself to one knee, feeling shards of bone poke through her flesh. Her left hand touched the socket where the green eye had been. In it's place was a small black orb, like that of a fly's, filled with hundreds of little beady eyes.

Shaking her head, auburn hair fell out in clumps, replaced by large black spikes breaking their way through her skull. Her skin, already a bright red, darkened into a scaly blood red.

Hands lengthening into talons, Fa brought them to her head, pulling hard. Her slender neck shot up, becoming crooked and stretched.

The demon Fa breathed a sigh of relief. She was so sick of that constricting sack of flesh. She would have to fit back into it when she had escaped, but for now, she needed to be in her true form.

That prick Mephistio wouldn't help her? Wouldn't repay her for all the souls she gave him? All the young potential actors she damned to hell. That was fine with her. She would deal with this spirit herself.

Behind her, Robbie hit the ground with a thud, landing on his back. He let out a moan and one or two obscenities as he rose to his feet. Cracking his neck, he turned in time to see the demoness rushing at him.

The claws tore into Robbie's face, carving it up. The talons shoved into the spirit's shoulders, forcing him agains the alleys wall. Lifting him up high, Fa glared up at Robbie, green and black eyes filled with rage and madness.


"You want to kill me, boy?!" Fa spat the words, her once perfect voice high and shrill. "To what end? You really think Zarthos will obey you? That the two of you are buddies? Your nothing to him! Your just a tool he can use! You. Are. NOTHING!!!!"



"I know."



Robbie grimaced in pain, but he stared right back at Fa, eyes boring into hers.



"I know I'm just a vessel for this thing. That it's a creature of destruction. A weapon that may one day be the end of me. Whether that means it kills me or leaves me, so be it."



"But I made a deal. A deal that we both agree on. A deal that allows the spirit to pay off all of his debts. To finally get even. With everyone. With every demon, including you Fa. For everything you've done to him–locking him a way, making him this vengeful spirit."

Fa laugh sounded like a series of broken bells cleaning together. "Take it from me kid. That sounds like a terrible deal. What do you get out of it? Being a puppet? Being a 'vessel'?"

Robbie grinned a bright red smile. "I wasn't finished. This spirit inside me, Zarathos, he gets to settle all his debts. And me. I get to deliver justice. Justice I wasn't able to get when I was just Robbie Reyes. Justice for everyone wronged by you and demons and people just like you."



"Justice," Robbie continued as the slash marks began to smolder and his head smoke.


"That I've come to accept as vengeance."


His eyes lit up once more, melting away along with parts of his flesh, revealing the real inferno and flames burning beneath.



"It's time to pay for your sins."



Robbie Reyes yelled in anguish as his flesh burned away. His hair caught fire, becoming a bonfire on top of his head. The fire spread down to his neck, body and arms, burning it down to the bone.

His hands burst into flames, scalding Fa's talons. She pulled away, screeching in pain. She stumbled down the alley, turning back and cowering in fear at the devil before her.

The Spirit of Vengeance advanced towards the demoness, grabbing her and pushing her to the ground. She screamed and clawed at the Spirit, but he felt no pain. He didn't move or budge against the attacks.

He simply grabbed her arms, pinning her to the ground. A skeletal hand closed around her face, forcing her to look up into the Spirit's eyes.

All it took was a glance. A glance to see all the souls staring back at her. All 4,567,103 of them and more that she had damned to hell. Screaming at her. Reaching towards her. Pulling her in. Burning her to a crisp.

Ms.Fa let out a scream of pain and terror as her eyes burned and turned black as soot. The flames didn't stop there. The inferno consumed Fa's body, burning her to a crisp.


The scream died. And along with it, the demon known as Ms.Fa. All that was left was the blackened, misshapen husk that no one would ever identify. A husk trapped in eternal torment and an ever lasting scream.

The Spirit stared at Fa for only a moment. It was pleased with Robbie. It was pleased with it's work. And there was still much to be done. They both knew it.

Stepping over the already forgotten body, the Ghost Rider walked off down the filthy alley of LA, already ready to pay off another debt.

Ready to be the Good Samaritan for those who needed it.