Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In Avengers #50 some Deathloks appeared on Earth-616 to warn the team about the Multiversal Masters Of Evil. 1 of the Deathloks declared Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) to be an Omni-Avenger and they were both transported to Earth-818 ruled by Black Skull of the MMOE and his War Machines. In our 1st issue we met Tony Stark, the Ant-Man of this world, who watched the duo get captured after weeks(?) of battling the enemy forces.
Black Skull is torturing Ghost Rider in his dungeon, and Robbie Reyes has forgotten how long it's been. BS claims to have killed many GRs and knows how to do it painfully. But as the villain's Venom symbiote tendrils worm their way through his body and the Skull slowly saws a foot off, this GR remains silent. BS compares GR to himself. As the Skull merged with his symbiote so Robbie became 1 with his Hell Charger car. Johann Schmidt had marvelled at the way the duo ploughed through his War Machines.
But now he has the foot off and tosses it to a WM minion to be flown into the Sun. However instead it burns the War Machine to death. At this point GR breaks free of the Venom tendrils. But Black Skull just smashes him down with a huge Venom fist. He asks GR where in the multiverse he came from, and who sent him here, but GR just spits hellfire in his eye. So BS forms 2 giant fists covered in spikes and slams them shut around his victim's body. GR uses his rage to survive it all.
We take time out to see that the Skull's castle is surrounded by an idyllic town, separated from the wasteland that is the rest of the world by a barbed wire fence. But all the people living in the utopia, even children, have a Hydra tattoo.
WM guards drag GR back to the cell where the Deathlok is chained up. DL comments that it's taken BS 8 days to get the 1 foot off. He also reminds Robbie Reyes that he's got to keep control and awake and never revert to his human self else he'll die instantly. On the other hand the longer he stays as Ghost Rider the less human he'll become. DL also says that Robbie is unlike any of the Spirit Of Vengeance GRs he's met across the multiverse, and he has a destiny. He also comments on the large number of cockroaches in the cell.
In the next torture session Black Skull drives stakes through the eyesockets of GR's skull. In response Ghost Rider screams hellfire which knocks the villain back, and vomits chains which crush the attendant War Machines. But then BS invades his mind and tries to get GR to tell him his human name. Instead Robbie summons his Hell Charger which was chained down elsewhere. It breaks free, smashes through walls and comes to the rescue.
At that point Ghost Goblin, another member of the Multiversal Masters Of Evil, drops in having been just passing by this universe. He collects GR heads and stores them in his bag for use as hellfire bombs, and he wants this 1 to add to his collection. BS shows him the Hell Charger they've subdued again, and describes how vicious it is. GG agrees that he's never seen such a GR ride before - motorbikes and horses yes, and even a shark, but no cars. He also comments that this GR isn't from the Blaze/Ketch/Kale bloodlines and doesn't seem to have the usual taint of Mephisto. And the heads in his sack start chanting "All hail the All-Rider".
Back in his cell with DL his companion keeps him awake and sane by telling him about his life on Earth-616. He also mentions a prophecy whispered by the dead gods in the God Quarry about a Ghost Rider unlike any other.
Another day BS *doesn't* torture GR but lets him hear screams. When he investigates he sees Robbie Reyes from all over the multiverse, none of whom became a Ghost Rider. BS has tortured *them* and then told them to kill each other, with the promise that the last man standing will get to go home. GR/Robbie can't stand it and when he comes back to his senses *he* is the only 1 left.
Back in their cell again Deathlok realises that Ghost Rider is now broken. In the next torture session he'll tell Black Skull everything. DL pulls some wires out of his own body and connects himself to GR. It seems he's going to push GR into becoming the All-Rider, the multiversal Spirit Of Vengeance. But before that he tries to crush some of the cockroaches crawling over GR's body ...
... and the voice of tiny Ant-Man tells him to stop it. This is the rescue party.