THE PUNISHER: FULL CIRCLE
Disclaimer: The main characters belong to Marvel Comics. They are used without permission, but without the intention of making any money. Reviews would be nice, though.
Author's note: This takes place after HUNTERS AND KILLERS and ATTACK OF THE VAMPIRE NINJA OF THE YAKUZA. The events in this fanfic take place in the aftermath of those stories.
Continuity note: This is my take on the Marvel Universe. HOUSE OF M, CIVIL WAR, SECRET INVASION...None of that happened.
NEW YORK CITY
ABANDONNED WAREHOUSE
NIGHT TIME
When Frank Castle, The Punisher, woke up, he was bloodied, naked and tied to a metal beam. Tied with barbed wire. There was wire around his chest, his ankles, and his wrists behind the beam behind his back.
Everything hurt.
He had a massive headache. One eye was swollen shut. His ribs were broken. Shattered. There were bits of shrapnel in many parts of his body. One of his knees was destroyed...Who knew what else was damaged...
He'd been ambushed. That much was obvious. But who...
There seemed to be a small crowd in the room with him. He couldn't make out-
A voice interrupted his thoughts: "Wake up, Frankie."
A silhouette in front of him. The voice was familiar.
"Aw, Frankie, old buddy, don't tell me you forgot about me."
Castle's vision was blurry. His head was throbbing with pain. Then he recognized the face, and the voice.
His voice was full of venom when he spoke: "Jigsaw. You got your face fixed. Again. You never learn, do you."
"Good old Frank. You're in the worst possible spot, you still got that spunk. Gotta hand it to ya, you're one tough motherfucker. Always were. But I have to correct you, paisan. I didn't get my face fixed. More on that later. You're tough...but a bit predictable. Some planted info here, a tip there, pretty soon, you show up. Of course, you're ready. Got enough guns to invade Cuba. Take out dozens of poor bastards. But I knew you'd handle those guys, Frankie. The real challenge came later, when these guys came out of the woodwork."
Out came thugs that Castle recognized instantly.
A man whose cowl and cape was similar to that of Moon Knight's, his mask looked like the grim reaper's, he was also carrying a shield and a sword sheathed on his back.
Taskmaster.
A tall white man, with a crew cut...and a flesh colored M-60 for an arm.
Bushwhacker.
A short man, white, with a weasel-like face, an average sized white man in a dark suit and fedora and huge white man, well over seven feet tall, almost as wide.
Fancy Dan. Montana. Ox. The Enforcers.
A man in read blue tights and mask, holding a boomerang. The assassin known as Boomerang.
"Yeah, Frankie." Jigsaw went on, gloating. "Tough as you are, against all of those guys, especially with most of your ammo spent on the six van loads of goombahs , a couple explosive arrows, boomerangs, concussive grenades, and a few kicks in the ribs and a punch to the head by Ox got the better of you."
Castle remained silent. Of course he remembered the fight. But...This posturing from Jigsaw was going somewhere, this was more than just bragging. There was something else...The Punisher could sense it.
"Now, Frankie, anyone of those guys is fuckin' expensive. And I've been kinda down on my luck lately, until I get a call from some nice people. They tell me, they wanna fix my face, help me fuck you over and make me king of New York. I'm thinkin' that it's fuckin' bullshit, right? Then they name themselves. I just about shit my pants. But I'll let them introduce themselves."
Three people came into the room. A woman in her sixties, a younger man and a woman, both in their 30s, maybe. All dressed in black, tailor made clothes. White, but dark skinned. Like Sicilians.
The old woman spoke first: "Hello, Mr. Castle."
The Punisher searched his memory, came up empty: "I know you?"
The old woman, face twisted in a mix of contempt and hate snorted. "No, but we know you. My name is Rose Fratelli. There are my niece and nephew, Francesca and Bruno."
Castle interrupted: "Fratelli... One of the few women in the Cosa Nostra. You made alliances with existing crews in the old country. Even with the Camorra and other gangs. Gambling, drugs, flesh trade...Political influence and blackmail..."
"That is correct, Mr. Castle." Fratelli cleared her throat and went on. "For many years, we lived in the states, but thirty years ago, a madman decimated our family, so we left and went back home and changed our names. So the madman couldn't find us. In the last decade, we became the most powerful criminal organisation in all of Italy, if not Europe. It took a very long time, but we succeeded. We reached out to Mr. Russo. We fixed his face. Sponsored him. We reminded him of his connection to us."
Castle, confused, caught Jigsaw beaming like a new father, and couldn't-
"We changed our names to Fratelli." The old woman said. "My birth name was Rosa Maria Costa, sister of Bruno and Francesco Costa. Billy Russo's former employers..."
When Castle heard the name-Costa-his mind went into a spiral.
Bruno Costa. Frank Costa.
The people who killed The Castle family thirty years ago in Central Park.
Billy "The Beaut" Russo was one of their enforcers. He wasn't there in the park, but he was one of them. Castle put him through a plate glass window back then. For thirty years, they've been trying to kill each other, to no avail.
The Costas killed the Castles when the Castles accidentally stumbled upon a mob hit in a quiet corner of the park. The Punisher was born from that.
He'd destroyed the Costa mob. Wiped them out. He's carried on his war on crime ever since.
The old woman walked over to Castle and spit in his face. The saliva mixed the blood of Castle's face.
"You destroyed my family, you piece of shit!" She yelled with decades of pent up fury.
Thirty years worth of hateful venom also came out of Castle's mouth. "Your scumbag brothers destroyed countless families...including mine. For being in the way. They made me. So, fuck you. And fuck them. The thought of them and their kind roasting in Hell is the only thing that makes me happy these days."
With a vile curse in Sicilian, Rose Fratelli-Costa pulled out a small .22 calibre pistol and put it on The Punisher's forehead and cocked it.
The room tensed up. Rose Costa was trembling with rage. Then she calmed herself, put the safety back on and lowered the pistol.
"No." She said smiling. "I have something better planned for you."
"Boss." Jigsaw said. "Wait. I have guests who wanna see this."
Soon, a door opened and more familiar faces arrived.
A tall Albino dressed in black. Tombstone.
A shorter man, white, in a striped suit and a Spenser Tracy demeanour. His head was flat and also made of solid steel. Hammerhead.
A shorter still, chubby white man, with wild hard and talon like finger nails. The Owl.
All these fucks. One place. At the same time. And Castle was helpless.
Jigsaw was smiling widely again: "See, Frankie pal, no more bullshit turf wars. No more ego trips and fighting over scraps. We're a fuckin' syndicate now. We're gonna be a fuckin' empire soon,
one big enough to make Wilson Fisk's empire, our beloved fat fuck ex-Kingpin, look like a fuckin'ma and pa diner. And with all the shit that happened in the past year or two, a huge part of the competition has been wiped out. How ya like that?"
Hammerhead spoke : "Look in his eye. If he could get his hands free and grab a gun, he'd fuckin' kill us all. Fuckin' animal."
Then, Tombstone throaty whisper-like voice was heard."You're fucked, Castle. Your luck just ran out."
With a chuckle, Taskmaster pulled out pliers and cut Castle loose. The Punisher collapsed. He tried to get up. He couldn't. One of his arms wasn't working. He heard heavy steps coming towards him.
Ox.
The big Enforcer picked up Castle by the neck and by a leg and brought him down while raising his right knee. Back first.
The Punisher's spine snapped like a twig. He was let go and collapsed like a broken rag doll.
He was still conscious. This was the end. They were going to take their time. But it was going to end like this. He would have preferred a battlefield death. But one rarely had the chance to choose in these matters. A strange calm came over him.
There were cheers and laughter.
Rose Fratelli/Costa walked over to Castle. "There are many kinds of Hell, Mister Castle. You will experience them all before you die."
Soon, Maria, we will be together again. Soon.
Castle shut his eye. It would soon be over.
The Owl clapped. "If only it were Daredevil or even Spider-Man, it would have been-"
The skylight shattered and two cylinders fell through.
Bushwhacker yelled: "Flash bangs!"
The world turned white. Then more cylinders. Smoke.
Castle was hearing the world through clouds of cotton. There seemed to be screams and yells, some gunfire. He couldn't feel his legs. He did feel someone carry him.
"Protect the Costas!" He heard Jigsaw shriek.
"Who the fuck is that!" he heard another say.
Coughing. Cursing. Gunshots. Screams. Explosions.
Then The Punisher fell into sweet oblivion.