The Crescent Crusader
Chapter 1

By Bethany Starr
Thanks to Lilith Langtree for all her help editing and improving this work. This story wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is now without her help!

All rights to the characters belong to Marvel Comics.

The hot Indian sun beat down on my head as I crawled through the dessert.

That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him when I get the chance!

Maybe I should back up. My name is Marc Spector. I’m a mercenary; I’m not the biggest or strongest one out there but a pretty damn good one, even if I say so myself. Although I’m only 5’8 and 150 lbs, I’m still one of the better men out there because of my skill and speed. People always underestimate the short ones.

It started simply enough, I was hired to guard a group of archeologists and scientists that were planning on examining a temple to Kali that was located in the middle of the Thar Desert. It was a recent discovery and they were excited about the possibilities, something about a relic from the dawn of civilization. I didn’t pay much attention; my job was to protect them. The Thar Desert is located on the border between India and Pakistan and out in the desert the idea of a civilian is nonexistent. Anyway this team hired about 10 “skilled individuals” for their security staff and set off. I was recruited by the guy who was put in charge of their security, Lester Poindexter.

Name sounded like it belonged to some dweeb but trust me, you don’t want to cross this guy. Rumor has it that he’s never been defeated by anyone in hand-to-hand combat. I don’t know if that’s true but I’ll say this: the guy’s the best shot I’d seen. I’d had the misfortune of going up against him a few times and I’d always come away the worse for wear. He was one of the few guys I respected so when he approached me with an offer to work with him, I leapt at the chance.

The job was pretty easy, we just had to keep the locals off the team’s backs and since we had guns and knew how to use them this was pretty easy. Then we had to make sure that both Indian and Pakistani forces kept away from us. Again, considering the jobs I’ve done, this was a pretty easy task. Things turned ugly about 28 days into our job. The team had discovered that this temple was sitting atop an older building. This secondary site took a little while to dig into but on day 28, we entered what appeared to be an older temple. Sitting in the middle of what I guess would have been an inner sanctuary were several golden idols.

I was up front with the archeologists when I heard the familiar click of a gun being cocked. I spun around with my pistol drawn only to be staring down the barrel of Lester’s Beretta.

“Uh, uh, uh Marc. Don’t do anything stupid. Just put down the gun.”

Dr. Marlene Alrune, lead archeologist for the team, spoke up, “Lester, what the hell are you doing?”

“You see Doc, it’s like this. The stuff here’ll be worth a pretty penny, a lot more than you’re paying us anyway. So what we’re doing here is what I like to call a robbery. So if you know what’s good for you, you and the rest of your team will go sit in a corner till we say you can move. Marc? What about you buddy? You with us or you going to stand in the corner?”

Well I did the thing that made the most sense at the time. I picked up my gun and walked over to join the rest of my crew.

“Perfect. Alright boys, lets carry this stuff to the surface”

So we got to work. When all the statues were removed I pulled Lester aside, “Hey mate, what are we going to do with the docs in the temple?”

“Hell I was going to just leave them down there to die but now that you mention it, let’s just put them out of their misery eh?”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Look Marco, if we let them live, they’ll have the cops on us. Looting a temple is a serious crime!”

“No! I won’t let you kill innocents like this! It’s not what I signed up for and I won’t be a part of it.”

“Alright Marc, whatever you say. Let’s just go down there to lay down the law to the docs.”

I turned to go into the tomb when I heard a bang and then…blackness.

When I came to, I was alone in the middle of the desert. I touched my head and realized I was bleeding. I kinda knew the docs would all be dead but I checked anyway.

Damn!

They were shot several times each. From the looks of things, Lester had let them try to run before he executed them. Blood covered the floor. I hate to admit it but I’m used to the sight of dead bodies. Still the sheer carnage here made me sick to my stomach. The look of terror and dread on the faces of these bodies was something that would stick with me. Still there was nothing I could do for them now. I staggered to my feet and started to head for the nearest civilization.

Now that brings me back to the beginning. I’ve been crawling for hours and I’m still not sure whether I’m any closer to getting help. I know a bullet wound like mine needs serious attention, I’ve tried to administer first aid on myself as best I could but I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out.

I awoke to whiteness. I wish I could describe it better than that but I was sort of floating in a place that was completely white. I was sure that this was it. I had died out in that desert.

“Hello? Is anybody there? Shouldn’t I be talking to St. Peter at some pearly gates or something? Hello? Hey, if not that guy then isn’t there some flaming dude with a pitchfork that should be greeting me?”

“MARC SPECTOR!”

I turned and saw the source of this booming voice. A blue woman with many arms was coming towards me.

“Ok, now I know I’m dreaming.”

“THOU ART NOT DREAMING! MY NAME IS KALI, THE GODDESS OF DEATH!”

“Geez, would you stop yelling! It’s not like there’s anyone here but me!”

“INSOLENT HUMAN! I would strike you down if I had no need of you.”

All right, so apparently the goddess of death needed to hire a mercenary. That makes sense. “Alright, what do you need?”

“The goddess of vengeance is displeased with the amount of injustice that goes on in this world. I require an avatar or knight in this world. Someone to punish injustice and bring death to those who deserve it.”

I thought about this for a second. When I had left my home in Indianapolis, I had decided that something had to be done. If I ever got back home I had thought about joining the police to help clean up the crime rate there. The problem with Indy is that gangsters like to go there to escape the heat in Chicago. This leads to higher crime rates in a city that should be safe.

“Yes, I’ll do it. Just let me live.”

“DONE! Marc Spector, do you swear to serve the goddess in everything you do?”

“Yes. I, Marc Spector, promise to serve the goddess Kali. In return the goddess will grant me my life back.”

My eyes shot open. I looked around. I was sitting in a cold metal bed, in a room with white concrete walls. A man was leaning over the bed and looking at me, “Sir, sir!”

“Yeah what’s up?”

“Sir, do you remember your name?”

“Yeah, I’m Marc Spector. What the hell am I doing here?”

“Well sir, you were found in the desert and brought here. This is the GRAVIS center. We’re committed to providing adequate healthcare to those who live in the desert.”

“That sounds like a noble cause,” I said semi-sarcastically. “Now how bout telling me what the damage is?”

“Mr. Spector, you were found with a bullet lodged in your head. We had to remove the bullet but we’re unsure what kind of brain damage you might have sustained. Our suggestion is that when you get back to your hometown, you should have your doctor look into it. Most facilities in the Western world have better resources to properly diagnose any conditions you might be suffering.”

“Fine, will do. Am I free to go?”

“Yes, everything checks out. You can leave whenever you feel up to it.”

“Great. Oh one last question.”

“Yes?”

“You must have had me hooked up to something while you operated on me. Are hallucinations a side effect of whatever it is that you used?”

“Why yes, yes they are.”

“Great. That’s all I wanted to know.”

I awoke with a start and found myself in a cardboard box. Crawling out of the box I discovered that I was alone in a back alley somewhere.

How the hell did I get here?

I remembered leaving India and boarding a plane for Chicago. I remembered checking myself into a hotel that night. After that? I don’t remember! I checked my wallet and was relieved to discover that I still had all my cash with me.

How long have I been out?

Well I needed to find a place to stay anyway so I decided to hit up a local bank, check the status of my accounts, and then check my e-mail at the local library. Maybe along the way I’d figure out how to fulfill Kali’s request.

First stop was the bank. It was a pretty short stop. Basically I was broke. The teller and the manager both swore that I had walked into the building a few days ago, liquidated my accounts, and walked out. I had all the necessary paperwork to prove my identity and everything was legit. You can imagine how pissed I was! I argued it but the manager was obliging enough to show me a copy of the surveillance from that day. I watched in astonishment as someone who was undeniably me conducted business. But what happened to the money? Where did it go? I decided to shelve that mystery for the time being and move on.

Stop two was the library. I logged onto a computer and started accessing several different e-mail accounts. Nothing really caught my eye till I read this e-mail:

Mr. Spector,
My name is Stephanie Grant. I’d like to talk to you about a job involving Kali. If you’re interested, please meet me at my house. A map and address are included as attachments.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Grant
CEO, Grant Investment Agencies

You can imagine that the e-mail certainly piqued my curiosity. I wasn’t sure how this woman got my e-mail address or what she knew about Kali. I still wasn’t sure whether my experience was a hallucination or not but if this woman was contacting me about it then it must be real right? Still with nowhere else to turn I decided to check out this offer. I walked to Miss Grant’s four-story house and rang the doorbell. I was surprised to see Miss Grant open the door herself. Wow! She was beautiful! She was about my height and had beautiful brown hair and eyes. Her purple dress accented all of her feminine curves and her makeup and hair were done in a very enticing manner.

“Can I help you?”

Her question broke into my dreams and I stammered in response, “H-Hi, I’m M-Marc. Marc Spector.”

“Oh Marc! I didn’t expect you so soon; I only sent that e-mail out last night. C’mon in!” Can I get you anything?”

“No Miss, that’s fine.”

“Fine then shall we get down to business?”

“Fine by me.”

“Before I start I have to warn you that this might sound crazy but hear me out. The other night I had this dream. I dreamed that someone who called herself the goddess Kali visited me. She told me to invite Marc Spector to live with me. She said that if I wanted to live I would do so and that Marc was on a mission from her. She also promised me wealth and success so that’s also a plus. I’m a deep believer in spiritual things so even if it was just a dream I thought I should follow the instructions and see where they lead me.”

I was pretty sure that this chick was certifiably crazy. Beautiful, rich, but crazy as hell! Still, if I could milk this for some money why pass up the opportunity? “Okay, that sounds pretty interesting but what exactly are you offering?”

“I’m offering you access to my resources as long as any purchases are approved by me. I’m offering you my house as a base of operations. You can have any bedroom except mine, you can use the gym to your heart’s delight, and if you require anything you can let me know and we’ll talk about obtaining it.”

“An offer like that sounds too good to be true. Still if you’re serious, I accept.”

“Perfect. Welcome to Chicago Mr. Spector.”