A Rider's Duty and Vengeance Volume 2

Chapter 1: Secret Society

Jason awoke to find himself on a bed. Looking around, he realised he was in the Watchtower infirmary. Slowly pulling himself up to sitting position, Jason then noticed the bandage around his head. With a grimace, he pulled it off letting the power of the Rider heal the injury and soothe the throbbing his head.

"You're awake, I see," said a deep familiar voice and Jason looked up to see J'onn J'onzz entering the room, his expression one of remorse and sadness.

"Yeah, I am," muttered Jason as he took a glass of water that was sitting on the bedside table and took a long pull of the drink. "What happened to Shade and his new friends?" he then asked.

"They got away," replied J'onn and his expression became even more mournful. "Jason… there is something you should know," the Martian said gently.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" Jason asked looking worried.

"An argument broke out among us, while you were unconscious," said J'onn. "It got… heated," he added.

"Define 'heated'," said Jason.

"Some of us said some things that we were feeling all along, but kept to ourselves," replied J'onn hesitantly. "When we said those things out loud, it… changed things," he said.

"What happened afterwards?" Jason asked.

"We all went our separate ways," J'onn admitted.

Jason blinked in surprise. "Wait, what?" he asked. "Everyone split up?!" he exclaimed in disbelief "Just because we said some things that we didn't really mean?!" he added.

"We meant every word," J'onn corrected sadly. "I brought you to the Watchtower so that you could recover, but I'm afraid this is the end of the Justice League," he said.

"No… no, that is fucking bullshit!" Jason spat angrily as he stood up from the bed and grabbed his jacket and put it on.

"Jason, I understand how you must be feeling," J'onn said, "But, perhaps it is best if we all went our separate ways," he explained.

"Oh yeah?! Well, try telling that to all the people whom we've all been helping and protecting since you guys founded the League during and when I later joined up!" Jason retorted. "Isn't that what the League was all about? Protecting the people from things they can't normally protect themselves from?! Or have I been fooling myself this whole time?!" he yelled accusingly, his eyes briefly flaring with the power of the Rider.

"Jason, I know this is hard to accept," J'onn tried to say, when Jason cut him off.

"Save it! I'm gonna find Shade and his new pals while you and the rest of the team go your 'separate ways'!" he spat as he marched out of the infirmary. Along the way, Jason passed Diana who looked as if she wanted to ask him how he was feeling but seeing the look of rage on the Ghost Rider's face made the Amazon think twice and back away. Wisps of smoke were pouring off Jason's head as the power of Zartharos threatened to overtake him. It was only through sheer force of will that prevented him from changing. At least for the moment.

Taking a Javelin, Jason flew back to Earth to start searching for a lead where Shade and his new pals might be.

…

In a secret underground base.

Grodd watched the tv monitor, re-watching the footage of the Justice League breaking apart.

"Things are going as planned," the telepathic gorilla smiled to himself.

"We could've taken the League right then and there!" Parasite complained "Why did you stop us?!" he whined.

"As I said, a warehouse is far too small a stage for the likes of us," replied Grodd. "Defeating the League is something that needs to be seen by the whole world!" he declared.

"But how did you get them to argue amongst themselves?" Shade asked. Grodd simply smiled and Shade then realised a power of Grodd's and he said "Of course! You willed them to!"

"I owe much to the Flash for my newfound powers," said Grodd. "But even my mind isn't that powerful," he added.

"Then how did you get them to break apart?" Parasite asked.

"Tell me something, Parasite, have you ever said something you knew you shouldn't have? Something so hurtful to someone else?" Grodd asked.

Parasite thought about it briefly and nodded his head. "Sure," he replied.

"But what made you do it?" Grodd enquired. "Was it too little sleep? Low blood sugar? Or was it just one of those bad days you were having?"

"I've been watching the League for months, reading their body language and facial expressions like an open book. I knew they were all harbouring deep resentment for each other," Grodd then said. "All I had to do was tug on the threads and watch break the League apart," he grinned cruelly.

"But what about the other one? That Ghost Driver or whatever he's called, he was unconscious before you could hit him with your brainwaves," Sinestro pointed out.

"The Ghost Rider, you mean? He won't be a problem," replied Grodd confidently.

"You sure?" Shade asked. "I've heard of the things what he is and done," he said, "They say he's Vengeance itself!" he stage-whispered loudly.

"Maybe so," conceded Grodd. "But we know that he is a magical entity and that Nth metal can disrupt magical energies as shown before when he tried pursuing us," he said.

"But what do we do now?" Killer Frost asked.

"We've already divided the League. Now, we conquer!" Grodd said with a gleam of triumph in his eyes.

…

In a seedy strip-club in Gotham.

"This isn't going well for you three,"the Ghost Rider said softly as he looked at the trio of rough looking thugs who were cowering against the wall. The strip club was a shamble as the Ghost Rider had destroyed the doors with a burst of hell-fire. The clientele had all opened fire on the Rider who repaid their welcome with swings of his chain-hook. Many of the occupants and the dancers had fled the club, but three thugs had remained behind because the Rider had been seeking them out.

"Tell me where the Shade is!" the Ghost Rider growled meacingly at the three thugs.

"No dice, man! Shade will kill us if we tell you where he is!" one thug whimpered.

"I'll do worse, if you don't start talking!" the Ghost Rider threatened.

"Please! I have a wife and kids!" the second of the thugs pleaded.

"Tell me where the Shade is, and you will return to your family alive," the Ghost Rider said in an almost gentle yet sinister voice.

"Shade's running another job in the old northern train station!" babbled the thug.

The Ghost Rider then turned on his heel and left, leaving the thugs cowering on the floor.

Exiting the strip club, the Ghost Rider disappeared and in its place was Jason Leverage. "Man, I hate strip clubs!" he muttered to himself as he got into his car and started the engine. The engine roared to life and with a press of the accelerator, the car zoomed off down the street.

Tapping his communicator, Jason tried to call the rest of the League. "C'mon, someone pick up!" he muttered to himself.

Then there was a reply. "Jason, this better be important!" said the irritated voice of Batman.

"Batman! I've got a lead on where the Shade is!" said Jason "He's doing another job by the old North Train Station!" he explained.

"Shade's already been taken care of," replied Batman curtly "The rest of us have talked and we decided to try and hash things out," he said.

"Well… that's good news," Jason mumbled in surprise.

"Meet us at the old training ring, Batman out!"

Changing directions and using the power of the Rider, Jason's car sped along the highway towards the old ghost town that had acted as the League's training yard. After an hour of driving along the highway, Jason soon reached the old ghost town where he found Diana, Clark, Shayera and J'onn waiting.

"I got the message, where's everyone else?" Jason asked as he got out of the car.

"Just like Batman to make an entrance!" Diana sneered.

"Batman? It was Lantern that called me here!" Shayera said in surprise.

"Flash called me!" J'onn said in equal surprise. Jason then took a moment to process what was going on, before his eyes widened in realisation.

"It's a trap!"

On the roof of a nearby house, a minigun popped and began to wind up before spewing out 5mm rounds at tremendous velocity and volume. Jason and Shayera dove to the side to avoid the spewing hot lead. Diana began to block the bullets with her bracers and Clark flew up into the air to avoid being hit despite being the invulnerable one. J'onn merely turned himself intangible and flew towards the minigun and passed through it destroying it in the process.

Then popping out of the ground were the combat training droids they had been training against just hours ago during the day. The combat droids raised their spindly metal arms, each arm ready to fire blasts of energy. Jason called on the power of the Rider and his head was replaced with a flaming blue skull with empty eye sockets. His chain hook slid out from his jacket sleeve, and with a mere thought, the chain lit up with blue flames. Swinging his chain hook in an arc, The Rider sliced through three of the combat droids in one easy movement. Shayera quickly swung her mace into the other robots, rendering them into piles of scrap. Diana began pummelling the robots with her fists and J'onn began punching the robots as well.

Clark then decided to use his heat vision but not before he shouted, "Get out of the way!" Without even waiting for anyone to heed his warning, the Last Son of Krypton blasted at the robots with his super-hot heat vision. The Rider tackled Shayera to the ground just in time before Superman's blast hit her.

The Rider looked at Superman and growled at him, "Watch what you're doing!" the Spirit of Vengeance bit out.

"I told you all to get out of the way!" snapped Superman and the Rider growled in anger.

Then rising from behind the old ruined house was a familiar figure that the Rider recognised. "You!" the Rider roared in anger as Giganta along with Killer Frost, Sinestro, Shade, Parasite and Clayface appeared.

Sinestro created a construct with his Yellow Power Ring of Fear, this construct in the shape of a large demonic skeleton. Obviously, it was a feeble attempt to mock the Ghost Rider and the construct roared loudly before slamming one giant fist down onto the Rider who was buried in a crater.

Shayera then flew towards Sinestro before Killer Frost intercepted her path and fired off razor sharp icicles at the Thanagarian who did her best to avoid being hit by performing some aerial manoeuvres. Clark flew towards Giganta intent on knocking her out with one punch, but the giantess backhanded the Man of Steel away. Diana was engaged with Parasite who was draining her powers just as easily he would drain his preferred meal; once the Amazon Princess was drained sufficiently enough to be rendered unconscious, Parasite then looked to Superman who was flying around avoiding Giganta's swings. J'onn was trading punches with Clayface who had taken the Martian's form to confuse the Justice League.

Sinestro floated down to the crater where his construct had smashed the Ghost Rider into the ground. His feet lightly touching the crushed dirt, Sinestro began to look for his fallen opponent. Then a black gloved hand shot out of the dirt, grabbing Sinestro by the neck. The dirt began to turn molten and rising out of the ground was the Rider.

"Sinestro… you… guilty!" the Rider growled softly.

Sinestro created a fist construct and slammed the Ghost Rider in the head. If the Rider felt the punch he didn't show it and his empty eyes sockets surrounded by blue flames bored into Sinestro's own black ones.

"You have committed many sins, taken many innocent lives. They cry out for vengeance!" the Rider said to Sinestro who struggled in the Rider's grip.

Then a rescue came in the form of Shade who used his magical night-stick to envelope the Rider in a fog of darkness. The Rider slackened his grip if only for a moment, but it was all that Sinestro needed to free himself from the Rider's grip. The Rider snarled his anger before a burst of hell-fire dispelled the fog of shadow and his chain-hook swung at Shade who managed to duck in time before quickly moving to another spot.

Killer Frost was still firing icicles at Shayera who flew behind one of the ramshackle buildings to avoid being hit. Taking a moment to breathe, Shayera then tried to think of a counter-attack. Then popping out from a barrel was one of the many pop-up targets they had been training with for the day. The pop-up target had made Shayera nearly swing her mace into it before she realised it was the image of a young girl. The Thanagarian relaxed for a moment, realising there was no danger.

That was her mistake.

A burst of green-yellow gas burst from the pop-up target and Shayera got a face full of the gas and she coughed and spluttered before falling unconscious. Killer Frost saw that Hawkgirl was down for the count. "One down," the frosty meta-human criminal licked her lips before turning her attention to the rest of the Justice League.

Parasite had launched himself at Superman and immediately began draining him of his powers. Superman yelled in agony as he was drained of his energy before he fell unconscious.

"Mmm… yummy!" Parasite grinned in a satisfied way.

The two identical forms of Martian Manhunter traded punches and blows. Killer Frost, Giganta and Parasite looked at the two Martians(?) in confusion. "Which one is Clayface?" Killer Frost asked.

She got her answer when one of the Martian Manhunter's slammed his fists into the other before shifting back into Clayface and he shouted "Freeze him!"

Killer Frost needed no encouragement and she froze the Martian Manhunter into an ice block, frozen solid.

"Four down!" Parasite crowed triumphantly.

"Still one more to go," Killer Frost argued as she looked at the Ghost Rider in slight fear. Not that she'd ever admit she feared some demon biker skeleton.

"Allow me," Giganta smiled before she slammed one foot onto the Ghost Rider, leaving a small crater in her wake. Giganta ground her foot onto the Ghost Rider for a moment to make sure that her opponent was down for the count. Smiling in satisfaction, Giganta then lifted her foot off only to receive a ball of hellfire to her face.

"AUGH!"

Giganta gave a cry of shock and pain as the unholy cleansing flame of Hell splashed against her cheek leaving a sizable burn mark.

"Let me handle it, cupcake," Killer Frost then said as she began to pour forth a stream of frost at the Ghost Rider who didn't look fazed. In fact, the stream of frost melted and turned to steam as soon as it touched his body. Stalking towards Killer Frost, the Ghost Rider swung his chain-hook in a lazy circle. Killer Frost was now beginning to panic and concentrated her efforts harder to freeze the Ghost Rider in an icy tomb. Steam billowed about as the ice was vaporised instantly. Panic began to show on Louise Lincoln's face and she yelled out, "Somebody do something!"

Parasite launched himself at Ghost Rider hoping to use the combined strength of Wonder Woman and Superman to pummel the Ghost Rider into submission. A titanic punch was launched from Parasite's fist into the Ghost Rider's jaw. The punch itself would've have been enough to reduce a skyscraper to rubble, but all it did was make Ghost Rider's head turn just a little. The Rider looked at Parasite who chuckled weakly; the Rider then slammed his own fist into Parasite's jaw and if it weren't for the fact that he had drained Wonder Woman and Superman's endurance and invulnerability, he would likely have had a broken jaw and be comatose.

Shade lifted his night-stick and cast forth a stream of shadowy tendrils to bind Ghost Rider's arms and legs. Ghost Rider merely grabbed the shadows ensnaring his arms and burned them away. Sinestro then used a giant mace construct to slam Ghost Rider into the ground. The Rider merely pushed the mace construct away before swinging his chain at the Yellow Lantern; the chain wrapped around Sinestro's ankle and with a yank, the Rider slammed the ex-Green Lantern into a building. Sinestro groaned in pain as his power ring worked to heal the damage done to him. Killer Frost then stopped trying to freeze Ghost Rider solid, instead she launched spears of ice at the Spirit of Vengeance, hoping to impale him, or distract him long enough for one of the others to take him out.

The Ghost Rider swung his chain-hook in lashing arc, smashing each ice spear before they could even touch him. As he stalked towards Killer Frost, a large shaped descended on him bearing a silvery grey mace.

CRACK!

Grodd stood over the Ghost Rider who had then turned back into Jason Leverage. Grodd had retrieved Hawkgirl's Nth metal mace and put it to good use, using the Rider's weakness to Nth metal to knock him out.

The rest of Grodd's secret society looked at the telepathic gorilla. "You said the Ghost Rider wasn't going to be a problem!" Shade accused the former Gorilla City scientist.

"He isn't now," Grodd replied calmly as he picked up the unconscious Jason Leverage and gave a nod for the others to grab the other League members.

"Are you kidding?!" Killer Frost looked at Grodd in disbelief. "Our attacks didn't even faze him or slow him down! If wasn't for you using Hawkgirl's mace, we'd be dead meat at this point!" she shouted.

"Enough! We still have the Lantern to deal with!" Grodd growled commandingly. "Let us reconvene at the base," he ordered in a much calmer voice.

"Shouldn't we be looking for the Lantern?" Giganta asked.

"No need, my dear. The Green Lantern will come to us to rescue his teammates." Grodd smiled in a confident manner that almost bordered on arrogance. But everyone knew the telepath was right. With his teammates captured, it wouldn't be long for the Green Lantern to mount a rescue attempt to save his friends and that was something Grodd was counting on.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Clayface's eyes flashed red briefly as they all gathered up the Justice League and headed back to the Secret Society's base of operations.

…

Hours earlier…

Shayera and John Stewart were arguing. "All I asked for was a little practice at teamwork, was that really too much to ask?!" John exclaimed in frustration.

"You were asking too much!" Shayera argued. "You wanted us to stop being individuals! We're just soldiers to you! Interchangeable!" she then said in an almost hurt voice.

"You don't even care about us!" the redhead accused the African-American Green Lantern.

"What are you talking about?! I do care! I'd give my life for you!" John yelled.

Shayera then looked at John in surprise and he looked slightly surprised at his own admission.

"You don't know what you're saying," Shayera said quietly before she took flight into the sky towards the city, her wings flapping gently.

John watched as Shayera flew away towards the city. He suddenly felt stupid at admitting what would practically be a declaration of love and commitment. Silently hovering behind the ex-US Marine was a robotic camera, watching silently him silently.

John then spun around and fired a blast from his green power ring at the hovering camera. The machine broke apart, fizzing and sparking at it fell to the grass. John walked over to the machine and scanned it with his power ring.

"What were you up to?" John asked the mechanical device as his ring showed the circuitry of the machine. What showed up on the ring's scanner surprised John. "A spy camera?" the Green Lantern mused as he began to examine the machine's inner workings with his own hands and found the piece he was looking for.

Taking out his ear-piece, John fitted the spy camera piece to his ear-piece before putting it back in his ear and said, "Let's find out who you're working for," he said before taking off into the night sky.

Shayera was flying towards the city when her ear piece buzzed. "Shayera! I've got something to tell you!" John's voice said over the communicator.

"Save it! I have nothing more to say to you!" spat Shayera.

"Shayera, listen! Something fishy is going on! Meet me at the training area!" John said.

'What do I have to lose?' Shayera mused to herself privately before she changed direction and flew towards the training area.

…

Present time. The Secret Society's base of operation.

Clayface stood observing the Justice League members, minus one Green Lantern, in their stasis pods. Hawkgirl was disarmed of her Nth metal mace. Batman had his utility belt removed. Wonder Woman was bound in her own lasso. Superman was under a Green Kryptonite radiation lamp. Martian Manhunter was still frozen in the block of ice. And the Ghost Rider was bound in Nth metal chains.

After another moment of looking at the unconscious Justice League, Clayface turned to look at the rest of the Secret Society.

"You know all those spy movies I used to act in?" he asked them. "There was always that scene where the villain had the hero captured and was holding off on killing them and at the last moment the hero managed to escape and save the day," he added.

"Why not just kill the League right now?" the former actor suggested "It'd save us a lot of trouble!" he pointed out.

"Where's your sense of showmanship, Mr Karlo?" Grodd asked Clayface as he walked over to him. "Something like this needs to be seen by the whole world!" he said wrapping a hairy arm around the shapeshifting villain.

"Keep playing your part and I'll let you do the honours," Grodd then said to Clayface who thought about it for a moment before giving a grin in response.

"But what about the Lantern?" Sinestro asked "He's still out there!" he warned, "What are we going to do about him?" he added.

As Sinestro talked, John Stewart having followed the signal of the spy camera to the Secret Society's hideout, was making use of his stealth training from his days in the USMC was hiding behind the stalagmites and stalactites hoping to rescue his friends from their predicament. It was only just now that John realised why the team had broken up; Grodd, having obviously gained telepathic abilities from his telepathic helmet being used against, was spying on them and used his telepathy to send out thought-waves to make the team say what they all really thought of each other and break them apart. John felt foolish that they fell prey to Grodd's manipulations so easily.

As John got nearer to the Secret Society and his imprisoned friends, Grodd had then replied to Sinestro, "Oh, I don't know, what are we going to do about it, John Stewart?" the telepath asked turning in John's direction. John gaped in surprise at how Grodd sensed him so close.

"Can't hide from this," Grodd smiled tapping his head with one large finger "Take him!" he ordered the Secret Society who had all launched themselves at the Green lantern whose power ring flared to life. Sinestro attacked first, launching blasts from his power ring and Killer Frost used his frost powers to glide along an ice bridge, firing icy spikes from her hands. John created a shield bubble to block the attacks before Shade used his night-stick to try and suffocate the Green Lantern into submission. Creating a blinding flare of green light, John took off into the air, leaving a bright green trail heading towards the exit to make an escape.

"He's getting away!" Sinestro snarled as he and Killer Frost took off after the Lantern. The bright light was easy to follow and Sinestro smiled at the thought of killing his former comrade with his bare hands and taking his power ring as a trophy as he had done with many of the other Green Lanterns he'd killed.

As he and Killer Frost got nearer they realised that what they thought was Green Lantern was merely a decoy construct.

"It's a fake!" Frost hissed in frustration. Sinestro didn't say anything he merely turned back towards the base to seek his target.

Having distracted the Society with his decoy, John quickly went to the control panel to free his friends. A passcode was required to release the Justice League from their imprisonment. John's mind raced as he tried to think of the code required to release his friends. Punching in random numbers, John furiously tried to free everyone from their containment units. Then Clayface appeared and John could barely raise his power ring in time to block Clayface's fists which had morphed into a pair of hammers. Clayface strike three times with his fists before turning into a flood and rushed John Stewart slamming him into the rock wall of the cave and held the Lantern fast, covering him completely before moving away and John Stewart fell to the ground unconscious.

"Well done, Mr Karlo," Grodd congratulated Clayface who nodded. Sinestro stalked towards his nemesis, his yellow ring glowing menacingly.

"What do you think you're doing, Sinestro?" Grodd asked the Yellow Lantern softly.

"What does it look like?" spat Sinestro as a blade construct formed from the ring in his hand and rose above John Stewart intent on killing him. Grodd grabbed Sinestro by the arm and gave him a hard look.

"No! Not like this!" the telepath growled at the red-skinned alien "This is far too ignominious an end for the Justice League!" he stated.

"Clayface is right! If we hold off on killing them, they'll break free!" Sinestro argued.

"This is my society and we're doing what I say!" Grodd said forcefully and Sinestro felt his mind being penetrated by Grodd's telepathy and he relented.

"Now for the final stroke of our plan!" Grodd gloated as they prepared to ship off the Justice League to their demise.

…

Metropolis Stadium.

Tonight's football match was between the Metropolis Meteors and the Gotham Knights. People from Metropolis and Gotham as well from other cities in American had all come to the Metropolis Stadium to witness the match of the year. It was no secret that there was a rivalry between the Metropolis Meteors and the Gotham Knights and for that matter between the two cities they respectively called home.

People had cheered on their favourite team and both sides were about even in scoring. Team coaches had given rousing words of encouragement or stern words to their players. There had been more than a few punches had been traded between the teams and many injuries had been sustained on the field. Currently it was the half-time show and a young popular singer had been booked for the show to sing her latest song.

Everyone cheered as the singer sang her song and lights shone brightly on the singer in her skimpy outfit and cameras flashed taking pictures of the songstress as she sang. But soon looming overhead was a giant flying ship. The public cheered even louder thinking that this was part of the show, the singer had paused her song to look up at the floating ship wondering if this was something the production team had cooked up.

Then the ship descended throwing up dirt and grass and causing the singer to be thrown off stage. The ship then crushed the stage and people began to wonder what was going on. As the ship finally finished its descent and crushed the stage beneath it, the top of the ship and elevated up for everyone to see was Gorilla Grodd and his secret society.

Grodd smiled at the grand entrance they'd made and he spoke into a microphone, "Now that we have your attention, let us begin!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for interrupting your scheduled show, but what you are about to witness is the start of a new world order!" Grodd announced.

"This stadium is where the strong repeated defeat the weak. Yet, outside these walls, society shackles the strong and prevent them from taking their rightful place in the world!" Grodd then growled.

As Grodd spoke, a group of police and SWAT teams had mobilised and filtered onto the field with the intent on bringing Grodd and his gang of criminals to justice. Sinestro had seen the officers and SWAT teams entering the stadium and with a thought, he created a bulldozer blade construct and swept the police and SWAT officers into a pile of dirt and rubble. Grodd having seen that spoke for everyone's benefit, "A small demonstration of our might," he said as if commenting on the weather.

"And here is another demonstration," Grodd then said as he pressed a button on the remote in his hand. Elevating onto the platform was the Justice League in their containment cells, fully conscious. The public gasped at seeing their heroes helpless and bound at Grodd and his Society's mercy.

"These heroes are the biggest examples of your society undoing the greatest law of nature, the survival of the fittest!" Grodd then said with venom in his voice. "And with the end of your heroes, shall come a new world order!" he declared with a gleam in his eyes. Looking at Clayface, Grodd said to him "Care to do the honours, Mr Karlo?" he asked.

Clayface nodded and moved over to the control panel. He stared at it for a moment before ripping the entire control panel with one hand, ripping it out from its spot.

The containment cells opened and the Justice League were released from their bonds.

"What are you doing, Clayface?!" Killer Frost yelled at the shapeshifter.

Grodd looked at Clayface then at the frozen Martian Manhunter and growled, "Of course! You froze the wrong one!" he said to Frost who looked mortified as 'Clayface' shifted into the form of J'onn J'onzz who smiled at tricking Grodd and his society so effectively. The real Clayface defrosted and joined his friends.

"Grodd's been messing with our minds!" Green Lantern said to everyone.

"Great!" groaned Flash, "How do we fight it?" he asked.

"We get past it and we kick the shit out of them!" Jason replied as he let the power of Zartharos take over and his head was replaced by the flaming skull of the Ghost Rider.

"This isn't the show I had in mind," Grodd mused "But in a way, it's going to be even better," he said with a small smile "Don't forget your training!" he said to his Society. Giganta grew to her giant size and both sides glared at each other as they prepared to fight each other.

In the crowd, a small boy who had been watching whispered, "Get 'em!"

Shayera roared and charged towards the Secret Society with the Justice League charging beside her. Both sides roared their defiance as they charged at each other. Diana collided with the real Clayface and Clark swung one fist to smash apart Sinestro's shield. John blasted plasma blasts at Parasite who was trying to latch onto one of the League members to drain their powers; the purple and white skinned criminal managed to latch onto Flash who cried out in pain as his powers were drained. Parasite didn't gloat for long as Wonder Woman's lasso wrapped around him and the Amazon threw him into the air and smashed him against the hull of Grodd's ship.

Ghost Rider was making a beeline for Grodd when Killer Frost stood in his way and in her hand, she had Hawkgirl's mace. "Let's see how you handle me now, bonehead!" the icy criminal taunted. The Rider stared at her for a moment before his chain-hook slid out his jacket sleeve and lit up with hellfire. Swinging the chain at Frost, the Rider launched himself at the icy assassin who created a wall of solid ice to block the attack.

Shade tried to aim his night-stick at Batman who knocked out of his hand with a flick of his wrist. "Never learn, do you?" Batman asked the criminal and received a roundhouse kick to the jaw surprising him slightly.

"Actually, I have learned a few things!" Shade replied smugly before adopting a jiujitsu stance. Batman adopted a Muay Thai stance and made the 'come here' motion with his hand. Shade launched himself at the Dark Knight.

Sinestro had created a demonic looking construct and was commanding it to attack Green Lantern who was using a large green shield to block the punches of the yellow fear construct. Grodd then saw Sinestro's efforts to break through John Stewart's shield. With a thought, Grodd directed his telepathic energies against John Stewart.

"ARRRGH!"

John Stewart yelled out in pain as he was hit with what felt like the most powerful migraine he had even felt. The former Marine fell to his knees clutching his head in agony and his shield construct broke apart under Sinestro's attacks. Shayera then saw Grodd and launched a kick into his back, knocking Grodd off his feet and breaking his concentration. J'onn grabbed the telepathic Gorilla and the pair then engaged in a battle of telepathic powers. Sweat broke out on their brows as they telepathically assaulted each other, hoping to break the other mentally and thus physically. Killer Frost then saw the Martian fighting Grodd and froze him in a block of ice. Grodd gave a nod of thanks to his associate who said, "This time I got the right one!" she crowed before her foot was snared by the Ghost Rider's chain-hook and she was yanked to the ground. Frost lost her grip on Hawkgirl's mace. The Rider caught in one free hand and tossed it towards Shayera who grabbed and with a shout she flew towards Grodd intent on showing the gorilla the business end of her favoured weapon.

Grodd then directed his mental energies on the Thanagarian who cried out in pain and fell to the ground with a crash as her mind was assaulted telepathically by Grodd. Gloating to himself for a moment, Grodd was thrown off balance by the errant foot of Giganta who was swinging her fists around hoping to swat Superman out of the air. With a clap of her hands, Giganta grabbed the Man of Steel and tried to crush him between her hands. It took only a little effort for Superman to pry himself free and he flew towards Giganta with his fist raised.

"Wouldn't hit a woman, would ya?" Giganta asked the Man of Steel in a timid voice. Clark hesitated for a moment, his boy scout tendencies coming to the fore when Diana's voice spoke "I would!" And Diana flew up and delivered an uppercut to Giganta's jaw, knocking the giantess out and making her fall onto the stadium bleachers which had thankfully been cleared of civilians. John had punched out Sinestro and knocked him to the ground and Parasite had been knocked unconscious by Diana. Flash thawed out J'onn, "Anti-freeze anyone?" the Scarlet Speedster quipped.

"Please, no jokes, just get her!" J'onn moaned in discomfort. Flash then zoomed off to catch Killer Frost who was attempting to make a getaway. Flash then began running around Frost, causing a vortex throwing the icy killer up the air as well as sucking away all the air.

"Ergh.. can't… breathe!" Killer Frost choked before Flash stopped and she fell to the ground unconscious due to lack of oxygen and the fall to the ground knocking her out cold. No pun intended.

Shade had been trading punches and kicks with Batman who tossed him. Shade then charged towards Batman and swung his fist, only for it to break against Superman's chest.

"I knew this wouldn't work! I just knew it!" Shade yelled as he turned to run away. Batman merely fired a grappling shot around Shade's legs and the darkness-wielding criminal fell to the ground.

Bruce then turned to look at Clark "I could've-" the Dark Knight began to say.

"What?" snapped Clark snapped in anger.

"Thanks…" Batman said grudgingly. Clark then nodded in acceptance when Clayface loomed up behind them, having crated multiples ending in multiple bludgeoning weapons.

Flash then looked at the stage and saw the fireworks which had mercifully not ignited and exploded during the fight. Grabbing the firework cannisters, the speedster sped around Clayface sticking them into the shapeshifter's body.

Ghost Rider then swung his chain, igniting the fuses on each firework cannister and within seconds the fireworks had ignited and sent Clayface flying up into the air where he exploded and the fireworks lit up the sky to the cheers of the adoring crowd.

"That's a wrap!" Flash grinned. Hawkgirl then saw Grodd trying to make a quick exit and said "Just about."

Ghost Rider swung his chain and the chain wrapped around Grodd's leg and with a yank, Grodd was flung into the air and into the Rider's grip.

Everyone stopped to watch what the Rider was going to do.

"You… guilty!" the Rider declared as Grodd struggled in his grip.

"Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent!" the Spirit of Vengeance growled as his empty eye bored into Grodd's eyes.

"Feel their pain!" The Rider commanded and flames shot from his eye sockets and into Grodd's eyes who began to scream in true agony as he felt the pain and sorrow of all the victims of his evil and cruelty.

Soon Grodd stopped screaming and the Rider dropped him to the ground and if anyone cared to look at the telepath's eyes, they would see that each eyeball was now charred smouldering ashen orbs.

The Rider then disappeared, and Jason Leverage looked at Grodd's unmoving but still alive body.

Jason then looked at the Justice League who now looked at him in surprise and fear.

"What was that?" Batman asked in a deadly whisper at seeing this new power Jason displayed.

"The Penance Stare," Jason admitted "I saw all the evil Grodd committed and I turned it against him!" he declared.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Bruce shouted in disbelief.

"He's still alive, if you're wondering," Jason replied calmly "And right now, we have a lot of apologising to do," he said looking at everyone pointedly. Everyone looked at each sheepishly.

"A lot of things were said," Diana agreed.

"Yeah, but that was all mind control!" argued Flash.

"We meant every word," J'onn pointed out sadly.

"Then… what do we do?" Flash asked.

"All we can say is that we're sorry and move on," John Stewart said as they all turned to leave.

Jason looked at Bruce who gave him a look that basically said that what he did to Grodd was going to be discussed. It was something Jason was dreading and yet knew everyone had to know the greatest weapon of the Ghost Rider.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: well, there it is everyone the adoption of Shocknawe 425's Ghost Rider/Justice League story, I do apologising for not publishing this sooner but other things such as new stories and life got in the way and I really hope this wasn't a bad attempt at writing the 'first' chapter of A Rider's Duty and Vengeance.

In other news, I recently published a new story which is a crossover between Game of Thrones, Justice League and Skyrim where Aegon Targaryen/Blackfyre ends up in the Justice League of Amazons universe and becomes the new father to mankind. You know the drill, I've set up a voting poll on my profile for that story so feel free to vote or leave suggestions via review or PM.

So, the next chapter will be a discussion of Jason's ultimate weapon against evil, the Penance Stare and given that subjecting a criminal, even one as evil as Grodd, may not be justice in the eyes of the League, least of all Batman, so we may see Jason suspended from the League for doing something worse than killing a criminal which would be seen as a mercy compared to what the Penance Stare does to someone.

So, other than that, there's not much else to say, so I'll just leave this here and wait for the reviews to roll in.

Peace,

Angry lil' elf.