First week of the new college year is over and now here's this chapter. Read away.
Stab to the left. Stab to the right. Two more enemies fell down, the life drained out of them. The half dimmed lights covered the bodies well enough.
Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher in the underworld, thought he was getting good at this. Too good at this, in fact. Being the metaphorical garbage boy for the Avengers and what was left of SHIELD sounded like shit to the ordinary person, but it was actually good for ex-Navy SEALS like himself.
He'd been doing this for several months now, ever since last summer. Pay was good, he got all the equipment he needed, and he had a beautiful woman whenever he got off time.
Some would say he was living a dream job. He thought he was just moving along.
He was wearing an odd combination of black tactical gear mixed with little modifications of his own. For example, the white skull that was painted over his Kevlar chest plate. The chest plate itself was made of some nanotech material Natasha Romanoff claimed was form fitting and still deflected bullets. The rest of his outfit was lined with ammo pockets, guns holders, and knife sheaths. A suppressed MP5K submachine gun was in his left hand.
All of this was needed to break into a maximum security prison. Ok, maybe not all if it, but it never hurt.
The building would have three more low-ranking hostiles, along with his target at the building: Jack Rollins. According to Maria Hill, the woman he returned to for mission updates, Jack Rollins was one of the moles within STRIKE, a HYDRA infested special force. It got disbanded after the fall of SHIELD, but its members went underground, either sticking with HYDRA or becoming mercenaries for hire. Rollins was one of the latter.
Frank sheathed the knife and chirped into his earpiece. "Maria, what exactly is Rollins doing here?" Frank was currently in the middle of the damned underground section of the prison.
"According to Coulson, he's attempting to break out Fisk." Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, had been transferred to that prison's underground cells two weeks ago. "I've already wiped clean the 3 million he paid Rollins to break him out, but it won't matter if he escapes anyways."
"Understood." That meant, to Frank, that he was free to do whatever he wanted to with Rollins. Dead or alive, he didn't care.
Frank scanned the hallway leading to isolation, where Kingpin was being held. Another mercenary was there, looking around in the dark with Uzi submachine gun. It wasn't the most accurate of weapons, but it made up for that with sheer firepower.
Not that Frank was going to be bothered with any of that. A clean headshot, and the man went down, dead before he hit the concrete below him.
One more down. Three more to go.
Amiss the darkened cells and shouts of the scumbags held here, Frank found the next enemy, who was strolling out of a stairwell and right into Frank's line of sight. Frank shot him in the fraction of a second.
"Headed to level 3," Frank said on his earpiece to Maria.
"Gotcha. Keep in touch." Maria Hill took off her own earpiece and turned in her roller chair to face Nick Fury. "He's way in. He'll get Rollins."
"Or kill him." Nick Fury was always one for exploring something from every angle, and Frank Castle was no exception.
"Does it matter, sir?" Maria and Nick didn't always agree with each other, but both had a begrudging respect for each other. It had been developed over several years' worth of working side by side.
"You tell me, Hill. You tell me. You think there's anything we could get out of Rollins that we didn't know already?"
Maria bit her lip. "I guess that depends on Rollins himself."
"Exactly. Tell Castle to not kill him. At least we can't say that we didn't try."
She rolled her eyes, and then said, "Frank, don't kill Rollins if you can. Fury and the FBI want him brought in for interrogation."
"You fucking kidding me?" was Frank's snarky reply. The other people at their computers in Fury's control room could hear him.
If it weren't for their relationship, she'd discipline him. Another time, another place.
"No, I'm not. If you got disappointed, I'll make it up to you later."
"Whatever." Frank's connection closed as Maria sighed. For all his faults, Frank was as loyal as a dog and as passionate as only he could be. Passionate towards his work, passionate to her, she took it all in.
However, she had to keep a stone stare as Frank proceeded to stab another HYDRA henchman. Not to mention Steve, Wanda, and Vision were out helping with recovery efforts in collapsed bridge in Boston. And she was the one they had to rely on to guide them through the whole thing.
All in a day's work for the Director of Operations.
Frank silently dropped the last henchman on the ground as soon as he knifed him. Without waiting for anyone, Frank pulled out his silenced MP5K and approached Rollins, who was still unaware of his men being grabbed and disappearing. Rollins was an ugly man with a seemingly permanent scowl.
Frank put his night vision on and put the silenced submachine gun at Rollins' head. "Hold it right there, motherfucker-"
Rollins snapped back and delivered a powerful punch. In the right place and person, it could easily dislocate a limb or break a man's jaw. Frank, however, was able to block the fist with his arm, taking a blow nevertheless, but far less than if he'd been hit in the face. From, there, it was a fistfight, since Rollins had disarmed Frank of the MP5K.
Both men kept throwing punches at each other, but neither could get the other upper hand. They were very well matched: Rollins had the element of offense on his side, but Frank had the nanotech armor to keep himself from getting too hurt. When all of this was done, he'd only have a few cracked bones at worst.
Then, sensing a weak point, Frank pretend to block his face while stepping on Rollins' foot at the same time. As expected, Rollins grimaced at the unexpected pain and lurched back. Frank took advantage of this to move forward and grab Rollins from behind.
"You know," said Frank, "I really want to just kill you and get this shit over with. But I can't. Maria Hill and Nick Fury want to have a word."
"They can go f-"
Jack Rollins was unable to finish, because Frank put a hand on his mouth. At the same time, Frank used his other hand to twist Rollins' arm as hard as he could. Rollins cried out in pain.
"Time to go." Ignoring Rollins' next wave of curses, Frank pulled out a tranquilizer dart and stuck in in Jack's neck. It took a few seconds for the drugs to do their work, but when they did, Rollins was out for the foreseeable future. Frank took a moment to look around to see if there was anyone else, but he found no one but Fisk himself, looking mighty pissed that his escape plan was down the toilet. Frank turned to face him.
"Sorry pal," Frank said with false joy. "Maybe next time, don't hire people on the Avenger shit list."
From there, Frank fireman carried Rollins up the stairs and out of the underground levels. As planned, a pair of men dressed as police guards were there to escort both him and Rollins out of the rest of the prison. A Blackhawk helicopter was waiting for them on the launch pad.
As the heli took off, Frank made another call to Maria. "I got him."
"Good. Now get back to base. I haven't seen you in two weeks." Translation: I miss you. And other things. He smiled internally.
A few minutes after the helicopter took off, one of the men that had escorted him, a shorter fellow with graying hair and an infectious smile, introduced himself to Frank. ""Special Agent Henry Gyrich, FBI. I'm the-"
"You're the new agent that's keeping tabs for the government," said Frank. "I already know." Frank went back to his journal. Keeping a log helped him to pass the time.
Finally get another break. Always appreciated when I'm not shooting terrorists or laying the groundwork for Captain America to look good. At least Maria appreciates me. In more ways than one.
This has got to be one of the last HYDRA people I capture, this Rollins. Coulson and his team recently captured Grant Ward again (how many chances does he get?) and placed him in the same cell as his old teacher Tony Masters. Maybe they'll cuddle or some shit.
It does seem HYDRA is having less of an influence that it did eighteen months ago. I wonder why that is.
Okay, so Steve Rogers had been made as the ultimate soldier. But he wasn't just a soldier, was he? He was a man, with all the terms and conditions that came with being a man.
Like, for example, being in love. This caused him to yell at Wanda Maximoff not to get too close to the part of the bridge that was going to collapse any minute. If anything happened, he wanted Vision dealing with it, not her.
Vision was the one who could phase through matter, not Wanda.
The Avengers were, for all purposes, still PR people. Sure they were here to do the jobs that regular police and fire couldn't do, but even still, they were more like celebrities, even now. Steve had to turn down so many people wishing to take "selfies" with him. The teenage girls that did this were usually pretty disappointed. But none of it mattered, really.
He wasn't exactly sure if this was his first time being in love. He didn't know if Peggy still counted. But in any case, he was here in the twenty first century, and he had found himself a nice girl that viewed him as a rock. That alone was worth his sympathy.
It had grown into something more, whether he intended for it to or not.
"Vision," he calls out, pushing thoughts of his relationship out of his mind, "I need you to get those last two cars on the north side of the bridge. Wanda, keep clearing the rubble on the other side and get these people out of here."
"Yes, Steve," came Wanda's reply.
"Understood, Captain," said the android. He proceeded to fly up to the broken part of the north side of the concrete bridge, announce his intentions to the terrified passengers in one of the cars (it was hanging on a broken ledge), and then lifted the car to safety on another road down on the flat ground. The passengers, a woman and her two kids, hastily said thanks to Vision before running off and calling 911.
A few police cars and an ambulance where here, but the majority of expected emergency support was not. It was up to the Avengers sent here to monitor the area until more help could arrive.
Suddenly, there was a terrifying scream. The other car had lost its balance and began slowly falling off the cliff, the man and woman inside helpless to do anything to stop it but cry for some sort of help.
Vision heard their need for assistance, but he didn't get there in time. It wasn't a bad thing, however: Steve watched as Wanda reached out with her hand and telepathically engulfed the car in a cloud of red mist, causing it to stand still. She then proceeded to slowly lower it to the ground, next to where Vision had placed the first car.
The terrified couple got out and began some heartfelt "thank yous" directed at Wanda. She didn't know what else to do and smile.
"I think you'd say 'you're welcome' back," said Steve, walking up to kiss her on the cheek. Some of the New York tabloids had gotten on to their "secret" relationship, but most people were in the dark. Steve figured it would only be a matter of time before People and Star began talking about how Captain America had been entranced by the "Scarlet Witch".
Natasha might have been amused by all of that, but not Steve Rogers. He was a man that stuck to the people he cared about, regardless of the cost. That was why he'd chosen to try and convince Bucky that he was more than HYDRA's prized lapdog, that he was his former best friend. He didn't know how much of an effect he'd had (mostly because Bucky had been missing without a sighting for months), but at least he wasn't assassinating for HYDRA anymore. Or so he thought.
After telling the thankful couple where to head to, Steve focused his attentions on Wanda again. "We did good," he said, squeezing her in a quick embrace.
"Yes we did," she said back reassuringly.
Steve and Wanda went to a nearby curb and took a water break. He was in the middle of finishing his second bottle when his cell phone rang. It was Darcy Lewis, the secretary at the facility and Sam's current squeeze. "Darcy?"
"Steve?" The usual sardonic tone was gone, replaced by seriousness. That meant something.
"Yea, it's me. What is it?"
"You know how you wanted me to keep track of Peggy Carter's health?"
"Yes I do remember that."
Darcy told him.
Steve was in shock. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He dropped the phone and slumped, his hands in his head.
"Steve," asked Wanda, wanting to know what was troubling him, "what is it?"
"Peggy. They said she passed away in her sleep last night. I can't believe it…"
Wanda let him sit there on the curb and brush a tear from his eyes. She knew how much Peggy Carter had meant to Steve: as one of the only people Steve knew from the 1940s, he'd spent a lot of time in the nursing home she'd been living in. And now, that link was gone from him.
"Gone," said Steve mournfully. "She's gone…"
Without saying a word, she wrapped herself around him as best she could, just to give him the warmth he could use. Vision flew by, and asked what was wrong, but Wanda hesitantly dismissed him: not now. He nodded and left, knowingly.
Wanda remembered that Steve's induced vision had involved Carter, and all the missed opportunities that lay within. She felt even more ashamed that she'd made him see that. In retrospective, it was just cruel.
A couple of hours later, Frank's Blackhawk was touching down in a private airstrip in the middle of nowhere. The land, of course, belonged to Tony Stark. Waiting at the airstrip as well was a lone Quinjet, with the old SHIELD logo painted on it.
Right on time.
Frank and Henry got out to meet up with Maria. Dress in her usual tight bodysuit, she shook hands with Gyrich, thanked him for his services, then patted Frank on the back and directed him in the jet.
"I'll take Rollins from here," said Gyrich. "The FBI and CIA will have a field day with him. We'll hand him over soon."
"I'm satisfied," said Maria. "Agent Carter will be in touch."
"Do I get a thank you too?" Frank asked in his sarcastic voice as the Quinjet took off.
She grinned at him. "There's a reason I set the jet on autopilot."
So be it. They kissed and they began.
So, as you might tell, this chapter took me longer than usual to post. That's kind of what it's going to be like for the next few weeks. Anyways, just keep reviewing and I'll keep typing and thinking of story ideas (and thanking some of you in PMs, lol).
-Jokerang