Chapter 2
Breaking News
He was running. From what? He didn't know. All he saw were things going by him very rapidly. His mind was clear. It all seemed like a dream. But why was running around in New York at night? How was he going so fast? Did this mean anything? These were questions that came to Travis' mind in his dream.
Suddenly everything became clear and everything stopped. His heart was pounding hard and he was breathing heavily. He thought he was waking up from a strange dream. Instead he found himself in a part of the city he had never been before.
He looked around and noticed a subway station. Travis recognized it as a line that runs through Brooklyn. The question was how did he get from Queens to Brooklyn without noticing.
It was dark and he couldn't really see himself. All he could hear were the fans of air conditioners, sirens from emergency vehicles, and the occasional dog bark.
"Okay, okay" He said to himself. "It's not a problem. I'll just hop the turnstiles and get onto the subway. Simple as that." He noticed that his voice sounded strange and alien as if it were being run through a synthesizer.
As Travis walked, he noticed that there was something different about himself. As if there was someone following him. He didn't quite understand until he walked a liquor store window illuminated by a street lamp. What he found was quite shocking.
Looking back at him was a face that consisted of two big white eyes and a mouth that had a white interior and had jagged spikes going up and down around it. He noticed that the reflection gave off a kind of dull luster. Travis looked at himself and saw that it had gold color to it. He noticed that his hands were basically scythe-like claws.
"What am I?" He asked himself. Now he wasn't so much freaked out as intrigued. Was this a joke or someone kind of drug induced dream? Whatever it maybe possibilities and questions raced through Travis's mind.
"SOMEONE HELP!" A voice screamed from nearby. Then a gunshot rang out. Travis turned and ran towards the screams. He didn't know why he was doing this but for some reason he had to.
He ran and his claws allowed to cut through the thick humid air. He was going faster than he ever had before and Travis experienced a thrill in that. *Must be what those speed skaters go through.* He thought as he cut through the air.
Another gunshot rang out and Travis came onto the scene. He stopped to witness a man firing a gun in the air and then pointing it at a hysterical woman.
"YOU DIE NOW!" The screamed at the top of his lungs. He seemed to be drunk and pretty young for the fact that his voice cracked at the word "Die". He pointed the gun and the woman and was about to pull the trigger. When something knocked it out his hands so hard that it broke his wrist.
The man turned to face Travis. He looked at him for one second then recoiled in horror.
"OH MY GOD!" He screamed out. The woman screamed too.
"Get out of here!" Travis told the woman. He didn't notice that the man tried to take a swing but Travis quickly turned and gave him an uppercut so swift that he didn't even notice. The man went flying backwards and went across the car hood and crashed onto the pavement.
Several apartment lights came on and people shouted from several floors above. The sounds of sirens appeared and began to grow. The NYPD was coming and very soon.
*Best be getting out of here.* Travis thought and his fist suddenly returned to its hook shape. He portioned himself into a runner stance and then took off into the night.
Officer Donald Schultz was working in Brooklyn after his partner Jennifer Dale was promoted to Detective Third Grade a month ago. He was working alone in a radio car during the graveyard shift. While not working with a partner was a welcomed change. Schultz did miss the fact he had no one to talk to while driving. Except when responding to calls as at this moment when someone had dialed 911 about several gun shots being fired and some screaming.
He raced over with his lights flashing and his siren blearing. When he pulled up he noticed a woman who was screaming about some creature beating up her boyfriend. Schultz found the boyfriend unconscious on the pavement. He immediately dialed for an ambulance and then tried to sort things out.
"All right, what happened here?" He called out to the crowd. He got back several responses as people shouted over the sirens.
"Some freak beat up that guy."
"What are you talking about? He saved that girl!"
"Whatever that guy had some cajones on him, man."
Were just a few of the responses Officer Schultz received.
"Now hold on, please." He announced to the crowd as more officers came on scene. "Just talk to any of the officers and they'll take your statements. Thank you." The crowd continued to shout at him as he watched an ambulance pull up and paramedics begin to work on the man. Schultz noticed a revolver laying on the pavement. He stood by it to make sure no one could tamper with the evidence.
As people told what they had seen to the cops. A young man with a video camera had been recording everything. He couldn't imagine how much he would get the footage he taped tonight.
It was now morning and Travis was back home he was tired from being up so late and spending hours trying to get back to normal when he realized all he had to do was think and the suit would respond. He rested back on the couch in the living room flipping through channels when he came across a local news station.
"This footage taken last night from a neighborhood in Brooklyn shows a mysterious figure or creature protecting a woman from her crazed boyfriend. Police are unsure of to who the vigilante is but they are certain this was not the work of the so-called Punisher. At the moment the NYPD is still investigating the matter."
Travis sat there in amazement. "Wow"
Inside of his Queens' brownstone, Peter Parker sat there with his mouth agape. "Oh, dear god."
Inside of a mansion near Washington, D.C. He looked at the newscast across from his massive Oak desk and smoking a fine Cuban cigar. "This is perfect, just perfect." He said from his desk looking at the tv across from him. "Looks like, we got the perfect candidate for our little project."
"Should I authorize the action, sir?" The aid asked him
"Yes, looks like we got an opportunity that is once in a lifetime." He grinned with the cigar anchored in his mouth."
To Be Continued