The office of United States military General Thaddeus Ross looked at the various decorations in his office from his Congressional Medal of Honor, the framed photos of him as a field soldier fighting for his country and a memorial plague that he had set up for his late right hand man Major General Reginald Fortean and his thoughts came to the being that he hated more than anyone else in the world: Bruce Banner 'the Hulk'.
That science nerd he had recruited for help in the off the books Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project that Ross himself was put in charge of; which was meant to recreate the effects of Project: Rebirth. Banner thought that he was trying to cure diseases and he hated how close he was getting to his daughter Betty who was working with the project; despite his attempts to steer her towards one of his loyal soldiers from Fortean to even Major General Glenn Talbot.
Banner tested what he was working on himself and the monster he had become hospitalised many and killed more; Banner was on the run while Ross was in charge of hunting him down. For the threat that his monster 'Hulk' self posed to the public and his desire to disect him and figure out how to create an army of Hulks to send against America's enemies.
He remembered the largest assault ever sent towards him and it was the closest to capturing him; armed soldiers with advanced weapons and experimental mechs (inspired by the recent 'Iron Man') and it seemed that they had him in chains but he broke free and escaped and had even crushed the leading mech suit which Fortean was piloting. His injuries were too severe and they claimed his wife before he could reach a medical table.
His heart broke but the next time Banner showed himself... He was a pawn of some supposed 'trickster god' and worked with some of the new 'superheroes' to form the Avengers so soon after the events at the UN with Osborn and the Goblin Army which eh was sure would have been better handled if he was there. After that...
Seeing the media hail Banner and the Hulk as a hero, being told that he was -off-limits and he cursed Richmond after giving Banner that Presidential Pardon.
Years since then and now the people look to these freaks as their heroes instead of people like him; don't they know that these freaks not on a leash will lead to humanity's downfall?
Then entered an associate of his in the United States Government who dealt with the Mutant problem back in the hayday and was even the director of the long dead Mutant Response Division; Henry Peter Gyrich an orange haired man in sunglasses with a green suit. "General Ross... The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence have given me good news to deliver to you... Project: Thunderbolt has been given the greenlight!" Gyrich told him and Ross smirked.
During his days as a younger field soldier; he had led an off the books task force dealign with dangerous suicide missions and his soldiers were sentenced to death criminals offered lesser sentences in exchange for successful missions. He looked proudly on those days; whipping those lowlives into shape so that they could die like real men on the battlefield to repay their debt to their country. He had for his determined nature and temper been given the nickname 'Thunderbolt' and so this task force was unofficially called 'the Thunderbolts'.
He had recently gotten the idea that times have changed and with all these 'supervillains' then they could use them to restart the Thunderbolts under his command. An Avengers team to call his own. Sure there was Colonel James Rhodes who was piloting the War Machine Armor designed by Tony Stark for use by the US military but he never quite liked how close Rhodes was to Stark and by extension those so called 'heroes'.
Ryker's Island and Ross and Gyrich was visiting the most secure and guarded solitary cell in the place where there were motion sensors and an on the clock patrol of guards terrified of the prisoner inside. The tall muscular man with a black beard who glared at them. "Frank Castle; 1st Lieutenant of the Marines... Off course there is another name for you... Punisher... How about tasting freedom again after so many long years to fight for your country again..." Ross smirked at the military veteran who snapped after the tragic killing of his wife and children during a family picnic to become the most infamous and feared vigilante of the modern era dubbed 'the Punisher' by a newspaper which ended up sticking. The staff at Ryker's thought that if he had managed to get out of his cell when Octavius broke in to form the Sinister Six then there might not be any prisoners that survived the whole ordeal.
Castle looked at the file slipped underneath his cell and tore it up; "Not interested... What happened to the patriot that signed up enthusiastically to fight for his country... No wait... Frank Castle died with his family... Is that what you say?" Ross asked as Castle glared at him.
"The Saints may have killed that man but it was the horrors that he experienced on the battlefield that mortally wound him. The man you see today isn't that man and he is insulted that you think that I would want to get out of here to work with scum that I would rather put down to the ground! Do you really want me out of here?" Castle retorted looking threatening making guards nervous but Ross didn't react.
"I am sorry Mr Castle but it's a new world; once you were known as the most dangerous man in the world but now... There are whole bunch of powered monsters and stuff and the name Castle doesn't strike fear in the crime underworld like it used to. You really think that you could have even killed one of the Green Goblin's goons because when it comes to soldiers with weapons; you are a force to be reckoned with and against normal scum you are a boogeyman but now that there are actual monsters..." Ross retorted but Castle just stared. "Consider this Castle... Play nice with a couple of scum and you can get to kill more dangerous scum than the ones that you dealt with on the streets... Save the world from bigger threats... Plus a couple years worth of missions and you will be set free to continue where you went off..." Ross offered with a grin making the guards look terrified at the proposal but too scared to voice their concerns.
Castle begrudgingly accepted and was now in the debriefing room along with his other Thunderbolts recruits; cleanshaven and held down with manacles so he doesn't try and kill his new teammates. He was only the 2nd most feared one there of his now teammates; the first in his own great restraints in a huge metal box with a glass window was Del Frye the original Hulk and now known as the Abomination who they had managed to identify some time after having him in custody as well as investigating his fight with Banner.
Also among the recruits was a blonde haired woman in a white eye mask and a white bodysuit; Karla Sofen who went by Moonstone. A psychiatrist who enjoyed manipulating her patients and they usually ended up worse off than before they started their sessions with her. Her last patient was a man named Lloyd Bloch who ended up with a powerful stone found on the moon who gained super strength, agility, speed and energy powers deciding to become a hero called Moonstone. She managed to manipulate him into rejecting the Moonstone so that she could claim it herself; becoming a criminal as the new Moonstone.
David Cannon in a white and dark green bodysuit with his green triangular helmet by him; a Mutant who act as the criminal known as Whirlwind who could create small whirlwinds around him to get by or attack.
Finally Ava Starr a Nigerian/Norwegian woman in a white bodysuit with a helmet and hood; her father was a scientist working on dangerous experiments but something went wrong when he has his family over and the explosion claimed his wife and the young Ava survived but the blast made her intangible. The US Government took her in and created a suit to stabilise her as well as train her to become a black-ops operative under the codename Ghost.
Ross was then facing them with a sideshow presentation set up with a muscular blonde haired man next to him; "Thunderbolts; the people around you are your siblings as we try and make you heroes in order to redeem yourselves. This is Captain John Walker a man who could very well be the next Captain America and will be acting as your field commander. You are to obey his every instruction as if it was a command from God; he says jump and you don't bother asking how high. Any questions?" Ross asked as Sofen looked disgusted towards Del.
"Yeah... Does this monster really have to be here in this room with us?" Sofen asked as Castle faced her.
"You should be afraid of me more..." threatened Castle as Sofen started laughing at his direction with a smirk.
"Oh please Castle... I could snap a guy's neck and shoot his head off with a blast; all that before you could even fire a bullet at me..." Sofen taunted as they then started screaming as Walker pressed a button on a gauntlet.
"You all were injected with nanites that will give you harm if you give me trouble; if it comes to it then the nanites will become deadly." Walker warned as Ross smirked at Walker as the Thunderbolts looked more willing to behave themselves. He pressed a button as the lightens went out and then it showed a map of Sokovia and an old portrait of a man with a purple hood over his head with a golden ornament.
"The European nation of Sokovia and this was Baron Heinrich Von Zemo from a long list of Barons in his family; during World War II when the Nazis invaded and occupied the nation even executing the entire royal family... Zemo sided with them and became their regent dictator over Sokovia; even faced off against the Howling Commandos and Captain America. It was foiling a plot by him that landed Rogers in the ice for all those decades. Zemo thought that he would be returning a war hero but during this time Sokovia was freed by the Allies and he was arrested. He was executed and his family disgraced with all royal titles stripped. However evidence came that during this time he had discovered an ancient alien weapon underneath his family castle but was unable to get it freed before Sokovia was freed; notes suggested that he planned to use it to overthrow the Nazis and become Emperor." Ross explained.
"So you want us to go there and find this weapon?" Sofen asked as Ross didn't answer and had the next slide showing a man in a military uniform with a purple mask over his head with a golden ornament headdress.
"Ever since the War; Sokovia fell into array with constant civil wars. However Zemo's grandson Helmut Zemo has seeked to unite the nation; grown up poor but trained and became the best soldier that Sokovia's armed forces ever had along with mastering the art of sword battle. Managed to have the title of Baron restored to him as he claimed his family's castle and seeks to unearth the weapon underneath. Your missions is to execute him and stop him from using the weapon against the world." Ross said as Cannon scoffed.
"The Zemos really liked their masks..." Cannon explained as some of the Thunderbolts laughed but glared harshly by the others.
"There is another target; a traitor from the US government... Samuel Stern... Worked as Bruce Banner's assistant in the project that turned him into 'the Hulk'... Worked on restoring the research when it went wrong and mutated him, made him able to digest information easier and smarter... Possibly the world's smartest man... Went rogue and sided with Zemo as they found the location of the weapon... They are both to be executed..." Ross finished explaining as the ext slide showed a green skinned man with an enlarged forehead and a moustache as they blinked at.
"So this guy has a big head literally?" Ava asked as more laughs but Ross just shook his head this time while Walker facepalmed.
The Thunderbolts were in their uniforms and armed with Walker donning a military bodysuit as he was driving the craft over Sokovia over to Zemo Castle; Ava looked solemn as Sofen looked to her. "You see this as business as usual but take no joy... Don't like being used as the US's weapon since childhood, don't you?" Sofen taunted as Ava glared at her.
Then they were over the entrance of the dig site next to the castle; Walker landed and pressed a button to let Del out of his restraints as they exitted the craft and began firing at the armed guards. Sofen also used her blasts, Cannon using his whirlwinds, Ava was basically having the bullets go literally right through her nonplussed and Del was basically attacking 20 guards at once as they got through. Walker with any guard that got too close was able to overpower them easily and take them down single handily.
They took got to the sight of a giant alien like robot who was on its back while soldiers were planting devices at it. However the Thunderbolts started screaming as they felt their nanintes and there was Zemo with his sword as he charged at Walker with Walker fighting back and able to overpower him but blasts from a weapon by Stern knocked him out.
The Thunderbolts woke to find themselves at the balcony of the castle overlooking the dig site while there was Zemo and Stern to greet them with then in high tech restraints that not even Ava or Del could get out of. "Welcome to Castle Zemo; it was gifted to my ancestor Harbin Zemo the first Baron Zemo; in 1480 he fought back an invasion of Sokovia with nothing but a sword and was gifted with the Baronship and this castle. When my birthright was returned to me; I made sure to not only fix it back up to it's former glory as it was left abandoned after the War but read up on my family's history in the library." Zemo greeted them.
"Your ancestor must be so proud that you are going to finish what your grandfather started in using that thing to take over the Earth..." snarked Del as Zemo looked furious at him.
"Is that what Ross told you when he sent you to invade my country and my home? No... I found the Sleeper... To Destroy it..." Zemo said as he pressed a button as they heard an explosion and looked downwards to see the dig site cave in. "Explosives planted... Heinrich disgraced the family name by allying with Hitler and his ilk... To what Harbin and the other proud Zemos must have thought to see him betray his country for more power... I have wanted nothing more in my life than to redeem my family name and that's to make sure that the Sleeper as it was called by Heinrich be destroyed and not be abused by anyone... Especially not by the US Government; isn't that what Ross wanted Captain Walker... To wait until the US military come to pick you up and claim the Sleeper for yourselves..." Zemo asked as Walker refused to back down as he got looks from his teammates.
"A weapon of peace... Against an alien invasion or other threats... A more dangerous world out there and we have to protect ourselves..." Walker explained himself as Castle scoffed.
"Against whoever Ross called an enemy of the US... I remember the fables told about him from my time in the service... What he had done and what he was willing to do; some said that he desired a military dictatorship over the US with him in charge to protect it... That thing doesn't belong in Ross' hands..." snapped astle as there was claps as Stern made himself known.
"That's what I thought Mr Castle as I deflected... Ross had me create the nanites for his purposes and I got too smart for him to control. Found out that he wanted me as his slave; create weapons for him and the truth about the project that turned my good friend Bruce into the Hulk. He wanted an army of them and only I could accomplish that without having Bruce in custody. I came to Helmut and helped him find the Sleeper; we knew that Ross would send his Thunderbolts and we were prepared. Highjacked control over the nanites." Stern said as Walker glared at him as Helmut pressed a button as the Thunderbolts besides Walker were released from their restraints while some soldiers came to take Zemo away.
"As a sign of good faith; Captain Walker is being taken to the US as he is but a pawn of Ross as well... Interjected from a serum created with the blood of Norman Osborn; secretly taken from his autopsy for experimentation." Zemo said as they blinked. "I am offering an opportunity to you Thunderbolts... Work with me and we could help the save world; do the dirty work that the Avengers won't touch..." Zemo offered as they thought it over.
"I expect a big paycheck..." Sofen said with Cannon nodding.
"I will not be a puppet anymore; I want to do some real good but I want it clear that I could leave at any time..." Ava demanded as Zemo nodded.
"Give me plenty to smash and I am in..." Del grinned.
"What about you Castle? You could continue where you left off on a worldwide scale; make people fear the Punisher again?" offered Zemo as Castle looked towards the other Thunderbolts and Zemo and ended up nodding.
"Keep them on a leash and they may live... They go too far and they are mine..." Castle warned.
A week later and Gyrich was in his office hearing the angry ranting of Ross over the disaster of the Thunderbolts' first mission and how he is getting the heat from the higher ups who were threatening to have him removed from all positions as well as the projects he was working on shut down. "I know this looks bad General Ross sir but I am sure that this could be salvaged... Some cover ups and promise and we can restart it all over and besides Zemo and the renegades about; making trouble around the world... It could get the ball running to have the superhumans registered under government control..." Gyrich said not noticing the red dot on his head as he got up facing the window and didn't notice the figure in sniper position on top of the building overlooking the government building.
A minute later Ross was yelling at Gyrich to answer him as Gyrich's body laid on the ground with blood nearby and a hole in the window while on the other building; Castle packed up his stuff to rejoin his new team.
So in this verse the Thunderbolts quickly gone from a Marvel version of the Suicide Squad into a Marvel version of the Authority/the Elite after Zemo took over. The backstory of Harbin Zemo comes from the Captain America: Super Soldier video game. Plus Walker having a similar role to Peacemaker from the Suicide Squad movie (using 'the' to distinguish it) and 2nd time a character in a fanfic I wrote had a role inspired by him in that movie with the first being Geoffrey St John in my Ultimate Sonic story. Plus the ending was inspired by the ending of Batman: Assault on Arkham.