PUNISHMENT DUE
CHAPTER ONE:
ENTER THE PUNISHER
WAR JOURNAL ENTRY# 203
…It has been over six years since I began this…war and I don't know if I will ever stop. Probably not. Call me a psycho or a cold-blooded killer but it has to be known that in certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law. To pursue... natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive, it's an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment.
REPUBLIC CITY STREETS – 7:33 PM
Its dark out, moon's not in the sky, streets look empty, and the scum are out there. Battle Van is toast, so I must do what I can on foot…could be worse.
The guns that I recently found are not my style, to sleek, not much power, a gentleman's weapon, useless. But it will have to do, got a tip from a source that Kingpin is going to have a turf war with the Agni Kai Triad at the docks tonight…I'm going to mow down them both.
Streets are going down the gutters, and the fact that the metalbenders do little to stop the degeneration of the districts. Fisk has them paid well in Yuans, and the top brass of the cops is clueless, especially Chief Bei Fong. The heroes do the job but seem to leave it half done, put the bad guys in jail just for them to come out again and kill, rape, cheat and among other things…it seems that I am what clean up after them.
Piers look closed alright, but I know better. Luckily these bozos are away from the docks going to Air Temple Island; hate to see those monks with bullets in between their brows. I load my gun, but I wait, I want them to kill each other before I go in guns blazing…outnumbered ten to one.
Kingpin's puppets look well-armed, wielding semi-automatics and long barreled hand cannons; I bet they don't even know how to use them properly. The Agni Kais are more traditional, using their weapons as last resort and preferring the art of firebending. Art…they have turn a martial art into a tool of death, typical.
"You sons of bitches leaving our turf now!?" One of the Kingpin's foot soldiers asked with a demanding voice.
"These piers belong to us, bottom feeder, go run to the fat man and tell him that the Agni Kais are not to be negotiated." A Agni Kai member responded.
They're worse than animals, killing and raping for pleasure. Looks like things are heating up…better get ready before fire and bullets go flying over my head. And sure it did, the elemental force of fire and the man-made bullet ripped through the calm winds hitting and burning flesh.
Screams and the sound of cracking of bones and steel echoed throughout the derelict docks…good. This way no innocents would be hurt…wait what?!
It's the…Avatar. She just came out nowhere and began to take these scumbags with ease, dancing like a master airbender through the fire and iron bullets. Impressive, but the girl is going to get herself killed, better act.
I jump out of my hiding spot and shoot at the goons with my 45. Caliber automatic Shinzou Enterprises Rifle. Brings them down swiftly and quickly, but there are too many of these bastards.
"Watch out!" The Avatar warned the Punisher. The Punisher turned quickly and avoided the fire of an Agni Kai trooper, and shooting at his legs.
"Get out of here, kid! You're too important to die!" Punisher ordered.
"Who are you!?" The Avatar asked as she bended the area and brought down several of Kingpin's thugs.
"…" Punisher grunted, he kept mowing down several firebending thugs. Then it all went silent.
"I ask you again, who are you and what are you doing…" The Avatar tried to ask but stopped when the bigger man wearing black body armor that had a white skull painted on the center of is chest…his face was grizzled of battle and death.
"I am the Punisher." Punisher answered. "This is no place for your kind."
"What…what do you mean my kind?" The Avatar asked.
"You hang out with the heroes in the mornings, bringing super-villains down and putting them in jail." Punisher said. "But out on this time…with these things that look like people…is completely different world."
"Wait, I remember you, you are that guy that went berserk that time in Cap's hideout. You're a murdered!" The Avatar accused.
"I saved your innocence, Avatar; I could've left you there to be one of the many girls to be violated by those monsters Stilt Man and Trickster." Punisher responded as he loaded his guns and readied himself to leave.
"That…that was you?" The Avatar asked. "Why did you save me?"
"It was the right thing to do…and the reason that you remind me of someone I lost a long time ago." Punisher answered as he began to walk away.
"Hold on, listen, killing is not the only way to solve things. I can see that you are a righteous guy, don't let the past kill you." The Avatar said as she followed the Punisher.
"I won't let it kill me." Punisher responded as he kept walking away and into the darkness of the streets leaving The Avatar to question herself about her mysterious savior.
That girl brought memories of past life again…of that day that everything went wrong. How everything was taken away from me…damn.
It was a sunny day, over six years ago, I finally retired from service and came back to see my family. My wife, Kim Castleliong, my daughter, Shimi, and I went to the park for a walk. We had a good time along the way, that's it until we saw something we shouldn't have.
Several gang members of the Red Monsoons were executing a high ranking member of the then powerful Triple Tread Triad. They didn't like it and decided to silence us…permanently.
I tried my best to protect my family but the bastards used their waterbending to make ice daggers from the nearby pond. My wife and daughter…they got stabbed by the ice daggers…I was hit in the leg.
The sons of bitches laughed and kicked the bodies of my wife and kid…I felt so powerless. I tried my best to stand up but I was being kicked by one of those motherless bigots. They took one of the prototype hand cannons and shot me on the shoulder, leaving me for dead.
I woke up later in the hospital, they kept me sedated. I asked for my family but they told they had died instantly once the daggers went through their abdomens. The rage…it boiled me from the inside out, I would never waterbend again, I would forget my heritage for it had killed the most important peple I my life…weeks later the police got the bastards. But these cretins had made up stories that got them pardoned by the city council…
If the law wasn't going to deliver justice for the death of my family then I would…my way. I tracked down the savages and made them pay with their worthless lives. The Monsoons found out that I had been the one that took out their boys, so they bombed my house as I walked towards the front door. They thought me for dead…
Jing Castleliong is dead…he died with his family. I adopted these symbol, this symbol that symbolized natural justice and doom to whoever harms others for pleasure or selfish gain. I would avenge those who couldn't protect themselves, I would be the vain to the criminal scum…they would know to call me The Punisher.
But today…The Avatar reminded me so much of my daughter. Her face and eyes…just like my baby's…must keep my head together, can't let the past cloud my vision. There are still more wicked scumbags out there to be punished, and I have enough bullets for a small nation.
END OF ENTRY
