HIGHTSTOWN, NEW JERSEY

NIGHTTIME- THE SLUMS

Frank had taken refuge in what was now a former crackhouse after convincing its tenants to move out. Luckily, the dead drug dealers had left behind a laptop computer which had Wi-Fi access. Castle went to the website he found the news article that he had been looking at earlier and printed it out. It had a list of all the names of those involved. He picked up a pen that was on the table and scratched out the picture of Samuel Wright. Only six were left on this list, all of which were guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual assault:

Aaron Gray, 17. Charged with third-degree aggravated sexual assault.

Orlando Edwards, 19. Charged with third-degree sexual assault.

Adam King, 17. Charged with third-degree aggravated sexual assault.

Rene Lucas, 18. Charged with third-degree assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree aggravated sexual assault.

Richard "Dick" Frasier, 18. Charged with armed criminal action and second degree aggravated sexual assault.

And the ringleader: Wade Keys, 17. Charged with first degree assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree aggravated sexual assault, and armed criminal action.

Punishment would come to these bastards real soon, but the Castle had to monitor them. Weaknesses came in many forms: a daily routine or a simple habit. News of Samuel Wright's death had hit news outlets across the state and was breaking news on all the channels. There was no motive, no suspects as to who did it...

But time would reveal itself soon enough.

Next on the list was Orlando Edwards, 19. Edwards was now a freshman at the College of New Jersey, being allowed in despite the media circus that was the rape trial. Apparently, people outside the state were undecided on who to sympathize with. Edwards was black- which made it all the more surprising that he or the only other black participant, Adam King, hadn't been singled out by conservative media outlets. Except for when those punk bitches at Faux News, as Castle called Fox, slammed King and tried to paint him as the ringleader. Well, it was either a pick between him or Edwards. Gotta love agendas. Castle wasn't a man of politics, because politics don't deliver justice. He just went on about his daily business.

Luckily, for this mission, Frank wouldn't need napalm car bombs or heavy machine guns for these guys. They weren't a criminal organization, just a group of punks who thought taking advantage of a mentally-challenged girl was funny. They would soon realize that rape was never funny, especially to the Punisher.

Then Castle learned something interesting: Adam King, the only other African-American participant, was his roommate. Seems rapists do stick together, after all. This meant that Frank would have to take a drive up to Ewing, where the College was...

After three hours, Frank had made it to the front entrance of where the College was. He looked at the two pictures of King and Edwards: both black, one with a shaved head, the other with long dreads and a tattoo above his left eye. A Navy cross. Frank wanted to laugh at the irony of this. A piece of shit like this, wearing a Navy cross? He failed, letting out a small chuckle as he turned to the backseat and checked his mini-armory.

Two Colt M1911s, a USAS-12 automatic shotgun, a pair of .50 caliber Automag Fives, and the Dragunov SVU sniper rifle. Castle looked around his surroundings as he got out of the SUV, and opened the back door to grab the auto shotgun and the Automags. He also took a few stun grenades in case there'd be a large crowd or a gang that they'd join. He holstered the large pistols and slung the shotgun under his coat.

It was time for evil to receive their punishment...

After asking a few questions...or brutalizing a few of the skinheads on campus, depending on your train of thought, the Punisher managed to get some info on where King and Edwards were located. Of course, these inbreds weren't so big on having those kind of people at "their" school. They didn't look like they had any association with any of the supremacist gangs and they were also too physically frail to do any real damage in a fight. Castle could easily break them with a few blows landed in the right spots of their bodies. But the Punisher wasn't in New Jersey to take on Neo-Nazis. He'd deal with them another time. His focus was on the remaining six rapists of Hightstown.

The info Castle gained: Adam King and Orlando Edwards were members of a fraternity: Theta Nu Xi. Castle wasn't sure of what the fraternity was like, but he heard that they were holding a party tonight. It was to introduce the new recruits that they had picked up for Rush. The introduction would be held outside the Brower Student Center, where a large bonfire would illuminate the night as the events would unfold. This forced Castle to return to his vehicle for a change of tactics. He pulled up an outline of the campus on the laptop he brought and managed to mark a strategic spot before exiting and going to the backseat once more.

This time, it was to claim the Dragunov sniper rifle. There'd be a large crowd and Castle wanted to make sure his targets would be struck without innocents catching the brunt of it. After gathering what he needed, Castle moved out to take position in a tree, as he looked through his nightvision scope the Dragunov was equipped with...an hour later, one of the largest crowds ever had gathered. And then, he saw his two objectives: the short-haired Adam King in a black coat and glasses, and Orlando Edwards with his dreadlocks tied into a ponytail and wearing skinny jeans sagging to the top of his knees with a turquoise plaid shirt. No way Edwards looked straight enough to go near a girl, but young people and their fashion of choice were usually misleading to the common eye. It just went to show that evil came in all forms...

On the podium were Adam King and Orlando Edwards. They were stoked to be joining Theta Nu Xi, as they heard it was one of the top frats in the state. Even more so when the two brothers who recruited them overlooked their "controversy" back in Highstown, agreeing that they were victims of a fucked-up justice system that was set up to target young black men in any fashion they could. Really, who the fuck do you think the system's gonna go after when a white bitch has been raped? Even more so, they severed all ties with Wade and the others- so they could get on with their lives, something that was hard to do.

For Edwards, Lacee West was the farthest thing from his mind. He had long forgotten about her and had managed to get King to do the same, since they were free. By the time the judge wanted them back in the courtroom, people will long forget about them.

"Dude, we finally made it," Adam King started, opening up his jacket. "I mean, I'd never thought I'd see a college- let alone the College of N.J."

"Yeah, I'm surprised they let us in," Orlando Edwards replied. "Shit, I guess we gonna do it big tonight after this thing is over."

"For 's-"

BANG!

King didn't get to finish his statement, nor would he ever get to make another as his world exploded in a shower of red and his body crumpled to the ground as his hat fell down upon it. And then the screams of panic rang out as people began to run away. The Punisher jumped down from the tree he occupied, walking toward the mass panic as he discarded the sniper rifle. Orlando didn't know what to do except try to run for it. He wasn't sure who fired the shot. Maybe it was one of those skinhead motherfuckers he saw on campus.

It was like some Higher Learning shit going around here where the skinhead shot everybody in sight because he was brainwashed. Orlando wasn't gonna stick around. He took off running when he felt the wrath of an angry god strike the back of his leg, forcing him down to the ground. And in that instant, he met his friend's killer. Edwards had heard about Sam Wright's murder, but thought very little of it.

Until now.

He looked up into the eyes of the Punisher, who was holstering one of the pistols on his side. And realized what the man's goal was.

"Man, I ain't do nothin' to that girl!" Edwards yelled defiantly, though feeling the pain of the new hole in his knee.

"Is that right?" asked Castle. "What girl are you even talking about? I haven't said a word."

"I know it was you that- aaahhh - popped Sam last week!"

Frank knelt down to the wounded piece of shit that was holding his leg in severe pain and placed the barrel of the gun to the punk's head.

"Man, what the fuck you tryna acheive? The judge let us go!" Edwards yelled.

"Right into my hands. And if I recall, you were found guilty..."

Castle pulled the hammer back on the .50 Action Express pistol, his index finger tickling the trigger.

"But no sentence was passed down, so allow me to pass down my own sentence..."

"No... no... NOOO-"

And the sound of a atomic resounded through the campus of the College of New Jersey as Frank Castle finally gave the trigger the release it desperately ached for, preparing Orlando Edwards for the closed casket funeral his family will be holding.