5468/Recruiting the Rider (Howling Commandos)

Recruiting the Rider (Howling Commandos)
Date of Scene:	29 September 2018
Location:	Luke's Bar, Harlem, New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Ghost Rider (Blaze), Derek Khanata, Hellboy

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Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
     Ah, what a beautiful day. The birds are singing, kids are playing, families are having a grand ole time....

     Then there's whatever the hell is going on in Luke's bar.

     a man seems to quite literally //fly// out of the back door to the bar, landing flat against the wall and slumping into an unconscious heap. Walking out of the bar is the man of the hour himself. Johnny motherf***ing Blaze. He seems to approach the unconscius man, steals a cigarette from him, and ignites his finger tip with flame, igniting said cigarette as he takes a moment to just enjoy a smoke.

Given being the host of the Spirit of Vengeance, quite literally nothing was going to happen to him that would have an effect on his health. He wears a leather jacket, black jeans, black combat boots, and black gloves. A grey T-shirt is worn as well. he lets out a breath of smoke as he just innocently relaxes.

Unaware of who or what may be watching.

Derek Khanata has posed:
"You have another one of those, friend?"

A tall, professionally dressed African, skin so taut as to appear skull-like, cheeks and brow marred with complex ritual scarring, approaches from down the alley, seeming to simply step out of the shadows.

He leans over and grabs the crumpled pack of cigarettes from atop the unconscious man, pausing to give Blaze a wry grin, "I'm sure he won't mind."

He knocks two cigarettes from the mouth of the soft pack and tosses the remainder back onto the napping bro's polo shirt. The African says apologetically, "The other's for my partner; he should be arriving shortly. Got a light?"

Hellboy has posed:
    As it turned out, Derek's partner (partner as in working relationship, stop it, stop that snickering) did arrive shortly, the clacking of cloven hooves giving him away long before his arrival around that shady and relatively empty back alleyway. This time the red half-Demon was fully equipped, with a thick utility belt around his waist above his black spandexy shorts, and a big, thick trenchcoat covering his upper torso. Though being unbuttoned, it was easy to see his musculature, and that he definitely wasn't any cruiserweight. In his right hand was a golden chain, leading down to a censure that seemed to be filled with a sort of incense that wafted up into the air. To Derek, it would smell slightly bitter. To Hellboy and Johnny, it would smell slightly sweet...which might have been why HB was holding it rather far away from himself and trying not to be downwind of it. He gave a nod, his yellow glowing eyes considering the tough guy in black leather, even as his left hand reached out to accept the spare cig in Derek's hand. He had his own pack, but gift horses and mouths and all that.

    "What'd I tell ya, this thing always works. Now we can put it out before I lose my damn lunch."

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
     And here Johnny thought he was gonna be able to have a nice day. Well, so much for that noise.

When Derek walks up and asks him out of the blue if Johnny has another cig, he gestures to the unconscious fellow. "Not mine to give. Generous donation from that asshole." he lets out a puff of smoke then as he asks him for a light now. Not willing to release his identity, Johnny reaches into his back pocket to pull out a lighter, tossing it to Derek for him to light.

Theeeen he senses Hellboy.

Though it was pretty obvious they found the guy they were looking for. Johnny gives a single galnce to Hellboy...and looks utterly nonplussed. He might as well have just not reacted.

He's killed Demons the size of mountains before. Hellboy's size and physique probably doesn't scare him much.

"well, shit." He knows his situation.

"What can I help you gentlemen with?" He puts the cigarette back into his mouth, giving it a hearty suck before letting out a larger breath of smoke.

Derek Khanata has posed:
The African lights his cigarette and flips the Zippo shut with a snap, handing both lighter and remaining cigarette to the hulking figure with the burning brazier.

He studies Blaze for a moment, his face neutral as he draws from the cigarette, before snapping his fingers in a gesture of recognition, "Hey, friend--you're that stunt biker, right? I saw a few of your videos online."

The skeletal figures chuckles dryly, "My favorite was that one from last week, with the goofball in the rhinocerous costume."

Hellboy has posed:
    "I heard about that guy. He's stuck in his suit, right? When's the last time you think he washed that thing? Or wiped?"

    He speaks as he lights the smoke and lets it hang along the side of his mouth, so he can focus both hands on the brazier. His stone hand is on the top of it, and immediately that big right hand looks to catch on fire. It doesn't seem to bother the big man, but he's also being careful not to touch it with his other hand. Before he opens the device, he turns and looks at Johnny.

    "Hey uhh, you might wanna hold your breath. The incense used for this thing wasn't exactly made with our comfort in mind."

    After a few moments he quickly pulled the top open, and a huge waft of purple swirling smoke rose into the air. For Derek it would stink a bit. To the other two in that alley, it was potentially dangerous. But quickly quelled, as Hellboy overtipped a two-liter bottle of water into the metal device, violent sizzling and smoking heard within, but after a moment? It stopped, and all was well. Cleaning it later would be a long, meticulous operation, but that really wasn't HB's problem.

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
"So....seems this is quite the situation." He puffs out some smoke again before Hellboy pulls out that brazier. While it wouldn't kill the Ghost Rider, it would cause....a rather severe degree of discomfort.

But it's enough to Give Johnny some pause, especially when Derek speaks of his adventures when he fought the Rhino with about several other heroes.

"Okay..." he lets out another puff of his cigar before he snuffs it out and tosses it into a nearby trashcan. "What do you want? Or do I have to beat the shit out of both of you to find out?"

Talk quickly, boys!

Derek Khanata has posed:
"I'm looking for a few good monsters to save the world. You up for it, friend?"

The African grins and extends a hand, "Derek Khanata, Agent of SHIELD."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Hey, name's Hellboy. You could punch me if ya want...but then I'd have to punch ya back. And nobody wants that, right?"

    The wry sarcasm was apparent in his voice, as he took a long, hard drag of his smoke and looked around between the two men. Derek might have been armed, but Hellboy was wearing his ordinance obviously on his hip, making sure it was right front and center to let everyone know where it was. Whether it was a deterrent of a back-up plan in this case remained to be seen. But then, a lot of that relied on Johnny.

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
Johnny places his hands in his pockets as he glances to Derek, tilting his head at him. "Right." and he seems to glance to Hellboy as he threatens to hit Johnny back if he ewas struck. I mean, it made sense. So....no problems there. Eventually, Johnny just sighs, moving his hand to shake Derek's. "Johnny Blaze. What //exactly// do you need me for? Joining a band of monsters? Sounds like my kind of crowd."

He glances to both Hllboy and Derek. "But it'd mean being on Shield's radar...and that's not exactly a good thing."

Derek Khanata has posed:
Khanata shakes Blaze's hand warmly, a mischevious twinkle in his eye, "It's a pleasure, Mister Blaze. From what I've seen, you're exactly the sort of man we're looking for."

"You won't be stamping any timecards, I assure you. We're putting together a hit squad to dismantle the astral architecture that's empowering the sleepwalker network. You'll be one part of a two-prong attack; there's what the WAND boys call a 'server' in Central Mexico, and we need you to shut it down. Expect fungal infection, possible psychic reinforcements. The home team will try to trap the genie behind it all in a bottle."

"Don't quote me on genie; probably metaphorical."

"Consider it a test run--if you can handle the job, SHIELD has need for a team of professional problem-solvers in your area of expertise. You'd be given full autonomy to do the job your way, provided a black budget, access to intelligence databases, the works. Fully deniable; you crash and burn, we're not going to be picking up the pieces."

"I was thinking 'Howling Commandos of SHIELD'."

Hellboy has posed:
    "And if yer as tough as we've seen in that fight, then yer gonna be really important in taking this thing down. I can punch pretty hard, but this situation might call for a bit more...finesse. Though actually..."

    At the mention of the fungal spores, Hellboy looks up and regards Derek with that ugly look on his face. Could anyone detect the surprise or sudden concern? If it looked any different than his usual blank expression, those differences were so minor as to be almost non-existent.

    "When it comes to the mushrooms, I remember fire being a bad thing. I had a snow charm back when I first dealt with them, but if we're gonna attack this thing for real, we might need something more heavy duty than magic snowballs."

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
Johnny looks to both Hellboy and Derek, seeming to tilt his head very softly. "Well, good. Then you've managed to pique my interest. Go on." He smiles very softly, his eyes glancing to both of the gentlemen on either side of him. "So...we're gonna take on the guy who brought on the fungus that came close to planting itself all over the world?" he smiles softly.

"Alright, I'm game."

Johnny simjply sighs. "This is gonna suck...doesn't this guy have crazy telepathic power?" he asks curiously before he shrugs. "I'm used to being alone when things go south so..."

After all, remember when the Hulk was fighting a mysterious persona at the harbor? Yeah, that was the Ghost Rider. guess the Howling Commandos have a big gun. "Alright. Where do I sign?"

Derek Khanata has posed:
Khanata nods to Hellboy, "Hmm, good point. I've got a friend in requisitions; I'll see what we have in the armory for the Terminator 2 treatment.."

The agent turns to Blaze, grinning broadly, and claps him on the shoulder, "Welcome to the team."

"Current ASTINT indicates that the intelligence which we've dubbed 'The Visitor' is not the origin of the fungus, but rather a third party that has turned the sitution to its own advantage. This 'server' maintains the sleepwalker network that the Visitor relies upon. If everything goes according to plan, you won't make contact with the Visitor at all--we've got a crack team of mystics back at the Triskelion who should keep him busy. We're hoping that the Howling Commandos knocking out the server will give them the opportunity to toss the Visitor into the Negative Zone."

"This sleepwalking plague is spreading quickly, and from what we're seeing it looks like they may have taken out some of the heavy hitters when they snatched Avengers Mansion. That means you'll be going in with limited intelligence, so you're going to need to think on your feet and outside the box. We're still waiting on sat photos of the region, but at the moment we don't even know what the server is, just an astral signature and GPS coordinates."

Hellboy has posed:
    "So, if this thing has taken out Avenger's Mansion, that means we may, or may not be fighting mind controlled Avengers. So, y'know, don't kill any of the good guys. That's something I'm adamant about."

    Smoke, now merely a stub, was tossed against the ground, and stamped to death with one cloven hoof. That being done, Hellboy picked up the censure again, tipping it over toward a gutter so that he could begin pouring it out over the side, letting a murky purple mess come up as a murky sludgy mess, that was making its way to the subway tunnels. "If there are any beasties down there today, they're about to get one hell of a surprise, tell you what."

    If Derek could make references, so could Red.

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
Johnny seems to look at Derek as he gives him the full scoop to the Ghost Rider. "Right. so..." he pinches the bridge of his nose. Johnny wasn't the guy you put to discover the coordinates to an evil villain. He's the guy you hire to kill and/or beat the crap out of the villain.

His eyes seem to glance to Hellboy then. "Yeah. Well...least we have something going here. If we have to fight against mind-controlled Avengers...leave the Hulk to me."

Derek Khanata has posed:
"Can't guarantee anything--it might be a cakewalk. But," Khanata finishes the cigarette, flicking the butt into a blood-smeared folf disc laying next to the unconscious man which the three figures are crowded around, "Is it ever with this sort of thing?"

"There's a bit of legwork that needs to be done. We're looking for a telepath who's been mind-wiped by the infection. You up for riding shotgun with Big Red here, give you a chance to learn the ropes?"

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy nodded and agreed with what Derek was saying, hanging in the background to let him and Johnny hash things out. HB had tons of expertise on lots of subjects, but Derek was better at the language of 'white collar'.

    "Yeah, it'll be fun. What do you say?"

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
Johnny gives a simple...//stare// to Derek. Really? Have GHOST RIDER learn the ropes? "I swear to god, if you make me read a handbook, I'm going to burn someone alive." He didn't seem pleased, but eventually he smiles "Fine. I'll hang out with Big Red over here."

He shrugs then. "Just try and keep it interesting. Is there gonna be a meeting or something? You said there were two groups. Who's all part of the team so far?"

Derek Khanata has posed:
"You're the first. We've got a list." Khanata grins assuredly.

He flips through his phone, "Let's see... We're looking at a demon, two half-vampires, a queen of Hell, and ... a guy with a chainsaw for a hand, apparently."

"This one was your suggestion, right?" He glances back at Hellboy, "Whatever. How's your glad-hand? Kiss any demon babies recently?"

Hellboy has posed:
    "I try not to kiss any babies. Though I got a hell of a story to tell you about those subway tunnels, on the drive back..."

    With that, Hellboy picked up the censure, and made his way back to their ride, whatever that was. Once out of earshot of the spectre, he'd add,

    "I like him. Very spunky. Hope he doesn't get killed when we're over there."

    This was high praise, indeed.

Ghost Rider (Blaze) has posed:
Johnny looks at Derek and raises a brow. "Wow, not holding back are you? A part of me thinks you're suicidal. But hey, arn't all monsters?" Johnny proceeds to shrug before he wanders off to his bike. "You know how to find me." He'll mount his Hellcycle, that's looking not very demonic at the moment for the sake of blending in. "See you around." and off drives Johnny on his modified Yamaha V-MAX. with an engine that could wake a neighborhood.

Derek Khanata has posed:
"He's got spirit, I'll give you that. Glad you're riding herd on this monster mash; he'll buck you, that's for sure."

Khanata grins at Hellboy as he hops into the drivers' seat of their convertible, "But it's a hell of a start."