Disclaimer: This is stupid. I do not own the Punisher or any other Marvel character in this story, but you all knew that, didn't you? I'm just a humble soul who thinks that the Punisher is the most spectacular thing to have ever happened in the Marvel universe.

Period

This story might be slightly AU because I know very little about big Franks' adventures prior to Welcome Back, Frank.

Even though it involves he X-Men it will mainly centre on Frank. It's a little experiment where I force the distant and emotionless Frank into an environment of closeness and emotions.

I hope you will bear with me and enjoy the story

A fair warning: This story contains graphic violence, foul language and the mentioning of rape and drugs (It's the punisher, whaddya expect?) ;-)

THE PUNISHER

Redemption denied, or redemption refused?

It was a quiet night in New York...

Scratch that, bad start; New York is never quiet, especially not at night.

Gunshots and screams echo off the darkened allays, courtesy of the killers, muggers, rapists and psychos of the New York night time, haunting the streets like predators, looking for their next helpless pray.

It was the gaping maw of a soulless monster, waiting to consume any fool unlucky enough to wander into its jaws. It was a heaven for the predators and pure hell for everyone else. It was New York at night.

But the predators weren't safe.

They knew that no predator was mightier than the dark spectre that hunted all the other predators, the urban legend that could make even the boldest crime boss whimper and cower in fear, the soulless body of Frank Castle, sworn to kill every last criminal on this earth, fuelled by an insane burning hatred that consumed his very mind, sharpening his thoughts and body.

He was the Punisher

A shot! A scream! The sound of a body hitting the ground. Enraged yells, more shooting. The Punisher at work.

He swiftly rolled over the hood of a car, landing just in time to hear bullets impact where he had been only seconds before, and in one fluid motion he withdrew an H&K Mp5 sub-machinegun, dropped flat on the ground and shot under the car, catching one of the goons in the kneecap.

Screams of pain shredded the air, and he could hear the other goons yell in fright. Judging from the voices, Frank estimated that there were still four men chasing him. Too bad for them.

He heard more bullets embedding themselves on the car and decided to find new cover, so he returned the favour with a 15 shot salute at the goons and dashed into a nearby alley.

"Fucker's buggin' out" One of the goons yelled, and they all charged after him, screaming and howling like a pack of starved wolves smelling fresh blood... a pack of STUPID, starved wolves.

The first goon had barely turned around the corner before a single lead discharge slammed onto his forehead, making the rest of his cranium explode into the faces of his buddies, causing them to freeze on the spot. A neat chain-reaction, and a bad mistake on their part, as a leather-clad arm suddenly whipped around the neck of an unlucky goon and held him in an iron like chokehold, making him a, though unwilling, rather effective human shield. The other goons hesitated, not wanting to shoot at their friend, but alas for them, The Punisher had no such qualms and instantly riddled both their chests with red-hot bullets, which only left the unlucky goon in his arms.

"NO! Please, I'll do anything, please don't do this pleaaase" The man sobbed and screamed uncontrollably, tears, sweat and snot cascading down his face, but a quick twist and a loud 'SNAP' silenced him instantly, his neck very broken.

The streets felt silent, as if exhaling, and the Punisher unceremoniously tossed the corpse aside and headed back to the alley where the fight had started.

Sure enough, she was still there. She was naked from the waist down, and already some ugly bruises were beginning to form where the scumbags had tried to force themselves upon her. She was unconscious, which was lucky for him because she otherwise could have been hysterical; something Frank was very bad at handling.

He took off his leather trench coat on laid it over her to conceal her nakedness and allowed himself to inspect her further. She was very small, no taller than 5'8 and, while not skinny, she still looked a bit frail. She looked Asian, but it was a little hard to tell with the bruises and the dried tears on her face, and she looked no older than 17.

Frank gritted his teeth in anger, but felt satisfied because he knew that retribution had come to them in the form of a flash, a boom and the sensation of organs dissolving, and as his eyes wandered over the poor girl again he noticed her cell phone lying next to her on the ground. It had probably fallen out when the goons had ripped her jeans off.

He decided that it was about time he called an ambulance, so he went to pick the girls' phone up, but as he bended over her he was suddenly blinded by a huge flash, causing a lifetime of experience to spring into action, and in less than a second he had rolled backwards, drawn a gun and switched his trigger finger on 'shoot-on-sight' mode.

He furiously blinked the dancing spots away from his eyes and looked down at the girl, who was now wide awake and holding out her hand, palm facing forward.

"Easy now, I'm here to help" He spoke as soothingly as he could, trying to calm the girl down, but she just stared at him with large, unnaturally blue eyes; red and swollen from crying.

Her eyes slowly travelled up and down his entire body. He was at least six foot three and heavily muscled, his face was wrinkled and scarred, he had a very strong chin and jaw, a broken nose and a frightening scowl. His deep-sitting eyes were covered in shadow, making it impossible to read his emotions, and his jet-black hair was neatly slicked back. But most remarkable was the menacing white skull staring evilly at her from his pitch-black flak jacket.

"Y...you're the...P...Punisher" She managed to say in a very weak voice

"Just relax, I'm going to call an ambulance..."

"No" She interrupted him weakly "C...call Xavier's school of..." She never managed to finish the sentence as a new voice roared

"DIE YOU MUTANT WHORE!" It was the guy with the recently missing kneecap. He had somehow managed to crawl all the way back to this street to settle the score. It was as if time slowed down for Frank as he watched the goon point his gun at the girl, and before his mind had even registered what was happening his body had already sprung into action, flinging himself between the goon and the girl. He heard two thunder crashes and could feel the bullets impacting on his chest, causing something to go crack under the Kevlar, but even as his vision began to swim he still managed to conjure up three fresh bullet-holes in the face of Mr. kneecap before god turned off the lights...

Okay, I need to know if I should continue this, or if it's just a complete waste of time, so would you PLEASE review.

As all you writers know, reviews are fuel for the crazy furnaces inside our heads. ;-)