So...right...so I bet you're wondering what the heck happened after the mega battle we had in the middle of the Vatican right? Well I'm still trying to shake it off myself. Because as usual, the stupid Vatican acted well....stupid.
Don't panic or anything, I'm in the clear. The Vatican decided that any attempt to weaponize me would look bad in the public eye after it was found out that M.O.D.O.K. , a well known big headed terrorist was the one that had agreed to weaponize me. I mean, imagine if it got out that they decided to actually go through with something a mega super villian thought up. Bad image...really bad image. So in a way, I guess M.O.D.O.K. made it so I didn't have to run away...again.
The stupid thing though, is Arthur recieved absolutely no punishment, except for a three day suspension from office and a 3 % reduction in pay. Really? I mean, if the pope of the catholic church did this, I'm pretty sure people would fire him.
I think part of the reason they let Arthur take such a low grade of 'punishment' was because the Vatican still agreed with him. That I needed a straighter and shorter leash. A means to completely control my demon side so that I would be merely a weapon, unnable to betray them.
So yeah...anyways, M.O.D.O.K. got carted off by S.H.I.E.L.D. and for once, jolly Saint Nick Fury wasn't around to yell at me.
That did didn't mean I wasn't wondering where the bald one-eye dude went. As much as that guy pushed my buttons, at least he had more sense then most authority figures I had to deal with. In my opinion, he was second to Yukio in bearing any sense among those who I had to listen to.
Agent William Shield...yeah I kid you not, a guy working for S.H.I.E.L.D. is actually named Shield, told me that Fury had another situation with the Hulk back in Europe and had to go quickly.
"Wasn't pretty." said Agent William. "It was like Godzilla, only angrier."
"So whose my substitute baby sitter?" I had asked, sure that wherever Fury went, he was going to find some annoying way to keep an eye on me.
"If you're talking about whose going to be operating S.H.I.E.L.D. while Fury deals with the other issue." said Shield. "Then that's her right there."
I looked where William was pointing and I nearly had a heart attack. That red hair, black leather clothing, two guns hoisted at her hip, and eyes that said she could probably break the neck of every single man in the world.
"B-Black Widow!?" I said. "You're joking!"
"Hehehe.."said Shield. "Sorry, afraid not...Fury appointed her specially with you in mind I heard."
"Oh crap." I muttered. "Crap crap crap crap..."
Anyways...for the next few weeks, I tried to return to normal life around the Academy. Notice I said 'tried.'
Thing is, other then Exorcism, I had other classes and stuff at the Academy outside the Vatican area. You know, the basics, Math, Biology, etc. (I suck at Math and rule at Chemistry for some reason.)
But now...I think I had a real bad case of the 'Stalking Widow-itis'.
Take last week for example. Me and Izumo were eating lunch together in the dining hall, when all of a sudden, who else but Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow, came to me wearing the kind of clothing you'd usually expect from a mom.
"Oh hello sweetie! It's so nice to see you again!" she had said.
I just stared. "What?"
"Oh come on...my own son not greeting me? What has this world come to?"
"You're not my-mmmf!!"
Natasha put a hand over my mouth, and dragged me away as she continued to smile. As it turned out she wanted to talk to me about putting security escorts around me.
"You're not safe anymore." said Natasha. "We believe Arthur and M.O.D.O.K. were answering to somebody higher in the chain of command where weaponizing you was concerned. It's better that we keep a sharper eye on you."
I agreed...not that I would have had a choice. Besides, I've ditched S.H.I.E.L.D. security detail way easy before , it was why Fury had given up on it. But Natasha, whenever she was my assasin nanny, she was way stricter then Fury. Granted she didn't yell as much, but she always pulled off these weird stunts that seriously irritated me. The pretending to be my mom and embarrass me in public was the most common one (Though I don't think she intended to embarrass me.)
At least everybody else at the cram school knew that Natasha wasn't my mom since my real mom actually came to visit for a brief 3 days to see how I was doing. (Can you believe she showed Izumo all my baby pictures? Dang...now that's one scar that will never fade.) But having the world's strictest assassin spy on me tends to bend on my nerves.
Today was no different. As me and Rin were playing some card games in his dorm room, we could see Natasha hanging around outside the front door from the window.
"Makes me wonder who the heck is behind all of this." said Rin. "I mean it doesn't get much worse then M.O.D.O.K. does it?"
"Well..." I said. "I can think of about 3 that are are either on the same tier or higher up then M.O.D.O.K. but neither of them seem likely."
"Well run em past me anyways."
"Okay." I said. "First guess would be Loki. He's already messed with me enough. But he's no issue because I don't think he's interested in making demonic weapons...I think he's more interested in messing with Thor, and to be honest, I wouldn't be much of a match for him...turns out Thor is pretty resistant to Hellfire."
"Okay, that's your first guess ruled out.." said Rin nodding. "What's the second?"
"The second is Hydra. But they've been so quiet lately, I doubt they'd be moving for something as insignificant like me, not when they're still getting back on their feet."
"So your third option would be..." said Rin.
"Doctor Doom." I said. "But that's extremely stupid."
"Why would it be?" asked Rin.
"Well it just is." I said. "Doctor Doom basically has an army of robots and his own country to command. To him, everyone is insignificant. He'll only take on big hitters like the Avengers, or S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Fantastic Four....man does he hate the Fantastic Four."
"Now that I think about it..." said Rin. "Didn't M.O.D.O.K. mention something about taking over Latin....something?"
"Latveria." I corrected. "But that's not a big clue...every villian seems to want to pull one over on Doctor Doom...they think it'll earn them the ultimate respect reputation wise."
"Sound theory." said a voice right next to us. "But it still needs a little work."
Me and Rin both jumped out of our seats in shock to see that Shura had somehow snuck into the room.
"SHURA!? WHAT THE HECK!?" said Rin.
"Think fast!" Shura slashed out her sword and me and Rin both drew our swords and blocked the blade just in time as the both of us went into our demon forms.
"What's the big idea!?" I said, my mandible flapping a little more then usual out of incredulity.
"Well, I thought since you two have been bettering your swordsmanship lately." said Shura. "That it was time we moved on to the next phase of your training....RANDOM SURPRISE ATTACKS!!"
Both me and Rin moved at top speed as we began clashing out blades with Shura's blade. As I continued my sparring, I couldn't help but get a very bad feeling about...surprise attacks...from then on I resolved to always bring my sword with me into the shower...and perhaps wear a pair of swimming trunks. (Trust me, with Shura, there is no such thing as too extreme.)
Finally, after some sweaty work...not that the Ghost Rider ever sweats...for petes sake, do bones even have pores to sweat out of? Anyways after that...stuff...Shura finally sheathed her sword and nodded at us approvingly as we both returned to our normal forms and sheathed our blades.
"I think that's it for today." Said Shura with a grin. "See ya!"
Shura turned to leave...suddenly she whirled around and shouted "SNEAK ATTACK!!" as she threw her sword straight at our feet as me and Rin both leapt back and fell over the card table.
"I now officially hate surprises." I muttered.
After a quick shower..(in my swimming trunks, with Kajigoku leaning on the wall outside.) I changed into my shorts and shirt and collapsed in my bed with a heavy sigh. Everything was just getting so complicated. It had never been like this before. All I would do every day back in the time I was still wandering all over the world is ride from town to town on my motorcycle, doing odd jobs all over the place mainly as a freelance delivery boy for those who thought the postal service's shipping prices were too expensive. (I actually have my own ad on the back of Lucy Charms cereal boxes...don't ask how, but I somehow managed to get that after a crazy story involving Wendigo, Fing Fang Foom, and a creepy goth on a tricycle...yeah my life is crazy.)
It had been simple. Earn money to eat, and save money in case I ever needed to take a plane to run farther away from my troubles. And occasionally along the way, lose control and totally rip apart a supernatural evil that always seemed to attack when I was around. Yeah, my luck really sucked back then when it came to meeting supernatural stuff randomly.
But now, I had friends to protect. A girl I loved...yeah LOVE...it's gotten that serious. And I didn't want to lose that life...But the more I held on to it, the more it seemed like there were people everywhere determined to take it away...like Carnage.
You probably already guessed it throughout this story, but Carnage and I had a pretty maddening history. I first met Carnage when I was visiting my Mom after she started working for Stark Industries. He had killed several workers in the Stark labs and seriously injured my mom.
Of course, me and him battled it out, exchanged some banter....well actually I mostly roared...no Kajigoku then to keep me sane. Anyways, Carnage attempted to kill my mother right in front of me..
He failed...but after that, half my time wandering over the world was spent hunting for Carnage.
I shook myself out of my thoughts. "Jeez." I muttered. "I still can't even believe I'm not running anymore..."
All of a sudden, a massive chunk of wall exploded in a blur of white stuff as I fell out of my bed in surprise. At first I thought it was Shura trying to attack me at the most unexpected moment...but it wasn't her.
The 16 ft Frost Giant stepped into the room. In his fist was a large axe made of ice. The giant's brutal looking face looked at me and grinned. "So...this is Doom's little weapon eh? Well now you're coming with me skull boy.."