Father Lantom's sermon for the late Elliot Grote, was everything Matt had expected it to be. Praising the man for his devotion to his faith, while simultaneously condemning the man's life of sin. Managing to preach a lesson about the impact of our lives, on the lives of others. Matt was no fool, he knew what Father Lantom was saying, knew to whom he was trying to reach. But like so many of the Father's teachings. Matt wasn't sure if there was enough left in him, to heed the warnings.
Simply because, as he'd said to man himself, he had failed. Again. Despite his best efforts, all his training, his abilities, and his drive to do what he could to protect the sanctity of life; he had failed.
Not even the servant of the Lord's small sermon, on the importance of guilt, and its road to redemption, had been enough to soothe raging tides of emotion in his heart. He was meant to be a protector, a vengeful angel of the lord meant to help the hurt, and protect the innocent, and protect all life.
So why couldn't he? Why did he fail so consistently? And why was he so racked with the guilt, over the death of a man who, for all intents and purposes, was a terrible man. Who lived a terrible life?
He shook himself from his inner musings, trying to pay attention to what it was Karen was trying to say about the page, he tuned in just as she and Foggy were discussing the nature of the bullet he'd been shot with,
"He's insane," Foggy said, sounding exasperated with the entire conversation, "Maybe he shot himself," There was something off about his friend, his heart was beating faster than normal, and Matt could all but 'see' the man kept turning to watch the door to the law office, as though he were expecting someone to arrive,
Karen scoffed, sounding equally exasperated, "I thought about that, but at that close range…"
"Yeah, he'd be dead already," Matt chimed in, mostly to convince the others that he was, indeed, paying attention,
"Ok, not to go all tin-foil hat here," Karen prompted, "But Tower obviously slipped me this for a reason," She was referring to the assistant District Attorney, who had slipped Karen a file on everything they had on Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, or the man responsible for Matt's new headache and guilty conscience.
"What if the Punisher isn't the wort of it? What if Reyes is trying to cover something up," The District Attorney Samantha Reyes, had appeared to have…a personal agenda against Frank Castle. It was in the way she was willing to do anything within her power to not only curb any investigation into the man, but sideline Nelson and Murdock's attempts to represent Elliot Grote.
"You-you think that murderous psychopath isn't the worst of it?" Foggy asked, again glancing towards the door,
"Are you expecting someone Foggy?" Matt finally asked, his interest finally getting the better of him,
Foggy looked up, surprised for only half a second, before grimacing,
"Still have no idea how you do that," Foggy muttered to himself, "No-no I'm not it's just-"
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door to the office. The knock was heavy, and authoritative, the kind of knock Matt usually associated with a police officer. As the loud knock reverberated through the office, Matt's other senses were flooded. The smell of salt and seawater permeated his nostrils. As though he'd just walked out onto the beach. He could feel the weight of the man, and he could tell their surprise visitor was most certainly male, on the other side of the door, heavy, but not overweight. Muscular, judging by the strength behind the knock, his heart was steady, no signs of nerves or tension, but instead a quiet confidence.
Karen hastily began putting the Punisher files away on her desk as Foggy stood up, ignoring the knowing look that Matt sent his way, the door to the room opened, and he heard Karen's heart begin beating about twice as fast as normal, as she swore softly under her breath, and gazed at the person standing in the doorway,
"Was worried you'd have me standing there all day," the man joked. He had a low voice, soothing, and yet powerful at the same time. A man who was used to giving orders, and having them followed without question,
"U-um, c-can I, um help you, um sir?" Foggy stammered out, his heart beating so fast against his ribs, Matt was worried his friend was on the verge of outright fainting.
"This is Nelson and Murdock, right?" The man asked, "Ya'll are the ones who took down Fisk last year?" There was a slight tremor then, a lie. The man knew who they were, and exactly where he was.
"Y-yes sir, mister Sen-"
"Call me Percy, please," The man joked lightly, and Matt was more intrigued, what had Foggy been about to call this man? And why did it sound like he recognized who this person was? Despite Matt's abilities, he cursed that he still couldn't exactly, 'see' properly. Judging by the way that both Foggy and Karen's hearts were becoming erratic, in their beating, they recognized this man, and he was someone important.
Karen gripped him by the elbow, as the mysterious 'Percy' and Foggy continued to speak,
"That's Sentinel," She hissed in his ear, "A goddamn, Avenger!"
Then, it was Matt's turn to freeze, for his own heart to begin beating erratically. What in the hell, was an Avenger, of all people, doing there? He had to know, he had to know who he was, what he was doing. He unconsciously began calculating his best route to escape. His mind jumping through scenario's, each one becoming drastically worse than the last. Were the other's there? Was Captain America himself about to burst through a window? Or worse still, Thor?
"In civies, I'm just Percy ma'am" the man said, a laugh in his voice as he strode into the room, "I'm not Stark, I don't like my name to carry me." He came to a stop in front of Matt, "And this must be the Murdock, of Nelson and Murdock. Pleased to meet you," Percy said, clapping him on the shoulder, rather than offering a hand to shake. The man seemed to know better, or perhaps he had simply seen the walking stick in Matt's hand and had made the simple leap in logic,
"Not very often we get a celebrity in our little firm," Matt said, doing his best to keep his tone light and casual.
Percy laughed, "I wouldn't call myself a celebrity," Somewhere behind Percy, Foggy poorly hid a snort behind a cough, "Just a guy trying to figure out the mess that his life has very quickly become,"
"What can we do for you, Mister Jackson," Matt said, he knew the man's full name, hard not to when, only a few weeks ago, it had been all that anyway could talk about on the news and online. "I find it hard to believe that our little firm here, can offer something that someone like Tony Stark can't. He must have his own fleet of lawyers at his, and your, disposal."
Percy snorted at that, "And then some," he joked, "Man has more than he can deal with, and that's just who's on retainer. But no, I didn't want to deal with any of Stark's people. They make too much noise for what I need, and rather, I got recommend to you by a former friend of yours. The name Jennifer Walters ring any bells?"
That was a name that Matt hadn't heard in a long time. They had gone to undergrad together, before going their separate ways for law school. From what he remembered hearing of her, she was doing well for herself these days.
"Yeah, we went to school together," Matt said easily,
"Yeah, well, she's more criminal law these days, although, I have a feeling she might be working a little more closer with us as it turns out," Percy said, his tone light and breezy, "But she recommended you guys to me, said you were a little more all-purpose, and better yet, under the radar."
"Under the radar?" Karen asked,
"Sorry," Percy said, and Matt didn't need to see, to know the man was grimacing a little, "Slip of the tongue, what I mean is that your firm is still sort of trying to find its footing. In spite of the Fisk trial, you don't have a lot of high-profile work, which means that my being here won't call attention to you, or me."
"Ah, well, about that," Percy said sheepishly, shooting a look over in Karen's direction. "No offense, Karen was it? But this must be…private,"
"Karen," Foggy chimed in, a little too quickly for Matt's liking, "I thought I remember you saying you had something you wanted to run down on the Castle case, you mind stepping out for a minute?"
Karen made a sound like she wanted to protest, but ultimately nodded, and quickly gathered her things, before Matt heard her leave through the door to the office. Foggy strode over to the door and locked it. The pit that had been steadily building in Matt's chest, grew. Something about the situation was setting off warning bells. The entire scenario felt…fabricated. Like everyone but him seemed to know something else was going on.
He didn't like it.
"Jarvis, scan the room, make sure we're clear," Percy said, as Matt heard a rustle of fabric as Percy pulled something out of his pocket.
Who the hell was Jarvis? Matt's pulse quickened again. Had he missed someone else? Was it one of those beings with strange powers? How many others were watching, listening? He tensed his shoulders, tightening muscle groups and as subtly as possible, attempted to begin readying himself for a potential fight.
"Room is secure sir," Came an automated voice,
"Thanks Jarvis," Percy said, and there was another rustle of clothing as Percy shoved whatever he'd pulled out back in his pocket. "Jeez dude, no need to be so tense, I'm not here for a fight. Try relaxing a little would ya,"
Matt's shoulders only tensed further, "For the love of," Foggy cursed, "Matt, he's here to help you take down Castle. I talked to him about it last night,"
Matt's head whipped in the direction of his best-friend. Confusion clouding his mind, since when was Foggy connecting with Avengers?
"I didn't realize that you were interest in practicing law, Mr. Jackson," Matt said, doing his best to salvage a situation he could feel was about to slide out of control,
Percy snorted, "I'm not. I'm interested in helping you, or I guess the Devil, take down Castle. As much as I might appreciate trying to cut down bad guys, the guy has single handedly started a gang war. One I have every intention of helping you stop,"
Matt's mouth went dry, "I'm afraid I don't understand what you're implying Mr. Jackson. Mr. Nelson and I are defense attorneys. We don't make it a habit of practicing vigilantism,"
"Yeah, right," Percy scoffed,
"Cut it out Matt, he already knows," Foggy said, sounding strangely annoyed,
He turned a glare at his partner,
"Cut him some slack horn-head," Percy said, drawing Matt's attention back to the Avenger, "He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. The Avengers, or rather Stark and by extension me, have known about your…extracurriculars, for some time now."
"You've been watching me?" Matt accused, deciding there was no point in trying to deny the accusations any longer, if supposedly the man who was supposed to be his partner was informing on him. Fiery indignation taking place over the other concerns welling up inside.
"Of course, we have," Percy laughed, "What, some dude dresses up in a costume, and starts beating the unholy hell out of bad guys in our backyard and you think we wouldn't notice? C'mon man, give us some credit here."
"Then I ask again, what do you want, Mr. Jackson," Matt said evenly, trying to temper his anger. He was tough, but even he knew that needlessly antagonizing someone of the Sentinel's caliber was a bit…optimistic.
"It's like your buddy said, I'm here to help out. I spent most of last night going over everything that's known about this guy. Everything that the FBI, Homeland Security, NSA, hell even my former employer has on this Castle guy, I know. At least, everything that's been written down." Percy explained, "Guy's got a screw loose. Not that I can blame him, how much you know?"
"Why do you care?" Matt asked, hotly, "As far as I can remember, you people never concerned yourself with the crime in your own backyard,"
"You're wrong," Percy said evenly, "We've talked about it before. About taking the fight to the streets, using our powers, our skills and abilities to help clean up crime. We decided against it."
"What, not public enough?" Matt said, more bite in his voice than he had wanted,
"What, you think that was my call to make? Up until literally a month ago, the team was a division of my former employer. We didn't get to make that call, and to be honest, I think it's best that we don't."
"A very diplomatic way of saying you don't see it as being your problem," Matt shot back, he was feeling defensive. What right did any of the Avengers have butting into his life? Especially after they'd made it clear that they weren't going to try and help with the street level crime.
"Holy shit it's like dealing with Tony but without the jokes," Percy grumbled, "Listen, you stubborn asshole, think for just one second. You're a lawyer, what are the legal implications of a bunch of government agents, belonging to a now defunct federal institution, going around, beating the shit out of, and arresting, people off the streets. Ignoring the legality of that, think rationally. Where do you think the guns these guys are buying come from? How about the drugs being trafficked in? The women and child being sold into literal slavery? You think if we stop a couple of hustlers on the street that's going to do a damn thing? No, we don't go after the small stuff, because we focus on the bigger picture. Take out the people manufacturing and shipping the weapons. Dismantle the cartels. Destroy the sex rings. The source of that isn't New York, it's global. We know we can't stop everything, but we can try and minimize the collateral."
"Well clearly you're doing a great job of that," Matt snarked,
"Would both of you quit bickering!" Foggy burst out, finally getting frustrated, "Jesus, we have bigger problems than your little ideological debate. Remember? Murderous psychopath on the loose? Gang war in the streets? How about we put away the differences and try and focus on what's at stake here." Matt just continued to glare at Percy, despite knowing that Foggy was right.
There was a pause, as Foggy seemed to realize he'd just shouted at one of the Avengers, "Um, sorry about that it-i-um…" he trailed off awkwardly
With a sigh, Matt heard as Percy scratched behind an ear as he waved off the concern "You're right, you're right. Don't apologize." he admitted, "Listen, whether you like it or not, I'm getting involved in this. You can either let me help you, and this can go twice as quickly and we can minimize the damage, or you can pretend I don't exist, and I do this on my own. I have resources at my disposal, ways of making this go a lot smoother, and a lot better."
Matt was silent for a moment, as he processed all of that. He knew that Percy was right. Even with SHIELD gone, Percy clearly had access to resources that Matt could only dream of. At the end of the day, what was at stake was worth more than his own personal pride. There were people dying, innocent people, and one of the most capable people on the planet was offering his own help to put an end to it.
"If we do this, we do it my way," Matt finally said after a moment,
"No killing?" Percy guessed, and Matt tilted his head in affirmation,
"You might be helping me, but this is my city, my neighborhood, and my problem. I won't have any more blood being spilled if I can help it."
"I can do that," Percy agreed easily enough,
"And I make the calls. I won't have some superpowered lunatic running around destroying buildings. I know what you can do, and I know that wherever you, property damage inevitably follows," Matt added, and he could see Percy roll his eyes at him, but he agreed, sounding exasperated with the entire ordeal.
"Fine man, whatever floats your boat. So, you want to get to work now? Or…"
Matt shook his head, he still had to run by Melvin's workshop to get his new suit. "I have some things I need to take care of, I'll contact you when I'm ready. I assume you have a way of tracking down Castle?
"Yeah, I have some ways of finding him." Percy said, "I guess I'll see you tonight, nice to meet you Mr. Murdock, good seeing you again Foggy." And Matt heard him start walking towards the door. A question occurred to Matt, just as he heard the door to the office open,
"Why are you doing this?" He asked,
"Thought we already went over this?" Percy replied, standing in the open doorway,
Matt shook his head, "I mean, why are you asking to help me? You said it yourself, you have resources, you could probably do all of this without my help, probably faster too. Why even bother coming to me at all?"
There was a moment of silence, as Matt's words hung in the air.
"Just because the Avengers don't focus on the small stuff, doesn't mean I don't want us to. New York is my home; I grew up here. I want to protect it. But I can't always do that, I can't always be here, and I can't fight every battle for it. It doesn't matter how many bad guys we put down, there will always be someone else, doing something here. I won't be available to do the things that need doing to keep my home safe. You can though, you can be a defender in my absence, someone to take the fight to the bastards I can't. By helping you, I help New York. I'm not doing this for the credit, in fact, if my name isn't mentioned in this at all, the better it'll be for everyone involved. Besides, it never hurts to have friends." And with that, the man strode out of the office.
BREAK
It didn't matter how many times he was in the tower; it was always impressive. Even if it was garish, over-the-top, and a bit of an eyesore. Art often reflected reality, and no one could claim that Avengers Tower, formerly Stark Tower, was certainly reflective of the man who'd designed it.
Percy's phone rang as he stepped out of the elevator, and into the entrance wing of the top level, where the labs, analysis center, and meeting rooms were located. Pulling the device out of his pocket, he smiled when he saw who it was. Answering the call, Percy raised the phone to his ear,
"Miss me already?" He asked with a laugh, enjoying the soft giggle he got in response,
"Pretty sure I should be asking you that big guy," Jean replied, "I'd ask how you're getting on without me, but I think I already know," Her tone shifting. It was still airy, and fun, but there was an undercurrent of something else.
Percy winced, that meant she'd seen the news report. He knew he'd forgotten to do something last night, but he'd just gotten so caught up in his research he'd forgotten.
"I'm sorry Jean, I meant to call you, really I did, but I got so caught up in what I was doing and-" He was about to break off into a long-winded, and rambling tangent, when Jean mercifully cut him off.
"Slow down, and just talk to me hon, I'm not mad, I just want to know what happened," She said easily.
Gods be praised for the woman and her ability to deal with his shit.
Percy took the time to explain what had happened, the grocery store, the hospital, meeting with Foggy, how he'd spent his night researching everything he could find on Castle, and the meeting earlier that morning with Murdock.
"Sounds like you've got your hands full," Jean said,
Percy grinned, "Gotta be honest, it feels nice to be working again you know? Not that spending time with you isn't awesome, because it is! It's just I've been feeling like I've been kind of floating around and it's been weird and-"
"Percy," Jean laughed, bringing a smile to Percy's face as he walked into the analysis studio, "Take a breath. I completely understand,"
"Sorry Jean," Percy said awkwardly, shifting the phone to his other ear as he rubbed at his neck, "It's been a while since I was in a relationship, kind of forgot how this whole thing works,"
"You're doing fine Perce," Jean reassured, "And for the record, I'm happy you're working again. I know how you get when you're just lazing around. More than that, now more than ever, the world needs its heroes. It needs you."
Percy didn't know exactly what to say to that, but the smile on his face grew soft, and peaceful, as his chest warmed pleasantly.
"Thanks Red," He said gently,
"Someone's got to be there to keep you from getting too introspective. But Percy," she said, her voice growing slightly tense again,
"Yeah?"
"Please be careful…I know how capable you are, but this guy you're chasing, he sounds like serious business. You're strong, but not even you are invulnerable. Please do your best to come back in one piece, ok?"
"I will Jean. I got too much to come back to."
"Good boy." There was some chattering from her side of the phone, and Jean sighed, "That's my cue, gotta go. Love you, stay safe."
"Love you too, talk to you in a bit." There was a click, and the line went dead, as Percy put his phone back in his pocket.
"So, who's the unlucky woman you conned into dating you?" Came the familiar voice of Maria Hill from over his shoulder, turning, the man faced his longtime friend and comrade.
"Remember Jean, from the institute?" he said, not denying her,
Maria arched a brow, "Thought she and Summers were an item. I know you and Tony have been hanging out more, but I didn't realize you were adopting his home wrecking habits." Percy knew it was mostly a joke,
He rolled his eyes, "They broke up, something about a psychic affair in a mental-scape with that Frost woman? I don't really understand it, but apparently Jean tossed his ass out of the mansion, and he moved to Boston to join her institute."
Maria mouth the words, "psychic affair in a mental-scape" before shaking her head, "Psychics are weird,"
"Preaching to the converted sister," Percy agreed, before turning to the terminal, and proceeding to input several keystrokes. He was instructing Jarvis, and by extension Stark's extensive network of satellites, to begin looking for Castle.
"That aside…" Maria said, sidling up beside him, and bumping his shoulder with one of her own, "I'm happy for you. Lord above knows that you deserve a win, and you look happy. Happier than I've seen you in a long time."
Turning, Percy smiled down at the woman, "Thanks Maria," He replied, "And thank you for being a friend. I know I haven't been easy to deal with the last few weeks but-"
Maria waved it off, "Don't worry about it. I pretty pissed too when I found out. You have nothing to apologize for, so," She said turning to look at what he was doing, "What's going on? I checked the records for last night, and you spent most of the night here working on something. What's happening?"
Percy nodded, pulling up a set of files on another screen, it was an image of Frank Castle, as well as the dossier the FBI had put together on him,
"It's about what happened yesterday, at the grocery store," He said, nodding at the image,
"He the guy that ordered the hit?" Hill asked,
Percy shook his head, "No, but he's the one that caused it. FBI's been calling him 'The Punisher,' Guy lost his wife and kid in a mob hit a few years ago, got shot in the head himself for the troubles. Somehow, he lived through it, but it looks like it might have completely unhinged him. He's been on a warpath ever since; he's been cutting down crime families across the country the last couple years. Guess he's finally made his way back home."
"So, he's the one who took out the Irish the other day?" Maria asked, and Percy nodded,
"It's certainly looking that way, took out a bunch of Dog's pf Hell the other day as well. He's slowly carving his way through the underbelly of New York's underworld."
"Is it bad that I don't necessarily hate that he's doing it," Maria said,
Percy grunted, "I'd feel the same way, if it wasn't making the other families kill each other in retaliation. The last couple of days, no one's really been sure who's responsible, so all of the families and organizations have just been assuming it was the others. What happened yesterday at the grocery store, wasn't an isolated incident." Percy pressed a few other commands into the computer, which brought up a map of New York. Six red dots appeared across the city,
"Six other attacks occurred last night, all seemingly connected to criminal organizations in some form or another,"
"You've been shopping at a mob store?" Maria scoffed, looking at him skeptically,
Percy snorted, "Believe me, I had a conversation with Colm and Marissa, apparently they took a loan out from a shark from the Irish to start the store a way back. They managed to pay off the loan, somehow, but the connection has stuck. That's why they were targeted."
Percy scratched at his chin, "Something isn't adding up to me though,"
"Why's that?" Maria prompted,
Percy pointed at the screen, "His military record for one,"
Maria took a moment to scan the documents, before her brow furrowed in confusion, "Wait, hold on…" She pointed at something on the screen, "The timeline here isn't matching up. It says here that he was stationed in Kabul pending official transfer to Kandahar, but then there's nothing. Six months in 2014 that just disappear. No active orders, no mission deployments, nothing. Some of the worst fighting in Kandahar was around that time. So, he just sits on his ass for six months before being transferred over to Iraq?"
Percy nodded, "Then there's this," Percy pulled up a mission briefing for an FBI operation taking place in Central Park. Apparently, an undercover agent had learned that a potential meet was happening between the three big players in town: The Dogs of Hell, the Mexican Cartel, and the Kitchen Irish. It had been on the District Attorney's orders that the park not be cleared of civilians for the meet, in order to not tip off the three gangs. The result had been an utter massacre, that left Castle's family caught in the crossfire.
"Tragic," Maria mused, "But looks like just a bad case of wrong place, wrong time, why? Seeing something I'm not?"
"This," Percy pulled up another order, this one an official transcript from Metro-General. It was a Do Not Resuscitate order, written out by one Samantha Reyes."
"And she is?" Maria asked,
"The District Attorney,"
Maria's eyebrows shot to her hairline, before her face scrunched up in thought, "You thinking Castle was specifically targeted? If so, why, and to what end?"
Percy shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. Hard to tell. But something about this entire situation isn't sitting right with me. Specifically, those missing months in 2014. Castle was decorated, Navy Cross, a couple of Purple Hearts, and a hell of a lot of active combat in some of the worst theaters of the war. Granted, I never technically served, but I find it hard to believe that the Marine Corps would willingly sit a guy like him on the sidelines for a good chunk of his tour. Add that to the Do Not Resuscitate order and things are looking…strange,"
"What are you thinking?" Maria asked,
"I'm thinking I need to start digging through our former employers' files, to see if they ever had anything on Mr. Castle. Starting with those missing six months," Percy stated, already tapping in keystrokes on the command terminal,
"What's your goal here, Percy?" Maria asked suddenly, causing Percy to stop what he was doing, and look up,
"What do you mean?" he asked, confused,
"I mean," Maria clarified, "What are you trying to do here, with this whole…case, you're working. What's the angle? You can't prosecute Castle, hell you shouldn't even really be getting involved in this. We don't have the black sites any more for people like him, so what are you going to do when you catch him, and why do this in the first place?"
It was a fair question, the same one Murdock had asked him earlier that morning, he deflated slightly, "I know, I know I shouldn't be getting involved. If it gets out that I was working on something…"
"It could put the entire Team's standing, tenious as it is, in greater jeopardy. So why?" Maria demanded, not trying to be mean, but trying to help rationalize Percy's behavior.
"Because I can't be doing nothing. I mean, I know you understand, I got nothing now. I can't just sit on my ass and twiddle my thumbs and-and expect some Avengers-like threat to pop up. I need to be doing something, anything, to keep myself occupied. I'm just going to help bring Castle in, then, after that, I'll turn over all of my findings to Nelson and Murdock. Let the system take care of the rest."
Maria looked like she had something to say about that, only to be stopped when Jarvis spoke up,
"Apologies sir, but we just received a hit on our scan for Mr. Castle, he is currently in Central Park."
"Mind clarifying that a bit Jarvis, the park ain't exactly small," Percy asked immediately,
"The Merry-Go-Round, though I daresay he is a bit too old for such frivolities, sir."
Ignoring the snarking artificial intelligence, Percy made to exit the room, Maria calling out to him as he left, "Use channel seven, I'll be your eyes and ears on this," and she began furiously inputting commands into the terminal, as Percy pulled an earpiece from his pocket, and jammed it into his ear.
He stopped briefly in the armory in order to throw on a protective vest, "Mr. Jackson," Jarvis spoke up, as Percy was in the middle of putting on his vest,
"What's up Jarvis?" He said distractedly,
"Mr. Stark wanted me to remind you that you have a little gift from him in your locker. He said it was about time you looked like the superhero you were,"
Percy arched a brow at that but nodded, and was about to head over to the locker in question, when Hill's voice rang in his ear,
"Belay that. Don't want you getting linked to this in any way, and if I know Stark…" She let the statement hang, and Percy bit back a sigh. She was right. If Stark was involved, his new, 'uniform' would be loud, and obnoxious, if not brilliantly engineered.
So, opting to stick with his undercover gear, Percy pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed up Murdock. The phone rang several times, before it was finally answered,
"Hello?" came Murdock's voice,
"It's Percy. Found Castle, he's at the Merry-Go-Round at Central Park, where are you, and are you alone?"
"One second," There was a brief rustling sound as Percy anxiously started tapping his foot, the phone was silent for a few minutes, "I'm alone, changing now, alley on the corner of West 42nd and 11th."
Percy's phone pinged and Murdock's location appeared on his phone, courtesy of Jarvis,
"Be there in a second," Percy said,
"Wait what-"
Percy hung up, before he disappeared in a thin mist. Reappearing in the alleyway a few feet from Murdock, who was just in the process of putting his helmet back on his head.
"Hurry it up Sentinel," Maria said in his ear, "The carousel just lit up like a warzone, looks like Castle just got jumped, get moving,"
Percy wasted no time in grabbing the Devil by the shoulder. He jumped in shock, twisting away from Percy and throwing a punch. Ducking out of the way, Percy pressed a palm to the man's stomach and gently, yet firmly, pushed the man away from him,
"Easy there pal, it's Sentinel," He said,
"Sorry," The Devil apologized, his posture relaxing slightly as he recognized Percy's voice, "You surprised me, how did you get here so fast,"
"Later, we have more important things to worry about. Castle just got jumped. We're going in hot so do me a favor and try not to puke, these are new shoes,"
"What do you mean-"
Percy didn't let him finish, as he misted again, taking the Devil with him. They reappeared in the park. Percy had misjudged his jump somewhat, and they ended up further away from the carousel than he had anticipated.
"Shit," Percy muttered, surveying his surroundings. His attention turned to the Devil, as he groaned, and hunched over, hands on his knees.
"You good?" Percy asked, looking back at the tree-line, and focusing his power so he could begin scanning for bodies of water.
"What the hell was that?" The Devil ground out, sounding ill,
"Call it Mist Travel, kind of like teleportation I guess, don't worry about it. We're a ways from the site, and I got eyes on several bodies moving fast away from the target area. Let's move,"
Without further ado, Percy took off at a sprint, leaving a still winded, and very disoriented Devil to try and catch his bearings and chase after him. The burst through the tree's and into the carousel lot, just as the squealing of tires reached Percy's ears. He caught what looked like the taillights to a pair of vans, as the raced away from the scene.
"Damnit," Percy growled, tapping his ear, "You got eyes on those vans?" Percy asked,
"Negative, Sentinel, too much interference from the tree's and it looks like they've lined the insides of the vans with something, Infrared isn't working. I got nothing here," Hill replied, and Percy swore again, until he felt something on his shoulder. Turning, he saw the devil pointing to something at the other end of the carousel. Shifting his gaze, Percy looked, channeling his power again, and saw what looked like a man, trying to crawl away from the scene. Nodding lightly at the Devil, Percy let the man take the lead, as the pair flanked around opposite sides of the carousel.
As Percy rounded the corner, he watched a man, blood pouring from a nasty wound in his stomach, trying to crawl as fast as possible away from the ride for children. The wounded thug turned to look behind him. Seeing Percy, his eyes widened in terror, before he tried to crawl away again in a panic.
Only his progress was stopped, as his hand gripped the boots of the Devil's costume. The Devil reached down, bodily grabbing the thug by the jacket he was wearing, before slamming him forcefully into a seated position, his back against the ride. As that was happening, Percy strode over, taking a flanking position beside the Devil.
He had not been lying that morning about wanting the Devil to take the credit. With his former employer reduced to ash, the Avengers were in a delicate position. Technically, they were still an arm of the American government, federal agents. As such, they had no such jurisdiction, without prior approval, to operate on American soil. According to Stark, that was in the process of changing, the Avengers were going to leverage themselves into essentially a private corporate entity. While they might have been stationed in the United States, by disassociating themselves, they would have free rein to operate wherever they were needed. It would also allow them to operate as independent private contractors. But until that point, it was going to be a sticky legal situation for Percy to pursue and actively arrest Castle, or anyone unless it was an obvious case of citizen's arrest.
That and there was an entire moral dilemma Percy faced about vigilante justice. While he wanted to make a difference, he didn't want change to come at the expense of law and order. He was a firm believer that people only followed rule of law because there were potential consequences to those actions. Hence the system in place of supposed law enforcement and due process. It wasn't a perfect system, but people needed to believe in it, in order for the system to be improved and for it to work. That system was put in jeopardy the second people like Percy started taking the law into their own hands.
The only reason he respected what the Devil did, was because while yes, he beat people to bloody pulp who deserved, he also stuck to the system. He chased down bad guys, collected evidence against them, and presented that evidence to the police, in order to gain a lawful conviction. He worked within the rules and made a difference because of it. At least, that was what Percy believed, looking at the situation from afar, he could have been wrong, however.
Turning his attention back to the man on the ground, Percy's arm shot out, as the thug reached into his coat pocket to grab at something. Percy's hand latched around the man's wrist, twisting it violently, causing the gun in the thug's grip to fall and clatter uselessly to the ground.
"Bold," Percy commented idly, twisting the man's whole arm violently to the side, and pulling it at an odd angle. There was a pop, as the thug's shoulder dislocated from its socket. "Stupid, but bold."
"Who did this?" The Devil asked, ignoring Percy,
The thug glanced nervously between Percy and the Devil, licking his lips,
"People you don't mess with," he said, and Percy snorted derisively.
"You're bleeding out, and my friend here is running out of patience," the Devil commented, caustically. In response, Percy dropped to one knee, and looked the man in the face,
"You know who I am?" Percy asked, his tone light, the man gulped, sweat dripping down his forehead to commingle with the dirt and blood smeared across his cheeks, before nodding.
"Good, then you know that I can control water, right?" Percy didn't wait for an answer, instead, he pressed his palm against the man's dislocated shoulder, gripping it tightly. The man whimpered slightly.
"Blood is fifty-five percent Plasma. Blood plasma is ninety-percent water. Which is more than enough for me to control it. You know how in books; authors will describe someone has having their blood boil? You want to know what that actually feels like?" To emphasize his point, Percy steadily raised the temperature of the blood in the man's body, making it feel as though he was going into a high fever, the man whimpered, and gasped in pain, before Percy reversed the sensation and returned his body to equilibrium.
"Who did it?" The Devil asked again,
"The guy they're calling Punisher," The thug finally groaned out,
"Where is he?" The Devil asked, his voice soft,
The Thug laughed, which caused Percy to channel another blast of his will into the man's blood, burning it even higher and causing the man to yell out in pain,
"Stop! Just stop! I'll talk!"
Percy grinned,
BREAK
"Why is it that all bad guy bases always look the same? I mean, is there a forum? There's got to be an online forum somewhere right, like an but for evil lairs?"
Percy's questions were met with silence from his companion. The man they'd interrogated had led them to a hydro-electric compound near the docks on the edge of the Kitchen. The information had proven accurate, when Hill had called in to let Percy know that several heat signatures were guarding the compound. That, combined with Percy's own abilities, confirmed the truth of the thug's admissions.
"Do you ever stop talking?" The Devil finally growled out,
"Not really, part of my charm. According to the PR people, civilians are more at ease when I talk. So, if the people demand more jokes, more jokes they shall get."
"Regretting this more by the minute," The Devil muttered to himself, as they approached the break in the wall, leading into the compound. According to thermal imaging supplied by Stark's tech, it looked like Castle was being held somewhere in the basement of an older, unused building, on the east end. They'd taken out the guards at the front gate and were in the process of descending a staircase into the sub-basement, the Devil leading the way.
He stopped, a few steps before the bottom, "How do you want to play this?" the Devil asked, I hear at least three at the end of the next hall, four more in the rooms at the end."
"And five more in the second room from the end. I can probably just flood the entire building, but that would probably kill them,"
"No killing,"
"I know, I know, I'm just throwing it out there," Percy said placatingly. He looked down the hall again, "Split off, you handle the goons in the hall, I handle the five in the room at the end of the hall. We need to make this quick, make too much noise, and they might kill him out of habit."
"If they haven't killed him already," The Devil commented, but Percy shook his head,
"If that was what this was about, then he'd be dead already, no, there's a reason they're keeping him alive, but if there's one thing I've learned about people like these guys, it's that anybody is expendable if it means staying alive. Handle the three in the hall, and go after the Punisher, I'll handle the rest of the goons."
Percy didn't give him an opportunity to reply, as he disappeared in a mist. He knew he needed to be quick. He had not been lying earlier, he didn't believe that Castle had been taken without reason, but everyone was expendable. If it came down to it, Percy doubted that whatever these guys wanted from Castle was enough to value his life over theirs. So, Percy wanted to knock out his targets before they had any opportunity to raise an alarm. Reappearing in the room with the five men, Percy took quick stock of the situation. Three of the men were situated at a small table in the center of the room, in the middle of a card game of some kind. Their weapons were tucked up against their chair, within easy enough reach, but still far enough away for considerable draw time.
One man was propped up against the far wall, seemingly asleep, his sub-compact weapon on the floor next to him. While the third was leaning back against a chair, watching something on a small television, propped up on an end table, a semi-automatic in his lap.
Targeting the man in from of the television first, Percy shot a blast of compressed air out of his hand, directly into the middle of the man's back, right between the shoulder blades. The man yelped in surprise, as he launched through the air, his face colliding with the television screen, as he was propelled straight through it. The television smashed into pieces at the impact, as the man continued through the air, before slamming roughly into the far wall. As that was happening, Percy turned to sleeping man, and summoned water into existence.
Since they were underground, there was plenty to pull from, and Percy wrapped it around the man, before freezing the liquid, trapping him in ice. Percy would thaw it out and knock the man unconscious after he dealt with the remaining goons, who, by that point, had finally noticed the commotion. They didn't move for a second, too stunned by the suddenness of the violent assault. By the time they had composed themselves enough to try and reach for their weapons, it was too late.
Outstretching his hands in front of him, three separate jets of water materialized, and shot across the room. Each jet impacted the chest of the three men at the table, catapulting them into the far wall. The water then froze around them, effectively gluing them to the far wall. Racing across the room, Percy wasted no time in knocking each of the men unconscious, before releasing them, and tying their hands behind their backs. He repeated the process with the two other targets, before focusing his attention on the four other men.
His concentration broke slightly, as a shot rang out in the hall beside him. Apparently, the Devil was a little sloppier than he'd anticipated. Cursing softly, Percy disappeared again in his mist, reappearing right in the midst of the four remaining bad guys. Wrapping his large hands around two of their heads, Percy slammed the two together, making sure not to use too much force, he didn't want to kill them.
It wasn't that he was against killing, far from it actually, he had fair bit of blood on his hands. But he wanted an ally in the Devil, he could prove useful, and if he wanted an ally, he needed to play by the rules established.
One of the remaining goons was apparently a bit more disciplined and was already in the process of swinging his weapon around to blow Percy away. Percy was faster though, as he reached his hand out, wrapping it around the barrel of the weapon, before freezing the air around it. The rifle froze, unable to fire, and Percy jerked the weapon away, and leveled a fist into the mid-section of the man wielding it. He grunted in pain, as he flew through the air, impacting the wall of the room, cracking it slightly. He wouldn't be getting back up.
Percy addressed the final problem, who was simply staring at Percy, his eyes wide in horror and recognition. Without any prompting from Percy, he dropped the weapon and put his hands in the air.
"Please don't hit me," He said, and Percy almost laughed. Wrapping the man up in bindings, he did the same to his compatriots. The sound of more gunfire drew his attention, and Percy tore his attention towards the sound. Focusing his will, he saw what looked like the Devil, and another man he assumed was Castle, hunkering down in a room a few yards away. There were several more men on their way to the room.
Disappearing again, Percy began sweating, it had been a hot minute since he'd actively exercised, let alone since he'd used his power so much, and he was starting to feel the strain.
Reappearing in the hallway behind the room, Percy found himself in the middle of a new throng of men. The lead of the new trio of enemies had just pushed himself into the room when Percy struck. Having not noticed Percy's arrival, the man immediately in front of Percy was not prepared to have the back of his leg caved in with a powerful kick.
There was a loud 'CRACK' as the bones in the leg broke, and the man cried out in pain.
Since Castle was secure, Percy saw no need to be silent.
The man whose leg Percy had broken, collapsed to one knee, as he was suddenly injured, and Percy gripped the back of his shirt. With an effortless pull, Percy hefted the man over his shoulder and tossed him back, where he fell in a boneless heap on the ground. The second bad guy turned at the sound, turning his pistol to aim at the sudden new attacker. Percy gripped the wrist holding the weapon and twisted. There was another snapping of bone, as the man's wrist broke, and he dropped the weapon in a gasp of agony. Percy followed it up with an underpowered punch to the man's throat. Gagging and coughing, as his windpipe was bruised, Percy grabbed him by the side of the head and brutally slammed him into the wall, temple first.
He was out cold in an instant and slid slowly down the wall. The sound of metal on flesh drew Percy's attention upwards, and he watched in muted fascination as the Devil caught a small metal rod, as it bounced off the temple of the lead bad guy. The man stumbled, and the Devil pressed his advantage, as he smacked the man across the jaw in a backhand, using the metal rod as a billy club.
"Nice," Percy commented idly, stepping back to secure the three thugs.
"The others?" The Devil asked,
Percy rolled his eyes at the tone of the man, "Unconscious and bound. Waiting for New York's finest to pick em up."
"Look at you Red, you makin' friends?" Came a gravelly voice, causing Percy to look up, and get his first look at the man called Punisher. He was maybe just shy of six feet tall, heavily proportioned, and looking like he'd been through utter hell. His face was an ugly mixture of purple and yellow bruising, made even worse by the steady dribble of blood flowing down from his hairline. His dark clothing was equally stained with what Percy assumed was blood, and he was limping. Looking down, Percy saw the nasty pool of blood, pouring from an open wound on the man's left foot. Looking around, Percy saw an abandoned drill on the floor, and quickly connected the dots.
Without another word, Percy's hand shot out, wrapping itself around one of Castle's bare arms. The man tried to move out of way, but Percy tightened his grip, and thrust some of his will into the man, demanding the blood in the man's body to stop flowing out of the foot. Releasing his hand, Percy raised a brow at the man.
"You two seem awful chummy, ya'll make nice without me?"
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Castle demanded instead,
Percy just smiled, "You don't watch the news much, do you?" He asked in leu of an answer, to which Castle just looked at him in utter confusion. Ignoring the man, Percy turned to the Devil, "The rest of the building is secure, what's the plan with doom and gloom here?" He asked, with a shake of his head towards Castle,
"Let's get him out of here. He's pretty banged up; can you move us using your…thing?" The Devil asked.
Percy did an internal measure of his own power tank, and took stock of his remaining strength, "Yeah, I got it covered, hold on," Castle looked between Percy and the Devil, looking even more confused,
"What the hell are two talking about?"
Then, without further warning, Percy grabbed both men, and the three disappeared, in a flurry of water vapor, reappearing in a small graveyard, on the outskirts of the compound.
Castle looked like he was about to collapse, so The Devil wrapped an arm around the man and steadied him, before lowering him slowly to the ground, and propping him up against a tombstone.
A burst of static in Percy's ear, drew Percy's attention away as the Devil and Castle started talking in hushed tones.
"Sentinel, Status?" Asked Hill in his ear.
Walking away from the pair of conversing criminals, Percy responded, "Castle secure, no casualties, gonna need a bus for Castle though. He's pretty banged up."
"Copy, I got eyes on a patrol unit already on their way, they're about a block out. You might want to make yourself scarce, don't want you getting dragged into this."
Percy nodded. He agreed, especially after his very public meltdown on live television, it would not look good to see him acting as a vigilante, in the wake of the collapse of the organization. It would potentially draw even more heat to the Team, than it was already under. Doing another quick check of his internal power supply, he figured he had enough left in him for one more jump. He needed to start working out regularly again. As much as he enjoyed his time with Jean, even a month off of training, was enough to substantially diminish his power reserves.
"Understood, I'm on my way."
Looking back at the conversing criminals, Percy decided he didn't necessarily need to announce his dismissal. The Devil could handle things from that point onward. He did a mental recap of what went down in the compound, making sure to note that he hadn't left any noticeable evidence of his involvement. When he was satisfied that he wouldn't be linked to what happened, he disappeared in another trail of vapor.
It felt good to be working again.
AN: Alright that's a wrap folks! Nothing much to say here, other than it's fun having Percy play the bad cop. Hope you're enjoying the ride so far, things only get more wild from here. Thanks again for all the love and support. Stay safe, love you all, and I'll see you tomorrow.
Love,
LilDB