The Seekers: Comic Book Fanfiction from Iron Rod Studio & Avengers 2000

#5 - Tapping the Vein,
Part One

What has come before... Jennifer Kale has brought together the current Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Magick and Firestar to form the latest incarnation of the Seekers. Their aim is to stop Roland Fannin, a demon intent on unleashing the Mabdhara on the Earth. However, he made the first strike by trying to kill them all, and most recently, John Blaze - the original Ghost Rider.

The woman sitting on the couch was tall, slim and her skin was alabaster white. She still looked much better than the man and woman who sat at her either side. Their heads lolled back, and blood smeared their clothes. Lilith carried on her conversation, seemingly oblivious to their presence, and to the sucking and crunching noises echoing through the room.

"So, you plan on leaving these Seekers to their own ends? I thought the plan was to kill them?"

The tall, elegantly clad man looking out the small home's parlor window answered without turning. "There are more important things to be done. In the past I've gotten obsessed with killing the Seekers, and forgotten about more important goals. That's not going to happen this time."

Finally he turned, a small smile playing around his lips. "Besides, you saw how incompetent they are. The underlings will keep them entertained while I work on opening the gateway. Once that happens, it won't matter how many Seekers there are."

Lilith raised a pencil-thin eyebrow as she asked, "Confident, aren't we?"

Roland Fannin regarded his ally. "The Seekers have thwarted me in the past. This time things will be different. This time, the group is made up of amateurs and novices. And soon, one of their potentially, most dangerous new members will become their most lethal threat."

Lilith stayed quiet and waited for him to elaborate. Fannin did not disappoint.

"Zarathos needs a new body. I've found him one that will make him more powerful than he has ever been."

There was a disruption, resembling a heat haze, in the air above Lilith's shoulder and the flaming skull visage of the demon Zarathos shimmered into view.

"My own body is powerful enough. I need no other." The voice seemed to come from a great distance.

"Ah, but your body is currently solid stone. Isn't it? No, this will make much more of an impression."

"This is no..."

Fannin interrupted the demon's snarled response. "Let me show you what I have in mind. I think it will change your mind."

Reaching down, Fannin brushed papers and magazines from the coffee table in front of the couch. Then he grabbed the corpse of the man and held its neck over it. With a slash of his hand he opened the jugular and thick, congealing blood oozed out and settled on its glass surface.

Tossing the corpse back to the chair, Fannin ignored Lilith's annoyed looked as he twisted his fingers into a series of ancient symbols. With a word of power the blood began to move, flattening into the glass. A scene formed, showing two men driving in a car. The passenger was a slight man with tousled brown hair. A pair of round, black framed glasses hung on his nose as he snored softly.

Fannin looked at Zarathos as he devoured the image. With a smirk he asked, "Do you recognize him?"

Zarathos looked up, his image solidified slightly, and the flames around his head danced maniacally, when he answered with one word.

"Banner."

"You have got to be kidding me?"

"John needs me here. I'm the only one who can heal his injuries. Besides..."

"I'm not talking about that," Marc Spector broke in angrily. "I'm talking about us running off on another mission and not focusing on the main problem. Surely you can see these are all distractions to keep us busy?"

Jennifer Kale glared back at him. Through gritted teeth she said, "Right now we have no leads on where Fannin, or Lilith, is. While you are down in New Orleans looking into the huge flux in the chaos magic there, I'll be taking care of Johnny, and," her voice rose to cut off Marc, "I'll be scrying for Fannin."

Marc Spector, the Moon Knight glared at her. There was something different about him, Jennifer thought. He's more intense. More focused.

"Then let's get to it," he finally said. "You need to be careful. There's something going to happen here. I don't know exactly what it is, but it involves you."

"How?" Jennifer asked in surprise.

Marc turned away and threw, "Later," over his shoulder.

Dan Kale, the current host for the spirit of vengeance known as Ghost Rider, threw a significant glance at the other two people in the room. Amanda Sefton raised her eyebrows, while Angelica Jones simply shrugged.

Angelica turned her attention to Jennifer. "You're going to find him, right?" It was phrased as a comment more than a question, and there was a hard edge to her voice, almost daring Jennifer to tell her no.

"I'm going to try."

Moon Knight, now in costume which had appeared out of a white swirl of lights, said, "Amanda can you get us there, or do we need to take the helicopter?"

With a wave of her hand, Amanda Sefton opened a portal. With a smile, she said, "Let's go."

"Are you sure he came this way?"

"Yeah, he came this way. He's making no effort to hide his tracks."

"What's going on here Blade? Hannibal has never acted this way before. Even you trusted him."

The black man, covered by a long, black trench coat, turned to his companion. His eyes were troubled as he replied. "I don't know. He's only lost control once before, and I thought since he came back, he didn't have those type of problems anymore."

"There's way too many strange things going on in this town. Every time we come here, we run into something worse that the last. With all the reports of vampire activity down here, I'm expecting to walk into a convention of them."

Blade simply nodded. Drake is right, he thought. There's something big going down and we have no idea what it is, or what we are walking into.

Out loud he said, "He's in there." He indicated a large, three storey house set back from the road. "He's not alone either."

Drake looked at the footprints in the grass and sucked in a breath. "That's a lot of people."

"Let's see how many."

Slowly they made their way to the house. The windows were covered in dust, and the house did not appear to have seen visitors for years before today. Carefully, Blade looked in through the front window. Empty, he mouthed to his partner.

When they reached the front door, Blade grasped it in one hand, and was about to turn the handle when it exploded outwards, sending him flying backwards off the porch.

"You shouldn't have come," the figure of Hannibal King hissed at them.

Blade rolled to his feet and drew his silver-impregnated katana smoothly. "You don't want to do this King. Settled down and we'll see what we can do to help you."

In reply, King threw himself off the porch directly at Blade. Frank Drake hit him in midair, in a tackle that a New England defensive lineman would have been proud of. They tumbled over several times. When they stopped King was on top, and his hand was drawn back, claws unsheathed, ready to strike.

As a portal opened, four figures emerged from it, in time to see Blade plunge a wooden stake through King's back and into his heart.

Next: Zarathos tackles the Hulk. Jennifer discovers there is a reason this building is their new headquarters, and in New Orleans, the Seekers and what's left of the Midnight Son's, join forces.

To #6...

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