Frank Castle / The Punisher

Things had gone to hell very quickly when Russo showed up at the dojo. Frank hadn't expected to be 'rescued' by people with super powers, but Luke and the dark haired woman he didn't know, they seemed pretty solid in holding their own against Russo. Having ultra strength as a super power was of course a serious advantage. Add that and Iron Fist and Colleen, and Frank himself – sorta – it should have been a sure win.

He was wrong.

Russo was nearly untouchable, landing a punch on him was like spotting the Easter Bunny, and given that it didn't exist, it just meant a whole lot of hitting nothing and getting beaten the shit out of. The most annoying thing was the fact that Russo was clearly toying with them. It was nothing to the same amount of frustration he had when the kid was fighting him.

The kid.

Jesus Christ, Frank had been freaked out to no extent when he saw how old the Spider-Man was. He was a child. And Frank had been aiming kill shots at him with his sniper all night. Yet the kid had still saved his life. He owed him more lives than he could count. The chilling thing was, he wasn't sure if he could even repay it.

Frank had heard the shots fired downstairs that had sent the dark haired woman racing out of the dojo. He honestly wanted to follow too, but really, he was of no help. He was pretty damn sure his right leg was broken, or worse, suffering from multiple fractures. The ribs that the nurse Claire had binded earlier, they had all come undone, and he was pretty sure he'd rebroken or broken more of them. This left Frank with only one thing he could do – which was to watch as Russo f*cking beat the shit out of everyone in the room.

After the shots downstairs had fired off, there was a twitch in Russo that Frank recognized. The bastard had planned this. He was waiting for the cue, playing along with them until the cops came.

When Russo decided to stop the roleplaying, he immediately went for Colleen. Frank saw it first and cried out a warning, but it was already too late. The man grabbed hold of the Katana that the woman was using and ripped it from her hands. In one swift motion, he grabbed hold of Colleen and held the blade to her throat.

If Frank could have seen Russo's face, it would have been a bonafide grin. All time seemed to freeze in the dojo, with Luke looking shocked, and Iron Fist completely helpless.

"Colleen!" Iron Fist had cried out. There wasn't any doubt in Frank's mind that there was something going on between the two of them given the tension in the man's shoulders seeing her taken as hostage. Despite the danger she was in, Colleen had no fear in her eyes, just a ferocious anger that was evident in her eyes. Russo tightened his grip on her and brought the blade even closer to her throat when he saw them move forward to aid her. The Katana was so close, that it bit into Colleen's neck, leaving a thin line of red.

"Now back away guys, otherwise I might cut her up a bit more than you can fix."

"What, you need to hold a woman hostage to get your way, you little pr*ck," Frank had growled out.

Russo had let out a laugh that chilled Frank to the bone.

"I do this because I find it amusing, Frankie. That it bothers you. Just for them to know, they're in this mess because they're protecting you. Now if you just calmly come along with me, I might spare this little woman."

"We don't negotiate with crazy people," said Luke before Frank could say anything.

"I'm not negotiating, not in the least. It's more like, if you don't do as I ask, I will most definitely kill her," replied Russo, as he tightened his grip on Colleen, making her cry out involuntarily.

Frank knew what Russo was capable of. They'd done tours together, they'd killed lots of people, and Frank wouldn't be surprised to add women and children to the roster. He was willing to let your family die, remember? This was the guy that your kids would call Uncle Billy fondly, all the while he didn't care enough to stop Rawlins form setting them up to be killed. No, Russo wasn't the type of person to bluff, not in this situation. There was really enough blood on Frank's hands that he didn't need anymore people to pay for it with their lives.

"Let her go, I'll come with you, Russo."

"Castle, you can't -," started Luke, but Frank had made up his mind. With great difficulty, he got up and started to walk towards the man.

"Good Frankie, maybe there's hope in you yet.

"F*ck you," grunted out Frank as he made his way.

Russo just laughed at his curse.

"Now let her go," said Frank when he finally reached where the man was standing.

"Okay, Frankie. I do keep my promises."

Without much as a word after that, Russo released Colleen much to Frank's surprise. But that had been short-lived, and something Frank should have seen coming. Maybe it was the concussion, or maybe he had been hoping for something good left in the man, but that was just a fool's hope.

Russo, as Colleen stepped forward out of his grip, thrust forward the Katana in his hand. It embedded into her back, pushing through just enough to see the silver of the blade in her abdomen. The man then yanked the katana out and shoved her forward. Iron Fist immediately rushed forward to catch her.

Russo wasted no time in making a grab for Frank after tossing the Katana to the ground. It was the second time this night that Frank had been taken in a fireman's hold out of a building.

Frank of course hadn't allowed himself to be taken by Russo without a plan. Even if the plan was to use a shard of glass from the broken window and stabbing him in the neck with it.

But the assh*le knew it. And once they were out of the dojo window, he'd said quite so: "Frankie, if you're planning to stab with the shard you have in your back pocket, I'll make sure I drop you here right now, and go back for your friends."

It wasn't an idle threat and with everything that happened so far, Frank didn't want to risk it.

God damn it. He hated losing. And losing to a f*cking nutjob, that was even worse.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man

Peter hurt. He hurt everywhere. But the physical pain, it didn't match to the nightmarish scene he had seen in the dojo.

The woman, Colleen, laying there, bleeding, dying. This was all his fault. If he had been stronger, if he could have taken down the Russo guy then his new found saviors, they wouldn't have become targets. They wouldn't have gotten hurt because of him. The only thing he could do for them was to leave, get out of there and take down Russo somehow on his own.

Peter wasn't crazy thinking that he could fight take on Russo, especially not in his state. The man, as much as Peter didn't want to admit, was a lot stronger than him. This might have been the fact that the man hadn't been shot by the STARK weapon multiple times, but there was something else that he suspected was amping the guys powers.

The dash out of the dojo's window wasn't all it was cut out to be either. Between his still gravely injured shoulder and the gunshot wound, there was little hope in keeping his swings looking graceful. Peter was lucky that he even made it past the string of bullets that fired at him when he exited through the window. His survival really was attributed to his spidey sense, otherwise he'd have been literally swiss cheesed in bullet holes.

His swing took him, however, only as far as the adjacent rooftop where he unceremoniously crashed into the ground. It had hurt like crazy and the sting would normally have been enough to keep him from wanting to move, but the survival instinct in him told him otherwise. It was either Peter got up and started to weave his way out of the blockade the cops had set up, or he'd be caught… or killed. Considering the amount of firepower that was being used on him, there was no question that there was no chance of being taken alive. Shoot first ask questions later. Things had definitely escalated since the construction site, and Peter suspected it was because Russo had done some really horrible stuff while he'd been out of commission. This of course made Peter feel further burdened with guilt. He should have figured out a way to apprehend him earlier.

The search for a 'safe' spot took a while, and by the time he found one, Peter was so exhausted that he didn't even care that the place looked super sketchy.

From the dojo, Peter had navigated quickly as he could to somewhere he could just recoup, lay down and rest a sec. Just a moment. It wasn't really asking for too much. He finally found another old abandoned side building with a rooftop, and it wasn't a moment too soon because another minute, he wouldn't have been able to hold on to his web. Nearly collapsing on the ground of the rooftop, he leaned his back against one of the chimney supports.

God. He was so tired. Everything that had hurt before, it now just felt like heavy weight on him. His eyes burned, his face felt really hot too. He removed his mask, and took in a deep breath of the chilled night air. It was so refreshing.

Even though Peter could hear the sound of sirens not too far from where he sat, in honesty, he was too tired to care. He could just sleep right where he was. Just sleep. It would be so nice.

"Kid, I really don't think this is a good time to sleep."

The voice, Peter knew it well – Mr. Stark! Snapping his eyes open, he saw him, his mentor, Tony Stark, dressed in his expensive black suit, looking at him with worried eyes.

No, it can't be him…can it?

"Mr. Stark?" said Peter, though it sounded like a croak. He was so parched. What he wouldn't do for a glass of water.

The man nodded slowly then answered, "Yeah. Sorta. I'm more like your subconscious's Mr. Stark actually," confessed Imaginary Tony.

Made sense. Tony wasn't even wearing his Iron man Suit. Though he could easily have just stepped out of it. But there was of course the demur in the man that was completely different.

"Yeah, I didn't think you would come here wearing just your suit."

"Smart kid."

"Yeah. Real smart to put myself in this situation."

"Well, you know, since you got yourself into this mess, you should figure out a way out of it. Sleeping it off, honestly especially in your current condition, it's not a good idea."

"I know… but I'm so tired."

"Kid, what do I always say when you feel like that?"

"No sleeping on the job?"

"I just… I just can't. Everything, everything's gone wrong, Mr. Stark."

"Has it?"

"It has. Everything. I came to Hell's Kitchen to stop the killer."

"Russo?"

Peter nodded weakly, "Yeah, him. But… I didn't stop him. I wasn't strong enough. And then…then the people who came to save me, I put them in danger." He couldn't help but flash back to Colleen's blood soaked body in the dojo.

"They got hurt because of me, Mr. Stark. Colleen, she can't have survived that wound. And then Mr. Castle… he's been taken by Russo too. I… I don't know what to do." Peter didn't want to breakdown, even if it was just to himself. But the tears and frustration that he'd been holding in since the beginning of Russo's killing, it weighed on him.

"Russo, he said it was my fault. My fault he's the way he is."

"Kid, if all the good guys listened to the crap bad guys say as truth, then we'd all be doomed, no?" Reasoned Imaginary Tony.

"Listen here, and listen hard," said Imaginary Tony as the man crouched down to eye level with Peter, his eyes staring intensely at him. "You," he pointed at Peter's chest, "You are not responsible for the actions of some mad man. Do you understand?"

Peter swallowed hard and nodded.

"Being a hero is hard kid, no one ever said it was easy. You chose this path when you left your comfy couch in Queens, now what are you going to do? Sit here, bleed out and die?" Imaginary Tony paused for beat before adding, "Or you planning to wait here for the real Tony Stark to appear, swoop in and save your ass?"

At Imaginary Tony's last line, Peter snapped to attention.

"I don't expect -,"

"Yes you do. You expect him to come swooping in to fix your messes."

Peter swallowed. My mess.

"Remember the Stanton Ferry incident, Spider-boy?"

He nodded.

"Who came to your rescue?"

"Mr. Stark did. But I didn't need – "

"Yes you did. You made a mess. And now this too."

I did do this. If I had been strong enough…

"I'm sorry," said Peter in a bare whisper.

"Don't say sorry to me. You should say that to those people you failed. Those people you put in danger because you couldn't stay put. All you had to do," said imaginary Tony sweeping his arms up in a grand gesture, "was to stay in Queens."

The man stopped and stared darkly at Peter. "And what did you do?"

"I came here."

"That's right. You came here and broke your promise to Aunt May."

This pep talk from his imaginary mentor, thought Peter, had taken a strikingly unexpected turn. It was more like a kick 'em while they're down moment.

Despite the harsh words of the Imaginary Tony, Peter felt a renewed energy raise in him. He remembered the true reason why he had come in the first place. He remembered why he fled the dojo. It wasn't because he was afraid, it was because he wanted to stop Russo. How had he forgotten that?

"I did break my promise to her," agreed Peter. "But if I didn't come, then those people at the hospital, they would have died!"

Imaginary Tony looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Yes, you did good. But was that enough to offset the bad that's come since you arrived?"

"Yes," said Peter without hesitation. "Those people, they needed me. That's why I'm here, to make sure that Russo doesn't hurt anyone else." His eyes were burning, but Peter felt a rush of adrenaline, and a mix of anger and frustration having to defend his decisions… to himself.

Imaginary Tony nodded, still with slight dubious look on his face.

"So now what? I'm asking this again, are you going to just keep lying here on some abandoned rooftop?"

"Not a bad idea..." said Peter and then added, "kidding."

"Still cheeky, eh kid?"

"I am only talking to myself afterall," said Peter evenly.

Imaginary Tony nodded, "That's very true. You probably also know that even if Tony Stark does get pissed off at you, he'd be more pissed if you didn't call him now, all things considering you are beyond injured right now."

Peter had to agree with that. Imaginary Mr. Stark was right, he did need help. Calling backup wasn't a shame, it was something smart heroes did when they assessed the situation and the only way to win was to team up.

Like the team you abandoned just a few minutes ago?

No. That was different. They were just unfortunate people to have gotten caught up in Peter's mess. With somewhat renewed purpose, Peter moved to get up, but ended up feeling a jarring pain in his side.

"God, this really hurts," muttered Peter under his breath to no one in particular.

"I would think getting shot would be," replied imaginary Tony. "Not to mention being impaled by a pipe..."

Thanks for the reminder, thought Peter as he took note of the injuries again.

"I put some webbing on them already…"

"You know your webbing doesn't exactly contain any pain killers, right?" After a beat, the figment added, "You should put more to stop the blood flow if you can. You may have super healing abilities, but try and help it out a little in this case. You're putting it into overdrive."

"Okay," and Peter as he started to use more web fluid again to bind up the wound.

"Good talk, kid."

Even though it wasn't really Tony Stark talking to him, even an imaginary version of him made Peter feel more steady and to some extent, calmer.

Just as he thought that, when he looked up again, the Tony Stark figment of his mind had disappeared.

But while Peter was alone again, he realized he wasn't as tired or as scared. The 'talk' he had with his imaginary mentor, it seemed to put things into perspective for him. He had to fix this, he couldn't just lay here and feel sorry for himself. Peter had come to Hell's Kitchen for a reason – to keep Russo from hurting more people. Now he just had to focus on that goal, figure out a better strategy to take the man down.

But what was Russo's weakness? Russo had some the same powers as Peter, but the man also had some unconventional ones too, given the solidfying web fluid and the freaky mind controlling of spiders. No. Russo had an origin story, just as Peter himself had. While Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider, Russo was transformed by ingesting a fish oil contaminated with the Terrigen Mist. This idea had been spinning around in Peter's head ever since the rooftop incident with Russo. When the man had impaled Peter with a pipe, he had also been venting out his origin story - a nurse had given him fish oils to help him with his memory. That in turn, had transformed him. Russo claimed that the nurse was obsessed with Spider-Man's heroics and had left something on for him to watch. Whatever the video that he had been exposed to, Russo must have mimicked it during his transformation.

This of course logically led to that whatever fan made video that Russo had seen, there may even be a small chance the fan had thrown some weakness in there too. The person had been creative enough to suggest that Spider-Man could control an army of spiders, what kind of kryptonite would he give to his favorite idol?

Okay Parker. You know he might have a weakness, so how do you find it? You know that Russo said that he killed the nurse. So you need to track down who this nurse is, find out what she had shown him. If it's a fan made thing, it must have been a laptop or something. Maybe… it might still be in her house?

It was a long shot, but Peter had to try a different tactic, no matter how slim of a chance it may seem. Problem was, as he looked at his cellphone, it was in no way operable, having been partially melted. God, May was going to kill him. This and all the backpacks he'd been losing, he was seriously not looking to having that conversation with her.

But all was not lost, he still had someone that he could always count on – his guy in the chair.

Now… to get to a payphone. He remembered coming across one before landing on the current building. Scanning around him, Peter finally saw what he was looking for.

Alright, time to get moving before I can't, thought Peter. Trying to be as stealth as possible, he did a crawl down from the building instead of his usual swing. It was a very slow one since Peter was trying to reserve his energy for getting himself to where the nurse lived. God he hoped she lived close to where he was right now.

Once he was in the pay phone booth, Peter pulled out from one of his secret compartment his emergency funds. He'd thought of this idea after his fight with Toomes. If he had some extra funds on him it would have been easier for him to get back home. The bills were all burnt through, but the coins were still usable. Inserting a quarter, he began punching in Ned's number, all the while noting the bloody prints he was leaving on the dial. The phone barely finished its first ring before the curious sound of Ned's voice came on the line.

"Hello?"

Well, thought Peter, he was calling from a pay phone, so Ned probably had no idea that it was him.

"Hey Ned."

"Peter?!" Ned's voice instantly came to life.

"Ned, I need your help."


I know! Not quite the Tony Stark everyone was expecting, but know that even an Imaginary Tony brings some comfort to Peter. The question really is, where is the real Tony? Thanks everyone for the Kudos and reviews! Please keep on leaving them because they really brighten my day :)