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Justice League: Warzone

Ch. 4: What's with the tights?

Gotham City

Dawn in Gotham city, few people are on the streets yet, only a couple of people heading to work early, a few kids, obviously inebriated, are trailing back home. Some are coming off of a job; Frank Castle is among them.

( Almost back to the motel, today I will go look for a more permanent safe house, but first some sleep, I don't know what it is but I feel my age helluva lot more this early in the morning. I still am taking this way to well, I mean I know shit like the x-men and all that kinda crap went on but I was never that involved with the whole "super-whatever" crowd, not like I am exposed to this kind of thing often so why am I so comfortable with it, maybe its Gotham, it is a lot like New York so…)

Castle stops dead in his tracks, drops the two bags, spins around, reaching for his gun but he is too late as something hits him in the head, fazing him momentarily, Castle has enough presence of mind sharpened by decades of combat to shield him from the following kick to the face.

(Fuck this one is quick…still blurry…focus…keep moving…)

Castle dives out of the way of the next blow, and the next, and the next, Castle is evading with tempered skill learned only through experience. His assailant is getting frustrated, too eager; the blows are becoming hurried and sloppy.

(Okay time to figure out what's going on; whoa, spin kick, he's good in martial arts that's for sure, but young as hell…is he wearing tights…holy shit)

Castle's assailant throws a punch to the face, Castle dodges, grabs his arm and twists it while simultaneously tripping his attacker, bringing him to the ground Castle doesn't hesitate and starts pounding his attackers face with his elbows while keeping the attacker on the ground, soon Castle's attacker stops resisting and falls unconscious.

(He's out, now I can figure this out. Let's see black tights with a blue bird-ish thing on the chest, and a mask thing, how the hell does that thing stay on? So this must be Nightwing.)

Castle drags Nightwing deep into an alley then hog ties him with some zip ties removes his mask and takes a picture with his disposable camera.

(This could be useful in the future.)

Castle then proceeds to wake Nightwing up with some smelling salts he happened to have on him. Nightwing started coughing and slowly came to consciousness.

"Ahhh…what the hell..." Nightwing grumbled.

Castle kneeled next to Nightwing, weapon drawn pointed to the sky. "Morning sunshine, I have a few questions for you, namely why the fuck you attacked me, also, what's with the gay uniform, tights, come on."

"I was chasing you down because you murdered twenty-something people and as for the…"

"It was just a bunch of scum that deserved to die; I really am not in the mood to argue with another do-gooder in tights, I have a war to start; now I am going to leave. Here is some parting advice; stay out of my goddamned way." Castle was cold and to the point, then he got up and left pausing only to holster his pistol and pick up his bags before moving on.

"Hey wait who are you…" Nightwing yelled at the withdrawing Castle.

"Call me the Punisher" Castle replied, not even looking back.

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(I wonder how he figured it was me, probably should have asked him, but I had to keep moving, Nightwing works with Batman and Batgirl, probably wasn't alone; information wouldn't be worth the risk of getting in a fight with the local caped crime fighters at this time. I need to hurry up and get back though so I can start moving my operation to somewhere more secure, granted if I decided to run the last mile all I would do is attract attention, and that's the last thing I need. Since Nightwing managed to find me I will have to adjust my plans, when I get back to the motel I will clean my pistol and head for my new temporary safe house, condemned building I spotted the other day should do until I can set up something more permanent.)

"Wow, what happened to you?" A female voice said from behind a struggling Nightwing.

"A little trouble with the murderer we are chasing. Just going to stand there or are you going to help me out." Nightwing replied, trying to conceal his embarrassment.

"Yeah, yeah. He sure tied you up good didn't he? Do we know who he is and why he did it?" Batgirl asked as she knelt down to cut the zip ties.

"He said he was the Punisher…"

"The Punisher, that's kind of lame" Batgirl interrupted

Nightwing continued "…Yeah well he means business, he said something about how he has a war to start, said that the people he killed deserved it, he is dangerous and…"

"He beat the shit out of you" Batgirl finished for him, though Nightwing's expression showed that he was going to say something else, but he decided not to say anything as Batgirl helped him up.

"So what do you think we should do next" Nightwing asked while brushing himself off.

"I doubt we will catch him now, we should head back to the cave and tell Batman what we know and figure out our next move." Batgirl answered. "How did you know he was the right man?" she asked.

"Got lucky I guess" Nightwing replied as they made their way back to the Bat-cave.

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Castle's Safehouse

On the other side of town the Punisher enters a condemned auto shop, setting his bags down he draws his weapon and begins clearing the small one time auto shop.

(This place definitely was condemned for a reason, at least no one is here, granted the fact that not even homeless would choose to live here doesn't say a lot for the place. But with some work it will be a good base of operations, maybe I wont need to find a different safe house, I will need a lot of gear though, tools, generators, lights, and a few other things.)

The auto shop is composed of a garage, capable of tending to three cars at a time, three small offices, what must have been a break room, two bathrooms, several closets, nothing of value, all of it taken away long ago. But there is a basement, and that basement serves Castle's interests perfectly, perfect for storage, maintenance, defense, and the entrance is hidden behind a wall, no one can see the entrance from the outside. Castle makes his way downstairs to see what there is. It is dark, pitch black save for a small window at the other end, Castle takes out his LED flashlight and begins to look around, a few rats are seen, and the space is big, maybe forty feet by thirty feet nothing else though, just a big empty space.

(This will work very well indeed, but first to count the cash and organize the weapons I got from the crack house I hit. Then I can go buy some supplies and set this place up.)

Castle then walked back upstairs to start counting the money and weapons.

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Gotham City Hospital

Detectives Montoya and Bullock walked into a guarded hospital at the end of the hallway, inside was the standard hospital furnishings, IV's, tubes, monitors, and uneaten Jell-O. Hooked up to the various tubes and screens was a short skinny and unshaven man, to say that he looked ill was a massive understatement, he also looked dreadfully scared, but he was alive, conscious, and able to speak, which is the reason for the two detective's.

"Well you are looking better Karl." Detective Montoya began.

"Yeah, you must be lovin' all these tax payer funded comforts" Bullock interjected.

"Lawyer…I wanna…cough, cough…Lawyer" Karl barely got out; his voice had an edge of fear in it.

"Legal Aid is on its way as we…" Montoya began, but she was interrupted by the bumbling commotion of a short, young, disheveled, and hurried man carrying a briefcase with pieces of paper spilling out of the sides, and another stack in his arm, with a trail of papers spilling behind him.

"I'm John Mycroft, legal aid." He said in a high pitched squeaky voice, reaching out his hand to the detectives but in the process dropped all his legal papers. "Damn." Mycroft muttered to himself. He continued to speak, "I am here to represent Mr. Karl Hegg."

"Okay Mr. Mycroft, we are investigating a multiple homicide, twenty-three to be exact, and…" Montoya began.

"Excuse me!" Mycroft exclaimed as he went pale.

"Don't worry Mr. Mycroft, he is the victim here." Bullock explained.

"Thank God." All the color returned to Mycroft's face.

"However there is the matter of the drugs we found on your client, something we will disregard if your client plays ball and tells us what went down." Montoya continued.

"Play ball Karl, play ball." Mycroft told his client.

"You…suck…dude." Karl told his lawyer with that same glint of fear. He turned to address the two detectives.

"Okay…This is how…it went down." Karl started hacking up before he began his story. "It was a normal night, partying…collecting…I was chilling out, it was a good night…I was with in…the same room as Ramone, doin' a line when…we heard a gunshot, I didn't think that much of it at first, shit…happens y'know, but then we heard more and then more, and people…were screaming an' shit, it was nuts, more…gunfire, then it all stopped…and the boss was talkin' the…dude, tryin' to figure out why the league was getting' involved…'cause only league…members coulda…messed us up that much. So he was talkin' to the guy he…said he was gonna…tell us all about the league's involvement…then he flew in shot us all…up and I blacked out and…woke up here." He concluded sounding more afraid then ever, and then started coughing even more.

"Wow, that's quite a story, you got a description?" Bullock asked.

"Man it was some crazy…shit, his voice scared me shitless, but…I didn't get a good look, thank…god, just a lot of black, and a big…white…skull, that's all…I seen of him man. I thought Batman was scary, but…this was…something else." He finished, turning over, wrought with fear.

The two detectives looked at each other, before Montoya spoke to the attorney. "We will be in touch Mr. Mycroft, we will be in touch." She finished as the pair left the room.

Once outside the hospital and on the way to their car the two began to talk again. "Man, scarier then the bat, that's messed up, what do you make of this Montoya?"

"I don't know Harvey, but it's messed up and I don't think we've heard the last of this guy" She answered back.

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Bat Cave

It was mid morning by the time Batgirl and Nightwing made it back to the bat cave. Once they walked into the main part of the cave the two were greeted by a tall, thin, aging man that spoke with an English accent. "Welcome back, Master Bruce is at the computer, shall I bring something for either of you to drink?"

"Water please Alfred." Batgirl responded taking her cowl off and heading up to the computer.

"Same here Alfred." Spoke Nightwing.

"I will have them for you in a minute." Alfred said while heading for the elevator.

A minute later the "bat" family was gathered around the main computer.

"What happened?" Batman's voice was filled with, not anger, but a cool analytical voice.

Nightwing started the report. "I was scoping out the streets south of the crack house while Batgirl checked out the streets to the north. After about an hour since we got word of the crime I spotted a big guy in a black trench coat with a big white skull on the front, walking down the street, he didn't look right, looked less like an early commuter or party straggler and more like a soldier on a combat patrol. Then I got a good look at him with my NODs and I saw a weapon in a holster on his belt. After seeing this I decided to move in on him." His voice became a bit smaller and more defensive. "After a quick fight he managed to knock me unconscious and hog tie me with some zip ties, one thing for sure is that he is a very good fighter, maybe better than you Batman." Batman glanced at him. "I said maybe Batman, but he is definitely our guy, called himself the punisher, sounded like some vigilante, talked about a war and told me that we should stay out of his way." Nightwing concluded.

Batgirl looked up and began. "I didn't see anything on my search, maybe I will have better luck against him than you did, next time, Dick." She emphasized Dick with a sarcastic inflexion.

"Nightwing, I am bringing Huntress in from the league to help out with this Punisher…" Batman began.

Nightwing interrupted "Huntress! I thought she got canned from the league, and doesn't she tend to lean towards this kind of vigilantism, and why just me, what are you two doing in the meantime?"

Batman looked at Nightwing in his typical cold veneer and explained to his former ward. "I am bringing Huntress in for two reasons; first, since she leans towards the extreme she will be better able to get inside this guy's head then us, second Batgirl and I will be busy dealing with the Joker."

"Joker escaped, already, it seems like he breaks out every week." Batgirl exclaimed.

"Well now that we have the situation, time to get down to details." Batman began pulling up ballistics reports, witness statements, video footage, and various forensic reports and began his detailed brief.

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Castle's Safehouse

Later that night and across town Frank Castle finished setting up his new basement safe house. The formerly empty room was now crowded with work tables, weapon racks, generators, lights, a couple of exercise machines, a cot, and some crates filled with several types of chemicals. In his armory Castle now had 7 glock 9mm pistols, 2 12 gauge Remingtons, 4 Mac 10s, 2 .45s, 3 .38 magnum revolvers, 1 .50 cal Desert Eagle, and a civilian M-4 with iron sights. Castle also managed to purchase the ammunition for them from department and sporting goods stores across the city, altogether he had about 500 9mm rounds, 150 .45 rounds, 75 .50 cal rounds, 100 .38 rounds, 750 5.56 rounds, and 300 shotgun shells.

(Altogether this is a good start, granted with the exception of the .45 I brought with me all of these weapons are in the shittiest shape, it is going to take me at least the better part of a week to get all of these weapons in proper shape. This place is also working out pretty well, no attention and I have everything I need, I should be able to start the war by the end of this week, and if the papers are any indication I have my first target.)

Castle set down his M-4 bolt and moved over to his dry erase board that will soon contain all his current objectives and criminal org. charts. He picked up the paper and re-read the headline: Joker breaks out, goes on rampage.

(Huh, this clown pushed me back to page C6; well I'll give this scum a better headline, one that will really drive fear deep into this cities underworld.)

Next: Not so funny anymore (pt.1)