Archive of Our Own ^beta

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It was a slow day at the office. Michael Badilino was sitting at his desk looking at a few cold cases. All of a sudden, the door to his office was opened, and in walked an overweight Caucasian male with short black hair, holding what looked to be a plate of doughnuts. “Are you sure you don’t want any twitch?” he asks not once looking were he’s going, but looking at someone behind him. “No thank you sir, I'm not planning to have a heart attack anytime soon.” a skinny Caucasian male with blond hair and glasses said coming in after him. “Your loss.” he said turning around, and almost lost his doughnuts. “Who the hell are you? And why are you in our office?” he asks “sir, this isn't our office. according to the name on the door this is detective Michael badilinos’ office.” pointing to the name plastered on the door. “I’ll be damned.” The big guy said, setting the doughnuts down on Michaels’ desk and runs out presumably to find the captain. “Who are you?” Michael asks the ‘Twitch’ person still standing in his doorway. “My name is Max Williams; everyone calls me Twitch.” he says shrugging. “My partner is Sam Burke.” “Oh” after a slight pause, “If you don’t mind could you shut my door?” Michael asks going back to reading his files. Suddenly shouting could be heard coming from the front room. Both Michael and Twitch rush out to see a whole group of people yelling about how they have been with the force for many years, and others saying they’ve never seen them before, others arguing over whose desk is whose. “ENOUGH!” the captain said followed closely by Sam and some other guy. “It appears you all are part of this department, I don’t know how it's possible, you'll all be sharing desk, and office space. You will also be partnered in different cases.” The guy that showed up with Sam and the captain stepped forward as soon as she was finished, he spoke with a gruff voice “Anyone not following those simple rules with be put on cataloging duty.” After that he went into the captain's office and shut the door. “Badilino, you Sam and Twitch have a missing persons case. Might be connected to a sex trafficking ring.” “Hold on you want me to work with them?” he asks pointing to Sam and Twitch. “Yes, they are detectives too.” she said handing him the file. “Good luck.” she said walking away. “Come on.” Michael walks into his office throwing the file onto his desk. “If I'm stuck with the two of you, let's get one thing straight, you do what I say, this is my case.” he said pointing to both detectives. “Asshole.” Sam said as he snatched the file off the desk and handed it to Twitch. “Hey! My file!” “Two teenagers and an adult, who just turned 21, by the names of Jessie Madden, James Carter, and Cooper Elsher, went missing after they left their respective parties, two of which were at friends' house the other, a bar. Michael sighed, “We split up, I'll go to the bar, you two go find our missing kid's friends.” “Sounds like a plan sir.” Twitch says placing the file on the desk. “It’s Badilino, not sir.” He grabs his helmet and heads for the door. “Come on, I need to lock the door.” He sighs. “There’s a dinner down on 7th meet you there in an hour. We'll compare notes, figure out what happened to those kids.” Michael said locking the door as soon as both Sam and Twitch got out.

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Sam and Twitch POV

“You sure this is the right place?” “Yes, Sam, I'm sure.” Twitch had his nose in the case file the whole trip to Jessie and Carters last known location, a friend's house party. As soon as they got there, they went and knocked on the door. “Can I help you?” A young woman said opening the door a crack. “My names Sam Burke and this is my partner Twitch Williams. We’re with the police department.” Both pull their badges out of their packets. After a few minutes of discussing the basics Sam askes, “So let me get this straight. Jessie Madden, and James Carter where dating?” “I just told you, yes. Though they kind of have it under wraps.” The young woman was talking to Sam as Twitch looked around the room for some clues. “Did they say where they were going two nights ago?” Twitch asked looking up from one of the many photos. “I think they may have gone to their favorite junk yard.” Twitch walked over to stand beside Sam. “It’s down the road if that was your next question.” “Ok, thank you.” Sam said turning to Twitch and both heading towards the door, followed closely by the young woman. “Will you let me know if they find her?” She asked holding onto the screen door. “We’ll do what we can.” Twitch said Sam on the other hand lit a cigarette. “If we find any information, that we can share, we will let you know. Until then if we have any follow up questions, we’ll be in touch.” Sam said as they both headed to their car and headed to meat Badilino At the dinner on 7th.

Michael POV

“So, you didn’t see anything weird going on two nights ago?” “I told you, they had a private party, used one of the rooms in the back.” The bartender said pointing to an empty room. “Great, Thanks.” Michael said putting his notebook back into his coat pocket. He walked over to the door and slowly opened it to reveal an almost barren room, except for the occasional chair or table. On the wall sat a shelf of what looked to be missing items people left. “Maybe Cooper Elsher left one of his belongings and came back for them, and that’s how he was snatched?” He asked himself. Michael put on some gloves, that he had in his back pocket, and started digging into the pile of things. After about 30 minutes he exclaims, “Eureka!”. Michael had found the missing kids' wallet, with an ID. He turned around and headed for the front of the bar, intent on leaving, but before he could reach the front door, he noticed a familiar face at the back of the bar, who wasn’t there when he arrived. Johnny Blaze, the ghost rider, a short time friend and even longer enemy. “Never thought I'd see you around here.” Michael said sitting beside him. “Badilino? What are you doing here?” “Missing persons' case. You?” Blaze shrugged, “You know, the normal, or lack thereof.” They both chuckled “Hey, could I join you in your case? I have nothing better to do.” He asks shrugging yet again. Michael smiles “It’s a police matter, but if anything supernatural comes up I'll let you know.” “I heard there's an auction happening, both for items and people, besides I too have a friend missing.” He adds before Michael can really say no. Michael sighs, “Alright, your in. But I don’t want to see our mutual friend, unless it's absolutely necessary, understand?” “You got it boss.” He said winking. Michael got up and grabbed his helmet, and headed for the door followed closely by Johnny. Once outside they found three grown men standing beside their bikes. “I like this one. What do you think gunner? Could we take it?” “Depends on who claims to own it.” The two men were looking at Johnnys bike, while the third was looking intently at Michaels. “Can we help you fellas?” Johnny said stepping alongside Michael. The men looked up, “Yeah, hand over the keys and no one gets hurt.” The one called Gunner said pulling a gun from his waist band. Both Michael and Johnny looked at each other. Michael nodded, “Go ahead. Be my guest.” Suddenly instead of Johnny, the three men were standing in front of the Ghost Rider. “Holy shit! Run!” was all one of them got out before a chain snatched all three of them, yanking them over. “I’ll take it from here.” Michael said putting a hand on the Riders shoulder. He grumbled and once more Johnny was standing there. Michael put all three in cuffs, then called the precinct, and let them know where to find the men. “He’s the Ghost Rider! You gotta let us go! We’ve done nothing! Not sayin’ nothin’ either. One yells looking in Michael's direction. He smiled, “Oh I bet you’ll talk.” With that both Johnny and Michael got onto their bikes, just as more police got to the scene, and headed to 7th street to meet up with Sam and Twitch. All the while the two knew they were being followed by someone or something in the shadows.

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“Who’s this?” Sam asked when both Michael and Johnny joined them at the dinner. “This is my,” he paused for a second “My cousin. He’s visiting from Kansas.” “My name's Johnny Blaze, nice to meet you.” “Sam Burke, this is my partner Twitch Williams.” “Hello.” After shaking hands and sitting down once again, the waiter came over, “Are you ready to order, or would you like a few more minutes?” She asked, “I’ll take a cup of coffee, thanks.” Michael said, handing his menu over. “Nothing for me thanks.” Johnny said handing his menu over.” “I’ll take a slice of apple pie, and two donuts, thanks.” Sam said, “I’ll pass” Twitch followed handing the waiter both his and Sam’s menus. “Now, we need to get to comparing notes.” “Without civilians.” Twitch added looking at Blaze. “That's why I'm here actually.” Blaze says straightening up as the waiter came back with the coffee, pie, and donuts. “Let me know if you need anything else.” she said as she walked away. “As I was saying, I'm here because of the case. A friend of mine went missing and I'm not leaving till I find them.” He continued. “They were last seen at the park.” “Can you describe your friend for me?” “Well for starters they're nonbinary, they have shoulder length brown hair, they have heterochromia, so a blue left eye, a green right eye, and they’re about 5’1.” He finished “what's your friend's last name?” Twitch asked while flipping through the case file trying to find the person. “Prince.” After a while, “Huh, it appears your friend isn't in this file. Including your friend, that makes 69 missing people.” “ha-ha, 69.” Sam smiled; Twitch side eyed his partner. “When was the last you spoke to Prince?” Michael asked sipping his coffee. “About two weeks ago, I got a call from them asking for my help.” “Do you know why?” Sam asked munching on his last donut. “Didn't say why they called, no.” They all sat in silence for a few minutes until Michael broke it. “Excuse me, could we get our checks?” “Oh of course!” She rushed over as Sam slid his plates over so she could reach them better. “Thank you.” she says before darting off into the kitchen. “So, 69 people went missing in what, two months?” “Just shy of three, sir.” Twitch answered Sam’s question and pushed his glasses further onto his nose. “Here’s your checks.” She handed both Sam and Michael their checks and walked behind the register waiting for them. Michael pulled out his wallet and left a $3 tip, while Sam left a $5 tip. As the two went to pay, Twitch and Johnny headed outside to wait. Once Sam and Michael joined them outside, they could see Twitch had his gun out pointing it at a dwarf with face paint. “Hey what's going on here!?” Michael demanded stepping in front of Twitch. “Clown is a demon, not human.” he stated now pointing his gun at the ground. “He’s right. They call him the violator.” Sam said now holding his gun. “I just wanna help! I know where to find some of the missing people.” Michael stepped beside Twitch watching the clown pled. “And why would you help us?” Sam asked. “Demons don’t help people unless they get something out of it.” Johnny said, the clown smiled. “But you do.” Johnny’s heart dropped, he’s the one who followed them from the bar. At this point both Sam and Twitch put their guns away. “what's he talking about?” “I don’t know Sam.” The clown clapped his hands. “You can find some of the missing people in the alley on 25th street.” “That's Spawns alley, and you know it.” Twitch said pointing a finger at him, the clown just shrugged. “Who’s Spawn?” Both Michael and Johnny said together looking back and forth between the two detectives and the clown. “Well, I've gotta go bye!” And with that the clown ran off into a nearby alley.

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As soon as they got to the alley, Sam looked at Johnny “You going to tell us what clown meant back there?” “Only if you tell us who Spawn is, and why he lives in the alleys.” He replied glaring at Sam. “Spawn is not really a friend, but we are on friendly terms. He says he made a deal with the devil.” Twitch replied. “Now it’s your turn to tell us what clown meant.” Sam says folding his arms. Johnny sighed. While they talked Michael was walking around looking at the entrance to the alley. “Have either of you heard about the Ghost rider?” Johnny asked “No but sounds like a pretty fucking badass name.” Sam said. “Don’t think I have.” Twitch replied. “Well, that’s who Clown was talking about.” “Can we hurry this up?” Michael said walking back over to the others. “Yeah, let's go meet this Spawn character.” Johnny said walking quickly over to the entrance of the alley. “Alright then. Follow me.” Sam said walking to catch up with Johnny. After a while of walking Johnny states, “This place is a maze.” “Luckily Sam and Twitch know the way.” Michael says walking behind the others. They turn the corner to only be faced with what could only be described as a throne, made of bones and garbage. Sitting on top was a dark figure shrouded in a red cloak and chains holding a skull. “We need your help, Clown said there were missing kids in your alley. You haven't seen them, have you?” The figure, Spawn, sat the skull down and stood up. “The only thing in my alley, are corpses.” He said grimly walking over to stand in front of the four of them. “Who are these two?” “Detective Michael Badilino, and Johnny Blaze.” Twitch replied, pushing his falling glasses back onto his face. “I’m not a detective.” Johnny clarified. “So, what did the clown mean when he said some of the missing people could be found here? In your alley?” Michael asked looking around the grimly lit dead end. Spawn followed his gaze. “Dead bodies always find their way here. The newer corpses are over there.” He pointed to the south side of the alley. “I need to call this in.” Michael said, going for his phone. “Or we solve this case then call it in.” Johnny replied putting his hand on Michael's shoulder. “I agree with Blaze.” Spawn said stepping out of a shadow with a few guns in hand. “Woah.” Both Johnny and Michael said in unison. “You brought me into this, and I'll help end it.” He said checking the guns and passing two over to Johnny and Michael “Thanks.” “I don’t use guns. But thanks anyways.” Johnny replied, handing it back to Spawn who put it in a gym bag and threw it over his shoulder. “So, where to?” “First we visit our lead perp.” Sam said leading the way out of the alley.

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“Are you sure this is right?” Johnny said looking a little worried “Yeah, why?” Sam said looking over. “It's just... Never mind.” “There are demons here.” Spawn said coming out of nowhere. “Jesus!” They all half screamed half whispered. “Nowhere near close.” He said jokingly. “I’ll take the back. Two of you take the front the other two watch the windows and any other exit.” After Spawn disappeared Johnny asked, “Why is Spawn in charge?” Twitch replied, “Ex-military, and he knows a thing or two about demons.” “Oh.” “Me and Twitch will take the sides of the house, while you and Badilino take the front.” Sam said pointing to each person in turn. “Let's get this over with.” Michael knocked on the door. “Police. We have some questions about a disappearance.” After a few minutes the front door started shattering in fragments, and the peaceful summer's day was shattered with the sound of gunfire. Both Johnny and Michael dove for cover, as commotion could be heard inside. Michael crouched down looking over where he last saw Johnny, he was crouched not far from the door of the house, he nodded to the house, motioning for Michael to go first. Michael sighed, pulling out a gun and kicked in the door, standing to the side so as not to get hit. One of the perps ran from one of the rooms and right into his line of sight. Before he could shoot, a chain came from the room the guy just came out of pulling him back in, screaming. “CLEAR.” Sam yelled from somewhere in the house followed by Twitch and Spawn. As Johnny and Michael walked in, they took notice of the smell of brimstone, and Spawn dragging in a small red creature, a demon. “Start talking.” He said holding up the demon by the back of the neck, like a cat. “I’m not afraid of you.” It said crossing its arms. “Let’s see how talkative you are after a bath in holy water.” “OK, ok. What do you want to know?” “The missing people. Where are they?” Michael asked before anyone else could ask. It looked at Spawn and back at Michael. “They’re spread around the city. I only know of the ones in the basement and the ones in his alley.” It said pointing to Spawn. They all looked at each other before Sam rushed down followed by Michael, Twitch, Johnny and finally Spawn, with his new friend.

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As soon as Sam and the others made it into the huge 10 foot basement, they could see three people in chains, and two cages with four people each. “We have to-“ but before Twitch could finish, the group was faced with a 7 foot tall, plant colored, behemoth. “You have to what? Die? What an excellent idea!” It said holding up a large mace. Spawn threw his little red friend at the creature, who ripped it in half. “Who’s next?” It said. Michael and Johnny shared a look. “Ghost Rider and Spawn can take care of him the rest of us help these people get to safety.” Michael whispered. “Who’s Ghost Rider?” The trio half yelled, but before either Johnny or Michael could answer, Slimy had taken a swing right at Spawn and spun the mace around hitting Johnny sending them both flying in opposite directions. The others dove for cover, behind some boxes, behind a column, and a wall. “Let’s get these people out of here!” Michael shouted peeking out from behind the many boxes. Spawn was standing up, about to attack Slimy, when a chain wrapped around its neck pulling it into the wall. Holding the other end of the chain was a flaming skeleton, Ghost Rider. “What are you?” Slimy asked standing up, grabbing its fallen mace. “Won’t matter if you’re dead.” Spawn said now holding a gun. “Vengeance calls.” While the two were fighting Slimy, Sam managed to get to one of the people held by chains, Twitch reached the cages, followed by Michael. He looked around for something to open the door, however Twitch shot the lock off, Michael found an axe and started breaking the lock off the other cage. Sam, however was lock picking as fast as he could. “Thank you! Oh thank you!” “Follow me.” Sam said now standing at the bottom of the stairs with two of the three people chained. “NONE LEAVE ALIVE!” Slimy said throwing Spawn right into Ghost Rider, who both were knocked into a concrete wall. “That looked like it hurt.” Michael said swinging the axe and breaking the last person in chains. Before Michael or Twitch could get to safety, Slimy had Twitch in its grasp. “Uh oh.” “Twitch!?” At that moment two chains, one Ghost Riders the other Spawns, wrapped around the creature pinning it down and allowing Twitch to get free, and run to the stairs followed closely by Michael.

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“What were those things!?” One of the victims said, most likely referring to Spawn, Ghost Rider, and Slimy. “We will explain everything outside!” Sam said still leading the way. Once they all got outside, a loud roar could be heard from inside, followed by a loud thump. A few moments later Johnny came running over to the group. Twitch was already on the radio with dispatch. “What happened? What were those things?” “Can I go home?” “Do you have any painkillers?” Michael held up his hands, “We will help in anyway we can, but you didn’t see those things down there. Got it?” Murmurs of agreement could be heard, as well as police sirens. Michael walked over to Johnny and asked “What happened, where’s Spawn?” “Slimy back there became goop, and as for Spawn, he said he’d meet us at the dinner.” He shrugged. “They’ve got things under control now.” Sam said now standing beside Michael. “You guys go ahead. I need to talk to Johnny.” He replied leading Johnny over to their bikes. “I know I said I didn’t want to see Ghost Rider on this case, but thank you. You and Spawn saved those people over there.” He said pointing to the civilians. “That’s what us spirits of vengeance do.” Johnny smiled, and turned to get on his bike to go meet the others, who at this point are already at the cafe with Spawn. “I also found this in the basement.” Michael said holding a file for Johnny to read. Johnny took the file and read it. “This is Prince’s file. You don’t think they did something to them?” “I doubt it, but we will find out.” He took the file back from Johnny and put it away. “Let’s go meet the others. Oh, and I call some action next time.” He smirked.

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Once Johnny and Michael got to the cafe, they went inside and found Sam and Twitch, Twitch with the window seat, seated beside a 6ft African American guy wearing a black and red hoodie, with sunglasses. They walked over and sat down opposite them. “About time you two showed up. This is Al Simmons, but you know him as Spawn.” Sam said pointing to Al, who was seated to his right. “Hello again.” Johnny said, seated beside the window. “The people we saved all had one thing in common, and that was they were all going down alleyways when they were taken by men wearing black masks.” Twitch said holding a folder in front of him. “So we find these people in black masks…” Johnny said crossing his arms. “And we take them in.” Michael finished leaning back in the booth. “Uh oh.” Al said sitting up straight. “Looks like trouble.” “Hehe. Not as much as you 5.” Clown said shoving Michael and Johnny over so he could sit down. “Hey!” They both said in unison. “Oh shut up. I heard from the grape vine that there are some demons in the sewers, down on 23rd.” Clown smiled and placed a dagger on the table before getting up and walking away. “That’s prince’s dagger.” Johnny said once the clown left. “Where and how did he get it?” Michael asked looking over his shoulder. Al picked up the dagger and looked it over. “What kind of dagger is this? It looks ancient.” “Because it is.” Johnny replied looking concerned. “We need to get to those sewers.” Michael said standing up and taking the dagger from Al, putting it in his pocket.

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“I can’t fit in there.” Sam said looking at the sewer grate, shaking his head. “I’ll go through some paperwork at the office.” He continued. Al, now Spawn again, was moving the grate out of the way, while Johnny was covering the motorcycles with tarps to hopefully keep them out of sight. “You’ll be missing all the fun.” Spawn said straightening up. “Alright Sam, you and Twitch go through the paperwork, see if we missed anything, Me Johnny and Spawn will go check out the sewers. If we don’t contact you in-“ Michael paused looking at his watch, while Johnny walked over. “Three hours, send a unit after us.” He concluded looking at everyone. “Works for us.” Sam said, while both he and Twitch headed back to the car. “This is gong to be amazing.” Johnny said with sarcasm in his voice. “Let’s go.” Spawn said jumping down. “I’ll just take the ladder.” Johnny said following him down, after a moment Michael joined them. “Can’t see shit down here.” Johnny said once Michael made it down. “Well it’s a good thing I brought you.” He smiled nudging Johnny to the front of the group. “Do you think that’s a good idea?” Spawn said taking up the rear of the group. “It’ll be fine. Now let’s get going.” Michael answered while starting to walk down the path. Ghost rider was standing where Johnny was just a moment ago, with his arms crossed. “Nice to make your formal acquaintance.” Spawn said holding his hand out. Ghost rider just turned around and started walking after Michael. “We have no time to waste.” He said taking over point from Michael. “He’s a cheery fellow.” Spawn whispered to Michael, who smiled. As soon as the trio rounded the corner, two cats, one a gray main coon, the other a tan sphynx. The sphynx ran up to Ghost rider and began rubbing against his leg, while the main coon walked slowly over to Michael and jumped onto his shoulder. Spawn looked back and forth between the two before asking, “Where did they come from?” “They’re prince’s cats. This ones Bones, that one over there is Sweets.” Michael said pointing between the cats. Bones meowed rubbing against Michael before jumping down and started leading the way, while Sweets followed her lead. “Are they leading the way?” Spawn asked “To where?” Michael answered “Lets go.” Ghost Rider said following the cats down the path. After a few minutes the group came to a fork, the cats went straight as the group followed they could hear voices coming from a part in the path, a dead end. “He’s gonna kill us if we don’t keep our end of the bargain.” “I hope he kills you.” “This is no time for bickering, they should be very lost by now, they can’t find us, but we can find them, remember?” Voices could be heard muttering in agreement. A muffled voice could be heard yelling. “What was that? You wanna tell us something?” The group inched closer to the corner. “I said, what did you do to my cats you motherfuckers.” The voice was no longer muffled, Michael and Ghost Rider exchanged glances before the three of them sprang into action taking down the five demons and the one human that were in the room. “I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WERE LOST!” One of them said dodging Chains and bullets. “HA! TAKE THAT!” The woman, who was being held, yelled out. Suddenly the human yelled “STOP!” He had managed to get behind the woman, untied her, and had her at gun point. The three of them froze, Spawn and Ghost Rider both with a demon or three in their chains. “You can try, but you wont succeed.” Michael said pointing his gun at the person. “Oh yeah? Let them go and-“ Before he could say anything else the woman had grabbed the gun spun around, kicked his legs out from underneath him, and broke his arm. “BITCH!” He yelled as the woman spun around and shot the remaining ‘free’ demon, before turning around and knocking the guy unconscious. “You ok?” Michael asked as the other four demons were questioned. “Im fine. Looks like you two made a new friend.” “I guess we did.” Michael said putting his gun away and pulling out the dagger and handing it over. “Thanks.” They said taking the dagger as it glowed blue in their hand and putting it in its sheath. Spawn and Ghost Rider put the demons in chains hoping they couldn’t get out, once finished, Spawn walked over, “Your Prince? Nice to meet you, I’m Spawn.” He held out his hand and Prince took it. “Nice to meet you.” Ghost Rider started to walk away, with Sweets, once again on his shoulder. “Did he just take my cat with him?” “Yep.” Michael said bending down and picking up Bones, and following Ghost Rider down the pathway. Prince looked at Spawn and back at the other two. “Don’t tell me. You’re going to take one of them next?” Prince asked walking to catch up with the other two with Spawn walking with them. “Probably. But who knows maybe the cats don’t like me.” Prince laughed, “Probably.”