Claire Temple
Claire had met her share of superheroes – the first being Daredevil, where she literally found him in an alleyway dumpster, injured and unconscious. Yeah, it wasn't the best introductory to the world of vigilantes at all, but it was the beginning of something she couldn't have imagined. Leaving Hell's Kitchen and heading to Harlem after the crazy shit that happened at the hospital with zombie children and the death of her co-worker, Claire had thought she was finally going to lead a normal life.
She was wrong, but not in a bad way, at least not initially. Claire met Luke Cage, the invincible man in her eyes. And that was also quite in the literal sense. The man had extreme strength, impenetrable skin, and a heart of gold. It was hard to find someone like that, doing the right thing when everyone else around them weren't. Then one day, through Colleen Wing, a person she was training with for self-defense, Claire met Danny Rand – the heir to Rand Enterprises and also a guy who was suppose to be dead over a decade ago. He returned apparently as the Immortal Iron Fist… and with a mission to destroy the Hand.
Listening to Danny's story, Claire knew that things were not going to be simple for her if she involved herself. Aside from imminent danger to all of New York and possibly the world - she also was worried for her friend Colleen. Her friend believed in this guy and was willing to follow him with however an absurd plan he came up with – and seriously, there was no plan . The Iron Fist was planning to rush head first into the situation, all the while calling out that he was the Immortal Iron Fist. Very good. You're immortal, but Colleen isn't. So Claire brought in people she knew who could help – Luke and the Daredevil. Luke in turn brought in Jessica and the rag tag team was formed. Sure they didn't communicate or even like each other, but it definitely evened the odds on their end by a bit.
In the end, team good guys won against the Hand, but not without sacrifice and loss. Matt Murdock, alter ego of the Daredevil, died in the fight. From what Claire heard, Matt had kept Elektra occupied while the team made their escape. It had been a bitter ending but it was an ending to what could have been even more devastating turn of events. Claire could have lost Luke too, and that was something she didn't want to fathom.
Claire had lay low for a bit while legal stuff – i.e. the murder of her coworker - was being handled by Foggy Nelson and his firm. She had only returned to the Metro-General Hospital once everything was cleared up and was ready for normal routine stuff. Yet even then, she wasn't given much of a break before she was proven wrong, having to meet face to face with the killer known as Spider-Man.
When Claire had heard about this Spider-Man who was slicing and dicing open people and burning buildings, it made her confused. None of it matched up with the stories on the news before, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, the do-gooder that sprouted up in Queens. The 360 change in character had made her question what was hearing in the news, especially that of what was being reported by the Daily Bugle.
Claire had finished her break and was on her way back to the 11 th floor when she received a garbled text message from her friend Nora who shared the shift with her. Claire had assumed pocket texting, something that she herself had been guilty of more than once. When the elevator arrived on the 11 th floor, she had stepped out of it and felt an instant chill. It was a strange one that crawled up her spine and made her feel on edge. Feeling a bit paranoid today, aren't we , Claire had thought then and shook off the feeling to continue walking down the hallway towards the storage room.
Before she had gone on break, she had made a mental note to herself to restock the sheets and blankets. Nora, her friend who was also on the same shift as her was seven months into her pregnancy and really could do without this sort of labor. The storage room wasn't too far from the elevator, so it made sense for Claire to start on that first before doing her rounds with the patients again.
Claire opened the door to the room, not bothering to switch on the lights since there was enough coming from the opened doorway, and started to take a few blankets and sheets from the shelf. She was about to leave when she heard an unusual blop sound, something she couldn't quite place coming from behind her. On reflex, she switched on the lights and nearly dropped what she was carrying in her arms.
There were bodies stacked on top of each other, their necks at an odd angles, eyes wide open and sightless. Claire felt as if her heart had stopped for a second. Clusters of tiny spiders covered the lifeless bodies, weaving intricate metallic webs that seemed to melt into the flesh of the deceased. But what stood out to Claire was the multiple large lumps that formed on the bodies, it was swollen and it was the only parts not covered with the web. A moment later, the lump cracked open and more tiny spiders crawled out, Claire realized what she had heard in the dark. It was the bubbling pop of the new spiders that had just been hatched. It was like stumbling into a horror movie, and it was all she could do not let out a horrified scream as she backed out of the storage room to get security.
It was unfortunate for her that it was at that same moment that she happened to also come across the perpetrator, Spider-Man, his big bug eyes staring at her, upside down from the ceiling. There was an odd twitch about him as if he was uncomfortable, a bit of tugging at his neck, where Claire guessed was where the seams were for taking off his mask.
"Oh look, I missed one," said the Spider-Man as he decidedly dropped from the ceiling and landed easily on his feet.
The man oozed of creepy evil and Claire's instinct took over as she literally shoved the towels and blankets in her arms right into the Spider-Man's face. Luckily she had done that because she was sure if waited another second, she would have been webbed in the face. Instead, she only got a bit of the webbing on the back of her right arm, and it burned . It was light when it initially contacted her, but a few seconds later, she could feel it heat up and start to harden as well. Using the bottom of her scrubs, she rubbed as much of the web off her as fast as she could, not caring how much it hurt. She was pretty sure it would hurt much more later if she didn't get it off her.
Still moving quickly down the corridors, Claire felt only sicker as she saw the carnage of people that Spider-Man had left in his wake. There was Mary, the receptionist, her neck looked like at an awkward position. Beside her were others as well, though they seemed to have suffered a much worse fate, they had been struck face on with the webbing, and it had solidified and partially melded with their faces.
Jesus , thought Claire trying to not let what she saw make her throw up. Her heart pounded heavily as she continued to race down the hallway until she found what she was looking for; the fire alarm. Without hesitation, she slammed on the lever and boy had Claire ever felt relief for the blaring sound of the alarm.
This at least would warn people to get the hell out so that the Spider-Man couldn't hurt any more people. But it seemed that Claire's plan was not going to work out the way she had planned because suddenly an explosion erupted in the far end of the hallway. And then another one. All hell seem to break loose in the hospital as screams erupted from multiple rooms at the same time the sprinklers turned on. . Gone suddenly was the fear of running into Spider-Man again, her mission instead was to gather together as may survivors on the floor as she could and get the hell out.
That had, however, landed her in the recreation room, trapped again like a fly in a spider's web. All of them were. Until Spider-Man showed up again, and this time it was to rescue them. Claire's first defense was to use the tray that was in her hand to do any damage to the man. But to no surprise the Spider-Man's reflexes were fast and she lost the tray in her hand within seconds.
The Spider-Man didn't seem to pursue fighting on with her, or even pay attention to her at all. Instead his focus was to the room full of people, trying to convince the rest of them he was there to help. While this was happening, Claire followed her instincts, which was rarely wrong. First it was to note the stature of the Spider-Man in front of her. There was big difference, not only was the man less bulky and more slender in size, but the height was noticeably different. The Spider-Man she had nearly been webbed in the faced with was much taller than her, this one, he was closer to her height. The voice was also different, less deep and the missing twitch was also apparent.
The most noticeable evidence was the web that this Spider-Man to get the tray away from her; upon inspecting it, it was exactly as it was, a stickyish web. It didn't burn, didn't turn solid.
And honestly at that point, even if Spider-Man had a split personality or something, they needed to get out.
That was exactly what the Spider-Man had done, he'd rescued them and then without even saying a word, he disappeared again back into the raging fires of the hospital.
While Claire knew that the Spider-Man that had saved them was a good person, there was still his very dangerous doppelganger out there. Even with this knowledge, it wasn't going to help the real Spider-Man's case in the least because there was no way to tell them apart in the distance. Claire had only been able to tell the difference because they had encountered each other face to face.
Two officers approached her to take her statement and she said it was it was: There was two Spider-Mans'. One tried to kill them and the other tried to save them. Claire also hated to add to it, but the officers needed to know too, that the Spider-Man – whichever one it was - had killed over a dozen of people on the 11 th floor, before setting the fire. They needed to know how dangerous this man was. She described what she saw in the storage room and as she did, Claire noticed the tension in officer's faces. One of the officers said something about requesting permission to use the Long Shocker that they had acquired from Stark Industries.
Claire hopped that she didn't make it worse for the real Spider-Man, though she hoped he would go back to Queens or in hiding after doing the rescue. For him to be out there, it was seriously dangerous. Even with her account that there were two Spider-Mans' out there, the cops wouldn't hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later. If the Spider-Man was smart, he would just hide out somewhere and let the cops apprehend the real criminal.
"My God, Claire? Are you okay?"
Claire turned and saw it was Nora, her face was covered in soot and there was a nasty gash on her temple.
"Nora! You're okay," she said in relief, hugging her friend tightly.
"Did you see," said Nora choking up, "the bodies? Sarah? Emmy? Dr. Ross?"
Claire shook her head, "No, but I saw the others."
"I can't believe that was the same Spider-Man that saved us that did that. I don't believe it one bit."
"What do you mean?"
"We didn't trust him, not after seeing the bodies he had left behind, but then the support beam fell on our way to the exit. We wouldn't have made it out if he hadn't stepped in there to save us. He held it up, to give us a way out."
Nora's eyes were serious as they looked into Claire's eyes, "I know it sounds crazy, but I really think he's being framed."
"I believe you, Nora," said Claire softly as she steered her friend towards the paramedics. "You should get that gash on your temple treated."
The woman nodded and allowed two medics to tend to her injury.
At the corner of eye, Claire saw someone that looked like Frank Castle. A chill came over her as the thought of the Punisher coming out of retirement to take out Spider-Man. Turning around quickly, however, the man she thought she saw was gone. Maybe it was my imagination , thought Claire. It had been a long night afterall. Either way, it was time for her to meet with the ragtag superhero team, see what they can do to clear up everything, and take down the real killer that was on the loose. Claire pulled out her phone and called the first person she trusted to handle this.
But before she could even place her call, the said person actually showed up in front of her.
"Luke," she breathed out with relief as he embraced her in a tight hold.
"I came as soon as I heard what happened at the hospital," he released her and looked deeply into her eyes, "I'm sorry I'm late. I was with Jessica, on a lead when I heard."
"I'm just glad you're here," she said genuinely and then added, "But we need to talk."
This earned her a questioning look from Luke.
Frank Castle / The Punisher
Frank hadn't connected to anyone in a long time, his first real connection since the death of his family had been to Karen Page. No one else seemed to matter to him as much. Not until he had met the Liebermans. What David Lieberman had, it was the only thing Frank ever really wanted. After the war, coming home, all he wanted was to be with his family, live quietly, be at peace. Instead Russo, the bastard he considered as his comrade, his best friend, even an uncle to his own kids, he had taken all that from him.
In turn, Frank had taken everything that mattered to Billy Russo, crippled the assh*le, and disfigured his face so that it matched the monster that was underneath. Despite having his vengeance on Russo, there was still an emptiness in Frank that he couldn't shake. It was a void that couldn't be filled… because you couldn't bring back the dead. His family, they were gone forever, nothing could change that.
When Frank saw on the news about the Elderly home going ablaze, he'd felt an instant sickness in his stomach. He remembered Leo Liderman had texted him an invite to come join them for a New Years volunteer thing. But Frank couldn't do it. There was a fleeting moment he thought about joining them, but for some reason, finding happiness, wasn't something he could give himself. Instead, he ended up passing on it and drinking at a nearby bar.
He had woken up the next morning on his couch, TV still on, and bloody hung over. Frank was half dressed to grab himself some breakfast when his ears caught the name of the Elderly home that Leo was at, and how it had been set ablaze by the former 'hero', Spider-Man.
Frank didn't waste anytime, he called Leo immediately and dread filled him when it went to voicemail. The kid was always on her phone. He tried her brother, Zach, and he got an answer, it was David himself.
"Hello?"
Frank had heard David tired, but the man sounded like he was on a verge of a breakdown.
"David?"
"Frank?" The man was genuinely surprised to hear from him. Why wouldn't he, considering that Frank had pretty much broke contact with the Liebermans soon after he had dealt with Russo. He hadn't even come to the Thanksgiving dinner he was invited to.
"Just wanted to check if everything is okay, everyone is okay?"
There was a beat and then David sounded like he was going to crack. In the background, Frank could hear Sarah crying softly.
"Sorry, um, give me a minute. Hon, I'll be right back, okay?"
There was sound of movement and then suddenly the loud noises in the background disappeared and he could hear David more clearly.
"Frank. God. No. Nothing is alright. This is crazy. I thought after all that shit we went through, it was over you know. But what the hell? Some crazy masked guy literally traps us in the building. Everyone's trying to get out. Leo. God. Leo runs to help lead the elderly. Zach, jesus, he follows too. Then the structure falls, and I can't see them. God. Frank, I couldn't do anything." The man finally took a breath and in a more controlled voice, "They, they don't know if she's going to ever wake up, Frank.
My Leo."
"And Zach?"
"He's regained consciousness, but he's got some burns on his arm. Thankfully only first degree is what the doctors say. We're going to take him home today."
Frank fell silent, letting the information sink in. Spider-Man. Some costumed guy dressed up like a spider, running around killing people. First he was slashing people, then to snapping people's neck, now he had moved on to setting fires. The guy was escalating. Someone had to stop him. Someone… like the Punisher.
"Frank? Frank you still there?"
"Yeah, still here. Which hospital are you guys at?"
"Metro-General Hospital."
"I'll be there soon," said Frank.
Before heading there, Frank had something to do: prepare his gear.
When Frank arrived at the hospital, seeing the Lieberman family broken and in tears at Leo's state, it took all of Frank not to slam his fist into the wall.
The kid looked bad. Her face pale and she was so…lifeless. Only the beeping of the monitors showed that the young girl was still alive.
No. This Spider-Man, he was going to pay for this. For the Leo and for all those people that were caught in the elderly home fire.
