MANHATTAN SKYSCRAPER

A WEEK LATER

Some things never changed.

Billy Russo, formerly known as Jigsaw, was on top of the world, like Kingpin once was.

And The Fratellis give him a skyscraper, to tower over his kingdom.

Okay, maybe kingdom was a bit much. Let's say, turf. Keep shit simple.

He took a Havana cigar out of a box on his desk and lit it up. Oh, yeah.

In less than two months, he took control of this city. And the absent super-heroes was just a bonus and made it that easier.

He also knew that killing Spider-Man and Daredevil must have broken a lot of people's spirit. Including the cops and feds, who were being blackmailed, bribed and intimidated into submission.

And thanks to a couple mutant suicide bombers, even SHIELD was hurtin'. Russo knew it was temporary, it gave him time to make his army stronger.

There was still something nagging in the back of his mind.

Punisher. Frank Castle.

Unlike for Spider-Man and Daredevil, he didn't have a corpse. And though, at his partners' request, he tried to shut the fuck up about it, the concern was still there.

He tried to push it out of his mind.

Hammerhead walked in his office.

"Russo." He said, he was holding his file. "Look at this."

Hammerhead dropped the file on Russo's desk. Russo nodded at the box of cigars and Hammerhead helped himself.

"A few guys getting released from the Vault, huh? The Wrecking Crew, The Death Throws, Shocker, Tiger Shark, Gibbon, Armadillo, Hobgoblin...and that nutcase Kraven JR." Russo noted.

Hammerhead made a perfect circle of smoke. "Yeah, more muscle?"

"Sure. Set up a meet with them."

"I'll talk to 'em."

"Don't go yourself. Send someone to talk to them. One of our captains."

"Jesus, Billy, you still paranoid over Castle?"

"I keep tellin' you guys-"

"Yeah, yeah, we don't know him like you do. You know somethin'? I think he wrecked more than your face, Billy. He fucked with your mind too."

"He probably did. But it don't hurt to be cautious, OK?"

"Fine. You should get a broad in here. I heard there was this mutant whore who could change cum into beer."

"What?"

"No shit. She blows you, swallows, and when she pisses, it comes out as beer. Most fucked up thing you ever saw, apparently. She can piss out a decent pitcher of brew. Heard it tasted like Corona."

Russo chuckled. "That's bullshit."

"At least I got you to laugh, didn't I? Loosen up, man."

"I dunno..."

"Look, Castle's probably only part of what's fucking with your head. You're from the streets, like me , like Tombstone. Never had it good. Never in charge of shit. Worked for a few guys that ended dead or in jail. Tried to make it big, get a few big scores and it never worked out. And there was your face. Now, you have all of this, and you don't wanna lose it all because of some dumb shit mistake. You don't wanna end up like all the other assholes that underestimated Castle."

"We shouldn't a played games with him. We should have plugged him."

"If he comes back, don't worry, we'll kill the motherfucker."

"Yeah. Ok. Set up the meet with the Wrecking Crew and the rest of them. Make sure we're paid up so cops don't run interference. Don't fuck around with security."

"Relax, Russo. It's under control."

Hammerhead walked out. Russo's phone rang.

"Yeah."

"Mr. Russo."

"Ma'am." It was Rose Fratelli.

"I hear you're doing wonders over there, better than expected."

"Moving lotsa products, numbers are good."

"And the competition?"

"Not much of it to speak of, boss."

"And what about the...pest problem?"

Russo knew she meant The Punisher.

"Our best exterminators are on the job." Russo said. "That particular pest hasn't surfaced yet."

"Keep us posted."

"I will."

And she hung up.

Russo could never tell when she was happy or pissed. But she knew the type: if she wasn't happy, there woulda been threats and shit, which hasn't happened yet.

But Castle...

Maybe Hammerhead was right. Maybe calling up a couple whores would relieve the stress.

SAME DAY, NIGHT TIME

A BAR WITH NO NAME

The members of the Wrecking Crew-Bulldozer, man with the armoured head; Pile Driver, man with huge fists; Thunderball, the man who wields a huge demolition ball and chain and Wrecker, the man with the indestructible crowbar-were sipping on drinks.

Shortly thereafter, the Death Throws, a sort of lethal circus act, showed up.

Ringleader, juggler of razor sharp rings; Oddball, who specialized in throwing seemingly harmless spheres that were quite lethal in reality: explosive, gas, acid and more; Bombshell, the only woman in the team, specialized in explosives; Knickknack, who threw all sorts of sharp objects, from knives, to chainsaws and Tenpin who tossed tricked out throwing pins.

Then, there was Shocker, in his trademark yellow battlesuit and vibration gadgets, Tiger Shark, a towering muscular man in red and grey tights and a fin on his head, Armadillo whose armour resembled his namesake (much like Rhino), Gibbon, a man as strong, fast and ugly as a gorilla Hobgoblin, in full Goblin costume and Kraven Jr, dressed like his lethal and psychotic deceased father.

They all knew why they were there and who called them there.

Russo's Super-Syndicate.

Madame Masque showed up. A tall athletic woman, she dressed in black overalls, and work a chromed mask.

"Greetings all. I come on the behalf of Mr. Russo. He wished to have you join his new organisation."

"Did I hear right?" Shocker asked. "Is Spider-Man dead?"

"You heard right, Shocker." Madame Masque answered. "This is a new life for you, no more petty crimes, no more humiliation at the hands of the so called heroes. You will no longer be alone. You will have the full strength of Mr. Russo's consortium with you at all times. Will you join us?"

The small crowd agreed.

Madame Masque nodded. "First order of business-"

The barfront plate glass window shattered and Madame Masque's upper body exploded into a crimson paste of destroyed internal organs, flesh, blood and bone.

A few seconds later, her mask fell among her remains.

Shocker started: "What the-" And he met a demise similar to Madame Masques.

Many of the bar's patrons were startled and took a defensive stance, while being covered with blood and viscera.

Then they looked at the shattered plate glass window.

"Oh, no." Oddball said.

The Punisher was standing. Alone. Holding what looked a three barrelled mini-gun.

"Are you kidding me?!" Thunderball said. "We outnumber him and we have powers! We can take this guy!"

"Let's go!" Gibbon shouted.

The Punisher opened fire.

Frank Castle knew they would underestimate him. All they would see is a lone man, with no powers, holding an ordinary weapon.

They'd be two-thirds right.

The weapon was anything but ordinary. It was part of Solitaire's purchases. Ultra-light, pivoting barrels, 30 rounds per second.

It fired 20 mm rounds. A mix of Adamantium tips and high explosive rounds.

The Punisher never smiled. But if he did, this would be it.

As the villains were thing of rushing him, he opened fire.

The entire Death-Throws team was hacked into bits of ground meat.

Then came the Wrecking Crew.

Those guys went toe to toe with the likes of Thor.

Still, they were no match with 30 round per second onslaught of armour piercing and grenade rounds.

Bulldozer was decapitated.

Piledriver watched his hands explode before his chest was blown out.

Wrecker watched his arms being cut off, as he was charging, holding his crow bar above his head.

Thunderball was swinging his huge demolition ball, when Castle shot the chain. The ball flew at Gibbon who was squashed against a brick wall. Thunderball was blown in half by The Punisher's chain gun.

Armadillo tried to run away.

The Punisher shot him in the back, reducing him into a pulp.

Hobgoblin blasted out of the bar, on his glider, holding a pumpkin bomb in each hand. His glider was destroyed by a burst of 20mm death bringers. Hobgoblin fell, his bombs fell on him and blew him up.

Tiger Shark tried to rush The Punisher and was cut in half by a vertical sweeping burst.

That left only Kraven Jr.

He came out of hiding.

"You coward, you ambush us, shoot us in the back!" He taunted. "Where is your honour? You call yourself a hunter?"

"No. "Castle said. "I call myself The Punisher."

And The Punished ended that conversation and Kraven.

He turned towards his van. There was a terrified black man tied up in the back. Turk, the infamous snitch.

"Your tip was worth something after all, Turk. Thanks."

"You let me go, now, right?"

The Punisher pulled out a knife. Cut the man loose.

"Yeah, with one message for your new boss, Russo."

"W-What is it?"

"This...was only the beginning."

The Punisher tossed Turk out drove away.

If Turk couldn't get the message through, the sight of a dozen or so dead superfucks would be eloquent enough.

He had a communication ear piece much like the Secret Service's

"This is Rook to all Knights." He said. "Delivery successful. Moving to other packages."

He was wondering how the others were doing.

--

In a dojo uptown, Taskmaster was doing something that was familiar to him.

Training assassins.

He had two dozen students, some baseline humans, some mutants with increased strength and speed, all killers who wanted to learn more about the art of murder.

It was fine by him.

Suddenly, the skylight was smashed. And three figures followed the pieces of broken glass.

"Aw, crap." Taskmaster said.

Elektra, Widow and Tarantula.

"School's out, motherfuckers." Tarantula said. Holding a short sword in each hand. Elektra had her sais, Widow had bowie knives.

"Kill them!" Taskmaster shrieked.

As they rushed them, Taskmaster could have sworn he saw that crazy Elektra bitch smile.

And the fight was on.

Americop drove his armoured Hummer right through the abandoned plant's front gates.

The plant didn't seem so abandoned when he saw all the henchmen coming at him with submachine guns, whose bullets were bouncing off harmlessly of the Hummer.

One of Russo's designer drug labs.

The back of the Hummer folded up and a .50 cal Browning machine was deployed.

He grabbed his radio and activated his truck's speakers.

"You want some? Come get some, you sorry sacks of shit!"

Dozens of 700 grain bullets were tearing into the army of thugs as Americop ran over more of then, committing mass vehicular homicides.

--

Solitaire, Moon Knight, Night Thrasher and Firearm were in a gutted supermarket.

It was being used as a weapons plant and warehouse.

They each entered a different section of the plant.

Firearm had taken out the sentinels on the roof.

They were setting up C-4 charges all over the plant. Keeping to the shadows, and using stealth.

There were dozens of armed guards on location, along with villains Blizzard, Whiplash and Beetle.

It was a good plan.

Until Mr. Murphy and his pesky law interfered.

Solitaire was caught by guard, smoking where he wasn't supposed to.

A throwing knife in the throat ended that threat...

"Smoking kills." Solitaire whispered.

...but a post mortem spasm squeezed his shotgun's trigger.

So much for stealth, Solitaire though.

He had two 9mm Calico m950s slung on his shoulders. He grabbed one in each hand, he started running for the nearest exit. As he turned a corner, he was face to face with a half dozen thugs. Without slowing down, he jumped, using his enhanced strength to leap over his enemies and strafe them from above with his twin Calicos. He landed before they all dropped dead in boneless heaps.

While heading for his own escape route, Night Thrasher was faced with the armoured Beetle.

"Well, well, well. Night Thrasher." Beetle started. "Seems like you and I are gonna-"

"Shut up." Thrasher said, throwing a magnetized disk at Bettle.

Small EMP charge. Electromagnetic pulse. Fried and shut down Beetle's armour.

"You...you..."Beetle said.

"I told you-" Thrasher said, knocking off Beetle's helmet with a vicious uppercut. "To shut up." Thrasher's fist ruthlessly smashed Beetle's exposed face in.

A cluster of armed men showed up behind Thrasher. He quickly grabbed the fallen Beetle, yanked him around and used him as shield as they fired. A round took half of Beetle's head off. Thrasher had a remaining C-4 charge left. He set it for three second and threw it at the guards with one hand, launching a grappling hook from his other hand. He was already several feet off the ground when the charge went off, killing the group of men.



Meanwhile, elsewhere in the complex, Firearm hosed down four hired killers with his silenced HK MP-5. And kept running, until something yanked his weapon out of his hands.

"Ow, fuck sakes, what the-" Swam started.

Then he was faced with Whiplash. Dressed in black tights, black cowl, with a purple cape.

"Fuck me." Swan said.

"You're not my type. Who the fuck are you?"

"Oh, I'm just the butler, can't you tell with my accent? Care for a spot of tea?"

"No thanks, Jeeves. I'll settle for ripping out your spine."

Swan knew that his Titanium whip could cripple and kill, and also send electric charges.

While he was ducking the first strike, Swan managed to pull out a 9 mm 93-R Beretta, but the villain quickly recovered and struck it with his whip, almost shattering the machine pistol.

Swan backtracked.

For this I gave up a peaceful life taking naughty pictures of cheating wives in Pasadena, Swan thought, dodging another strike.

Firearm looked behind him.

"Is that is then, you cunt? You winded yet?"

"You limey fuck!" Whiplash shouted and struck again.

Swan ducked sideways, while the metal whip strung the building's power box. Killing the lights.

Swan put on his night vision goggles.

Maybe the villain's gloves were isolated, so Swan wasted no time, he pulled out another 9mm Beretta Machine Pistol and fired a short burst at Whiplash's head.

"What a shocking end to that whippersnapper." Swan mused and ran off.

During that time, Moon Knight was just finishing bashing a thug's head against a steel beam.

Then, he faced Blizzard.

"Huh. So the B-listers didn't get to go to space, huh?" Blizzard said.

"You're not exactly Dr Doom yourself, Snowcone." Moon Knight retorted.

"I don't need to be to ice your sorry ass."

Moon Knight's reflexes allowed him to dodge a freezing ray. "Jesus. Your bad puns are deadlier than your powers."

"Wasn't a pun, asshole. You're going down."

Then the lights went out.

Moon Knight, whose eye slits had infrared lenses, wasted no time and leapt at Blizzard. He leap became a flying sidekick into Blizzard's solar plexus, followed with a chop to the throat when Blizzard was on his back.

And it was over.

A minute later, Solitaire, Night Thrasher, Firearm and Blizzard were outside. Each was holding a remote control and they all detonated the charges they'd set inside.

"Bloody good show, boys." Swan said.

"Show's not over yet." Solitaire said. "Come on, we have more work to do."

--

Americop drove away from his target, leaving smouldering ashes and perforated bodies.

Next.

--

Tarantula, Elektra and Widow stood amid two dozen hacked up bodies.

"Taskmaster got away!" Tarantula said.

"We'll get another shot at him, kid." Widow said. "Don't worry."

"More." Elektra whispered. "I. Want. More."

"Soon, Elektra." Widow said. "Soon."

--

LATER THAT NIGHT...

When the Light Anti-tank Weapon's rocket connected with the trailer truck, the apocalyptic explosion that followed confirmed to Punisher that it was transporting A.I.M. weaponry.

Standing on the roof of a nearby warehouse looked up the carnage he'd wrought.

Over two dozen thugs wasted and millions in AIM tech wrecked.

This was starting to be a good night, The Punisher thought.

As he was beginning to walk away, a hovercar materialized above him and four silhouettes surrounded him.

USAgent. Battlestar. And two other agents. A black woman and a mulatto man.

"Surrender, Castle." The woman said. "You're under arrest."

"Don't make it difficult, Frank." USAgent said.

"Agent." Castle said. The Agent was less wild and anger driven than last time they'd met over a decade ago.

Which made him harder to manipulate.

The young mulatto man was dangerous. Castle could sense it. The woman was strong and confident. Not a rookie by any means.

"So you're the Task Force." Castle said.

"And you're the target." The woman said. "Weapons down, hands up."

"No."

"Excuse me?" The woman said.

Agent, Battlestar and the other guy were battle ready. The woman was genuinely surprised.

"I said: no. I have work to do." Castle said.

"You mean people to murder." Battlestar said.

"You worked with Silver Sable for a while." Castle said. "She doesn't shy away from killing either."

"Enough." The woman said. "We don't want to hurt you, Castle. But we will. So, give up."

"I give up, and Russo's won. And you know it." Castle said.

"And we should leave it to you and other vigilantes to save us, right?" The woman said.

" My way works." Castle said."It's all that matters."

"Does it?" The female agent said. "But maybe your way got us in this mess in the first place, ever thought of that? Have you ever thought that maybe killing all those gangsters would create these holes that cause these gang wars?"

"Enough of this shit!" The mulatto man said. "Castle, give up or-"

The Punisher pulled a frag grenade from his vest and tossed it at the lady fed and the young cop.

"Holy shit!" The young man said and he ducked, and so did the lady fed.

Agent and Battlestar raised their shields in anticipation of the blast. The Punisher ducked and rolled, pulling out his dual Colt .45 pistols and shot both Agent and Battlestar in their exposed thighs, trying to avoid bones and arteries. And he ran as both super-soldiers collapsed.

He tossed an EMP disk at their hover car. It shorted out the car's system and it stopped hovering. It crashed several stories below. He then jumped off the roof of the warehouse onto his van's roof. His vibranium battlesuit absorbed the impact. He rolled off the van's roof onto the ground, got into the van and drove off.

That was close. Too close.

--

Cole got back up. And approached the grenade.

"Motherfucker..."He said.

"He didn't take out the pin." Jones said.

"Bastard..."Agent said.

"You guys OK?" Jones said.

"He got us good." Battlestar said. "Got us to raise or shields, so he could shoot our legs. Didn't hit anything major. Stings like a son of a bitch. But he knew we could take it and recover."

"He'll be ready next time." Cole said.

"So will we, Cole. So will we." Jones said.

Castle touched base with his partners.

They succeeded in their various missions.

Not a bad start, The Punisher thought. Not bad at all.