Chapter 3: Act I: Thrill of The Hunt

Peter Parker couldn't believe his eyes. Right in front of him, Frank Castle was alive. The violent 'hero' looked as smug as always, holding a gun at his chest.

"How did you-" Peter started before he was interrupted.

"My master gave me new life. I believe you know his name already." Frank stated. After a quick think, Peter knew that Ouroboros was finally here.

"I know about your silly little dark god!" Peter snapped at Frank as the gun was held to pin him down.

The Punisher snickered. "Tame insults won't work on me, you know that. Hey, Forge, should I load the lead into this annoyance?"

Peter heard footsteps, and saw another man approach. After a second of searching his brain, he realised it was Forge from the X-Men.

"Nah, let 'im suffer for a few more seconds first. Once he's dead, when we find the other heroes they'll be history!" The newcomer proclaimed as he walked over to stand next to Frank.

As Peter looked at them, he couldn't help but notice something near Forge's neck. As he squinted, he could make out that symbol from the plaza was the mark, obviously smaller than that one.

But he was soon shaken from his concentration by Punisher asking him a question.

"Any last words, Webhead?" He asked, his finger ready to pull the trigger.

Acting impulsively, Peter sent his fist into Frank's face. As he grabbed his face in pain, Spider-Man ran into the woods, taking off his normal clothes and slipping on his mask on the way.

"Which way did the bug go?" Punisher growled once he had recovered from the fist.

"That way!" Forge shouted, pointing into the woods as he grabbed his own gun and ran off after Spidey, Punisher not far behind.

The woods were dense and shady, with sunlight shining through any gap in the trees it could shine through, roots covering the soily floor and leaves creating a fancy pattern out of the sunlight.

Spidey ran as fast as he could. He hoped he had gotten away from those two maniacs, when suddenly he heard gunshots rocket past him.

"Come back here!" Forge screamed, firing his gun at the red dot racing over roots and fallen branches. Punisher, on the other hand, seemed to not be doing anything, when in reality he was planning his next move. He just needed something from Forge to do it.

"Remember my quirk? Do you have that key?" Punisher asked suddenly. Forge opened his hand to reveal the key, and Frank took it. He gestured Forge to run ahead, and inserted the key into his palm...

'I hope I can get back to Cap and the others, these two are hunting me down like a pair of demented Kravens!' Spidey thought as he decided to climb up into a tree and jump from branch to branch, using his webbing to cross large gaps when needed.

Forge fired his gun into the air, trying to nail Peter, but it was no use. He was just too fast.

All of a sudden, Peter lept onto a large oak tree only for the tree he had just jumped from to be felled in a fiery blast. Once the tree had fallen, Punisher stood there, but this time he had a pair of shoulder cannons.

"How do you like my new equipment?" Frank asked. "My master thought I could be more destructive so gave me these."

"They look cool, but aren't cool when you're shooting at me with them!" Spidey shouted. There were no trees he could jump to successfully, and thus Punisher and Forge had him surrounded.

"Come down or we will have no choice but to blow you to bits!" Forge cried. Spidey gulped as he looked down and saw the two smirking at him. Thinking fast, he shot nets made of webbing down at them. While Frank fired at the net that was shot at him and destroyed it, Forge was covered. This allowed Spidey to jump down and make a getaway.

Punisher fired a few more shots from his cannons at Spidey as he made his escape. Once Peter was out of sight, he sighed and pulled the net off of Forge.

"Master won't be happy." Frank said, shaking his head.

"Like it or not, we will have to return to him." Forge responded, as he opened a dark portal and the two stepped into it.

Spidey stopped to catch his breath once he had returned to the gravesite. Punisher and Forge had really taken a lot of energy out of him after the frantic chase.

What he needed to do now was find the other heroes and tell them about this. Conveniently, he heard footsteps and saw a certain blind lawyer friend of his kneeling by Elektra's grave, a bouquet of roses in his hand.

"Matt!" Peter shouted as he ran over.

Matt Murdock looked up from his assassin friend's grave and turned in the direction of Peter frantically approaching him. "What's the matter, Parker?"

"You won't believe this, but I saw the Punisher and Forge! They attacked me as well!" Peter explained. "Even worse, Punisher had these cannons on his shoulders that he used to fire at me!"

"Calm down. Don't spit words out at 60 Miles an hour." Matt said with a slight chuckle. "You're saying, Punisher and Forge attacked you?"

"Yep." Peter confirmed. "We have to tell Cap and the others."

"Cap's visiting Reed, Johnny and Franklin. I'll catch up with you, I need to put these roses down, make a quick stop back at the offices then I'll be there." Matt explained. Peter nodded as he swung away to find the Fantastic Two and tell them and Cap about his traumatic experience.

But as he did, he looked back to see a strange sight as he left the graveyard.

Punisher and Forge's graves were gone.

"Master!" Forge greeted as he and Punisher arrived back in Ouroboros' cave. The god looked up from his mirror where he had been watching the chase.

"I know, you both failed to stop Spider-Man." He stated. "Don't worry, I will still keep you around as I feel like you could be useful."

"Thank you." Punisher retracted his shoulder cannons. "Now what?"

"I think it's time for a new servant, a female this time. We need someone who can intercept others and distract them. A diversion, if you will." Ouroboros told his Hunters.

"I have an idea." Forge said. "Why don't we torture Webhead some more by bringing back an old frenemy of his? Even better, let's get her to take down one of his closest allies."

He whispered the name of this female to Ouroboros. He quickly brought her up on the mirror.

"Excellent. She will do just fine." Ouro chuckled deeply, as Forge and Punisher laughed.