Ok, so to say that this chapter was easy to write would be an understatement.
Full credit goes to my comrade Jebest who helped in molding this chapter and essentially making it what it is right now.
He was the one who basically helped in crafting out a giant chunk of this chapter. I had long planned for this chapter but Jebest was the one who helped me write this in the span of only two days. Two were all that needed and we were in the ZONE.
One might even say that this Zone was a Zone of quite serious danger.
Heheheheheheheh.
Really, I am just so damn happy with how this turned out and how fast Jebest and I churned it out.
So enjoy my friends.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.
Avenging Remnant Chapter 26: The Next Initiative
It was a strange day in the life of one Avenger.
Well… strange would be putting it mildly as this is just the next day in a shit show of few long weeks. From dealing with some serious fallout of the ramifications of the Sokovia accords to the one after another disappearance of one web-head followed by another super-bot.
To say that Tony Stark felt a rising sense of another anxiety attack wouldn't be enough. No, he was past the point of that and a heart attack. Quite frankly he was astonished that neither of the aforementioned attacks had done him in.
But enough about that. Right now, he had a serious objective in mind.
Landing before the entrance to his destination, Stark casually stepped out from his armor waving casually to the citizens around him who gaped at him in awe and disbelief.
Entering the very swanky club, Tony strolled through the many patrons within the establishment.
Getting to the bar, Tony held up two fingers while placing down a hundred dollar bill.
The bartender was young, trying to portray a cool and uncaring expression at serving the Iron Avenger. Yet he could see it. Those quick side glances and the fact that he saw her hands tremble several times when she poured his drink and handed it to him.
Giving a twitch of the lip upwards with a tip of the cup in thanks, Tony whirled round to see several large men stand in front of him.
Though clearly larger and physically stronger then him, the tension they held in his presence was palpable. He could see one shifting around nervously, another eyeing him then back up to the second floor with the last one having a sheen of sweat on his forehead.
"What's the matter? Big man wants me gone?" Tony said with his usual quick wit.
"He wants to talk to you."
"Ah come on sugar, god that sounded creepy, can't you all treat me like a normal New York citizen."
"You know that ain't possible." A deep, stern voice said from behind the large men.
They stepped aside, revealing…
"Mr. Cage." Stark said conversationally. "So glad of you to join me down here in your paradise. Gotta say, love the maragarita's even though they're not my favorite."
Luke Cage, defender of Harlem, unofficial crime boss of this territory in Manhattan could only roll his eyes in annoyance. He gestured his head, signaling for the guards to return to their posts while he spoke with Stark alone.
"Why did you come back?" Cage questioned, going up to the bar with a drink already there waiting for him.
"Cause I love the music here." Tony answered straight away, looking to the stage.
"Don't play dumb with me, Stark." Luke said, eyes front on the racks of alcohol. "Last time you were here, it was cock sure speech about doing something bigger than what we've already done."
"I thought I laid my cards out on the table?" Tony said innocently.
"No, you did some weird riddle crap without being frank 'bout why you came here of all places." Luke shot back.
"Alright, alright." Tony conceded. "You want me to be completely honest?"
"That would be nice."
"Ok." Tony angled himself to face the side of Luke's head. "I am Luke Cage. Defender of Harlem. That's what you said to those reporters a few weeks ago. Very nice. Liked the showmanship. Very raw and to the point. Very… me actually. Are you a fan?"
Cage only gave the billionaire a flat look though Stark was undeterred.
"You think you and your friends are the only superheroes?" Tony said knowingly. "Mr. Cage you've become part of a bigger world. You just don't know it yet."
Luke finally gave Stark a hard stare for several seconds. "You stole that from someone, didn't you?"
"Yeah, he was like you, tall, broad, bald, eyepatch." Tony said unashamedly.
"So what exactly do you mean by that?" Luke said offhandedly.
"I think you already know the answer to that."
"Maybe, but I wanna hear you say it." Luke firmly stated.
Tony rolled his eyes, head hanging down for a few moments until he let out a defeated sigh.
"Alright, fine, you win Mr. Cage." Tony acquiesced. "I came here to talk to you about the Avengers. I've been keeping an ear to the ground about what's been going on across the world, especially here in New York. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen. The man with unbreakable skin. The flying investigator. The kung-fu kid. The Punisher. Lot of colorful names for your little group of vigilantes watching over Manhattan."
"So what then? You wanna recruit me into your little -and I do mean that very literally- group of heroes and protect the world?" Luke asked condescendingly.
"Ideally, yes." Tony stated right away, uncaring at Luke's clearly uninterested tone.
"Why?" Luke bluntly asked. "Why come to any of us? Avenging is your business and the rest of the rogue Avengers."
At the mention of the missing Avengers being led by Cap, Tony frowned both in slight frustration and somberness.
"See, that's the thing." Tony said tiredly. "A while back, I got news from some crazy source about them all going missing. And by missing, I mean absolutely no means of finding where they could have went."
"Wasn't that the whole point."
"Yeah, that's what you would want if you went off the grid." Tony said. "But they didn't go off the grid. They vanished, poofed, disappeared."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Luke asked, clearly not getting what Tony was implying here.
"What it means is that unless Steve and the rest of his team decided to go mining and living underground in the literal sense, the other literal sense is this." Tony looked at Luke square in the eye. "They are not on Earth anymore. Something happened to them where they are no longer on this planet. And the only other alien I know is not on planet right now so if you'll excuse me for being in a bit of a bind right now."
Luke stared in utter shock and disturbance.
"You're getting it now, aren't you?" Tony said grimly. "The Earth… is woefully undermanned and in serious need of defenders. With another two Avengers going missing recently that only leave myself, Rhodey, not sure about the king of Wakanda and that I can quite say as of right now is literally it. No other backup then what we've got. So I'm asking you, Mr. Cage, here and now. If the time comes for the Earth to need you to be more extraordinary then you already are, can you do it?"
Luke just stood there, having a bit of a difficult time in processing what Tony Stark had just told and offered to him.
This was rather insane really cause all in all, in hindsight, he was just a street level guy. Sure he had made his name in Manhattan and was known through the 5 boroughs of New York, but this? This was a literal whole other level.
"You- You can't be serious about this?" Luke asked in a low voice.
"Would a man, with a multibillion dollar company, self-made super suit with all the "time" in the world not be serious in going out of his way to talk to a 'street' level hero and offer him this chance?" Tony said with a dead serious expression. "You and everyone down here have always been on the radar. We just didn't want to bother you cause you were doing your job. But now? Now times are a bit more desperate. So I'm asking you again, Luke Cage, can the world rely on another Avenger when the time comes?"
It was a strange numbing sensation that Cage had never felt before. Even after everything he had experienced and endured, this was an absolute first.
Exhaling to calm his thumping heart, Luke stared right in the eye of Stark and gave a barely noticeable nod of confirmation.
Tony's grim mood instantly vanished, now sporting a relieved and mischievous grin.
"Great." Tony said. "And with that being said."
Wordlessly, he whirled round to the crowd and held out his hand to the exit of Harlem's Paradise in a dramatic fashion.
The sound of metal and thrusters reverberated throughout the establishment, ceasing all activity as Tony's suit flew into the club and armored him up.
Now being Iron Man, Tony used his suit to amplify his voice.
"Ladies and gentlemen." Tony declared aloud and boisterously, bewildering all those present while some couldn't help but take out their phones and record what was transpiring.
"I am pleased to announce a very momentous occasion cause I'm using big words here." Tony held out his arm over to Cage who was trying his best to remained stone faced. "For your consideration, everyone, Earth's newest Avenger. Harlem's very own, Luke Cage."
Many jaws dropped with many more gasps and exclamations of amazement.
Luke himself couldn't help but give Tony a sharp look, not believing he would so publicly… Wait, no, considering the man's track record it shouldn't have come as a big surprise that the man would do something on this scale. For the love of god, the Avengers tower once had his name plastered on the damn thing.
He was soon broken out of his thought process at the sound of people clapping, cheering and chanting his name in adulation and praise.
Luke barely fought back the smile that wormed its way onto his face, shaking his head bashfully at all this attention.
"Sweet Christmas." Luke said to himself.
"Sweet Christmas?" Iron Man repeated in amusement. "That's certainly a new one. Definitely using that."
"That's my line." Luke dryly stated. "I basically patented the term."
"Patented." Tony guffawed. "Oh, Rhodey's gonna love you. You're definitely gonna fit in with us."
Scene cut
The highway leading outside of New York was sparsely populated, few cars passing by here and there.
Being the middle of the night, it left a lot of room and leeway for cars to speed on by with very little consequences considering some of those had been cops.
One car in particular took full advantage of the open road, driving at near blazing speeds down the highway with a trail of smoke in its wake.
There were only two occupants within the car, one being a middle aged man while the driver was of a younger sort.
Both sat in the car with relative silence, eyes on the road ahead of them.
With the way both were seated, postured and not even acknowledging one another in the slightest it would appear to be an awkward and tense atmosphere between them both. Yet it wasn't so.
No words were need to be spoken as both sat in a rather comfortable and companionable silence with only the ambient sound of tires drifting over concrete.
It remained that way until…
"So…" the older of the two began. "I take it that you got a story behind that fire hazard of yours."
The young man only snorted, shaking his head at the phrasing. "Something like that. Probably a little different than yours."
The older man shrugged. "Feels like we both were on different paths… Then got shafted into the same situation."
The driver couldn't help but snort at that statement, agreeing all too well with it.
"So how did Frank Castle, Marine hero end up as the Punisher?" He asked after several moments of silence.
At the mention of his title, Frank Castle grew silent and more somber.
"That… That's a story for another time kid."
The Robbie Reyes only hummed in understanding, switching over to the radio to play some old tracks.
"Maiden?" Frank snorted. "How old are ya kid? Thought you'd be into that new wave rave bullshit."
Robbie chuckled. "That garbage? Yeah, that ain't for me. I was raised on proper musical tastes thank you."
Frank only let out an amused "Hmph", slightly bobbing his head to the rhythmic guitar playing of the band.
It went on like this for an hour of driving, with the two going through an albums' worth of Iron Maiden until…
"I gotta know, kid." Frank said after the last song had ended. "How did it happen to you?"
Robbie slumped a bit, eyes becoming glazed with memories of harsh times with a flicker of flames passing through.
"It… wasn't easy growing up without parents." Robbie said slowly. "Uncle Morrow and Gabe were all I had. I dropped out of high school to help them both out when… it just all went downhill after a while."
"And now?"
"Now?" Robbie chortled. "Somehow I ended up with a world class killer of killers and the demon inside me doesn't seem to mind that much even though you are literally stained with blood."
Castle snorted, shaking his head at the absurdity of the statement.
"You know, had it been a few years ago I would have thought you'd be insane with the shit spewing out of your mouth." Frank said. "But after everything I've done, everything I've seen. Shit, what the entire world has seen. Crazy is the new norm around here. 'Specially in New York. That's just a breeding ground of it."
"Can't argue that." Robbie idly remarked, driving around a car in front of him.
Another few moments of silence was shared between the two.
"So…" Robbie said awkwardly. "There is something I kinda wanna know."
"Hmmm?"
"See, the entity or spirit really that resides within me usually gives me an idea of the amount of sins or stain upon an individual's soul." Robbie said conversationally.
"Yeah?" Frank said, brow quirked in Robbie's direction having a guess as to where this may go.
"How many?"
Frank gave Reyes a stoic gaze, turning to the window.
In the rearview mirror, he saw the city that never sleeps far off in the distance getting smaller by the second.
"Don't know to be honest." Frank said, voice raspy. Clearing his throat, he went on. "Somewhere in the hundreds… Several most likely…"
"Hundreds?" Robbie snorted. "You sure about that?"
"Whaddya mean by-"
Robbie shrugged. "I dunno. The spirit kinda laughed that number off. Hell, I kinda don't believe it really. I heard about you in passing, you know? You targeted so many gangs and criminals, I lost count; even when you went on your rampage that lead to you being somewhat exhaunerated on the frame up job."
"Somewhat?"
"Even if the government and military partially forgive ya, a lot of the populous still sees ya as a crazy, trigger happy killer. And with that, the general populous won't turn away on what they think of you that easily."
Frank only shook his head. "I could give two shits about what most other people say or think about me, kid. Never cared then and don't care now."
"Whatever helps ya sleep at night, Castle."
Frank only glanced down, stoic facade dropping momentarily.
"Not a lot can these days, Reyes." Frank admitted, voice cracking a bit. "Not after what I've done. What I've seen."
Robbie regarded Frank silently, nodding a moment later with a tired look in his eyes. "You and me both, brother."
The silence within the car slowly made the tension became so thick that it was truly unbearable to deal with… Even with the music playing from the radio.
"Alright." Frank declared. "Turn up the fucking radio."
"It's already on."
"Well turn the volume up to 11 or some shit like that."
The possessed driver rolled his eyes at this. "Alright, but don't blame me if we get pulled over."
Flicking the knob, the music blared and coincidentally played Highway to Hell by ACDC.
Frank only deadpanned at Robbie who returned the look until both began laughing aloud at the stupid coinicidence.
The duo continued their drive away from the city, the brief flickers of fire in the wake of the car tracks as the vehicle sped up.
Scene cut
"Seems you need a drink, ma'am."
"No, Ms. Jones. I need to keep a clear head."
"Eh~ Suit yourself."
Pouring herself a small batch of bourbon in her cup, Jessica Jones twisted the bottle's cap before eyeing the woman sitting in front of her desk.
"So…" Jessica said, holding back a burp. "Ms. Parker, was it? What's a lady like you from Queens doing all the way here in Manhattan in my… humble abode."
"I… need your help." May Parker said quietly. "And Queens is only a train ride away, remember?"
'Like most people who walk through my door.' Thought the investigator before speaking. "So what can I do for you, Ms."
"I need to find my nephew." Opening her purse, she pulled out a photo and handed it over.
"Your nephew?" Jessica inquired, taking the photo out of May's hand and getting a look at him. "He's your nephew? How old are you?"
"Like it or not, he's related with my late husband's side of the family. And my late brother-in-law had Peter when he and his wife were in their early years of college."
"Ok, ok." Jessica said apologetically. "Touchy subject aside. What can ya tell me about this kid? What's he like? What does he do? Stuff like that."
"He's quite smart for his age, for starters. Though he gets very exhausted on most mornings before school. More than usual for a while now, but never knew why."
"He's not into anything illegal, is he?" Jessica couldn't help but rudely interrupt. "Most kids usually have done things like that you know?" The investigator saw the potential client stiffen in her seat. "Could he be taking-"
"I think…" May cut her off with an intense glare. "That I would know what the boy who's basically my son would be doing. My late husband and I did everything we could for him and we are proud of who he is."
Jessica held up her hands as she got the idea. "Okay, so he's clean. I get it." 'For now, at least.'
"I'm sorry." May was suddenly downcast. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. It's just… It's just been really hard. I'm worried sick, he's not responding to my texts or calls, none of his friends or classmates have any idea where he went or vanished after Homecoming. I just- I just can't stand the thought of losing someone else."
The powered investigator let out a small sigh. 'Well that possibly takes off a little bit of what I wanted to ask.' Looking at the photo of the missing teen, she scrunched her lips a little. 'Don't know if he's the type of kid that sneaks out and sees someone to fuck all the time either… even if he does look cute for his age.' She then let out a small snort. 'Kid might be an interesting surprise in the sheets if that were to happen.'
"Ms. Parker." Jessica said softly. "Listen, I know what it's like to worry for someone. So *Sigh*, I'll help you out."
May only looked up at her with a grateful smile, a small tear trailing down her eye.
"Thank you." May stood up and took the detective's hands. "It means so much to know that someone can help me like you can."
Jessica let out a strained laugh."Yeah, no problem."
"So much better than what Tony could do for me."
"Tony?"
"Tony Stark." May clarified. "My Nephew had an internship with him for awhile before he went missing."
Jessica could barely restrain her shocked and incredulous expression upon learning that small little tidbit. She certainly did not expect that from an aunt from Queens.
"...Okay, you should tell me everything you know on Peter's relation with Stark of all people."
Scene Cut
After what felt like hours, Jessica finally left her apartment/office as she not only got May Riley Parker's first payment but also gathering as much information on her client's nephew. Afterall, with all cases, she needed to collect the details and organize them as best as possible before working off from there.
Jessica held up a picture of Peter Parker for a brief moment before looking up at the former headquarters of Avengers Tower.
She had seen a lot of planes going in and out of that place for the past few months and figured either they were renovating or moving everything out of there to the Avengers HQ based in upstate New York. Granted, she doesn't usually keep up to date with all that goes on with those crazy heroes as she honestly doesn't want anything to do with them.
The only thing that seemed to be exciting to come out of that place in the past while were from various pedestrians seeing a large assortment of robots attacking the place quite a while before the Accords went underway. And recently were chatter of people seeing a plane getting cloaked on the same night Peter disappeared and said plane crash landed at the shoreline.
Jessica was sorely tempted to get up to Avengers Tower and investigate but that could be saved for later. Because right now, she had the most unexpected of leads coming from right down the road in Harlem.
After gathering her resources -and depositing the first payment in her bank account- Jessica checked her phone for news only to see the media blowing up about Iron Man himself proclaiming Luke Cage, the hero of Harlem, as the world's newest Avenger.
So now, Jessica walked her way through Harlem with one place in mind.
Entering the new bar under Luke's ownership, it was still midday so there were very few individuals within the bar save for the common staff; such as cooks, cleaners and security.
Luckily for her, Jessica didn't have to go upstairs or look long to find who she was looking for. Casually strolling up to the bar, Jones shoved her hands in her jacket and announced herself to the owner.
"Gotta say, Luke. Never would've expected you of all people to join Tony's posse."
Turning around, the Impenetrable Man saw his former flame and smirked a little. "Me neither, Jessica."
Coming up to the bar, she sat down on the stool. "Can I get a glass of… that winter tea vodka you have."
Looking up on the shelves, the club owner searched on what drink she was referring to. It didn't take him long to find it. Rolling up the ladder to its place, he soon climbed up, snatched the bottle, came down and poured her a cup with a large cube of ice inside.
"On the house." Luke said to the investigator.
Giving her fellow defender a grateful nod, Jessica held up her glass in a small toast before downing the entire drink.
"Gotta love the real cold ones in hot summer days."
Luke only chuckled. "What can I do for you, Jessica? Any trouble stirring up in the neighborhood? I highly doubt this visit is for congrats on my… new position."
"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that actually considering who we all are really." Jessica remarked, gesturing for a refill.
Obliging her, Luke only shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."
"But if I were honest, it's somewhat revolving around you being one of the new Avengers."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
Jessica wordlessly pulled out the picture of one Peter Parker and placed it down before Luke.
"Tony Stark interned this kid at his company." Jessica quickly explained. "Couple of months later, he goes missing. I'm on the case to find him, courtesy of his Aunt. Makes a hell of an impression on you."
Luke hummed a little as he processed the missing person's image to memory. "Can't say I've seen him. Honest."
"And I believe ya."
"But if I did, I would tell ya in a heartbeat."
"See that you do." Putting the photo away, she continued talking. "You know where Stark went off to after leaving this joint?"
Luke scratched his beard as he remembered a small detail. "Well there's one thing that comes to mind. Don't know where he might be at now, but on what he's currently doing."
"Which is?"
"Gathering more people for his posse as most of his current members have gone missing as well." Luke said jokingly, before turning serious. "More people like us."
This detail… unsettled Jessica quite well, prompting her to ask her fellow Defender on what he meant by that.
After a lengthy explanation on what got Luke to cave in and join the Avengers, Jessica merely sat in her seat and racked her fingers through her dark locks. Before long, she asked for another drink and downed it all in one go. Once done, she pulled out her wallet and placed a few bucks into the tip jar before turning to walk away.
"Take care of yourself, Jessica." Luke said kindly. "Remember, you're not alone in this city like you think you are."
Jessica paused in her stride, turning back to give Luke a small smile. "Thanks, Cage. I'll see ya around, Avenger."
Luke huffed in faux-annoyance, smirking a moment later. "Don't go calling me that just yet."
Jessica only chuckled to herself, leaving Luke's "Paradise" to continue her investigation.
'Man… never would've known that things are more fucked up than I would've thought.' She thought, passing the club's entrance. 'Asides from the… foreboding feeling… Luke might've given me an idea on where Stark might be going next.'
Scene Cut
'Huh.' Were Happy's first thoughts upon entering the rundown building of Hell's Kitchen with his friend/boss following behind him. 'Could use some sprucing up.'
The air permeated with the smell of various meats and poultry, then again they were stationed at a meat shop so there is that.
Walking down the hallway, Happy heard conversation up ahead along with some laughter.
Upon approaching the door with the painted on sign of Nelson and Murdock: Attorneys at Law, Happy squinted at the last name feeling a strange sense of familiarity to it.
"Happy?" Tony's voice cut in through his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"You alright there?"
"Hmmm? Oh! Yeah, yeah, I'm fine Tony."
Tony eyed his friend for a brief moment, shrugging a moment later before knocking on the door.
"It's open!"
Happy grasped the handle, twisted it and opened the doorway for him and Stark to enter the legal firm.
And the reactions were varied but somewhat expected as inside the small spacious room were a few individuals.
One was a blonde, middle-aged woman who dropped her stack of papers with what appeared to be a married couple in front of her.
"Karen, what's wro-" A pleasantly plump man choked on air upon seeing who was at the doorway.
"Foggy? Something the matter?" Spoke another voice, coming from a separate room.
Out walked a man with ruby red shades and cane who was "gazing" in the direction of his friend. The shaded man turned his head in the direction of the door after several seconds of silence from everyone else.
"Forgive me if I obviously don't know who quieted my friends and co-workers all of a sudden." Politely spoke the blind man before tapping his glasses.
"None needed." Tony waved off casually, going over to the blind man. "Tony Stark. Just stuck out my hand for a shake."
And this caused the blind lawyer to stiffen in his place, following his friends' reactions.
"The Tony Stark?" The blind lawyer asked quietly, reaching forward to shake the Avengers hand.
"S-So-So what are you- *Cough* Why are you here, Mr. Stark?" Foggy said, trying to calm his nerves and acting professional… and failing with him somewhat sweating up a storm...
"Y-Yeah." Karen, sharing Foggy's nervous demeanor. "Wh-What can we do f-for you?"
Being the calmest of the bunch, the blind lawyer breathed a little. "I don't know if you're here to seek legal help as I believe you have -pardon for my bluntness- an army of legal enforcers in her beck and call."
"MATT!" Karen blurted out in an affronted manner. "I'm so sorry, sir-"
"Actually, that's where you're wrong." Tony wagged his finger in Karen's direction. "Most of my lawyers lack a conscious like your Law firm does. That weigh's on a guy after a while you know. But, that's not the reason I came here."
"Oh?" Matt clenched his walking stick a bit tighter now. "...Okay…" turning his head a little, he saw with his vision to see another person in the room. "And who might you be?"
There was a momentary silence in the room until Happy blinked upon realizing that Matt was indeed facing him.
Feeling weirded out in being noticed by the blind man… of all people… somehow… he awkwardly waved at him.
"Hi… I'm Tony's bodyguard and assistant, Harold Joseph Hogan."
Matt's face tensed, giving the bodyguard a hard stare through his shades. "You wouldn't happen to be… Happy Hogan? Former boxer, correct?"
This got Happy and Tony to raise a brow as they both wondered how he quickly found out about this. And with the former boxer turned bodyguard, he was quite stunned as he didn't know what to do.
There was a long silence as he just stared back at him.
"I'm sorry… but do we know each other? Forgive me, but I'm at a complete loss." Happy managed to say, wanting to punch himself for how he probably looked right now.
"Figured you wouldn't know me at least." Matt nodded to himself. "But my dad did tell me you were one of the toughest, maybe the toughest boxer he ever fought."
"...Okay, you lost me."
"Mid-July, 1990. Hell's Kitchen. The Battle of the Century: Happy Hogan vs Battlin' Jack."
Happy could only stare at the lawyer as the gears in his head began to click into place, with his eyes widening by the second.
"Y-You're his kid? Little Matty, right?"
Matt could only smirk a little as his friends and co-workers merely looked between the two men. Even Tony fell in synch with the confusion.
"Holy shit." Happy whispered, a wry grin etching his way onto his face. "Well I'll be damned, looks like old Jack's dream finally came true."
"And what would that be?"
"Just that his son got a better future for himself." Happy said.
Admittedly, Happy knew that his boxing career was a total failure. He had no shame in that, at all. The only thing he got from that part of his life was his nickname, Happy Hogan. And it ended up stuck with Tony, Pepper and all his friends and family called him that after all these years.
And it was all because that despite how much he was backed in a corner in a fight, he always kept smiling.
"Ok~"
Both Matt and Happy looked to Tony who was observing the two with slight amusement. "As much fun as this was, cause I really wanna know the story here, we got things to do Happy. remember? "
Matt intervened on Happy's behalf.
"Sorry, Mr. Stark. It's just that my father's fight with Happy was one of the last ones I saw… before… well…"
Tony quickly put two and two together, realizing how important this moment was between his colleague and the lawyer.
"Right, right, sorry about that." Tony said, cringing on his own interruption. "Just never saw Happy seem so Happy when talking about his boxing days."
The former boxer merely waved Tony off. "It's alright, Tony." He snorted as his eyes kept focused on the blind lawyer. "Gotta admit, fighting your old man had to be one of the best fights I've ever had taken part in."
"He always said that you were the strangest and best fight he'd ever had." Matt recalled in amusement, shifting his tone somewhat to match his fathers. "Hogan was always grinning like he was havin' the time of his life getting the lights punched out of him."
"Oh he punched some lights out, alright. Even a molar with that uppercut of his." He moved his jaw a little as his tongue instinctively moved towards the back. "And to be fair, I knocked one out of his as well."
Matt only laughed a bit, feeling his eyes tear up suddenly at the thought of it.
"Yeah…" Matt said quietly. "It was one hell of a fight though."
Happy smiled in turn only for it to fall after several seconds becoming more melancholic and sad.
"I am sorry on what happened to him, ya know. Shouldn't have happened with you in his life. Best thing he had, which always kept him going… even in the darkest of times."
"He did enough." Matt softly said. "He did enough."
There was a tense silence in the room until Matt cleared his throat.
"So, what can Nelson and Murdock do for Tony Stark?" Matt asked politely. "I take it this isn't for some browsing for more attorney's."
Snapping out of the moment he felt sucked into, the billionaire playboy philanthropist Avenger decided to get into the matter at hand.
"Right, so, is it alright if we talk in your office Mr. Murdock?" Tony asked.
"Ah." Karen stood up from her seat. "Mr. Johnson, is it alright if-"
"No, no." Matt cut her off. "It's alright Karen, Kyle, Janice. Please, finish your business. Foggy and I will handle this."
"Actually, it would be better if-"
"Foggy and I conduct our business together, Mr. Stark." Matt firmly stated.
"Are you sure, Mr. Murdock? It revolves around your nightly, off hours."
Matt pursed his lips with both Karen and Foggy sharing looks of slight terror with the other people in the room being confused on what Stark was referring to."
"It… It's for that very reason that Foggy and I speak with you together." Matt said resolutely.
Pulling his friend to the side, Foggy whispered in his ear. "Are you sure about this, Matt? I am fine with being out of your office-"
"Remember what we promised, Foggy." Matt quietly said back. "No more secrets between all of us. We'll tell Karen after they're gone. Both of them came here for a reason. The least we could do is oblige them."
Foggy felt a bit glad that Matt wanted to keep up with his promise. He honestly did. But the pleasantly plump lawyer felt conflicted if he should even be in the same room as the Iron Bloody Avenger of all people discussing god knows what!
After several moments of internal debating, Foggy conceded, following Matt into his office with Tony following after the two while Happy stood by at the closed door silently.
It was a bit awkward to say the least as Karen and the two newest clients to the law firm stared past Happy into the office of Matt Murdock.
And all Karen could do was awkwardly try to get things back on track with where they left off.
While that went on, Matt and Foggy sat adjacent to Tony Stark who comfortably in his chair while taking a moment to look around the small office.
Standing beside Matt's sitting form, Foggy awkwardly spoke. "So~ How'd you-"
"Find out he's Daredevil?" Tony interrupted.
Foggy couldn't help but flinch. "Yeah… that."
Tony only threw up his hands without much care. "A guy like me with money and tech at my disposal? Kinda not hard really. I didn't really mean to spy on you, let me just be clear. It's just desperate times and desperate measures."
Matt rose a brow in confusion.
"Desperate time and measures?" Matt rephrased.
"What, like recruiting Luke Cage into your super group?" Foggy blurted out.
Matt looked over to his friend as his confusion intensified. "I'm sorry, but what?" Matt looked back to Tony. "You recruited Luke Cage? When did this happen?"
"Last week." Tony said nonchalantly. "I made it pretty public."
"...And why haven't I heard of this?"
"Maybe you've been busy." Tony said knowingly. "That triad gang wasn't taken down by the police two days ago. And that mugger, can't deny you know how to string a guy up. Kinda like this other guy I know."
Various facial expressions crossed Matt's visage as he went through all the details on what Tony listed off. But even then, he should've at least heard about this.
"Foggy?" Matt said softly.
"Yeah?"
"And here I thought no more secrets…"
Foggy could only scratch the back of his head in slight shame. "I just… I know I sound hypocritical, but I just didn't want to worry you. I mean Luke Cage getting recruited by Iron Man?! That's crazy shit right there!"
Tony couldn't help but snicker with how this was going down.
Matt took off his red sunglasses in order to massage his eyes.
"Alright." Matt said tiredly. "So you recruit Luke to the Avengers. I take it that Danny Rand has had the same treatment?"
"Actually, haven't chatted with him yet." Tony said. "Well, not again after he came public again and wanted to make a business deal with him. That and I already met with him the first time I spoke with Mr. Cage."
"..."
"...Jessica?"
"Who?"
"Don't play coy with me, Mr. Stark." Matt said stoically. "You know me, so there's not a doubt that you know Jessica, Castle and god knows whoever else has had their business conducted here in Manhattan."
"Ok, ok." Tony raised his hands in surrender. "I haven't gotten to her yet either, though I'm debating on whether or not I should. I read up on her, well, all of you really. I'm basically gambling here."
"Gambling on what exactly, Mr. Stark?"
Tony was silent for a few moments to fill the office with suspense before opening his mouth.
"If you can help me save the world from the bigger threats out there."
Matt and Foggy didn't even try to restrain their bewildered and stunned expressions.
"Pardon?"
Scene Cut
Slurping on her fountain drink, Jessica was scrolling through her phone on various sites she was going through on Tony Stark while sitting back in her office chair.
Things were mostly tabloid stuff throughout the years with what she pulled up and it was annoying to slim it all down to think of a good case to put on the guy.
Huffing in annoyance, Jessica shut her phone off and shoved it down her pocket.
Grabbing an onion ring, she bit down on it as she contemplated on other factors that are going on that she never knew before.
Luke was brought into the exclusive Avengers as a means of filling up it's ranks after the disappearance of various members. And from what she could only assume after a stunt like that, Tony wanted to collect the other heroes and gifted individuals out there.
Scratching her head, Jessica glanced over to her work board where Peter Parker's picture hung. Beneath it was May Parkers phone number and address in Queens.
Without much incentive, Jessica typed up Queens news on her search bar and out popped a few surprising articles.
One of which had the bold title of "Spiderman Missing!".
She had heard of the wall crawler in recent news as he seems to have jumped in popularity over the past year. Apparently, judging by what she read, this Spider guy was associated with Iron Man.
And now he's also missing. Just like all the other former Avengers.
'Was he even an Avenger? Stark never announced him of being one, unlike with the others after the incident in Sokovia.'
That was rather interesting to hear. Taking a brief moment to skim over the file, she noticed his last sighting was in Queens and then in Brooklyn apparently.
Hearing her phone ring, she momentarily didn't bother answering it. But the ringing and ringing kept on going.
"Gillian."
There was no response.
"Oh, right. Lunch." Walking over to her assistant's desk, she picked up the phone and spoke. "Alias Investigations, Jones speaking."
"Hello, Jessica."
"Who is this?"
"Oh, sorry. This is Karen."
"...Karen who?"
"Oh, right. Karen Page."
"...That still doesn't explain who you are, ma'am."
"Right, right. Sorry again. Things are rather crazy lately." The lady on the other end admitted sheepishly. "I work with Matt Murdock. I'm a friend of his and… uh… am aware of his nightly extracurricular activities."
Jessica narrowed her eyes at that last tidbit of information, leaning down on her desk while pressing her phone closer.
"What can I do for you?"
"Well… to be honest, I don't really know how to say this." Karen floundered a bit "Have you heard about what's been going on in Manhattan? About a certain billionaire visiting some other people of interest?"
This peaked the investigator's interest, instantly hooked on the conversation.
"Who hasn't? Why? Did the same billionaire come by your office?"
"Yeah~ You can say that."
"He did, didn't he?"
"Oh yeah."
"And let me guess, your blind buddy became an Avenger, right."
"Wait? How'd you-"
"Lucky guess. Along the side of me chatting with Luke Cage earlier today."
"Well, I guess that makes sense." Karen admitted. "Then again, Matt hasn't really confirmed it yet though the way Stark acted he may as well have said yes."
"How so?"
"Oh, you know. Wanting to give it some thought instead of going in right away like an excited kid at a candy or video game store with unlimited funds."
Jessica only hummed in thought, taking a moment to herself while holding the phone away from her ear.
'Didn't expect Stark to go after him so soon.' Jessica thought in self-beratement. 'Should probably go after Dany now so I can possibly catch him before I lose track of him. If I don't find him there soon, then I have no idea who he'll seek next. Could be out of state or country for all I know.'
Putting the phone back to her ear, Jessica quickly spoke her goodbyes. "You've really helped me out here, Karen Page. How about I keep you posted and you do the same for me?"
Not giving Page a chance to talk, Jessica hung up her office phone and grabbed her jacket.
Exiting her office, the detective had only one destination in mind.
Scene Cut
"Whew~"
Danny Rand, the Immortal Iron Fist exhaled with a calm serene aura as he held out his right fist balancing upon his left leg.
"And~ Now!"
Danny's fist glowed and with a swift horizontal slash, flickered out the candles on the far end of the room he currently resided in.
"Nice." Colleen Wing, Danny's girlfriend praised. "You got only the flames this time."
"Didn't want to go out shopping for candles again." Danny sheepishly stated, clenching his fist with pride.
"You've gotten better control over your Chi." Colleen said, approaching her boyfriend. "Now, you just need to figure out how to amplify it."
Danny mused to himself, gazing at his hand.
"I have gotten some control by focusing it through guns lately."
"Which I admit is quite unique as none of the previous Iron Fists done such a thing before in recorded history." Colleen said as she adopted a thinking pose. "Then again, a few had channeled their power into some weapons, but those never fired projectiles."
"Glad to know I'm the first to do so."
"Don't get cocky about that, please."
"I'll try not to." Danny said light heartedly. "But I can't make any promises."
Colleen could only shake her head in amusement, throwing her arms around her lover's neck as she drew near.
"I think we could go for a vacation." Colleen stated, pecking Danny on the lips.
"Oh? And where would milady like to go to?" Danny asked mischievously.
"Obviously not anywhere near K'un-Lun, for starters."
"Well that slims it down by not that much."
"Might I make a suggestion?"
Both broke apart with their bodies in stances ready to fight.
"Maybe you two could go to Cali or Florida. Disneyland and World are both great this time of year."
Turning towards the source, the two fighters saw the Iron Man hovering outside of the window.
"The hell?" Colleen muttered out in astonishment. "Is… Is that?"
"You like it?" A voice from behind caused them both to jolt and jump around to see none other than Tony Stark standing at the front door of Colleen's dojo.
"You can say he's my body double. Takes quite a lot of attention away from me and focuses on him." Tony said with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. "Hey Mr. Rand, how's my fellow billionaire doing? Nice to see you again."
Danny eyed Tony with slight wariness though he knew he didn't mean them any harm. This wasn't the first time they had met after all.
"Don't know if the feeling's mutual." Danny stated. "After that stunt you pulled with Luke."
"Fair enough."
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be lounging around your ivory tower with several models at your beck and call?" Colleen couldn't help but sarcastically state.
Tony looked at the female Asian with a raised brow. "First off, it's metal and glass. Second, Pepper would kill me if I decided to see other women behind her back. Trust me, she would." Looking back at the Iron Fist, he continued. "And third, well, your boyfriend mentioned your friend Luke and that "stunt" I pulled with him and I think the two of you can figure it out right about now."
Danny inhaled deeply to calm himself. "So what? Has this all been a recruitment initiative or something?"
Tony held out his hands like a balancing scale. "Yeah, something like that. Already spoke to Mr. Murdock a day ago and now only got you and that private investigator."
"Why?" Danny questioned.
"See, that's the thing. I-"
Suddenly there were various knocks coming from the front door of the dojo.
"I'm sorry, but we're closed!" Colleen called out.
"It's important!" The person on the other side of the door all but shouted.
"Can you come back later?"
"No can do, ma'am."
Colleen didn't know what to do while her lover and Stark merely looked at each other while occasionally glancing at her.
Seemingly getting the message, the dojo owner walked towards the front door in order to tell the person to come back at a later time.
Opening the door slightly, Colleen was about to speak when the entrance was thrown open with the person looking slightly apologetic.
Key word slightly.
"Sorry, you were taking to… long…"
All the occupants could only stare in utter bewilderment at who stood some distance away.
"Jessica?"
"Hey Danny." Jessica quietly said in return, eyes on Stark.
"Huh, two in one for the night. Lucky me."
Jessica merely narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, lucky you."
Tilting his head, Tony tried to gauge at her rather intense expression.
"I'm sorry, I'm sensing a lot of open hostility towards me. Is there something wrong?" The color from Tony's face drained. "Oh god, please don't tell me there's a 13 year old kid waiting downstairs for me."
"Oh yeah there is something wrong, bub." Stalking forward, she quickly grasped the front of the Iron Avenger's shirt, hoisted him up with ease and slammed him into the nearby beam, greatly shaking the dojo in the process.
"JESSICA! WHAT THE HELL?!"
"Hey now." Tony grunted. "Let's use our words here. Wisely now."
"You can maybe start with telling me what the hell you did with the kid."
"The kid?" Tony repeated.
"Parker, Peter Parker." Revealed the investigator. Rearing her freed fist, she tightened it with her eyes narrowed. "So ya better tell me now and don't bullshit me or else that pretty face of yours will be unrecognizable."
"Jessica! Don't!"
"Danny, so help me if you stop me from doing my job, I will shove that glowing fist of yours so up your ass that you'd be playing puppeteer with yourself."
Tony's somewhat lax demeanor fell away, a more Stoney visage and aura taking its place.
"Care to let me go?" Tony asked, completely calmly. "I'd rather not talk with a super powered fist to my face."
"I'd prefer it if we talked like this instead." Jessica retorted. "Cause I am not in the mood for games."
"Hmm, you're right, neither am I."
Without any warning, Tony's armor that had been hovering outside the window of the Dojo burst in and fired a repulsor beam right at Jessica.
She crashed into the wall whilst Tony suited up and approached the enhanced detective who shakily got to her feat.
"Now, I'm just gonna ask you this once." Tony spoke in a deadly calm tone. "Where did you hear that name?"
Jessica only glared up at Iron Man defiantly.
"Jessica, stop!" Danny exclaimed. "What the hell is the matter with you?! This is Iron Man, for God's sake."
"I don't give a rat's ass, even if he might be an alien overlord or something. I'm getting what I want."
"What's the matter, Ms. Jones?" Tony tauntingly said. "Didn't get your morning Bourbon. Take it from another alcoholic like me, I know what that's like."
"Oh stop avoiding the question and tell me already."
"You do realize I don't have to tell you squat after what you just pulled." Tony shot back with ease. "This isn't the 80's sweetheart where hardboiled detectives are the in thing."
"I'll show you sweetheart." Jessica all but growled, launching herself at Iron Man with full force.
Both sailed out of the Dojo and into the air with Iron Man grabbing her around the wastes and flinging her away.
What he did not expect was for her to hover around a bit before returning up to his level in the sky.
"Huh." Tony said to himself. "I didn't know she could do that."
'Damn I haven't done this in a while.' She thought, shakily maintaining her balance in the air. 'Almost forgot how this is like.'
After realizing she had powers once living under Trish's childhood home, Jessica had to at least learn what she was capable of. Asides from her super-strength and resistance to most forms of injuries, Jessica surprisingly found out she could fly.
Granted she hardly used this later skill of hers anymore as she discreetly uses it in certain instances. And even then, it was for short distances or getting away in a hurry.
But this was a complete first of fighting someone while flying up in the air.
Clenching her fists, Jessica flew right at Stark who merely waited for her to get close.
At the last second, Tony dropped down beneath her and grabbed her ankle.
Feeling a mighty tug from her legs, Jessica found herself careening down to the ground with her back hitting the pavement below hard.
Letting out a painful gasp, she didn't have much time to get back up as Iron Man landed atop her with both palms pointed at her face.
"Now, I'm gonna ask you this one last time." Tony's voice sounding more intense through the helmet. "Where did you hear that name?"
Snarling, Jessica spat out a glob of blood whilst giving the billionaire a spiteful look.
"His aunt is worried to the utmost fucking high with where he went off to." Jessica yelled out. "And the best lead she pointed to was your dumb tin-ass. So here we are after me trying to track down your constant moving."
"Not exactly the best way to get answers." Tony dryly stated.
"Honestly? Felt like the only way considering who you are." Jessica spat out. "Ms. Parker told me you didn't tell her jackshit and haven't even bothered talking to her about Peter."
"So you go and try to interrogate me?"
Jessica only shrugged. "That's the way I do it."
"Well then what happens when the guys you're after can kick your ass back?" Tony asked, the center of his palms charging up with power.
"Then I just keep getting up and continue fighting."
"...You're quite the stubborn woman, aren't ya?"
"I've been told that often."
"HEY." A shout from above.
Both looked up and saw Danny Rand falling right down towards the two. Fists glowing, Rand Slammed down onto the pavement with a shockwave of power sending both Iron Man and Jessica back away from one another.
"That's enough!" Iron Fist all but shouted, face etched with anger and frustration. "What in the hell is the matter with you two? Are you insane? Look at what you guys did, it's bad enough that this place has to deal with gangs and psychopaths."
"And I'm getting sick and tired of people putting holes in my dojo!" Colleen growled out from the new hole in her dojo "You know how hard it is repairing all the damage by yourself to keep with the authentic atmosphere here? Let me tell you, it's not easy in the slightest."
"I've got it covered, Colleen, don't you worry." Danny called up to her.
The sword master gave her boyfriend a kind smile when someone cleared his voice and the helmet retracted to reveal a slightly embarrassed Stark.
"How about I cover this one for you?" Tony said earnestly.
"After I get my info from you on Peter Parker."
"That is up for debate." Tony shot back dryly, not at all bothered by her glare.
Jessica grit her teeth in pure irritation, finding the Ironed billionaire grating on her nerves a bit too damn easily with his callous dismissal of her job.
"Alright, seriously." Danny said, noticing that there were random pedestrians and other citizens sticking their heads out the windows of the apartments. They were causing a scene. "Can the three of us please take this somewhere privately?"
After an intense stare down between the two drinkers, they both finally descended down and re-entered the broken dojo.
The three superheroes only felt that it was gonna be a long night.
Scene Cut
Suppressing a burp, Robbie had to cover his mouth so none of the food would fly out on accident.
"Excuse me."
"Whatever."
"It's called manners, Frank. Doesn't hurt to at least use them every once in a while."
"Yeah, yeah."
Robbie rolled his eyes as he knew Frank knew that. After all, he was a father and husband at one point before it was all taken away. The former marine had to at least teach the same lesson to his kids at one point, hell, even raised by them.
Currently, the pair were at a diner with the sun dying in the horizon. After a long day of driving, the two wanted to get something good to eat. And not some fast food joint out there, but some good quality food that somewhat took it's time being prepared and all that jazz.
Slurping on a milkier than usual milkshake, Frank asked a seemingly simple question crossing his mind.
"So… those powers of yours…"
"Yeah?"
"You can boost any weapon from them?"
Robbie shrugged. "More or less, yeah."
"Like what?"
"When I first got my roommate, I was pretty limited to using the simple things like my car to-"
"Your car?"
"Yeah, Roomie makes it go full roadrunner to hell whenever shit goes down." Robbie grimaced, glancing over to his ride.
Frank followed similar suit and scrunched his face. "Your ride seems fine to me."
"It's because when things are all fine and good, my car returns to its normal appearance. But when shit hits the fan…"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it… somewhat." Dunking a few fries into his desert, a follow up was given. "And asides your car?"
"Basic necessities in what I've got on me like my chain or anything whippish in nature, more painful than necessary."
"Alright, so you know how to whip it good then?"
"That was a shitty joke."
"You walked right into it."
"I swear if you bring up a bitch joke-"
"I'm not that low kid." Frank grinned jokingly.
Robbie huffed though gave the ex-marine a small smirk.
"In my early days with good ol' roomie," Robbie brought back to the topic at hand, cutting up his greasy burger into perfectly sliced segments. "Tested that power out with a few guns here and there. They got quite an extra kick. But they never really clicked with me I guess. Could never get the hang of them cause I guess I just wasn't comfortable with 'em or maybe not as familiar. But the time I did do it? Fired of what felt like a few thousand bullets."
Frank only silently regarded Robbie before flicking his hand at the cut up burger. "That was just you showing off."
Robbie merely flipped Frank off. "Jealous?"
Frank chortled, taking a bite out of his pie. "Have you ever gotten any proper training with guns?"
Robbie opened his mouth though Frank cut him off.
"Don't answer that, I know you don't."
"Was never interested in it., to be honest. Only got into this mess as I wanted to protect my little brother." Robbie said truthfully. "Shit just… spiraled out of control from there really."
Frank only narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "Yeah, I think most can relate to that."
Things quieted down between the pair as they kept on eating.
As this occurred, Frank's eyes absentmindedly wandered all over the diner. Call it old habits, but in years in the service got him hardwired to be constantly vigilant.
From the cash register, a waiter was counting the till. This made the former marine to guess he was going to pocket most of the money when the night was done.
A pair of women were chatting with a pair of men, who were probably gonna try to get lucky tonight. Unfortunately for them by the looks of one of the girls' physique, one or both men are gonna get a rude awakening when seeing the dick underneath one gal's skirt.
'Maybe the one or both like it up the ass.' Frank shrugged, focusing a bit in finishing up his meal. 'Who knows with people these days.'
"So what about you?" Robbie asked, breaking Frank out of his vigilant thoughts. "Why'd you even join the army?"
Frank leaned back into his seat, fingers drumming against the table.
"That's… a damn good question really." Frank murmured to himself. "Honestly? I always felt a need for it. Serve my country, do my duty. Something with my life."
"Patriotism huh?" Robbie said in a low voice. "Never had that feeling really."
"Good thing that you didn't." Frank said staring right at Robbie who shuddered momentarily. That was a rather intense gaze even with his inhabitant desensitizing him to most intimidation tactics.
Robbie coughed into his hand, trying to ease the tension. "So, I've been wondering."
"Hmmm?"
"If we're gonna travel together, think you could show me how to use those guns properly?" Robbie asked quietly. "Honestly could learn a lot from you."
Frank crossed his arms, giving a slight expectant look at the possessed runaway.
He was ready to answer the kid when the telltale sight and sound of trouble made itself known.
In walked a dozen or so ruffians, all looking around the bar with a smug overbearing demeanor as if they had claimed a new territory.
Immediately, Robbie tensed with his hands going down to clench the sides of the table eyes glowing in hellfire right in Frank's direction.
Casually Frank had his hand resting upon a hidden pistol he had on him and waiting to strike at a moment's notice.
It seemed as though the moment would present itself soon as the lead member of this little gang held up a small revolver and fired in the air.
In an instant, the diner and all its occupants cried out in fright and terror only to be silenced as the rest of the gang dispersed amongst the establishment. Brandishing their own knives and guns, they effectively shouted the entire diner into silence and submission.
The leader of the gang stood in the center of it all, directing them his goons to round up all the civilians.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for your cooperation." The Leader said with an exaggerated finesse. "We will only be taking up a few short moment of your time and then we'll be on our merry way. Let's not make any sudden moves everyone. We don't want any heroes now, do we?"
"Hey chief."
Glancing over to one his thugs, he saw the big guy nod his head in the direction of two specific individuals who had not moved or even reacted that much to their arrival.
"Gentlemen." 'Chief' said in a pleasant tone. "Why aren't you with the rest of the customers."
Frank continued to eat his cake while Robbie did his best to conceal his tense and near burning face.
"We've had a long day." Frank plainly answered. "We'd like to finish our meals, thank you."
Robbie only grunted in affirmation, taking a sip out of his coffee.
The Chiefs expression changed into one of malicious aggravation, not enjoying the casual dismissal by these two in front of his gang and hostages.
After several seconds however, the Chief began to laugh hysterically with glee making Frank and Robbie pause for a moment to look at the criminal.
"You know, all I wanted was to just rob a few people of their wallets and cash, jewels and cars but then you two manage to brighten up my evening."
"Oh, pleasure, we try." Frank said condescendingly.
"See, I've been meaning to let loose." Chief began to roll his shoulders. "Blow off some much needed steam and anger cause you know how life can get boys."
"Really?" Frank said, without a care in the world. Wiping his mouth down, he pulled out a wad of cash and put down an extra few bills for compensation. "Cause my friend here suffers from the same problem."
Without any further warning, Robbie shot up from his seat with his steaming skin and fiery eyes for all to see.
Not wasting another breath, Robbie flicked his hand forward and from his jacket sleeve whipped out his blazing metal chain that wrapped itself around the leaders neck.
The criminal could only stare and scream in abject terror and pain as his skin was burnt from the neck up and down when his head was sliced clean off a second later with a clean pull.
Taking his chance, Frank quickly whipped out his pistol and with his military training and marksman expertise shot and killed several of the robbers that were huddled up around the poor civilians who were now frightened beyond compare.
Several of the remaining punks fumbled and attempted to fight back but were clearly capped off by Frank.
The remaining two however were not going to let themselves get killed here, making a break for the exit. One got shot in the shoulder while the other made it out.
The pained moans of the young man echoed around the diner.
Frank eyed the one punk that got away that ran to his car, walking over to his "friend" he left behind.
"Frank." Robbie suddenly said aloud with a sharp edge in his tone.
Looking back to Reyes, Frank saw that the young man was looking outside with an extremely uneasy and wary look.
"What?" Frank asked showing a bit of concern with Robbie's sudden change in demeanor.
Robbie approached the front door with measure steps clutching his chain tightly.
There were several tense moments of silence with Robbie slowly looking back to Frank.
"There's something else out there." Robbie quietly stated.
Frank tilted his head in confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"
Robbie gave Frank a hard stare. "I'm saying that there's something-"
*SKRREEEEE*
*CRASH*
The car that the one punk had used to get away from the Diner unceremoniously landed in a violent fashion at the front steps.
"-Out there." Robbie finished, shifting about nervously.
No sooner than those words being stated, pained moans and cries came from the vehicle.
Frank silently regarded the crashed car, taking a moment to glance at the other patrons and personnel of the Diner.
"All of you, stay low and wait for us to give you an all clear signal." Frank instructed in a military like fashion. "Now."
Following the vigilante's orders, many began to duck underneath tables and such whilst a few went behind the bar.
Frank eyed one of the older gentlemen who was with his friend.
"You two military?" Frank asked.
"Born and raised."
"The mother fucking Punisher" The companion said with a disbelieving snort.
"You know me?"
"Who in the army doesn't know you?" The older man stated with a chortle. "You're a god damn legend."
"Hmph." Frank smirked. "Any of you two got any weapons?"
The younger of the two pulled out a Glock whilst the elder only shook his head.
Reaching behind him, Frank pulled out a secondary pistol with an additional magazine clip and held it out to the vet.
Giving him a gracious nod, both soldiers went to specific points within the Diner with the best vantage points should anything come through the doors or windows.
Returning his attention to the car, Frank saw that Robbie was beginning to tremble with more smoke coming off of his form.
"How close are we to the car again?" Frank inquired.
Giving him a silent look to convey the question of "why?", Frank rolled his eyes.
"Cause we're gonna need some heavy fucking duty shit if that's your response to whatever it is that's out there." Frank pointed to the steam rising from Reyes' scalp.
Nodding, Robbie took the lead while gripping his chain with both hands. Straightening out the center portion of his weapon, the metal links ignited once more in hellfire.
Both exited the diner cautiously, Frank held his pistol up over Reyes' shoulder.
Their eyes moving back and forth between where Reye's line of sight was trained at and his car, the pair moved as quickly as possible.
It felt like forever for the non-powered man as they eventually got to the car. And during this moment, there was this odd chill running down his spine; despite the heat he felt from the man beside him.
Robbie stood back to back with Frank who opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a large customized M248 Saw Machine Gun.
"That big enough?"
"We'll see." Frank grunted slamming in his magazine.
Soon echoing scrapes could be heard within the area with following heavy padding. Taking this as his cue, the Punisher quickly pulled out more magazines of his current weapon of choice. Didn't help on his nerves when hearing loud guttural growls coming from the darkness.
The fires on Robbie's chain intensified as he dropped a large length of it down.
"What do you see, Robbie?" Frank whispered.
Focusing his blazing gaze, Reye's momentarily widened his eyes in surprise.
"I honestly don't fucking know." Reyes stated. "But whatever they are. They're not human."
Frank cursed a bit under his breath. "Mind at least describing them."
Before the motor head could even utter a word, a figure leapt out of the darkness.
Instinctively, Robbie whirled his fire chain whip at the attacker. The strike was met head on as the being soon slammed into a car a couple dozen feet away.
Suddenly, they heard a metallic thud and both looked back to see something land on top of the car that had crashed at the front of the diner.
And with the nearby lamppost, both the vigilantes and the diner's occupants got quite a good look at what was standing atop the punks' flipped over vehicle.
It appeared to look like a giant, humanoid wolf with pitch black fur all over. The only thing that seemed to stand out in contrast to the darkness were the ivory white bone plates and spikes appearing from various parts of its body. And on said plates had glowing red lines, which some surrounded sinister yellow eyes in the creature's visible boney skull.
"Kid." Frank said warily, his mind not quite processing what he was looking at.
The creature snarled at the two and jumped down from the car and began to slowly prowl its way towards them.
"Robbie, I am not in the mood for some monster movie bullshit." Spoke the former marine, only to get nothing immediately. "Robbie!"
"Frank…"
"...Yeah?"
"Do you think it is weird if I felt all… giddy all of a sudden?"
Hearing the more weight Robbie put into giddy and knowing his personality, Frank quickly responded. "Yeah, I believe so. Why?"
"Because my roommate is really projecting it now as I'm looking at these things."
At the mention of things, Frank was instantly notified as more growls and paws on concrete were heard. Taking a moment to survey the area around the two, Frank saw at least 5 or maybe even 7 or 8 of these wolf like creatures surrounding the two.
It didn't help with the wind picking up and shifting the trees and shrubbery around in the dark.
Clenching his jaw, Frank quickly turned back to Robbie's trunk and grabbed a few grenades and another attachable to his M248. With military precision, Frank slapped a grenade launcher onto his gun and loaded it.
"What the fuck are these things, Robbie?" Frank growled, switching his aim between each wolf-like beast.
"I don't know." Robbie's voice sounded somewhat pained with more and more steam emanated from his intensely cracked skin. "But let's see what they could do."
No longer resisting, Robbie gave in; giving quite a show to both Castle and the diner's occupants. And several of them couldn't help themselves, pulling out their cell phones to record what was happening before them.
His skin began to flake off, blowing away into the wind. As the breeze intensified, so did the flames that burned away the rest of Robbie's hair and flesh off of his head. Muscles were briefly seen until they were blackened and burnt away by the fires.
All that remained and was visible for all to see was a flaming, metallic skull with red dots appearing within the abysmal eye sockets.
Taking a moment to itself, the skull rotate its head around letting out a sigh of relief and anticipation.
Looking back to Frank for a moment, the flaming skull looked back to the demonic wolf creatures and let out a sinister laugh that made the pack pause in momentary instinctual fright.
"TImE tO PlAY…" Growled out the Ghost Rider, readying himself in a battle position just as these boney wolf creatures squatted further down as if ready to pounce upon their prey.
Ghost Rider simply threw out his whip and caught the creature by the throat. The flaming metals burned and seeped in deep into the body of the creature as Rider pulled it towards him.
The creature flailed about in a desperate attempt at escape, crying out in agony which then prompted the rest of the pack to leap into action.
"Fuck." Frank muttered, unloading an entire clip onto the closest one.
As another got in too close, the former marine was forced to use his machine gun as an impromptu bat, smacking the creature across the jaw. With it momentarily dazed, Frank unloaded a volley of bullets at close range.
Ghost Rider in the meantime increased the power of his flames which in turn began to burn his captured wolf in its entirety.
The howls of pain and agony were silenced as Rider viciously swung it around as a makeshift mace, smashing it into the rest of its pack. The force of his swing cut through the beast neck, decapitating and killing it.
Its body and head fell to the ground and was burnt to ashes whilst those that were struck let out challenging growls, ignoring the fact that some of them were actually on fire.
Ghost rider only chuckled maliciously, raising his hands and gesturing at them.
"ComE on ThEN, yOU MUTTS."
Running out of bullets in a magazine, Frank attempted to quickly reload. Yet this would waste too much of little time with a boney wolf coming at him once more. Pulling out his preferred side arm, he unloaded a few rounds into the beast. They pierced the thick hide, but it wasn't enough to take it down right away as it came at the marine with a swipe of his claws.
Frank performed a recovery roll in order to evade the threatening blow to his person. Getting up in a kneeling position, the Punisher got a decent opening for him to fire off a few rounds into the creature's skull with one landing into an eye.
This only served to further enrage the beast. It roared in pain, instinctively bringing its clawed paw up before fiercely growling at its offender.
"What, you didn't like that?" Frank taunted.
With it coming at him once more, Frank used its momentary blindness to evade its wildly swishing strikes. Getting in close, the Punisher placed the barrel of his gun into the wolf's knee cap and fired off the remainder of the clip. The results were instant as the creature fell down onto its only good knee.
Pulling out his large combat knife, Frank grabbed its head and viciously started hack, stab and scratch at the creatures exposed furry hide. He pierced at its neck and chest for added measure and after what felt like several dozen knife piercings, the creature slumped to the ground dead.
Panting for a moment, Frank saw a pair of the monsters moving towards the diner as if they were drawn somehow. With it moving closer and closer to the occupied building, the people inside were easily frightened and started backing away from the window. And the two volunteers who chose to help defend the place stood in between the civilians and the windows in case the monsters were to pounce.
Not wanting to have this happen, Frank quickly dived towards his machine gun, finished reloading, aimed and fired a volley of bullets at the beasts.
"HEY! YOU'RE FIGHT'S WITH US YOU SONS OF BITCHES!"
Whirling around, the wolf monsters hissed at Frank but that didn't deter the vigilante in the slightest.
"COME ON!" Frank let out his own guttural defiant roar as the wolfish pair charged at him.
Ghost Rider roared back at a wolf creature that ran right at him, calling it out in a primal fashion. The two ran at each other with Rider igniting his entire right arm in Hellfire.
The creature jumped at him and actually managed to bypass his flaming arm and tackle him down. Landing with his back on the ground, Ghost Rider's reflexes kicked in, bringing up his left arm to hold back the creatures jaws from grabbing his neck.
Letting out a brief cry of pain, Ghost Rider wrestled with the monster for control of his arm as it clamped down its sharp teeth into it.
Thinking fast, Ghost Rider lit this arm on fire as well causing the beast to yelp out in pain as the insides of its mouth got burnt.
Capitalizing on this reprieve, the spirit of Vengeance pounced with now him holding down the creature with his knee to its chest.
Letting out a growl, Ghost Rider punched it head down which bounced on the pavement. He followed it up with another flaming fist, then another, and another, and another, and another.
"RAAAAGGGH." Ghost Rider emphatically brought down both his inflamed arms down to the remnants of where its head and shoulders used to be and burnt away the top remains.
Fueled by his own energy and adrenaline, the Rider stood and grabbed the burnt carcass and spun around and threw it at the pair of wolves Frank was currently battling.
Frank was momentarily surprised in seeing a flaming projectile crash into his current opponents. The pair flew across his vision and crashed into a car. And with the flames currently eating both wolves and the damaged vehicle, the spot soon exploded once the fire came into contact with the exposed gasoline.
Looking over to the possessed Robbie, Frank gave him a thankful nod before charging into the nearest wolf creature, swung his current weapon around and batted its exposed side.
This one was a bit larger than the rest and did not take too kindly at such actions.
It swatted the ex-marine aside and jumped onto Frank with the human narrowly avoiding the large claws that embedded themselves into the spot where his head was. Frank stabbed his knife into the palm of the wolf's paw yet that only made the creature smack Castle further away, scratching up his shoulder.
Gnashing his teeth in pain, Frank fought against it and quickly pulled out a flash bang and tossed it at the charging Wolf-beast. Closing his eyes and shutting his ears, Frank counted down the seconds.
*BANG*
"ROBBIE!"
Hearing his name being called whilst being unaffected by the flash grenade, the Rider charged in to assist his companion. As he got close, the possessed man snatched the machine gun and a magazine that had fallen from Frank's person. Fitting in the fresh mag, the Ghost Rider poured hellfire into the weapon, causing it to groan and shift into something else.
In Frank's gaze, the metal turned hot bright red and yellow as if fresh out of a smith's furnace. Around the barrel's opening was a miniature skull with its jaw opened far and wide. And around the body, the metal seemed to melt, but was contained.
If it were possible for a skull to smile, the Rider could've been able to do so.
"DOG!" Rider roared out.
The beast that had wounded Frank recovered in time to see Ghost Rider walking up to it with his newest upgraded weapon.
Before it and its nearby pack members could act accordingly, hot bright metal shot out of the gun's barrel. An intense rainfall of bullets poured upon the remaining beasts as they were instantly blown away, being mowed down like insignificant ants in comparison towards the demonic god before them.
The Rider laughed maniacally as the scorching lead utterly devastated the remaining wolf pack, a literal rain of hellfire burning through the fur and boney hides.
Frank dared not to blink, hell it was hard not to with how intensely bright the muzzle flash was for five seconds straight before the gun ran empty.
'Kid was probably right, thousands per second.' He thought, seeing many corpses turning into dark ashy wisps.
All that remained was the large one that had first injured Frank. It whimpered as its legs were basically mulch and it tried in a desperate attempt to escape.
Ghost Rider impassively walked over to it and grabbed it by the scruff and held it down.
He hummed to himself, until he shrugged getting right into its face.
"I Don'T KnOw whO OR whAT thE FUCK yoU Are, buT i'lL seE YoUr KiNd DEAD fRoM weNCe yoU CAME!"
The creature started to spasm erratically as Ghost Rider literally burned it away with his fiery hands until ashes were left to be blown into the winds.
Standing up, the Ghost Rider exhaled calmly and candidly, allowing itself to return back into the recesses of his host.
The fires began to die down with flesh starting to regrow itself onto the skull.
A moment later had passed until Robbie was back in control.
He felt a bit shaky but he pushed it aside, choosing to go over to his companion and helping him back up to his feet.
"You alright?"
"Bastard got me good, but I'll live." Frank waved off, looking to see the remains of the wolf creatures that attacked them only to find a brief glimpse of black wisps.
Arching a brow, Castle glanced back to the Diner in hopes that it wasn't attacked at all in the battle and was relieved to see it was untouched.
"Something was real odd about those, Frank."
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Frank said turning his head at Robbie. "What the fuck were those things to be?"
"I'm serious." Robbie said, ignoring the question. "I've faced humans and demonic creatures since I became a Rider. And every creature out there has a soul."
"...So?"
"Those things didn't have one at all. And that should be impossible."
This merely confused the absolute hell out of Castle on what Robbie meant by that. And these questions would end up being asked later with many of the diner's patrons came running out to give their thanks and congratulate tonight's heroes.
And by daybreak, word of this recent event will spread like hellfire.
But right now?
Frank and Robbie only packed up and departed with the driver having a semblance of a destination in mind.
How did he have one?
Just a little nudge from a reliable source from his apparent roommate of course.
YAAAAAARGAAAAHHH IT SO AWESOME TO HAVE CORMADES WHO CAN HELP YOU TO SUCH AN EXTENT.
WOOOOO JEBEST.
RATE READ AND REVIEW AND AS ALWAYS HAVE NICE DAY.