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Chapter Text

It’s 3:10pm and little Billy was walking home from school through the dark and dangerous streets of New York City. Normally he would take the bus home, but the school’s bully Big Bobby stole his bus pass and flushed it down the toilet. With no cell phone or enough money to pay for public transportation ten-year-old Billy had to walk the scum covered streets of Manhattan alone with nothing to protect him. As he walked past liquor stores and strip clubs he shared the same streets with prostitutes and the homeless. A large bearded man staggered down the sidewalk not looking where he was going and bumped into Billy almost knocking him off balance.

“Damn it kid, what do you think you’re doing? Trying to get yourself killed?” Shouted the bearded man.

Saying nothing, Billy kept walking while clenching the straps of his backpack tight. On any other day, he would be riding on the bus looking at these streets thinking nothing of the of the dangers that lurked. Now he felt that every step could be his last. Trembling all over with his legs feeling weak, he didn’t dare stop to rest. He knew his mother was worried waiting at home and he wanted to get home before his angry drunk father did.

“Hey kid want to have some fun?” Said a voice coming from the alley way. Out stepped a tall lanky man with a mullet, an uneven goatee, and two eyes that looked in opposite directions.

“My Mom told me not to talk to strangers.” Billy slowly took a step back, hoping for the man to give him an opportunity to run away.

“Well your mom sounds boring. I bet she never lets you eat any candy either, huh? Now if you want to have some fun then I’m your real mommy.” Out from his jacket pocket the man took out a large plastic grocery bag full pills, bags of white powder, syringes, and mushrooms.

“Mama fun has some real treats for you like crack, peyote, and silly blood. This candy will make Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse come to life and be your best friend.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of pills and held the out offering them to little Billy.

“No, no! mister I don’t want any candy.” Feeling terrified, he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

“Come on kid, you’ll have so much fun that you’ll never—“before he could finish his sentence his chest exploded in a spray of blood and guts as several bullets struck him. Everyone on the streets ran off and hid in the nearest buildings. Standing still not moving, Billy did not know what to do as he looked down at the ground where the bloody body of the drug dealer laid. This was enough to make him finally scream louder than ever before.

“Settle down kid, you’re safe now.” Slowly turning around, Billy saw a large man behind him holding two smoking pistols. He had large bulging muscles, black slick back hair, and a black shirt with skull on it.

“You better run home little boy, before things get messy. For I’m about to deal a whole mess of Punishment on these scum covered streets!”

Billy didn’t need to be told twice before he took off running down the streets.

The Punisher bent down and picked up the self-proclaimed Mama Fun. Holding him close to his face, he spoke to him, “I know you’re still alive. I purposely missed all of your vital organs even though I shot you in the chest and head. I am keeping you alive so that I could interrogate you and kill you afterwards.”

Coughing up blood Momma Fun came back to life. Struggling to breath he tried to remain conscious.

Pressing one of his guns to the forehead of the dealer, The Punisher proceeded to ask him questions. “Who is your supplier? Where are they?”

Unable to think straight Momma Fun felt himself slip closer to death, but he was able to find the strength to answer, “Go down the street turn left. The crack house is the third house down on the right.”

Pulling the trigger, the Punisher splattered the dealer’s brains all over the side walk, “Thanks.”

* * *

Inside of the crack house two dealers sat on the couch with a large pile of pills on the coffee table in front of them. One used a razor to separate the pills from the large pile into smaller piles to bag up. The other took the bags and set then on a scale to make sure each bag weighed five grams. They were momentary distracted as they heard a knock coming from the door.

“Hey Daniel, answer the damn door!” one of them yelled.

“You get the damn door!” Daniel yelled back from the kitchen.

“We’re too busy bagging drugs. It’s you job to answer the damn door.”

Daniel walked out of the kitchen half dressed with burn scars and needle marks up and down his arms. After attaching the chain to the door, he opening it to find The Punisher on the other side.

“Who is it?” He asked.

The door exploded into splinters as bullets burst forth tearing apart his lungs and heart.

“Your demise.” Kicking the door open, The Punisher stepped over his new victim.

The two dealers shook and trembled, scared out of their minds as The Punisher walked over to them and asked, “Now who wants to get to know me better?”

* * *

It took some searching, but after walking through the warehouse district down by docks for thirty minutes, African-American college student Maylene Lumpkin finally found the right place. She was majoring in Law and criminal justice at Manhattan University hoping to someday become a district attorney. A week ago, an overweight balding man approached her offering her an internship. He didn’t tell her what kind of work it entailed or even exactly where it was at. He just promised that it would cover all of her credits, give her real work experience that would not be found anywhere else, and high level job as soon as she graduated. It was an offer that she could not refuse, but she still felt uneasy. She was discouraged by how secretive the man was. He didn’t tell her the exact location, just that it was in a warehouse by the docks and that he would turn off security so that she would not be hurt. The only way that she knew that she would find the right place was that the door would have a skull painted above it.

Not knowing what to expect next she knocked on the door and was promptly welcomed in by man that she spoke to last week.

“Maylene come on in, the big guy hasn’t arrived yet, but that will give me time to show you around first.”

“Um, I’m sorry, what exactly do you do here?” She looked around the room that appeared to have been a reception office. There was one desk with two high-tech modified computers on it and several empty oven pizza boxes. Behind the desk was another door which she assumed led to the rest of the warehouse. “This doesn’t look like any law office I’ve seen before.”

“Oh, where are my manners? I guess I don’t have to be so secretive now. Hold on, give me a minute,” He quickly walked over to his computer and typed something, then walked back over to her. “We should be safe to talk now. My name is David Linus, but please call me Microchip.”

“Microchip? Is this some sort of cyber security firm?”

“No, not at all. Let me ask you, what are your views on vigilante justice?”

“Well the law can be inadequate at times and people do have a right to defend their selves, but it’s against the law for a reason. Not everyone has clear view of justice and when they are motivated by hatred and revenge, innocent lives—“

“Stop right there, that will be enough. However, do you think that America’s current justice system is adequate today?

Maylene felt nervous, these questions caused her stomach to turn to knots, but she didn’t refuse to answer. “Yes, crime is at an all-time low and on average across America and the amount of wrongful imprisonment has decreased.”

“So you are satisfied with work that our state’s police force is handling criminal investigations?”

“Yes, they have excelled—“

“What about in the case of you little brother?” Microchip sat back down at his desk with his elbows on it and his hands clasped together. Trying hard to maintain her breathing and stay calm Maylene started glancing at the door.

“He has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, he has everything to do with this. Do you want to sit down?” He gestured to a chair in front of his desk.

“No, I think I’ll leave.” Trying not to show any emotion she turned around and reach for the door knob, but was stopped.

“Hold on, if you touch that door knob one hundred thousand volts of electricity will shock you.” Microchip rubbed his chin. “I should have broached the subject more gently. Please sit down.”

“Are you threatening me? You can’t do this to me.”

“I don’t mean you any harm. Please, just sit down and let me explain.”

As she sat down the chair creaked and the legs were uneven.

“Listen I sympathize with you. What happened to your little brother was horrible.”

“Whatever this internship is, I don’t want it anymore. Please let me leave.” Maylene shifted in her chair.

“I can’t let you do that. You don’t even know what this internship is,” Microchip turned on a coffee machine on his desk and poured in some water from bottle. “We don’t have to talk about what happened to your brother, but tell me how long was it until the police discovered the suspects?”

This was the final straw for Maylene. Kicking her chair back she stood up and slammed her hands onto the desk. Maintain his demeanor, Microchip didn’t acknowledge her outburst.

“He was molested, damn it! Okay, they got away with it for years. My family and I thought that they were just teachers tutoring him, but instead they were raping him and beating him. For five years we just thought he kept quiet and hardly ever went outside. We had no way of telling there was something wrong. Then when the police came to our door and explained it all to us. What they did to him and few other students. We couldn’t believe it was real. After two years of trials those scumbags where let free. I promised my brother that I would do everything in my ability to protect him, but I couldn’t after he took his own life!”

As tears streamed out of her eyes, she grabbed her chair and sat back down. For two minutes, she buried head into her hands sobbed. Microchip showed no sympathy as he poured two cups of coffee, one for himself, the other for Maylene.

“What happened after that?” He offered her the cup of coffee.

“What are you talking about?” She took the coffee, but didn’t take a sip. She was too shaken to drink.

“You know what I’m talking about. What happened to the teachers?”

“They were killed by…” realizing what was going on she looked up and felt the knots in her stomach come undone, but she was not relieved. “It all makes sense now, the secretiveness, the skull on the door, and all the questions. You work for him don’t you. The Punisher. You want me to intern for a murderer.”

“Well I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes.”

“You picked me, because of my brother, didn’t you? Because I witnessed the justice system fail. So, what just because I lost my brother to some bad men you think that I would want to take the law into my own hands and go after other criminal organizations. Well I have news for you I study Criminal Justice for reasons other than revenge.”

Microchip smiled walked over to a door behind the desk.

“Good, let me show you the rest of the place.” He led her to the larger part of warehouse. There was still some remnants of when it was used for storage for a business, like large shelves and a forklift, but now it resembled more of military base. The was a target range, a small gym, an armory locked behind a chain link cage, and small cot with a bulletin board nearby. Microchip drew her attention to the bulletin board which had photos pinned on it. These were photos of murderers, leaders criminal organizations, and America’s most wanted.

“He used to be like you once. He too trusted in justice system, but that all changed a long time ago.”

“Yeah, I read the profile the Daily Bugle ran on him. He decided to become a vigilantly after his family was killed in a mob shooting,” replied Maylene.

“That is true. The death of his family lead to him taking out New York’s major crime families, but I believe that the motivation came from the injustices that he witnessed in Vietnam.”

“Vietnam?” She was very confused by this new information. “But he doesn’t look like he’s more than forty in the photos I’ve seen of him.”

“You’ll be surprised what dying and coming back to life a few times does to your skin,” a booming voice said from behind Maylene. She felt paralyzed, but managed to slowly turned around and stood face to face with a large man wearing a skull t-shirt and large backpack on his back

Microchip introduced the man. “Maylene, I would like you to meet Frank Castle.”

“The Punisher,” the name slipped out of her mouth.

“Micro, are you bring home strays now? You know how I feel about outsiders,” He glared at his friend.

“I hired her as an intern. I figured we could use some help with tracking targets and she can help you with cleaning and maintain the guns.” Microchip pleaded with Punisher as he walked over to the armory. He dropped the backpack on the ground with a thunk.

“Whoa, I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” she started to feel a bit panicky wondering what she has gotten herself into.

“Have you found anyplace better to intern yet?” asked Microchip.

“No, but you can’t expect me to do this. It’s illegal, I’ld be aiding a known criminal.”

“What are you going to learn at any law office?” stepped to her to be only a few inches away and looked down upon her. “An internship isn’t real on the job training or anything. It’s just getting coffee and filing papers. A big fucking waste of time. Here you will actually make a different and learn what justice really means. Change never starts behind a desk or in an office. Real change happens on the streets face to face with the criminals that are bring down your justice system. Now tell me, do you want to make a change or do you want continue with your pitiful existence?”

Maylene felt like she was backed up into a corner. She was frightened, but her mind was filled with uncertainty. She agreed with the things that Microchip was saying, but she knew that assisting these men was illegal and if caught it would mean life in prison.

“Well, will you help us or not?” Microchip was growing impatient.

“Do I actually have a choice?”

“You always have a choice, but make sure that you’re making the right one.”

With a deep sigh Maylene answered him. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Good your room will behind the armory.”

“What? I have dorm room on campus.” Again she wondered what she was doing.

“I know, that will be paid for. I you can visit from time to time so that you can keep up appearances of a normal college student, but I’m going to need you to spend all of you free time here. You can just tell your dormmate that you have a boyfriend of something.”

“Yeah, but—“

“Are you done with introductions yet?” The Punisher interrupted. “I need you set up the interrogation room.”

He unzipped the backpack and an unconscious body fell out.

* * *

It wasn’t enough to tie him to a chair, draping a bloody apron on him, and strapping his head tight so he couldn’t move it, but The Punisher also decided to go all out with surgical equipment, large butcher knives, OxyContin, gummy worms, and gray food coloring.

“Wakey, wakey,” The Punisher slapped his new prisoner on the cheek with a butcher knife.

Feeling very groggy with a very painful splitting head ache he slowly noticed the ropes across his body and the apron covering the lower half of his body. What bothered him the most was his inability to turn his head and see what was going on. “What… ack, where am I?”

“Thomas? I’m going to assume that is your name,” he could hear The Punisher behind him. “That’s the name on your ID, but it looks fake.”

“I can’t, I can’t…” Freighted and confused Thomas was unable to form a sentence.

“Did you ever study Anatomy in high school,” The Punisher leaned in front of Thomas with a surgical mask covering his mouth. “Again I’m assuming that you went to high school. Well fun fact, even though the brain detects pain across the body there are no pain receptors in it.”

He couldn’t tell if he was smiling with the mask covering his mouth, but there appeared to be a smile with how the mask stretched with his cheeks poking out.

“What are you doing?” Thomas got no answers, The Punisher just disappeared from his view and he heard the clatter of steel medical instruments.

“The internet is an interesting place. You can learn how to do anything on it. How to cook methamphetamine, build a dirty bomb, and even how to preform brain surgery.”

“Please, what do you want?” His heart rate increased as he began to panic.

“What’s this I hear about a new drug? Silly Blood is it?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“You know about your motor cortex, right? It’s part of your brain located in rear portion of your frontal lube. It’s what controls your leg movement,” The Punisher said as he loudly cut into the gummy worms slicing them into pieces, before he silently dipped them into the gray food coloring.

“Stop! What are you doing to me?”

The Punisher shoved a spoon into his face. He fought to keep his mouth shut, but the spoon slipped between his lips and he felt the slimy chewy bits in his mouth. It made him gag and he spat it back out.

“Try moving your big toe. Can you do that? Wiggle your big toe for me.”

He tried to move his legs, but the entire lower half of his body felt numb. He felt no movement or pain below his legs, “Stop! Stop it, Silly Blood, it’s a new drug that causes vivid hallucinations. It makes addicts see shit like cartoon characters and please, please stop!”

“Where do they make it?”

“I’m not sure. An abandon warehouse somewhere.”

“Have you ever heard about the Hippocampus? It is what stores you short term memories. Like what did you eat last night. What was the last conversation you had with your friends.”

The sounds of knife slices became louder as he cut more pieces of gummy worms.

“Please, please, stop, that is all I know. Try the industrial part of town. They just bring it to me to sell. I never see where is made, man. Please stop chopping up my brain!” Tears streamed from his eyes and sweat poured from his forehead.

“That will be enough,” The Punisher released the strap around Thomas’ head and threw the bag of remaining gummy worms in his face.

It didn’t take long for him to put two and two together. “What the fuck? Was this a joke all along? Just fucking candy?”

Taking off the surgical mask The Punisher gave him a cold hard stare. “I did what I had to, to make you talk.”

“Wait, hold on I still can’t feel my legs. What did you do to my legs?” Thomas began to panic again.

With a swift grab The Punisher remove the apron to reveal the bloody stumps where Thomas’ legs once were.

“You chop off my fucking legs! Why did you do that? Fuck, you didn’t have to do that! Why? Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

* * *

As she was taking guns out of The Punisher’s backpack and placing them back in their proper places in the armory Maylene heard loud screams coming from the interrogation room.

Franticly she turned to Microchip and said, “My God, is he killing that guy in there?”

“Yeah, probably,” he shrugged it off. “How are you with a mop?”

“A mop? When I agreed to this you promised me that I would get an education that I wouldn’t find anywhere else. What am I supposed to learn from mopping?”

“That justice is messy.”

The screams suddenly stopped and soon after The Punisher walked in. He turned to Microchip and said, “I’m going for a walk. I won’t be back until late tonight.”

“I’ll leave diner in the refrigerator,” replied Microchip.

Without acknowledging her, The Punisher walked past Maylene into the Armory. He grabbed couple of submachine guns, a lot of ammo, and two fist-fulls of knives.

“Hey, where are you going?” asked Maylene.

“Like I said, I’m going for a walk,” said The Punisher.

“Why? What are you going to do?”

“Play that Poke Mon Go. I hear that a Charmander was spotted in the park nearby.”

“Yeah, nice joke. If you’re catching Poke Mons then why would you need all of the guns.”

“Them millennials are vicious,” he walked past her and out the building. Maylene was left feeling humiliated. Microchip approached her with a mop, bucket, and a large black plastic bag.

“Here you go, get to work,” he held out the tools to her. “If you wait too long the blood will soak in and leave a bad stain in the concrete and tell me when you’re done so that I can dispose of the body.”

* * *

A candy factory being used as a drug factory seemed too obvious, but it sure did appear that way. Hiding in plain sight maybe an effective strategy when no one is paying attention, but not when a trained eye notices that the factory has been receiving shipments of hundreds pounds of illegal substances several times a day. After finding the place The Punisher took a few hours to stake out the place. He thought that it could be a trap for Police officers, the D.E.A., or himself. It wasn’t long until he saw a truck load of substances, chemicals, and other ingredients used for making drugs that it was more than any sane drug cartel would risk too lose. These guys must have been very stupid or cocky to establish a factory such as this. They however didn’t spare any consideration on security.

There was no way that he was going to make a stealth entrance with four snipers posted around the place. It was a fortress with a thick blast resistant brick wall all around. The only way in was a gate with explosives set to go off if anyone tapered with it in anyway. The only way to shut down this factory was to do it loud and that is exactly how The Punisher likes it.

With four well trained shots he took out the snipers each with one shot between the eyes. Then with a bazooka from a mile away he blew apart the gate causing the other explosives to go off with an explosion big enough to be seen across town.

* * *

The loud boom was more than enough to startle everyone inside the factory. Some were cooking and packaging drugs and guards were holding guns making sure they were continuing their work, but at this moment they forgot what their jobs where. They were all prepared for such an invent, but none of them expected it to actually happen. They dropped what they were doing a stood frozen for a moment not knowing what to do, then a high-pitched voice spoke over the loud speaker, “We are under attack! This could be cops, some cape wearing dork, or Godzilla. Whatever is going on, everyone grab a weapon and kill whatever comes through the gate!”

Some had guns, others guarded themselves with chairs, bars, and knives. Several guards with guns ran out to the front. Armed with assault rifles, pistols, and shot guns they aimed at the inferno at the front gate. They waited for a moment, then with a loud roar a black armored van plowed through the flames. A barrage of bullets pelted the van. The guards quickly unloaded their weapons at it, but not one pierced it’s armored hide as it drove around the building to the loading bay and stopped. One guard came out with a grenade launcher that would be enough to break through any armor plating, but before he could pull the trigger a large plume of white smoke dispensed from under the van. The smoke enveloped the guards causing them chough, vomit, and loss conscious.

Once the coast was clear The Punisher exited the van from the back fully armed with a gas mask on. He did for a moment consider taking out the guards that were out, but it would be a waste of bullets. The gas did the work for him.

With a big bang He made his entrance into the factory into a storage room. He shot up every guard that raise a gun at him, some were dead before they could even aim. None fired a shot, but there was not a pause of gun shots coming from The Punisher for at least sixty minutes. He took cover behind a forklift as he reloaded his guns. At this moment room was still, no one was alive in there, but The Punisher. It was silent, but that peacefulness was interrupted by the loud speaker, “Everyone kill that fucker! It’s one man, he can’t stop all of you! The first one kill him will get all the drugs they want, One hundred thousand dollars, and big fat kiss on the mouth from me. Now get to gutting!”

* * *

She had to see him in action. As soon as Maylene was alone she snuck out the back the of the warehouse to follow The Punisher. He wasn’t easy to follow. As soon as they entered the industrial district he seemed to have vanished, but after hours of waiting finally she saw explosions and heard gun fire, it was easy to tell when he was at that moment.

She drove her sedan up to the gate that was engulfed with flames and used a tire iron to break open the release nut on a nearby fire hydrant. She didn’t have a hose, but she didn’t need one. It was close enough to the gate that when the fountain of water sprayed all over the entrance it was enough to extinguish the fire.

She proceeded with caution, but saw no one conscious or alive outside. The knock out gas had already evaporated into the air and all the guards where still lying passed out on the ground. She grabbed a pistol off one the bodies for protection. She never fired a real gun before and hoped that she would never have to. Afraid of being killed she decided not to enter the building, but to instead only watch from the windows. From there she could see all of the men inside leaving their work areas and running to the back of the building where all of the gun fire could be heard coming from and where she was sure that she would find The Punisher.

* * *

From behind the large roll up door dividing the storage room and the rest of the factory, The Punisher could hear men gather. He knew that they would outnumber and out gun him. Also, that if he waited around for them to attack first, then he will surely end up dead. He needed a plan and fast.

With a loud creaking noise the door slowly began to move up. Time was up The Punisher needed to act fast. Lucky for him the keys to the fork lift were in the ignition. After starting it up, he raised the fork up his eye leave. It blocked his view, but it also provided a bit protection for his face and would decapitate anyone who came too close. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a machine gun he plowed into the halfway raised door. Many of the guards scattered as the door broke apart causing several large pieces of metal to fall onto the guards and the fork lift. However the fork lift was strong enough to move through the broken door with no problem.

Several of the guards hid behind boxes and steel tables and fired their guns at The Punisher. With his line of sight blocked and one hand on the steering wheel he could not do better than shoot wildly at them. Once they ducked down, he grabbed a grenade off of his belt and threw it at them blowing them to smithereens.

The fork lift was a good sturdy machine, but with all of the bullets hitting it, it was not going to last much longer. Smoke started to seep out of the engine and the wheels moved slower. With the fork lift almost useless The Punisher abandoned it, ran, and hid behind some large metal shelves. Now that he was no longer preoccupied with driving, it was easier for him to aim his gun and kill more guards and factory workers, but he was running low on bullets.

“You losers are pathetic!” Yelled the loud speaker. “He’s one man. Get you heads out of you asses and kill him already!”

The guards and factory workers were getting more desperate, moving closer and shooting more wildly. The Punisher didn’t mind, it only made them more easy targets for him, but with a clicking noise he was out of bullets.

Watching from outside the window, Maylene saw him pull the trigger and for the first time not kill someone. She was afraid and wanted to help him, but didn’t know what to do. She stood there paralyzed in fear, but little did she know that he didn’t need her help.

“Shit, I’m out of ammo,” The Punisher dropped his guns and dug his hands into his pouches. “It’s a good thing I have all of these knives.”

Out he pull two fist full of knives and yelled loudly, “It’s Punishment!”

At this moment, there was fifteen men left in the factory and The Punisher was about to kill them all in fifteen seconds. It was a bloodbath, The Punisher called upon all of the hatred that he had been keeping on reserve and channeled it into energy like a shot of adrenaline. He saw everything in slow motion and could anticipate every movement of the men before it was made.

The closest guard and first victim was carrying a M-16 machine gun, had two-hundred fifty pounds of muscle, and only ten percent body fat, but none of that was enough protection as The Punisher swiftly ran head first at him and sliced his belly open causing his guts to fall out on the ground. As he fell onto his knees, The Punisher turned the knife upward and sliced his head open from chin to forehead.

Second was standing behind a metal table firing two pistols. Running at him with no hesitation, The Punisher ducked down out the line of fire. Then when he reached the table he shot up and stuck a knife into the bottom of his chin with the tip of the blade piercing his tongue and touching the roof of his mouth. In agonizing pain, he dropped his gun and felt like screaming, but his mouth was paralyzed. The Punisher grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the metal table sending the blade though his brain.

Third was also behind the table and already begging for mercy, but The Punisher shows no mercy. So he took two knives and stuck them into either side of his neck and twisted them around causing his head to pop off like cork out of champagne bottle with fountain of blood spraying out.

Four through Eight where all firing machine guns, but where too far away to run too. So, The Punisher threw a knife at one of the guard’s hands was holding the gun, causing his hand to tense up squeezing the trigger uncontrollably. As he twisted his body in pain he shot out four of his friends, before The Punisher took him out with another knife thrown between his eyes.

Ninth was smart and hid behind a shelf for cover, but across from him was fire extinguisher mounted on a wall. The Punisher threw a knife at it causing the extinguisher to erupt spraying retardant at the guard. He covered his face and hunched over leaving himself open for The Punisher to come up behind him and stab him with three knives along his spinal column. Then he grabbed him by the front of his head and slammed him back first into the wall.

Tenth was ballsy and came charging at The Punisher with a knife. He grabbed him by his knife carrying arm with one hand on his wrist and the other on his elbow. He lifted his elbow up and pressed down on his wrist breaking it and causing a bone to splinter and poke out of his arm. The Punisher pulled out the bone splinter and stuck it into his eye.

He took the eleventh by his scalp and bent him backwards. With a knife in hand he stabbed him twenty times in the belly causing his intestates to burst out of his belly like streamers from a party popper.

Twelfth was firing two submachine guns screaming like Rambo as he shot at The Punisher as he took cover behind a concrete pillar. Even after he unloaded both of his clips he continued to scream. The Punisher shoved a knife into his big mouth, made him swallow it, and then rapidly punched him three dozen times in the belly causing the blade to tear apart his insides.

Thirteenth was running for the door when The Punisher threw a knife into his back right between the shoulder blades. He fell forward onto the wall. He was still as The Punisher threw for more knives pinning his hands and feet to the wall. Then he walked and grabbed the knife in his back and pulled in down slicing all the way through his back and down his butt crack emptying his bowels onto the ground.

The Punisher picked up the fourteenth and slammed him on his back onto a metal table. Then like a surgeon he sliced a Y on his chest and peeled back the skin to expose his rib cage. With twelve well trained stabs he broke each of his ribs and took them out exposing his still beating heart. The Punisher reached in and pulled out to show it to him before he sliced off each of the arteries attached to the heart. Then he threw it on the ground and stomped on it three times.

Dropping the knives on the ground The Punisher took a deep breath regaining his calm. He slowly took in a few more breaths and slowed his heart rate down. He was about to congratulate himself on a job well down, but wait he missed one.

Fifteen crept up behind him, slapped a palm full of pills over his mouth, and forced him to swallow them. “Let’s see you kill me now with fifty doses of silly blood pumping through your veins! HAHAHAHA!”

Reaching behind himself The Punisher grabbed the guard’s head pressed his thumbs into his eyes. The guard let out a blood curdling scream. He continued to press and squeeze until blood poured out every hole in his head.

Whatever was in the pills began to take effect. He felt queasy like he was about to vomit. His head was spinning and everything became blurry. Slowly he regain focus, but he could not believe what he was seeing. The cartoon characters from his childhood had come to life. The beloved animated animals that he used to watch on the television were each holding weapons and ready to attack him. Daffy Duck held two machetes ready to chop. Betty Boop had revolver cocked and loaded. Goofy held a lead pipe ready to swing like a baseball bat. Scooby Doo Stood on his hind legs and held a tommy gun in his paws.

“No, no this can’t be real. Why is this happening?” Staggered backwards holding his head The Punisher could not escape the hallucinations as they closed in on him.

“Oh, it’s real alright, bozoo,” Daffy Duck swung the machetes in a threatening manner. “It’s vigilante season.”

Picking up a machine gun off a dead guard, The Punisher used it to defend himself. He unloaded several shots at the cartoon characters, but the bullets flew right through them. Terror swept over him as he realized that he could no longer trust his own eyes. After dozens of years of torturing and killing mobsters, murders, and warlords, The Punisher feared that he would fall to least threatening creatures that he has ever seen.

Maylene was astonished as she watched him shoot wildly with no targets. A few stray bullets barely missed her by inches. No longer could she stand back and watch. Until this moment he had been entirely self-reliant, but now it was up to her to do something or else he could go permanently insane.

With him firing the machine gun in all directions, she needed to act quickly and find a way to subdue him. After entering the factory, she disconnected the fuel tank off the back of the fork lift and rolled it towards The Punisher. She was careful not to roll it too close to him, then shot the tank to cause a blast that wouldn’t kill him, but instead knock him unconscious.

She wasn’t a doctor, but she knew that what she was doing could protentional kill him, but the circumstances where direr and risks had to be made. After running over to him she began preforming CPR. She had never performed it on a real human, only a test dummy in a class. This was the moment of truth, she pressed on his chest twenty five times and blew air into his mouth. It didn’t work the first time so she pressed on his chest twenty more times and he regain conscious. Now wasn’t a moment to rejoice for she still had to get the drugs out of her system. The next thing she did, she knew was more dangerous than exploding a gas tank near him, as she sat him up and shoved her fingers down his throat to induce vomiting. It could cause something to climb out of his stomach and get logged in his throat causing him to choke to death or the sudden burst of energy after being unconscious could cause his heart to skip a beat and stop. Those were just a few of the many complications that could occur, but she had to take her chances and pray that he his regular exorcise and low carb diet would be enough to keep him healthy enough to survive this.

With loud gargling noise The Punisher began to vomit. His stomach contents spewed forth. Most of it appeared to be liquid making it clear to see the pills as they fell on the ground. After a few more coughs, he turned to Maylene and said, “What the hell are you doing here?

“I just saved your ass,” she answered. “A ‘thank you’ is in order.”

“This place is dangerous. You should leave.”

“Um, remember how I said I saved your life? You were tripping pretty hard on some drugs. If it wasn’t for me, you would be dead. You’re welcome.”

The Punisher didn’t reply as he stood up and wiped the vomit off his mouth. Then proceeded to walk away.

“Well done Mister Punisher, I thought I may have lost you for a moment there,” a high-pitched voice spoke over the loud speaker. “I must commend you on killing all of my gun toting thugs and drug making slaves.”

Looking a to the security camera, The Punisher asked, “Who are you?”

“What’s that I can’t hear you. These cameras don’t have any microphones. Let me guess, you want know who I am. Why don’t you come to the main office so that we can meet face to face?”

He turned to walk to the office, but Maylene stopped him. “Wait it might be a trap.”

“For me there is no such thing.”

“Oh… Kay, you may want to lighten up sometimes.”

* * *

Together they entered the main office. Inside was large desk with several monitors and microphone on it. Behind it was leather swivel chair. Dramatically the chair spun around to reveal a four feet tall cartoon clown with purple hair and wide grin on his face.

“Oh shit, the drugs are still in my system,” said The Punisher.

“Greetings, bet you never suspected that I was behind all of this massive drug operation. For it is I Slapstick.”

“Um, I don’t think he’s a hallucination. I see and hear him too,” said Maylene.

“Nope, this is all fake. Let’s go,” He turned and began to walk away and she followed.

“Wait don’t walk away. I created a deadly drug and sold it to children. I commanded a hundred men to kill you. What are you going to do about that? Aren’t you going to finish the job?” Slapstick ran out in front of The Punisher and got down on his knees and begun begging.

“Nope you’re not real,” he ignored him and continued to walk away.

“Come on, kill me! I’m a cartoon clown come to life. Everyone points and laugh at me. I can’t shop at stores, everyone thinks that I’m not real or some sort of joke. I have no penis! I tried to kill myself, but cartoon physics make me invincible. But you are the Punisher you always find a way to kill your mark. Please kill me!” Slapstick grabbed his legs and began crying.

“I don’t care if you are real or not, but I’m not going to kill you. It would be a waste of my time. If you are truly invincible then keep trying to kill yourself, you’ve got an eternity to figure out how to do it.”

Maylene turned to Slapstick and said, “Wait stop trying to kill yourself. It won’t fix anything. Like he said ‘you can live for eternity’, that means that every day you can try again at making your life right and better the world.”

“You’re right strange girl that I’ve never met before,” Slapstick suddenly felt overwhelm with confidence. “I could rob banks and cops will never stop me, I could make a shit ton of drugs and make lots of money. I could create millions of plans to kill you Punisher and then nothing could stop my criminal activities! Hahahahahaha!

The Punisher payed no attention as he walked out the factory. Maylene followed and they left together.

To Be Continued…

Chapter Text

Punisher War Journal 2.0/ Entry 89/ October 15th, 2099

Back when I was a Public Eye police officer we took pride in our work. We did our best to improve ourselves. Whenever we had free time we would practice our shooting or martial arts. If we didn’t have the resources to do so at the time we would exorcise, simple ones like push-ups, sit ups, or squats. If we were tired, we would do puzzles or brain teasers to keep our minds sharp. We were beat cops always on portal. We had to respond to a threat in a moment’s notice and not underestimate the enemy. We had to be quick and efficient taking out the scum as fast as possible, we were the swift hand of justice.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t have been said for desk cops. With their computers and telephones, everything they ever need is at their fingertips. They never have to get up from their cushy chairs unless they wanted more overly caffeinated coffee or a frosting covered donut. They don’t do anything to hone their skills. They just sit on their asses, growing soft, fat, and stupid. Sure, they were good at filling out paperwork and stapling things, but when it comes to doing real work and being an actual police officer they failed. All that sugary food, lack of exorcise, and hours of listening to low brow comedy podcasts, lead to their demise.

The night air was warm and smelled like a dead skunk. The noise of yelling and police sirens came from the center of the city. A riot had broken out, but it wasn’t about politics, religion, or civil rights. No just a distraction. As the street cops drove down to the city to contain the riot and protect the stores from looters, none of them noticed the explosion behind them coming from the police station.

When I arrived, they were all dead, lying on the floor with their legs propped up by their chairs. The whole station was silent and littered with dead bodies. They had all been killed quickly and efficiency. You wouldn’t have known if anything had happened if you didn’t look down and seen all the bodies. Poor men and women they didn’t even stand a chance. It was a damn shame they were all innocent and some had families. Someone was going to pay for their death. I would see to it.

As silent as it was I could still hear a little bit of noise coming from the back of the station where the armory was. I was very quiet as I peeked around the corner and saw four Cyber-Ninjas, just as I expected. Only the Cyber-Nostra had the guts to pull a heist like this.

I hide behind the bend in the hallway as I silently loaded my antique 2015 .54 magnum Smith and Wesson and .48 caliber Stark-Fujikawa Street Pacifier and charged up my Mean Mule turbo kick boots. After loading the last bullet into the Magnum, I moved the cylinder back into place making a clicking noise. Most people would dismiss that sound for just a random noise, but unfortunately for me the Cyber-Ninjas don’t think like that.

A plasma knife came flying at me. With my cat like reflexes I was able to dodge it at the last second. I didn’t have time to plan, at that moment I had to rely on my instincts. They immediately picked up guns and started firing at me. Luckily, I was wearing my adamantium and vibranium reinforced bullet proof vest, so the bullets bounced right off. I barely even felt them. However, the Cyber-Ninja’s didn’t wear armor allowing the bullets from my Magnum and Street Pacifier to cut right through two of them like butter. One of them came at me with a plasma sword. Moving too fast for me to aim, he leaped high up in the air and flew over me. He wanted to get me where I was most vulnerable and cut my head off from behind. As he swung the blade I blocked it with one of my metal gauntlets. With a gun in both hands, I couldn’t simply punch him so with one swift kick with my turbo boots I knocked him through a wall leaving a perfect outline of his body and killing him. While I was distracted the fourth and final Cyber-Ninja fired his gun at me. The three bullets missed my head by inches. I quickly dived down and grabbed a dead officer off the ground to hold in front of my face. Unlike the others, he was actually a rookie street cop who never had the opportunity to serve his people as a crime fighter, but he served his duty well as human shield. His skull stopped the bullets from hitting me, but I couldn’t see the Cyber-Ninja shooting at me. It was too risky for me to poke my head out so that I could aim at him correctly. However, I could see that there were several concision Grenazers mounted on the wall nearby him. I shot at them causing the Grenazers to go off rendering him unconscious. I am glad that I was able to capture him, for tonight the Punisher Hotel will have a new guest.

– – –

As soon as the door opened to the makeshift prison the inmates started banging on the glass walls of their cells. Although some couldn’t due to restraints or lack of strength from prolonged torture or starvation. It was a small underground prison, but secure. It held prisoners of all sizes, men and women, murders, rapists, cult leaders, and some that were not even human. Some could roam around in their cells, some were restrained chained to the walls, and some where attached to excessive torture machines. This was no ordinary prison, it was the punishment hotel.

Jake Gallows the former police officer turned vigilante inspired by The Punisher. entered through the large double doors dragging the unconscious body of the Cyber-Ninja behind him. With a loud thunk the blast proof doors closed behind him. The wheels turned and the locking bolts were set into place. The place was more locked up then Fort Knox.

Dragging the motionless body, he approached an empty glass cell. After opening it he threw the new prisoner in, he turned around and walked down the hall of glass cells. Most of the inmates yelled and cursed at him, but he paid them no attention. However, there was one inmate that averted his gaze and did his best not to call attention to himself. Jake Gallows stopped in front of his cell.

“Hey, Jeremy Brady, how are you doing today?” He said as if to start small talk.

“I’m fine… fine. I’m doing good.” He continues to not meet Jake’s gaze and nervously shifted his stance, wanting to run to the back of his cell, but too afraid to do so.

“What day is today? I seem to be blanking,” asked Punisher 2099.

“I, um I don’t know. Tuesday, I think.”

“Are you sure, because I was thinking it was Wednesday.”

“No, no, you’re mistaken its Tuesday. It is so definitely Tuesday. Just a normal ordinary Tuesday. Nothing special about today.”

“No, today is special. It’s Wednesday, October 15th. Remember it well, for it is the date that is going to be chiseled into your grave stone.”

Punisher 2099 pressed a button on the wall nearby causing the glass divider to slide up and open the cell.

“Ah! Please! No! Don’t! Have Mercy!” frantically stumbling over himself Jeremy ran to the back of his cell like a cornered animal.

“Mercy? Did you show mercy to the young children that you kidnapped and beat?” Looming over the cowering prisoner with a large dark shadow, Punisher 2099 took out a pair of hand cuffs. “If you call beating a defenseless child to death with your bare hands mercy. Then yes, I shall show you mercy. A whole fuck ton of mercy.”

As sweat collected on his forehead, Jeremy pressed his back up against the wall and held his hands out in front of him. Punisher 2099 grabbed his right wrist and slapped on end of the handcuffs on. Overcome by fear Jeremy struggled to get away. He kept his left hand as far away as possible and wiggled his left arm in a futile attempt to break free of Punisher 2099’s grasp. This only enraged him as he took out his heavy club. First, he knocked him across his jaw knocking out a couple of teeth. After he twisted his head from the blow the next blow struck him on the back of the head where the spine met the skull. The club was not much more than a lead pipe with a carbon fiber coating, but each hit felt like a wrecking ball. The next strike came to the middle of the top of the skull. Everything went black for a second. Slowly vision came back with blurry shapes, then doubles of everything. Only to be taken away with the next blow, and the next one. Repeatedly the private prison warren Jake Gallows bludgeoned the inmate with the club. The majority blows landed on the top of the head leaving a gaping gash, but a few missed and hit his shoulder blades. Jeremy struggled to remain crouching as blood poured from the top of his head and down into his eyes; Holding himself up with one arm while the other was held by The Punisher 2099. After fifty-seven blows he let himself go limp and the beating stopped.

Walking out of the cell Punisher 2099 dragged Jeremy out of the cell by his wrist. He didn’t bother to attach the other end of the hand cuff to the other wrist, he just held on to the chain and pulled him along the floor leaving a smeared streak of blood behind. As he walked down the hallway the inmates remained quiet and turned away to look at the blank walls of their cells. For they knew that soon they too would be dragged down the floor to their inevitable demise.

“Jeremy Brady of Mega New York City, you have been charged with kidnap of seventy-two children under the age of thirteen and forcing them into sweat shops.” Punisher 2099 faced forward as he walked down the hall. He didn’t stop to check if his inmate was paying attention. As he walked past the cells he entered a hallway with names chiseled on the wall with birthdates and deathdates. On one space of the wall read the name Jeremy Brady with the date May 1st 2045 and dash and blank that will soon be filled today’s date. “You stripped them naked and forced them to work in harsh conditions with sharp objects and hazardous chemicals in you weapon factory. You drugged them, deprived them of sleep and food, and if they refused to work, you’d beat them. Sometimes you killed them if they were unable to work.”

Finally, the hallway ended, Jeremy would no longer be dragged or beaten for he was about to meet the Death Chair. Punisher 2099 lift him up by his neck and sat him down in the chair. Leaning in with his face close to Jeremy’s blood covered face, he asked, “How do you plead to these charges?”

“Guilty,” He replied.

“Really? So, you know what you did? You understand what you had done to those children. Even though you too had once been in their place. Sure, times were different when you were a kid, but you suffered from the same pain they did. Yet you showed no mercy as you beated them and forced them into labor. Why did you do it?”

“I didn’t know that there was any other way. I was only following orders from the mob in order to stay alive. The gun factory was all I knew.”

“Bull shit, you had a choice. You could have made a difference, but you chose the path of evil. That path has only one end and that is the death chair.”

“No, no, no!” He screamed and thrashed around. He swung his arms wildly and was able to break loose of Punisher 2099’s grasp. Once he was free he ran as fast as his legs could carry him down the hallway, past the grave stones and the glass cells. Unfortunately, his attempt to escape was futile as he ran head first into an unmovable body. He was knocked back and fell back onto the floor.

As he looked up and saw what he ran into, he thought he was hallucinating. “Impossible, it can’t be you! No!”

Crawling backwards on his back he looked up at the large figure wearing a black t-shirt with a large white skull on it. He was unable to believe his frighten eyes, but his eyes were not deceiving him. He was looking up at the man who he feared, The Punisher. Behind him stood two other figures, but they did not seem threatening. The Punisher walked forward, Jeremy crawled backwards until he reached another unmovable figure behind him as his head hit the boot of Jake Gallows the Punisher of 2099. Cornered by the two punishers there was no escape.

“No, no I don’t believe it!” Jeremy was scared shitless.

“Believe it or not, you’re still going to die,” The Punisher pulled out a magnum revolver and shot him in the head.

As the blood settled on the floor, Maylene stepped out from The Punisher and stood between the two of them.

“Wait hold on, who it this?” She said gesturing towards Jake Gallows. “He looks just like you.”

“He’s The Punisher,” The Punisher gave her a matter of fact answer, but she was still confused.

“What? No, you’re The Punisher.”

“He’s right, I am The Punisher,” said Jake. “Or at least I’m currently The Punisher of this time line. I presume that you’re The Punisher of late 20th century and early 21st century, the original, Frank Castle. It is nice to meet you.”

“So, wait? We are really in the future and there are now two of you?” She’s still as confused as before.

Microchip took out his wallet and handed some money to Maylene and said, “Don’t worry about it, here go out and get us some coffee. So, that we may better get acquainted and formalize our plans.”

“Sigh, why not, but I’m only doing this so that I could get some fresh air to clear my mind. I assume that Neo-Punisher here takes his coffee the same as antique Punisher. When I get back we are going to have a long conversation about what my tasks are and what it entails for me to be your personal assistant.” She took the money and walked to the door.

“Intern,” Microchip corrected her.

“Yeah, yeah, intern. Still fuck you.”

Punisher 2099 watched Maylene leave, then walked to large vault like doors at the entrance of the basement prison to examine them.

“You appear as you did in the latter half of the ‘10s and these doors are made of five thousand pounds of vibranium with the most intricate and advance locking mechanism. How did you get to here?”

“We are from New York, the same New York of Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, and Amadeus Cho. There is a time machine on every corner,” answered Microchip. “As for your little door, I am the world’s greatest computer hacker. There is no security system that I can’t open, old or new.”

“Oh right, I should have known you’re Microchip. I’ve read a lot about you. Although how do you know about me?”

“Your reputation precedes you,” replied The Punisher. “When we first arrived here a few of the thugs that we interrogated had mistaken me for you. Which lead me to realize that I had legacy. Then we basically had to figure out which house in town had basement big enough to be rebuilt into a miniature super max prison.”

“Enough with questions, you know enough about us, but we have few questions of our own,” said Microchip as he took a back pack off his shoulders. From it he took out a large high tech rifle with bright blue glowing muzzle and three gages around the trigger. He presented it to Punisher 2099 so that he could better examine it, and asked, “What can you tell us about this gun?”

Punisher 2099 leader over and looked down on the gun. After looking at it for two seconds he said, “Do you mean this gun model in general or this gun specifically?”

“Both if possible,” answered Microchip.

“Well it is a Stark brand AX-17 full automatic plasma rifle. They are common on the streets. I don’t see anything that makes this gun particularly unique. However, I could take the serial number and run it through the gun registry database.”

“That will not be necessary. This gun was stolen and sold in the year 2017.”

“I see, so you need me to help you find out who is smuggling firearms through time.”

“Exactly.”

“Sounds like the work of Cyber-Nostra. Despite my efforts, I still haven’t discovered their headquarters. However, I’m sure with your assistance we could beat enough thugs to find it.”

– –
Maylene entered the Punishment Hotel holding a tray four Styrofoam cups on it. Three of them where black coffee with no cream or sweeter. The fourth was a pumpkin spice latte. As she walked past the doors and down the stairs, she looked around feeling confused. She was expected to be welcomed by two Punishers, but instead only saw Microchip.

He grabbed the pumpkin spice latte and took a long sip, “Ugh, winter is not long enough.”

“Hold on, where are the skull twins?”

“Huh, oh you mean The Punishers? They’re off on one of those crossover team-up thingies. Get comfortable these things can take a while.”

“What?!” Feeling immediate anger and excitement, she turned around to quickly run out of the basement, but instead stumbled over the dead body of the recently punished inmate and spilled the three coffees.

“What is this body still doing here?” She asked.

“Well it appears that somebody hasn’t clean it up yet,” he looked up from his latte and stared right into her eyes without blink until she responded.

“What? But this isn’t what I signed up for! You said that I’ll be helping The Punisher first hand out on the streets.” She furrowed her brow and clenched her hands into fists, but didn’t dare raise them.

Remaining calm, Microchip raised a little remote control and pressed a button on it. Maylene turned her head to watch the vault doors close and felt betrayed.

“I’m not going to let you ditch me again,” he said. “Now clean up the body or you won’t get your college credits.” He walk away down the hall towards the vault doors.

“If you’re not going to let me leave, then how am I going to dump this body behind a dumpster?” She shouted at him. She hated doing the work, but was desperate to earn her degree that she didn’t dare refuse the work.

“There’s a furnace down the hall on the left,” he shouted back. “The door is small so you are going to have to chop him into smaller pieces. Be careful not to splatter blood, it’ll only make you job harder.”

“Hey, you know I saved The Punisher’s life last week!”

“No, you didn’t. You almost killed him by making choke on his own vomit. Now clean up that damn body before I do the same. The smell of a rotting corpse and cheap American coffee is not a good combination.”

– – –

After riding for five miles, Punisher 2099 stopped his motorcycle out in front of a rundown bar with a large neon sign.

“Cyber Noir?” The Punisher read the sign.

“Cyber-Nostra thugs like to hang out here,” Punisher 2099 answered. “I caught a few of them robbing a police armory earlier tonight. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but this would be a good place to start.”

The bar was full of riffraff, thugs, and scumbags. They were shooting pool, chugging bears, and bosting stories that never happened, but at as soon as The Punishers entered they all stopped and gawked them. The shock of seeing two Punishers was enough to render the toughest drunk catatonic. The only one left unfazed was the bartender who proceeded to pick up the beer bottles, glasses, pitchers, and shot glasses off the counter. It didn’t matter if the glasses were empty or full, the bartender took them and hid all glass items under the counter.

Punisher 2099 looked around the bar scanning each patron. Like an oscillating jet engine, The Punisher 2099’s gaze caused everyone to flinch as soon as he looked at them.

The tension in the bar was reaching a fever pitch. As Punisher 2099 held up a pistol fired it straight up into the air as a warning shot, everyone turned and gave him their undivided attention. “Okay the more you all cooperate; the quicker I will be out of here. I want everyone here that is a member of Cyber-Nostra to line up in single file line right here in front of me so that I may interrogate each of you one by one.”

“Nice try,” feeling doubtful The Punisher leaned in and whispered into Punisher 2099’s ear, but he too became quite as he witnessed several of the patrons slowly stand up from their stools and lined up in front of Punisher 2099. He put his gun back in its holster, yet they didn’t make any noise or sudden movements except they nervously shook like frighten puppy dogs. Just as he requested they lined up, six in all each one was more scared then the first.

“This is a Shocktronic 5999,” Punisher 2099 held up a large rod that glowed green. “This is what scientists use to sedate mutant maneating gorillas. One hit of this will send 90,000 volts through your body, causing you lose control of your muscles, melt your skin, and render you permanently incontinent. I am going to use this to interrogate each one you until I get my answers.”

He gestured with his free hand towards The Punisher. “I would like to introduce to my predecessor. He is to hear your answers and assist me if necessary. What he would like to know is who has been smuggling stolen guns back in time to the year 2017.”

“Actually, I know who,” the man at the back of the line spoke up.

“Don’t speak out of time!” Punisher 2099 ordered. “You will get you turn to be tortured.”

He grabbed the first man in line by his collar and charged up the Shocktronic within inches of his face, “Now what do you know about guns that were stolen from the police station earlier tonight?”

“I don’t know anything,” the thug was already peeing his pants. “I’m just a new recruit. They don’t tell me anything. You should ask the guy at the end of the line. He knows everything.”

“Don’t you lie to me, scumbag!” Punisher 2099 proceed to repeatedly beat the man over the head with the Shocktronic. The glowing rod did everything that it was promised to do.

– – –

As Maylene walked back from the furnace she passed an office with a desk lamp left on. At first the room seemed unassuming, but something caught her eye and she walked back and peeked inside. As it turned out, her eyes had not deceived her. What she thought she saw the first time had turned out to be correct. Inside the office mounted to the wall in a golden frame was The Punisher’s t-shirt. The skull logo was faded, splatters of blood stained the fabric, and multiple rips tattered the bottom, but it was unmistakably the same t-shirt that was worn by The Punisher from her time, Frank Castle. She was shocked to see it, but at the same time it made sense to her that this time line’s Punisher would have it.

Looking around the room she saw other familiar objects such as a bulletin board with several photos on, a couple antique shotguns, a filing cabinet and a large desk. On top of which laid a journal lit by the desk lamp. Walking deeper into the room Maylene couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched despite not seeing any sign of security cameras anywhere. As she reached the desk she picked up the journal. The book looked old and worn as if it could fall apart in her hands. She was careful as she turned the brittle yellow pages. Turning to a random page she began to read:

“June 5th 1992: I was tracking down the four heiresses of the Francostar corporation that where secretly drug dealers. They thought they could escape me by blasting off into space in their own personal space shuttle, but I was about to sneak on in disguise. Once on their space station, they quickly discovered my identity, but it didn’t matter as I was able to easily kill their leader by setting him on fire and exploding the entire satellite.”

She flipped through the hundreds of pages and read another excerpt:

“December 12th 2009: After tracking down Wolerine’s son Draken in the sewers. We fiercely fought one on one. He eventually got the upper hand and chopped off my arms and head. Luckily, I was discovered by a vampire named Mordius, he reconstructed my body making me into a Frankenstein like monster and brought me back to life with a Bloodstone.”

She could not believe what she was holding in her hands. It was The Punisher’s war journal. His personal record of his exploits. Every murder he has ever committed, every underground criminal empire that he has taken down and more. It was all written down on these pages. She even saw her own name as she turned to January 17th of 2017 she read about how he took out the silly blood drug factory and spared the life of Slap Stick. However, it neglected to give her credit for assisting him. Instead he had written that he was able to overcome the drugs with his own strong willpower. He only mentioned her as an innocent bystander that he had to protect.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” She heard the voice of Microchip behind her. Startled she quickly spun around and hid the journal behind her back.

“Nothing, I uh, noticed this light on in here and only came in to turn off.” She discretely tucked the journal into the waist band of her pants. Then turned off the desk lamp. “See don’t want to waste electricity.”

Awkwardly she tried to smile to not seem conspicuous.

“Well come now. I don’t want you to be snooping around in other people’s private belongings,” Microchip lead her out of the room back into the hallway.

– – –

Three hours had past, blood was splattered all over the bar’s floor, five nearly dead men were lying unconscious. They had all told The Punishers nothing. Now there was only one remaining. He was on his knees begging for mercy with his hands shaking over his head, and tears streaming down his face

Punisher 2099 approached him tapping the Shocktonic 5999 on the palm of his hand. “Well, well, well, looks like you’re the last one. All of your friends didn’t play nicely and I had to beat their faces to a bloody pulp. How about you? Are you going play nicely or are you going to end up unconscious in a puddle of your own vomit?”

“I’ll play, I’ll play!” the cowering man begged. “I don’t know much, but I know where they are storing the guns that are being smuggled through time.”

“Don’t lie to me you little fucking pig!” Punisher 2099 raised his shocktonic ready to slam it down on the man’s skull. He tensed the muscles in his face and braced for the beating, but before Punisher 2099 could bring down the club, The Punisher stepped in and grabbed him by his wrist.

“Stop, let him talk,” The Punisher advised.

“No, it’s too soon. There is no way that I would believe what he says.” Punisher 2099 turned to The Punisher and sneered. “I must break his skull and make him bleed before he tells the truth.”

“You’re being overly aggressive, it can cost us information,” He turned to the cowering thug. “Tell us where are the guns?”

The man didn’t dare look up. He kept his head down as he spoke. “They are hiding them in the basement of the Thor church on 8th and B st. You must believe me. I saw them as I was driving the delivery truck for them.”

“He’s lying, I must beat him senseless!” Punisher 2099 tried to shake his arm loose, but The Punisher tightened his grip.

“You’re wrong. He’s telling the truth,” said The Punisher. “He’s breathing is consistent, and his words are spoken smoothly without any stuttering or long pauses. I know a liar when I hear one and he’s not one.”

“But he’s an accomplice to the crimes, he must be punished.”

“I just drove the truck, I never hurt no body,” the man continued to beg.

“Listen to him, he’s a delivery truck driver trying to make some money. We shouldn’t waste time beating him. We got the information we needed, now let’s go,” The Punisher pulled on Punisher 2099 arm to try to get him to leave.

“But beating?” Punisher 2099 didn’t move and kept his Shocktonic raised.

“Are you guys done beating people yet?” The bartender walked out of the back room with a mop and bucket. “I would like to clean up the floors before I close up.”

Giving up, Punisher 2099 lowered his arm and feeling defeated he said, “Yeah, we’re done.”

The two Punishers turned around and left.

– – –

Punisher 2099 stopped his motorcycle out in front of the Church of Thor. Both him and The Punisher got off the bike and opened the saddle bag compartments revealing a small cache of high powered weaponry. From it Punisher 2099 took out two .48 caliber Stark-Fujikawa Street Pacifiers and The Punisher grabbed a 12-gauge molten steel Hammer Tech shotgun.

“Okay, we don’t know much about this place,” said The Punisher. “So, we need to do some reconnaissance, check for weak spots in the building, watch for who’s coming and going. We need to know as much as possible so that we can plan out our attack.”

He turned his head to look at Punisher 2099, but he was no longer standing next to him.

“Jake?” He was confused as to where his predecessor was.

“Jake? Punisher 2099?” from behind him he heard loud roar. He turned to look as witnessed as Punisher 2099 charge head first towards the front doors of the church. With one powerful kick, he knocked down the doors and proceed to fire his guns wildly inside.

“Oh, fuck no!” angered The Punisher ran in after him.

As soon as he reached the door he was startled by a thug with a pistol. With less than a second to spare he fired one shot into his midsection blowing him back though the door. Once inside it was such a chaotic mess that he could barely make out what was going on. The air was full of debris with wood splinters from the pews being blown apart, shards of glass from shattered stained glass, and smoke everywhere. Punisher 2099 was reckless, but efficient. Already there was fifteen bodies on the ground and counting. The thugs in the church looked like regular clergy men in dark cloaks, but they were packing a lot of guns. This must have been the right place or they just massacred a bunch of monks.

For a while Punisher 2099 was holding his own well and didn’t need The Punisher’s help, but once he ran out of ammo he had to hide behind an iron fountain and reload. The Punisher then stepped in and provided cover fire, but unlike Punisher 2099 he didn’t kill with a hail of gun fire, but with one shot one kill. As the gun fire continued some of the monks took cover, but with it being a church almost everything was made from wood. However, along the sides where stone statues of Norse Gods like Bolder, Hela, and Loki. They provided good cover at first, but after a few shots they crumbled to pieces.

“Halt, this has gone on for long enough,” the gun fighting paused and everyone turned their attention to the alter as man walked out of the back room. He was obviously the master mind behind the gun running operation, but he looked less like a crime lord and more like a nineteen sixties British pop singer. With a bowl haircut, round sunglasses, a naro jacket, and a large mechanical looking glove on his right hand, he looked like he was about to sing about free love rather than killing people.

This did nothing to intimidate The Punisher and he stepped out from behind his cover and yelled out, “I don’t care about what you have to say, but if you’re behind all of this then I will kill you!”

“Oh, how amusing, there’s two of you now. If I have to kill the both of you then it’s going to be twice the fun.”

“Fearmaster I should have known that it was you behind this operation,” Jake Gallows also stepped out from the iron fountain and joined The Punisher standing in the isle way. “If there is going to be any killing then it will be by me, killer of killers, The Punisher of 2099. Enjoy the next few seconds of your life, because they will be your last.”

“Of course, it is me, the Fearmaster. Who else did you think I could be? Doctor Octopus. I’m the leader of Cyber-Nostra. We fight all of the time.”

“Shut up, I am through listening your meaningless words. This ends now!” The Punisher threated, as he raised his shotgun, but before he could fire a shot, Fearmaster fired a concussive blast at him with the power glove knocking him into a statue of Thor in the back of the church.

As he hit the statue it crumbled into many pieces, although the metal hammer remained intact as it landed nearby The Punisher. He staggered to stand back up and face the Fearmaster as he walked toward him. Shaking his head to regain his focus he noticed that he was no longer holding the shotgun, for it had slid across the floor to the other side of the church. He was unarmed and defenseless as his opponent approached him.

“Ha ha, pathetic little PUNYsher. I will take pleasure in killing you,” The Fearmaster taunted as he raised his gloved hand. “I shall crush you with my newest invention, The Hela Glove of Glory.”

With nothing to lose, The Punisher made a desperate leap to the Thor hammer. Unfortunately, his attempt was futile for no matter how much muscle he exhorted he was unable to lift the hammer. He had seen the real Thor hammer many times before and could tell that this one was fake, but nonetheless he was still unable to lift it like the real one.

“Oh, that is precious, you’re not even worthy to lift a fake Mjolnir,” Fearmaster bent over and was effortlessly able to lift the mock hammer. “This is one of my most favorite weapons. This hammer has finger print scanner on the handle and a gravity regulator to ensure that only I am worthy to lift it.”

Stunned with no defense The Punisher stood before Fearmaster as he charged the hammer with millions of volts of electricity.

“Fool watch out!” Punisher 2099 yelled as he grabbed and pulled him away at the last second, in a desperate dash they ran off into the priest’s chambers. Behind them a lightning bolt shot out of the hammer exploding the ground.

Once safe in the small room Punisher 2099 informed The Punisher on what was happening, “He was hiding the guns in plain sight. Look around all of the Norse god statues are holding weapons. We can use them to fight back.”

“You’re right, this gives me a plan. Go for the Surtar statue. I’ll go for the Balder statue.”

As the Punishers ran out of the room, several cyber ninjas surrounded them. Just barely dodging shots The Punisher ran across the church and grabbed the lantern from the Balder statue. With a press of button on the handle he created a bright flash of light blinding the Cyber-ninjas and providing a distraction as Punisher 2099 took the sword from the Surtar statue. Swinging the red sword molten lava sprayed the ninjas setting them on fire.

As he regained his sight after the flash, Fearmaster charged up his Thor hammer to its most deadly level before shooting it at the two Punishers. The church was nearly destroyed in the powerful blast. Wood splinters and debris flew everywhere filling the air with dust and smoke.

“Ha ha, none can challenge the Fearmaster! I have the greatest weapons—Wha…?” His jaw dropped as the smoked cleared, and saw the two Punishers still standing in front of him. Suddenly he fell to the ground after being whacked on the back of his head.

The Punisher stood behind him holding a golden staff with a green orb on the end of it. “I’ve met the real Loki and I’m sure that he would be insulted by replica of his staff only be able to create decoys.”

“The real Loki is dead!” Enraged Fearmaster yelled at him, before shooting with a concussion blast from Hela glove. The Punisher was sent flying back into a statue of Lady Sif.

“I’ll kill you!” Punisher 2099 yelled as he jumped up behind him holding Sultur’s sword over his head.

With quick reflexes Fearmaster spun around swinging the Thor Hammer knocking him to the ground. He hit the ground hard breaking a few ribs. He moaned as he spat out blood. The hammer felt like it weights a ton. Struggling to get up onto all fours he was suddenly stunned by an electric blast. Every muscle on his body constricted and his blood felt like it was on fire as thousands of volts surged through his body. Unable to control his movement his legs kicked and his arms swung wildly he seizure.

“Loki’s dead, Thor’s dead, Zeus is dead, all of the Gods are dead, and now only Fearmaster remains!” He gloated as he shocked the hopeless Punisher 2099. His words where cut short as the blade of a sword burst forth from his chest.

“Harrrrkkk!” Fearmaster cried out with mouth full of blood as more blood sprayed from his pierced chest. From behind him The Punisher pushed the sword of Sif through his chest.

“Feel the punishment of the Gods,” said The Punisher as he pulled the sword out. With a large gaping hole in his chest Fearmaster staggered a few steps forward before falling to the floor dead.

Once Punisher 2099 stopped moving his limbs wildly and the shock of the electricity wore off The Punisher offer him a hand and lifted him up so that he could stand.

“You handled yourself pretty well,” The Punisher complimented him. “It’s good to see my legacy being carried out by such good hands.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Punisher 2099 returned the compliment. “It was an honor to fight alongside you.”

As they walked towards the door out they were stopped by a lone Cyber-Ninja holding a small pistol.

“Stop right there, this isn’t over yet,” he said with his whole body shaking as he pulled back the hammer on the gun.

Punisher 2099 made a croaked smile as he turned his head to The Punisher and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yes, it looks like we have another guest for the Punishment Hotel.”

To Be Continued

Disclaimer: The Punisher (Frank Castle), Punisher 2099 (Jake Gallows), Fearmaster, and Microchip are characters owned by Marvel comics. The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. Jake Gallows and Fearmaster were both created by Pat Mills, Tony Skipper, and Tom Morgan. Microchip was created by Mike Baron and Klaus Janson. I, Christopher Kral, do not claim any ownership of these characters. This is a work of parody and I do not make any profit off of this written work.

Chapter Text

When you are being dragged along the asphalt at forty-five miles per hour from behind a five hundred horse power motorcycle your skin burns and starts peeling. You can still squirm around; it will help to shift your arms around taking time for one elbow to cool off for a second or two. You still must move back and forth so you can dodge gravel as it is thrown in your face. However, your legs take more damage tearing away the fabric of your pants, tearing apart your knees through you skin, muscles, and tendons until eventually you will never be able to walk again. You can try flipping over and skid on your back, the muscles on you back are tougher and the surface size is larger allowing the pain to be displace wider apart, but as the soft cushion of your butt is torn apart by gravel irreversible damage can occur. At fifty miles per hour the ground is moving so fast that you can no longer move, the pain becomes constant with no way to hold it off. Your skin and flesh is stripped away as more and more pieces of gravel imbed themselves into you. All it takes is one pothole or quick turn and you’re back on your stomach again getting a face full of asphalt. The chains around your wrists bind tighter pulling your bones out of their sockets. Soon your body becomes numb to everything but the burning hot pain. Your face becomes deformed by the constant friction making you deformed and unrecognizable. Your genitals are also torn apart leaving you unable to control you bodily functions. As the bike reaches sixty miles per hour, you start to black out, it becomes difficult to breath. All you can experience is pain as you fight to breath.

The night sky was beautiful with not a star, but the neon signs on store fronts left streaks of light all around the futuristic city. The engine revved louder sounding like the roar of a dragon as four hundred pounds of steel and rubber surged across the road. Frank Castle The Punisher held onto the hips of his new partner in justice, Jake Gallows the Punisher of 2099. They both looked rather the same with black slick back hair and rippling muscles. Jake Gallows however had more youthful features with tighter skin and sharper check bones. Their friendship had just been forged as they took down a black-market weapons ring. They dismembered and killed dozens of scum bags in a church with high powered weaponry. They killed all the thugs except for one who they are now dragging behind them. They shall teach him the true meaning of punishment.

As they pulled up to the Punisher 2099’s base of operations, Jake presses a button on control console of his motorcycle and a garage door opened near the front door.

“Hold up, what’s that?” He turned his head to Frank Castle and pointed at a weird computer that sat on the ground with a diamond incrusted baseball bat sticking out of it.

“That is the time machine that my team and I used to travel here,” The Punisher answered as he got off the bike. “It was made with a baseball bat that was used by a thug named the Czar. The diamonds imbedded in it are time crystals that send people through time when touched. Microchip modified it so that we could travel to exact dates.”

“Very nice I admire your associate’s craftsmanship,” Punisher 2099 said before parked his motorcycle in the garage.

As he returned walking back, he scratched the back of his neck and avoided eye contact with The Punisher. “Do you have to leave so soon? I was hoping you would stay so that I could show you around the Punishment Hotel. I want to make you proud to see your legacy live on.”

“Yes, I would like that.”

Punisher 2099 bent down to remove the chains off the wrists of their newly captured thug. He was still unconscious so he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder so he could carry him as they entered the building.

As they walked down the stairs to the Punisher 2099’s basement makeshift prison they could hear the Maylene and Microchip bickering like father and daughter.

“I did not sign up to be some blood mopping cleaning lady!” screamed the college intern Maylene.

“You can’t go out following around The Punisher or else we’re going to be mopping up your blood,” screamed back the pudgy middle aged Microchip.

They stopped and turned to the stairs as they noticed The Punishers walking down them.

“Well, well isn’t it my favorite shipping couple, Castllows.”

“Castllows?” Punisher 2099 arched one eyebrow in confusion.

“You know the combination of your two last names Castle and Gallows.”

The Punisher walked past them not acknowledging them.

“The Punisher is not amused,” commented Microchip.

Maylene chased after The Punisher and said to him, “Hey, tell your friend that you hired me for my skills, to help you fight crime and not to clean up your messes.”

The Punisher let out a deep sigh, turned to her and said, “I didn’t hire you, he did and I don’t care about you. If I had my way you wouldn’t be with us.”

Maylene froze in place feeling devastated. Microchip walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “He doesn’t like you, but don’t take it personal, I don’t think he even likes me.”

Punisher 2099 readjusted the still unconscious thug on his should then ran up to catch up to The Punisher and directed his attention to the rows of cells that he has his prisoners in.

“Impressive, you seem to have quite a nice set up here,” The Punisher admired.

“Yes, let me show you,” Punisher 2099 opened one cell with metal bed in it and carried the thug inside. Once inside he placed hand cuffs around his wrists and ankles then slapped his face a few times.

“Wake up scum bag, and say hello to your personal hell.”

The thug slowly regain conscious. Once he saw the eyes of his captor he screamed and frantically tried to get away, but the handcuffs kept him from running or even standing.

“Shhhh, screaming will not help you. There is no one here to help you, there is only me, your greatest nightmare.” He clamped his hands on the shoulders the thug.

The thug stopped fighting, but his body shook in fear. Punisher 2099 smiled and pointed at the metal bed.

“You see that over there, it is your new bed, but you won’t be sleeping on it. No, instead you will be spending every waking moment screaming in pain.”

He picked up a remote control and showed it to the thug.

“You see with this button, I can use it to shock you with thousands of volts of electricity.” He presses the button and the bed glowed with blue electricity.

“With this button, I can cook you from the inside out.” The bed glowed red with burning heat.

“Next is this amazing feature that I can use to make spikes poke up and stick you in a hundred different places.” Small holes opened in the bed and spikes raised up.

“Then there is my most favorite feature it’s called the stretcher. Let me show you how it works.”

Punisher 2099 picked up the thug and carried him to the bed.

“Please don’t do this. I won’t hurt anyone anymore. Let me go and I’ll go straight,” the thug begged. “I’ll adopt homeless children and help in animal shelters. I’ll stop eating glutton! Please don’t do this!”

“It’s too late for that, you must suffer for your sins.” He placed him on the bed with his arms raised above his head. Magnets held the handcuffs in place making it impossible for him to move his arms and legs.

“This bed can grow and stretch to pull you limbs longer. It also has speed settings to make it last minutes or even days. I think I’ll set it to a three-day cycle so that you will feel your bones being slowly pulled out of their sockets.”

“No, no, let me go. This isn’t fair!” the thug cried out.

Punisher 2099 payed no attention as he turned around and walked out of the cell.

“Interesting interrogating methods,” complemented The Punisher.

“Thanks, I pride myself in my work,” said Punisher 2099 with cheeks actually blushing. “I have honed my skills to a point that with enough time and pain I could even make you squeal.”

“Not likely, I have a cyanide capsule in my back molar. If anyone was ever strong enough to capture me and try to torture me, I would just break the capsule, swallow it, and kill myself.”

“That’s nice, but if your captor knew about it, and removed it, you would be shit out of luck and he’ll be able to do whatever he wanted to do wtih you.”

“You’re really cocky for an amateur.”

“I don’t mean to sound arrogant, I’m just confident in my work. Come let me show you more of my work.” Punisher 2099 motioned with his hands for The Punisher to follow him down the hallway of cells.

“To the left is Alexander Odalric,” Punisher 2099 pointed to a cell with a man strapped to a table with a rag over his face and a high-powered hose spraying his face. “He liked to take pleasure in drowning children, so I crafted this waterboarding machine to spray him with gallons of water for minute long intervals with five second gaps in between.”

“Over here I have one of my most prized prisoners. He’s name is Kron Stone, the killer of my family,” Kron was strapped to a chair with a rictus like grin on his face, his eyes pried open and a television in front of him. “Like you I too witnessed my family being murdered before me, but they weren’t caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. You see Kron here grew up in an abusive family that hated him, making him bitter to the point that now he hates to see happy families and it drives him to kill any happy family that he sees. So, as punishment I force him to watch the Brady Bunch all day long and implanted sensors in his cheeks so that if he ever stops smiling he will be shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity, but I’m not completely inhumane. I let him sleep five hours a night and feed him three meals of SpaghettiOs daily.”

Punisher 2099 smiled in delight, The Punisher was disgusted.

“If you know he killed your family then why don’t you just kill him?” asked The Punisher. “If he is just a serial killer then there is no reason to keep him alive and interrogate him. It’s not like he is a low-level thug that might lead you to a wider criminal organization.”

“Death is too simple for him. He must suffer for the pain he’s caused, for the families that he killed and the people that he left behind. He is mine now, I shall do as I please to him.”

“This is too much,” The Punisher glared. “We are instruments of justice. We kill those who do wrong. We do not take pleasure in killing and torturing, because it is horrible and wrong. Otherwise we are just as much of monsters as they are.”

“No, I may be inspired by you, but I’m different,” Punisher 2099 was enraged. “I’m not a cop, I am not a vigilante. I am an angel of vengeance. I hunt done the evil doers and punish them as I see fitting.”

“That is not fair, they do not deserve what you do them. They deserve this.” The Punisher pulled out two Uzis.

With one shot between the eyes he killed Kron, then proceeded to spin around shooting wildly killing many of the inmates. With shattered glass and splattered blood, he freed the prisoners from their torture devices and sent them to hell. Shocked by seeing all his work being destroyed, Punisher 2099 was filled with raged causing him to charge The Punisher and punched him in the jaw to make him stop.

“Stop!” He yelled.

“It’s a shame,” The Punisher remained calm. “You had so much potential, but you threw it all away by pursuing your own perverted pleasures.”

The Punisher raised up one of the Uzi’s to kill, but before he could Maylene ran out and stood between them to stop him. “Wait you have no right to do this. You may not agree with his methods of judgement, but we are his guests here, we have to respect his property and not interfere. What you do here has no impact on the world that we come from. You’re just wasting bullets.”

“She’s right, this is pointless and let’s just return to our timeline,” said Microchip.

“No, I cannot change morals. Wherever I go if I see injustice I shall punish it,” said The Punisher.

“Fine then so be it,” With one arm Punisher 2099 grabbed Maylene and shoved her to the ground. Then with the other hand he pulled out his .54 Magnum and fired two shots at The Punisher. He ducked out of the way and ran off down the hall. Microchip grabbed Maylene and lead her to safety. Once The Punisher saw that they were out of the way he turned around and threw two grenades at Punisher 2099, but he was quick to get out of the way. The cells collapsed and blew apart as they exploded, but no one was harmed, instead the prisoners were freed. The Punishers however didn’t care, they were only motivated to kill each other. With thick smoke and debris filling the air the prisoners could make a quick escape.

“I used to worship you, now I see how foolish I was,” shouted Punisher 2099. “You are nothing but a coward, afraid to embrace your true status as a God.”

“No, you are insane,” The Punisher shouted back. “You’ve been consumed with madness and the only cure for it is a bullet from my gun.”

“If we must fight then so be it, but it’s a shame, we could have made history. Together we could have had all of the criminals on their knees begging for mercy and we would I ruled over them as kings.”

The Punisher used to the shouts of his opponent to guide him through the smoke and debris, as Punisher 2099 ran for his personal armory.

* * *

Running down the alleyway newly captured thug Daniel Hume was relieved to discover that he will not have to spend a night in the Punishment Hotel. After losing half his face to being dragged behind a motorcycle he dreaded whatever Punisher 2099 had is store for him and after seeing the torture bed he begun praying for the sweet relief of death. However, being alive was something that he valued much more which was why he took this opportunity to escape while he still could. Unfortunately little did he know that his freedom would not last long.

“Freeze! Stop!” was the only warning he got before two seconds later a steel trash can lid came flying through the air into the back of his head, causing him to fall down. He caught himself with his hands and knees, but as he stood up he was sent back down by a boot stomping on his back.

“I said freeze, you’re under arrest!” Maylene yelled as she stomped on his back again.

Daniel fought back by rolling over and grabbing her leg. He used his momentum to knock her down to the ground. She countered back by kicking him in the face. Frustrated and desperate to get away he slammed his fists into her knees, then rolled away far enough to be able to stand back up without her reaching him. Maylene however was also quick to get back her feet as they stood back up at the same time and they locked eyes. Danial didn’t want to fight, he just wanted to run away, but he realized that if he were to get away he would have to fight her first. So he charged her grabbing her shoulders and slamming her into the brick wall. Being pinned against the wall, Maylene realized that even though she didn’t like fighting dirty she was going to have to in order to defeat her opponent. With a quick kick to the crotch she was able to get him to release his grip on her shoulders then she grabbed a nearby trash can and threw it at his head, disorientating him. This gave her enough time to grab a small piece of rope out of the garbage and tie him up against a chain link fence.

Feeling proud of herself Maylene dusted herself off as she stood back up and said, “That should hold you for bit. You have the right to remain silence. Anything you say-“

BLAM!

Startled, Maylene jumped back from blood splattered over her clothes as Daniel’s head exploded from a gunshot. She turned around to see standing behind her was Microchip holding a smoking gun.

“Thanks, for tying him up for me,” he said.

“What the hell?!” She yelled at him.

“What? Did you want to kill him? Why did you tie him up for?”

“I was apprehending him so that the police could arrest him.”

“The police cannot be trusted, they take too much time and if they ever do their actual job and send him to prison, he’ll back on the streets in a few years. Killing him is the only way to be sure that he never does anything illicit again.”

“Okay you want to do it that way, then give me a gun and we can take out more of Jake Gallow’s escaped prisoners.”

“Never mind let’s go,” with a sudden change of heart Microchip turned around and walked back down the alleyway.

“What the hell? You preach to me about pursuing your own form of justice as vigilantes, but when I agree to go along with your ways you push me away and keep me in the dark. You need to stop with being such a hypocrite and let me actually work with you.”

“Come with me, Frank should be done fighting the other guy soon, and when he does we should meet him by the time machine so that he doesn’t leave without us.”

“No, don’t keep brushing me off! You just saw what I can do. You know I can handle myself in a fight and you know that I am at the top of my class in Criminal Justice Studies. Also, I am no stranger to guns, so why do you keep doing this to me?”

Microchip let out a deep sigh and rubbed his temples, “You’re fired. We will no longer need your assistance, we will cancel any payment to your student loans, and you will not receive any credits. So now you have a choice: you can either come with me and go back to our timeline or you can stay here. It’s up to you.”

Maylene stood still with a steely glare. At first, she didn’t care and was willing to stay, but then she remembered that she had stolen The Punisher’s War Journal. With her hand, she discreetly reached behind her back to make sure it was still hidden under her shirt and stuck in her waistband. There was no way she could stay in this time line with it. If she went back to her time line she could use it change the world. So she let out a deep sigh and followed Microchip back down the alleyway.

* * *

The Punisher ran through the hideout until he came out the front door. Once outside he looked up to the sky to see Punisher 2099 hovering in the air with a jetpack strapped to his back and holding a .54 magnum in one hand and a grenade launcher in the other.

“If it’s a fight you want then it’s a fight you’ll get!” He shouted before raining down bullets and grenades upon The Punisher. To avoid the barrage of death The Punisher ran back into the hide out for cover.

“There is no hiding! I will bring down the whole building down upon you and pull you out of the rubble to tear you apart limb from limb!” he proceeded to launch more grenades at the hideout causing parts of it to crumble apart.

With a loud rumble and bang the garage door broke apart as The Punisher burst forth from it on Punisher 2099’s motorcycle.

“I don’t need a jetpack, all I need is hate!” He yelled as he reeved up the motorcycle before he took off as fast as he could. He reached two hundred miles per hour in an eighth of a mile before he drove himself towards a parked car on the road right below Punisher 2099. Before he reached the car, he got up with his feet on the seat, but kept his hands on the handle bars. As the motorcycle impacted with the car the back flipped up in the air and the gas tank exploded, launching him up in the air like a human heat seeking missile. Punisher 2099 was shocked and caught off guard as The Punisher grabbed onto him. They embraced in midair as two birds of prey in fierce combat.

“There is no form of technology that will protect you from the brutal force of my fist!” Shouted The Punisher before he proceeded to punch Punisher 2099 a few times in the jaw. He tried to fight him off by punching back, but despite being at a disadvantage The Punisher still had the upper hand in the fight as he grabbed on to the back of the jetpack and pulled out several random wires. These wires where vital to the jetpack propulsion system and without them they began to fall towards the ground at an alarming speed. As they fell The Punisher continued to punch Punisher 2099 in the face.

The ground shook as they hit the street. Punisher 2099 landed on the bottom, but his armor adsorbed the impact causing it to shatter and fall apart. They didn’t waste any time as they got back up. As soon as they were back on their feet they went back to fighting. Striking with all their might with their fists and feet. Fist to jaw, knee to ribs, elbow to throat. They didn’t hold back this would be a fight to the finish. The two met as at a stalemate as they were evenly matched. They could take each other’s punches and knew each other’s attacks. As soon as one tried to deliver a finisher attack the other would counter it. Each kick or punch was evenly matched. If one tried to break away the other would grab them and pull them back. Neither one could gain the upper hand, they were too evenly matched.

Sweat dripped off their faces, muscles where sore, veins bulged, and bones ached. They grew tried, but neither would give up. The two men continued fighting with same amount of hatred as before. There was only one way that this fight could end. So, The Punisher grabbed Punisher 2099 and brought him close to his body, embracing him in his large muscular arms. He pressed his lips to him, kissing him hard. His lips where salty and chapped, but still soft and full. Punisher 2099 was shocked and a little scared, not knowing how to process what was happening. Their lips parted and their mouths opened as The Punisher inserted his tongue. Held on top of his tongue was the cyanide capsule that he had kept inside of his back molar. He had broken his molar earlier, but was careful to keep the cyanide capsule intact so that he could use it to kill Punisher 2099.

With a swift upper cup to his jaw, The Punisher forced him to bite down on the cyanide capsule releasing the poison. He choked and convulsed as it slid down his throat.

“Cyanide can be deadly if you eat it, but a kiss could be even deadlier if you mean it,” said The Punisher as he watched his young protégé wither and die.

“Oh my god, were the two of you just kissing?” The Punisher turned around to see Maylene and Microchip watching him.

“Well I guess that is one way to kill a man,” said Microchip.

“He had it coming,” He walked past them towards the time machine. “We should leave. The police will be here soon.”

They could already hear sirens grow loud as they crossed the street. There must have been at least twenty officers as they drove in on the motorcycles. Microchip rushed to reset the time machine. The police surrounded them, got off their bikes and aimed their large hand guns. They looked intimidating with their bulky armor and helmets that covered half of their faces. One of them stood taller than the rest, he had large badge on his chest and a square jaw. He walked forward with his gun aimed and said, “Freeze! I am judge, jury, and executioner. And my judgement for you is death.”

“Not today,” said The Punisher as he and Maylene grabbed ahold the time machine and Microchip pressed the enter button sending them back in time. They disappeared before the police officers and they were left feeling like failures.

“Yeah, some other time.”

To be continued

Disclaimer: The Punisher (Frank Castle), Punisher 2099 (Jake Gallows), and Microchip are characters owned by Marvel comics. The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. Jake Gallows was created by Pat Mills, Tony Skipper, and Tom Morgan. Microchip was created by Mike Baron and Klaus Janson. I, Christopher Kral, do not claim any ownership of these characters. This is a work of parody and I do not make any profit off of this written work.

Chapter Text

“Wait, hold on, this is way outside of town,” Bryn was confused and beginning to get a bit worried. “Where are we going again?”

“Don’t worry it’s not much further,” replied Maylene. “It’s in the warehouse area, just past the shipping docks.”

“I thought you said that I was taking you to the law firm you’re interning at,” Bryn glanced at the map on their phone and saw that the destination was only few miles ahead.

“Well, it’s not really a law firm. I can’t say much about it, but they are involved in criminal justice.”

As they entered the warehouse district they became surrounded by large buildings that have been abandoned for years. Many of the buildings were in a state of disrepair and became homes for seagulls.

The compact car jostled as it rode over potholes. They were miles from any gas station and phone reception was spotty out there. In the two years that Bryn had driven for the SwingAround app they’ve never given a ride this far out of town, but they had known Maylene since they started college and trusted her enough to take her to such an unusual location.

“Any luck finding a job?” Asked Maylene.

“None at all,” replied Bryn. “Most employers still say that they only want a college graduate.”

“Well once you get your political science degree you should be able to get a good job as a journalist or something.”

“Yeah, doing freelance reporting isn’t paying the bills, and the only articles that I ever get published are the ones about trans issues,” Bryn snidely commented.

They tapped on their phone again to double check the destination. Maylene hadn’t selected an address, but instead a point on the map for the ride share app.

“You know it would be a lot easier for the both of us if you entered the address of where we’re going,” said Bryn.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be suspicious, but I can’t give out the address,” replied Maylene. “Don’t worry it’s not like I’m going to kill you.”

“Not funny,” Bryn furrowed their brow.

“Oh yeah, forgot I heard about the murders of all of those drivers. I didn’t mean to…” feeling awkward Maylene looked out the window before speaking again. “So how are you protecting yourself?”

“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to be insensitive. SwingAround is offering optional self-defense classes and they’ve installed an alert icon in the app that calls 911.”

“That’s it? That’s not going to be enough to stop a serial killer. Have you ever thought about getting a gun?”

“What the fuck?! No!” Bryn was outraged by the suggestion. “I don’t want to kill anyone! Besides those things cause more harm than good.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re going to need more than a few punches and a button to protect you from a murderer.”

“I’m not buying a gun.” Bryn shot a mean glare at Maylene.

“Well then how about some pepper spray or a knife? I know a guy that can help you out.”

“You know a guy?” Bryn raised an eyebrow. “ Why are you hanging out with a guy that can provide you with deadly weapons?”

“What? No, that’s not… what I meant is, just, never mind, forget I said anything,” Maylene tried her best to avoid the topic.

“Well, I know it’s none of my business, but you’ve been spending so much time outside of the dorms that a lot of the other students have been talking and are constantly asking me where you are. I’m running out of excuses.”

Feeling nervous Maylene quickly pulled her bag out of the back seat. As she did one of her books fell out an open pocket. “Hey, my stop is just ahead, you can let me out here.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” Bryn apologized after realizing their comments bothered Maylene. Nonetheless they pulled the car over and unlocked the passenger door.

“Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you at school.” Maylene tried to make a hasty exit, but as she stepped out of the car Bryn stopped her.

“Hey, you forgot one of your books,” they reached into the back seat to retrieve the fallen book. It was an old tattered notebook with a skull drawn on the cover of it. “What is this strange book anyway?”

With a swift hand Maylene snatched the book away, “Oh it’s nothing. My goth cousin wanted me to show it to one of the school’s art professors for a portfolio review… or something.”

She stuffed the journal back into her backpack and hoped to God that her lie was convincing enough, “Thanks again, for taking me all the way out here. You’re a real friend.”

“No problem, I need the money anyway,” Bryn said as they noticed an icon appear on their phone. “Oh, look I’ve got another ride queued up. This trip might not be so bad after all. Bye.”

“Bye,” Maylene waved as the car pulled away.

Driving off Bryn, glanced at their phone and saw that their next passenger was only a quarter mile down the street. It wasn’t long until they saw their passenger waiting standing near the road. His large muscles and towering stature made him intimidating. With slicked back hair and all black clothes, he looked like a character out of an old gangster movie. However, what caught Bryn’s eye was the skull on the passenger’s shirt that resemble the skull on Maylene’s note book.

Once close enough Bryn pulled over and unlocked the doors to let him in. After glancing at their phone, they welcomed the stranger in, “Hi, are you Frank?”

* * *

Entering the warehouse Maylene took off her coat and threw it at the coat rack, but it fell off. After letting out an exasperated sigh she picked up the coat, hung it on the rack and placed her book bag next to it.

“I thought I fired you or you quit or something,” Microchip looked up from his computer screen. As usual his desk was the same clutter of papers and half empty Starbucks cups. Barely balancing on the edge of one corner was an oven pizza pan with one slice left.

“You wish, I still need the credits, and no one is hiring interns until next semester,” she said as she picked up the last slice and placed it on a paper plate. “So, where’s the big guy?”

“He’s out running an errand,” said Microchip as he turned his head back to his computer screen, but he continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye as she placed the paper plate on his computer tower.

“So, what are we doing today? Busting some drug dealers? Uncovering a black-market arms dealer? Or are we finally killing Kraven the Hunter?”

Maylene walked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup.

“You need to organize the guns again,” said Microchip in a condescending tone.

“But I just did that last time I was here,” replied Maylene.

“You organized them by type. We need you to organize them by caliber size.”

“I need to stop spending so much time with you guys. People are starting to get suspicious.”

Maylene took a sip of her coffee and quickly spat it out followed by a few loud coughs. “God damn, how old is this coffee?”

“When was the last time you made coffee?” Without breaking eye contact he grabbed the pizza splice off the tower and took a bite out of it. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you want this?”

* * *

Bryn watched The Punisher through the rear-view mirror as he sat down in the seat behind their seat. As The Punisher clipped on his seat belt Bryn could see a pistol holstered on his belt. Bryn thought for a moment that the passenger could be a cop, but they didn’t want to take the chance that he could be the serial killer, so they pressed the alert button on their phone before pulling out onto the street.

“How are you today?” Asked Bryn trying to act normal.

The Punisher didn’t answer for a moment and closely took note of Bryn’s appearance. He noticed that they had short wavy black hair. Their glasses made their eyes appear smaller indicating that they are nearsighted. Despite having a large chin and puffy cheeks their nose was small. With a light blue collared shirt with a red bow tie, khakis and a dark blue blazer on top, they were unable to tell if they hid anything under their clothes.

“What are you doing out here?” Asked The Punisher.

“This isn’t my normal territory, but I just dropped some one off not far back,” said Bryn.

“What is your name?”

“Bryn Pak.”

Feeling nervous Bryn shook a bit, but then clenched their hands tighter on their steering wheel.

“How long have you been driving?” The Punisher continued with his questions.

“Two years now. I usually only drive on the weekend,” Bryn felt extremely tense in fear that they may soon be killed.

“Show me your driver’s license.”

Feeling intimidated Bryn complied. They pulled their driver’s license out of their back pocket and handed it to The Punisher.

After examining the ID for a moment, he said “This ID shows a different name and you look different in the picture.”

“Yeah, that was made before my second puberty.” Feeling nervous Bryn forced out a bit of a laugh to try to break the tension. “I thought that puberty was horrible enough the first time that though I would go ahead and do it again. Hehe, get it.”

The Punisher didn’t respond to the joke and gave the ID back. As he looked over the dashboard noticing a sticker over the center console.

“Why does that sticker say ‘They/Them’?” asked The Punisher

“Those are my pronouns. I’m agender,” answered Bryn.

“Agender?” The Punisher raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

“As in not man or woman. I don’t feel connected to either gender, so I identify as being outside of the gender binary.” Feeling even more nervous Bryn reached into their pants pocket and slid their fingers through a hard plastic dog faced key chain with two sharp pointy ears.

After taking a long pause, The Punisher finally asked, “How do you know that you aren’t a man or woman?”

“That’s a bit too personal to answer.”

As a police car pulled up behind them with its siren blared and lights flashed, Bryn let out a sigh of relief and pulled over. However, The Punisher thought differently and pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the back of Bryn’s head.

“Did you lead the police to my base?!” The Punisher yelled.

“I… I didn’t do anything!” Bryn stuttered as they panicked. Taking their hand out of their pocket, they raised both hands showing that they’re unarmed.

“Then why are you here?” asked The Punisher.

“I told you, I was just dropping off a friend. I swear I don’t know who you are.” They didn’t dare look at The Punisher as they looked to the rear-view mirror to watch the cop car pulled over and a cop walked out with his hand on his holstered pistol.

The Punisher put his pistol back in his holster as the cop came closer and he dug through a pouch on this belt for something else. Bryn lowered the driver side window so that the cop could lean over to speak to them.

“Do you know why I pull-” before the cop could finished his sentence he noticed smoke coming from the backseat. He looked over at The Punisher to see him wearing a small gas mask and holding a metal canister with smoke pouring out of it. The thick white smoke quickly filled the air around them.

“Get down!” He yelled at Bryn as he pulled out his pistol, but before he could aim the gun he felt weak and passed out. Bryn did the same.

Once the smoke had dissipated The Punisher took off his mask and stepped out of the back seat. First, he checked the cop to make sure that he was breathing steadily, and his heart rate remained regular. Then he picked him up and carried him back to the driver seat of the cop car. After he walked back to the car and he checked Bryn’s vitals before moving them into the passenger seat.

Once in the driver seat The Punisher readjusted the rear-view mirror. Originally, he was moving it to get a better look at the back window, but then he noticed himself in the mirror. As he looked at his reflection he realized that he had neglected his grooming practices. Beard stubble grew on his chin. The little hairs would soon become itched and scruffy. He didn’t like his appearance with a beard anyway. Moving up to the top of his head they noticed that his hair was getting long. Soon it’ll be long enough to grab onto. It will need to be cut soon, but he liked the way it looked long and wondered how it would look if it was longer. He pushed the thought out of his mind and made a mental note to cut their hair and shave later.

* * *

At first Bryn felt comfortable and relaxed as if they were sleeping on a cloud. They felt at peace as they slowly regain consciousness. Unfortunately, the tranquil silence was interrupted by the sharp clank of metal. They struggled to open their eyes and focus on where they were. A burning bright light shined right front of them. They were unable to shield their eye as ropes held their arms to the metal chair that they sat in. There were also ropes around their ankles completely restricting their ability to move.

Feeling confused they struggled to understand what had happened. Last thing they remembered was they were driving. They wondered how they ended up in this cold concrete walled room. They recalled pulling their car over and talking to a cop. Finally, the last thing they remembered was thick white smoke.

The clanging of metal pierced the silence once again. They turned to the left to see the passenger that they had picked up earlier next to a table with several small objects on it. They watched as The Punisher picked up a butcher knife from the table examine it a place it back down. He then picked up a cattle prod, examined it and put it back.

“Please, please don’t kill me! Please don’t!” Bryn cried out. Panicking they struggled to break free of the ropes, but it was useless, the ropes were too tight.

“I usually don’t hurt innocent people like you,” The Punisher picked up a set of brass knuckles and slipped them on to his hand. “However, you know things that you shouldn’t know.”

Standing tall and looking cold showing no emotion he approached Bryn with a brass covered raised fist.

“Please you don’t have to hurt me. I’ll do anything you want,” Bryn begged.

“Who told you about this location?”

“I don’t know where I am. I was just driving my friend to her job.”

“Are you a cop?” The Punisher placed one hand on Bryn’s shoulder and pulled back his fist with the brass knuckles.

“No, no I’m not a cop!” Bryn cried as they feared for their life.

With the scrape of metal on the concrete floor the door opened and they both turned to the right to see Maylene standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing?” She asked standing composed.

“Maylene, what are you doing?” Bryn felt confused and a bit relieved but was still very scared.

“I’m so sorry, please excuse my hard ass boss,” Maylene rushed over to Bryn and started untying the ropes. “I can’t believe you were going to beat up my friend.”

“I was only going to scare them to find out what they know,” The Punisher asked. He stood back and watched her. “Did you bring them here?”

“Yeah, my car broke down, so I hired Bryn to drive me here,” she explained as she finished untying the ropes.

“You have compromised our location and alerted the police of our secret base of operations.”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t tell them who you are or give them the exact location of the warehouse. I didn’t realize that you would be so upset.”

“Wait hold on, what’s going on here?” Feeling relieved Bryn stood back up and rubbed their wrists where the ropes had bound them.

“Well since you’ve already met. This is my boss The Punisher.”

“You’re The Punisher? As in the murderous vigilantly Punisher. I thought you were some sort of myth created by cops to cover up cop killings.” Bryn no longer feared for their lives, but they still could not believe what was happening.

“Whoa, cool the conspiracy theories, but yeah, this is the Punisher. He’s real and I intern for him.”

“Why are you telling them everything? They are a liability, they called the police on me,” said The Punisher.

“One cop isn’t going to blow our cover and besides Bryn isn’t going to rat us out. Are you?”

“Um… no, I still don’t know what’s going on,” replied Bryn. “So, what are you? Some guy that thinks that he could do a better job than the police.”

“Hardly,” Maylene turned to The Punisher. “Go on tell them your story.”

“After I returned from Vietnam I vowed to live a peaceful life and settle down with my wife and two children, but they were gunned down in front me in a random act of violence by the mafia. Since then I have waged a one-man war against organized crime, just so that no other person would suffered the same pain that I had.”

“Damn, I’m sorry for your loss,” said Bryn.

“Hey, is everything okay in here?” Microchip entered the room. “I saw Maylene come in here and didn’t hear any screams. I just wanted to make sure no one’s hurt.”

“Everything is fine,” replied The Punisher. “However, we’re going to have pack up everything and leave. Your errand girl has compromised our location.”

“Hold up, we’re not going to tell anyone else,” said Maylene.

“I’m so sorry I called the police on you,” apologized Bryn. “I thought that you were a serial killer… Well I mean one that was killing ride share drivers like me.”

“Hey, that gives me an idea,” Maylene snapped her fingers. “Maybe you could investigate and stop that murderer.”

“Murderer?” The Punisher became attentive. “Tell me everything you know.”

“I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with aiding a murderer,” replied Bryn. “However, I guess it’s a means to an end. I mean it would be better if you could work with the police to have them arrested, but either way I would feel safer knowing that my next passenger won’t kill me.”

“So, you are fine with telling us everything we need to know?” Asked Maylene.

“Well I don’t know much, only what I’ve heard on the news. Which is that the killer uses the SwingAround app to call driver’s. When they pick them up the killer uses either a gun or knife to kill the driver and leave their bodies on the streets. Then they steal the car and disarm their smartphones or any other GPS tracking device in the car. No one has seen the killer and they’ve killed twenty-three people so far and the murders are becoming more frequent.”

“That’s not much to go on, we’re going to need to wait until we have more information to work with,” said Microchip

“I’ll become a driver and use myself as bait,” suggested The Punisher.

“Yeah, but I’ve been driving for two years now and have not yet been attacked by anyone. How do we know that you’ll ever pick up the killer?” Asked Bryn.

“I guess I could hack into the apps database,” Microchip rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. “I could find where and when the killer is most likely to attack.”

“What do I have to do to be hired on as a driver?” Asked The Punisher.

“It’s easy, just download the app and go an orientation at a SwingAround headquarters,” answered Bryn. “Also, since the killings, new drivers have been required to attend mixers with each other to encourage more communication and trust between drivers. Do you have a car?”

“I have a van.”

“You mean the armored one full of guns and bombs? That’s not going to work,” replied Maylene. “No one but old people trust vans these days.”

“We can get another car.”

“I could steal something from the impound,” suggested Microchip.

“Also, you’ll have to do something about your clothes. Do you have anything more casual?” Asked Maylene.

“I have a trench coat,” replied The Punisher.

“We’ll have to buy you some new clothes.”

“Wait are you suggesting that we give a superhero a makeover?” Bryn was holding back their excitement.

“Well a murderous vigilante, but essentially yeah.”

“Squeeeee,” Bryn made a high-pitched noise. “Sorry but I love makeovers.”

“Come to think of it, that does sound exciting.”

“Oh, dear lord,” Microchip rolled his eyes.

The Punisher looked around confused.

* * *

Once the three of them arrived at the thrift store, Bryn tried their best to practice self-control and not run in, but they were the first to enter and were running around searching through the men’s section by the time The Punisher and Maylene entered.

“Are you okay with this?” Asked Maylene.

The Punisher stood still at the doors for a while. He looked around and took note of the layout of the store, checked each exit, and sized up every shopper and clerk. Once satisfied they answered with a simple “yes”.

“Well then we should catch up with Bryn. We don’t want to make them wait,” the two of them began walking over to the men’s section.

“I already have a few ideas, but I wanted know what kind of colors and styles you like,” Bryn welcomed him over with an arm full of clothes.

“Black,” replied The Punisher. “And camouflage and pockets. I need a lot of pockets.”

“Yeah, no,” Bryn went back to sorting through the rack of clothes. “I’m think pastel colors will work best. It’ll be a good contrast to your dark hair and bring out your eyes.”

They grabbed a horizontal striped shirt off the rack and held it in front of The Punisher. Then immediately shook their head and put the shirt back.

“Avoid stripes vertical or horizontal. We need to keep it simple. However, plaid might work.”

They tossed a few shirts to the side, then went back to shuffling through the clothes. They sorted through the rack like a dog digging through a garden. The Punisher lifted one eyebrow and looked over at Maylene.

“Don’t worry they know what they’re doing,” said Maylene.

“There’s not much here for me to work with here,” Bryn stopped for a second and asked. “How do you feel about synthetic fabrics?”

“Doesn’t matter,” answered The Punisher.

“Okay, try these on,” Bryn shoved a large arm full of clothes into The Punisher.

* * *

The front offices of the auto impound was busy and crowded with people even in the middle of the week. So, Microchip went around back to a separate building that was only used on the weekends for auto auctions. The outside was monitored by security cameras that were easily deactivated by shining a UV light directly in the lenses. With a simple lock pick gun Micro was able to enter through a side door. Once inside what appeared to be a storage room, a beeping noise could be heard coming from the security system. He quickly located the security unit, grabbed it and ripped it off the wall. The beeping stopped, but he still needed to grab two wires and crossed them to short out the system and prevent the authorities from being alerted.

Once everything was safe he started searching the office. Large overflowing filing cabinets crowded the offices that where disorganized. There were only three desks with three computers. He was able to log onto one computer using the password, Passw0rd. However, the car database was protected with a more complicated password. Normally Microchip would use a flash drive to download a virus to unlock all files, unfortunately these computers were too old to have a flash drive port. So instead he created an email address to send himself a virus that he had stored on the cloud using his phone.

Once in the database he searched through all the different cars. He couldn’t just steal any of the cars, he needed to find the right one. He decided to narrow his search down to cars seized from convicted criminals. Then narrowed the search even further to cars that belonged to murderers. Most of the cars were made before the year 2000 making it too old to be driven for SwingAround unless they were classic cars in good condition. He then eliminated all trucks and two seated cars. He finally settled on a Fiat 500. Out of all the cars that belonged to murderers it was the best option with the most seating, safest, best handling and most miles per gallon.

After taking down the license plate number and he began searching for the keys. He found that they were with the other car keys were enclosed in a glass case mounted on the wall. The case had a more complex lock than the door so instead of using a lock pick to open it he applied a little bit of plastic explosives on the lock. With a small bang the case shattered open, however the smoke from the explosion caused the sprinklers to rain down on him.

“Fucking great,” grumbled Microchip.

* * *

The Punisher stepped out of the dressing room wearing an ill-fitting pastel blue shirt and a pair of blue corduroy pants.

“I don’t like this,” The Punisher said through a clenched jaw.

Bryn and Maylene looked them up and down and critiqued his appearance.

“It looks okay I guess,” said Maylene feeling uncertain.

“You’ll need a larger shirt, but the pants look good on you,” commented Bryn.

“They itch,” He replied.

“Maybe we’ll try khakis next and a more colorful shirt,” said Bryn.

“We don’t need to do this; a black t-shirt and jeans are good enough.”

“You can’t keep living life dressed as that kid from Toy Story that tortured toys,” said Maylene. “You need to wear more normal looking casual clothes.”

Bryn gave The Punisher another set of clothes and said, “Here try these. We’re probably going to have to try several different outfits before we find the right clothes for you.”

The Punisher let out an exasperated sigh.

* * *

Once dried off Microchip left the offices and entered the car lot with keys in hand. The car lot was large and difficult to navigate. With so many trucks and large cars it was hard to spot the small Fiat. He began to walk down each row of cars searching for it.

As he walked through the lot he had the suspicious feeling that he was being watched. He looked around and didn’t see anyone at first, but then he heard a growling. Looking around again he then noticed a large pit bull snarling between two cars across from him.

“Good boy, don’t worry I won’t hurt you,” scared Microchip shook as he crouched down holding one hand out in front of him as he reached with his other hand to his back pocket for a can of pepper spray.

The dog continued to growl and took a step closer. Microchip took a step back and thought about running away, but he heard another growl. He turned to the right and saw another pit bull bigger than the first.

“Another doggo, fucking great,” Microchip was sweating scared for his life.

* * *

Turning around and facing the mirror, right away The Punisher didn’t like the way he looked in his new outfit. It was like he was no longer looking at his own reflection. He recognized his own appearance, however something appeared wrong, but he couldn’t tell what it was. All of his imperfections became more noticeable and some of his features that he usually didn’t mind became unsightly. He usually didn’t pay attention to his appearance, but The Punisher couldn’t stop himself from scrutinize over all the little details. Above all what bothered him the most was that he no longer felt like himself in the new clothes. He didn’t feel like the fearless Punisher anymore, but instead like some phony that was unworthy to fit his own war hero reputation.

There was nothing aesthetically wrong with the clothes, but he was uncomfortable with his appearance. The shirt was a green V-neck which he hated, because of the way the shirt accentuated his shoulders and made his waste look narrow. The deep V collar also showed the contours of his chest and let a few unsightly hairs poked out. He couldn’t figure out what he disliked about the body hair, but he found it unsettling. The pants were tan khakis that fit loosely, but they where newly ironed leaving a fine crease like business man would wear and not a crusader of justice.

“Come on out, let us see how you look,” yelled Bryn from the other side of the door.

“No, get me some different clothes,” The Punisher yelled back.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad. Let us see,” said Maylene as she forced the door open.

The Punisher stood frozen. They felt the urge to punch her in the face but held back.

“What did I say? I have an impeccable fashion sense,” Bryn bosted. “He looks like a normal everyday SwingAround driver. No one will suspect a thing.”

“Yeah, I agree. You did a great job,” Maylene complimented.

While the two college students were satisfied with the new clothes. The Punisher however was not and his unemotional facade was beginning to crack.

“Get. Me. Different. Clothes.” Said The Punisher through his clenched jaw.

“Come on, you look great, we don’t need to try anything more on,” Replied Bryn.

“I can’t wear this. I need something else.”

“They’re right those clothes fit you perfectly,” said Maylene. “This could be your new look.”

“Get me new clothes!” The Punisher snapped back at them before walking back into the dressing room.

* * *

Taking off running Microchip whipped his head side to side, searching for the Fiat, as the two pit bull dogs chased after him. His gut jiggled and he wheezed as he ran as fast as his fat legs could carry him. However, all his years of sitting at a desk and eating junk food has made him out of shape. It wasn’t long before the dogs caught up to him.

As he turned to spray the mace, he stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground. With a viscous bite one of the dogs bit into his leg drawing blood.

“Urg! Son of a bitch!” He cried out in pain as the teeth tore into his flesh. With such a strong jaw the dog refused to let go until Microchip sprayed mace directly into their eyes and kicked its head with his other leg. The other dog snapped at him as he hastily scrambled to his feet and took off running again.

In effort to lose the second dog he made a sharp left turn and ran up another row of cars. The dog was not swayed by this maneuver. He kept up only inches away. Luckily, he saw the Fiat dead ahead. Running towards it he grabbed the keys and pressed the button on the key fob to unlock the doors. Huffing and puffing he was out of breath as he reached the car. Panicking he fumbled and dropped keys as he opened the door and got in. As he reached down to pick up the keys the dog bit at his fingers nearly taking them off. He slammed the door onto the back of the dog’s head to make them release their bite.

Once safely inside he slowed down his breathing and held his bloody hand in pain. Looking at his legs he saw his right ankle equally bloody. He needed to stop the bleeding, so he struggled to take off his shirt and tear it apart so that he could bandage his wounds.

* * *

After trying on about a dozen different outfits, The Punisher didn’t even look at the mirror anymore. He covered it up with their skull t-shirt and pretended that it wasn’t there, as he tried on the new outfit. In his mind he already imagined his appearance and didn’t want to acknowledge it. He knew that Maylene and Bryn where standing on the other side of the door waiting for him to come out and he dreaded what they will say about his appearance. Every voice in his head told him not to leave the dressing room, but he refused to let those negative thoughts make him weak and pushed them out of his head before stepping out of the dressing room in a navy-blue turtleneck sweater and white twill pants.

“Okay, we’re getting somewhere,” Bryn commented. “Those pants look great on you.”

“Yeah, but that sweater makes his shoulders look bulky,” commented Maylene.

“Of course, he looks bulky. He’s two hundred fifty pounds of muscle.”

“Yeah, but in all of that wool he looks like two hundred fifty pounds of oranges in a five-pound bag.”

She then turned to The Punisher and said, “No disrespect Mr. Castle, but that’s not a good a look for you.”

“I don’t like this sweater, but the pants are not bad,” said the Punisher. He felt the need to compromise in order to end this.

“What about the v-neck? I thought we liked the v-neck?” Maylene suggested.

“No we’re not wearing the v-neck.”

“Well we tried on just about everything in the store,” said Bryn. They rubbed their forehead in exasperation. “We’re running out of options.”

“Why don’t we let him pick something out?” Maylene suggested. “What do you think Mr. Castle? Do you see anything you like?”

The Punisher walked away and proceeded through the store.

“Okay, you can pick something, just no cargo,” said Bryn.

After searching through a rack on the other side of the store in the woman’s section, The Punisher took out a blue floral shirt with green and red flowers on it.

“I like this,” he said as he showed the shirt to Bryn and Maylene.

“Isn’t that a blouse?” Asked Maylene.

“It could work,” said Bryn. “The large collar could make his neck look thinner.”

“But it’s woman’s clothes,” said Maylene.

“You say that like that’s a problem,” replied Bryn. “You suggested that he should pick something out. So let him where what he wants.”

“Okay, at least he won’t look like Steven Seagal at a Slayer concert.”

“Do you know why I wear a skull?” asked The Punisher. “It is my message to the criminal underworld that, I am The Punisher, it announces that I’m coming for them. When they see my skull they know what I am all about and what I’m going to do. When you tell me I have to be casual and dress in a way to seem normal, I don’t know what to do. How do I display myself like this? What do blue sweaters and twill pants say about me? With this at least I’ll be noticed and not look like any other fool on the street. So I don’t need you opinion on my appearance. I don’t need you to suggest more clothes to me. I can take care of myself, because I’m the only one who knows me.”

He turned around and went back into the dressing room.

* * *

“What the fuck are you wearing?” Asked Microchip when he saw The Punisher in his new clothes.

“What the fuck is that?” Asked the Punisher when he saw the Fiat parked behind Microchip.

With five minutes until the SwingAround orientation all four of them met up in front of the auto parts store were the orientation was to be held. Microchip had already parked the car in line for inspection.

“Well you told me to get you a car,” Microchip gestured towards it. “This here is a Fiat 500 The best car you can steal from an impound that belonged to a guy that used to decapitate mailmen for fun. I hope you like it, I risked life and limb for it.”

“I think I could bench press it,” replied The Punisher.

“I like it, it looks cute,” said Bryn.

“You see Bryn likes it and they’re non-bias,” said Microchip. “Besides you should be grateful I got mauled by two different dogs for it.”

“Do you have the paperwork for it?” Asked The Punisher ignoring their partner’s injuries.

“Yeah, I didn’t have much time, but I managed to forge you a registration, insurance card, and driver’s license.” Microchip handed The Punisher a large envelope. He opened it and looked at the papers. “I’m sorry I got blood on it. I had to use my t-shirt to bandage my bite marks.”

“These will do,” he turned to walk away to the auto parts store. “We’ll regroup after the orientation. Let me know what you find out about the killer after you hack the app’s database.”

Once he knew that The Punisher had walked faraway enough that he wouldn’t be he begin imitating him, “Yes, thank you for getting me a beautiful Italian car, and authentic looking forged documents. I appreciate your hard work. I value you as a human being and not just some desk jockey. Don’t worry I’ll pay for your rabies treatment.”

Maylene walked over and put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “Don’t worry we’ll help you hack into the app.”

“Thanks, but I checked on it already and it’s covered with so much security and firewalls that it would take me all day even if I had full use of both of my hands.”

“Shit, well I guess it’s good to know that my personal information is well protected,” said Bryn.

“I’m going to have to sneak in to the SwingAround headquarters and access the mainframe manually.” He lowered his head in self-doubt. “I just hope that my injuries don’t caused me to screw up again.”

“Well we could do it,” suggested Maylene feeling sorry for him. “With an earpiece and microphone, you can guide Bryn and me through the whole process.”

“What? Me? No,” Bryn didn’t like the suggestion. “If I get caught I could get fired. Not to mention arrested for breaking in and entering.”

“Why stop now? You could already be arrested for aiding and abetting a serial killer.”

“Oh my God, I gave a makeover to a serial killer,” they were shocked by the sudden realization.

“Thanks, you two,” Microchip grabbed both Maylene and Bryn and hugged them. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’re bleeding on my shoulder,” said Maylene as she tried to pry Microchip’s gorilla arms off her.

* * *

“Come on, smile,” said the instructor as he held his smart phone ready to photograph The Punisher. “I can’t take your photo for your profile unless you smile.”

Remaining stoic The Punisher stood in front of a red brick back drop refusing to smile.

“Just smile please. You’ve finished the training and the only thing that needs to be done before you can go out on the road as a driver is for me to take your picture.”

The Punisher tried hard to smile, but he couldn’t. He took his time to focus and push out all the negative emotions and replace them with happy thoughts like kittens, ice cream cones, and dead Nazis. However even after that all that he could manage was to slightly angle up the corners of his lips and open his mouth to show his teeth.

“Oh wow, good luck getting passengers with a profile pic like that, but it’ll have to do,” the instructor snapped a photo. “Okay, next.”

Instantly losing his smile he walked from the back drop to a chair to take seat. After a few minutes all the drivers got their photos taken and they returned to the sitting area.

“Okay guys, you should be all set. However, before you can all get out on the road some of the more experienced drivers and I would like to get to know you all better at a nonalcoholic mixer at a smoothie bar down the street. So, if you follow me we’ll head over there.”

* * *

Once The Punisher and the other drivers reached the smoothie bar they were welcomed by more experienced drivers. Among them was Bryn. They walked over to talk to The Punisher.

“Hey Frank, there’s been a slight change of plans, but Maylene and Microchip are scoping out the–” they started.

“Hold it, I see someone I know,” The Punisher said walking past them.

He walked over and approached a young Latin-American man sitting at the bar. He wore a leather jacket and had a blonde streak in his otherwise black hair.

“Robbie Reyes?” Asked The Punisher.

“Um yeah,” Robbie answered confused. “Ah, have I met you at one of these mixers before?”

“You’re the new Ghost Rider.”

“No, I’m not, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Robbie said looking around, and then he leaned in and whispered. “Who are you and how do you know that?”

“I’m The Punisher and I keep tabs on all superpowered individuals.”

“Oh shit,” He coughed, nearly choked on his smoothie. After recovering from the shock, he paused and looked The Punisher up and down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. I’m used to you wearing a skull shirt. What’s up with the blouse?”

“I like it.”

“Well to each their own. So, what are you doing here?” Robbie shrugged it off.

“I’m following a lead on a serial killer. What are you doing here?”

“The same, I guess. Do you have any leads?”

“I could have a few.”

“Hey, how about a good old fashion superhero team-up?”

“Yes, power in numbers.”

“Sweet, high five,” Robbie smiled like an idiot and raised his hand. The Punisher left him hanging.

* * *

After the mixer Robbie and The Punisher regrouped with Microchip in the Fiat parked across the street from the SwingAround office building. Microchip sat in the backseat with his laptop open and a headset on.

“Hey Frank, who’s the punk ass kid?” He said.

“Hi, my name is Robbie Reyes. I’m the new Ghost Rider. I don’t drive a motorcycle like the other one, but I got a really nice Dodge- “

“Yeah, yeah I didn’t ask for your life story,” Microchip interrupted. “Close the door, the draft is causing too much background noise.”

“Oh sorry,” Robbie closed the door.

“Bryn and Maylene just broke in through the back door to the building.”

The Punisher paid no attention to him as they opened the glove box and pulled out a submachine gun. They proceeded to remove the magazine to make sure it was loaded and held it up to check that the sights were lined up.

“We’re not really going to kill him, are we?” Robbie felt a bit uneasy in the presence of guns.

“Not unless he gets away, which never happens,” The Punisher put the gun back in the glove box and opened the center console to pull out another submachine gun.

“It’s just that I was shot to death by several of those.” Feeling stressed Robbie grabbed the edge of his seat.

“Could you quit your belly aching,” Microchip yelled at him, and then he returned his attention back to his laptop and pressed the headphones closer to his ears. “Could you repeat that May?”

“We’re on the second floor, now what?” he heard Maylene’s voice through his headset with some static.

“Okay, you’re gonna want to go down the hallway and take the first right,” Microchip replied.

* * *

Inside the SwingAround offices Maylene and Bryn where cautious as they walked down the hallway.

“Okay, he said that the mainframe should be in a room around the corner,” said Maylene.

Bryn took the lead and walked around the corner first. Then froze as they came face to face a large male security guard.

“Hey what are you doing here?” Hollered the guard as he reached to his hip to grab a Billy club.

Bryn grabbed the dog face keychain from their hoody, they reacted quickly by punching him several times in the gut then upper cutting him in the chin. Maylene ran around behind him. She wrapped her left arm around his neck and placed her right hand on top of his head and squeezed as hard as she could. He tried to reach back and grab at her. Bryn punched him a few more times in the stomach to make him stop, but it wasn’t long until he fell unconscious.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to hurt him but-” Bryn shook with adrenaline.

“Save it, he should be asleep for at least the next hour,” said Maylene as she readjusted the backpack on her back before proceeding to walk down the hall.

“Why did you bring that bag anyway?” Asked Bryn.

“Microchip gave me some flash drives that could help us access the database. Besides I’ve a few things in here that I didn’t want to leave alone,” answered Maylene.

“What’s going on in there?” Maylene could hear Microchip through her ear piece.

“We ran into a little bit of trouble, but we took care of it,” replied Maylene.

“Good you shouldn’t be far from the database,” said Microchip. “It should be behind the last door on the right.”

Looking around Maylene found the door to the database, however once she found it she saw that the door was protected with a key card and code lock she was disappointed.

“It looks like we have a bigger problem here with this door lock,” said Maylene.

“Okay, send me a picture of it,” said Microchip.

* * *

Back in the car Microchip pulled out his cell phone and waited for the picture. In the front seat The Punisher pulled out yet another submachine gun from under his seat. Like with the others he check to make sure it’s loaded.

“Can you please stop that,” Robbie shifted in his seat feeling nervous.

“I need to be ready for tonight’s mission,” replied The Punisher. “Do you want one for yourself?”

“No thanks, did you not hear me when I told you that I was killed by guns. If it wasn’t for Ghost Rider spirit I wouldn’t be here today.”

The Punisher paused and looked off into the distance. “I watched as my family shot to death. I too was shot several times and just barely survived.”

“Then how could you hold that weapon after living through such a horrible event?”

The Punisher looked down at the gun that he held in his hand, then into Robbie’s eyes. “It’s not the guns that killed my family, but the monsters who fired them.”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a man yelling coming from down the street.

“Fuck you, freak bitch!” Yelled one of three white men with shaved heads as they approached a book store.

Two of the men took out cans of black spray paint to write slurs and draw swastikas over the store front, while the third stood watching holding a baseball bat.

As The Punisher placed the submachine gun back under the seat he turned to Robbie and said, “Wait here, I’ll be back.”

After stepping out of the car, he cracked his knuckles and yelled, “Hey, assholes! What do you think you’re doing?”

This caught the attention one of the skinhead with baseball bat. He turned to The Punisher and started walking towards them with the bat raised. “You need to mind your own business! This doesn’t concern you!”

The skinhead swung the bat, but The Punisher caught it with one hand and shoved the palm of his other hand up into the skinhead’s face breaking his nose. This wasn’t enough, so next The Punisher sent his elbow into the arm holding the bat breaking it. Taking the bat, he swung it around and took out his knees.

Seeing their friend being beaten the other two dropped their cans of spray paint and took out switch blades.

“Come and get it boys,” The Punisher shined them on.

One of the skinheads lunged at him leading with the knife. He stepped to the left and grabbed the wrist of the knife hand then elbowed him in the nose. Twisting the wrist, he made him drop the knife. Next, he grab him by the chest, using the leverage of their arm he flip him over throwing him into the last skinhead.

For a moment The Punisher dropped his guard which was all it took for the first skinhead to come up behind him and grab him in a head lock.

“You think you’re tougher than us dickhead?” He said as he tightens his grip around The Punisher’s head. He struggled to break free as the other two skinheads stood back up with their knives back in hand.

“Owf!” grunted the skinhead in pain as large book slammed into the back of his head causing him to release his grip. The Punisher stepped forward to fight the other two skinheads, however out of nowhere flaming chains flew out and wrapped around them holding them back. The Punisher turned to see Robbie in his Ghost Rider form. He threw out another chain past him at the first skinhead wrapping him up too.

“I thought I told you to stay in the car,” said The Punisher.

Robbie returned to his human form and stared blankly for a few seconds before saying, “You’re welcome, and while you’re at it you should thank that woman behind you.”

He pointed past The Punisher at a tall blonde hair woman in a camouflage jacket behind him.

“I’m sorry for what happened to your store ma’am,” said The Punisher.

“No problem, I was just going to hide in the store and call the cops,” she said. “However, despite the good fight you put up it looked like you could use some help.”

“I was only trying to help a citizen in need.”

“Thank you, but I could take care of myself,” she tugged on her jacket to show off the U.S. marines patch on her jacket. “However, I’m trying to be a pacifist today.”

“You served?”

“Yes, Sergeant Heather Diaz. I served four deployments in Iraq before I was discharged thanks to our current president.”

“That’s unfortunate, the military should consider you to be an asset rather than a liability,” The Punisher shook hands with Heather. “I too served, in Vietnam for four years.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen you at the VFW support groups?”

“No Thanks, those aren’t for me. I still have a lot to fight for.”

The Punisher bent down and picked a can of spray paint and turned to Robbie. “Come on let’s go back to the car.”

The two of them started to walk away as Heather yelled back at him, “Well if you are ever ready to stop fighting remember it’s never too late to make yourself into a better person.”

Once back at the car The Punisher shook up the can of spray paint and started spraying it over the hood.

“What are you doing?” asked Robbie.

“It’s branding,” The Punisher said as he painted a skull on his hood.

“You’re back just in time,” Microchip poked his head out the side window of the Fiat. “Bryn and Maylene just gained access to the app’s database.”

* * *

“Okay guys, have you found anything yet?” Said Microchip through the headset.

“We’re not guys here,” replied Bryn. They were now wearing the head set; sitting at the mainframe computer in large cooled room full of towers of hard drives stacked six feet tall. Maylene sat nearby flipping through one of her notebooks.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that I was talking to you Bryn,” Microchip corrected himself. “Um… folks or whatever.”

“That’s not much better, but I haven’t got the time to lecture you.”

“Well did you find anything about where the killer is calling for rides from?”

“I’m still going through the rides, but so far all of the rides were picked up in or nearby the Hell’s Kitchen area.”

“Hold on, this can’t be right!” Maylene was feverishly searching through her copy of the Punisher’s war journal from the future (*see last chapter).

“Yeow!” Bryn yelled as Maylene yanked the headset off them with a powerful tug.

“You have to go to Midtown!” She yelled into the headset. “Trust me the killer is going to be in Midtown!”

“Why the hell did you do that for?” Bryn rubbed their hurting ears. “Hey, wait a minute isn’t that your cousin’s sketch book?”

Bryn reached for the notebook, but Maylene pulled it away. She instead handed the headset back to them.

“Never mind the book. Here, Micro still has to walk you through shutting down access to the app for all drivers except for Mr. Castle and Ghost Boy.”

* * *

“Well what did they say?” Asked Robbie. Both him and The Punisher stared at Microchip attentively.

“Well, they’re giving me two different locations,” feeling uncertain Microchip answered them. “Bryn said that we should search in Hell’s Kitchen, while Maylene insists on Midtown for some reason.”

“It’s a good thing that there’s two of us,” replied Robbie. “I’ll take Hell’s Kitchen while you can take Midtown.”

“No, I’ll take Hell’s Kitchen,” The Punisher insisted. “I know that area better.”

“Whatever you say, Midtown it is,” Said Robbie.

“Here you’ll need these to communicate to each other,” Microchip handed the both of them both headsets.

* * *

Once The Punisher and Robbie Reyes had proceeded to travel to their separate locations and began driving all night. Picking up rides and took them from point A to point B. They drove around town for several hours staying busy the whole time. Picking up passengers, each time wondering if they may be the killer. Most of them were nice, however some not so much. A few times The Punisher got suspicious of his passengers and paid close attention to them watching their every move not knowing if they are going to try to kill them or not. Nonetheless, they continued driving like as if they were normal drivers.

“It’s almost sunrise and I still haven’t seen any sign that any of my passengers could have been the killer,” Robbie said into his headset. “We’ll probably have to go out again tomorrow night.”

“We will if we have to,” replied The Punisher. “We must be persistent in the pursuit of justice.”

“Yeah, but what if one of us already picked up the killer and they didn’t kill us because they knew that we’re superheroes or something.”

“I doubt it, but we’ll have to find different ways to find them.”

“I don’t mean to complain, since I’m making good money, but the sooner we catch this guy the better.”

“We are going to have radio silence for a while. I just got a call for a ride.”

“10-4 big guy, I’ve a ride queued up too.”

* * *

The Punisher switched off his headset and pulled over to the sidewalk near an office building. A middle aged balding man in a suit got in.

“You’re Frank?” The man asked.

“Yes, are you Charles?” The Punisher replied as the man got into the back seat and clipped on his seat belt.

“Yeah, take me to the Plaza hotel and make it quick or else I’ll give you a one-star rating.”

* * *

Robbie’s ride was unassuming looking. He was a young black man in an all leather biker suit holding a full-face helmet. Robbie went ahead and picked him up.

“Are you Sanford?” Robbie asked him as he got into the car.

“Yes, thanks for picking me up,” He said as he sat in the car looking around as he held his helmet on his lap. “This is quite a nice car you have here.”

“Thanks, um could you please put on your seat belt,” Robbie replied.

The car remained parked on the street corner as Robbie waited for Sanford to put on his seat belt. However, he instead continued to admire the car.

“This is a Dodge Charger, right? What year is it?”

“It’s a’69.”

“Ah nice year, I always wanted to have one of these.”

“Yeah, thanks and all, but I can’t leave unless you put on your seat belt. You know safety first.” Robbie was growing impatient with his passenger.

“Oh, I’m sorry, what am I thinking,” he lifted the helmet from his lap and placed it on his head.

“No no, not you the helmet, your seat belt.”

Robbie watched as the passenger reached across himself with his left hand as if to grab his seat belt, but instead he reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. He swung his arm around to aim his gun, but as he did so Robbie grabbed the gun arm and pushed it away. With his other arm the passenger punched him in the face. Then he shoved his body onto Robbie pushing him up against the door. Robbie fought back with all his might. During the struggle the passenger detached Robbie’s seat belt and opened his door knocking him out of the car. As Robbie fell onto the ground the passenger fired his gun twice at his chest, but instead of blood coming out of the bullet holes flames shot out as he transformed into the Ghost Rider. Quickly the killer closed the door and tried to drive off in the car. Robbie climbed to his feet and chased after him. With a long lunge he leapt and grabbed onto the back bumper. Using only his upper body strength he lifted himself onto trunk as the car sped down the road.

Calling upon his Ghost Rider powers Robbie tried to telekinetically speak to the car and control it. Normally he would have a supernatural connection to the car that allowed him to control the car in every way possible from its driving to its atomic structure. However, at this moment he no longer felt that connection. He called out in his mind to the car and he got no response. It was like his Ghost Rider powers had been overtaken.

With one hand Robbie switched his head set back on and called The Punisher, “Frank! Frank! Come in big guy!”

“What is happening? I thought we agreed to radio silence as we drove,” said The Punisher through the headset.

“I found him! The killer has stolen my car and I’m hanging off the back bumper!” Robbie screamed back at him.

“How did that happen?”

“Never mind that, I need your help!”

“Can’t you take control of the car?”

“No, I tried that. Normally whenever someone tried to steal my car I would be able phase them out or control the car from the outside, but I can’t. It’s like this guy has taken over the car and severed my connection with it!”

Robbie struggled to hold on as the car started to shake and rattle as it began to change. Tail fins lifted up from the back fenders, several long exhaust piles shot out from below the car, and the trunk opened up as the back bumper contorted and reformed itself into a jet engine.

“Oh whoa, what the fuck!” Robbie lost his grip of the trunk and slide off, but was able to catch himself by grabbing onto a tail fin. “Frank! I need your help! He’s transforming my car into some sort of supercharged nightmare!”

“Wait what does this man look like?” The Punisher replied.

“I don’t know. He’s wearing all leather and helmet like some biker!”

“Did he have blue accents on his leather suit?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Sounds like he’s Overdrive. Hold on I’ll come find you.”

“How the hell do you know everyone?”

* * *

“Hey, who the hell are you talking to?” asked Charlie the inpatient business man.

The Punisher paid him no attention and kept talking to Robbie on his headset while driving, “Where are you now?”

Charlie leaned in close and yelled into his ear, “Who are you talking to!”

Like a statue he continued to ignore him, “I’ll come find you.”

Fed up Charlie grabbed the headset and yanked it off The Punisher’s head and threw it out the window. “Enough of this shit! You need to pay attention to driving and not yacking on the damn phone!”

Remaining unphased The Punisher pulled over to the sidewalk and unlocked the doors. Turning to Charlie, he said, “Get out.”

“What? No! Get me to The Plaza first! I’m not putting up with anymore of your bullshit! I’m not going to get out until we are there!” Charlie was furious with a vein bulging on his forehead and a quivering lip.

“I can’t take you any further. Get out now. You can call up another driver.”

“Hell no! I’m not going to waste more time waiting for another ride. I’m already paying for this ride and I’m not leaving until you get me to the Plaza,” Charlie sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. “If you want me out of your car then you’re going to have to pull me out.”

“Fine, have it your way,” The Punisher shifted the car into drive and took off driving down the road.

Weaving through traffic the car accelerated to unsafe speeds. As he went through red lights and made sharp turns, he wasn’t driving recklessly, but instead every move was planned out. The Punisher paid attention to the surrounding cars and gauged their speeds before changing lanes and making turns. Everything was calculated as he made risky driving choices.

This however didn’t phase Charlie, he didn’t care how The Punisher drove as long as he arrived at the Plaza. At first he felt a bit of relief since he thought that the ride would soon be over. However, after a few sharp turns he noticed that they were going in the wrong direction.

“Hey, the Plaza is in the other way! Where are you going? You’re the worst driver ever!”

* * *

The back windshield shattered as Ghost Rider threw his chain threw it. The car whipped around as it sped up and weaved through traffic, making it difficult for him climb up the chain with his arms.

“Frank! Frank! Answer me!” Realizing that it was useless he pulled off the headset and threw it behind him as he climbed into the backseat.

Seeing that he now had a passenger Overdrive turned around with his gun in hand fired it twice at Ghost Rider only to have the bullets disappear into his leather suit leaving no trace. He shoved himself into the back of the driver seat knocking Overdrive forward onto the steering wheel. He quickly rebounded and fired blindly behind himself again. Ghost Rider wrapped his arm around the gun arm holding it in place and with the other arm he wrapped it around Overdrive in a head lock.

“Give me my car back!” He demanded.

“Fuck you!” Overdrive shouted back as he spun the steering wheel causing the car to slam into a dump truck on the left. The dump truck took no damage, but the driver of it slammed on it breaks and stopped. The Charger took considerable body damage with dents and scratches despite only shaking Overdrive and Ghost Rider. As the car continued to drive down the road. The damaged side shifted and came to life. The dent reformed into smooth surfaces and paint covered over the scratches as the car healed itself.

“I don’t want to fight you, but I will if I have to and we both know I would win,” Ghost Rider tried to reason. “So why don’t you just surrender and so no one gets hurt.”

“Not happening, I don’t have a choice in what happens here,” Replied Overdrive. “When Mr. Negative tells me to do something I’m bound by life to obey.”

“Well maybe we can help you here. If you help me, I could go after Mr. Negative and relieve you of whatever control he has over you.”

“He doesn’t have any control over me. I fucked up, I’m a villain now and there is no turning back.”

“Of course there is, it is never too late.”

“I’ve already killed more than I can count. There is nothing left for me, but prison or death. Either way I’m going down fighting.” Overdrive made a high speed sharp turn to the right making the car lean over on two wheels and for Ghost Rider to fall out of his seat and hit the side window.

Ghost Rider called upon his hellfire powers to burn hot and consume the driver seat and Overdrive. Unknown to him Overdrive’s leather suit was fire proof, but not insulated to the heat. He was literally becoming hot under the collar as he sweated profusely. His skin may not been burned, but it felt as if it had been as the hellfire baked him. As it did with the damaging dents the car healed itself making it undamaged by the fire.

Making more dangerous driving choices Overdrive plowed the car into the windows of the lobby of an office building. Chairs and tables disintegrated as the car crashed into them. Flaming tire tracks where left behind as the car had become fully covered in the fire. Nearby walls and stairs caught on fire as Overdrive crashed it through rooms.

“You want this whole building to go up in flames?” Overdrive asked. “Think of the property damage and potential lives lost that could result if this fire continues to burn us?”

Realizing his hazardous mistake Ghost Rider drew in his hellfire from the car. However, he was powerless to absorb the fire that the car had left behind, which was fortunately put out by an overhead sprinkler system.

Leaving the office building Overdrive made a quick hairpin turn turning the car onto a one-way street into oncoming traffic. He drove fearlessly head first down the street towards a city bus full of passengers three blocks away.

“Get out of the car, before I plow into that bus killing everyone inside,” Overdrive demanded.

Weighing his options Ghost Rider knew that he had to avoid putting innocent lives at risks, so he gave up fighting and released his grasp around Overdrive. Then slammed his elbow into the side window shattering the glass. Since there weren’t any doors for the backseat he grabbed onto the roof of the car and proceeded to climb out of the car. However, Overdrive didn’t pull over or even slow down. He continued to drive towards the bus full of people expecting Ghost Rider to jump out onto the fast-moving ground. Holding onto the roof Ghost Rider sat on the side of the door. He quickly swung his legs out only to swing them back in to kick the head of Overdrive knocking him out of the driver seat into the passenger seat so that Ghost Rider could climb behind the steering wheel. Once back in the driver’s seat he veered the car to the left barely dodging the bus before it could hit them.

With Ghost Rider back behind the wheel the car reformed itself again. The tail fins melted away, the jet engine retracted into the trunk, and the charger returned to its normal muscle car form.

Regardless Overdrive wouldn’t give up without a fight. He propped himself back up and pulled back his fist for a punch. Anticipating the punch Ghost Rider swung his arm to the right knocking Overdrive in the head. He tumbled over into the leg space of the passenger side.

Taking control of the car and slowing down, Ghost Rider knew that he had to quickly figure out where he was and find The Punisher. Looking at the center of dash where he had mounted his cell phone he saw nothing, but a blob of burnt plastic. He had mistakenly burned it up when he was trying to set fire to Overdrive earlier. Having only been in New York for only a month he was still learning to navigate the big city. He kept his eyes out for landmarks and street signs. One of which he recognized right away as Radio City Music Hall. Knowing that The Punisher was supposed to be driving in Hell’s Kitchen he quickly made a sharp left turn onto 51st St.

Feeling relieved he let himself relax and calm down from the fight. That was quickly cut short as Overdrive shoved him face first into the driver side window. Then proceeded to stab him with a switchblade repeatedly in the neck. However the attack made no effect on Ghost Rider as the blade pierced nothing, but flames.

“What are you trying to achieve here?” Ghost Rider asked unphased by the stabbing. “I’m a skeleton covered in fire!”

With one hand he shoved Overdrive back into the passenger seat. Driving towards the center of town he was relieved as he saw The Punisher driving towards him in his Fiat. Maneuvering the Charger to be heading directly towards The Punisher he accelerated to fifty mph then suddenly slammed on the brakes launching Overdrive out of the passenger seat. Instead of shattering, the windshield rippled like a pond as Overdrive flew through it. With a thunk he landed on the hood of the Fiat. The Punisher sneered as it was now his turn to fight the villain.

Scrambling Overdrive struggled to hang on as he grabbed onto the edge of the hood. The struggle became more difficult as the windshield shattered as many bullets were fired upon him. Fortunately for him, his helmet and leather suit not only protected him from fire, but also bullets. However, the constant gun fire that pelted him stung and bruised his body.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” from back seat Charlie screamed. “Damn it, don’t involve me in your crime spree!”

“Oh yeah, you’re still in here. Hold on!” said The Punisher as they veered the car to left and drove up 6th Ave. towards the Plaza and central park.

As The Punisher tossed aside his empty submachine gun, Overdrive took advantage of the moment to reach forward and grab onto the steering wheel.

“Who the hell are you? Are you friends with fire boy?” Asked Overdrive.

“I’m The Punisher and you’ll be dead soon,” he answered.

“Oh really, I thought you were floral shirt man.”

Fighting for control of the car The Punisher punched him in the head a few times. The powerful hits caused Overdrive to roll to the side over the hood. As he rolled he pulled the steering wheel with him making the car sway. The Punisher quickly grabbed back onto the wheel to correct the car’s path. He struggled to maintain control as Overdrive jerked on the wheel in effort to get him to crash. It was difficult for The Punisher to see where they were going so he stretched his neck out to see over Overdrive. This left him open for Overdrive to reach and grab his neck and choke him. Needing to avoid crashing he held onto the wheel. As Overdrive tighten his grip around The Punisher’s neck making it difficult for him to breath.

Seeing the Plaza hotel not far ahead, The Punisher hit the breaks and summoned the strength to turn the back seat to Charlie and say, “Get out now!”

Charlie didn’t need to be told twice as he opened the door and ran out.

With the car parked The Punisher was able focus his efforts on fighting Overdrive. First, he tried push to him off of him, but Overdrive only squeezed harder. As his nails dug into The Punisher’s neck he coughed and saw his vision go blurry. Knowing he was going to need to act fast with his right arm he pulled a submachine out from under the passenger seat. However, knowing that Overdrive’s suit was bullet proof with his left arm he pushed up on his motorcycle helmet to pull it off. With his chin exposed The Punisher position the barrel of the gun right under it ready to fire. However unknown to him Overdrive pulled out a controller out of his pocket.

“Fuck Mr. Negative, I need to take care of myself,” said Overdrive as he pressed a large red button on the controller.

Then out of nowhere a car slammed head first into the driver side of the Fiat.

The crash caused the airbag to inflate and knock The Punisher back into their seat disorientating him. It took him about a minute to regain his vision and for his ears to stop ringing. For a moment he forgot what was happening, but then it all came back to him. He remembered Overdrive on the hood, but he was no longer there. Then he remembered a car crashing into him, but it too was no longer there either. He still hadn’t figured out what had happened, but he knew that he had to get out of the car. So he took off his seat belt, grabbed his submachine gun and stumbled out of the door.

As he stood there regaining his balance he heard the loud rumbling of a supercharged engine. Turning to the left he saw a large black truck with tall exhaust stacks, a blower, and a mean looking cow catcher, but most unsettling of all was that there was no driver inside. As the truck reeved its engine The Punisher aimed his gun at it and fired. That only made it mad as it charged towards him burning rubber behind it. The gun had little to no effect on the motorized beast, so The Punisher had to resort to running. Moving his legs as fast as they could carry him, he looked around for anything at could stop or slow down the truck, but there was nothing insight. It appeared to be able to tear through a brick wall.

Seeing a large fountain nearby it looked hopeless, but the water could slow the truck down or cause it to spin out. So with no other option The Punisher ran and jumped into it. The truck followed and plowed right through it. Smashing the stone sides and spilling out the water. He dodged to the right just barely avoiding being hit. After being splashed by massive wave of water he looked up to see the truck to break through the other side of the fountain only to spin around and face The Punisher once again. Aiming his gun again he thought they could try shooting out the tires, but that seemed desperate as the truck was moving too fast towards him.

“Get down!” they heard a yell from behind him and obeyed. Ducking down and turning he saw Ghost Rider throwing out his flaming chain out at the truck. The end of the chain attached to the cow catcher and he used it as a grapple to jump up onto the hood. The Punisher was running for his life as the truck chased after him with Ghost Rider on its hood. Grabbing onto blower peeking out from the center of the hood, Ghost Rider used all his strength to rip it off and break the engine. The truck made a horrible noise as it stalled out and gave up inches away from hitting The Punisher.

Gasping for air The Punisher stopped running and said, “Thank you, you came through in a pinch.”

“Don’t relax yet. We’ve got more problems,” He point ahead of them at three more supercharged vehicles deadlier looking than the truck.

“Shit, how do we stop them?” asked The Punisher.

“Let me worry about them. Go after Overdrive. I saw him run into Central Park,” He leaped off the truck and drew out his chain ready to fight the cars.

The Punisher took off running towards the park with his submachine gun in hand and a shit ton of anger in his heart. Once he was far enough away Ghost Rider turned his attention to the cars. With his chain and body igniting in hellfire he charged head first at the three monstrous cars. All three of them revved their engines and charged towards him.

“Come and get it!” Ghost Rider yelled out. “I am your lord Satan of the road! And you are nothing, but pathetic little toys!”

As he ran fearlessly towards them, he left burning hot foot prints behind him. Ahead of him a Jeep drove towards him with two compact cars on either side. Each one had large engines bursting out of their hoods and large thick tires. They sped towards him leaving big plumes of exhaust and smoke. As he ran closer he fell backwards to skid across the ground with his legs out in front of him to slide under the Jeep. As it passed over him, he punched at the gas tank with a fist full of hellfire. The car exploded and became airborne as it flipped nose first, falling back down onto the street. Ghost Rider walked out of the burst of fire unharmed.

Turning around he saw the other two cars spinning around in the distance to face him. Both cars faced him at ten o’clock and three o’clock ready to crash into him at the same time. This time instead of running towards them he stood his ground waiting for the cars to come at him. Whipping his chain around him, he created a ring of fire around him. As one car came at him about to crash into him he jumped off to the side and threw his chain back at its driver’s side front wheel. Landing, he twisted around and pulled the chain back ripping the wheel off the car. The other car came driving at him. He spun around whipping the chain low close to the ground hitting the other cars tires and tearing their tires apart. Crippling the cars, he used his chain to destroy each one of the car’s tires leaving them paralyzed in the streets with bare metal rims. Unable move, the cars revved their engines sounding like caged animals.

“Not so scary now, you gas sucking shit mobiles!” He yelled out in triumph.

His celebrating was premature as from behind he heard the roar of more cars and turned around to see five more remote controlled supercharged machines.

“Oh shit, well I guess its times for some more monster truck action,” he said.

* * *

The Punisher ran through the park not knowing where Overdrive went or where to find him. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked around searching for him and saw no trace of him. At these early hours of the morning not many people where in the park, but they were all staring at him. Maybe he look crazy for running around with a submachine or something else, but he paid the people no mind as he continued to search for his nemesis.

Then suddenly he heard the rumble of a car behind him, but before he could turn around it was too late as a car hit his legs causing him to tumble backwards onto the hood of the car. The hood of the car carried him as it drove through the park back towards the Plaza Hotel. The Punisher’s legs ached, but he pushed the pain out of his mind as he turned over to be face to face with Overdrive in the driver’s seat. Knowing his submachine wouldn’t affect him the stuck into the waist band of his pants and held onto the edge of the hood of the car.

Pulling his knife back out Overdrive thrust the blade at The Punisher. He was swift to dodge the strikes, but had to let go of the hood and grab back on as Overdrive attempted to swipe at his fingers. It was not long until Overdrive had to stop attempting to stab with the knife, because he had trouble steering the car with one hand and had to return both hands to the wheel. The Punisher looked at the passenger seat and saw sitting on it was a controller with a blinking red light on it. He figured out that the supercharged cars were controlled by an artificial intelligence, but this controller must have activated them. Before Overdrive could react, The Punisher rolled into the car and reached for the controller.

“No, don’t!” said Overdrive he slammed on the brakes stopping the car in front of the Plaza hotel. The Punisher kicked him in the head and shifted the car into park. Grabbing the controller, he crushed it in his hands causing all the supercharge cars that Ghost Rider was fighting to suddenly stop and give up. Rolling back over he was faced with a knife inches away from his eyes.

“You’re a dead man!” exclaimed Overdrive.

Knowing at any moment he could stab him The Punisher slowly covertly reached on hand behind his back to grab his submachine gun. Staring at the blade he was ready to pull out his gun as soon as he saw the sharp edge come closer. He knew that the leather suit was bullet proof, but the bullets would still cause him to drop the knife in pain if he shot his hand.

Suddenly saving his life yet again the Ghost Rider’s chain flew out and wrapped itself around Overdrive’s arm. With a yank Overdrive was pulled out of the car and onto the streets. Ghost Rider quickly wrapped his chain all around Overdrive restraining him.

The Punisher got out of the car, walked around him, and pulled off his helmet exposing his face.

“End of the line, Overdrive. We have you now,” said Robbie as he returned to his human form.

“Let me go! You sons of bitches! I’ll kill you!” Screamed Overdrive.

“So, what do we do with him? Hand him over to cops?”

“We kill him,” answered The Punisher.

He fired his gun at the head of Overdrive, killing him.

“What the hell, man?!” shocked and enraged Robbie jumped back. “That wasn’t necessary!”

“Punishment is necessary,” replied The Punisher.

“You can’t keep killing people. It’s not right. There’s supposed to be due process.”

“Everyone has their own way to deliver justice. Some are just faster than others,” The Punisher walked away towards his dented up Fiat.

“You know one of these days someone is going stop you from killing and take out their own form of justice out on you. What are you going to do then?”

Stopping in their tracks The Punisher thought for a bit then turned to Robbie and said, “I will say no.”

Not far down the street Maylene and Bryn appeared walking up from the subway. They looked around in awe at the wrecked cars and damage from the battle.

“Wow, this shit looks brutal,” said Maylene.

“Thanks for taking out the killer,” said Bryn as they approached The Punisher. “I mean that you didn’t have to kill him, but I’m glad that I no longer have to risk my life every night when I drive.”

“It’s what I do,” said The Punisher. “Thanks for the help. I couldn’t do it without you. Let me know if you ever need help again.”

“You’re welcome, and hey, let me know if you ever need a ride or help with other things.”

“I’ll see you around, good bye,” said The Punisher before he got into his car and drove away.

After watching him leave Maylene turned to Robbie and said, “So you’re the lord Satan of the road?”

“What you heard that?” replied Robbie feeling shocked and embarrassed.

“I sure did, you were pretty loud,” Maylene held back her laugher.

“So where is Microchip? I was hoping he could help me clean up these remote controlled cars.”

“Eh, who gives a fuck?”

* * *

Driving through the city as the sun rose, The Punisher heard his cellphone beep on his dashboard. Looking down at it he saw that he had never turned off their SwingAround app and a ride alert had appeared. With nothing else better to do he thought why not pick them up.

Once at the pick-up location near the west side of Central Park The Punisher unlocked the doors and let in a young teenage girl with facial scars carrying a small badger like animal in her hands.

“Are you Gabby?” The Punisher asked.

“Yeah, thanks for picking me up. There’s not many drivers out tonight. I had to wait hours for a ride.” Gabby said as she closed the door and put on her seat belt. She set the little furry animal down on the seat next to her.

“I don’t let animals in my car. Unless they are service animals and I pretty sure they don’t have service badgers.”

“He’s a wolverine and his name is James and he’s my best friend.”

“Do you parent’s know that you play with wild animals?” The Punisher took the car out of park and pulled out onto the road.

“I was raised by wolverines,” replied Gabby. “Now get going, I’ve got places to go, big man.”

For a few seconds The Punisher didn’t reply, but then said, “Don’t call me ‘big man’.”

“Okay, what should I call you?”

“I don’t know yet, but use they/them pronouns.”

“Cool, why do you have a skull painted on the hood of you car?”

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Punisher War Journal
(Temporary)
Entry 1
What appears to be Mid spring time 1970
What appears to be Camp Wilson in the Quang Nam Province, Vietnam

Nothing is right everything is wrong. I’m back in Vietnam, but I haven't been back here since 1971. It's been forty-seven years since I was shipped back home. Yet I find myself in Camp Wilson where I once served, but nothing is exactly as I remember. Something is wrong, but I can’t tell what. Everything looks the way it did before, but slightly off. It’s like entering a room after someone else was there and you can still sense their presence.
First thing I remember was waking up in my bunk at oh 0950 am. Normally I would awake at 0600 am to the sound of a bugle with the rest of the platoon. However they appear to have let me sleep in and have left me alone in the barracks while they were out and about in the surrounding camp.
No this can’t be real. I'm supposed to be in Brooklyn New York, or at least I was last night. I live in a warehouse near the shipping docks. I went to sleep on a cot in my windowless safe room, with nothing but my alarm clock and electrified door knob. Now I'm awake in Vietnam.
This can’t be a dream. Looking at my hands I see my cracked rough skin. As I close them into fists I feel my fingers touching my palms. Everything is real and tangible. I can feel pain and all of my senses work as they normally would. I’m awake.
I also look the same as I do now. I haven’t deaged to when I was a soldier. I’m my same old weathered self. However I’m wearing my uniform camouflage pants, an undershirt, and my dog tags that I had back then.
Nothing makes sense. That is why I'm writing in this temporary war journal. I need to keep my thoughts straight. Waking up here is the last place that I wanted to be. Memories immediately started flooding back to me. Bad memories, memories that I've worked hard to forget. Memories of combat, murder, and injustice. I recall all of the fellow soldiers and allies that I fought along side and watched shot to death. I recall all of the North Vietnamese soldiers that I had to murder. All of the blood and the corpses. Before instinctively reaching for my gun, I instead reached for this notebook and began writing down everything that I could think of. I needed to keep my thoughts straight. I couldn’t let my mind get lost in this place. I needed to keep track of all of the clues that I could find and put them together to find my answers.
How did I get here? Is this really Vietnam? Is it still 2018? Why does everything looks as it did back in 1970? Is this at all real? Who brought me here? Why am i here? There were a million questions, but I decided to keep it simple and record events as they happened and take note of my surroundings.
The Barracks appeared to be in order. All of the beds were made and all of the soldiers had their clothes and personal belongings put away in their trunks. However many of the soldier’s liked to decorate the walls around their bunks with pictures of their family and naked women. My part of the wall only had two pictures on it. One was of me with my wife Maria and my daughter Lisa. The other photo was of my son Frank Jr. in Maria’s arms. At this point I still hadn’t seen him in person. He was conceived before I was shipped off to here. I missed out on the the first three years of his life. I never felt his tiny hand grab my finger, heard his first words, saw him take his first steps. When I came back from the war I made a promise that I would make up for lost time and spend as much time with him as possible and devote my life to insure that he would always smile and never have to suffer through trepidation like I did. Unfortunately after less than a year stateside I witnessed him shot to death in Central Park at age four. I never saw him go off to his first day of school, never saw him make any friends, graduate school, get a job, or start a family of his own. His life was ended before it even began. Why did they have to kill him? Because he just happened to witness a mob hit. How could men do that to a child? Those weren’t men. They were demons made pure evil disguised as humans.
Get a grip of yourself Punisher. There is nothing I can do now. He’s dead, I can’t bring him back, I can’t bring anyone back. I needed to focus on what was happening right then and there. They were just photos, I didn’t even know if they were real, I didn’t know if anything was real.
To take my mind off my son I moved my eyes up to the part of the wall that my bunkmate “Iceman” Phillips had decorated. He didn't have any family back home, nor did he have a girlfriend even though he would always tell me otherwise. He instead decorated his portion of the wall with playboy centerfolds. I can't remember what the models looked like back then, but I could tell that these were not the same centerfolds that he had pinned up before. These magazine pages were crisp and clean, not a single tear or crease. Looking around at the other photos and posters on the walls I noticed that they were all in the same condition. They appeared to be printed yesterday, not as if they had been folded up in soldier's back pockets, torn off walls during inspections, or been exposed to hot humid jungle weather.
“Hey, are you checking out my girls?” I nearly jumped as I heard Ice talking behind me. I didn’t hear him come in here or his steps. I thought that I was alone in the barracks, but sure enough, as I turned around it was him standing at the end of the bunk bed like a hallucination made real. It was unsettling to see him again. We had met a few times after the war, but he was different then. Not like he is here and now, he still had sense and humor and optimism. When I later met him it was clear that he had never left the war. He had become a bounty hunter looking for any job that could bring back to the excitement of being at war. Right now, I mean here back in Vietnam he had a full beard and his hair was shaggy and grown out as much as possible before he would be forced to get a haircut. From here I could smell marijuana on him, later he would trade in that nasty habit for alcoholism.
“You wanna take her back to the bathroom? There’s a new bottle of Jergens in there,” he laughed. I cringed at his lewd suggestion.
“Did you get a new magazine?” I asked gesturing towards the centerfolds.
“Yeah, I got the pages of the old one all sticky.” He grabbed my arm and led me towards the door. “Come on now we’ve been waiting for you all morning.”
As he led me outside I could hear my fellow soldiers making noise. Some were exercising, either doing push up or running laps around the camp. Some were cleaning and maintaining their guns. However most were together in one large group smoking weed and socializing. They were fully suited up with all of their equipment ready to go out into the jungle. This brought back even more memories, but good ones instead. Exercising and running drills. Playing poker, receiving care packages from home, and listening to rock music. Then staying up late and sharing stories of back home. These were all memories that I had forgotten. However I knew that was all gone now. I’m no longer that same person and I’m unable to relive those memories.
Looking around the base I could see the signs that this place was fake. The paint on the barracks and the other buildings were fresh and not peeling. Also the windows were clean and not covered in dust. Off in the distance I saw the helicopter looking pristine and ready to fly, most of the time it had been in pieces in need of repair. The guard towers were only a few feet away from the vibrant lush jungle. After a month of coming here before, that jungle around the base was reduced to dead plants killed by gunfire and pollution.
As I walked closer to the crowd of soldiers I could hear them talking the same nonsense as usual.
“Later tonight we should go into town, and find one of them whores to love us long time,” said Chad.
“Nah, I don’t like those charlie bitches. They're too skinny for me. I need one with some fat for me to grab onto,” replied Travis. “You know what I’m talking about right Frank?”
I was hoping that he wouldn't notice me, unfortunately he did and I had to engage with their bull session.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied, I knew exactly what he was alluding to, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“Oh come on, I know you like them girls with them childbearing hips. I’ve seen those photos of your wife,” said that sick bastard with a smirk. I had to tense up my muscles to hold myself back from punching him.
“Shut up, about her! You scumbag!” I snapped back. Back then I would have ignore the comment and laugh along with him. It was a defense mechanism to adapt and seem like one of them. I would avoid doing anything that would counter their behavior. I didn't want to face more insults or for the other men to think less of me. I just wanted to be left alone. Now I realize that kind of act was pointless.
“Shit man, I’m just kidding. Take that rod out of your ass,” taunted Travis
“Not funny, I'm not going to put up with your shit again!” I didn’t care about keeping up appearances anymore. I was prepared to fight him right then and there.
I knew that he wasn’t joking he really was a sicko. When I was here before, one night I learning that Travis had been visiting the nearby town for several weeks and propositioning the local sex workers, but he didn’t pay them and left them in worse condition then he had found them. They were just poor women trying to make some cash and he treated them like objects for him to abuse. Later that night during his watchtower duty I decided to teach him a lesson and tied a noose around his neck. When I hung him from the tower, his neck didn’t break, so I watched as he squirmed and choked for three minutes before I cut the rope and let him fall to the ground. I didn’t have the heart in me to kill him that night, but I do now.
“Shut up guys, Sergeant Tea Party is coming back,” Ice alerted us.
Travis and the rest of the soldiers all quieted, they went from being hulagins to trained dogs as they threw their joints under their boots, and lined up standing side by side with their eyes forward.
“Attention!” called Sergeant First Class Morrell as he walked up. There have been many sergeants that I've served under, however Morrell was the one that I’ve admired the most. He was rock, hard to crack and immovable. He never let his emotions appeared waivered and always remained calm. The other soldiers called him Sergeant Tea Party, because every few month’s his daughter would send him a handmade teddy bear in a care package. He proudly displayed them on the desk of his office. They were made with care and looked nicer than the ones you can buy in a store. The other soldiers would often tease him. Regardless, he never showed emotion. He didn’t even comment on it, and would let the soldiers call him Sergeant Tea Party. However one time Chad thought it would be funny to used one of the bears for target practice. When Morrell saw this he took Chad out back behind the latrine where the septic tank was backing up and made him do push ups in raw sewage for five hours.
“We’ve been waiting for you, private Castiglione. Suit up, we’re going to be heading out in a half hour to clear out a North West section of the jungle.” He ordered me.
“Sir, I can’t today. I’ve a splitting headache and can’t see straight. Can I have permission to go to the infirmary and see if Nurse Rockwell could help me?” I needed to stay here and learn what I could about this place. I wouldn’t get any answers in the jungle.
“We could really use your help, but you’ll be of no use to us if you ain’t 100%,” he let me go. “Go ahead, stay here and visit the infirmity and while you’re their check on the soldiers in the sick bay for me.”
Back in the day I would have jumped at the opportunity for a little action. Of course at first I had some apprehensions against killing, but after a year I saw the vietnamese soldiers as nothing more than moving targets. I felt no remorse for killing them. The way I saw it, it didn’t matter which side you were fighting on, if you signed up to fight in a war then you are ready to die. At the time I wasn’t thinking about who was innocent and who was evil. I was misled into thinking that all communists were evil. My president was telling me that I was doing right by my country in fighting this war and was protecting the freedom of my family. However now I see how propaganda had been used to manipulate me. Regardless I don’t regret the time I spent in the war. It helped make me the person that I am now and gave me plenty of practice for my war on crime.
Entering the the Infirmary I saw Nurse Nancy Rockwell sitting at her desk reading a medical book. She was older than most of the soldiers on this base and wise with age or at least that’s what she claimed. Her amber hair was up in a bun and she wore horned rimmed bifocals. She was one of the few people on this base that I cared about, and a true friend.
I walked over and sat down in the small chair across from her desk. “Hello Nancy, I don’t mean to disturb you, but I need your help.”
“Oh hello Frank, how are you doing today?” She set her book down and smiled at me.
“Have you noticed any of the other soldiers not quite being themselves lately?” I knew how awkward sounding the question was, but I didn’t know how else to ask it.
“I don’t know what you mean. Private Mencia had a bit of heat stroke yesterday, but nothing else.”
“No, I don’t mean medically. Has anyone seemed a bit out of character?”
“No not at all, everything has been the same for the last few weeks,” she looked directly in my eyes and smiled. She seemed so natural that it bothered me.
“I’m sorry nevermind. It’s just that I’m feeling disoriented and I’m in need of a clear state of mind.”
“Would you like some aspirin?”
“No thank you, how about a cup of coffee and a conversation.”
“Sounds like the best medicine that any doctor could prescribe.” Her cheeks became red with a warm glow. She stood up from her desk and walked over to the coffee machine on the table to the right of her.
“Black as always?” She poured the coffee into a Styrofoam cup.
“Yes, thank you.”
She poured herself a cup too before returning to her desk and gave me my cup.
“I hope you don’t mind, I put a sugar cube in yours. You deserve a little bit of sweetness,” She blew into her cup before sipping it.
“Thanks,” I had forgotten how much she thought about other people rather than herself. It created a knot in my stomach to talk to her. It was a painful reminder that I had never tried to reunite with her after the war had ended.
“Have you thought about what you are going to do after the war?” I asked.
She shrugged and answered, “I don’t know, probably continue being a nurse. Perhaps get a position at an ER in a low income neighborhood in a big city. I could do some good help there. What about you?”
“I don’t know, I just want to see my family again. I feel like I’m missing out on so much.”
“Oh really, like what?” something sounded a bit condescending in her voice, but I couldn’t figure out why.
“Well Lisa just started kindergarten. I could be teaching her how to read and write.”
“Hm, enjoy it while it lasts. I just got a letter from my daughter yesterday saying that she’s getting married.”
“Congratulations.”
“Don’t congratulate me, this is stupid. She’s nineteen years old and she’s going to throw her life away by marrying some ‘musician’ with no ambition.” Like I said, she never thought about herself, only other people. That was her greatest flaw.
“Not all musicians are failures. He could be the next Johnny Cash.”
“Yeah, or the next Charles Manson.” she rolled her eyes.
“I doubt that she’s going to marry some lowlife. As long as you raised her right, she’ll make the right choices.”
“Like hell, in this day and age we don’t raise our kids anymore. The media does. They don’t listen to their parents anymore. They only care about what celebrities are saying and doing. You’ve got David Bowie wearing make up and dressing like a fairy and Janis Joplin being a slut in San Francisco. There are no good role models today.” As she talked she waved her hands around then slapped one down on the desk rattling our coffee cups.

What had happened to her? I remembered her being so pleasant to talk to before. Was it me? Would I have agreed with her before? We could have had the same views. Although I think I liked the song “Piece of my Heart”. It’s just so hard to remember what I was thinking back then. I know I was a completely different person back then, but how much so? There must be something that we could still agree on.
“What about Captain America? When I was a kid he was a good role model for me. I thought that I could be the fearless soldier under the mask that he was. Now he’s back from the Arctic alive again, fighting evil and standing up for the innocent.”
“Now that’s a real hero there. He remembers when men were men and women were women. Not like today with all of this free love and flag burning.”
“I don't see how those two things are related.”
“Of course they are related. Hippie music and bra burning will only lead to unpatriotic behavior. There’s already queers in New York attacking cops and starting riots. They want to turn America into a communist nation.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions. Equal rights between genders and homosexual people are not the same thing as socialism. Just because someone’s way of life is different from yours doesn’t mean that they are destroying your way of life.”
“You know Frank, you were asking me if anyone was acting out of character,” she narrowed her eyes at me and raised one eyebrow. “I think it’s you. You’re different. What’s gotten into you?”

“Help! Help!” we could hear someone screaming from outside.
Nancy and I quickly forgot about our conversation and ran outside. We were expecting the worst. A surprise attack by the north Vietnamese or just some random citizens wandering in here, that we wouldn't know if we could trust. Instead of both of those possibilities, what was actually happening was much worse. At the gate were three of my platoon that had left earlier. Sergeant Tea Party, Travis, and Chad where the only ones returning. They looked exhausted, tattered, and scared shitless. In each of their hands they were dragging the dead bodies of our fellow soldiers. One of which was Ice, he was lifeless and limp like a rag doll. His uniform was ripped apart and his torso sliced open with his guts hanging out.
This was wrong, all wrong. This had never happened when I was here before. This was completely insane. I couldn’t understand why this was happening.
“Help! Help!” Travis continued to yell from the gate. Soldiers ran out from all parts of the base towards the gate. Racing to get it open. I stayed back with Nurse Nancy.
“They look injured we must help them!” Nancy shook with fear, but started to run towards them. I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“Wait, something's not right.” I warned her.
As the soldiers opened the gate, Darren ran down from his guard tower.
“What had happened?” He asked.
“We were ambushed. We thought we were in a secured part of the jungle, but shots fired upon us from all sides. We were lucky to make it out alive,” replied Sergeant Tea Party. His face was flushed and his eyes blank. He was in shock.
“Let me go, they need help!” Nancy jerked her arm away and ran towards them.
I looked at Sargeant Tea Party and we locked eyes. He said something, but I couldn’t hear him over a loud whistle, but by reading his lips I could make out that he was saying “I’m sorry.”
With a bang the dead bodies they were dragging exploded. Arm, legs, and other severed body parts went flying. Many of the soldiers were caught in the fireball. Like a tidal wave of hot air the force of the blast knocked Nancy off her feet causing her to fall to the ground. I ran to her aid, but then I stopped as I heard shots being fired. Nancy lifted her head looking around in confusion.
“Stay down!” I yelled. Then quickly I ran, and ducked behind a wooden crate nearby.
Peeking my head up to look at the front gate I saw the bodies of Sergeant Tea Party, Travis, and the others lying in flames. From the jungle machine guns fired in all directions. The Vietnamese soldiers used my comrades to follow them here to slaughter us all. Several soldiers ran out of the armory with guns in their hands. Blood burst out of their chests as bullets struck them. Then I heard a loud whistle again as a mortar fell from the sky and landed on the armory blowing it up. Instinctively I lifted my arms and closed my eyes to shield myself from the blast. As I opened them I found myself surrounded by a cloud of dust. Looking in the direction of Nancy, I could no longer see her. It was unsafe to go after her. I needed a gun to defend myself. It was unsafe to take one from one the fallen soldiers as the vietnamese would likely fire upon me if I tried. Looking around I saw the helicopter several yards away, but there was nothing to provide coverage between me and it. If I ran fast enough I could make it. I could start it up, grab a M-60 machine gun that was mounted inside, use it for protection as I found Nancy, bring her back to the helicopter, and escape in it. The plan was risky, but I didn’t have time to consider other options. So I took off running. Gun fire followed tearing up the ground behind me. My heart raced and my head pounded as I breathed heavily. As I came closer to the helicopter I heard a mortar whistle through the air. I stumbled as I umbruntly tried to stop myself and fell to the ground as the helicopter exploded. Shattered pieces of hot metal flew past me and the blast disoriented me.
I lied on the ground for a few seconds before I could lift me head again. My skull felt heavy and a loud ringing in my head made it difficult for me to focus. The nearby burning remains of the helicopter skorched my skin. I wasn’t on fire, but I would be cooked if I had continued lying there.
As I quickly raised myself, I tipped over the M-60 that had been thrown from the helicopter as it exploded. I picked it up and found it to be intact and loaded with a 1000 round drum magazine. Lucky me, this was my favorite gun. It felt good to hold it in my arms again.
It took me a minute to realize it, as the ringing sustained from my ears, but it was silent. I hadn’t heard gun fire or explosions for the last couple minutes. Looking back to the jungle I saw the vietnamese emerging from it, walking cautiously with their guns in hand. There is no point in playing safe and hiding. With a squeeze of the trigger I unloaded a hundred bullets at them cutting them in half like a buzzsaw. I felt the painful sting the gun stock as it punched me in the shoulder over and over with a hundred pounds of force. It felt good.
Several bullets flew by my head from the left just missing me by inches. Turning I saw several more Vietnamese soldiers shooting at me from behind the fence. Within a few seconds of holding the trigger, they were dead.
Looking around the base I saw the bodies of dead soldiers all around. Many of the buildings and vehicles were smoldering in flames. The only living person that I could see was Nurse Nancy in the middle of it all. She was lucky to still be alive. However not far away many Vietnamese soldiers were coming in through the gate. Their insides became their outsides as I fired at them. As they fell the dust settled and nearby I could see Sergeant Tea Party rise up to a crouched position. Covered in blood and with an uniform in tatters he was rather worn for the wear.
“Frank, over here!” he yelled out to me and waved his arms.
Running towards him I passed Nancy and told her to stay where she was. As I reached Sergeant Tea Party I could see that he had been struck by shrattenal and burned all over his body, but he hadn’t caught a bullet or sustained an injury that would need extensive medical attention.
“Thank God that you’re still alive,” he said. “I knew that if anyone would survive this ambush it would be you.”
“We need to move fast and get you someplace safe so that Nancy could operate on you,” I said as grabbed him by his arm and lifted him up to be standing.
“Help, Travis he’s still alive too,” said Sergeant Tea Party.
Turning to the left I saw Travis lying on the ground also covered in shrattenal and burns. He raised himself to a sitting position and smiled at me.
“Hey frank, ol’ buddy,” He smiled before I shot him right between the eyes.
“That’s for talking about my wife,” I whispered under my breath.
“What the hell?! We could have saved him!” Tea Party yelled and slapped me.
I shrugged off the hit and said back to him, “It was a mercy killing. He was bleeding out his subclavian artery. He would have been dead if he moved from this spot.”
From the jungle we heard yelling and saw several vietnamese soldiers ermering out of it.
“Whatever, we need to get out of here!” yelled Tea Party as he struggled to start running.
With a BURRAAP! I shot at the vietnamese before running off. At this point the gun fighting was catching up to me and my body was feeling tired, but I pushed on. As we ran past Nancy she joined us in running towards the barracks. We would be safe there and attached to it was Tea Party’s office where he kept a small first aid kit.
“GWWWAAAA!!!” Tea Party yelled as he was stuck in the back by a bullet. He didn’t fall, only stumbled as Nancy caught him and held him as they continued running. I turned around and returned fire.
“Go on without me I’ll finish them off!” I yelled as I stood my ground. They needed to survive not me. I’m just a soldier, I signed up to die. I held back the trigger and watched the enemy soldiers fall to the ground as they emerged out of the jungle. At this point they where coming from all sides and surrounding the base. This wasn’t just a simple ambush this was a full on high scale attack. They wouldn’t retreat until the base was fully annihilated. However I would never give up. I continued firing and killing each one of them as soon as they appeared. The barrel of the M-60 was becoming hot as hell and glowing red. If I continued to fire, the bullets wound jam up and leave the gun useless. However I ran out of bullets before that could happen. I threw the dead chunk of metal to the ground and grabbed a AR-15 off of a nearby corpse. As I continued to kill I felt my heart pounding threatening to burst. Sweat poured from my body and my breathing was heavy like a gorilla.
Calm down, stay focus.
Bullets barely grazed my back. I was becoming sloppy. I wasn’t paying attention to my blind spots. Spinning around I killed more.
Control yourself, you can survive this.
Less and less enemies were appearing and I was running out of targets. I couldn’t let up. I needed to kill them all. Scanning the jungle I fired back not knowing if anyone was there. Running out of bullets I dropped the AR-15 and picked up another one.
Stop, settle down Punisher. Don’t get lost in there.
Pausing for moment, I put the gun back down and realized that the jungle was still and unmoving. The fighting was over for now.
I stood still and slowly counted to ten and calmed myself.
Running into Tea Party's office I found him lying on the ground with Nancy crouched down over him with the first aid kit. He strained his body as he gasped for air and lifted his head to see me. I could tell that he wanted to say something to me, but he didn’t have the strength to speak. Shaking he raised one arm and reached to his nearby desk which he had several of his daughters teddy bears sitting on. I picked up the one in the middle for him. It was made to resemble his daughter with a frilly dress and yellow sun hat. He took it into his hands clutched it close to his chest.
“I can’t help him with this first aid kit,” said Nancy with a sense of urgency in her voice. “We need to move him to the infirmary.”
Tea Party’s body felt limp as I lifted him up on to my shoulders.
“No, leave me,” He whispers into my ear, but I pretended not to hear him.
I poked my head out first before leaving the office, but the based remained still. There was no sign of the Vietnamese soldiers still alive outside. Once I was satisfied that it was safe I carried Tea Party to the infirmary with Nancy following behind me.
Once inside I gently placed him down on a operating table, but he was no longer conscious yet his left hand still grasped the teddy bear. Nancy hassly wheeled over a set of over head lights and a cart of medical instruments. I checked the gunshot wound in his back to find it still bleeding steadily. Then I placed two fingers below his chin, but I couldn’t find pulse. He couldn’t have been dead yet. He must have still had a weak pulse. I just couldn’t find it. I couldn’t let him die because of me. If I had gone with him and the rest of platoon like I had done before, this wouldn’t have happened. I could have saved them all.
“Stay back,” Nancy shoveled me out of the way. “I need to operate on him!”
With her bare hands she ripped his bloody uniform off his motionless body. I could tell that she was panicking, but she still held a scalpel with a steady hand as she cut his skin and started slicing down his chest along the sternum.
“Wait, what are you doing? The bullet struck him in his back!” I questioned her.
“I’m a nurse! I know what I’m doing!” She yelled back at me. Something was wrong, she wasn’t acting like herself anymore.
With both hands she dug her fingers into the slit in Tea Party’s chest and with a jerk of her arms she tore the skin off his rib cage. With a sweaty forehead and arms covered in blood she grabbed a bone saw off the cart.
“Stop! You’ve gone mad!” I grabbed her by her arms from behind and pulled her back. Like a maniac she struggled and wiggled in my arms trying to break free. “You’re not thinking right! You’ve killed him! Calm down!”
She didn’t listen to me and only fought harder. With the bone saw she slashed at my hip and left a nasty gash. I tighten my grasp around her and shook her, but she continued to slash at my hip each time cutting me deeper and deeper. Blood sprayed out and with every slash my leg stung. Finally I let her go to try to grab the bone saw away, but she was too fast and ran back to Tea Party on the table. She immediately started hacking at his rib cage with the saw and blood sprayed up. I ran up behind her, but before I could pull her back again a bloody lung hit me in the face blinding me. The fleshy bag caught me off guard and disoriented me. It took me a minute to wipe the blood from my eyes. As I was able to see again, I witnessed as Nancy shoved Tea Party’s teddy bear into his chest and sew him back up. I couldn’t let this insanity persist any longer.
I shoved Nancy down to the ground. I didn’t care if I hurt her, she was beyond saving now.
“Hey Frank, what is wrong,” Tea Party’s corpse came back to life. He lifted himself off the operating table. His chest with sewn up with crooked stitches, his eyes had rolled to the back of his head, and his flesh hung off his body as if blood was no longer pumping through it.
It was impossible for him to be alive again. I watched as my friend murdered my commanding officer and he came back to life.
“What is this? What did you do to him?” I looked down at Nancy lying sideways on the floor with her hair in a mess covering her face. She shook all over her body and with one hand she swiped her hair off her face to reveal her eyes glowing red. For a moment she tried to get up, but instead she fell backwards and rolled onto her back and laughed hysterically.
“She saved me and brought me back to life Frank,” Tea Party walked closer to me like a zombie.
I wasn’t afraid, but I started walking backwards towards the door. He continued to walk towards me, shuffling his legs. Unable to tell if he was a threat I made a fist. I didn’t want to fight him, but I needed to protect myself. With a right hook I punched him across the face. He twisted his head around, but didn’t stop walking towards me. Behind him Nancy continued to laugh uncontrollably. It felt unreal like a nightmare, but I was seeing it all with my own eyes.
As I continued to walk backwards and I went out the door. Exiting the infirmary I turned around to see the bodies of my platoon and Vietnam soldiers rise up from the ground and come to life. They were all dead with bloody bullet holes and burnt skin yet they were all moving again towards me. I needed someway to defend myself. I needed a gun.
There was no time to think. I just needed to go for the closest one.
Three soldiers come to life nearby. Their names were Todd, Buckley, and Robert. Buckley had an AR-15 hanging from a strap on his right arm. I grabbed it and tried to pull it off his arm, but he wouldn't give it up without a fight. He held onto gun starting a tug-a-war. By twisting his arm around and slamming my elbow into his head I was able to free the gun away from him. As soon as I did Todd jumped on me and clasped his hands around my neck, strangling me. I shove the barrel of the AR-15 right into his belly and squeezed off three shots. The bullets exploded out his back. Robert came up behind me and bit down on my shoulder. Turning around I jabbed an elbow into his jaw. I was about to shoot him up too, but that would have been a waste of bullets when I noticed that he had a grenade attached to the front of his uniform. So I pulled out the pin and kicked him in the chest. Quickly I ran back into the infirmity to be safe from the blast.
Peaking my head out I saw that there was now hundreds of undead American and Vietnamese soldiers all posing a threat to me.
An AR-15 is a good gun, but it wouldn't satisfy. If the armory wasn't blown up I could have gotten another M-60 and more ammo from there and maybe even a grenade launcher. I felt like I was out of options, but then I remembered that we kept a full arsenal with the jeeps in the back along with an anti-tank gun mounted on the back of one them. There wasn't any way to get to them from outside. It would be too far to run and there was too many of them. I was going to have to run through the back of the infirmity.
Going back in Sergeant Tea Party jumped out at me, attacking me again. I shoved him off of me and aimed the AR-15 at him, but I hesitated. I had to close my eyes and remind myself that he wasn't who he looked like anymore, before I could shoot him.
I couldn't waste anymore time as many of the undead soldiers started funneling into the building coming after me, so I took off running to the back. Passing by Nancy she was still lying on the ground laughing at me. A few of the soldiers that had been resting in the sick bay had crawled out of their beds and were reaching out with arms trying to trip me. I was able to quickly maneuver past them to the back of the infirmity where was a small window for me to shoot out and jump through.
Once out back I found my big gun. Only ten feet away from was the jeep with an anti-tank gun, with five cartridges, a few AR-15s, a couple of survival knives, and a M2A1 flamethrower in back. I could feel the drool on my chin.
Before I could steal my arsenal I had to check my wounds. The deep cuts on my hip where still bleeding. I didn’t have time to clean and stitch them up so I just tied a rag around it. The places where bullets had grazed my body had already stopped bleeding, but stung like hell. On my shoulder where Robert bit me was aching, but not bleeding, they were only teeth marks and I don’t think that these were the kind of zombies that infected people.
I opened up the valves on the M2A1 flamethrower and gave a little squeeze to the ignition safety catch and trigger and the firing catch and trigger. A burst of fire flew out twenty feet. Everything seems to be ship shape condition so I threw it on my back. I attach the two survival knives to either sides of my belt and throw the straps of two the AR-15s over my shoulders. With masking tape I wrapped two magazines together for each of the AR-15s for quick reload.
Inside the glove box I found the keys to the jeep, a tube of camouflage face paint, and a bandana. I used the face paint to draw a skull onto my tank top. Then with the bandana tied around my head the look was complete and I was ready to roll.
I drove around the front of the barracks and scream out at the top of my lungs, “Come and get it!”
That caught the attention of all of the undead soldiers and they started walking towards me. There was more than I had remembered, there must have been at least three hundred of them. They all looked different and unrecognizable now. With their arms hanging limp and mouths hanging open. Blood oozed out their wounds and some had entrails dangling from their midsections. They were zombies, which was good thing. It meant that I wouldn’t feel any grief for killing them.
After climbing in back, I loaded a cartridge into the anti tank gun, jerked into position, locking my sights on a large crowd of them, and with a thunderous bang I fired the cannon. The whole jeep shook and the recoil moved through my whole body shoving me back, but I held onto handles of the gun. It was painful, but it felt invigeratiating.
The crowd of zombies exploded with a dusty cloud. Their bodies flew through the air and landed on the ground with a thud.
As a horde of zombies converged on me I loaded up another cartridge and lined up the sights on another crowd of them. The second time I fired it, I was ready for the recoil and it wasn’t as painful, but I felt a rush of blood go to my head and my arms felt numb. Another dust cloud scattered a heep of body parts everywhere.
Once the third cartridge was loaded I looked around for another crowd to explode. Unfortunately the zombies were spaced out and no longer in moving crowds. The most I could kill together would be two or three. I needed to make that shot count so I fired the cannon at the legs of nearby watchtower. It slammed down on the ground crushing several zombies.
This didn’t slow them down. Some moved around the fallen tower while others climbed through it. It’s a shame that they were now too close for me to fire off the final cartridge.
Jumping out of the jeep with my hands of the triggers of the AR-15s I dispensed bullets picking off zombies climbing through the tower and walking around the sides. Running quickly and holding down the triggers, I cleared a path to move to the front of the tower where there was plenty of space for me to use the flamethrower.
Letting go of the AR-15s I let them hang from their straps and pulled the gun part of the flamethrower off my back and aimed it out in front of me. As I did when testing it I squeezed the ignition catch and trigger then the firing catch and trigger creativing a large fireball. I swept it from the right to left lighting up bodies as it goes. They didn’t scream, instead the bodies crackled like a wet log on a fire. The smell of burning diesel mixed with smell of burning flesh creating an odor that oddly calmed me. My muscles relaxed and the tension in my forehead went away. Slowly I moved through the camp setting fire to the many bodies, but after forty seconds all of the fuel was used up.
Undoing the buckles I let the tanks fall off my back. They are nothing, but dead weight. I took the magazines out of the AR-15s and flipped them around to attach the unused magazines that I had taped on. There weren’t much zombies left, probably only several dozens. Regardless I couldn’t waste bullets. Firing at their heads, I made each shot count. The bodies moved slowly and constantly towards me, making them easy targets. I was able to take them out one shot at a time, however it wasn’t long until I ran out of bullets and more zombies where still coming after me.
Stop, you’re letting the illusions control you
With all of the bullets spent, I dropped the AR-15s to the ground and resorted to my last line of defense, the survival knives. Taking them out of their sheaths and charging towards the nearest body. With one swipe I slashed him across the neck and took a few steps away. I had expected him to fall to his death, but instead he kept moving. Normally when you cut the carotid artery blood sprays out, but instead blood slowly seeped out of his neck wound, probably because his heart was no longer beating. Which meant that I had to get nasty with these last few zombies.
Charging back at the zombie I stabbed it through the eye making it lifeless again. Stabbing the brain worked effectively, however from previous experiences I have learned that the human skull is quite strong and can damage a knife if you striked it directly. In killing the next few zombies I was careful in stabbing them by sending the knives into eyes and ear holes. Unfortunately this meant that I had to get close to them, giving them the opportunity to bite and claw at me.
Look past the lies, it’s all fake
Five zombies mobbed me at once. I took one out with stab to the nose, but it got stuck in the cartilage preventing me from pulling it out. As I struggled to pull out the knife, one zombie grabbed my arm and bit it. Another came at me from the other side and grabbed at my neck. I hastily stab at the head of one biting me, but as I striked the head my wrist buckled from hitting the hard skull. I twisted around to stabbed the other zombie, but my arm was stopped by another zombie falling on that arm. Yet another zombie climbed on my back and pulled me down. I struggled to stay standing and I gritted my teeth. With a grunt I broke free and head butted the zombie on my arm. With the free knife arm I stabbed the strangling zombie in the side of his head. Savagely I spun around knocking down the zombie that was behind me and stabbed it several times in the head. I didn’t care about where I was striking the knife anymore. All that mattered was killing.
You need to control yourself, or else it will consume you
The last zombie came at me and I stabbed at it until it stopped moving. Once finished I looked at the knife and found it to be chipped and bent up making it useless.
Feeling exhausted and in pain I fell to the ground and rested. My arms and shoulders throbbed where I had been bitten. The rag around my hip was soaking wet with blood. The scratch marks stug and I was aching all over, but it was nothing that a little bit of relaxation wouldn’t heal. Breathing heavy I let my heart rate slow down and my tense muscles relax.
Don’t let your guard down, this isn’t real
Slowly they came back to life and crawled towards me. I was too weak and tired to fight them. They grabbed at me and their many arms held me down. They were no longer soldiers or zombies. This time they looked even more different. Their skin was gray and pulled tight across their muscles. Their eyes glowed red and little horns had grown on their heads. I tensing up my muscles as I struggled to break free, but they held me down and started to pull me into the ground. I found it hard to breath as dirt covered my face and body. It wasn’t long before everything became black as I was pulled deeper and deeper into the ground…

Frank…

Frank…

Frank…
I could hear a gentle voice call my name. The voice was sweet and familiar. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time.
I lurched awake in bed. Soft linen sheets fell off my body. Looking around I saw that I was in a bedroom. I was no longer in pain. I felt relaxed and refreshed. I must have been out for a long time.
“Are you okay? You were having a nightmare.”
Turning to the left I saw her, my wife, Maria.

To be continued

Chapter Text

While driving around Manhattan for the SwingAround app, Bryn always hated picking up rides in Times Square. It was always too crowded and hard to find a place to park and pick people up. Also there’s always too many people calling for rides from there, it’s hard to tell who’s the right person to pick up. That’s why it’s so important to Bryn to confirm who their ride is and where they are going or else they could pick up the wrong person and end up with a bad rating. After waiting for five minutes and having to turn away two people coming up to their car thinking that they were their driver, Bryn’s ride finally climbed into the back seat.

“You Fort Wenty?” Asked Bryn.

“Yeah, can you leave quick. I’m trying to keep a low profile,” said their ride. He was a young man in large blue raincoat. As he got in he took of his wet backpack off and placed it on his lap.

“You know you can use your real name. SwingAround isn’t going to share you information with anyone else.” Bryn checked their mirrors and pulled out into traffic.

“Yeah whatever, I’m not taking my chances after that security breach that you guys had last month,” he scoffed.

After several minutes of driving in uncomfortable silence Bryn spoke up. “So, do you want me to go through the drive-in when we get to the McDonalds?”

“No, stop out front. We need to pick up my friend,” replied Fort. “Also could you turn up the heater. I’m fucking freezing back here.”

Once parked in front of the McDonalds they waited for five minutes in an even more uncomfortable silence.

“Are you sure he wanted-” Bryn started.
“He’s gonna be here just wait.” Fort quickly interrupted.

Bryn kept the engine running as they waited another three minutes until another young man got into the back seat of the car. He was also wearing a large raincoat, but was more heavyset.

“Okay, so the Manhattan Mall next?” the two men ignored Bryn as they immediately started talking to each other.

“Damn it, Darren where were you? I had to wait with this creep for ten minutes.” Complained Fort.

“Whatever man, you got the shit?” he asked.

“Yeah, check it out. We’re going to make out like gangsters.” Fort unzipped the front pocket of his backpack and showed it to Darren.

“What the fuck is this shit?” Darren exclaimed then he looked Bryn and whispered to Fort. “This isn’t the usual shit we sell.”

“Silly Blood, man. It’s what’s driving all of the kids wild now days. I tried some last night and it was like that anime Paprika. Crazy as fuck.”

“Quite, we probably shouldn’t be talking about this in front of her.” Darren cocked his head towards Bryn. “It’s a she right?”

“Don’t worry, she doesn’t care as long as she wants to get paid she’ll mind her own fucking business.”

Bryn didn’t like being misgendered. It made their skin crawl. However they thought that maybe they should give the two men the benefit of doubt. Maybe the men didn’t realized that Bryn was agender. So they loudly cleared their throat and tapped their fingers on the “They/Them” pronouns sticker that they had on their dashboard.

The two men stopped talking and turned to Bryn, then looked at the sticker.

Fort whispered something to Darren. Bryn couldn’t understand what he was whispered, but Darren responded with a snicker.

“Hey, you know-” Bryn started to speak up, but was interrupted.

“What? You have something to say?” Fort scoffed.

Bryn cowardly quited. They didn’t want to start an argument, besides their destination wasn’t far away. They weren’t going to let the men to ruin their day. Yet the men continued to whisper and snicker to each other. Feeling agitated Bryn tightened their grip around their steering wheel and tensed their shoulders. Constantly glancing at the map on their phone they counted down the blocks until their destination and reminded themselves that they can give the men an one star rating so that they will never see them again.

After what felt like hours of being stuck in traffic, but in reality was five minutes they arrived at the JcPenney’s entrance for the Manhattan Mall.

“Thanks for the ride ma’am,” Fort held out a crisp five dollar bill to Bryn.

“You can just tip with the app,” They didn’t want to take the money. To them taking the bill was like a sign of accepting defeat. Also there was no way of know where the money come from. It could be covered in drugs or counterfeit. Either way they didn’t want to be caught using it.

“I don’t know how to use that thing. Besides people now days just don’t understand the courteously of giving a tip in cash,” Fort smiled like a devil. Bryn had no choice, but to submit and take the five dollars. Once the money had been exchanged the men left.

Bryn pulled away from the curb, but instead of joining traffic again they made a hard right turn to drive into a parking garage, causing other cars to slam on their brakes and honk their horns. Bryn was too mad to care. They just wanted to park the car and relax their frustrated mind.

After finding a spot to park, they gave Fort Wenty a one star rating and turned off the app. They couldn’t bear to give another ride today. After getting out of the car they opened the back door to see if the passengers had left anything behind. They found the backseat speckled with a white powder. Taking out their phone they tired taking a picture of the back seat so that they could report the men, but the powder wasn’t visible enough to be seen by the camera phone. Bryn instead decided to call the police, but once they opened the phone app their finger froze over the nine button. They didn’t want to speak to another stranger today. Also it would take the police thirty minutes to get to the parking garage. A few hours of questioning and examining the car. Several days to analyze the white powder if it was drugs and after that it’ll take them weeks maybe months until they track down Fort and Darren. All of that time would be a waste. Also Bryn didn’t know for sure that Fort was actually a drug dealer. He could have just been an asshole.

Bryn got back in their car and contemplated driving to a gas station to clean their car, but then noticed a Fiat drive by in the garage. It wasn’t the same color, but it reminded Bryn of the Fiat that The Punisher had driven a month ago when they assisted him in tracking down a serial killer. They remembered how they looked up to him for being so confident and not second guessing himself. For a moment they asked themself “What would The Punisher do?” of course the answer was kill those two guys, but Bryn knew that they needed to think more reasonable. They then realized that no one was going to help them and they needed to find and confront those men on their own and bring them to justice.

Charging out of the parking garage they ran across the street again making cars slam on their breaks and honk their horns. People on the sidewalk stood out of the way and stared as Bryn ran through the entrance to JcPenney’s. Once inside they slowed down to a calmer pace as they looked around for the men. They avoided the aisle ways moved through the clothing racks as they moved through the store.

They didn’t have a plan or a strategy for finding the men, but after moving through the store for five minutes they figured that they already left it to adjoining mall floor. The place was large and crowded, finding the men was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. Bryn realized that it was impossible to search each store individually and that it would be best to stay out and search the mall one floor at a time. Running past the stores they quickly peaked through the entrance of each one to see if the men were inside. ‘If I was a drug dealer where would I shop? Spencer’s? Hot Topic? Build-a-Bear Workshop?’ They thought to themself.

After searching the mall for about a half hour they spotted Fort and Darren outside a toy store across from them. There was a large crowd in between them, but Bryn made their way quickly through it, pushing and shoving people out of the way. However they stopped as they heard a familiar voice call them.

“Bryn! Bryn!,” A young blonde haired skinny girl ran up to Bryn. The sound of her voice made them grinned their teeth. “That is calling yourself now isn’t right?”

“Oh hey, Staci,” They didn’t want to stop and talk to her, but they also didn’t want to be rude and keep running.

Staci cornered Bryn and stood between them and the two men.

“Oh my God, it’s so funny running into you here. I haven’t spoken to you since your gender change, transformation, or whatever. I have to say that you are so brave for what you’re doing. However it must be easier for you as a Buddhist and not in one of those religions that hate trans.”

As Staci talked non stop Bryn stretched their neck out to look around her. From there they could see the men standing in front of the toy store looking at people passing by as if they were waiting.

“It’s too bad that you had to leave the soft ball team. You were so good, you swung a bat like a man. We could have called you Enby Ruth. Haha, get it. I hope it’s okay that I made that joke. Of course it is, you know me, I’m woke.”

Bryn stood up on their tiptoes to see the two dealers as they stopped a young boy and started talking to him, but then a few people moved in front of them obscuring Bryn’s line of vision.

“What happened with you and Divya? Did she break up with you because you’re agender? That is so shitty of her. I’m going to yell at her the next time I see her.”

“Shut up,” Bryn interrupted. “First off the word is transition, second being a Buddhist doesn’t make it easier, third my gender isn’t a joke, and fourth… mind your own business! And get out of my way!”

Staci was startled and shocked as Bryn pushed her out of the way and ran through the crowd. As they ran they snatched an umbrella from a woman and raised it over their head.

Once they reached the dealers they slammed the umbrella down onto Fort’s head. In pain he crouched down and held his head.

“Hey, what the fuck!” Darren swung a fist at Bryn, but they ducked and hit him across the knees with the umbrella. As he bent over, they swung the umbrella up sending the tip right into his nose.

Turning around they hit Fort in the stomach three times until he turned around to protect himself. However Bryn stopped when they noticed that he was no longer wearing the backpack.

“Stop it! Why are you beating us up?!” yelled Fort.

At this time a large group had gathered around them with their phones out watching them, but Bryn didn’t care as they yelled back at Fort, “Where are the drugs? What did you do with the backpack?”

“We gave it to the kid to sell to his friends,” Still crouched down Fort pointed at the boy running through the mall several stores away.

“Hey, kid stop!” Bryn yelled as they took off chasing after the boy.

“Freeze, stop running,” A security guard came up running up behind Bryn.

This only made them run faster as they caught up to the boy in front of a television store. They grabbed on the handle on the top of the backpack. Janking the boy and causing him to fall to the ground, Bryn pulled the backpack off him.

“Ouch, that hurt you jerk!” the boy cried while rubbing his head.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you, but—” Bryn stopped mid sentence as they looked up at the store front which had four TV in display window. The Punisher’s face as on all four of the TVs.

Bryn stood in shock as the security guard grabbed them and tried to pull them away, but they wouldn’t budge as they watched the TV screens.

“Frank Castle better known as The Punisher was found dead today in a warehouse in the shipping docks of Brooklyn New York.”

To be continued.

Chapter Text

Punisher’s War Journal
(temporary)
Entry 1
April 29, 1973
Queen’s New York

It’s happened again and I don’t know why. I have awoken in a different point in my life with no knowledge of how and why. This time it’s worse than before, I have awoken in the bed that I once shared with my wife Maria in our home in Queens New York back in 1973. She was lying right there looking the way I had remembered her.
“Frank are you okay?” she asked. Despite having just woken up she looked me with wide blue eyes as if I was a ghost. I looked back her the same way not knowing how to respond.
“Frank you were having a bad dream. Are you okay?”
“Maria…” I was unable to speak another word. I felt shocked holding my body still. Looking at her beautiful face I had to remind myself that she couldn’t be real, even though I wanted her to be. Just like before when I awoke in Vietnam, all of this had to be fake. Someone was toying with me. Any moment she would turn into a monster and attack me. I couldn’t let myself fall for any tricks. However part of me wanted to go with the dream and relive the life that I had with her, but I couldn’t after what I’ve seen and done. After the many men that I have killed, I am no longer the man that she had fell in love with.
“Frank, answer me. Is something wrong? Where did you go last night,” her face changed from concern to a scowl. She immediately begun putting me on trial. “Where you out drinking again? You better not be starting fights in bars again.”
“I wasn’t, I was…” I started, but I didn’t know how to finish that sentence. I couldn’t remember what else I could have been doing. Back when I came back from the war I had a hard time getting used to living a conventional life. I tried to repress certain emotions with alcohol, but I felt craving for adrenaline fueled moments so I made those moments happen.
“Come on, Frank. You can talk to me. You don’t need to release your frustrations by getting in fist fights with the local drunks. I’m here… I was here last night taking care of the kids, waiting for you, not knowing if you’ll come home.”
“Maria, I’m sorry, I…” I trailed off again. I forced my mind to remember that she wasn’t real. Despite looking the same, sounding the same, and smelling the same, she couldn’t be real. I couldn’t let her be real.
I couldn’t think straight, I needed to get away from her to get my thoughts straight. I slid over and placed my feet on the ground and stubbled to get out of bed. My mind was spinning. I reached out to the end table to stable myself, but as I did I touched a slick plastic pamphlet and my hand slid off. I had to spin around to maintain my balance.
“What are you... “ Maria stopped mid sentence as she looked down at the pamphlets that had fell from the end table.
“Frank, what are these?” She picked up and looked at the pamphlets.
“Is this where you were last night? Where you getting help?” She held out one of the of the pamphlets. Written across it was the words Healing the wounds of war: A veteran’s support group.I didn’t remember anything about this from before, but I decided to go with it.
“Yeah, some of my old platoon members invited me and I figured it was a better way to spend my time than dealing out black eyes at Vinnie’s.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she returned to expressing concern. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of fighting. It’s just when you’re out late I expect the worst.”
She climbed out of bed and hugged me. As I felt her warm soft body against mine it made me weak. The world around us fell away. There was only her and me. I was no longer the Punisher. I was just Frank Castiglione again. Just a normal father and husband, but none of that was true. Being in her arms again will not erase the hundreds of murders that I have commited and the blood that I’ve spilled. What would she do if she learned about what I have been doing for last forty-five years?
“I have to take a shower,” I pushed her off of me. “The kids are probably awake now, go take care of them.”
“Oh yes, you’re right,” she slipped on her robe. “We have that trip to the city today. Lisa and Frank must be excited.”
“Wait what?”
“Don’t you remember? You promised us that you’ll take us to Central Park for a picnic together. I spent all afternoon yesterday making sandwiches and lemonade.”
“Of course I remember, how could I forget.” I was frozen in shock and worked hard to maintain a facade of happiness.
“Don’t take too long. I’m making eggs and bacon for breakfast.” She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. The sweet caress of her soft lips sent chills through my body and I was floating in the air for a moment. I felt like I was caught in a blizzard and I had to force my stiff broken body to walk through it instead of falling back into the soft cool snow, because if I didn’t I would die.
Whoever put me here was toying with my mind. They wanted to torture me, not physically but emotionally and they were good at it. Every part of me wanted to give in and relive my life with my family and save them, but I had to remind myself that this wasn’t real and regardless I wasn’t worthy to return to this life. I have killed too many men and committed too many sins. I am cannot feel happiness or releaf anymore. There is no turning back from what I have done. I am the Punisher and I could never be Frank Castiglione again.
Maria left the bedroom and I walked to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror I could see the truth again. My body was battled and bruised. There were scars on my leg from deep cuts, bite marks on my shoulder, burns on my chest, and claw marks all over my body. There was evidence that the nightmare of Vietnam was real and that someone is controlling this world to manipulate me. However everything was healing and nothing was sore or aching. They looked like they happened weeks ago, but I recall being in Vietnam only a few hours ago. How long was I asleep.
I left the bathroom without taking a shower and went to the closest to dress myself. As I entered I found a gift wrapped box on the ground. Inside I found a pink heart covered diary that I bought as a present for my daughter’s birthday. Since her next birthday was never going to come. I decided to put it to good use to record my thoughts and keep track of everything as my new Punisher War Journal.
Also in the closest was my gun safe. Back then I only kept two colt .45 pistols and a Winchester rifle, it was nothing compared to arsenal that I would later collect. I knew that I would need the weapons for whatever may come later. They weren’t much, but they would give me a fighting chance against any threat that may emerge.
Spinning the combination lock around I could hear footsteps coming up behind me, but I didn’t care about them as I continued to unlock the safe.
“Frank, what are you doing?” I turned around and saw Maria standing at the entrance of the closest.
“I was just getting a gun.” I replied.
“What for? We’re just going to the park. This is New York not Vietnam.” she was completely ignorant of her future.
I ignored her comments and continued to spin the lock. Maria grabbed my hand and stopped me and said, “Your family needs you to be a parent not a soldier. I know it’ll take time for you to recover from the time you spent in Vietnam, but you need to leave that behind you and move forward. You’ve already started seeing a support group, you mustn't start moving back like this.”
I couldn’t bear to listen to her, so I grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her away from the locker.
“You don’t understand, I’m already gone and I can’t come back. I’m not the same person that you married. I can’t be a parent to the kids. I can’t live like this. I can’t do any of this anymore,” I felt angry and my voice was becoming loud. I felt like yelling at her, but I couldn’t bring myself to.
“Frank,I love you. Whatever you are going through, we can go through this together,” she pleaded with me. “I’m here for you. You just need to open up to me instead of pushing me away.”
“No, you don’t understand-”
“I don’t understand? No, it’s you who doesn’t understand. I already lost you for four years. I won’t lose you again. You’re coming down stairs and you’re going to eat your breakfast then you’re going to take you family to the park for a picnic and you’re going to forget all about guns and that war and you’re going to remember what it’s like to be a parent again and what’s it like to be normal again.”
“Okay, I'm sorry, no more guns,” I lied to her. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed and I'll join you and kids for breakfast.”
I hugged her again and after she left I returned to the safe.
I couldn’t argue with her. I tried to remind myself that she was fake. There was no point to me to try to change her mind. I thought that I should take the guns and kill her myself and leave, but I couldn’t do it. She looked and sounded just like my wife. She may just as well have been the same person, but I couldn’t tell. Regardless when we go to the park today she and our kids will die. I couldn't let them live. Letting them die today will be mercy, sparing them the pain and turmoil of learning about how I have betrayed them and become a serial murderer.
The next few hours were extremely difficult for me to get through. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs both of my kids ran up to me and fought for my attention. I didn’t acknowledge them. I refused to speak to them or look at them. No matter how much they yelled at me or jumped up in front of me. I continued to pretend that they weren’t there. My daughter Lisa showed me an art project she made with construction paper and hard macroni in preschool. My son Frank Jr. couldn't wait to go to the park and was already running around the house trying to fly his kite. It was painful to see them, I had to block them out and tried not to think of them. I forced myself to be a living corpse and automatically go through the motions. Eating breakfast, loading up the car, and driving to the city were all a haze. I was not conscious of my actions I let my body move on it’s own and didn’t think of anything.

* * *

Arriving at the park my mind had become completely numb. I felt like the world was on fire and I was walking through the thick smoke.
My kids tried to run ahead of me towards our picnic spot, but I kept the lead with a white knuckle grip on the picnic basket.
As we walked through the park we were welcomed by a red haired balloon salesman. He was rather overdressed to be selling balloons, but he looked comfortable in his full white tuxedo with a large red and yellow polka dot bow tie.
“What did the balloon say to the doctor?” joked the Salesman. “I'm feeling lightheaded!”
My son burst out in laughter as he ran to the man. I reached out my hand to stop him, but like a race horse he ran past me to the balloons.
“Hello, little boy, what's your name?” asked the Salesman.
“I'm Frank! Can I please have a balloon!” he replied with unbridled enthusiasm.
“Here you go,” he leaned over to tie the string from a red balloon to my son's wrist.
“Thanks, what do I owe you?” I approached the Salesman and reached for my wallet.
“No charge my good man,” he said. “Just answer this question for me. What music makes a balloon the most scared?”
“Pop music,” I answered.
“Wrong, taps!” he laughed uncontrollably as we walked away.
Despite having a very unsightly laugh there was something strangely familiar about him. I knew I had seen him before, but not here. Perhaps if I hadn’t been focusing my mind on being numb, I could have placed his face.
Regardless my family and I continued to walk on to the place of our demise. The area was a small grassy spot surrounded by trees and bushes. They were lush with green leaves that had just started to grow in the early spring sun. The air was crisp and not too chill. It was the perfect day for a picnic.
Maria unfolded a blanket and set it down on the grass and I began to unpack the picnic basket setting the food and toys down on top of the blanket.
“Daddy can we go play?” Asked Frank Jr.
“Yes, son,” I took a frisbee out of the basket and handed it to him. “Why don’t you and your sister toss this around.”
“Don’t go further than I can see you!” Maria yelled at them as they ran off.
As the kids began throwing the frisbee back and forth I watched them from the peripheral of my eyes knowing that Lisa would eventually throw it too hard sending it over the head of Frank Jr. into the bushes where they will run through, only to find two mobsters cutting up a snitch.
I paused unpacking the picnic basket and turned to my wife to talk to her for one last time.
“Maria, I need to tell you something,” My voice shook as I began to speak.
“There’s something I need to tell you too,” I knew what she was going to say next, I have replayed her words countless times in my head since I lost her. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. I needed to hear her say the words one last time.
“Frank, you know I love you right? And I will always be there for you. I know it must be tough for you, now more than ever. It must have always been difficult for you to understand yourself and trying to find the answers. With how your father treated you and how he forced you to work in the factory, to when you started to study to be a priest, but ultimately looking to the military for the answers, to only be given more questions and confusion. Now it’s only going to get worse, as you adapt to society and raise our kids. I know you have a lot of things going on in your head and I can’t… I can’t answer or solve all of it, but I will stay with you regardless. I knew this when I married you. I knew that you were going to need help and I was going to be the one to help you and I will always be the one. All that you need to do is open up and talk to me. Do you understand me Frank? Just talk to me, because I love you.”
“Maria, I…” I struggled to get the words out as tears began to form at my eyes. “Maria, I love you. I know I can talk to you, but the words aren’t easy…”
Then as I said it, Frank Jr. ran into the bushes. Followed by Lisa. They screamed together. Maria turned her eyes away from me to the bushes. A red balloon rose up from the tree line.
Continuing to scream Frank Jr. and Lisa came running back to us. I grabbed my wife and pulled her close. Holding her tight, I made sure to turn her head away so that she couldn’t see her kids. I closed my eyes tight and the gunshots began.

…

…

…

I kept my eyes closed as long as I could as everything became silent. The gunshots and screams ended. I continued to hold Maria in my arms as she became limp and as her blood made my clothes soaking wet. I held my eyes close and let myself get lost in the dark empty void. I felt at peace there in dark empty space and wanted to spend the rest of my time there. Regardless I knew that eventually I would have to open my eyes and see my dead family shot to pieces lying all around me. With them all dead I questioned what was going to happen next. Were they going to come to life and attack me? Like before with the soldiers in Vietnam. Was I going to have to continue to relive my life? Or was I going to finally going to join them in the afterlife?
Everything was silent and still for a while, but then I heard a rustling. At first I thought it was the wind, but I didn’t feel it on my skin. I heard it again and could tell it was the tree branches moving. I thought it could be the mobsters moving through the bushes, but I didn’t hear footsteps or any other noises. The noises became closer and more constant.

Open your eyes Punisher. Open them.

Forcing myself to open my eyes I saw what I knew what was there. My family was lying dead, unmoving, covered in blood, and riddled with bullets. Slowly I looked up to see the source of the noise and movement. I was expecting to see mobsters with guns pointed at me, but instead all I saw where trees. However they weren’t normal trees, they had become uprooted and were slowly walking on their own swinging their branches around. Instinctively I pulled the handgun out of my waistband and loaded the magazine into it. The trees continued to come closer to me as I aimed the gun at them, but I didn't pull the trigger. They didn't show any sign of fear of being shot and I didn't know if bullets would have any effect on the trees. With only seven bullets in the magazine I needed to conserve ammo.

Don’t fight it. It won’t work.

Reaching for the picnic basket I decided to try a different tactic. I thought that maybe I could test if these wooden masses felt pain by using knives or forks. As I moved the lid to open the basket a clown's head on a spring burst forth and startled me. Whoever had been toying with me must have had a laugh about that. I grabbed the jack-n-box basket and threw it at one of the trees, it broke apart into hundreds of pieces as it hit.
I figured at the moment my best option was to run away. Maybe if I could get far enough away I could take a break to make a plan and figure out what was going on, but as I stood up the blanket slid out from under me. It moved out as if on It's own and I fell backwards on my ass. I wasn't seeing humor these childish jokes and I was becoming angry with an itchy trigger finger.
Out from above the trees arose two red balloons. They floated towards me at a faster speed than the walking trees. As they came closer they became larger like rubbery orbs of doom. Not knowing what they would do if they reached me I shot at them. Like a normal balloon with a pop they burst apart and disappeared. One of the bullets flew into a tree after popping a balloon. As it hit the tree stumbled backwards and withered in pain. It was satisfying to know that I could hurt them, but with only five bullets left still needed a plan.

You can’t escape. You’re trapped and there’s no place to hide.

Running as fast as I could more and more trees came to life and stalked me. From their branches many more balloons came after me. I constantly changed direction and tried to find an area without trees so that I could catch my breath, but there were no pavement, buildings, or baseball diamonds. There weren’t even anymore people to be seen. It felt like the park went on forever. I couldn't even see the skyscraper buildings of Manhattan. I couldn't tell if I was in New York anymore or even Central Park.
After what felt like an hour of running through the park, I was out of breath and my legs ached. However I felt relief as I finally found something that could help me. Not far away was a construction site. There was two caterpillar tractors next to a large hole and a pile of dug up dirt. As I climbed into a tractor I felt a surge of exhilaration as I finally have something that I could use as instrument of death against the sentient trees. The controls looked fairly modern and were more advanced than they would have been for the seventies. However it didn’t take me long to learn which leavers to use to move the back hoe around and lift up the front loader.
Lifting up the front loader I was able to drive it into the trees breaking them into splinters. They made loud noises of cracking and breaking that sounded like they were screaming if trees could scream. Many of the trees had a long reach with their branches and grabbed at me as I drove into them, but the cage around the driver seat protected me. Still a few whipped me in my face causing my skin to sting with each hit until I drove over them and killed them. A giant balloon floated towards me and tried to knock me out of the driver seat. The red orb pressed on me and tried to shove me out, fortunately my seat belt kept me in place. I tried pushing it away, but it only floated a few feet away only to float back to push on me more. I looked around the cabin and didn’t find anything in the tractor to fight off the balloon, so I had to resort to using one the few bullets I had left in my gun. With a loud bang that left my ears ringing the balloon popped.
Returning to driving over the trees, they continued to fight back and the sharp part of the front loader scoop was becoming dull. Not all of the trees were breaking apart and I had to drive over them with the slow moving tractor.
Off in the distance I could see what could have been the end of the park. It looked like a large stone wall or a mountain. As I came closer I could see that it was a flat side of a cliff like I was inside of a quarry. It was at least a hundred feet tall and flat as concrete with no foot holes to be seen.
Still I continued to drive towards it at a snail like pace with the trees holding me back. The branches grew like vines. They whipped at me and wrapped around my arms. I flexed my arms and fought back breaking the branches. However some trees shoved their branches into the engine and around the wheels. Like a mechanical behemoth the tractor continued on. With an unwillingness to give up, the engine roared and black smoke produced from the exhaust. I was pushing it to it’s limit with not much more left to give.
More balloons floated towards me and tried to knock me out. I didn’t want to waste another bullet on them so I gritted my teeth and let them press on me as I continued towards edge of the park. However from the trees another threat emerged. Tiny squirrels leapt out of the branches into the tractor cabin. They bit at me with razor sharp teeth. Tearing skin off of my flesh. I swatted them away, but more and more came pouncing on me. They mainly attacked my hands trying to get me to give up the controls. They weren’t trying to kill me, but stopping me in defense of the trees. Like a game of whack-a-mole I stomped my boots and slammed my fists on the heads of the squirrels. I used my bloody torn apart hands to beat the critters to mush.
However it was useless as with a groan and putter the tractor gave up and came to a stop with in a dozen feet from the edge of the park. Jumping out of the driver seat I left the tractor taking off running. I moved fast to dodge the trees and their deadly branches. Once I was at the edge of the park I pulled out my gun and fired two shots at the gas tank of the tractor. It exploded in a large mushroom cloud of fire and smoke. Many of the trees, balloons, and squirrels disintegrated in the blast and the others quickly caught on fire. This gave me a moment to catch my breath and regroup.
Looking up at the stone wall I could hear sounds of distant people talking and yelling, cars driving by and horns honking. It was the sounds of New York. It was as if Central Park had sunken down far below Manhattan Island. How could this happened, was this the work of Mole Man, but I don’t recall what I could have done to pissed him off and that wouldn’t explain what I was being forced to relive my family’s murders.
Examining the stone wall I could not see anyway to climb up it, no cracks or gaps. However none of that would help with my bloody sore hands. Regardless I walked along the stone wall looking for a way out of this hole.
Cautiously I looked back at the park and watched the many trees that were untouched by the explosion. They remained still and acted like good trees should. They no longer posed a threat however I remained suspicious. I expected them to attack me if I ever showed any sign of distraction or unguardness. I also noticed that the park was still empty not a single human soul could be seen, not even the balloon salesman.
After walking for quite some time I reached a gap in the wall. I felt relieved to see it, it looked like a small alleyway that could lead me to an exit. That relief was however cut short as I rounded the corner and entered the gap only to find a dead end and a tombstone. The alleyway was only a dozen feet long and contained a six feet deep hole that was the shape of coffin and a tombstone that read Frank Castiglione Sr., Maria Castiglione, Lisa Castiglione, Frank Castiglione Jr. and our life spans. Clenching my fists I felt anger boiling up in me. I’ve had it with these pranks and games.
The demons must have thought that I was distracted and I had let my guard down, because behind me I could hear something sneaking up on me. It wasn’t very settle with it’s rumbling engine and the crunching gravel under it’s heavy tires. Turning around I saw the tractor that I had blown up moving on it’s own without a driver. It came at me with the backhoe first which it swung at me knocking me back into the dug up grave. I fell six feet deep. For a second I wonder where it would take me next. Which place, which moment in time. Regardless it didn’t matter I was through with these games I didn’t want to play anymore. I refused to enter another arena only to be gawked at like some gladiator.
The backhoe grabbed mounds of dirt and dumped them on me. I grabbed at the edges of the hole and struggled to climb up. More dirt was dumped on my face making it hard for me to see and breath as the dirt went into my eyes and mouth. Using my torn up hands I pushed on and climbed higher and higher. However more and more dirt was dumped on me and I couldn’t see where I was going.

* * *

Once I reached the top of the hole, I coughed up the dirt and whipped it away from my eyes. I could feel the hot summer sun beaming down on me and hear the birds singing around me. Finally focusing my eyes and looking around I saw that I was no longer facing a tractor or was in Central Park. I was in a different park on top of a high hill. From this hill I had a great view of the small town around me. I saw many familiar places. The church that I worshipped in. The factory that I worked in. The school that I studied in. And the house that I lived in with my family. This was the place where it all started, my hometown. Fuck this place.

To be continued…

Disclaimer: The Punisher, Maria Castle, Frank Castle Jr., Lisa Castle, and Arcade are characters owned by Marvel comics. The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. Maria Castle, Frank Castle Jr. and Lisa Castle was created by Gerry Conway and Tony Dezuniga. Arcade was created Chris Claremont and John Byrne. I, Christopher Kral, do not claim any ownership of these characters. This is a work of parody and I do not make any profit off of this written work.

Chapter Text

Knocking on the dorm room of Sam Exmore, Bryn knew that it was going to be a long shot if he could help them, but if any college student knew what was going on in this town it would be Sam. After knocking twice, they didn’t get an answer, but they could hear muffled voices coming from the other side. They weren’t loud, but the walls were paper thin so it was easy to tell that there was at least two people in the dorm. Bryn was determined to get answers so they knocked again. Like before they heard muffled voices then silence for fifteen seconds.

“Come on Sam, I know you’re in there. I can hear you talking to someone.” Bryn yelled as they knocked again.

The muffled voices became louder, but Bryn still couldn’t understand them. It sounded like an argument. Then finally the door opened a few inches with a chain catch lock.

“Oh, hey Bryn,” answering the door wasn’t Sam, but his partner in journalism Toni Harris. “Are you alone? You’re not here with Maylene or anyone else are you?”

“What? No,” the odd question caught Bryn off guard and they found themselves perplexed. “Why did you think I would be here with May? We’re not even that close. Hell, I haven’t heard from her in months.”

Toni turned away and spoke in the other direction. “It’s Bryn and they don’t know about Maylene. I’m going to let them in.”

“No, don’t! Fuck, what are you doing! Stop! Damn it! Shit!” Bryn could hear Sam yell from the inside the dorm as Toni closes the door and unhook the chain lock. Then immediately open it again.

“Come on in,” Toni motioned for them to enter the dorm room. Inside Sam was sitting on a office chair next to his desk looking distraught with his hands on his face.

“What was that you said about Maylene?” Bryn asked Toni. She started to say something, but was quickly interrupted.

“Nevermind that! Why did you let them in?” He slowly looked up with heavy bags under his eyes.

“Sorry, to disturb you Sam, but I need your help. It’s very important,” Bryn said.

“Can’t you see that I’m busy here. The police just had another press conference and I need to write it up and send it to the Daily Bugle with in ten minutes!”

“I’m sorry he’s been like this for the last month,” said Toni with her arms crossed as she rolled her eyes.

“Where’s my vape pen?!” Sam spun around in his chair and frantically searched through the mess of papers and empty Red Bull cans on his desk. “I need to vape! Where is it!”

“Sam, forget it! You’re not supposed to vape in the dorms anyway,” Toni hollered back at him.

“Shit, I probably left it at the Daily Bugle again. J. Jonah is probably enjoying my vape right now. Damn it!”

“What you’re guys working on looks important and all, but I really need your help,” Bryn said.

“What are you still doing here? I told you before I’m just freelance reporter for the Daily Bugle now, I can’t get you a column there,” Sam roughly ran his fingers through his hair. “Toni get them to leave!”’

“No, the article can wait. You’re stressing out too much,” said Toni before turning back to Bryn. “What is it? What do you need?”

“Do you two know anything about Silly Blood?” Bryn asked.

Sam immediately sat up straight. “What did you say?”

His voice was more calm, but he was still speaking at a hasty speed.

“Silly Blood?” Bryn repeated.

“Toni, lock the door and search them.”

Toni followed the orders and locked the door knob lock and deadbolt lock, then began frisking Bryn. Starting by patting the legs of their pants.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Bryn asked feeling even more perplexed. “I don’t have anything on me.”

“Just go along with it,” Toni said as she patted their back and shirt sleeves.

After finishing they turned to Sam and said, “They’re clean.”

Sam stood up and walked closer. “Take off your shirt.”

“What? No!” Bryn was offended by the request.

“We need to know that you’re not wearing a wire,” Toni said with a heavy sigh. “Just do it and we’ll tell what we know.”

Bryn undid their bow tie and unbuttoned their shirt revealing the binder that they wore underneath.

“Take off the binder too,” said Sam.

“Sam, what the hell?” Toni snapped back.

“No, I’m not taking it off! This is enough!” Bryn was even more offended as they buttoned their shirt back up.

“What is wrong with you?” Toni snapped again.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure they’re not wearing a microphone that’s all,” Sam argued back.

“Well fuck you, but microphone or not, I’m not leaving here until you tell me what you know about Silly Blood,” Bryn tied their bow tie back up and stood confidently.

“Fine, fine, have it your way,” Sam sat back down at his computer and started opening and clicking on programs with his mouse. “Have you heard the latest Pray For Abortion album?”

“No, I’m not a–” Bryn started to say, but was quickly interrupted by loud rock music. The sounds of heavy metal electric guitars and drums flooded the room making it impossible for Bryn to hear themself talk. They covered their ears to try to protect their hearing and yelled as loud as they could to tell Sam to turn if off, but he pretend not to hear them. Instead Sam grabbed a note pad off his desk, wrote something on it, got up and handed it to Bryn.

On the note pad he wrote:

I can’t let anyone listen in on this conversation. How did you hear about Silly Blood?

Bryn took the notepad from Sam and wrote down their response:

I gave a ride to two men who turned out to be drug dealers. They gave the drugs to a kid so I beat them up and took the bag of drugs from the kid, but as soon as I did a cop arrested me and took the drugs.

Taking the note pad back Sam read over what Bryn had written, ripped off the page, crumpled it up and ate it. After swallowing down the paper he wrote more on the notepad.

I’ve been investigating the drug Silly Blood for the last six months. All I know is that it is a powerful hallucinogenic that they are trying to sell to kids for some reason. I’ve narrowed down the location of the drug lab to two possible locations, but the Punisher blew one of them up a few months ago since then the other two have become super well guarded.

Bryn wrote back:

Have you talked to the police about this?

Swallowing down that last page Sam wrote back:

I was about to, but they’ve been acting super sketchy ever since the Punisher died and Spider-Man won’t return my calls anymore.

A loud knock came from the door and over the music they heard someone yelling, “Hey, turn that shit down or I’ll call campus security!”

Take me there! Bryn quickly jotted down.

Sam turned the music off and said, “Help me find my vape pen and then we can leave.”

* * *

“You have to be kidding me, this can’t be the place,” said Bryn as they drove up to were Sam said where the drug lab was.

“No joke, that is the place,” replied Sam before inhaling on his vape pen.

“seriously a Wacky Tacky?” said Bryn.

“Oh I love these places,” commented Toni. “They let you dress up in silly clothes and play around in ball pits, jump on trampolines, and slide down slides.”

Sam and Bryn both stared at Toni feeling baffled.

“I take my nephew to the one in the Bronx whenever my sister is off on a business trip,” explained Toni.

“Yeah, but this one is a front,” said Sam as he exhale a large ploom of smoke. “See that sign that says ‘closer for remodeling’. It’s been up for the last four months. Something for sure is going on in there.”

“Well we’re not going to find anything out if we continue to sit here,” Bryn opened the driver side door to get out.

“Wait, don’t,” Sam grabbed Bryn by their arm and pulled them back into the car. “You’re going to get your ass caught if you go any closer.”

He pointed one finger at a homeless man walking by the building, “You see that homeless man in the baggy jacket? Wait fifteen minutes and you will see him walk by again. I’ve staked out this place before and I know that they have at least five armed guards walking around this place all day.”

“So what do we do? Just sit around and let this shit happen?” Asked Bryn.

“Well the police have been acting strange, like they’re Minority Report arresting criminals before their crimes are reported in the papers, but for some reason they keep overlooking this place.”
“Maybe we can try getting a hold of Spider-man again?” suggested Toni. “or Ghost Rider.”

“I can’t believe you two,” Bryn blurted out. “When the justice system fails you, you just pray for some spandex wearing jackass to solve your problems? No, we can do this.”

“What has gotten into you?” Sam was baffled by Bryn. “You’re not thinking things through. There’s three of us and far too many of us. Besides they have guns. It’ll be pointless for us to do anything.”

“If history has ever taught me anything,” Bryn opened the glove box and pulled out a taser. “It’s that one person can make a difference.”

With those parting words they exit the car and walk towards the Wacky Tacky.

For a minute Sam and Toni sat silently watching Bryn walking away not believing what had just happened. Then Sam turned to Toni and said, “Five minutes?”

“Nah, I think they could last ten,” Toni replied.

* * *

Eight minutes later, Bryn woke up with a feeling of deja vu. Regaining concussions they felt like they were lying on a cloud, then they felt fuzzy all over as they heard yelling voices coming closer from a distance. A sharp pain in the back of their head prevented them from keeping focus. However like last time they found themselves in this position they could tell that they were tied to a chair in a large room only this time they felt their head sticky with blood, a massive amount of pain and heard the noise of machinery.

A large hand grabbed them by the chin and shook them around. It didn’t help them much to regain focus, but they could start to understand the high pitch voice of a small man standing in front of them.

“I’m not sure which gender you are, but regardless, you’ve got some real big balls on you,” spoke the man. Whoever he was, Bryn thought he must be the leader of this drug ring.

Struggling to ignore the head ache, Bryn looked up at the leader and slow regain their vision. He was short skinny purple clothed man with clown make up, purple hair, and rubber band like arms.

“What the fuck?” Bryn managed to spit the words out.

“Don’t worry we didn’t dose you with any silly blood, so you’re not tripping balls right now,” he explained. “The hideous form that you see before you is my actual body. Let me introduce myself, I’m Slapstick the living cartoon character and this is my funhouse drug lab. One of my steroid pumping associates found you snooping around outside and brought you to me after pummeling you in the back alley. Now tell me what brings an numbskull like you to a crack house like this?”

Bryn lifted their head and looked around to see themself surrounded by several muscular thugs. Beyond them was a fully equipped drug lab with half naked slaves mixing chemicals and packaging vials of silly blood. However the building still had some remnants of the Wacky Tacky with slides and ball pits.

Looking back a Slapstick Bryn coughed up some blood and said, “Thank you, for explaining all of that to me. Now go fuck yourself.”

A large heavy fist striked Bryn across their face shaking a tooth loose.

* * *

“How long have they been in there?” asked Sam as he sat in the car with Toni watching the Wacky Tacky.

“It’s been ten minutes,” replied Toni.

“This is bad we should get out of here now,” Sam slid over from the passenger seat into the driver seat of the car.

“What? no, we can’t leave Bryn here. We need to do something,” Toni protested.

“We can’t do anything. If we go in there they’ll beat us up too.”

“They’re our friend. We need to do something. There must be something that we can do. Remember, it’s like they said we can’t just wait around for a hero to save us.”

Sam rubbed his forehead and let out a heavy sigh in frustration. “I just wanted to be a reporter… Okay, let’s think of something.”

“What if we start a fire?” suggested Toni. “Maybe that would get everyone to leave the building.”

“No, that would be too dangerous. We need a way to safely break in there.”

Trying hard to think of a plan Sam looked around and finally had a eureka moment as he saw a construction site nearby.

“That’s it! That’s how we save Bryn,” Sam told Toni as he pointed at the construction site.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You and construction sites lead to bad results.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember what happened with Zane Whelan?”

“That was a music video stage and I was high then. Besides I’ve been off weed for a year now and this is a great idea.”

* * *

“I’m sorry if we’re not hospitable to your liking, we don’t get visitors very offend,” said Slapstick as he paced back and forth in front of Bryn.

“Oh really? I thought that Wacky Tackys were all the rage with kids now days,” joked Bryn with blood still dripping out of their mouth.

“Oh, you’re a funny guy?” Slapstick stopped pacing around and approached them. “That’s unfortunate, cause I’m a funny guy and we can’t have two funny guys here. To put it in a different way, this town ain’t big enough for the both of us. So I’m going to have to kill you.”

Out from seemly thin air he pulled out a large hand gun and pointed it at Bryn’s head.

“Whoa, I’m sorry, I’m not funny,” Bryn’s voice shook as they tried to back track their joke. “I didn’t hear you laugh, nor did your men laugh. I was just making an observation, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Oh, you didn’t offend me, but I’m going to offFACE you!” Slapstick stopped, lowered his gun, and scratched his chin with it. “That sounded better in my head. Wait I can come up with something better than that… How about next time you want to make a joke without offending me, you give a—”

With a loud rumble one of the walls shook and broke apart. Out from it burst a large fast moving dump truck. It drove over Slapstick and crashed into a large stack of wooden crates holding syringes full of Silly Blood. Like bubble gum he was flatten out with tire tracks on his back.

Quickly moving into action the thugs pulled out their guns and pointed them at the dump truck as Sam and Toni exited out of it.

“Oh shit, we’re screwed,” exclaimed Sam as he and Toni both froze in place and raised their hands hoping that they won’t be shot.

“So much for vape induced idea,” said Toni.

“Wait, hold on,” Slapstick crawled out from under the dump truck as his body reformed itself. Mending bones back together and moving muscle mash around. “No one shoot. I’m going to take care of this.”

With a crinkled and broken up hand he grabbed several syringes of Silly Blood from a crate. With his teeth he removed the plastic caps off the syringes before stabbing himself in the arm with them injecting himself with a dozen ounces of Silly Blood. His body quickly became enlarged. Like the Hulk he grew to Ten feet tall with large bulging muscles, sharp fang like teeth, and claws.

“The gloves are off kiddos. No more mister nice clown,” roared Slapstick.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Punisher War Journal

Entry no.??

Fuck knows when

Fuck knows where

I always considered myself a Brooklyn resident throughout most of my life. But I actually grew up in a small town in upstate New York. It was one of those specs on the map that you can never remember the name of. If you ever traveled up to the Catskills you would have driven through it, but if you blinked you’d miss it. Many people would call this town relaxing and peaceful, the type of town where time slows down. However to me this town was Hell.

When I left this town the day after high school graduation I swore that I would never return, not even for my parents funerals. I always knew that I was a disappointment to them like they were for me. They never did much for me and in response I didn’t do much for them. I can’t say that they were abusive, but I didn’t want to disappoint them. I can’t say that they were very loving or supportive either. They were nothing, but an eighteen year phase in my life. So was this whole fucking town.

There was nothing special about this town. No great trauma or great celebration. It was just a moment from my past and I was devoted to keep it that way. Nothing about this town was going to influence me at all. It’s a moment in time that has past and will be forgotten. It’s a town on the map that should not be named. It’s nothing to me. This was that last place that I belonged.

“Show yourself!” I shouted to whoever the fuck was listening from on top of a hillside in the middle of the silent town. “No more games! No more digging into my past! You can’t make me feel anymore pain! Whatever you’re trying to make me do, I’m not going to do it! Whatever you want from me you’re not going to get it! You may not know who I really am. You may foolishly think that you know that you do, but you don’t. You think that I’m Frank Castle… or Francis Castiglione, but you’re wrong. Why don’t you come to me and I will tell you my real name. I’ll even carve it into your forehead so from that point forward you will never forget that I’m The Mother Fucking Punisher!”

Everything in the town had heard my loud booming voice and stopped. The birds in the park stopped singing. There were no cars that could be heard driving around. The air was still. Everything was completely silent. my threats were heard.

“Why are you yelling Frank?” said a calm and gentle voice.

I turned and saw my first crush Lauren Buvoli looking exactly like she did that last time I saw her, the day before she killed herself at age fourteen. She looked like an angel as the wind swept through her amber hair and caused her blue sundress to ripple, but like a ghost she was a haunting reminder of my past.

“Come now, Frank, we’re going to be late for class,” Her voice sounded like a song rattling around in my head.

A sharp stabbing pain struck my heart as I grabbed her head and slammed her into the tree behind her. I pulled back her head and I could hear her sobbing before I slammed her head repeatedly several dozen more times until she stopped sobbing. Until I heard bones cracking. Until I saw the brown bark dyed red with her blood. Until I could not longer feel the round head that I held and instead a hairy, fleshy sack of shards of a skull.

“Is this what you want? Am I to kill everyone that I ever loved!” I screamed out again to abyss of the past. “You see that? I’m fully willing to beat my childhood friend to death! Just think what I will do when I find you!”

I received no answer.

Figures

Everything was silent and still again as I walked down from the hills of the park to the city as Lauren’s body disintegrate behind me. I walked through Main Street and past all of the familiar shops: the malt shop, the general store, and the hardware store. Whoever remade this town for me paid a lot of attention to detail, which was pointless as I was able to see past it all. I wouldn’t be fooled again. I knew it was all fake.

Stopping in front of a furniture store I examined my reflection in the window. In the other flashbacks I had been dressed for the setting and given time to heal. This time however it was different. It was apparent that no time had pass since I was in Central Park. I was still wearing the same dirty clothes, my hands were still bloody and torn up from the demonic squirrels, and I still kept the colt .45 in the back of my pants with two bullets left in the clip. In this fake town it’s hard to tell what was real, but I knew that my bloody hands and the gun were without a doubt real.

As I approached the church a blind dog could tell what was going to happen next. Father David walked out. This was too simple, too predictable. Whoever sent me here was getting careless. I could tell I was starting to scare him. He was grasping at straws trying to get to me and making an ass of himself.

“Tyger tyger, burning bright,” Father David quoted the famous William Blake poem. “In the forest of the night, What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry.”

He had taught me poetry back in junior high and later I went to him for advice for when I was considering priesthood myself. I however didn’t seek his advice when I enlisted. I knew his weak soul would tell me not to go to war.

“You disappoint me, is this all that he can do?” I didn’t bother to acknowledge Father David as I continued to scream out to oblivion. “I’m not the tyger. The tyger isn’t some dangerous beast. The tyger is scared. Man has backed them up into a corner and they are just lasing out for survival. You’re the tyger and I’m going to hunt you down and turn your hid into a rug.”

“Good evening, Frank. How is the day treating You?” Father David smiled at me.

“God damn it,” I swore under my breath. “Forgive me father for what I’m about to do.”

I charged the priest and lifted him up over my shoulder to toss him into a stained glass window of the church. The window didn’t shatter like most windows, instead of breaking into hundreds of tiny pieces the stained glass only broke into a dozen large extremely sharp pieces that’ll tear skin from flesh.

“I get it, you can read a book. You’ve done your homework. You know about where I grew up and everyone that I ever knew. This is all very cute. You’ve hired some pretty good actors to pose as my friends and family. And you are a master craftsman constructing facades. So who’s going to be next? Sal Buvoli? Sue Carmenelli? Tim Donegan? Or my mom and dad? It doesn’t fucking matter, my past is meaningless!”

Again after yelling the town was silent as I continued to walked down the street, but as I reached the post office, out the front door walked out my mom and dad. Apparently they weren’t listening.

“Hey, son what are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be at school?” asked the imitation of my mother. Yeah, she looked real enough to actually be alive. Yeah, she acted as loving and innocence as she always did. No, none of that mattered.

“I don’t have time for this shit. Get the fuck out of my way?” I tried to walk past the two of them, but my father blocked my way. He stood still like a statue, like he did when I was a child and he would try to prevent me from running off to my room. He even gave the same steely stare that at one time pierced me like a laser. None of that worked on me anymore

“Who do you think you are? You don’t talk to your mother like that!” said the imitation of my father scolding me like he did when he grounded me at age ten.

It was clear that they wouldn’t let me pass without a fight. All I needed was something heavy and blunt to finish them off quickly. So I grabbed a nearby blue postal box and with one good tug I ripped it out of the ground and lifted it over my head.

“Fuck you, dad! You don’t know me!” With a slam I sent the mail box down onto his head spilling blood and letters everywhere. I slammed the box onto him several more times, until his body stopped twitching.

“Frank! How could you do this to your poor father!” My mother knelt down next his bloody body.

“Shut up, mom!” I yelled as I swung the mailbox hitting her, making a loud THANG! noise and sending her flying head first into a nearby street light. Blood spilled out of her head like leaking bucket of water. It was a shame to see their motionless dead bodies before me knowing that I had killed them.

I took a moment to catch my breath and watch the fake dead bodies of my parents disintegrate at my feet. Then I shrugged and dusted my shoulders off.

“Okay what’s next?” I asked. “I’m not sure how you’re going to top getting me to kill my own parents, but I’m up for anything.”

Clap

The buildings shook and crumbled to the ground like an intense earthquake. They fell apart in rumble and faded away.

Clap

The world around me changed from my hometown to a hot rocky landscape full of smoke and fire. The curtain was being pulled back, I was no longer a participant in a play, I was now finally being allowed backstage.

Clap

Out from a large ploom of smoke walked the man in the white suit and polka dot bow tie that I had seen earlier selling balloons in Central Park. He walked towards me slowly clapping with a smug smile. I was now able to place his face and recognise him. Although I had never fought him before, I knew him well. My superhero comrades told me many stories about him and even cracked a few jokes about him. I was actually disappointed in myself, in that I didn’t figure it out sooner. I should have known in the beginning that it was him.

“Well done, Frank Castle, you performed better than expected,” said the man. “Let me introduce myself, I’m Arcade, the master assassin and owner and operate of worldwide attraction: Murder World.”

“Nice to meet you, I always wanted to have the pleasure of killing you,” I said.

“You’re quite the jokester for a man who just casually killed his own parents.” He put on a big smile and tensed his muscles still to hide his shaking fear.

“You’re next if you don’t tell me where we are.” All I needed to do was say a few words to intimidate him.

“I’m glad you asked, you just ran the gamut of my newest amusement park that I created just for you: Murder World Hell. That’s right you’re in the fire and brimstone land of H-E-double-hockey-sticks or as some in this universe have come to call Mephisto’s Realm, but we’re not really dead, at least not yet. We’re just taking a little vaca.”

“I doubt that you’re telling the truth. This is probably some place like Turkmenistan. So why have you brought me here anyway?”

“Simple, I was paid by a generous client to take you far far away from New York and keep you preoccupied for a while.” The stupid walking ego with red hair loved to talk so it was easy from me to get him to answer my questions.

“They must have paid you quite well for you to create such elaborate facades of my memories. Speaking of which how did you know about my years in Vietnam, the details of my family’s murders and my home town?”

“I checked out a few books from the library. A few war journals. They really are quite a fun read. Better than Harry Potter.” He must have thought that his jokes would make feel me unnerving. This sort of behavior would work on most, but over the years my sense of humor has diminished.

“The deserts of the Middle East is quite a long trip to make. You wouldn’t happen to know a way to get back to New York quicker?”

“Oh, there’s a little gateway not far from here that I can freely pass through whenever I desire. However if you or I were to be killed here in Hell we wouldn’t be able to leave.”

“Thanks for telling me everything,” I pulled my colt out from the back of my pants and aim it at Arcade ready to kill him.

Slamming into my body a giant demon sent me down to the rocky ground and my gun flying from my fingertips. My body stung from the fall, but I proceeded to push myself up, only to be slammed back down to the ground as the giant’s large foot stomped down on my back. The giant put all of his weight onto my back smashing my body onto the ground and forcing little pieces of gravel into my skin. Around me I heard the raspy and scratchy chuckles of demons as they arose from the cracks and caverns. They crowded around me and swayed to and forth as if to be dancing. They gnashed their crooked teeth as drool trickled down their chins from their lipless mouths. Their dark red skin was pulled tight over their lean muscles. Some reached out at me with long slender fingers and razor sharp nails, but retreated as the giant on my back roared like an alpha wolf.

It’s not hopeless yet, they are just monsters, you’ve killed many before

“You can shut up, you stupid voice in my head,” I responded. “I don’t need you motivational speeches anymore.”

Oh.. okay, I guess I’ll just go away now.

“Talking to yourself, now are we?” taunted Arcade as he took his place in front of his army of demons. “Aren’t they nice? I’ve been using them on you ever since the Vietnam flashback. I know that they are different from the robots that I usually use, but I thought I would change things up just for you. A friend of a friend who knew the fancy man in red and he put in a good word for me so that I could build on this little plot of land and use his damned souls to play with you.”

I reached out with both of my hands to grab a large stone. With one heave I threw it up into face of the giant. He recoiled in pain and lifted his foot up from my back. I took that opportunity to roll out from between his legs. I punched him once in the genitals and then kicked him in the ankle to distract him with more pain, before I made my way to my colt.

As I sprinted towards it I was halted as several demons blitzed me. They grabbed at me holding me back. I tried to fight back, but there was too many. That however never stopped me before. I strained my muscles to break free from their grips. I elbowed, punched, and kicked at the demons until I was free and was able to almost reach the gun. As I placed my hand on it, a large hand was placed on my shoulder. It was the giant, he had recovered from my cheap shots and he was pissed as he flung me back twenty feet until I hit a large boulder and ended up on the ground again.

“Tsk tsk tsk, Frank you just don’t seem to learn,” Arcade smiled like the douchebag that he was. “I eat superheroes like you for breakfast. You’re quite pathetic really, you preach about justice and freewill, but you’re nothing but a slave to villains like me. You see we are the ones in control. We go do whatever we want whenever we want and you just react to us. It’s nothing, but a game and it’s people like me who are in control. However there is one thing that make you different from the other heroes. You don’t wait for villains to act to fight them. You go find them and hunt them down. Now the tables have been turned. I captured you, played with you and now I’m going in for the kill.”

I took a moment to breathe slowly and stand back up and I stared him down.

“Hmm, you almost make me laugh, your delusions are rather unique,” I rolled my neck from side to side and cracked my knuckles. “You had me going their. I thought that you knew me well, but you’re just another stupid clown. Do you know why I never took the time to hunt you down? It’s because you aren’t worth it. You’re not a threat to anyone.”

“Shut up! Insults will get you nowhere!” Arcade shouted in anger. Oh yeah, I pissed him off. “Fine, No more games, no more murder world. I’m going to give you nothing, but pain! My demon horde will beat you to a bloody pulp!”

“Bring it on!” I stood my ground as the army of little horned bastards charged towards me.

The giant was the first to reach me, but his large features made him easy to dodge. As he sent a fist downward towards me I moved out of the way and swept his foot. This knocked him off balance. He stumbled to catch himself and keep his feet below him. He would be the most difficult for me to kill so I had to save him for last and take out the little ones first.

Several of the demons crowded around me at once. They came at me all at once so I had to move quickly. As one threw a punch at me I ducked down to dodge the blow and at the same time thrust out a kick to another demon. With an uppercut I stood back up and knocked a demon off of his feet. Spinning around I sent a punch into one’s nose, breaking it. They were coming at me from all sides and I needed to keep alert. As soon as I knocked one back another came within hitting distance to me and I needed keep dodging blows, because if I were to get hit once it would be enough for them to gain the upperhand and pelt me with multiple hits. I had to use them against themselves so as one demon threw a right cross punch at me I grabbed his arm and used his momentum to swing him around into two other demons. Then I ducked down to grabbed the legs of another to lift him up onto my shoulders then threw him into another demon.

I wasn’t able to fight the crowd for long as the giant came at me again. Like the red sea the big guy split the crowd and savagely swung his fists at me. He was angry and wanted to tear me limb from limb. I moved fast to dodge his swings, but his erratic movements made it difficult for me to anticipate his actions. Grabbing a handful of dirt I threw it in his face. This gave me the opportunity to grab the fingers of one of his hands. Holding them taut I thrusted my elbow into the back of his hand breaking a few tiny bones and dislocating it from the wrist. The giant wailed in pain. The injury would lessen him as a threat, but in order to fatally defeat him I would need something more than my bare hands.

With the crowd of demons now dispersed I was able to move more freely through the grounds. About twenty feet from me I could see my colt 45 lying on the ground. There were a few demons between me and it, but I was easily able to run around them and reach the gun. Unfortunately I found the gun to now be useless. The barrel was bent from when I had dropped it earlier. Pulling out the clip I unloaded the gun as the two remaining bullets may still be useful later.

Looking around the hell landscape there wasn’t much to use as a weapon. However there were plenty of rocks which where good for breaking bones. With the right size rock I could use it pack a punch giving me enough brute force to break a jaw with an uppercut or several ribs with a chest punch. Also when hitting a nerve cluster or pressure point it can cause intense pain and leave certain limbs unmovable. With larger rocks I could break more important bones. Dropping a boulder on feet can crush all of the tiny pieces making them unable to walk or smashing a boulder on their backs could sever the spinal column paralyzing them. However rocks like these are heavy and difficult hold onto causing me to tire out quicker. A better weapon was needed.

As one demon threw a punch at me I caught his fist in one hand and holding a rock in the other, I hit his bicep several times until his humorous broke with a sharp enough fracture to break through the skin. Slamming my body into his, I knocked him to the ground. Still holding onto his arm I stepped on his chest giving me the leverage needed to tear his arm off with a sudden jank and twist. The newly severed arm made a good club for smashing skulls and the jagged bone at the end was useful for stabbing things to death.

Like an earthquake that would break the Richter scale the ground shook as the giant’s massive fist slammed into the ground. He was mad and wanted my attention and he had it. Another fist hit the ground almost hitting me. Using his right fist he threw more punches at me to dodge. He avoided using the left hand as he was still nursing the break that I gave it. With the new arm club I striked his shins, but it was like using a pool noodle to knock down a palm tree. So I turned it around to stab his knee cap with the pointy bone end. That made him bleed, but not much. A little demon tried to attack me from behind, but with a swift spin around I whacked him in the head. Unlike with the giant the arm club delivered satisfying blows to the little ones.

Out from my left a large foot came at me and I only had a split second to get out of the way. The giant’s stomp shook the ground. I moved around to stab the same knee cap again, however the big dummy had learned to anticipate my actions and sent a punch into me. My left shoulder took the bulk of the blow as I was sent flying back as I slammed into another demon. Together we fell backwards onto the ground and he clawed at me and tried to hold me down. Using the bone spike I stabbed his side a few times. It wasn’t long until the giant came for me again, he threw another heavy punch at me so I quickly rolled out of the way to have him smash the demon that was below me. As he was bent down I took the opportunity to stab him a few times in the belly. I was promptly stopped by a demon that put a choke hold on me from behind. I swung the arm club over my head sending the bone spike into the demon’s back.

Drumming on his chest like a gorilla, the giant was growing more angry like the Hulk. That only made me smile as that is how I like them. He came at me again with a ground shaking stomp. With his legs open wide I ran between them and got behind him to stab him in the back. With bone club stuck in him I used it to climb up him and grab onto his shoulder. Using the arm club I smacked him a few times in the hard skull making him even madder. In attempt to get me to fall off he thrashed around like a bull. So I swung the arm club around his neck and used it strangle him. He hacked and struggled to breath as I applied more pressure to his throat. Unfortunately this didn’t last long as he punched himself in the neck to break all of the bones in the arm club making it useless. Then he grabbed me by my left arm with a grip strong enough to break my wrist. He swung my arm with enough force to detach my shoulder before I left his back. After being thrown to the ground I found my left arm bloody, and swelling with pain with both the radius and ulna bones broken. Those are the two curved bones in your forearm.

Holding my mangled arm I stood back up. I needed to push the pain out of my mind in order to focus on fighting, but an arm broken three times and dislocated was painful as fuck.

A little shitter jumped on my back and I tossed him away like a ragdoll. I didn’t have time for the bugger, I needed to settle the score with the big shit.

He came at me with another hit which I was able to dodge, however without the arm club I no longer had anything to fight back with. As I he threw another punch I unintentionally raised my broken arm to block. This sent me falling on my back and further damaged my forearm to the point that it would never heal right again. I didn’t have time to recover on the ground as he sent a foot down to me. I wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way and he stomped on my right foot shattering all of the little tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges. I couldn’t think with all of the pain. My nerves were firing on all cylinders.

The giant grabbed me by my legs and broken arm to lift me up to his mouth. Like I was a drumstick he took a bite out of my thigh. As he chewed on my right ass cheek I didn’t have many options other than wiping my free hand over the bloody ass wound and slapping it on his eyes to blind him. Then I punched him the jaw to make him bite down on his tongue and drop me.

I have been through a lot of hard fights in my time, but very few left me with a foot like a beanbag, an arm broken more times too count, and a new butthole torn into my ass. However I was able to pop my left shoulder back into its socket so hooray for small victories. Usually when I’m like this I would take pleasure in how the other guy looked, but except for a broken hand and a few insignificant stab wounds he was rather unscathed. In moments like this there is only one thing to do and that is to say fuck it and keep fighting.

I was starting to believe that I was actually in Hell or atleast I was hoping it was, because if this was it I was unimpressed and I wouldn’t mind spending all eternity gruesomely murdering demons. However I’ve got plenty of other people on a list that I need to send down here, before I can settle down in one place. With a mission to fill up spacing in the afterlife I can’t hang around here much longer I need to get moving.

The last three little demons cornered me. I grabbed one by his jaw and kicked into his chest. I was left holding on to his teeth bone so I smashed it into the head of one of the other demons embedding the molars into his ear. The last one I grabbed the shoulder and punched him with my broken arm so many times it looked like it had a second elbow. I figured that since there was no way to fix it, that I might as well remove it from my body.

As I watched the giant clean the last of the blood out of his eyes and spit the blood out of his mouth from his injured tongue, I took the biggest rock I could find to further smash my forearm until I saw jagged pieces of bones sticking out. My nerves were exposed causing searing pain to move through my entire body. The horned red hulk turned to me and roared. He was ready to fight again so I grabbed what was left of my left hand ripped it from my arm leaving two pointy bones. Charging at each other we were ready to fight to the death.

He threw the first punch, but I made the first hit as I stuck my bone spikes up into his midsection where I calculated where his kidney would be. He tried to kick at me, but I maneuvered around his leg to slice around his ankle were his Achilles tendon would be. As he stumbled down onto his knees, I repeatedly stabbed my bones into his left butt cheek to give him his own second asshole. This enraged him as he swung around to slap me in my ribs knocking the wind out of me. Stumbling around I struggled to regain my balance as he punched me in the head causing my brain to move around like jello and I think I heard a loud crack. I couldn’t think about my head pains for long as he knocked me down to the ground.

At this point my body had become completely numb to the pain, my neck was like a spring, and my head felt like it was submerged in the hot swamps of the Florida Everglades. Grabbing me by my midsection he lifted me up again and opened his mouth to chomp down on me, this time he wanted to consume me headfirst. Gritting my teeth I pushed through the pain and the fog in my head to make myself move as I lifted my broken arm. As he opened up wide for me I shoved my bone ends into the top of his mouth. I grabbed and held onto cheek as I continued to stab him more times in face, in those sweet spots like the nose and eyes. Then I went down to neck stabbing several times around his neck until I could find his carotid artery.Then I just sliced at it as blood sprayed all over the place.

Lying on the hot rocky ground soaked with blood and surrounded by dead bodies, I contemplated how long I should take to catch my breath. My body wanted to stay down forever, but if I did I would die. With a missing limb and a chunk from my ass, I had lost a lot of blood and with a concussion I needed to stay awake. I couldn’t let myself die like this, however in the state that I was in I wouldn’t live another hour without medical or spiritual intervention. I only needed to stay alive long enough to make it to gateway that Arcade was talking about and I could return to Earth. Nonetheless I didn’t know if once I was back on Earth I would still be as injured and dismembered. Wasting no more time I began moving by rolling over and struggling to move closer to the giant. I felt like I had cinder blocks tied to everyone of my joints.

It may not seem like it, but a dead giant can be a great resource. Cutting up his belly, I pulled out his intestines and wrapped them around my arm stub and butt check to contain the bleeding. This would cause infection for sure, but the only other option I had was let my wounds bleed out. Cutting up his back I removed one of his shoulder blades to tie to the bottom of my broken foot to help me keep better balance while walking. Removing more bones from the body I broke them and fashioned them to make weapons. The jagged broken ribs would make good knives. Half of a humerus is perfect for a handle. A femur with both ends broken off and the marrow removed would make a good barrel and finger phalanges works for a trigger. Using a hard rock to rub tiny carpal and tarsal bones on it I was able to grind them down to be the inner working pieces of a gun. With the two bullets that I had saved from earlier I had a reasonable side arm.

* * *

The walk seemed long and strenuous, but it only took me half an hour for me to find Arcade and his gateway to earth. Looking smug as always he was waiting for me. I rolled the decapitated giant head down to his feet to let him know that he should run, but he didn’t.

“Bravo, I see that you’ve taken out my demons,” he said. “Although I must say, it appears that they did quite a number on you too. Regardless it seems your time in Vietnam has trained you to soldier th–”

BLAM! Before he could finish his sentence I fired one bullet through his skull and lumbered towards his gate.

“I’m not a veteran of a foreign war! I’m not a hero! I’m not a husband or father! I’m not my father’s son! I’m a soldier in my own war! I’m a symbol to be feared and castigated! I’m vengeance and death! I’m THE PUNISHER!”

As I reached to the gate and I looked down at his body once more. However as I did, it disintegrated into mist just like the bodies of my parents and friends.

WHOMP! A large mullet hit me in the head threatening to give me another concussion. Falling down on my back I looked up to see that the real Arcade was standing above me

“Sorry, that was player two,” he raised his mallet over his head. “Game over! Continue?”

He slammed down the mallet down onto my chest like a strength tester at a carnival.

“10…”

With the same amount of strength as before he raised the mallet and slammed it down.

“9…”

Again and Again

“8…”

I spat blood out my mouth.

“7…”

My ribs broke.

“6…”

One of my lungs collapsed.

“5…”

My heart skipped a beat.

“4…”

Everything started to go black.

“3…”

I reached into my pocket for my one last hope.

“2…”

I loaded last bullet into the demon bone gun.

“1…”

“Insert another coin,” I fired the gun and shoot Arcade through his chest.

He stood still with shock not registering what had happened to him. His mouth made a gurgling noise as he tried to breath. With the mallet still raised he tried to stagger forward, but only fell backwards. Dust and gravel bounced off of the ground as his body landed.

The ten hits of the mallet had taken their toll on me. I couldn’t gather the strength to stand back up, so I had to crawl over to Arcade. His frightened eyes watched me as I came closer and turned him over onto his back.

“You know, earlier while we were talking, I forgot to ask you one last question,” I took out a broken giant rib and stabbed it into his back.

“WAAAAACCCCG!” he moaned in pain.

“Who was it that gave you my war journals and opened your gateway to Hell?” I asked.

“Lit… Little re… Red Riding ho… Hood,” He managed to say.

“Great you’re delusional,” With the broken rib I stabbed into his back seven more times. Then I dug my fingers into the hole that I had made at the base of his neck between his shoulder blades. Once I had a good grip on what I wanted, I yanked hard and stabbed more times with the rib.

“I meant for the gun shot to not kill you right away. You’ll surely bleed out with in an hour or two and be trapped here forever. However without this you’ll never move again.” I held the vertebrae that I had dug out of his back in my hand right in front of his face. His eyes were wide and shaking. He mouth was gaping open, but he could not scream.

I stood up and arched my back to relieve some of the stiffness in my joints. Then I placed the vertebrae in my pocket and walked through the gateway to return to the land of the living.

To Be Continued…

Chapter Text

“Oh fuck, this is weirder than the time Deadpool catfished me on OkEnchantress,” exclaimed Bryn as they stood face to face with a mutated and physically altered Slapstick. Before he was a four foot tall clown with rubbery arms, now he’s a ten foot tall monster with bulging muscles with sharp claws.

“That’s right kiddies, you’re fucked,” said Slapstick. “To the normal human my patent drug Silly Blood is a hallucinogenic that gives them the impression that cartoon characters are alive in front of them, but since I’m already a cartoon character the drug has quite a different effect on me. Like steroids, it supercharges me and enhances my physique and abilities to the maximum levels.”

Trapped tied to a chair, Bryn was more confused than scared for their life. How could you be scared of something that was so strange from beyond anything you could imagine. Nonetheless they wanted to run off and escape. Unfortunately even if they were free they couldn’t get away with the ten armed thugs behind them. Also their life wasn’t the only one that was in danger as their two friends Toni and Sam stood to the left with the hands raised.

“Hey, there’s no reason for you to hurt us. We won’t say anything to anyone,” Bryn begged for their freedom.

“Like fuck, you’re friends just drove a truck through my fun land drug lab leaving big hole!” Slapstick roared. “You’ll going to pay, or else make it even be letting me rip a hole in you!”

With his large claw like hand he swung at Bryn knocking them off the ground across the drug lab towards the Wacky Tacky play area. The chair hit hard on the ground snapping one of the wooden arms that Bryn was tied to. With a newly freed hand they hastily untied their other wrist and ankles just as Slapstick ran up on them. With a swift motion they threw the chair at him breaking it to pieces giving them the opportunity to run off, but Slapstick chased after them through the play area.

Sam and Toni watched as the two fought, as well as the armed thugs. With them distracted Toni grabbed the wrist of Sam and ran off with him to the dump truck. This caught the attention of the thugs and they raised their guns, but were too slow to get a good shot at them.

“Thanks for pulling me out if there,” said Sam.

“No problem,” said Toni. “But it looks like we’ll have to do the same for Bryn. Hand me the keys to the dump truck.”

“I don’t have them. I dropped them.”

“What?! Where?!” Toni was very disappointed in her friend.

“Earlier when the bad guys pointed their guns at us, I dropped them on the ground.”

“Why did you drop the keys for?”

“Well I couldn’t raise my hands with keys in them. They needed to be empty.”

Gunshots rang out hitting the truck and shattering the windows. Sam and Toni ducked down to the ground cowering.

* * *

On the other side of the building Bryn was being chased by Slapstick. They ran quickly up a large plastic slide towards a playground of tubes, but as they climbed to the top Slapstick caught up to them and with one swipe of his arm he smashed the slide knocking it to the side. Bryn’s legs fell out from under them and they caught themselves on the edge of the platform with the legs dangling. Slapstick grabbed their left leg and tried to pull them off.

“Not so fast kiddie, you’ve been naughty. There’s not gonna be any play time for you,” Slapstick threatened.

“Let go, fuck face!” said Bryn as they fought back by kicking him in the head with their free leg.

With a sudden tug Slapstick pulled Bryn away from the platform causing them to fall six feet to the ground onto a rubber matt making for a soft landing. They quickly scrambled to their hands and knees into a plastic tube. They hastily made their way the maze of interconnected tubes. The entrance to the tube was too small for Slapstick to follow them in so ran away the outside of it to caught up to them.

Bryn crawled as fast as they could through the twisting and turning tubes. Then suddenly everything shook. This startled them and they turned to a porthole window were they saw the bug eyes of Slapstick.

“Boo!” Slapstick used his steroid strength to grab the section of tube and break it off from the maze. He lifted Bryn in the tube up and over his head and with a grunt he tossed them towards a wall. Their body shook and jostled as they hit the wall and fell down onto a large trampoline. The springy trampoline sunk down several feet before throwing them up into the air in the tube. As they were suspended in the air the tube went up right causing them to fall from under it onto the trampoline. It took a few more bounces for the trampoline to settle down so that Bryn could lay down on their back and rest their spinning head.

* * *

Back behind the dump truck the gun fire quit and everything settled down. Still crouched down Toni and Sam lifted their heads up and looked at each other.

“Hey, poke your head out, see if they’re still their,” said Sam.

“Me? Why don’t you do it?” asked Toni.

“If I do it, I’ll get killed.”

“Oh, so then it’s okay if I get killed?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

They both suddenly stopped arguing as they both heard sirens. Turning their heads towards the hole in the wall that they drove the dump truck through they saw several cop cars pull up. The cops didn’t waste any time getting out of their cars and raising their guns. Without even a warning with a bullhorn they crowded around the large hole in the wall.

“Oh shit, it’s the popo!” Shouted one of the thugs before he started firing off his gun along with the rest of the thugs. They fired non stop while taking cover behind boxes and columns. The police responded with equal amounts of non stop gun fire as they too took cover behind their cars and the edges of the hole.

“This isn’t right,” Toni shouted with her hands covering her ears. “Shouldn’t the cops doing hostage negotiations or at least make sure there’s no civilians like us before they start firing off?”

“There hasn’t been anything right about the cops for the last few months,” Sam shouted back. “This is too dangerous. We need to get out of here before we get caught in any crossfire.”

Sam and Toni looked around frantically trying to find an exit while still staying down out of sight of the thugs.

“Shit, the only exit that I see is over there behind the thugs,” Toni pointed over the hood of the truck.

“We’ll need a diversion,” Sam looked around the truck. “I uh… I’ve got an idea. It’s a bad idea, but it’s a plan.”

“What about Bryn? We need to find them.”

“I hate to say it, but there’s nothing that we can do. We are in danger right now and the only thing that we need to do is find someplace safe for us.”

“Okay, but what’s your stupid plan?”

Sam crouched down on one knee and untied his shoes. Once he had his shoes off he removed his socks and tied them together. Then unscrewed gas cap on the truck and stuck the socks into the tank with the end hanging out. With his lighter he set fire to sock.

“Run like fuck!” Sam shouted as he and Toni ran off around the front of the truck behind the thugs.

Some of the thugs noticed them and turned to watch them, but before they could react the truck exploded into a large fireball. It wasn’t close enough to burn any of the thugs, but the blast was big enough to sweep them off their feet and become disorientated. With such a large diversion Sam and Toni to escaped out the door.

* * *

Bryn, Bryn, wake up.

I’m sorry, but I have to leave.

“Maylene?” moaned Bryn as they awoke and sat up on the trampoline holding their head. For a minute they thought that they were back in their dorm room sleeping. As they heard gun shots coming from the other side of the building they realized that they were in the middle of a big fight, but they can’t shake the thought of being in their dorm room with Maylene like it was forgotten memory. Regaining conscious, two things was on their mind, first was that they hope that their friends were safe. The second was that they are not cut out for the crime fighting business. Slowly they rose up to their feet.

“Geronimo!” Shouted Slapstick as he cannonballed onto the trampoline sending Bryn back up into the air bouncing again like a basketball. They felt like they were about to vomit as they were tossed around. Struggling to shift their weight around and working to push off at the right angle Bryn made their way to the edge of the trampoline so that they may land safely in the ball pit. Moving their arms in a scooping motion Bryn swam through the ball pit, but Slapstick quickly caught up to them and grabbed them by the top of their head.

“I’m not done playing with you yet, come back here,” said Slapstick.

Bryn tried to say something, but instead threw up their lunch all over Slapstick shoes.

“I’m pretty sure that The Punisher never vomited while fighting bad guys before,” said Bryn.

“What? Are you working for the stupid skull? That’s all the more reason for me to juice your head!” Slapstick tighten his grip on Bryn’s head squeezing it.

Then suddenly with a bang Slapstick noticed a massive explosion on the other side of the building.

“Oh shit!” He yelled. “You do not blow up shit in a drug lab! That only makes things worse!”

He tossed Bryn aside towards the wall and ran off. Bryn hit the wall hard and slide down it and sunk in the ball pit.

“Great, you go take care of that,” They moaned as they crawled out of the ball pit and watched Slapstick run towards the explosions on the other side of the building.

* * *

“It’s Cop Clobberin’ time!” Shouted Slapstick as he charged towards the front of the building.

The cops fired their guns at the cartoon juggernaut, but the bullets bounced off of him like gumballs. This only irritated him as he grabbed the flaming dump truck and lifted it up over his head.

“It’s dinner time and I’m about to barbecue some pigs!” He screamed as threw the burning truck at the defenseless police officers.

The cops scattered and tried to hide as the truck came flying through the air, but with the sound of squeaking brakes the truck suddenly stopped in mid air.

“If anything is going to be barbecued it’s going to be you slim ball,” said Ghost Rider from his car that just arrived with She-Hulk on the roof that had caught the dump truck just in time.

“It’s no fair for you to be throwing large vehicles at policemen,” said She-Hulk as she tossed the truck aside to a clear part of the street. She then leaped off the car with her fist forward. “Like they say, why don’t you pick on someone your own size!”

She knocked Slapstick across his jaw with a powerful punch. Slapstick countered back with punch of his own. This only made She-Hulk madder as she uppercutted him in the gut. Slapstick clasped his hands around her neck and tried to strangle her. Ghost Rider snuck around behind him and threw his hellfire chain around the neck of Slapstick and pulled him back. He let go of She-Hulk and pulled on the chain to remove it from his neck then he swang it around with Ghost Rider still holding on and like a slingshot he threw him across the building towards the ball pit.

Bryn crawled out of the ball pit just as Ghost Rider landed with a splash of balls and return to his human form as Robbie Reyes.

“Ghost Rider, am I happy to see you,” Bryn reached out their arm to help Robbie climb out of the ball pit.

“Bryn? What are you doing here?” Robbie grabbed their arm and used it to pull himself out of the ball pit.

She-Hulk burst into the play area tackling Slapstick.

“Hey, get that kid out of here!” shouted She-Hulk. Distracted for a moment she didn’t see Slapstick as he punched her across the face.

“She’s right, this maybe a playground, but it’s no place for a kid like you,” Ghost Rider grabbed Bryn’s hand and led them away from the fight.

“Wait, we need to find my friends,” said Bryn as they struggled to keep up.

“Don’t worry about them, the cops have the place pretty well covered. I’m sure they’ll find them.”

* * *

“I think the coast is clear,” said Toni as she peaked her head out of the alley way. She watched a large crowd of civilians surround the cops to catch a glimpse of the superhero fight. The cops blocked off the public and were telling them to leave with a loud speaker.

“What, where did the Avengers go?” asked Sam.

“I think they fought Slapstick back into the Wacky Tacky,” replied Toni

“Damn, we’re missing a good fight.”

“We can’t stay and watch. We have to get out of here now while the cops are distracted with the crowd,” Toni gestured for Sam to follow her.

They started walking off in the opposite direction of the cops before being halted.

“Hey, stop right there! Where do you think you’re going?” said a cop with his gun drawn.

“Sorry, officer we were just-” Sam slowly turned around to face the cop.

“Put your hands up in the air! Both of you!”

“But we didn’t do anything. We just want to go home.” Sam pleaded as he and Toni held their hands up in the air.

“Don’t play dumb with me kids. I saw the two of you in that building with that freak. You’re coming with me,” Cop approached the two college students with handcuffs in hand.

“Hey, you can’t do that,” Toni lowered her hands and backed off. “This is abuse of power.”

“I don’t care. You’re both coming with me. It’s the law,” The cop pulled his gun back out and aimed it at Toni.

“Just do what he says. We have no choice in the matter,” reasoned Sam.

“Listen to him, I will shoot you if I have to,” said the cop.

Slowly raising her hands Toni accepted her fate and let the cop handcuff her wrists behind her back.

* * *

Running quickly Ghost Rider led Bryn through the drug lab area of the Wacky Tacky. The place was cluttered with equipment and tanks of chemicals. Rushing and not watching where they were stepping Bryn tripped over a propane tank and stumbled.

“Try to keep up, you don’t want to be caught by Slapstick. She-Hulk can barely keep him back,” Ghost Rider helped Bryn stand back up.

“We have to help her,” said Bryn looking back at the fight.

“Well first I need to get you to safety. There’s nothing you can do,” replied Ghost Rider.

Not far away She-Hulk and Slapstick traded blows. They were pretty evenly matched in strength. With a heavy punch Slapstick knocked She-Hulk down causing her to skid on the ground a few feet. Slapstick approached her about to kick her while she was down, but with both of her legs she kick back at him and stood back on her feet. She then grabbed a section of metal monkey bars and began beating him with it, but the fight was taking its toll on her and she was becoming short of breath.

“Come on, we have to keep going,” Ghost Rider tugged on Bryn trying to get them to move, but they resisted.

“I’ve an idea. I need you to use your chains to hold him down,” said Bryn.

“What are you talking about?” asked Ghost Rider.

“Just do it and get She-Hulk to hold him down too.”

Ghost Rider threw out his flaming chains and they wrapped around the arms and legs of Slapstick. He fought trying to break free, but She-Hulk shoved with all of her weight sending him to the ground. Once on the floor she held him down.

“Hey, girl if you want me be on my back you don’t have to be so rough,” taunted Slapstick, but was no use he could not fight off the two super heroes.

“Shut up, you grease painted buffon,” said She-Hulk as she strained her muscles to hold him down.

“No, keep you big mouth open and take a deep breath,” Bryn approached Slapstick holding a propane tank and turning the valve on the top releasing the gas. Once the tank was fully open they shoved into the mouth of Slapstick filling his lungs with the poisonous gas.

“You feel that?” said Bryn. “That’s C3 H8 also known as propane. A petroleum gas that when inhaled can cause nausea, convulsions, headaches, diarrhea, and even a coma.”

Shaking his body around Slapstick struggled to breath, but it was no use as Ghost Rider She-Hulk tighten their grips on him. Slowly but surely he fought less and less as he fell into unconsciousness.

“I love science,” Bryn lifted the tank back up and twisted the valve close.

“Good work,” Ghost rider released his chains and raised his hand for high five from Bryn.

“Thanks for the assistance. That clown was wearing me out,” She-Hulk stood back up and traded a high five with Bryn too.

“I’m glad to help, but I need to get back to my friends,” said Bryn.

“Do you know where they could have gone?” asked Ghost Rider as he returned his human form.

“I don’t know. I’m going to call them,” Bryn took out their cell phone and dialed Sam’s phone number.

After three rings the phone was answered with a voice that Bryn didn’t recognize, “Hello.”

“Sam, is that you? Where are you?” Bryn asked confused.

“Sorry, but this is officer McCann, I have arrested you friends and confiscated their phones. If you want to see you friends again then you’re gonna have to come down to the station to pay their bail.”

Feeling defeated and shocked Bryn hung up her phone and cursed under her breath.

“What happened? Are they okay?” asked Robbie.

“Fuck, the police arrested them,” Bryn felt completely hopeless and begun to cry.

“It’s okay, I’m a lawyer. I can help your friends,” She-Hulk hugged Bryn trying to console them.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Over four thousand pounds of dirt, less than thirty square feet of moving space, pitch black darkness, maple wood, velvet cushions stuffed with goose down, all of these things made The Punisher extremely uncomfortable. He needed to escape, but doing so would be impossible for the common man. However The Punisher is no common man, but it's still very difficult even for him.

He searched around for anything to help himself. He found nothing in the pockets of his ceremonial military uniform, but pinned to his chest he found several medals including a Purple Heart, a Gallantry Cross, and a Vietnam Campaign Medal. He detached all of the medals from his chest. Wrapping the ribbons around his fingers and placing the medals between each of his knuckles he strengthened his fist to make his punches more damaging to the coffin lid. With less than a foot of space to move he didn't have the range to deliver much of a powerful punch, but he did what he could. It was easy for him to break through the velvet cushion. However it would take much more force to break through the maple wood lid. If four thousand pounds of dirt doesn’t break the lid then what more damage could a few punches do to it. Nonetheless The Punisher never let an immovable force stop him before. He made every punch matter and didn't waste any energy as he did not have much air left in the small space.

After more than an hour of punching the lid the goose down had emptied from the cushion onto him and the wood was just starting to splinter. Unfortunately he was causing more damage to his hand. Maple wood is actually stronger than bone and if he continued with that hand he could break it. So he gave it a break by removing the medals and holding them in his other hand to continue punching at the lid. It was impossible for him to actually punch through the lid, however he could weaken it until it caved in from the weight of the dirt. After another hour his hand was ready to break again. He took several deep breaths and relaxed.

Gliding his fingers along the lid to feel out the damage that he had made with his punches. It wasn’t much, but it would do. All he needed to do now was wait and let the heavy dirt do the rest of the work.

After a couple hours of lying in silence he heard what he was waiting for, the sound of wood cracking. Like snow on a tree branch. The cracking was brief and everything was silent again for a while until another crack was made. As he waited the cracking became more and more frequent and he could sense the coffin strain to support itself from the dirt. Until eventually the coffin finally gave up.

Suddenly, hundreds of pounds of dirt fell on to The Punisher’s chest. He scrambled in the pitch black darkness to move through the new hole. He didn't have much time, once the dirt settles and fills the coffin he won't be able to move through it. As long as the dirt was moving it was loose it would move around him, however once it stops moving it'll press all of its weight on him and suffocate him. Taking his last breath the Punisher climbed out of the coffin. The thousands pounds of dirt pressed him back, but he fought through it. There was only six feet to climb up, but it wasn't an easy task. As soon he grabbed at something that felt solid it gave and he feel back towards the coffin. Everytime he moved up a foot he fell back six inches. It was not a good pace to move at.

It wasn't long before the dirt stopped moving and encased itself around the Punisher. He was only able to climb up three feet before the dirt froze him in place with all of it's pressure. He was running out of air and couldn't hold his breath much longer. As he strained to move his arms the carbon monoxide built inside of him and fought to be released out of his mouth. Straining his muscles he found the strength to move a little bit further. He knew that he didn't have to climb much farther. He could almost feel the cool air on his skin as he pushed through the dirt. Unfortunately his body couldn't keep up, he was about to black out just as he felt a bony hand clasp around his.

Slowly he felt himself being lifted through the dirt. Using his free hand he pressed down a solid patch of dirt to give him more leverage to climb up. It felt like hours, but in reality only a few minutes passed as he burst out the ground returned to the land of the living.

“Welcome back, Frank,” greeted Robbie Reyes the Ghost Rider.

The Punisher fell back onto the grass and took a moment to rest and relax his muscles. He held his hands out in front of him and examined both sides of them making sure they're both really there.

“I have both of my hands,” he commented.

“Yeah, I was worried that you weren't coming back for a moment,” replied Robbie.

“So that was you speaking to me while I was in there?” The Punisher pushed himself off the ground and stood up.

“When you died, I knew that you wouldn't stay down for long. So I visited your grave every day and I could feel your spirit still in your body. With my powers I was able to reach out to you and send messages to you.”

“So Cypress Hills cemetery?” The Punisher looked down at his tombstone and the surrounding area.

“Yeah, we were unable to bury you with your family, but Captain America pulled some strings and gave you a nice funeral here among other Vietnam veterans. He gave your eulogy, you should have heard it. You would like it.”

“No, I wouldn't deserve it,” The Punisher snapped back

Robbie looked around and stopped his eyes on a black sedan parked on the edge of the cemetery. He couldn't tell if anyone was in it, but he didn't remember it being there when he arrived. He turned to the Punisher, grabbed and pulled on his arm.

“We have to go,” he whispered.

Nodding the Punisher followed him without question. Quickly and quietly they left the cemetery and entered the urban setting of Brooklyn.

He took a moment to examine his reflection in a store window and found his hair had grown out long and a bushy beard on his face. Grabbing the beard he felt the scraggly and unkempt hair.

“You could use a shower and shave. Come with me. I know a place,” said Robbie.

“I need a drink,” replied The Punisher as he walked down the street into a bar.

He sat down on a stool at the counter. Robbie followed him close by.

“A White Russian,” ordered the Punisher.

“White Russian?” questioned Robbie.

“It's got milk. Good for the bones.”

“Uh, I guess I'll have a Coke,” Robbie sat down next to him.

The Bartender let out a long sigh as he rested his hands on the counter.

“I'm going to need to see some IDs,” he said.

“I'm not drinking.”

“I don't care kid, you need to be 21 to stay in this bar.” He then turned to the Punisher and said. “As for you, listen I understand times are hard, but we don't give out free drinks here.”

Without saying a word The Punisher got up and left.

“Come with me. I know a great boba tea place near by,” said Robbie.

“What's boba?” asked the Punisher.

“It's milk tea with tapioca balls. It's popular with the teens now days.”

“fucking gentrification,” whispered the Punisher under his breath.

As the Punisher left the bar he started down the sidewalk to the left. Robbie turned to the right, but as he realized that his compatriot was leaving in the other direction he turned and called after him.

“Hey, you’re going the wrong way. The boba place is this way. Follow me,” he said, but The Punisher didn’t seem to listen to him, so he ran up to catch up to him.

“Where are you going?” Robbie asked him. “There’s more I have to tell you about.”

“I have a safe house about three miles away from here,” answered The Punisher remaining stoic. “You can tell me more later. I need a shower, shave, and some food.”

“Yeah, I get that, but you’re not going to be able to do that.”

“And why is that?” A hint of agitation could be heard in The Punisher’s voice as he stopped and turned his attention to Robbie.

“Well, um that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Robbie nervously scratched the back of his neck. “There’s no safe house left for you. In the nine months that you’ve been gone the police have found and raided all of your safe houses.”

“What do you mean?” The Punisher snapped back. A vain bulged in his forehead. “Microchip was supposed to take care of them.”

“Hey man, calm down,” Robbie took a step back and continued to talk in a quieter slower tone. “I hate to break it to you, but well Microchip has been arrested and I think Maylene too. And the cops found all of the locations of your safehouses.”

“Impossible! They were well hidden and guarded. Microchip and I covered our tracks well. No one could have found and gained access to our safe houses and I trust in Microchip to not reveal their locations no matter what.”

“I don’t know if it was Microchip’s fault, but the cops have been locating and raiding your safe houses and weapons stashes all over New York and across the U.S. I’m telling you a lot has changed since you’ve been gone.”

“Oh fuck no!” The Punisher took off running down the street towards the safehouse.

“Hey whoa!” Robbie called after him, but he didn’t chase after him. He realized that it was better for The Punisher to find out on his own. However he knew that The Punisher was still going to need some help. So as he stood alone on the sidewalk he took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

“Hey, I was hoping I wouldn’t get your voicemail, but well the big guy is back. It’s a long story, I’ll explain later. Anyway he’s going to need your help. I’m going to try to contact a few other people to help out too. So call me as soon as you get this.”

* * *

After running down fifty-six city blocks the Punisher reached an old run down apartment building. Although looking like it was on its way to be torn down the building was still being inhabited by tenants, most of which were shut ins, disable, or just kept to themselves. It was a perfect place to hide out. Regardless The Punisher avoided the front of the building, due to a security camera across the street that had a clear view of the front door. Also he didn't have a key anyway.

Creeping into the alleyway, he grabbed a steel trash can and was careful to not make noise as he carried it to below the fire escape. While standing on the trash can he grabbed onto the ladder to the fire escape and lowered it down.

Once he reached the floor of his apartment he felt around for the unfolded coat hanger that he had concealed by taping it to the bottom of the window seal. With it being a safe house he made extra effort to make sure it was secure. The windows were spray painted black so that no one could see in or out and they featured a complicated lock. At the middle of the rail was a dummy lock. It looked like a normal lock, but if an invader tried to unlock it from the outside they would get a face full of bear mace. The real lock was actually in the top of the channel. By inserting the coat hanger into a discreet pin hole he disarmed the lock and was able to slide the window open.

With the window open he was shocked to see the apartment completely empty. Everything was gone from the guns to the extra clothes. All of the rooms were empty and the walls bear. Nothing was left. Robbie was correct in saying the cops had found out of it. The locks on the front door were cut in half with an acetylene torch and the bear mace canisters had been removed.

Entering the bathroom, The Punisher was considering taking a shower however even the bathroom had been cleaned out. The police had taken everything, even the toilet paper and had it stored in an evidence locker in God knows where. Even with running water it was pointless for him to take a shower for there was no towels to dry himself off with and his only clothing, a ceremonial marine uniform was capped with dirt and stinking like shit.

Looking at the mirror, he felt as empty as the apartment with his ragged and dirty features. His disgusting hair and beard was matted and scraggly. His crusty eyes hung under a mountain cliff of a forehead. Every line on his face was pronounced with bold underlines. He never did care much for how other people saw him, but in this moment he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror any longer.

Using the brute force of his shoulder he pried off the wooden boards that had been nailed to the front door and exited the former safe house. Looking down both ends of the hallway he saw that it was empty. It appeared that all of the old tenants were stilling living there and nothing had changed since he had last visited, that is except for himself. There was the foul odor of rotten food that came from apartment of Milly Malwood, the large stack of newspapers in front of Harry Wesley’s apartment, and the ear piercing country singing that came from Joseph Pincus’ apartment.

“I was born in a garbage can, cuz my mama married a sanitation man!” Practice makes perfect for most people, but despite playing the guitar and singing all hours of the day nothing has improved for the performance of Joseph Pincus aka Lonesome Pinky.

With a light tap The Punisher knocked on his door and stood to the side out of view of the peephole. As soon as Joseph poked his head out the door The Punisher sent a knockout punch to his forehead sending him unconscious to the ground. After dragging him inside and closing the door, The Punisher was quick in removing the strings from the guitar and wrapping the short cowboy up in them. He felt some pity for the guy and didn’t like robbing him, but he figured it made up for all of the hours of lost sleep he and the other tenants had to endor do his horrible music.

After a long hot shower cleaning his body of the dirt and dead bugs The Punisher felt reborn and much more comfortable in his skin. Then he took out a pair of scissors and a razor to shave his beard. However he decided not to cut his hair down to the traditional flat top that he had maintained for years and instead let it remain long. He figured It would be best for him to appear different and not be recognized too quickly. With a rubber band he tied his hair into a ponytail to keep it from falling into his eyes.

Taking a flannel shirt, a pair of jeans, and fifty dollars The Punisher left the apartment of the wannabe singer and back to the streets of Brooklyn.

* * *

Newly cleaned and refreshed, The Punisher grabbed a bus ride and a cab ride down to the shipping docks. After about a mile long walk through the warehouses to the warehouse that served as the base of his operations until he had gone to hell. However it was the same story as the safe house apartment, police yellow tape lined the outside and there was no sign of forced entry. The doors and walls were all intact and the locks and defense mechanisms had been removed. The police and or whoever infiltrated the hideout must have known about the security elements beforehand in order to defuse them.

The guns, the van, Microchip’s computers, The Punisher’s war journals, everything was gone. The building didn’t even look the same to him anymore, it was just big and empty without purpose. He searched every inch of the warehouse looking for anything that could have been left behind and came up with nothing.

After searching for an hour he finally revisited the place of his death. Coming upon a trap door in the floor of the back of the building, the lock was noticeably blown apart. This was the only part of the building that was damaged which was strange. Whoever had opened it had done so by force, but it was hard to tell if the damage was caused by the intruder or by the bomb that was wired to the door.

After entering a small bunker like room the Punisher was inside the last place that he slept in before he was taken away to Hell. Before the only objects that occupied the room were a cot, an alarm clock, an assault rifle, and a toilet. Now this room was also empty except for a tape outline of a body where the cot once was. However there no clues as to how he died. Not even a blood stain. There was nothing to give him answers. It was all gone.

* * *

He spent the next day searching New York for any safe house or weapon cache that hadn’t been raided, but there was nothing to be found. Each and everyone of them were taped off and cleared out. All except for one showed no sign of forced entry or damage. The only damaged safe house was an abandoned store just south of the Great Kills of Staten Island. This building had appeared to have been a shoe store that had gone out of business years ago, but the back room had been converted to one of The Punisher’s largest armories. In there he had stored over a dozen rocket launchers, a hundred different assault rifles and handguns, and over three hundred pounds of explosives. This place was well guarded by robotic gun turrets that Microchip had called Daleks. The Punisher hated those things, because they were unable to detect the level of threat something posed. It would shot at everything. If those things weren’t disarmed before entering the building they will shoot anything that moves regardless of what it was. Once a rat had snuck into the armory and all that was left of it was a square foot smoking hole in the ground.

These Daleks must have caused some problems for the police as The Punisher had arrived at the building he found it half destroyed. It was practically rubble with bricks and supports scattered everywhere. The place was a war zone with a large collection of flowers near the front. A memorial to be exact. Gazing upon it he saw three photos of police officers, two men and a woman. Each a smiling face with flowers, teddy bears, and candles crowding around them. These men and women were just doing their jobs trying to protect the city. They had friends, family, and people that cared about them. They lost their lives due to a mistake that was made by the Punisher and Microchip.

Overwhelmed by guilt he fell to his knees and struck at the pavement with his fists. He knew that he could have prevented their deaths. If only he hadn't been sent to Hell, if he had protected himself more as he slept, if he had told Microchip to disarm the Daleks, if he had just not bought the shoe store and converted it into an armory, he could have prevented their deaths.

“DAMN IT!” he cursed in anger.

“Hey buddy, calm down,” he heard a voice from behind him.

Turning around and standing up The Punisher was met with two cops in full uniform. They looked like rookies fresh out of the academy. With being a wanted man that just came back from the dead The Punisher wanted to avoid being confronted by them.

“Are you okay? Do you want to tell us why you were yelling?” asked one of the cops in a calm voice.

“Mind your own business, I can be mad if I want to,” The Punisher turned his back on the cops and began walking away.

“Hey, wait is it him?” one of the cops whispered to the other.

“Hard to tell, his hair is long, but other than that he fits the description,” replied the other cop.

They ran up to catch up with The Punisher and one placed his on his shoulder to stop him, but The Punisher shrugged it off.

“Hold up, don't turn your back on us. We need to talk to you.” The cop persisted.

“Just leave me alone,” The Punisher didn't want to talk to the cops, but he didn't want to argue with them. He thought about knocking them both out and running away, but being in a public place he wouldn't get far away.

“How about you show us some ID?” requested the other cop.

“Sorry officer, but I'm in a hurry to be somewhere.”

“Well that's just going to have to wait. If you don't cooperate with us then we're going to have to take you down to the station,” one of the cops took out a pair of handcuffs the other a Billy club.

“I'm very angry right now and I want to be someplace else. Trust me you don't want to fight me,” threatened The Punisher.

“Just surrender and everything will be fine.” The cops came closer.That was when The Punisher noticed something strange about the cops. With their uniforms, hats, and sunglasses, it was difficult to see any distinguishing marks on the cops, but peeking out of their collars looked to be tattoos, one of which resembled a swastika another was clock with no hands. The Punisher recognized these tattoos as prison tattoos.

Making a sudden attack The Punisher went for the cop with the Billy club, punching him in the stomach and yanking the Billy club out of his hand.

“Freeze, drop the weapon,” the other cop pulled out his gun and aimed it at The Punisher.

Pausing he calculated in his head if he could reach the cop before he could fire his gun, or if he could intimidate him into not shooting him.

“You heard him drop it,” the cop that The Punisher had punch had gotten back up and aimed his gun too.

The Punisher didn't have much of a choice or time to think.

Suddenly a big burst of white smoke appeared between him and the cops. Some unseen person had thrown a smoke grenade as a diversion. However the smoke disoriented The Punisher too, as he looked around trying to find a way out he saw the red light of a laser cut through the smoke. The laser beam created a red line in mid air. At first the Punisher was alarmed at the sight of it thinking it could be used as a sight for a sniper, but then noticed that it was blinking. Some of the blinking was more rapid or slower causing him to realize that the laser was being used to give a Morse code message that said 'follow'. So he did so.

Following the laser beam he exited the smoke and saw that the laser was coming from a pointer resting on a dumpster across the street. After running to the pointer he found a large manila next to it with a skull drawn on it.

Once The Punisher was a safe distance away from the cops he opened the envelope to find several pieces of paper that looked like legal forms and one letter that read You should visit your friend Microchip in prison. Everything you need is in this envelope, also read the newspaper once in a while. signed M. Searching through the envelope he found a fake ID for a Johnny Towers and all of the necessary paperwork to make an appointment to visit Microchip in Rikers prison later that day. Normally The Punisher would be suspicious of gifts like this, but he needed answers so he took a bus to Queens where the bridge to Rikers was located.

* * *

The Punisher has been on Rikers island many times before, so many times that he knew the layout like that back of his hand. However this was the first time that he was there on his own free will.

Whenever someone is arrested in New York City and held without bail or is unable to pay bail they are kept on Rikers Island until their court date. Even after sentencing the guilty can be held their to live out sentencing depending on their verdict.

In the nine months that Microchip has been staying on Riker’s he had already been in and out of court twenty times and still has fifteen more court dates scheduled. It’s going to take the persecutors over a year to go through all of his accused crimes and determine if he’s guilty or innocence. In the thirty years that he aided The Punisher he has developed quite a long wrap sheet. These crimes included an indeterminable counts of aiding and abetting a criminal, indeterminable counts of possession of illegal firearms, indeterminable counts of thief, indeterminable counts of kidnapping, indeterminable counts of computer hacking, indeterminable counts of forging legal documents and so on. However involuntary manslaughter can be added to the extensive list.

Entering the visiting room The Punisher found himself on one side of a glass divider with chairs and phones on either side for the prisoners and visitors to communicate with. He walked down the row past other visitors to the very end and sat down. Sitting on the other side of the glass, he saw his old partner microchip looking beaten, bruised and worn out, prison had not been treating him well. Nonetheless he had a big smile from ear to ear as he held the phone to his ear eagerly awaiting to be able to talk to The Punisher once again.

After waiting a few seconds The Punisher picked up the phone and before he put it to his ear he could hear Microchip speak.

“Oh my God, you’re a sight for sore eyes. It was nice of you to let me know you're coming by using your old alias Johnny Tower. So you’re getting me the fuck out of here, right? Maybe blow this place to hell while you’re at it too.”

“What are you doing here?” Asked The Punisher.

“What am I doing here?!,” Microchip blurted out talking a mile a minute unable to contain his emotions. “Oh I’m just visiting seeing the sights, taking in the culture, and becoming at one with nature. No! Fuck! I’m getting my ass beaten in! And cleaning toilets with my fucking tongue! Have you ever wanted to kill over a thousand people in one afternoon? Well, I’ve got a list for you. Oh and don’t worry about the guards getting caught in the crossfire, they can burn in hell too!”

All caught up in rage Microchip stood up and banged his handcuffed fists on the glass. He was quickly stopped as a guard silently and calmly placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him to sit back down like a submissive dog.

“I didn’t mean you Ted. You and me bro, we’re tight,” Microchip said to the guard.

Once the guard stood back out of ear shot, he whispered ‘kill him’ and gestured with his cheek towards the guard.

To The Punisher it seemed that he was unaware of the letter that was given to him earlier so he decided not to mention it.

“It’s your own fault for letting yourself get caught.”

“Fuck that’s rich coming from a guy that’s been in prison at least seven times himself. At least half of those times here in Rikers.”

“How did you let this happen?”

Microchip took a moment to blankly stare at The Punisher. His blood boiled, but he desperately contained himself and didn’t start yelling as he answered. “I… I… You were dead. I don’t know.”

Pausing again he took a few deep breaths and began talking again. “Okay so, when I last saw you alive. It was around one am on a Wednesday nine months ago. Maylene had gone back to her dorm and I wasn’t sleeping, because I still can’t kick my caffeine addiction. I was listening to the police radio while posing as a teenage girl on a dating site to lure pedos. When you entered you didn’t say anything to me not ever hello as you dropped your machine guns on the floor and stripped off your bloody clothes and walked to the back of warehouse to go sleep in your bunker bedroom. I don’t know when I passed out, but when I woke up with my head on my keyboard as the door was broken in and swat team guys jumped through the windows aiming their assault rifles at me. I reached for my shotgun, but before I could one of those fucks put a slug in my knee cap. Then they went for your room like they knew that you were there. After they blew the hinges off the door they dragged you out unconscious. I don’t know if they had killed you then, or you were already dead, or what! But shit hasn’t been going good for me ever since. They arrested Maylene too, but she’s not here in Riker’s, I don’t know where they have her. I haven’t heard anything on the news about her going to court either.”

“How did they know where our safe houses and armories were?”

“Well, I don’t know how they knew about our place, but when it didn’t look like you were coming back I cut a deal with the police. They offered me a false identity to serve out my sentence under in exchange for locations on the safe houses. So I only told them about three places. After that they must have found one of your war journals, because they found every other safehouse. And the deal didn’t work out well for me, inmates are still making my stay a living hell, but at least no one shanked me”

“Was one of those three places the shoe store in Staten Island?” The Punisher’s voice became like a hammer hitting an anvil and he stared at Microchip with piercing eyes.

“Well yeah, that was the first place I mention along with, the apartment in Harlem, and the factory in Newark.” replied Microchip completely oblivious. “I was hoping my daleks would deter them from searching for other places and find any evidence that would further incriminate me.”

“Three cops died in Staten Island, because one of your fucking daleks. Their names where Thomas Duane, Reed Dunnell, and Alessia Kovac.”

“Oh yeah, shit.” Microchip whispered as he became pale and was frozen in place looking in the eyes of The Punisher afraid to flinch.

Neither one of them said a thing as they sat there silently staring into each other’s eyes until finally a guard came up to The Punisher and told him that visiting time is over and they left together.

Microchip exhaled and let out the breath that he had been holding in for the last five minutes. Two guards escorted him back down the cell block past the other inmates in their cells. As he passed by the inmates they minded their own business and paid no attention.

“Testing… Testing…” The prison entercom came on broadcasted over the entire prison. Everyone stopped what they were doing and paid attention as a gravelly voice spoke. “I am The Punisher and I’m back from the dead. I’ve killed your comrades, friends, and even family members. I’ve come back, because my work is not done. I still have all of you to kill, but I must take care of some personal business first. In the meantime I want you all to welcome a friend of mine for me. He is currently staying on C Block in cell number three nine three eight. His name is David Linus Lieberman aka Microchip, but you know him as Lowell Bartholomew. He has been my partner for the last thirty-five years building my weapons and tracking my targets. He has aided me in the murders of thousand of criminals. I don’t think I’m talking out of line when I say that each one of you inmates know at least one person that I have murdered and Microchip played a part in each one of those murders. Why don’t you all make him feel welcome and give him the most pleasant time in prison that anyone can have. Oh and one other thing, it’s three o’clock, time for everyone to go to the yard for some exorcise.”

Microchip swallowed the bile in his throat and prayed for a quick death.

* * *

After leaving the prison The Punisher set out to fulfill the second part of the instructions listed on the note that he found in the car. Approaching a newsstand in Queens he read the headlines on multiple newspapers and was shocked by the stories that have been reported.

The Daily Bugle: FORMER VICTIM OF SPIDER-MAN WILSON FISK HAS A SUCCESSFUL FIRST MONTH AS MAYOR

The Daily Globe: MAYOR FISK WELCOMES NEW POLICE FORCE RECRUITS WITH AN INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH

New York Bulletin: VICE MAYOR MARTIN LI OPENS UP SEVERAL HOMELESS SHELTERS IN AN EFFORT TO CLEAN UP THE STREETS

New York Star: IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW MAYOR FISK EXPLAINS HIS FIVE STAGE PLAN TO REDUCE CRIME AND VIGILANTIS

The Punisher had known Wilson Fisk as his arch nemesis and crime lord Kingpin and Martin Li as enemy of Spider-man and another crime lord known as Mr. Negative. He realized in his absence the criminals had free reign over the city and nothing stood in their way from taking control.

“A lot has changed since you've been gone Frank,” said the young woman standing close by. She was a short raven black haired young woman. Standing near her was a younger girl holding a pet wolverine, with similar features like a little sister. However this child had some distinct features such as facial scars

“Wolverine?” asked Punisher unsure as to greet the mutant hero.

“I'm back to being X-23 again, but just call me Laura,” she replied.

“Hi, Punisher,” said the little girl.

“It's good to see you again Honey Badger.”

Her checks glowed red as she smiled and held out Jack the Wolverine. The Punisher briefly scratched the back of the head of the wild animal.

“Did Ghost Rider send you to find me?” asked The Punisher.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the only person he called. Apparently he thinks that you may do something irrational,” replied Laura.

“I’ve never done anything irrational in my life. My actions have just been misunderstood.”

“Hmmm… those words sound familiar,” Laura folded her arms and looked The Punisher dead in the eyes. “You need to take some time to reaccumulate yourself. You can’t let yourself be controlled by your emotions and go off unhinged in a battle that you can’t win.”

“I’m not like Logan, I’m always in control of myself. However I’m rather disappointed that the Kingpin was allowed to be elected Mayor. Now I don’t expect you X-men or Avengers to do anything about it with all of constant battles with each other and random nonsense. Regardless Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Moon Knight should have had enough consideration to do something to prevent a criminal from taking the mayor’s office and fucked up everything for me.”

“I can’t speak for everyone, but legally nothing could have been done. He ran for office and was elected. It’s just how things worked out. There is nothing we can do about it and you can’t just run into town hall looking to start a fight.”

“Why not? We already know he’s a bad guy,” Gabby innocently asked.

“Shut up, don’t give him any ideas,” Laura snapped at her.

“Save it, I’m not going into town just yet. I still have a few tasks that I need to attend to,” with those finals words The Punisher walked past Laura and Gabby down the street.

“Should we let him go?” Asked Gabby as they watched him leave.

“I’m not sure, there’s not much we can do for him, but Robbie has other eyes on him,” said Laura.

* * *

After leaving the subway The Punisher walked to the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, which he had been avoiding for the last forty years. For it was a place that brought back painful memories for him. It was the neighborhood that he had lived in with his family back in the seventies.

On the way he stopped at a hardware store to buy a shovel and waited until the sun had set and night had given him the coverage that he needed to stay unnoticeable. Even then as he walked he tried to remain in the shadows and not make eye contact with anyone.

He could feel his chest get tighter and tighter as he came closer to his family’s home. The house that he bought after he married his wife. The house where together they raised their first child Lisa. Where he received a letter saying that he was being deployed to Vietnam. The address that sent him letters while at war. Where he returned after the war was over and he spent a short happy amount of time with his family before the one unbearable month that he spent there alone after he returned from the hospital.

Once he reached the house was just as he had remembered it big and empty with peeling paint, boarded up windows, and a foreclosure sign on the weed infested front lawn. Looking around the house he could see signs of squatters, but other than that the house had been unlived in since he had left it.

Walking around the opening of the fence he grabbed the mailbox. With powerful yank he pulled out the wooden post that held it. Once that was out of the way he began digging with his shovel. Pressing the end into the spot then dumping it out into a pile for him to search through with his hands. With the first five shovelfuls he dug up nothing, but dirt and worms. Still he persisted until he had unearthed the small item that he had secretly buried there forty years ago. The item was a key with number zero one eight five etched into it. It was the key that he had used to lock away his past.

* * *

As The Punisher entered a large windowless building a bell rung above his head. A twenty something Portuguese man that was sitting behind the counter looked up from his comic book.

“Hello, welcome to New York Lock and Storage how may I help you?” he yawned as talked hoping that he wouldn’t have to help.

“I am here to take somethings from my locker,” The Punisher said as he placed the key on the counter. “Is Sancho Araujo here?”

“Sorry, he passed away five years ago. I’m his son Ademir. I inherited the place after he died. just walked down that hallway--” As the young man read the number on the key his eyes grew wide. “Oh shit is this for real?”

“I’m sorry to hear about your father. Although he and I had an agreement.”

“Yeah um, he told me that one day a man will come here with a key for locker zero one eight five and I am to do anything that he tells me to do,” Ademir was no longer tired and shook nervously.

“Lock the door and turn off the lights. I’m going to be here for a while so stay awake,” Punisher picked up the key and started to walk towards the hallway. “And you are armed, right?”

“Yes sir, I uh, have a twelve gage shotgun, but I never fired it before.” Ademir stuttered.

“Good, make sure it’s loaded.” The Punisher walked away.

He proceeded on down the hallway to the back of the building past many of the storage lockers. When he reached his locker he hesitated and waited to reflect. For this was his biggest secret. The one place that he never told anyone about or wrote down the location of. It’s where he locked up things that he never thought that he would see again, but couldn’t bear to give up.

After placing the key in the lock The Punisher lifted up the door and opened up the locker and gazed upon the contents. The objects didn’t belong to him, they belonged to Frank Castle. In front was a red bicycle with training wheels that his daughter quickly learned how to ride on. Frank had to keep a close eye on her, because if he didn’t she would try to pop a wheelie. Lying down nearby was a yellow kite that belonged to his son. He loved that thing so much that would even try to fly it indoors. Behind them was an upright piano that his wife used to play. Some nights he would wake in the middle of the night from nightmares of Vietnam and she will play the piano to calm him down. The whole storage locker was full of things that belonged to his family. Toys, clothes, and objects of the past. There were no guns or explosives in this locker. Instead this locker was full of the most powerful weapon in The Punisher’s arsenal, his memories.

Pulling aside a red wagon full of teddy bears The Punisher approached an antique wooden dresser. After opening the top drawer he searched through the items such as photo albums, his son’s teething ring, his daughter’s first report card. Until he found what he was looking for, a small velvet box.

As he opened the box he heard a gunshot come from the front of the building. Stashing the box into his pocket he quickly ran back to the entrance of the building. Once there he found Ademir lying on the ground in a puddle of blood with a shotgun next to him. Standing over him were two men in black business suits wearing steel Japanese demon masks and holding weapons. The one on the left held a pair of nunchucks that glowed blue with electricity and the one on the right held a sword that also glowed blue.

“Fuck ninjas, I hate ninjas,” cursed The Punisher. He lunged to the ground for the shotgun. The two ninjas quickly came after him. As he grabbed the shotgun he kicked at the shins of the nunchuck ninja to send him stumbling backwards. The other ninja raised his sword to swing it down, but froze as The Punisher aimed the shotgun at him. Squeezing the trigger there was a clicking noise as gun didn’t fire. The Ninja resumed swinging the sword downward again, but paused again as The Punisher pumped the shotgun expelling the used shell and loading a new shell into the barrel. Again he squeezed the trigger, but it wouldn’t move. Quickly he rolled out of the way as the glowing blue sword came down within inches of him.

As he stood a ninja swung nunchucks at him. As he ducked he kicked the ninja in the stomach knocking him down. The other ninja swung his sword at The Punisher, but he blocked it by holding the shotgun sideways in front of him. The other came up behind him and grabbed The Punisher's ponytail to jank it, but as he clasped his hand around the hair a hidden strand of barbed wire pierced his hand. Twisting the gun to the right The Punisher sent his left elbow into the face of the ninja.

Retreating back to the wall he examined the trigger of the shotgun and saw nothing in the way that could be jamming the gun so he came to the conclusion that the gun must be unloaded. As the two ninjas came at him again swinging their weapons he lunged towards Ademir on the ground where nearby lied a few shells. After loading two shells into the shotgun, he pumped it and aimed it at one of the ninjas, but the trigger still wouldn’t budge.

“Fuck it,” he yelled as he threw the shotgun at the nunchuck ninja. It hit him the head and he stumbled backwards trying to catch the gun. As the sword ninja came at him, he ducked down and ran around him to punch him in the head. Turning to other ninja he found him to be holding the shotgun with it aimed at him.

“Well, do it shoot me!” He taunted him. Suddenly the ninja was hit with a flying brick. As he fell backwards he pulled the trigger firing buckshot into the ceiling.

“Hey Punisher, need some help?” From the front door walked in an androgynous looking young Korean person with a crew cut.

“Nice to see you Bryn, but stand back. I can take care of these fools on my own,” said The Punisher.

Before the sword ninja could attack him again, he ran to the unconscious ninja to try firing the shotgun yet again. However as he grabbed it and aimed it the ninja it still wouldn’t fire for him. So he held the barrel with both hands and swung it like a baseball bat knocking the sword out of the ninja’s hands. Then he punched the ninja several times and swept his feet causing him to fall over. Taking the sword he turned back to the ninja and swung it at him to deliver a fatal slice, but as the blade came within an inch of the ninja he froze still. Again he raised the sword to Punisher attempted to kill the ninja and each time his arms froze up and he was unable to deliver a fatal cut.

“No, this can’t be happening!” he yelled.

The Ninja got back up and charged at The Punisher, but Bryn came up behind him and knocked him out with a brick upside the head.

“I can’t pull the trigger on the gun! I can’t swing the sword! Why can’t I kill!” Screaming The Punisher fell to his knees crying.

As Bryn, stood over him they took out their cell phone and called Robbie.

“Yeah, I found him, but he’s not doing good.”

To be continued…

Chapter Text

When Sheela took the job as the secretary for Mayor Winston Fisk she thought that the job would be exciting and busy. At this point the most exciting thing that has happened to her was discovering a filter on Snapchat that made her look like a shark. So far her selfies had nearly three hundred likes each. As she took her thirty-fifth selfie, this time with a duck face, the front door slammed open and a man dressed in all black suit with a bloody head ran up to her desk.
He slammed a silver oni mask on her desk demanding her attention.

“I need to speak to the mayor and vice mayor right now.” He could barely speak as he fought to breath.

“Do you have an appointment?” Sheela replied barely looking away from her phone.

“It’s very important for me to speak to the mayor,” the bloody ninja yelled at her.

Looking up from her phone, Sheela blankly stared at the ninja for a couple of seconds before taking a box of tissues off her desk and tossing them at him.

“Not covered in blood you’re not. He just had his carpet shampooed.”

Taking one tissue the ninja smeared the blood on his forehead before he staggered to the door to Major Fisk’s office.

“Wait hold still,’’ Sheela stopped him. Holding her phone up she laughed. “#NinjaShark.”

With a huff the ninja stumbled into Mayor Fisk's large office. The massive Winston Fisk sat in his leather chair behind his desk with the vice mayor Martin Li standing across from him. They both wore finely tailored white suits and looked disturbed by the ninja's presence.

"Mr. Fisk, Mr. Li please I…" he said urgently.

"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Mr. Li.

"The Punisher, he's alive."

"It appears that your cops were right," Mr. Li said to Mr. Fisk.

“Was he with anyone else?” Asked Mr. Fisk.

“Yes, I think I heard that their name is Bryn,” The Ninja felt his forehead to see if it was still bleeding.

“Bryn?” Mr. Li raised an eyebrow.

“Do you know them?” Mr. Fisk asked Mr. Li.

“I believe that they may have been the Swingaround driver that aided The Punisher in killing my associate Overdrive several months ago.”

"Did he try to kill you," Mr. Fisk asked the ninja.

"I uh, he tried to shoot me and stab me, but he hesitated or something. I don't know. I got hit in the head with a brick."

"It seems that our associate's contingency plan worked," Mr. Fisk smiled with delight.

"I still say that we can't trust him," Mr. Li snapped back at him.

"Yes, I know about the small feud the two of you had in the past, but we mustn't let it get in the way of our plans."

"He isn't one to work with others. As soon as he gets the opportunity he'll turn on us and there's nothing preventing him from using the same spell on us."

"Well, as long as you continue to kill you should be fine."

"Why, yes you are right," Mr. Li turned to the ninja and slowly walked towards him. As he stepped closer, the room became dark and the air ice cold. His suit glowed blinding white and his skin became black like shadows.

Frightened the ninja rush to open the door, but it was locked shut. Falling to his knees he begged for his life.

"Please… please you don't have to do this, I..." he stuttered.

"What purpose do you serve me?" Asked Mr. Negative as his sword of dark energy sprouted out his hand. The blade shined like a full moon with tiny lightning bolts wrapped around it.

"I… um… I can…" the ninja was too frightened to form a full sentence.

With one swift thrust Mr. Negative ran his sword through the chest of the ninja causing blood to pour down onto the carpet.

Pressing down one the intercom button Mr. Fisk spoke to his secretary.

"Sheela, call the cleaners, we have to shampoo the carpet again."

"Yes sir, I’ll call right away. In the meantime you should get ready for your press conference at five."

"Thank you."

* * *

There's a home in Greenwich village that is difficult to find. None of the neighbors know where it is or if it even exists. Even if you were looking for it you'll walk right past it and not even notice it. If you had been there before you'll still won't be able to place it. However in the light of a blue moon from an above vantage point you might be to catch a glimpse of it. That glimpse is all that The Punisher needed.

From a rooftop across the street he staked out the mysterious building with a pair of binoculars with the lenses replaced with pieces of stained glass from an abandoned church. Even with them his view of the building was still a bit distorted. However with all of experience as a sniper in Vietnam he had to make the perfect shot with a crossbow. From the fired crossbow bolt The Punisher had tired a cable in order to zip line down to the mystery building.

Getting inside is another thing. You can't enter unless you're invited. You could be a locksmith, an expert in home security, and master thief and still not be able to break in. Fortunately for The Punisher he knew that breaking in wasn't impossible with the right tools. Once locating the unique sky light window, he took out a sharpened citrine crystal and used it to score a large circle on the window. With a swift blow he slammed his elbow into it shattering the glass. He didn't care how much noise he had made for the home's resistance was already expecting him.

Once entering the building The Punisher braced himself to be trapped, for breaking in wasn't impossible, but doing so undetected was. As soon as he took one step in, a red and gold ornate cape wrapped itself around him completely constricting his ability to move. He couldn't move an inch without the cape tightening its grip around him like a boa constrictor.

"What the hell are you doing here, Frank?" asked a middle age man with gray temples and a goatee. He rubbed his eyes and yawned

"I need your help, Dr. Strange," replied The Punisher.

“Yeah, you sure do need help,” the agitation could be heard in Dr. Strange’s voice. “You just broke a two thousand year old window. You could have text me before showing up unannounced.”

“I would have, but I don’t think that they make rotary phones with screens,” there was an equal amount of agitation in The Punisher’s voice too.

“You forgot that I used to be a surgeon. I have a pager,” Dr. Strange snapped his fingers and the cloak of levitation that had wrapped up The Punisher lifted up into the air and hovered over to Dr. Strange. With a second snap of his fingers he commanded the cloak to unravel and drop The Punisher onto the floor. Afterwards the cloak floated over to Dr. Strange and rested on his shoulders.

“I don’t have time for your bullshit. I need your help, Strange,” dusting himself off The Punisher stood up and looked around the room and saw that he was in what appeared to be an old library filled with old books and artifacts. However having been in the Sanctum Sanctorum before he knew that every room looked like an old library.

“What do you need help with?” Dr. Strange’s assistant Wong entered the room holding a platter with a tea kettle with two tea cups on it. “You look to be doing well for a man that was thought to be dead.”

Taking a tea cup from the platter Dr. Strange took a sip of tea and sat down in large leather chair.

“Yes, I’m very much not dead. However I cannot make anyone else dead.” Wong walked up to The Punisher silently offering a cup of tea. He silently refused.

“Frank, please sit,” Dr. Strange crossed his legs and took another sip of his tea.

“No, I believe that I have been cursed.”

Letting out a long sigh and with a gesture of his hand he directed a chair to slide up behind The Punisher forcing him to sit down and then move over to sit across Dr. Strange.

“You call it a curse, but without you constantly killing and putting yourself in danger you can finally get your life together. It’s a gift really.”

“You don’t understand I was killed and tortured in hell for nine months,” The Punisher raised his voice, but maintained his temper. “After digging myself out of my grave, I find my greatest villain to be mayor of my city. Justice needs to be served.”

“There are other ways to serve justice than murder. Please have some tea and relax, we can work this out.”

Wong leaned over with his platter and offered tea to The Punisher again. Having none of it he knocked the platter of tea out of Wong’s hand, stood up from his chair, walked over to a books, began pulling books off of it.

Before the tea kettle and platter could hit the ground Dr. Strange stopped them hovering inches from the carpet and lifted them with his mind back to Wong’s hands.

“Frank, please contain yourself.”

“Which one of these books will reverse my curse?” The Punisher feverishly grabbed books at random and quickly flipped through them before throwing them on the ground. Like with the tea kettle, Dr. Strange caught the books with his mind and placed them back in their proper place on the shelf.

“It’s not the curse that needs to be reversed. It’s your state of mind.”

“Shut up, we’ve fought alongside each other several times before. You didn’t do anything to prevent me from killing then. Now that you no longer benefit from my actions you stand in my way like a hypocrite!” The Punisher turned and pointed a finger at Dr. Strange.

“If you’re not going to listen to me, then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“No, you lis--”

Dr. Strange waved his hand and portal opened up in front of him.

* * *

“--ten to me!”

A piercing headache struck The Punisher then suddenly disappeared and within a blink of an eye he found himself in a different place than the Sanctum Sanctorum. First he saw a grey brick wall with a table of coffee and donuts. Turning around the room he saw a group of people sitting on folding chairs in a circle.

“Hello, care to join us?” said a woman that sat at the most central point in the group. The woman looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t remember her name.

“Where am I?” Asked The Punisher.

“This is a support group for war veterans. Please sit down.”

“You’re that sergeant that I saved from those skinheads. I seem to have forgotten you name?”

“It’s Heather Diaz. Come sit down”

Several members of the group turned to look at him, including two teenage girls, Laura and Gabby Kinney.

“Hello, Frank,” said Laura, Gabby waved enthusiastically.

“X-23 and Honeybadger, what are you doing here? You’re not veterans,” The Punisher walked closer.

“I’ve never served in the military, but I’ve fought wars in parallel dimensions and shit,” Laura shrugged. “Besides this is the best support group in town for PTSD.”

“Uh huh, that’s good for you,” The Punisher turned to leave the room.

“You’re welcome to join us. A person like you could benefit a lot from group therapy,” Heather called after him, but he continued to walk out of the room.

Upon entering the hallway The Punisher was met with an astro projection of Dr. Strange’s disembodied head giving him a disappointed stare.

“Frank, there’s no shame in seeking mental support,” said Dr. Strange.

“I don’t need this,” The Punisher proceeded to walk around the large floating head.

“I’m not going to let you leave.”

With a wave of his hand and another piercing headache, The Punisher found himself teleported once again to a chair in the group’s circle.

“Fine,” with a huff The Punisher folded his arms and grimmanced.

“Glad to see that you settled on joining us,” Heather smiled and looked down at her notes. “So to begin I would like to invite new members to share, as an introduction to the rest of the group. Frank, would like to start?”

Sitting quietly The Punisher continued to grimmance and didn’t speak.

“Well, if he’s not going to talk, I would like to tell you why I decided to come today,” a middle aged man spoke up.

“That’ll be good. Please tell us your name, your rank, the time frame your served, and what brings you here today,” Heather responded.

“My name is Leo Sharma, I served for four years as a corporal in Afghanistan. And… well, ever since I came back things haven’t been working out well for me. My marriage was on the rocks for seven years until my wife left me and took the kids. I can’t say I blame her. I haven’t been able to keep a job down for more than ten months, but I’ve always managed to keep my ass off the streets. I thought that was just the way life was. Us vets always getting the short end of the stick and never any respect. I thought therapy was for the crazy and pills for the weak. However, I would often drink myself to sleep, but last week something happened to me that made me realize that I never left the war and I was the one with the problem and not the rest of society.”

Lowering his arms The Punisher turned his attention to Leo as he continued.

“I was driving home one night after working overtime at the shop. I was feeling worn out in need of a long shower and a cold beer. Ahead of me was a kid driving carelessly. He could have been drunk or high on weed, but I couldn’t get around him. Then he took a turn too sharp and careened into a fire hydrant. Suddenly the water went shooting up in the air. I thought that it was an explosion and suddenly I was back in Afghanistan riding in a convoy as a Humvee hit an IED. I thought I would hit one too if I continued to drive. I expected any moment a taliban soldier could come running up to kill me. I freaked out in my car, slamming on the breaks and put it in park. I sat there for a while with my head on the steering wheel and my palms sweating. I don’t know how much time passed until a kid came to my door and tapped on my window. He thought that I was having a heart attack from the car accident. I was a wreck in my head. I couldn’t understand what was going on. Lucky paramedics came soon after and they helped me out. They gave oxygen to calm down. That’s when I realized that I needed help.”

"It's good that came to senses and admitted that you needed help," replied Heather. "Thank you for sharing your story."

"Pathetic," The Punisher interrupted.

"Excuse me, what?" Leo was perplexed.

"What kind of soldier cowers in danger? You said you felt like you were back in the war. You should have reacted as one does in war and run into action no matter how scared you were and help the man that was in the accident."

"Be quiet, you're not helping!" Heather snapped at The Punisher.

"These people are trying to avoid violence and be civilized," said Laura.

"Hey, you act tough now. Hell, I probably would have said the same thing a month ago if I had heard my story, but you never know how you'll react until the occasion arises," argued Leo.

"You don't know anything about me. I tried to be civilized once. I once ran instead of fighting and it got my family killed," replied The Punisher. "Since then I have been killing anyone who has threatened civilized people."

"That's your problem Frank. You don't know how to be normal. You just take every emotion and turn it into anger," said Laura.

The room became completely silent. Noone was willing to speak up. The Punisher sat still and didn’t look at Laura. It wasn’t that he was afraid to say anything, but instead he didn’t want to justify what she said with a response.

“Well um… does anyone else want to share?” said Heather, the only person in the room willing to say anything.

The room continued to be silent.

“I have a story to tell!” Gabby blurted out. “I had this dream---”

“Gabby, now’s not the time,” Laura interrupted.

“But you never let me share here, what’s the point of me being here if I’m not allowed to talk?”

“She’s right, I’m leaving,” The Punisher stood up from his chair and started walking away.

“I won’t let you do that,” Dr. Strange’s astral form appeared in front of The Punisher floating in the air.

“Fuck yourself!” shouted The Punisher as he grabbed his chair and flung it at the doctor. The chair flew through the projected form into the coffee machine breaking it and spilling coffee all over the floor.

“Feel better?” Dr. Strange remained floating in the air irritating The Punisher.

The Punisher picked the chair back up and walked over to the window. With another toss he threw it into the window, shattering it.

“Hey, stop breaking everything!” Heather yelled at him standing up from her chair.

“You’re only making things worse,” said Dr. Strange, but The Punisher refused to listen as he climbed through the window.

Letting out a long sigh Dr. Strange raised his hand ready to cast a portal.

“Wait, let him go,” Laura halted him. “We’re only going to make him more mad.”

“I just want him to be safe,” replied Dr. Strange.

“I don’t think he will ever let himself be.”

* * *

Even in New York City it can be hard to blend into a crowd. Especially when you just jumped out of a broken window looking visibly angry. As The Punisher did just that, several people on the sidewalk stopped and stared. Half of them took out their phones to record him running away. One forty year old man dialed 911. Looking as The Punisher did, it was easy to spot him even from a hundred feet away swinging through the air at sixty miles an hour.

“Hey, ghost of Christmas past, where do you think you’re going?” said Spider-Man as he swung down and landed on all three right in front of The Punisher.

“Spider-man! I’m not in the mood for your antics,” The Punisher tried to shove past him, but Spider-Man kept in stride with him as he walked away.

“You’ve come back to life and you didn’t think to give your ol’ pal Spidey a call? So how did you come back this time? First it was angels then a Frankenstien, what are you now? A werewolf? No wait that’s Captain America’s thing.”

As they walked to a crosswalk The Punisher suddenly shoved Spider-Man into a traffic light, knocking him down.

“My spider sense should have caught that,” he groaned as he got up and dusted himself off. Upon noticing that The Punisher had already crossed the street, he hastily shot out a web and swung over to where The Punisher was.

“Hey, you know I could have you webbed up for jaywalking,” said Spider-Man.

“I don’t care, leave me the hell alone,” The Punisher stopped walking and snapped at him.

“Calm down, hey, how about we get hot dogs and talk this out?” suggested Spider-Man.

“I’ll pass,” The Punisher started walking away again.

“Are you sure? I’ll pay.”

“Okay, but just one,” The Punisher stopped and turned around. “You’re lucky that I’m hungry and I spent my last dollar on a crystal.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, both Spider-Man and The Punisher sat on the ledge of the Woolworth building both with hotdogs in hand.

"We couldn't just sit on a park bench?" Asked The Punisher.

"It's more private up here, besides the view is amazing," replied Spider-Man with half a hot dog in his mouth. "So what's the haps with the Paps since you've been back? Bust up any drug labs, take out any terrorists, or whatever?"

"I'm mainly focusing on finding out how our nemesis The Kingpin became the mayor," The Punisher gave Spider-Man a mean stare.

"Hey, don't ask me, I voted for the other guy," Spider-Man shrugged.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Hey, I've been busy fighting symbiote gods. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm still working on a plan and I have to take care of a few things first," The Punisher turned his attention away from Spider-Man and watched as several pigeons gathered nearby on the ledge.

"Why not do what you’re best at and go in guns blazing?"

"Who told you?"

"Told me? Told me what?" Lied Spider-Man. Even though He wore a mask he couldn't hide his bad poker face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"It was Dr. Strange." The Punisher continued to watched the pigeons fly off as if startled by something.

"Dr. Strange? I don't know any strange doctors. I only talk to normal octopus doo--octors!!! What are you doing?!" Spider-Man suddenly yelled as he witnessed The Punisher fall from the ledge as a red club flew through the air were The Punisher was just seconds earlier. As he fell The Punisher quickly spun around to grab onto a window sill.

"Why did you have to do that for, Daredevil?! I was making some real progress!" Spider-Man yelled at the crimson devil as he ran and jumped off the ledge. Unknown to Daredevil, Spider-Man was able to toss a spider-tracer after him attaching itself to his boot.

"No time to talk Spidey. I'll see you later." Daredevil followed The Punisher by grabbing onto the ledge and climbing through the same window as he did.

As he entered the penthouse he honed in on his heightened sense of hearing and was unable to hear the sound of a heartbeat in the room, but he kept his guard up knowing that The Punisher was an exceptional opponent. As he entered what to him seemed to be a large living room, he stepped on some broken glass that made a loud crunching noise that reverbated off the walls.

“Frank Castle, come on out and show yourself?,” Daredevil called out, but got no response. “You and I have some unfinished business. You can’t just come back into town and expect everyone to welcome you with open arms.”

He couldn’t smell The Punisher’s scent in the air, but he could smell oil cooking and hear the oven fan in the kitchen. He however could not sense a person in the kitchen from where he was. He thought that maybe someone had been cooking, but ran scared when they noticed that the The Punisher was in their house. Although that still didn’t explain the absence of The Punisher. Daredevil walked towards the kitchen to investigate, but with every step made a loud crunch with broken glass everywhere.

As soon as he entered the kitchen he was hit in the head by boiling oil scolding his face and The Punisher tackled him onto the ground. He was using the smell of oil and the sound of the fan to hide his presence. Daredevil struggled to fight back from intense pain as the oil burned his skin. With him down on the ground The Punisher clapped two cast iron pans on the ears of Daredevil disorientating him and giving The Punisher an opportunity to escape out the front down of the penthouse.

Struggling to stand up Daredevil held his head as he could hear nothing, but ringing in his ears. Taking a few breaths he lowered his heart beat so that he could calm down and focus better. From outside the front door he could hear a scream coming from the hallway and the loud scrap of metal doors. It wasn’t hard for him to find the front door and once in the hallway he could hear the sound of a metal cable waving from within the open elevator shaft.

In an effort to catch up, he jumped into the elevator shaft and let himself free fall a few stories, before he realized that this was another diversion as he couldn’t sense The Punisher’s presence in the elevator shaft either. Quickly he grabbed onto the wall and held himself in place just in time to dodge a descending elevator. Honing in his heightened hearing he heard the sound of heavy footsteps racing down the stairs. Again he let himself fall several stories and caught himself on ledge to keep up with The Punisher. Using his red cane he pried open the elevator shaft door to enter what he counted as being the twentieth floor. He however was met with a familiar presence hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“Why do you two always have to fight?” Asked Spider-Man.

“‘Cause I’m Daredevil and he’s The Punisher. We fight, that’s what we always do,” replied Daredevil as he ran to open the door to the stairway.

Opening the door he found The Punisher running down the stairs right in front of him. Lunging forward he was ready to attack him, but he found himself yanked back by a web sprayed by Spider-Man.

“Hey, stop!” Spider-Man pulled Daredevil out of the stairwell and let The Punisher get away.

“Damn it! You let him get away! Do I have to fight you too?” Asked Daredevil.

“No, we don’t fight. We team up and fight people,” replied Spider-Man.

“Okay, then team up with me and let’s fight The Punisher.” Daredevil hurriedly spoke running his words together.

“No to that too, we don’t need to fight at all. Let’s just talk to him.”

“That’s what I want to do, but The Punisher isn’t going to listen to us if he’s angry. We need to beat him up so that he’s too tired to run away.”

“I just don’t like your methods. I get it that its an ends to a means, but can’t we like make him run a lot?”

* * *

Once that The Punisher had reached the lobby of the Woolworth building he was getting exhausted and was running out of breath. Daredevil was catching up to and wasn’t far behind. Spider-Man was waiting at the exit hanging upside down. As he ran past Spider-Man he shoved him out of the way.

“Come on, we just want to talk,” said Spider-Man.

“You can’t keep running like this. We’re going to catch up to you soon.” Daredevil called after him.

The Punisher grabbed a trash can off the sidewalk and threw it at Spider-Man and Daredevil. They quickly jumped out of the way and Spider-Man fired a web stopping the trash can from hitting and breaking a window.

A compact car squealed its tires as it drifted to a stop in front of The Punisher. The passenger door opened and Bryn sat in the driver’s seat.

“Come with me if you want to ditch those losers,” said Bryn.

“Did Dr. Strange send you too?” asked The Punisher.

“No, I want you to teach me how to shoot a gun,” replied Bryn.

“Oh come on what the hell?” Spider-Man exclaimed as he and Daredevil watched The Punisher got into the passenger seat of Bryn’s car.

“Now why does he trust them more than us?” asked Spider-Man.

* * *

After a short gun safety class at the West Side shooting range Bryn watched as The Punisher fired a gun for the first time since he came back to life. He had calmed down significantly, they could tell that he would be smiling at this moment if The Punisher would allowed himself to smile. This was the one thing that could make him feel at peace. After watching him fire three shots Bryn tried their best to imitate his firing methods. Wearing ear muffs they stood with their legs wide apart and their cheek resting on the top of the .22 rifle butt, Bryn closed their eyes and winced as they pulled the trigger and fired a gun for the first time. The bullet made a hole five inches above the right shoulder of the target.

"Keep your eyes open, relax and fire while you exhale," said The Punisher.

"I'm trying, it's just not as easy for me," Bryn raised their rifle ready to fire again. This time the bullet hit the target's right bicep.

"That's better, now watch your sights, make sure they line up," advised The Punisher.

Sweating Bryn got ready for another shot they let their elbows rise up. The Punisher stopped them by placing a hand on their elbow.

"Keep your elbows tucked in," as he touched them, Bryn flinched and jerked back.

"Hey, don't touch me," Bryn lowered their gun and glared at him.

"I didn't mean to alarm you. The proper stance is important for firing."

"Sorry, I'm not mad at you. It's just that my new hormones medication has been giving me headaches," Bryn rubbed their forehead.

"If you want to learn how to fire a gun you should be relaxed. You should stop you medication until you are ready."

“T--, that’s not happening,” Bryn let out a nervous laugh. “It’ll just make it worse, giving me mood swings and dysphoria.”

“Well, what’s more important to you? Your hormones or learning to shoot?” asked The Punisher.

“My hormones of course,” Bryn answered immediately. “Only people like you would ask such an inapt question. You think that being trans is a simple as wearing a different set of clothes. Well it’s not, it takes a lot of work.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you. It's a lot for me to understand and it’ll take me a long time to get used to it,” The Punisher half hearty apologized.

“It’s actually not that difficult if you put effort into it,” Bryn cocked an eyebrow. “Tell me what gun are you holding?”

“A .22 calibur carbine rifle,” he replied.

“What’s the brand?”

“Ruger.”

“How was that company founded?”

“It was founded by Alexander McCormick Sturm and William Ruger in 1949 after Ruger successfully duplicated two japanese Nambu pistols in his garage in Southport Connecticut.”

“Now, how do you know that?”

“I read it in a book and memorize it.”

“That’s all it takes to learn about trans people. You just have to read and learn and apply it to your life. That's all.” Bryn raised their rifle again and fired a shot that hit the neck on the target.

* * *

With a large grouping of holes at the center of a target, The Punisher remembered what it was like to feel alive again. For the last few days he was a man without a purpose running around reacting on instinct with no rhythm or reason to his actions. Leaning back in a leather chair of the gun range's lounge area he was finally able to relax. Bryn sat next to him also examining their target with each one of the fifty rounds scattered about. Only a couple of which went through the center. Nonetheless they were proud of the shots they fired.

"Not bad for a beginner, right?" Bryn held up their target to show to the Punisher.

"You have potential," he replied. "If you keep practicing you could move onto more powerful guns and larger caliber ammunition."

"I was never a fan of guns and I didn't think that I would ever use one, but I figured if I would keep getting into trouble I might benefit from learning how to shoot."

"Sounds like you've been up to a lot since I've been gone."

"Oh, you can say that," Bryn puffed up their cheeks and nodded. "You wouldn't believe it, but I uncovered a drug lab in a playground and fought a guy from a children's cartoon."

"Ah shit, I hate that guy," The Punisher sneered. "Did he try to inject you with that drug of his?"

"No, he injected himself with it. It was crazy. I don't know how you superhero types cope with all of those fights."

"I'm not a superhero, unlike them, fighting is the sole purpose of my life. I don't know how to cope without fighting."

"So is that why you had an outburst at group therapy?"

"Therapy is for people who are uncertain about their life. I'm completely certain about mine. I am a killer and nothing else."

"Well I don't agree with that logic, but that does explain a lot about you."

“Hey, can you turn that up,” someone else in the lounge yelled as the clerk turned the volume knob on the TV.

“Many concerned citizens of New York city have gathered at Police Plaza behind me as Mayor Fisk has announced a press conference,” Bryn and The Punisher turned their attention to the TV as a reporter continued to speak. “It looks like that’s him coming out now to address the crowd.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today,” Winston Fisk stood behind a podium as he spoke. “And thank you for speaking up and expressing your concerns. I may be a busy man, but when one of you call or write a letter I listen. I listen to all that you have had to say, because I care about this city. I want it to be safe for everyone. None of you should feel scared, but we are living in scary times today. With mass shootings, guns in the hands of the mentally ill, and gang members infiltrating our borders. Our fine men and women in blue have been putting their lives on the line to protect our city, but all too often they are losing their lives.”

Fisk paused for a moment as if to be choked up and holding back tears. Everyone watching was captivated and waiting on every word, but the display of strong emotions didn’t fool The Punisher and Bryn.

“That liar,” The Punisher whispered under his breath.

“There is no hiding it, the murder and crime rate is rising in our streets where our children play. We haven’t seen this level of violence in over twenty years. So to solve the problems of the present I have looked to the past for answers and back then we have a special task force that led in the protection of the people. They were a highly skilled team with state of the art weaponry known as The Vigilante Infraction General Interdiction and Limitation also known as V.I.G.I.L. So I have taken upon myself to assemble a new task force to keep New York City safe. They will be known as the Societal Concern and Urban Liability Law enforcement or S.K.U.L.L. for short.”

“What the hell?” Bryn scrunched their forehead and lifted one eyebrow in confusion. The Punisher stood up from his chair and clenched his fist in anger.

“To lead this team of protectors I have appointed an excellent leader, war hero, and New York native. This man served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran where he liberated civilians, defeated terrorised, and rescued captured soldiers. However sadly his service as a soldier was cut short as he suffered a major injury from a roadside bomb and lost half of his face five years ago, but he has recovered and he is stronger than ever and ready to serve his nation once again. Citizens of New York City join me in giving a warm welcome to the leader of S.K.U.L.L. Willy Ruffalo.”

From off stage a man walked up to Mr. Fisk with a disfigured face. When seeing him everyone present wanted to recoil in fear, but didn’t out of respect and force themselves to smile and applause. His face appeared to made up of skin from different sources like mosaic portrait with large stitches between the pieces of skin. Despite the horrible disfigurement, The Punisher recognized the face well, for it was the face of his arch nemesis.

“Jigsaw,” The Punisher said with a growl. His muscles were tense and his veins bulged.

“Uh, Frank? Are you okay?” Bryn trembled nervously as they could tell right away that something was wrong.

“That fucking liar!” He yelled in anger.

“Ah Frank, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get mad in a room full of men with guns,” Bryn tried to warn him.

“Hey man, what’s your problem?” a large brutish man said as he approached The Punisher. He stood right in front of him imposing his large frame.

“If you don’t get out of my face I will hurt you,” said The Punisher. He was just looking for something to exert his anger on.

“This is not going to go well,” Bryn looked around for a quick exit, but noticed as several other men started to stand up and pay attention to the brutish man and The Punisher arguing.

“Well I have you know that I voted for Mr. Fisk and one of my brothers was appointed to the S.K.U.L.L. task force. So if you’ve gotta problem with him, then you’ve gotta problem with me.” He stepped closer so that there was only one inch between him and The Punisher.

With a loud thunk the brutish man hit the ground and The Punisher stood over him with his fist still clenched.

Two men jumped on The Punisher trying to tackle him to the ground, but instead by swinging his arms The Punisher was able to knock both men to the ground. A few other men came at The Punisher throwing punches, but they were all knocked out before they could make fists. Bryn felt that they needed to do something, but couldn’t think of anything so instead they stood back in shock. Suddenly with a bang a bullet flew by The Punisher’s shoulder.

“This ends now!” Shouted the gun store clerk while holding a handgun. “The police have been called, but I’m within my rights to kill you in self defence. So you have a choice, either wait for the cops to arrest yer ass or try to outrun a bullet.”

“I’ll take the latter,” said The Punisher as he flipped over a nearby table towards the clerk. He used the table to block the clerk’s view as he came charging at him. The Clerk fired several shots breaking the table into splinters, but just barely missing The Punisher. Once close enough The Punisher jumped the counter and tackled the clerk to the ground and then picked him up and shoved him head first into the television screen.

“Hey, what the hell?!” yelled Bryn.

“Don’t try to stop me,” grunted The Punisher as he grabbed the clerk’s gun and a few boxes of bullets before running out the door.

* * *
During the day Gracie Mansion is open to the public with tours throughout the building and a park for people to stroll through at their leisure. However at night the gates are closed with fences too tall to climb and minimal security protalling the grounds.

After gaining access to Carl Schurz’s park by climbing up from the FDR tunnel, The Punisher snuck through the trees being careful to not be seen by the guards. Once at the back door it was easy for him to break the lock and enter the ballroom. However as he entered, he knew that he was spotted. The room was dark except for a fireplace that had a large man standing nearby it as if waiting for The Punisher. He raised his gun, but reframed from shooting as he was suspicious of the situation.

“Do you know the significance of this fireplace?” Kingpin spoke without facing The Punisher as he moved a log around in the fire using an iron poker. He slowly replaced the poker in the stand with the rest of the fireplace tools “After being shot by Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton died in front of it.”

Slowly he turned around showing no fear or threat. The whole time The Punisher watched and held his gun aimed at him.

“Well what are you waiting for?” asked Kingpin. He held his arms open as if to welcome The Punisher.

He lowered his gun and quickly looked about the room to make sure it was still empty.

“We are not being watched. I assure you. I have been expecting you for a few days now and have been waiting for you to come for me in this very room. I wouldn’t want anything to spoil this moment.” As he spoke The Kingpin casually unbuttoned his suit jacket and tossed it on a chair next to the fireplace

Staying still The Punisher didn’t respond or show any emotion like a statue.

“Don’t just stand there. You and I both know you came here for a reason,” The Kingpin undid his neckerchief and tossed it onto the same chair as the jacket. “Do it, shoot me, go ahead. Unless there’s something stopping you?”

Quickly he raised his gun back up and pulled the trigger shooting the Kingpin in his left shoulder. The bullet tore through the flesh and exploded out the back with a large exit wound, but the Kingpin didn’t even flinch, instead he smiled an evil grin. Firing two more times, The Punisher took out both of his knee caps. Staggering forward The Kingpin let himself fall to knees, but his smile only grew wider. Finally showing emotion The Punisher charged madly forward firing two more shots into the Kingpins right shoulder. Coming up at point blank range The Punisher aimed the gun at the forehead of the Kingpin, but again he found himself unable to pull the trigger to make the kill.

“What’s stopping you Punisher?” The Kingpin stood back up and clapped his hands onto the head of The Punisher.

“You did this to me!” He shouted back.

“It’s only fair, after what you’ve done to me!” squeezing his head like a watermelon in metal vise Kingpin lifted The Punisher off his feet. “You’ve killed too many of my men, halted too many of my drug operations, and lost me far too much money. All for what? Some mobsters killed your family. I had nothing to do with that. They were a rival gang, hell if you waited a year or two I would have killed those mobsters myself, doing you a big favor. Instead you launched a decades long war on crime and what do you have to show for it? All of your efforts have been futile. There are still rapists victimizing women, children overdosing on drugs, and mobsters killing families. But since you’ve been gone, homelessness is down thirty-five percent, arrests for drug possession are at an all time low, and the streets have never been safer. All thanks actions that I’ve made while mayor. I have succeeded where you have failed. You are hopeless. I could kill right now, but that too would be futile as you do not present a threat to me anymore. No I have plans for you.”

The doors opened and Martin Li and his ninjas entered the ballroom. Just as The Punisher felt his skull crack, Kingpin dropped him on the ground and the ninjas crowded around him with shock clubs beating him multiple times with them until he spat blood and passed out.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

“Hahahahaha, how do you like them bars, bitch!” laughed an orange jumpsuit clad convict confined in his cell. “This is real justice being served, Mr. Punisher.”

The Punisher watched him from his cell. He stood in his prison cell with his arms resting on the bars completely disinterested and slightly annoyed by the taunting convict.

“We’ll make your stay real nice. If you know what I mean. Hahahaha!” The convict continued to laugh at him. “You ain’t so tough and threatening now are you without your guns. Hell, you’re more like a weak little girl. You’re no man, you a pansy ass bitch!”

With a deep breath and good aim The Punisher spat across the alley into the eye of the convict.

“Yaow! What the hell?” he recoiled in rage and disgust. “That’s it! You think you’re really funny! I’m going to make you fucking bleed for that!”

With another well aimed spat The Punisher shot into the mouth of the convict. He retreated into his cell gagging on the spit. He ran to his sink above his toilet.

“Enjoy that,” The Punisher resumed his disinterest leaning on the bars of his cell. Behind him on the bottom bunk of his bed, his cellmate awoke yawning and stretching out his arms. He rolled out of the bed and sat on the edge of it while rubbing his eyes.

“What the hell is with all of the noise?” He asked.

“No matter how many times I get locked up here. Some idiot always finds it funny.” The Punisher answered.

“Yeah, that happens to me too,” the cellmate looked over to The Punisher, surprised to get an answer. “Shit, I didn’t know they brought you in. They must have admitted you while I was asleep. I’m Herman Schultz by the way.”

“I’m Frank Castle, but I won’t be here long,” The Punisher said as he turned around. Shocked and alarmed, Herman scrambled to bring his legs up onto the bed and backed himself into a corner.

“Holy fuck! You’re The Punisher! You’re not going to hurt me are you!” he yelled out.

“That all depends. What are you in here for?”

“I was robbing a bank and Spider-man beat the shit out of me, like always.” Herman continued to tremble as The Punisher gave him a steely gaze. “I’m Shocker, I think we may have met before briefly.”

“You ever killed anyone?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I mean not intentionally. I mean I mostly just rob banks. I just steal money. I’m not out to hurt anyone, I just need to pay them bills.” Herman struggled to find the right words. “I don’t mess with the mob or drugs or anything.”

“Calm down, you have nothing to be afraid of. I have no reason to hurt you just yet. Besides even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to.”

“What you do you mean not able to?” Herman stopped shaking and inched back to the edge of his bed.

“I was in hell for a while. Ever since then I had a curse or spell put on me preventing me from pulling a trigger or driving a knife through a man’s chest.”

“Shit that sucks, well don’t worry your secret's safe with me. If you don’t have any reason to hurt me then I don’t want to give you a reason. Truce?” Herman held his hand out for a handshake.

“Hmm,” The Punisher shook his hand.

* * *

They called it meat loaf, peas, and mashed potatoes, but they were cheap imitations. The meat loaf was a brown protein mix formed into a brick, the peas were green half frozen stones, and the mashed potatoes were a bland moaste white slim. Regardless The Punisher found the meal to be the best thing he’s eaten all year. It was a lot better than the MREs that he was used to eating everyday.

“Oh thank god, I’m so glad to see you here,” excited Microchip plopped his tray of food down on the table across to The Punisher. “You finally had a change of heart, you’re getting me out of here.”

Overjoyed Microchip was smiling from ear to ear, however as he looked into The Punisher’s dark stern eyes his smile disappeared as his heart was filled with dread.

“Oh no, you still haven’t forgiven me for causing those cops’ deaths,” his voice was cold and plain, but quickly turned to yelling as he pleaded with The Punisher. “Come on! How was I to know that they’ll be killed! They probably were crooked. More than half of them are now with the Kingpin Governor and even more with Jigsaw leading S.K.U.L.L.”

The Punisher remained silent as he gave Microchip no attention and ate his meal.

“Come on, help me. After that loudspeaker stunt you pulled last week my life here has been a living hell. I’ve suffered enough punishment. After everything that we’ve done together you can’t abandon me now. I can help you. Together we can escape out of here.”

His pleading was ended as a clump of mashed potatoes hit his face. He sat silently humiliated as two more clumps struck his face.

“God damn, who threw that!” Microchip yelled as he was continuously pelted with mashed potatoes.

A large muscular man shoved Microchip out of his seat. A teenage boy with purple hair and white grease paint walked over and used a spoon to continue launching mashed potatoes at Microchip.

“Punisher! I’m so happy to see you, big boy!” The large man and teenage boy sat down across from The Punisher. Even though he recognized the man as The Russian, The Punisher continued to give him no attention as he did with Microchip.

“Oh where are my manners, let me introduce you to my partner Steve,” The Russian gestured over to the teenage boy.

“Actually we’ve already met,” he smiled with pride.

“Have we?” The Punisher asked, not being able to remember the boy.

“Oh that’s right, you wouldn’t be able to recognize as I’ve been depowered by S.H.E.I.L.D. Maybe you would recognize me if I was a three feet tall cartoon character waving a mallet around. I was much more good looking back then.”

Remaining silent The Punisher raised an eyebrow to signal that he was still confused.

“Oh come on, don’t make me remind you of when we last met like a piece of lazy exposition.”

“Hahaha, he’s so funny. I love him so much!,” The Russian. “Come on, tell him that joke of your’s.”

“Ahem,” Slapstick cleared his throat. “Why was the murder victim laughing as the axe weilding serial killer was murdering him? Because he was killing him!”

Putting his arm around Slapstick, the Russian laughed uncontrollably and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

“It was a real side splitter.” Slapstick added to his joke as The Punisher remained a statue. The Russian laughed with tears in his eyes as he leaned in close to him.
“Telling jokes isn’t the only thing he does with his mouth,” he winked at The Punisher. “It makes me wish that my head was still attached to a big breasted fat woman just so that I can experience more things that he can do with his tongue.”

“I think I need a shower,” disgusted The Punisher got up and left the two of them.

* * *

The showers were hot and humid like a swamp or jungle. The air was thick with steam. The Punisher felt like he could reach out and grab the steam like it was a solid. His body became wet with sweat before the water touched his naked body from the shower. As he turned on the shower scalding hot water struck his body like a hail storm. Taking a bar of soap he rubbed it on his body cleaning himself.

“Mmmm… You look good covered in suds like that,” a smoove bass filled voice spoke as a large body bumped into The Punisher forcing the bar of soap to slip and fall to the ground.

“Ooooh, you dropped the soap. Why don’t you bend over and pick it up?” The Punisher recognised the voice as a mercenary that he had encountered before called Barracuda.

“I’m not looking to start any fights. Please leave me alone. Will I have to tear another one your body parts off?” The Punisher threatened him.

“I’m not looking to fight you,” The Punisher could feel Barracuda’s breath on the back of his ear as he placed a hand with stubby fingers on one of his shoulders. Barracuda placed a stump on his other shoulder as he continued to talk, “I actually want to help you. There are a lot of people in here that want to hurt you. I can give you some protection, but it will come at a cost.”

With his foot nudged the inside part of one of The Punisher’s ankles making him widening his stance.

“I don’t need your protection or anyone,” The Punisher replied. The showers were silent and time seemed to stand still. He refused to look down at the bar of soap on the ground. He kept his eyes forward looking at the shower tiles

“Well someone is going to have to pick up that soap. It can’t remain sitting there all day, bitch.” Barracuda shoved The Punisher in his back trying to force him to bend over.

Swiftly The Punisher elbowed Barracuda in a soft spot in his side. As he winced in pain, The Punisher spun around and kicked Barracuda in the jaw. However he had his guard ready as he grabbed The Punisher’s leg and used it to take him off balance and shove him to the ground.

While on the ground The Punisher looked up and saw Barracuda smiling. He showed what few teeth he had left in his mouth.

“You could have bent over and taken it like a man, but instead you’re going to fight me like a bitch,” said Barracuda.

Sticking to the ground, The Punisher didn’t dare get up as he crawled over to the bar of soap. Once he was in the right position, The Punisher swept his leg around, but Barracuda lifted his leg to dodge the kick. This however gave The Punisher the opening he needed. He grabbed the bar of soap and shoved it into that opening. With shock and surprise Barracuda bent over with his mouth gaping open screaming. With one hand still on his lower back, The Punisher reached down and grabbed Barracuda’s testicles. With a twist and a strong shove to the back, The Punisher ripped them off and left them on the ground. Barracuda fell to his knees clenching the gaping wound on his taint. He looked at his testicles with his mouth open in shock.

“Someone is going to have to pick those up. They can’t stay sitting there all day,” The Punisher turned his back and walked out of the shower.

* * *

After leaving the shower and dressing, The Punisher walked through a hallway of prison cells. As he walked past the rooms with barred doors he felt the eyes of the other inmates upon him. They were watching him and following him with their eyes. It felt like that they already knew what he had just done in the shower and they didn’t expect him to come back out.

However The Punisher felt a cold shiver as he met the eyes of a man with cold dead eyes. A pair of eyes that he remembered killing. Those cold glassy eyes belong to a man with long scraggly hair named Salvatore Carbone better known as Thorn. Yes, he was a ruthless killer, however that was not what triggered The Punisher, but how he had killed Thorn. The Punisher had recalled killing that man not once, but twice. The first time he drowned him in a frozen lake, the second time he threw him off a bridge into quick moving traffic. However like a zombie rising from the grave he was alive once again.

Unfortunately he was not the only one, The Punisher also recognized a red headed bearded man with an amputated arm named Roussel Dupont. When they first met he had a gattling gun robotic arm and went by the alias Rapido. The last time they met he was caught in a large building explosion that killed several other mobsters.

The Punisher started to realize that there was more to being in prison with some familiar faces as he noticed a freckled man with big buck teeth. He remembered watching him being lifted into the sky with a parade balloon hanging from a noose. His name was Mel Jay, but was better known as Red Fever.

“Hello Frank Castle,” said a voice that snuck up on The Punisher. He immediately recognized him as Reverend Sam Smith. “Recognize any familiar faces?”

The Punisher remembered Sam Smith as a charismatic cult leader that seemingly had the ability to heal people with touch and in some cases bring them back from death including himself.

“It’s been a while hasn’t it?” said the Reverend. “Come, my brother, walk with me.”

He led The Punisher outside to a recreational area filled with many convicts congregating. Again like earlier in the hallway he felt them staring at him and recognized many of their faces.

“See that russian man over there smoking a cigarette?” The Reverend pointed towards him. “You gunned him down after blowing up his military base.”

“Those three men over there playing cards at the picnic tables, Mitch, Gig, and Bosephus,” As The Punisher listened to the Reverend speak he remained stoic taking in all of the information and shifted his eyes from face to face. “You shot and burned them to death in house fire.”

“That large gentleman pumping iron, Roc. You had some real fun with him. Remember how you broke his neck, slit his throat, and blew him up with six pounds of C-4, Goddamn.” The Reverend continued to point out more men from The Punisher’s past.

“Over there in the garden, you see that man tending to the tomato plants? That’s Commander Chauvin you blew him up inside of a satellite.”

“What a waste, you brought them all back to life just so that I can kill them all again,” The Punisher finally broke his silence.

“Did you forget that we’ve put you in a grave before,” The Reverend tilted his head and smiled.

“So what, hell’s got a revolving door anyway,” said The Punisher.

“Did you like it down there?” The Reverend said as he walked around The Punisher. “We’ll send you back anytime we want.”

“These threats mean nothing to me, there is nothing that you can do to stop me,” replied The Punisher

Suddenly everything became quiet and everyone in the yard stopped what they were doing and turned to look at The Punisher. The guards out in the yard and up in the watchtowers turned around and looked away. The convicts pulled out shives and knives and brandished them in front of The Punisher. They held toothbrushes and plastic spoons sharped to a point and nails and screws attached to wooden handles, all while the guards weren’t looking. They were making it loud and clear that they were all a threat and enemies to The Punisher and nowhere was safe for him. Reverend Smith took out his own shiv that was a sharpened piece of metal that looked to have been part of a bed frame with a piece of cloth wrapped around it for a handle. He held it out to The Punisher with the handle pointed to him.

“Go ahead, take it,” The Reverend said. “You’re going to need it. Go ahead, take it and use it.”

“You do not threaten me,” replied The Punisher.

“Here go ahead, take it,” The Reverend took The Punisher’s hand and placed the shiv in it, but The Punisher refused to take it.

“Come on take it,” The Reverend used both of his hands to close The Punisher’s hand around the shiv then he held the shiv up to point at his chest. “Come on, do it.”

“I’m not falling for your tricks,” The Punisher resisted to let the Reverend force him to kill him.

“There’s no tricks, come on kill me,” The Reverend tried to pull the shiv closer to himself. The Punisher pulled back resisting to stab him.

“What’s wrong? Can’t you do it? Are you not man enough to kill me.”

“Enough!” The Punisher punched The Reverend in the face knocking him back and causing him to let go of his hand. The Punisher dropped the shiv on the ground.

“Hahaha, look at him, the great vigilante Punisher. Unable to kill a man,” all of the convicts in the yard laughed along with Reverend Smith.

“I’m not going to play your game,” said The Punisher. “I may be physically unable to kill, but I will fight you. I will fight you all, I will break free, and I will find a way to kill again and when I do, I come for each and everyone of you.”

“Ooooh, we’re all shaking in our boots,” taunted the Reverend.

A bell rang and a voice over loudspeaker told the inmates to return to their cells.

* * *

Herman lied on his bed reading a book as The Punisher returned to the cell. Immediately he started tearing apart the cell. Knocking over the desk and pulling out the drawers.

“Hey, what are you doing? What are you doing?” Shocked Herman stood up from his bed.

“Where did you hide it?” angry The Punisher asked as he grabbed Herman’s mattress and tore it open.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hide what?” Herman held his hands up confused. “You need to calm down.”

“Don’t play me for a fool,” The Punisher grabbed Herman and shoved him against the wall. “Where is your shiv?”

“Shiv? I don’t have a shiv. I’m trying to stay out of trouble in here,” said Herman.

“Sam Smith showed me that all of you are planning to kill me. I won’t let you stab me while I sleep,” said The Punisher. “Also I know you told them that I can’t kill.”

“Yeah, a lot of people want you dead, but not me. I don’t know how they knew that you couldn’t kill. Maybe they know who cursed you. They’ve been planning to do this to you for a while. You not killing is probably part of their plan. They even came to me and tried to get me to join them, but I don’t want to. I just want to get out of here.”

The Punisher calmed down and let go of Herman.

“I know what’s going on. A lot of the convicts were brought here, because of you and a lot of guards were hired also because of you. But not all of them. This is still a prison for the public. There are convicts that have been here before the Kingpin became mayor and guards that have been here for just as long. Not everyone is a threat to you, but there’s enough.”

Backing off from Herman, The Punisher sat down on the bed to rest. Herman raised the desk back to where it was before and cleaned up the cell. They were too distracted to notice two guards approaching the cell.

“Hello Frank, ol’ friend,” said one guard with a large teethy smile.

“Bullseye, goddamn it!” Yelled The Punisher as he lunged his body up against the prison bars. He reached one arm out to grab Bullseye, but he was too far away to reach him.

“Hey, back off from the bars,” The other guard took out his club and slammed it on the bars. The Punisher complied and backed away from the bars.

“Ease up, off him Terry, you don’t want to provoke him,” Bullseye took out his own club and held it in front of Terry getting him to back up.

“Hey, you’re new here, you don’t give me orders. Besides you got to show these thugs who’s the boss,” replied Terry.

“So you’re in control of the prison now,” The Punisher furrowed his brow and restrained his anger. “What do you plan to do with me?”

Bullseye put one arm around Terry guiding him close to the prison cell. With his other hand he covertly pulled a shiv out from the waistband of his pants.

“Oh, we’re going to have a little fun,” Bullseye took the shiv and stabbed Terry several times in the chest, spilling blood everywhere. Then he threw the bloody shiv into the prison cell.

“Goddamn it! Bullseye!” The Punisher yelled as he lunged at the prison bars once again.

“Guard down! Guard down! I need back up! I have a prisonnier with a deadly weapon,” Bullseye yelled into his radio.

“What the fuck is happening?” Herman looked up completely confused. “Oh, shit I want no part in this.”

Herman got down on his knees and placed his hands behind his head. The Punisher however remained standing at the bars sneering at Bullseye as he laughed. More guards quickly gathered around him. A few of them checked on their stabbed compendont only to discover him dead. The other guards opened the cell with their hand cuffs ready. The Punisher rushed them throwing punches. He knocked down a few of them before one guard fired a taser at him. With two wires the taser sent thousands of volts surging into The Punisher causing him to lose control of his muscle functions as he fell to the ground. Once on the ground, guards pulled The Punisher’s wrists behind his back and slapped handcuffs on them. As two guards raised him to his feet The Punisher glared at Bullseyes.

“Come on now, it’s too solitary confinement for you,” a guard shoved The Punisher in his back forcing him to walk forward.

“So you want me to suffer,” said The Punisher.

* * *

The room was only four feet by six feet. Barely enough room for The Punisher to lie down, not that he planned to do. There were no windows or light. Occasionally The Punisher could see through the meal slot, but otherwise the room was always completely dark. Other than a bucket to use as a bathroom the room was completely empty. All of the walls were bricks and cold. They were thick and soundproof too, there wasn't a way to hear sound through the door.

Waiting in the room it was impossible to measure time. There was no way to tell if it was day or night. Each meal was made up of stale bread and water. The times the food came was inconsistent and felt like they were spaced days apart. The Punisher knew that they were trying to disorient him and make him weak and lazy, but he wouldn't let them. He passed the time by using what little energy he had to doing push ups, squats, and crunches. He avoided sleep by not letting himself stay still for a moment, as he knew his captures were planning something for him. He was certain to not give them the opportunity to torture him. However everybody has their limits. After what seemed to be more than a month, The Punisher finally gave in and let his eyes close. His skin was covered in sweat, his muscles were sore, his joints ached, and his stomach felt like it was made of knots and cramps.

Finally giving into rest, The Punisher slept for what felt like days. However rest was cut short as the door awoke him as it creaked open and a bright light shined through. His eyes had grown so used to the darkness that it burned his eyes to see any light. He had to clench his face muscles tight and keep his eyes closed tight to feel any relief. Regardless he was blind.

"Rise and shine, Punisher!" Yelled out Barracuda. "I hope you're all rested and refreshed!"

"Barracuda, you son of a--" The Punisher was cut short as Barracuda sent a heavy punch into his jaw.

"After telling them what you did to me in the shower the guys agreed to let me take the first whack at you!"

Completely blind The Punisher couldn't defend himself as Barracuda punched him repeatedly. His ribs ached and he struggled to breath as his head was constantly knocked side to side. He could taste blood and his hearing came and went.

"Come to think of it, I should probably thank you for castraighting me. I don't have to worry about any hoes coming at me for child support."

Knocking The Punisher to the floor, Barracuda continued to beat him.

"Maybe I should return the favor and break you balls too. I'll stomp your berries and make them into jams and jellies!"

As he joked Barracuda brought his heavy boot down onto The Publisher's crotch. He winced in pain struggling to catch his breath. However Barracuda relentlessly continued to beat him. Kicking him into the metal bucket of waste in the back of the cell. The waste that had been collecting over the last several weeks spilled out onto The Punisher's face.

"Hey, guess who's my favorite guitarist?" Barracuda took the bucket and put it over The Punisher's head. "Its Buckethead!"

Barracuda lifted The Punisher to his feet as he punched him repeatedly in the bucket covering his head. Then he slammed his head into the wall. This made things worse as he was unable to rely on any of his senses. His ears rung from the clanging of the bucket. The waste filled his eyes and nose making it impossible to see or hear. After falling to the ground The Punisher removed the bucket from his head and took deep breaths as he crawled on the ground. Exhausted he struggled to find his bearings. He could hear Barracuda laughing, but he was still unable to see him as the bright lights continued to blind him. The floor went from concrete to tile as he crawled out of the cell.

"Ah hell no, you ain't getting away from me," said Barracuda as he bent down and grabbed The Punisher's ankle to drag him back to the cell.

Clambering with his arms The Punisher grabbed the cell door and slammed it into Barracuda's head.

"Gaaahhhh, you mother fucker!" Barracuda screamed as he grabbed his head getting a piece of his own medicine.

Finally getting a break, The Punisher was able stand back up and begin to see, making out shapes and colors. Stumbling around he still struggled to find balance as he fell forward and grabbed a metal bar. He focused more and he could tell that he was holding onto the railing of a metal staircase. Climbing up the stairs The Punisher knew that one of the ways that he could gain an advantage over Barracuda was to get above him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Barracuda ran over to the bottom of the stairs.

Turning to face Barracuda, The Punisher had a few seconds to take a few steps up the stairs, before Barracuda charged him. As anticipated Barracuda relied on his punching to attack The Punisher. He let him land a few good hits and get close, but not too close. He waited until Barracuda was to deliver his finisher haymaker punch for that would be when he would have the least amount of balance. With both hands on the railings on either side of the stairs, The Punisher lifted his legs up and kicked the outward into Barracuda's chest, sending him falling back down the stairs. With a loud clank and thump, he fell down the stairs. He struck the bottom step. Jumping off the top stair The Punisher sent his feet falling down onto the stomach of Barracuda, knocking all the air out of his lungs. He choked as he fought to breath. The Punisher gave him no time to do so as he made a shoulder drop onto Barracuda's chest. He had him right where he wanted him as he used all of his weight to press his elbow into the Adam's apple of Barracuda. With over two hundred fifty pounds of pressure The Punisher cut off his ways of breathing. Barracuda stopped coughing and moving as he blacked out. As that happened The Punisher felt his elbow lift up. His body rejected his efforts and refused to proceed in killing Barracuda. With the curse still in effect The Punisher realised he only had a few moments left before Barracuda regained consciousness. So he ran up the stairs.

Having been imprisoned in Rycker's Island several times before The Punisher knew the place like the back of his hand. Solitary confinement was a part of the prison that he was particularly familiar with. He knew that it was located near the west side of the main building of the prison and the best way out was to head to the northern corridor. As he ran in that direction he noticed quickly that something was amiss as there were no guards to be seen. Normally this section would be heavily guarded. However no one seemed to be patrolling the block, as a matter of fact the block appeared to be completely vacant there weren't even anyone in the cells, the whole place was completely empty. Looking around at the security cameras they were still operating and all following him. As he moved to the northern corridor he found it to be blocked off. The barred door closed him off from where he needed to go. Without tools or knowledge of the security equipment he would have had no way to get past it. So he searched for another way out, however all other exits were also blocked except for the southern corridor which would bring him deeper into the main building and further away from any exit. It was obvious to him that someone had taken control of the security system, most likely one of Bulleye's lackeys, and was luring him into a trap. His suspicion was confirmed as he walked down the corridor and music began to play over the loudspeaker.

"The warden threw a party in the county jail. The prison band was there, and they began to wail.’

The music echoed through the building as The Punisher passed another empty cell block. There was no sign of convicts or guards anywhere.

"The band was jumpin', and the joint began to swing. You should've heard them knocked out jailbirds sing."

His path snaked through the building as The Punisher continued to find every exit blocked off and the doors that were open only brought him deeper into the main building.

"Let's rock, everyone lets rock."

Behind him he heard a large metal door open and rushed footsteps run towards him.

"Everyone in the whole cell block, was dancin' to the jailhouse rock."

As The Punisher turned around he was met by Mitch, Gig, and Bosephus. Who he was introduced to in the yard by Reverend Smith. They came at him with shivs and broken chair legs. First Gig stabbed at him with a shiv. The Punisher swat the shiv away and slammed his elbow into Gig's chin. With a broken chair leg raised above his head Bosephus charged The Punisher. He thrusted his palm into the hand that was holding the chair leg, knocking it into Bosephus' head. Mitch slashed at The Punisher with his shiv. Taking a small step to the left The Punisher was able to dodge the slash and grab a hold of his arm and using his momentum The Punisher flipped him over. Bosephus threw a punch at The Punisher and missed. The Punisher grabbed his head and slammed into the concrete wall. Pushing up with his hands Mitch tried to get up, but The Punisher drop kicked him on his head. Gig jumped on his back and tried to strangle him with his arm. The Punisher grabbed Gig's arms and flipped him over his head onto the back of Mitch. The Punisher walked away leaving the three men hurting too much to continue fighting.

Entering yet another cell block The Punisher was confronted by a gruesome sight of blood splattered on the walls and bodies of dead guards littering the ground. They were savagely torn apart with shivs and their weapons and protective gear had been stripped from them.

Among the fallen guards he heard one gasping for air. Sitting up against a pillar the guard had one arm covered in blood and a shiv sticking out of his neck. The guard couldn't speak or hardly move, but his eyes widened with fear as The Punisher knelt down to examine him.

"I'm not going to hurt you," The Punisher said calmly. "The shiv is piercing your esophagus blocking your breathing. I'm going to pull it out and it's going to hurt like hell."

With a quick yank The Punisher removed the shiv. After taking off his shirt he tore it into ribbons and loosely tied it around the guard's neck.

"Leave me alone," the guard spoke with gasping breaths. "Let me die, I won't make it out of here alive."

"You put up one hell of a fight. What's your name, soldier?" asked The Punisher.

"My name is Gabriel Costa and I ain't no soldier," the guard struggled to speak.

"Wrong, this is a war zone and I don't leave any soldier behind," The Punisher lifted Gabriel's chin and looked him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just dead weight. I can't do anything with this arm," he looked down at his arm covered in blood.

The Punisher lifted Gabriel's arm up and it squirted blood.

"Your Brachial artery was cut. I'm going to tie a tourniquet around it and you're going to need to keep your arm up." He wrapped one of his shirt ribbons around it. "You're coming with me. Put your arm around my shoulder."

"No, I'll slow you down too much. We’ll both be killed," Gabriel refused to get up and let his body drop down.

"Wait, maybe we can help." Two young college age kids walked out. "We can stay here with the guard until you can get more help."

"Who are you two?" The Punisher looked the two young prisoners over.

"I'm Sam Exmore and this my friend Toni Harris we were arrested by some crooked S.K.U.L.L. cops while we were trying to stop an illegal drug ring."

"Sam Exmore?" Said The Punisher. "You're a reporter right? I read your article you wrote about me busting up that chess club that was dealing tranquilizers."

"You read my work? Oh my god, what did you think!" Sam spoke with excitement.

"Sam, this is no time to be fanboying out, he's a murderer," Toni quietly whispered to him.

"Yeah, but he's Bryn's friend. We can trust him." Replied Sam.

"You know Bryn? Come over here and help me with Gabe. You're all coming with me." Said The Punisher.

"Can't we just stay here. If you are going to face those rioting prisoners you can't protect us all." Said Toni.

"It's not safe here. I already ran into three convicts, they're going to come back this way. You'll be safer with me." The Punisher lifted up Gabriel and placed him on Sam and Toni's shoulders. Together they walked out the cell block.

"Where are we going?" asked Sam as he helped Gabe walk past the prison cells.

"I don't know, I've been walking through this prison for an hour now. They're leading us somewhere," replied The Punisher.

"Death row is up ahead," said Gabe. "This can't be good."

"Wait guys do you hear that?" Toni stopped the group and cupped a hand around her ear.

All four of them became silent and still as they listened. Off in the distance coming from death row that could hear screaming yelling. It was the sound of people cheering and celebrating and the sound of people screaming pain and begging for their lives.

"Oh hell no, we are not going that way," Sam began to panic.

"We don't have a choice. The prisoners have control over the island. They are locking and opening the doors. If we want to get out of here we have to go through them." Said The Punisher.

"Nope, I'm staying here," Sam protested.

"We don't have a choice, Sam. You heard him, there's three other murders behind us. At least with The Punisher we have a chance to make it out of here alive," argued Toni.

"No, go without me," Sam removed Gabe's arm off his shoulder. "I'm going to go back to hiding. If you make it out of here. You can come back and find me after this is all over."

Gabe stumbled wincing in pain and clutched onto Toni.

"You're a good kid, but you have to listen to your friends," Gabe strained to stand back up. "They have control over the security system. They can see us with security cameras. If you try to run and hide they will find you. Look at what they did to me. Think of what they can do to you. If you leave we will not be able to protect you. And yes there are a lot of rioting prisoners ahead of us, but you've got potential. I know that you'll be able to help us when the time comes."

Not sure if he should run or stay, Sam stood still contemplating his choices. Finally he grabbed Gabe's arm and placed it back on his shoulder.

"I know I'm going to regret this," said Sam as four of them proceeded to continue walking down the hallway.

After walking through another cell block they neared the riot. The loud shouts were loud enough to drown out all other noises. The Punisher stuck out an arm signaling them to stop. Sam and Toni shook in fear of what they were about to face. Turning to them The Punisher tensed up his muscles and prepared himself too.

"Listen, the riot is right around this bend. I need you to stay behind me. I will fight them off," he said then turned to creep to the bend.

Placing his body against the wall he leaned his head in to see the riot. He could see a crowd of prisoners moving around like an ocean wave of violence. They were beating and torturing guards on the floor. Prisoners on the second level of the cell cheered them on.

Meanwhile unknown to The Punisher, Gabe let one of his arms fall off of Sam's shoulder and reached behind his back. Tucked in his waistband he pulled out a large knife. He took it and stuck it into Sam's back. He screamed in agony as Gabe stabbed him several more times in the back creating deep cuts and causing blood to pour out. In horror Toni let go of him and backed away. The Punisher charged Gabe and knocked him to the floor. Then he picked him up and threw him against the concrete wall.

The Punisher ran to Sam's aid to examine the stab wounds, but Toni was already clenching him tight with tears in her eyes. She pulled at any loose fabric of his shirt and wadded it into the cuts to soak up the blood and stop the bleeding, but it did no good and was already soaking red. Quickly convicts swarmed around them. With punches and kicks he fought them off. He tore the shirt off of one convict and tossed it to Toni.

"Use that to dress his wounds and keep him from bleeding out," he said before charging the crowd.

They swiped at him with their shivs, but he wouldn't let the strings of the blades slow him down. With his fists clenched tight he continued to fight them off. Some of them were the convicts that he had seen in the yard earlier and fought before, but he paid them no mind. He didn't recognize any of them and only saw them as a large mass of hatred that he had to fight through. He did his best to hold them back from Sam and Toni, but there were too many and they surrounded him. As soon as one came close he knocked them back. However his efforts were futile. Becoming tired and overwhelmed he threw a punch only to be stopped by what felt like a brick wall. Looking up he saw the big laughing face of the Russian.

"What are you doing out here in the back," the Russian taunted. The Punisher threw another fist only to be grabbed by the Russian. He picked up The Punisher and lifted him up over his head. "Come jump on in to the deep end. The water's fine."

Flying across the cell block The Punisher landed on several convicts, but they didn't mind as they pulled out their shivs and cut away at The Punisher. They were compelled to give him a death by a thousand cuts. Meanwhile on the other side of the block convicts closed in on Toni and Sam pulling them apart and taking them hostage. The Punisher tried to fight back, but as multiple convicts cut and stabbed at him relentlessly he didn't have a chance to form an attack. Then suddenly out of nowhere he heard the buzz of electricity and several of the convicts were knocked off their feet and fell to the ground. Then another buzz of electricity and more convicts were knocked away leaving The Punisher free from their attacks. Looking up he saw his savior Herman Schultz with electrical devices attached to his wrists. These weren't the usual Shocker gauntlets that he normally wore, but instead makeshift ones made from radios, digital clocks, and other electronics that he could have found.

"I told you I had your back," The Shocker held out a hand and helped The Punisher to his feet.

As soon as he was standing again The Punisher started fighting again as several more convicts charged him. He couldn't waste time fighting them so he struck them in sensitive spots like the eyes, throat and groin. He had to fight dirty. This was by no means a fair fight. The Shocker backed him up and shocked any convict that looked like they may gain an upper hand on The Punisher.

"Fucking traitor!" Shouted a convict. "We should hang you by your tongue like we will with the Punisher."

"This whole riot is foolish," replied The shocker. "There's no point in killing him in the state that he is in now."

Fighting alongside The Punisher, the Shocker electrocuted many of the convicts causing them to collapse onto the floor in seizures.

"It's no use. There's too many of them," the Shocker said frantically.

"We have to get to Sam and Toni. They're defenseless," replied The Punisher.

"Holy fuck, YEOW!" A shard of metal struck the guantel on the Shocker's right hand, causing it to explode into flames. He quickly ripped the guantel off his wrist exposing burnt skin underneath. Both him and The Punisher looked up to where the metal shard was thrown and saw Bullseye standing on the second level of the cell block. Standing at his sides were the Russian and Reverend Smith.

"We've had our fun and games. Now is time for the main attraction," announced Bullseye. He stretched out his arm to his left and out from the crowd emerged Roc pulling on the wrists of Sam and Toni. Sam's stab wounds were wrapped in a convict's shirt and the bleeding had seemed to stop, but he was noticeably still in a massive amount of pain.

"Help me, please help me," with tears in his eyes, Sam begged for his life. Toni remained silent, however it was obvious that she was terrified.

"Well now's your chance Punisher. Give up now and let us kill you or we will fillet your two friends alive." Said Bullseye. "What do you say? A life for two lives."

"Okay sure, do what you brought me here to do," The Punisher replied.

"Wait don't, it's a trick. They'll kill those two kids anyway," The Shocker whispered to The Punisher. "You have to fight them."

"I've got a plan," The Punisher whispered back.

"Great, so naturally since you're in a prison, we have had a lot of people volunteering to kill you. Imagine that will you, everyone here wants to kill you. So we had a little lottery," said Bullseye. Reverend Smith handed him a hat that he held upside down. "Does everyone have their ticket?"

Everyone in the crowd pulled out raffle tickets and raised them up. Even the Shocker pulled a ticket from his pocket. The Punisher looked over at him in disgust.

"They said that the ticket sales would go to charity," said The Shocker.

"Alright here we go," Bullseye reached into the hat and pulled out a ticket. "And the lucky winner is the ticket ending in number 616."

"Me me me, that's me!" Slapstick jumped up from the crowd waving his ticket around.

"I win! I get to kill the Punisher! I get to kill the Punisher!" Slapstick shouted with joy as he hopped and skipped through the crowd to The Punisher. Behind him the convicts cheered and clapped.

"Really, you're going to kill me?" The Punisher asked in disbelief.

"Don't be too surprised, I rigged the raffle," whispered Slapstick. "Finally, this is my opportunity to go from being a D-list villain to a major villain. Maybe they'll even have a summer event centered around me."

Slapstick pulled a cartoonishly large knife out from his back pocket and held it over his head. The crowd cheered him on and Bullseye watched from up above with a large smile on his face.

The Punisher let Slapstick get close to him, close enough to stab him. Then he moved quickly and grabbed the teenage clown. Lifting him up, The Punisher tossed Slapstick up into the second level into Bullseye knocking him down. The Shocker fired an electric blast at Roc causing him to let go of Sam and Toni.

"Give me a boost," The Punisher told the Shocker. The Shocker held his hands together with his palms up at knee level. The Punisher stepped on the Shocker's hands and the Shocker lifted him up so that he could grab onto the railing of the second level and climb up. Once there The Punisher moved quickly to stand between Bullseye and Sam and Toni.

"Don't worry kids, I'm not going to go back on my promise to get you out of here," said The Punisher.

"Get off me, you freak," Bullseye violently shoved Slapstick off of him as stood back up. "Damn it Frank, why must you keep fighting. You're our prisoner now."

"I am not Frank Castle. He is dead. I am not your prisoner. You can't stop me. I am the Punisher and I will make sure that you die tonight." Replied The Punisher.

"Whatever, we're killing you anyway," Bullseye pulled out a large hunting knife and brandished it.

"Hold on, I won the lottery. I'm supposed to kill him," Slapstick said, reaching to grab the knife from Bullseye.

"Fine, don't fuck up this time," Bullseye reluctantly handed the knife to Slapstick.

Lunging Slapstick stabbed at The Punisher, but he was quick to dodge Slapstick's attack. With one hand he grabbed Slapstick's wrist and twisted it around until he let go of the knife. Then with his other hand The Punisher picked up the knife and stabbed it through Slapstick's chest. Blood spilled out and Slapstick coughed choking for air. The Punisher twisted the blade around making the stab wound wider. Then he grabbed the back of Slapstick and pulled him close, causing the blade to go deeper and stick out the back. Slapstick's body became limp as he died in The Punisher's arms.

To be continued.

Chapter Text

Sitting at the bar Bryn stared at their phone contemplating whether or not to answer, as it rang three times. After taking a drink from their cherry coke and gin, they finally found the strength to pick up the phone.

"Tell me you have some good news." Silently they listened, but they had trouble holding their tongue as they hunched their back over clenching their fist.

"What do you mean the judge refuses to see us?! You showed him the petition, right?" They were letting their anger get the best of them.

"Fuck the S.K.U.L.L.! I don't care! We need to get them out of there. They've been in there so long it's getting ridiculous," they blurted out.

"Right, right, I'm sorry, it's been a long week for me. I appreciate everything you've been doing for Sam and Toni, but I can't..." They calmed down and glanced around the bar to see if anyone was watching them. "I need to see them."

"Yeah, we've just gotta hope for the best. Alright I'll talk to you later, bye." Bryn hung up their phone, exhaled sharply, and finished off their cherry coke and gin.

Frustrated and exhausted they fought hard to hold back tears as they buried their face in their palms. A young man in a leather jacket sat down next to them and placed a fresh gin and coke in front of them.

"Thanks," Bryn smiled and took a sip from the drink, but that smile quickly disappeared as they turned and saw Robbie Reyes sitting next to them. "What are you… oh, you got the email too."

"Yeah, an address and time." Robbie replied. "Normally I would ignore an email like that, but it was sent to my Avengers email account and no one sends me emails to that account, not even Blade."

"Why would Blade send you an email?" Asked Bryn.

"No reason, I just wanted to mention that I'm on the same team as Blade," bragged Robbie. "You know we hang out sometimes."

Bryn looked at him cocked eyed. Embarrassed, Robbie cleared his throat.

"Anyway, looks like we're not the only ones that were invited," Robbie gestured towards the booth in the corner.

Looking over, Bryn saw two young women with raven black hair. One appeared to be in her twenties and completely uninterested by anything around her. The other appeared to be in her preteens and interested in everything around her.

"Who are they?" Asked Bryn.

"Wolverine and Honey Badger." Answered Robbie as if to be stating the obvious.

"Oh right, I've never seen them with their masks off."

"So…" Robbie pressed through the awkwardness of the conversation. "It sounded like you were having a heated phone call before I came over here, you want to talk about it?"

Bryn brought the gin and coke to their lips and downed it. After shaking off the aftertaste they looked back at Robbie.

"So what do you think is the reason the four of us have been called here?" They asked.

"You don't know?" slightly surprised, Robbie raised an eyebrow. "I think it has to do with the fact that we all know the Punisher."

Robbie paused for a moment and exhausted sharply before adding, "and even though we may not want to admit it we could use him out of prison and killing again."

"Damn it, he's the last thing I want to think about right now. I lost my only form of income, I've got the fucking S.K.U.L.L. cops on my ass, two of my friends are in jail, my best friend has been missing for months, and the Punisher… I don't know, are we friends? What do you call someone who you are begrudgingly attached to and for some reason you feel the need to help! Is that friendship?"

"You're drunk," Robbie stated matter-of-factly.

Bryn bursted out laughing, then took a moment to clear their thoughts.

"Yeah, I suppose," they admitted.

"Well, I don't know what we're doing here, but as long as we're in a bar I might as well join you," Robbie waved to grab the attention of the bartender. "Two gin and cokes."

Bryn nudged Robbie to get him to look at the TV above the bar. A basketball game was interrupted by a newscaster. The volume was turned off, but the news began to show security camera footage of Ryker's Island. The inmates of the prison were being shown rioting and attacking the guards. The security camera footage paused and zoomed in to show The Punisher fighting the other prisoners.

"Speak of the devil," Robbie said with a gasp. "And he shall raise hell."

"Should we go there? Should we help him?" Asked Bryn.

"Wait," Robbie looked around the bar confused. "Is it me or are there a lot less people in here than earlier?"

"You're right I-" Bryn looked around too. Then together the two of them watched as Wolverine and Honey Badger got up from their booth and quickly walked towards the front door.

"Yeah, let's go," Robbie placed several dollar bills on the bar then followed after Wolverine with Bryn.

"Hey, what's going on?" Robbie asked Wolverine as they exited the bar.

"When everyone disappeared I noticed a strange scent leaving," replied Wolverine.

"Scent? Where did it go?"

Suddenly a new Jeep Gladiator truck zoomed past them on the street.

"That way," Honey Badger pointed at the truck.

"Shit, I'll get it," Robbie turned into Ghost Rider and ran down the street as his demonic mustang drove up behind him letting him phase through into the driver's seat.

"Please tell me you have a car," Bryn turned to Wolverine.

"What? No, we don't drive," she replied.

"Shit, I'm too drunk to drive," Bryn slapped their head. "Okay, come with me."

Driving through the busy city streets at over sixty miles per hour Robbie Reyes chased after the truck. Shifting into fourth gear he went full Ghost Rider engulfing the car in flames. He was careful to drive around innocent bystanders and other cars, but the ones that he couldn't dodge he phased through to catch up with the truck that was recklessly speeding away. Once close enough Robbie let the Ghost Rider powers take control over the car like autodrive so that he could climb through the windshield onto the hood of the car. Once standing on top of the hell rider he pulled out his chains and swung them around like a cowboy at a rodeo. He tossed the chains forward and lassoed the bed of the truck like a bull, then pulled them to get the truck to slow down.

"Shit, how did they get past me?" Asked Ghost Rider as he witnessed Bryn driving around him and the truck. Once in place in front of them. Wolverine and Honey Badger opened the back passenger doors and jumped out of the moving car onto the hood of the truck. The back passenger windows rolled down and two thugs with submachine guns leaned out and began firing at the mutants. The bullets didn't bother them as they popped their claws and disarmed the thugs. Wolverine did so literally as she sliced the arm off one thug. Honey Badger grabbed the other thug out of the door window and threw him out onto the moving street. A thug in the front passenger seat leaned out with a shotgun. He fired at Wolverine, sending buckshot into her face. She spun around on the roof of the truck and snarled at him before stabbing her claws through his neck leaving his body half hanging out the truck as it raced through the city.

"We need to slow this thing down before we cause a big wreck!" Honey Badger yelled out.

"Be my guest," replied Wolverine.

The truck was reinforced with bullet proof armor, but that was no match for Honey Badger as she tore through it with her adamantium claws. She cut a hole in the roof of the truck and pulled the driver out of the truck and threw him into the bed. Out of control the truck whipped around. Ghost Rider tried to keep it straight as he pulled on his chains, but he pulled too hard breaking the truck in half detaching the bed from the cab. Wolverine and Honey Badger jumped away to safety as the front of the truck continued to plow forward into a traffic light. The truck flipped over as it hit the light and violently crashed into a bodega.

Robbie Reyes slowed down and parked his mustang on the side of the road. Bryn turned their car around to meet up with him. Once regrouped the team gathered near the crash to assess the damage.

"So we were supposed to kill those guys, right?" Asked Wolverine.

"Well we sure did anyway," Robbie scratched the back of his head feeling embarrassed.

"Oh shit, we should all get out of here before the cops arrive and arrest us," said Bryn.

Then one of the back doors of the truck swung open as a cloaked man ran out and into the bodega.

"Laura, Gabby, circle around to the back through the alley ways," commanded Robbie. "Bryn and I will chase him through the bodega and out the back door."

Splitting up as planned, Robbie and Bryn ran towards the bodega just as the glass front door shattered as two gunshots were fired. Quickly they took cover behind a brick wall to the side of the entrance of the store.

"Stay behind me," Robbie summoned his Ghost Rider powers igniting himself in flames. Bryn followed close behind him as they approached the front door again. Once again two shots were fired, but this time Ghost Rider's demonic powers made him bulletproof, deflecting the bullets. Inside they could hear the noise of the hooded man running through the bodega knocking over things. As Ghost Rider and Bryn entered the Bodega two more shots barely missed them as the hooded man fired blindly as he ran away. Ghost Rider threw his chains at him, but missed as the hooded man ran through the door to the storage room. Ghost Rider and Bryn chased after him into the room, but were halted as two large shelves holding heavy boxes fell over blocking their way.

"What the hell, how did he do that?" Said Bryn as they examined the shelves. "These are massive, it would take a crane to knock over these shelves."

"Stand back," Ghost Rider created a large fireball burning a path through the downed shelves.

Together Ghost Rider and Bryn ran out the back door to witness Wolverine and Honey popped their claws and attack the hooded man. Wolverine slashed at his hands causing him to drop his guns and Honey Badger jumped on his back. He spun around and powerfully threw them away from him without touching them as if to do so telekinetically.

Ghost Rider flung his chains towards the hooded man, but he summoned a shield of purple energy that deflected the chains. Swirling his hands around he manipulated the purple energy and took control of Ghost Rider's chains wrapping them around his arms and legs.

The Man approached Bryn as they backed up against the wall. They trembled in fear as they bent down and reached for their ankle where they kept a small caliber gun holstered. They didn't want to use the gun, but they had no other options.

However they could not draw the gun soon enough as a gun shot rang out and the hooded man doubled over clenching his shoulder in pain. Behind him out of the shadows a black woman wearing a Punisher skull t-shirt and holding a shotgun appeared.

"Maylene?!" Gasped Bryn.

Ghost Rider was equally shocked so much that he didn't even notice the chains unraveling releasing him. Wolverine and Honey Badger got back up and joined them.

"What the hell, where have you been?" Asked Bryn.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been able to keep in touch, I've had a lot on my plate lately and I'll explain later," replied Maylene. "But you four helped me a lot by luring out The Hood here."

"Wait, you mean his name is Hood?" Ghost Rider gestured towards the man on all fours moaning in pain. "That's not very original."

"Well his real name is Parker Robbins," stated Maylene.

Ghost Rider snickered.

"You're going to regret calling me that, only my mother gets to call me by my full name," The Hood threatened as he tried to get up.

"Oh you mean the old lady with Alzheimer's that you left in a convalescent home while you go around snorting cocaine and shooting guns," Maylene forced The Hood on to the ground by stomping on his back and aimed her shotgun at his head. "Yeah, I've been doing some research on you. That's how I also know that you are conspiring with mayor Fisk by not just sending the Punisher to hell but also cursing him with a spell that prevents him from killing anyone."

"Holy shit, he wasn't just bat shit crazy?" Said Wolverine. "The Punisher really is cursed."

"Okay you've proved your point Maylene. Now let me take him back to the Avengers headquarters so that we can imprison him on the Raft," commanded Ghost Rider.

"Sure, but first we need him to remove the spell that he put on The Punisher," said Maylene.

"I would like to help you guys out, but I can't," said the Hood.

"You had the ability to create the spell, you could reverse it," Maylene pressed the shotgun closer to his head.

"No, what I meant was that I don't have the means to do so," replied the Hood. "I would need to create a mental link with a weapon that the Punisher used for murder."

Maylene lifted the shotgun away from his head and unloaded all of the shells.

"Here use this, I'm sure he murdered at least a hundred drug dealers with this," she held out the shotgun to the Hood.

While still on the ground with Maylene's boot on his back, the Hood took the gun and summoned his magic again.

"Barra ante malda, Barra ange ge yene. Zi dingir Anna kanpa, Zi dingir kia kanpa. Gaggamanju." The Hood wrote symbols on the gun with his fingers and purple energy swirled around it. Then the purple energy moved like smoke in reverse into the gun.

"There it is done," said the Hood.

"That's it?" Asked Wolverine.

"We'll have to go to Ryker's Island and find him," said Maylene as she lifted up her foot and reached down for the shotgun.

Quickly the Hood rolled over and fired the shotgun upward at Maylene causing her to fall back into a dumpster.

"May! No!" Bryn yelled as they pulled out their gun from their ankle holster and fired it at the Hood. The small caliber bullet struck his chest and embedded itself an inch in his flesh. Wolverine and Honey Badger jumped on his back stabbing at him with their claws.

"Enough! Stop!" Ghost Rider lassoed his chains around the Hood's neck and pulled him away from Wolverine and Honey Badger towards himself.

"Wait, let me finish him," Maylene got up from the dumpster and pulled out a bulletproof pad from underneath her shirt. She picked up the shotgun and walked up to the Hood.

"No, bullshit this time," Maylene held out the shotgun barrel first at the Hood. Then turned to Ghost Rider and said, "If he tries to kill me again you have my permission to strangle him."

Trembling in pain the Hood reached out and touched the shotgun. He coughed up blood and closed his eyes, before he began to chant.

"Mashrita nanna zia kanpa! Ia Mag! Ia gamag!" Again the Hood summoned his magic creating purple energy swirling around the gun. "Ia zagasthena kia! Ashtag karelliosh!"

The purple energy rose above the gun and formed a skull in front of Maylene before shooting up into the sky and disappearing.

"There, I did it. The spell has been reversed. Now can I go?’’ said Hood.

"Yeah, sure," Maylene loaded a shell into the shotgun and pumped it. Then fired it, blasting the head off the Hood's shoulders.

"What the hell?! You’re killing too? Fuck!" Yelled Ghost Rider as he wiped blood off his leather jacket.

"What if the spell didn't work and the Punisher still can't kill?" Asked Bryn as they approached their friend that they couldn’t believe was still alive.

"Then we go to Brother Voodoo, he must be good for something," replied Maylene.

"Yeah well, it's good to see you again, but where’ve you been?" Asked Bryn

"I'll explain later, but now we must help the Punisher and break him out of prison," Maylene began walking away.

“You meant them,” said Honey badger.

“What?” Wolverine looked at her little sister in confusion.

“The Punisher has they/them pronouns. They’re non binary like Bryn,” replied Honey Badger.

Everyone looked at Bryn confused as if to ask the question of if they knew.

“What do you mean that the Punisher is non binary? Did he tell you that?” Bryn was just as confused if not more than everyone else.

“Yeah, they gave me a ride a few months ago and asked me to use they/them pronouns,” said Honey Badger.

“We can talk about this later. Right now we’ve got to help The Punisher stop a prison riot. Come on, lets go,” Maylene gestured to have everyone follow her.

To be continued

Chapter Text

All Hell broke loose.

A teenage boy with grease paint smeared on his face laid in a puddle of blood dead at the feet of The Punisher still holding the bloody knife. He had actually killed someone, an ability that he had been incapable of ever since he came back from the dead.

All Hell broke loose.

Chaos erupted, the whole crowd of convicts began to panic. Their screams and roars deafened his ears. Everything was happening too quickly for him to keep up.

"Kill them all!" Ordered Bullseye.

Reverend Smith grabbed Toni and shoved her over the balcony of the second story onto the cement floor of the prison cellblock. Shocker rushed to her aid.The young woman's friend Sam Exmore screamed as he lunged at Reverend Smith. The reverend punched the college student below his ribs where he was severely stabbed earlier. Slow to react The Punisher attacked the reverend, but he was too late, Sam had been thrown over the balcony too. The Punisher stabbed the reverend in the shoulder. With a strong grip Roc grabbed The Punisher and tried to pull him off. As Roc picked him up he held onto the reverend's right arm and the knife that he had dug deep into him. Falling over the balcony, the Punisher pulled the Reverend down with him, but the Reverend fell to the floor of the balcony and dangled over the edge as he held on. Raising the knife a fountain of blood sprayed out. The Reverend gasped as the knife fell back down into his chest. Holding on to his arm and hanging from the balcony The Punisher continued to stab him until his chest broke apart and The Punisher fell. He landed on the bottom floor of the cell block still holding onto the arm with the Reverend's head and half of his torso still attached. He joined Shocker, Sam, and Toni as they were surrounded by the rioting convicts all armed with shives itching to kill.

All Hell broke loose and it came in the form of The Punisher's hand. Screaming out, he began his attack by throwing the severed body parts of the Reverend into the crowd. He then proceeded to stab one convict in the chest. With a throat kick he knocked another convict back, then spun around to slit the throat of one more. A few convicts on the balcony above had the balls to jump down onto them, but The Punisher caught one and tossed him into the bars of a cell. One jumped on his back with a shive to his neck. Grabbing the hand holding the shiv the Punisher ducked his head under the arm and shoved the shiv into the chest of the convict, but the shiv was too dull to kill with one stab. He had to stab several more times before the deed was done. While distracted killing, another convict tried to jump The Punisher from the behind, but Shocker took him out with a blast from his hand made taser gauntlets. From there He continued to shock more convicts. Even Toni joined in the fight delivering a few punches and kicks. She didn't know much about defending herself, but an ex-boyfriend who was a boxer taught her a few moves. While Sam… well, he cheered them on and told a few convicts to go fuck themselves.

Despite killing everyone that came at him The Punisher knew that he was at a disadvantage in the confined cell block. He knew that he would be at an advantage in a wide open area with Sam and Toni safely far away.

"Follow me!" The Punisher yelled out as he literally carved a path through the crowd of convicts. They managed to make their way to the exit of the cell block, but like so many of the other exits this one was also locked.

"Move back, I'll take care of it," said Shocker before zapping the lock. The barred gate opened and the group ran down the hall towards the next gate. After breaking through that one, they were able to find an exit to the prison yard.

"Go run, find some place safe. I'm making my stand here," The Punisher took his place in the middle of the basketball court in the yard and faced the doorway waiting for rioting convicts to come to him.

Toni held Sam in her arms as they ran together for the buildings on the other side of the yard. However Shocker stayed behind and stood beside The Punisher.

"Go away, I don't need your help," said The Punisher.

"I can't just leave you like this," replied the Shocker.

"This isn't your fight. You'll only get in my way," The Punisher remained cold. "If you must help me. Then find where Bullseye is controlling the prison from."

"Fine, but don't run out of here without leaving the door open for me," the Shocker ran off and left The Punisher alone in the yard.

The wait wasn't long before the crowd of convicts had made their way to the yard. They funneled out of the building into the wide open area. Between them and The Punisher were exercise equipment such as dumbbells and barbells. Many of the convicts grabbed the weights to use as heavy weapons.

Leading the crowd was a former warlord named Commander Chauvin that The Punisher murdered years ago along with his personal army. Yet he was still cocky enough to come at The Punisher unarmed. It was a foolish choice to make. With one quick punch The Punisher sent him down to the concrete. Furious Chauvin stood back up, but before he could think to attack again The Punisher had clasped his hands around his neck and began to strangle him. Chauvin tried to fight him off, but it was futile. With a dumbbell in hand a convict tried to punch at The Punisher, but he moved the commander into the path of the solid steel weight. His eyes became still as the dumbbell met his head and knocked it sideways.

Seemingly unfazed by the fact that he just accidentally killed one of his comrades, the convict continued to swing the barbell at The Punisher. He was slow and sloppy, making it easy for The Punisher to catch the dumbbell. With a thrust of his arms he slammed the dumbbell into the jaw of the convict. Another convict jumped on to the back of him. He lifted the heavy weight over his head to drop it on to the head of the convict behind him.

The Punisher barely had a second to dodge a barbell being swung down in front of him. The heavy weighted end of the barbell slammed to the ground, leaving a small crater. Stepping on the weight disk and pressing all of his weight on it, The Punisher caused the barbell to jerk out the hands of the convict and swing towards him as he turned his body to dodge it. With the barbell sticking up like a flagpole, the Punisher grabbed a convict and pushed him head first into the cast iron weight disk. Then he removed the weight disk from the barbell and threw it into the chest of another convict. Many more convicts crowded around, surrounding him. He picked up the barbell and holding onto it with both hands he swung around the weighted end knocking out the surrounding convicts. The uneven weight of the barbell made it difficult to control, but at the same time it created a lot of momentum causing the barbell to swing faster and more dangerously. No matter how many convicts that The Punisher was able to injure and kill with the dumbbell, more and more crowded and surrounded him. He planted the weighted end into the ground and jumped kicked at a convict while still holding onto the barbell. From there he swung his body around and kicked another convict. In like a running motion sideways in the air The Punisher kicked at the many convicts as he swung around the barbell.

The large Bosephus grabbed The Punisher by his legs and dragged him away from the barbell. He dragged him across the asphalt for a few yards before his two brothers Mitch and Gig started beating on The Punisher while he was still on the ground.

"This is payback for what you did to us earlier," Bosephus grinned from both ears as he watched his brothers.

They were impulsive and sloppy with their hits. They left themselves open to counter attacks. With a kick to the stomach The Punisher knocked Gig to the ground. Then he grabbed Mitch's leg and pulled him down too. Once he was on his feet, Bosephus charged him to tackle him. The Punisher swiftly dodged him and slammed him head first into a picnic table nearby. Mitch and Gig got back up and proceeded to punch at him. He caught both of their fists in his hands. Quickly jerking both of his arms he tossed both of them to the ground. Nearby, their large brother struggled to get up. The Punisher smashed his head back into the table. Picking back up his bloody head he smashed it back into the table several more times until the edge broke. Large splinters of wood fell to the ground. Mitch and Gig grabbed onto either side of The Punisher trying to pull him away from their brother. Taking one of the large broken pieces of wood The Punisher stabbed it into the eye of Mitch. After pulling it back out, The Punisher stabbed it into the kidney of Gig. Concussed Bosephus wobbled to his feet. The Punisher grappled him by his midsection and lifted him over his head and slammed him down onto the picnic table. With a large wood splinter The Punisher stabbed him through the heart. The other two brothers were still struggling on the ground reeling in pain. The Punisher picked one end of the picnic table and dragged the benches over to them only to slam down the bench onto their throats.

Several more convicts with shivs crowded around The Punisher. They blocked any way he could run and brandished their shivs threatening him, but they were unable to intimidate him. He stood poised ready for their attacks. However none of them stepped towards him.

"Well who's it going to be? Who wants to try to kill me next?" Asked The Punisher.

He looked around and met the eyes of each one of the convicts and they all froze in place.

"I will! I will kill you!" Shouted the Russian.

Three convicts were tossed aside as the Russian charged towards The Punisher. He barely had time to react as the massive Russian grabbed him.

"You killed my beautiful twink boyfriend!" Enraged, The Russian shouted. "I will tear you apart!"

The Punisher struggled trying to break free, The Russian's grip was too tight as he lifted him over his head and threw him into the chain link fence surrounding the garden. As The Punisher's body struck the fence it broke and he fell into the plants.

Tearing the fence apart, the Russian entered the garden, only to get a watermelon thrown at his face. The large fruit broke to pieces and knocked him a few steps back. As soon as he wiped the juice and pieces of watermelon off of his face another one hit him.

"Stop throwing fruit at me and fight me like a man!" Infuriating the Russian screamed with his face dripping in red juice and black seeds. He was quickly silenced as a pumpkin hit him and knocked him to the ground.

"I forget, is a pumpkin a fruit or a vegetable?" Said The Punisher as he stood over the Russian. Annoyed, The Russian pulled off the sticky pieces of pumpkin before he quickly stood back up.

"Neither, it's a SQUASH!" the Russian held both of his hands together as he raised them above his head. The Punisher was quick to dodge out of the way as he brought his fists down.

The Punisher punched him in the head twice, but much like watermelons this only made him madder as he fought back. Slamming him with all of his weight, the Russian tackled The Punisher to the ground. The Punisher lifted his knees to his chest and pushed the Russian off of him. As he reached for another pumpkin the Russian attacked him again, punching him several times. He felt his head rattle around each time he was struck. He tried to roll with the punches and deflect the blows, but they were too strong. With yet another punch he was knocked back into the tool shed. The lock on the door rattled as he hit it. Again the Russian punched him into the door of the tool shed. The lock rattled, the hinges squeaked, and the wood panels of the door broke. Splintering and shattering the door broke apart and he fell to the floor of the tool shed. Quickly he scrambled to make some space between him and the Russian. It was dark in the shed so he had to feel around with his hands. He felt something wet and soft inside of a bag. The smell was unmistakable as fertilizer, so he grabbed a handful of it and threw it into the face of the Russian, blinding him. He recoiled and gagged in disgust as he tried to wipe it away from his face. The Punisher took this opportunity to stand up and let his eyes adapt to the darkness so that he could see the garden tools around him. The Russian had recovered quickly and came charging at him. He didn't have much time to react so he grabbed the closest thing to him which was a trowel. It was blunt, but thrusting with all of his strength he was able to shove it into the gut of the Russian. Blood sprayed as he pulled it out, but the Russian didn't retreat; he only got madder swinging his arms around carelessly. The Punisher grabbed a pair of hedge clippers which he shoved into the same hole that he created with the trowel. Once inside the Russian's gut he opened them up and the Russian's intestines fell to the ground. They smelled worse than the fertilizer and The Punisher pinned them to the ground by stabbing the hedge clippers down on them. Gasping, the Russian fell to his knees. He tried to pull his guts back into his body, but as he reached for the hedge clippers the pain had made him too weak and fell to the ground. With his opponent down, but not dead The Punisher found another tool to murder with. Pulling on the cord the engine shook and blades spun around as the rototiller came to life. The Punisher pushed it towards the Russian on the ground and turned his head into mulch.

As fragments of skulls and brains went flying through the air, The Punisher thought that he had a moment to catch his breath, but unbeknownst to him a crowd of convicts swarmed around the garden shed. The chain link fence rattled as they fled in. The Punisher in a split second ran back into the shed and pulled out a rake. Swinging it around he defended himself. Grabbing three cons at once, he used the rake to fling them out of the way, but they kept flooding in unafraid. Swinging the rake back he struck the back of the head of a convict, then swiped at another to spray blood everywhere. A few of them held back, but they continued to block all of the exits out of the garden. The Punisher dug the metal hooks into the chest of one of the convicts and pulled him in to meet him. Once close enough he wrapped his hands around the neck and snapped it, not killing him, but instead paralyzing him. Using the stiff body as a shield The Punisher pushed his way out of the garden. Once out he pulled the hooks out of the paralyzed body and swung around the rake to keep the crowd off of his back. Throwing a few more away with another swipe of the rake across the ground breaking shins. Several of them pushed their bodies together to stop the rake and grab it. Pulling with all of his weight he tried to tug the rake back, but couldn't match the strength of the many convicts crowding around him. He released the rake causing the mass of men to fall back, he charged into them using his bare hands to fight them. Running up one of the convicts he jumped up and brought his elbow down onto the head of another. Trying to tackle him, one convict wrapped his arms around him. He picked him up from his back and threw him into the crowd. Then he dropped to the ground as several more men tried to tackle him, they crashed into each other. Slamming his fists into their feet he broke their toes and made them fall clenching their feet. Moving up he knocked their knees together making them bend the opposite of the way they should go. With a fist to head he was suddenly knocked back.

Like a battle ram a fist knocked into The Punisher's jaw. He could feel it crack as another fist wrapped in metal hit him. Stumbling back he pressed his tongue to his teeth feeling a few come loose. Looking at his attacker he saw the buck tooth smile of Mel Jay The Red Fever with a set of handcuffs wrapped around each of his fists. He was strong and fast as he delivered several haymaker punches to the cranium of The Punisher. With his mouth dripping in blood he reached inside and pulled out three teeth with their roots and all.

"You know why they call me Red Fever, because I like getting my hands bloody," taunted Mel Jay as he sent another fist at The Punisher.

However this time he caught Mel's fist in his palm and squeezed his hands around it. As he did the metal bands of the handcuffs clamped around the fingers of Mel.

"Let me help you," said The Punisher as he squeezed tighter. The metal bands dug into Mel's fingers and broke the skin causing blood to seep out.

"Let go, let go!" Mel cried out.

With his hand full of teeth The Punisher clasped it over Mel's mouth and made him swallow the teeth. Then he wrapped his fingers around Mel's neck and began to strangle him. With the teeth still in his throat it made it more difficult for him breath and more painful as The Punisher choked him to death.

Many of the convicts crowded in around him. Getting winded he struggled to fight back. Nonetheless he made his strikes count by punching hard enough to make nose cartilage stick into their brains, hitting the bottom of the neck where the most vulnerable vertebrae causing their necks to become dislocated, and punching their chest hard enough to make ribs splinter and pierce their hearts. However they outnumbered him and beated him relentlessly, not giving him a moment to fight back.

Suddenly with a flash of bright light several of the convicts were knocked out. Another blast of electricity and The Punisher was able to break free of the crowd and fight back. With a few punches and kicks he was able fight off the convicts and make his way to source of the flashy blasts, Shocker.

"Thanks for the aid. It's getting hard to keep up with them," said The Punisher.

"This should help," Shocker handed The Punisher a pair of billy clubs. "I couldn't find any guns, I'm sure that you will enjoy using these."

"Well beggars can't be choosers," said The Punisher.

"Another thing, I found out that Bullseye and several of the names on your shit list are holding up in the warden's office. It's in-"

"The Northernmost building past the cafeteria," The Punisher interrupted and finished Shocker's sentence. "I've been here enough times to know how to get around."

"Still he has a large army between you and there. You're going to need my help," said Shocker.

"Fine, but I'm not going to let you slow me down."

***

Busting through the door Shocker fired his shock bracelets keeping the convicts from getting close to him, while The Punisher went for the opposite approach by charging the convicts and fighting them up close. He made good use of the billy clubs as one convict came at his left, he slammed the club sideways into his neck. Another came up from behind, The Punisher swung the club into the convict's head cracking his skull. Another convict popped up in front of him, he slapped both of the clubs into the attacker's ears deafening him. Several more charged him at once. He duck down and swung the clubs in a circle breaking their shins. The ones that he missed were stunned by Shocker. Working together they were able to make it through the building quickly.

"Get out of the way, coming through!" Yelled a loud booming voice.

Barracuda came barreling down the hallway knocking all of the convicts in front of him aside. Like a pro football quarterback he slammed his body into The Punisher knocking him to the ground along with the several other convicts.

"You thought that you had me down for the count. Well I'm not tapping out yet. It's time for round three," Barracuda taunted.

"Mind if I tag in?" Shocker came at Barracuda from behind, shocking him in the back.

Barely flinching from the electricity, Barracuda turned around and grabbed one of Shocker's taser gauntlets, crushing it in his hands.

"Was that supposed to hurt me? I don't feel much pain nowadays," he said as he pulled Shocker towards him and head butted him.

The Punisher pulled Barracuda away from Shocker with a Billy club under his chin to strangle him. He quickly reacted with an elbow to The Punisher's ribs and grabbed his arm. Barracuda squatted down to give himself leverage to flip him over.

Shocker came back at Barracuda, this time by using his remaining taser gauntlet on Barracuda's face. Again he was quick to shake it off and deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to Shocker's belly. While his leg was still in the air, The Punisher grabbed it and yanked him down to the ground. With him briefly dazed The Punisher grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up upsidedown with his legs in the air. Shocker ran up grabbed him by his shoulders and simultaneously together they jumped up into the air. During which Shocker pulled his knees and possessioned them right below Barracuda's chest delivering extreme pain as they hit the ground.

While on the ground The Punisher and Shocker rolled away from Barracuda who seemed to have been unconscious.

"You think that did it?" Shocker rubbed his sore muscles and rotated his neck.

"We gave him a good beating, but he won't be down for long," replied The Punisher as he cracked his knuckles.

"Are you sure? He seems pretty knocked out to me," Shocker leaned over to better examine Barracuda.

As if spring loaded a large fist sent Shocker back hitting a pair of double doors so hard that they broke off their hinges.

"God, I hate that guy," groaned Barracuda as slowly rose up to his feet.

Quickly to keep the big guy down The Punisher grabbed one of the detached doors and slammed it down on him. Falling to his knees he pushed himself up before The Punisher hit him again with the door. He covered his face and turned so that his back took the brute of the hits.

"Fuck that hurts." Screamed Barracuda as he grabbed the door and tried to pull it away. "Enough, GODDAMNIT!".

The door was badly weakened and was beginning to splinter so The Punisher punched it in its weakest spot causing it to shatter and leaving Barracuda with useless broken pieces. Regardless he punched The Punisher knocking him into some chairs in the cafeteria.

"Come on, let's stop this guy," Shocker grabbed The Punisher and helped him to his feet.

"Fine," he grunted as he and Shocker pushed a large table towards the entrance of the cafeteria where Barracuda was. Quickly he jumped onto the table and ran along it. Then he jumped up and kicked his legs forward. The Punisher dodged out of the way and he landed shaking the floor.

Shocker jumped on Barracuda's back and tried to choke him. Grabbing his arms, he flipped Shocker over his back and threw him into the cafeteria serving area, shattering the sneeze guard.

The Punisher punched at Barracuda, but he ducked down out of the way. While hunched down he charged and grabbed The Punisher lifting him up and throwing him too into the serving area.

"Here, get back up," Shocker helped The Punisher back up only to have to duck back down again as a chair came flying at them. Barracuda grabbed more chairs and threw them. Together The Punisher and Shocker jumped over the serving counter to avoid the flying chairs.

"Shit, we need something to fight back against him," said Shocker as he hid behind the counter.

"We need to go to the kitchen. There should be some knives or large pans in there," replied The Punisher.

"Hey guys where did you go?" Called out Barracuda as he approached the counter. "I thought we were having fun."

Cautiously looking around he walked around the counter, but he didn't see any signs of The Punisher or Shocker. Entering the Kitchen everything was still and silent except for the cold air that blew from the large open door of the walk-in freezer.

"Oh look, someone left the freezer door open, that's going to waste electricity. I better go close it," he said in a sarcastic voice as he walked over to the sink where a large knife was soaking in the water. From out of a cabinet The Punisher jumped out and covered Barracuda's head with a boiling pot. With him blinded, The Punisher shoved him into the oven, breaking the glass door. Almost as if to retreat, The Punisher ran back to the freezer door.

"You must think you're clever, but I'm not falling for your trap to lure me into the freezer so that you can lock me in," said Barracuda as he got up and removed the boiling pot from his head.

"We weren't planning on trapping you in the freezer, we only have the door open so that we had something to hide behind when we did this," said The Punisher as Shocker stepped out from behind the freezer door holding his broken shocking gauntlet with a long wire hanging from it going to the oven.

The oven exploded as he squeezed the gauntlet and along with The Punisher they hid behind the freezer door shielding them from the blast. Barracuda took the brunt of the blast from behind, igniting his back and knocking him to the ground. A large plum of flames filled the room and the walls shook, but as quickly as it happened the debris settled and the room was still.

Cautiously The Punisher and Shocker stepped out from behind the freezer door keeping their eyes on the burning body of Barracuda.

"Do you think he's dead?" Asked Shocker.

"I've thought that about Barracuda several times before yet he still persists," replied The Punisher. He knelt down, searching through the kitchen utensils that littered the floor and grabbed a spatula.

"He looks about done to me. What do you say we flip him over," he said as he slid the spatula under Barracuda's face and lifted it up.

At first Barracuda's face sagged and his body was limp, but suddenly letting out a roar he leapt at The Punisher like a lion. Rolling onto his back The Punisher kicked his legs up throwing Barracuda behind him towards Shocker. Jumping out of the way Shocker went to the freezer where a large meat hook hung. Using it as a weapon, he swung the hook at Barracuda. Despite being charred Barracuda was quick to stop the swinging hook by grabbing it and tried to pull it away, but Shocker held on pulling back on it too. So Barracuda let him have it by jumping forward and thrusted the hook into his chest. His eyes became wide in fear and his breaths were short as Barracuda shoved the hook deeper into him chest.

"You goddamn son of a bitch!" Shouted The Punisher as he jumped on Barracuda's back pulling him off Shocker. Together they fell to the ground, Barracuda rolled over on top of The Punisher and proceeded to relentlessly punch him in the face knocking his head from side to side. He spat blood as his jaw broke. Desperately and blindly he felt around him for anything that he could find for a weapon. It wasn't long before he found what felt like a plastic box with buttons and metal blades on top. It was a blender with the glass pitcher broken. Turning it on the metal blades quickly spun around. He shoved it into Barracuda's face and clasped his other hand over the back of Barracuda's head. With both hands he held on until the blender liquefied Barracuda's brains into a smoothie.

Pushing Barracuda's body off of him, he sat up and rubbed his jaw. Looking to his left he found a rag hanging from below the sink. Using the cabinets he climbed to his feet and soaked the rag and pressed it to his jaw.

"Hey buddy, you wanna help me here?" Shocker sat on the ground holding onto the meat hook stuck in his chest. He winced in pain as he tried to pull it out, but he was too weak and the pain was too unbearable for him.

"You don't want to pull that out," The Punisher walked over to him and knelt down to examine the wound. He bloated around it with the wet rag. "It's in deep, pulling it out could cause you to bleed out or it could damage a vital organ on the way out."

"Well shit, I can't just hang around like this. Hell, I can barely move," said Shocker.

"It's best for you to stay here. The warden's office is not far from here. Once I take out Bullseye I'll get help for you and we'll be home free," replied The Punisher.

"Easier said than done, but you're going to need a plan."

* * *
Most men know that the best way to kill one man is to have more men. Whether with an ambush or with a trap where you have the most men the odds are on your side. However those rules don't apply to The Punisher.

Up to this point Bullseye and his fortress of murders have been ambushing The Punisher and that hasn't been successful yet. A trap has already failed once, but if at first you don't succeed try and try again.

Bullseye still had the prison's security under his control. With closed and open gates he once again led The Punisher towards a trap. This time to the warden's office.

Wearing a chef's shirt with a skull painted with tomato sauce on it and armed with every knife that he could find in the kitchen he walked down the corridor until he got to the last bend before the warden's office. Sticking out a meat cleaver over the edge of the wall he looked into the blade to see the reflection of the door to the office. Guarding the door he could see Roc, Thorn, and three other prison guards all armed with rifles and a pistol. The Punisher recognized one of the guards as Gabe. Due to his injuries he was sitting down supervising the rest of them. Thinking about how Gabe had betrayed him, lead him to a trap, and put two innocent people in danger let alone injuring one of them, caused The Punisher to fill with rage. He wanted to save Gabe for last. Using that pent up rage he released it to strengthen him.

"This is punishment!" He yelled as he ran around the corner and threw the meat cleaver right at the head of one guard splitting his head in half. Quickly he pulled out two other large knives. He ran faster than the guards could get a good aim at him, but they fired nonstop at him hitting him a few times, but he didn't feel it. With another meat cleaver he clopped the gun holding hands of the other guard then with the other knife he stabbed the guard in the chest, before grabbing him and throwing him towards Thorn. He then went for Roc, shoving him into the wall. Using two large knives he stapled him to the wall through his shoulders, then sliced him across the belly causing his guts to spill out onto the floor. Tossing the guard aside Thorn came running at The Punisher who stopped him mid stride with a knife to the face right below the right eye. Somehow with some fight still in him, Thorn punched at The Punisher. Hitting wildly he knocked him back disorienting him for a second, before he pulled out two other steak knives and stabbed them both into Thorn's face. Still feeling no pain and not giving up he grabbed The Punisher's shoulders and head butts him with the knife handles, and kicked him down to the ground where he proceeded to stomp on him. The Punisher grabbed his foot and twisted it causing him to fall to the ground. Once he was down to his level The Punisher pulled out more knives to stab into the head of Thorn until it resembled a ball of red yarn with knitting needles sticking out of it. Slowly getting up, The Punisher was immediately shot down by Gabe.

Slowly getting up from his seat he walked over to The Punisher's motionless body. Using the butt of his rifle he nudged The Punisher's face and cracked a smile. That smile quickly went away as he strained his back as he bent down and grabbed The Punisher's arms to drag his body, but he was too weak to move him.

"God damnit," he winced in pain. "I wouldn't have agreed to that stupid plan to be the bait if I knew he would kill the Reverend before he could heal me.

He went back to the door to the warden's office and banged on it. "He's dead, I killed the Punisher. Help me bring in his body!"

"Fuck that, you couldn't have done in The Punisher," yelled back a voice on the other side of the door.

"I'm telling you the truth. I actually killed the son of the bitch. Come out here and see," Gabe shouted back.

After a brief pause, the door opened up and Bullseye stepped out along with Rapido with four modified shotguns attached to the nub of his left arm.

"Holy fuck, that is him. Sorry, for doubting ya. So how's you do it?" Asked Bullseye.

"I got a clear shot to his chest. I was lucky as he was distracted killing the other guards," replied Gabe.

"Bullshit, it can't ever be so easy to kill Frank Castle," said Rapido.

"I'm afraid he's telling the truth. I'm replaying the security camera footage now. Looks like a shot straight to the chest," said Microchip. He sat a desk in the middle of the office with several computer monitors. There were three other armed guards crowded around him.

"Nice, Mayor Fisk is going to be happy with us," said Bullseye.

"Well you believe me now—"

Gabe was interrupted with a loud bang and crash as a flaming speed boat burst through the walls of the office. At the wheel of the boat was Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider. Behind him Bryn and Maylene firing submachine guns at guards while X-23 Wolverine and Honey Badger jumped out from the back with claws drawn.

Guards fired their rifles while taking cover behind columns. Cowardly Microchip hid behind the desk. Maylene fired cover fire as Wolverine went for the guards while Honey Badger ran around them to Microchip. Laura easily disarmed the first guard, but Rapido came up behind her and blasted her in the back with four shells of buckshot. Bryn shot at him a few times, barely missing him. He aimed his gun arm at them and fired. Ghost Rider protected them by spinning his chains in front of them. Then he whipped the chains around at Rapido knocking him to the side sending him into a bookcase.

"Looks like the calvary showed up a bit too late because the big pun is already dead," said Bullseye as he walked back into the office with his M-16 aimed at the boat. The guards stepped out from behind the columns with their guns aimed at the boat too.

"If the Punisher is dead, then I'll take your head instead," replied Maylene with her gun trained on him.

"Go ahead, shoot at me or whip your chains around. You can't take us all out at once and you'll have another dead friend to ship home," said Bullseye as the six of them had a standoff.

"Stop or I'll kill your friend!" Yelled Honey Badger as she stood up from behind the desk with Microchip and one claw at his neck.

"Go ahead and kill him, he's of no use to us anymore," said Rapido as he got up from the bookcase and dusted himself off.

"What the hell? We had a deal!" Microchip managed to blurt out before his head exploded from a shotgun shell.

Screaming Honey Badger ducked back down behind the desk before another shell could hit her.

"Hey, boss you missed one thing," stammered Gabe as he stumbled into the office.

"Oh what is it Gabe? You're ruining this beautiful moment we are having here," replied Bullseye.

Rising up into the air, The Punisher lifted Gabe above his head before throwing him at Bullseye. He fired his M-16, killing Gabe.

"I'm not dead yet," Announced The Punisher as he tore open his shirt revealing an armored suit of pots and pans that made him bulletproof.

Rapido aimed his arm at The Punisher, but a newly healed Wolverine popped up and slashed his arm off. Bryn shot at one the guards taking his kneecaps off. Maylene killed the other.

In the midst of the chaos The Punisher attacked Bullseye grabbing his M-16 and tried to wrestle it away. Bullseye managed to hold on, even as The Punisher forced him to the ground. Bullseye kicked his legs at The Punisher's chest knocking him off of him. Quickly he got up and held his M-16 at point blank range at The Punisher's head, but before he could pull the trigger he was knocked off his feet as Rapido's gun arm hit the back of his head.

"Hey Punisher, do what you do best," yelled Wolverine.

Grabbing the gun arm The Punisher smiled from ear to ear as his fired all four shotguns at once at Bullseye.

"Goddamn, I love shooting guns," yelled The Punisher as he fired the gun arm several more times, before he emptied every last shell that was in the shotguns.

"Is it safe to come out now," said Honey Badger as she crept out from behind the desk.

"Yeah, it's okay Gabby. Nice try with the hostage," Wolverine walked over and hugged her sister.

"It's good seeing you again," Maylene stepped off the boat and approached The Punisher.

"It's good to see you too, Maylene," said The Punisher.

"I hate to spoil the moment, but we need to get out of here. Mayor Fisk can't be happy with us," said Bryn.

"We can't do that yet, I got a few allies hiding out. We have to bring them back too," said The Punisher.

"You mean, you didn't kill everyone here. You actually showed mercy for once?" Joked Ghost Rider.

"Well believe it or not, but some of these criminals were actually nice to me," The Punisher joked back.

THE END