Frank Castle woke to the sound of a buzzing alarm clock at 6:30 in the morning. As customary for him, he got up, showered, and hit the gym. As usual, Rogers was there already, but he ignored him. The super-soldier wasn't his the focus of his attention, the treadmill machine was. And Maria Hill.
Focus, Frank, he thought to himself. You don't need distractions. But at the same time, he didn't see her as a distraction. He saw her as a person like him. She was someone he could relate to, unlike all these happy people that called themselves the Avengers.
Maria Hill, on the other hand, woke up that morning to the sound of a solid humming. When she found the urge to get herself out of bed and investigate, she found Frank Castle at the bar, using a smoothie machine. A quick glance at him showed that he'd just gotten back from the gym on the lower floor.
"Morning," he grunted. "Don't tell me I woke you, or did I?"
"Actually, yes. I should add that to a list." Unknown to him, she'd been kept up until two in the morning thinking about how the Punisher, a man who destroyed mobs as a life's work, showed her more affection than anyone had in a decade. Sure, it was one kiss, and there were men who kissed on the cheek as a greeting. But it was a kiss on the forehead. And last night wasn't a greeting; it was the tale of two people angry at the world who needed to vent to each other.
But could she trust him? He was still the FNG (by that she meant time with the Avengers, he was by no means inexperienced in his line of work) and Stark's reasons for bringing him on board were still clouded in mystery.
"Of what? 'Things Frank Castle does to piss me off.' How does that sound?" He didn't smile or laugh, but he still thought it was funny enough.
"Keep talking like that, Frank, and you'll be the military version of Tony Stark."
"Please." He poured two cups of the smoothie. "Strawberry-banana flavored, protein enhanced. Here's two for us, and plenty more where that came from."
Maria started to take in Frank's random act of kindness, and it was delicious. "Thanks, this is really nice of you, but don't you think-"
"He should save some for us? I think yes." The interruption came from Tony Stark, dressed in a Metallica shirt and jeans. He was followed by people whom one might consider more professionally dressed: Pepper Potts in her suit, Bruce Banner in a lab coat, and a young Asian woman, also in lab gear. Frank guessed she was at least ten years younger than himself.
"Looks like I have some more introducing to do," said Stark. "Dr. Cho, meet Frank Castle and Maria Hill. AKA my two man jacks of all trades security team. Frank and Maria, meet Doctor Helen Cho. She's going to be helping Banner and I down in the lab on a bunch of things."
"Hi." Frank gave Cho a firm handshake. "So how long are you sticking around?"
"As long as it takes to complete our work." She looked at Banner, who nodded.
"Well, I suppose someone's hungry," said Frank, "because I just finished making some-"
All of a sudden an ear-splitting alarm went off. Maria had to cover her ears to keep it from being unbearable, and she wasn't the only one. "JARVIS," groaned Stark, "What the hell was that for? I told you that line was only for emergencies-"
"It is, sir. Someone is attempting a hack of the Stark Tower systems, and it's moving at an alarming pace.
"Shit. Someone get me the computer." Soon Tony was pounding away at the keys of the keyboard, while Frank grumbled, Maria rolled her eyes for the tenth time, and Banner was standing away, not wanting to be accidently releasing the Hulk for any reason. After a good ten minutes Stark let his hands off the keyboard with a whoosh sound and whistled.
"Solved it. It's trapped in some router no one here even uses anyways. Oddly enough, it attempted to get into just about everyone's files here. Steve's, mine, Frank's, Bruce's, Maria's, Thor's, like they wanted a comprehensive guide to the Avengers or something."
"You wouldn't have a clue on who did this, would you?" asked Banner.
"Nope. Though I'll have JARVIS working on it ASAP. Now Frank, about those pancakes."
Frank checked on the frying pan. "Perfect."
After they finished breakfast, Stark got a notification on the virus. "Sir, I've found the source of the attempted incursion," said JARVIS. "Mark Anderson; the virus has a number of codes he's used one time too many."
"Who's that?" asked Frank.
"Mark Anderson was considered to be the next version of me," said Tony. "Kid graduated from high school at the age of ten and got a Ph.D from Stanford at the age of fifteen. And by the time he was eighteen, he nearly handed a nuke over to the Ten Rings. Using his cyber-wizardry, he hacked into an Air Force base and stole every security passcode needed to access the base and its armory from the outside."
"And why have I never heard of this?"
"Simple: Anderson fell to greed. After getting his million dollar advance from the Ten Rings, he tried to extort the Air Force for double that amount. However, my friend Rhodey managed to put two and two together. He arranged for the attack to be a glorious failure and wiped out Anderson's Swiss bank account for good measure. Since then he's been on the run from everybody and makes what he can as a cyber-mercenary."
"So you want me to track him down?'
"That would be nice Frank, but I've got JARVIS working on it. I would just need you to go the actual location and get what we need from him. In the meantime, go enjoy yourself. Spend some time in the city. And Maria, you're free to go do whatever you were telling me about. Though you never give me the details."
Barely a few days out of the hospital and she's already out and about, thought Frank.
"Care to tell me where you're going?" asked Frank as Maria headed towards the elevator in a business-like fashion.
"Confidential, just like I told Stark," she replied, also business-like.
"I thought we weren't doing the whole 'secrets' thing anymore." he said back, crossing his arms.
Maria swung around to face him. "Frank, I appreciated last night. I know you did too. It's just that I don't know how much I can trust you with. When sober, I mean. And people like us have trust issues; I know you do."
"Ain't your fault."
"Of course I know that. How do I know you won't puke out everything I tell you, and have told you, one day?"
"Because I daresay I'm a friend. A friend who understands you better than those superheroes. People like us could use each other," he said, holding her arm gently. Even her distraught complaining was sexy to him.
She brushed him off. Coldly, he might put, but with Maria Hill you could never be certain. "Little tip of advice: be careful who you share weaknesses with. Some people just can't wait for the time to use them against you." She turned again and pressed the button for the bottom floor, and the elevator door shut between them.
That last line had him thinking. She was talking about herself, but it could have applied to him. Bringing another woman into his life wouldn't make him weak. Could it?
He noticed that the whiskey bottle was gone again. It didn't take a genius to guess who had it.
Frank sighed again and packed the duffel bag he had prepared for the day. In the week since the Avengers had returned from Greece, Stark had allowed Frank to go to each of his safehouses and gather up all the equipment he would need. In addition to a new van painted with the Stark Industries logo on it, Frank had also acquired anything he could ever want via Tony's contacts around the world. Today's arsenal included a UMP45 that Frank could disassemble and put back together in a considerably short time frame, a Glock in each holster, a grenade belt, a riot shield, and an RPG. You never knew when an RPG just might come in handy.
His phone buzzed. It was Maria. The person I'm meeting with is presumed dead.
Now you tell me. Fury? It was the first person to come to mind.
No, not him. Coulson.
The Punisher parked his van in a parking lot and walked over to a small convenience store around the block. He knew where he was: Hell's kitchen. News of a man in a black mask had spooked half the inhabitants, and the mob was desperate to find out all about him, so he decided to investigate. He picked up a small local paper about this 'devil' and began to read it when he heard a commotion outside.
A boy, perhaps twelve at most, was being harassed by what appeared to be a well-organized group of enforcers. He wasn't sure why they were beating on a kid, but the leader made his intentions very clear: "You do what I say, or you get killed!"
"I'm not going to smuggle weapons for you!" the boy exclaimed.
"Fine," said the gang leader. "Let him have it!"
The gangsters proceeded to start beating the boy to death. Frank reached for his right holster, about to go outside and teach these punks some life lessons.
"You strike them down, there'll be five more of those savages tomorrow."
Frank turned and saw the man at the cashier, who was in his fifties and in a wheelchair. "Trust me, I tried doing that in the exact same situation. Only thing was, it was a girl they were about to gang rape. The next night, I get this." He motioned at his wheelchair. "Twenty years in law enforcement and I come here to this shit."
"I'm sorry." Frank truly was.
"Don't be. Hell's Kitchen is falling apart all around me. And this store has the best seats in the house. You gonna buy anything or not?"
Frank laid down a good amount of money. "Bottle of Jack. I once promised someone I loved I would never go back to my darker days, but for shit like this I make exceptions. And besides, it's time to try something fun."
After dealing with the thugs with just the empty bottle, and letting the boy run off safely, Frank turned his attention to the leader, the nastiest of the group. It was only fitting that he was the most beat up of the bunch, with numerous broken bones and a face gushing red. Frank dragged him to the back of his van.
"I'm going to ask a few questions, and you're going to answer them. Understand?"
The mob underboss didn't look intimidated. "You think you're better than us because Tony Stark is your cover story-"
Frank bent the man's elbow. Hard. "Let's just say I got this van on loan. Now do you understand?" No reply. Frank assumed that meant yes.
"Tell me what you know about Wilson Fisk." The Punisher knew that question was bound to get a response of some kind out of him.
"I-I don't know, he just tells us to patrol these streets, and anything else that-"
Frank's phone began buzzing in his pocket. He shut the guy's mouth with one hand and scooped out the phone in the other. It was Stark calling. "I'm in the middle of an interrogation," said Frank, pissed at having to be interrupted. "This better be important."
"Oh, it is. I just need you to come back to the tower. You work for me, remember? And I don't even want to think about what the hell you're doing in Hell's Kitchen. Just get your ass here ASAP."
"Fine." Frank let out a string of curses, then wacked the goon's forehead with a gun and dumped him in the parking lot to wake up some time later. When he got back to Avengers Tower, Stark was at the front door waiting for him.
"So JARVIS managed to track down where Anderson is. Apparently he's been sending one of his ex-girlfriends love letters disguised as span. I read the latest of them, they turn out to be invitations to join him at the Casablanca Hotel in Times Square. Popular place for romantic getaways in the city."
Frank went through some other evidence JARVIS had fished out. Anderson had a small security team around the hotel grounds and Anderson's floor. That told Frank two things: one, this supposedly down on his luck hacker had some connected friends, and two, infiltrating the hotel was going to be harder. Stark confirmed that last bit by saying, "Not really much of a way to break in without making some noise. But I think you're up to the challenge."
"Please. And do you have any of your toys from the laboratory I could use?"
"Yep. Camera disablers, for one."
"That's all I need."
It was Friday night. Mark Anderson laid down on his couch and stretched. His ex – or rather, his girlfriend again once more – snored lightly, her red hair trailing towards him. She'd been asleep for most of the day, and Mark couldn't blame her. After their very enjoyable night together, it was hard not to want to regain, well, the energy lost. Having waken up himself, Mark combed his own sandy blonde hair in a mess, swiftly got out of his jeans and shirt, and went to the shower.
As the hot water calmed him and his senses, Mark faintly heard noises outside. They sounded like thumps, but Mark dismissed it. Probably the guards fooling around. He really needed to find out who arranged for them to provide over watch for this little vacation. As he finished his shower, he also heard the door to the hallway creak. Probably Joanna waking up and going to get some food.
As Mark finished dressing, he suddenly found a man, dressed in a trench coat and a shirt with a death's head on it, pointing a gun at his head. His first instinct was to cry for help, but this man had already anticipated that and grabbed him, clamping down at Mark's mouth with a gloved hand. "Not a sound," he said with a threatening attitude. "Not another sound. Your two friends outside are dead. If you don't want to join them, you'll do exactly as I say."
The Punisher took his hands off Anderson. Immediately he spoke in what wasn't a whisper but still a soft voice, to keep Joanna from waking up. " Ok, ok. Can I ask you something first?"
"One question."
"Did the Kingpin send you? Cause if he did, I've got what he wants. I just didn't have the time to-"
"Wilson Fisk did not send me. Santa Claus did. You've been a bad boy on the internet."
Anderson gulped in his mouth. Frank thought he wasn't thinking of Fisk, but not the person Frank was seeking out. "Wrong guess again. Now I start asking questions. Starting with who's paying for this vacation."
"I don't know man."
Frank pressed the barrel of the gun into Mark's forehead hard. "Change of plans. I'm going to start a story and you're going to complete it. Once upon a time, by which I mean this morning, you were hired to send a virus to Stark Tower. Continue please."
"Um… they sent me a random email through a dummy account. This was about a week ago, with instructions. Gave me a hundred thousand to start and another hundred thousand once I completed it. That's where the vacation and guards come from, whoever this is. They also gave me some programs they wanted me to look at and see if I could help them to get it working again."
Frank was confused. It seemed like whoever hired Mark viewed him as an eventual loose end. But if that was the case, why not just kill him? Why have those men look after him instead? "Do you have what your mystery employer gave you to work with?"
"C'mon man, they're going to kill me if I give you that."
"If that's the case, I'll personally be putting the bullet in your head."
"Alright, alright, yea I saved it all." He pulled out a USB flashdrive from the top drawer of the bathroom sink and handed it to Frank. "Don't even know why I'm doing this. I don't even know your name. Are you a hitman who works for Stark?"
"No.
"Then what are you?"
"It's complicated and none of your business. Are there any other men assigned to watch over you?"
"They take shifts, from my observations. Every two days I get new ones."
Good, thought Frank. That gave him a window to set up shop in the neighboring hotel room (which the now-dead guards had been staying in) and investigate everything that Anderson gave him. Maybe he could rest there for the night too.
He realized he was going to miss Hill tonight. Still couldn't figure out why, as Frank had been careful in the past few years to avoid getting close to anyone.
Maybe because she had been the same way. Opposites attract, but similarities stick together, for better or worse.
He was about to head on over to the other room when he heard a voice. Frank froze. Adrenaline was rushing through his body.
"Baby?" asked Mark's girlfriend. "Who's that?" Her eyes were locked on Frank Castle.
A/N: Longer chapter with characters all over the place, probably because I have to do shorter snippets at a time with all of my school work and such. Oh, and I'm considering doing one-shots. PM me if you've got an idea. As always, please review, favorite and follow if you haven't done so already but are enjoying.
-Jokerang