"I am the student... no, I am the son of a hero you crippled! A man more righteous than you and I could ever hope to be!! You nearly ended his life, and he will never be the same again!!!"

Danny's right fist began to glow brightly, "I am here to stop you in his place! I want you to remember this name, for as long as you live!!! I am proof that despite your best efforts, his legacy will never die!! I am the Immortal Iron Fist!!!!"

Punisher stared at the raw conviction emanating off the boy as brightly as his golden hand. Clearly this kid had some kind of death wish. And the fact that he hadn't even checked on the Frog-Man was proof enough that he was off the path of heroism. He was just another half measure.

"I see..." he muttered. "Well then, guess I'll have to test that name of yours..."

"Give me all you've got!!" Danny charged forwards, letting loose a flurry of punches and kicks, all the while avoiding his opponent's blade.

Surprisingly, Punisher was no slouch when it came to hand to hand combat. Not as good as his master, of course, but good enough. What didn't help Danny, was that his rage made his form sloppy and easier to read.

"Y'know," said Punisher, lashing out with his blade as Danny leapt back. "I let your old man live, I wasn't out to kill 'im." He stabbed at Danny, lunging forward.

But Danny threw his right fist at the blade, it shattered against his knuckles on impact. "So what? I'm supposed to thank you!?" The boy roared, back on the attack.

"Hell no," the man replied, bringing up his hand. From out of nowhere, a pistol appeared in his hand and shooting twice. "I wanted word to spread about me."

The first bullet Danny managed to avoid, the other grazed against his shoulder, making him freeze.

"I'm all about efficiency," he continued. "A body count of you idiots in tights could send the message. But the way I see it, word of mouth spreads it faster."

He shoots again, this time hitting Danny in the thigh. The boy yelled out in pain, his hand went over the wound. The bullet went through the leg and didn't touch the bone, but it was bleeding badly. He tried to use his chi to heal the wounds, but he couldn't concentrate in time. In seconds, the enemy was in front of him.

Punisher's arm lashed out in an upward motion, a new blade in his hand. Danny's shirt split up from the middle, and blood burst forth from the jagged cut now on his chest. The pain was excruciating, and the accompanying scream reflected as such. Danny clutched his chest, falling over from the pain. He felt as if his body was going to split in two.

"You'll bleed out of you don't get treated," Punisher said gruffly, holstering his gun. "Get outta here."

And he turned around to head back over to Frog-Man.

"Y-you coward!!!" Punisher's head snapped toward at the boy. His glowing hand went to his wounded leg. After a moment, the bleeding stopped and the wound began to seal itself up.

"You paralyzed my father, did you know that!?" Danny glared at the man in black, struggling to stand up. "He'll never be able to walk again, let alone be a hero! He saved so many lives over the years, inspired so many people! There was no reason to crush him!!"

Punisher eyed the boy grimly, "You're right, there wasn't. But he came after me. The way I see it, I was defending myself when I got jumped by your old man. He's a fake, a half measure."

"I'll never forgive you!! I'll kill you!!!" Danny charged in with an uncharacteristic rage.

Punisher used it to his advantage, easily able to avoid his moves. Finally, when Danny powered up his fist again, he lurched backwards as he was shot again, this time in the shoulder.

"You wanna call yourself a hero?" The man pointed toward the alley wall, "Then why didn't ya help him first!?"

Danny was caught off guard by the man's words, and for the first time noticed the injured hero slouched against the wall.

"You're so caught up in yourself, you forgot what the hell you're supposed to do: save lives. But you used your power selfishly and got caught up in your own hatred," he went on. "Hell if anything, it's like I'm seeing my own reflection. And I'm the last person qualified to be a hero."

Punisher took out his gun again, pointing it at the boy's head, "But you're too far gone, I see that now. That's why you have to die..." He cocked back the hammer, "Nothing personal, kid."

Danny's eyes went red with fury as Punisher's finger touched the trigger, "SCREW YOUUUUUUU!!!!!"

But before the man could pull back his finger, the gun was caught by a white, sticky substance at the end of the barrel. The weapon was yanked out of Punisher's hand before he realized what was happening, as Spider-Man swung in and kicked him square in the face.

The impact sent Punisher hurtling backwards and he went flying into a pile of trash. Meanwhile, Spider-Man landed in front on Danny, immediately seeing to his injury. "P-Peter..?" The boy couldn't believe his eyes.

"I came to save you, Danny," he said.

From the end of the alleyway, Punisher held onto his head, shaking it as if to clear his scrambled thoughts. What the hell was that? He thought, Felt like a train hit me... Looking back, he saw a figure in a red and blue suit.

"That mask..." he muttered, recognizing it from the highlight footage of the M.A Sports Festival that was playing on a loop in Times Square.

"How...?" Asked Danny, trying to focus his chi on his wound. "How did you find me?"

"Honestly I was passing through," he replied. "I got lost and ran into Shang-Chi. His partner told me you'd been separated and that we were in East Harlem. Given that the last Punisher attack was in a less populated part of the area, I figured you had to be around here someplace."

Spider-Man stared down Punisher, who was slowly getting to his feet, "We need to move. Find a pro and get to a wider street. Can you stand up?"

"N-No," Danny replied, shaking his head. "I've lost a lot of blood..." His hand was on his chest, attempting to use pressure to stop the bleeding.

The hero in training looked around, taking in his cramped surroundings. His eyes fell upon a slumped over figure in green, recognizing the lower ranked hero Frog-Man. He rushed over to check on him, relieved to find he was still breathing, albeit barely.

Seeing the open wound in his stomach, Spider-Man shot out a strand of webbing and stretched it with his hands, sticking it over the injury like a bandage. If it was just Danny, he thought. I could carry him on my shoulder. But if I try to move this guy...

"Just leave!" The teen was broken out of his concentration by Danny, "Please, don't get involved! This has nothing to do with you!!"

Spider-Man looked back, "What the hell are you saying??"

"Looks like you came to save your friend," Punisher commented, cracking his neck as he made his wad back over. "I'll admit, you've got a better head on your shoulders. But he has to die now, and if you stand in my way, things are gonna get messy. So what's it gonna be?"

There was ice in the man's voice, and a look of conviction in his piercing eyes that sent chills down Peter's spine.

This guy's different from Hobgoblin and those others who attacked. He's a cold-blooded killer. Why the hell couldn't I find Stick or some other pro that wasn't fighting a Sentinel!?

He cursed himself for not having his cellphone with him, if nothing else he could've called a classmate or even Mr. Stark! But this was no time to lament the what-ifs, there was only one course of action before him, and that was to fight. Peter placed himself in front of Danny and Frog-Man.

"No! What're you doing!?" Danny yelled, uncharacteristically frantic. "Just run, he'll kill you!! This has nothing to do with you!!"

"...You're my friend, Danny," Peter replied after a moment. "There's a lot we're gonna talk about later, but like Iron Man said; 'meddling when you're not involved is the essence of a hero'!"

Danny was left speechless as tears began to roll down his face. Meanwhile, Spider-Man got into a fighting position, "If you want these two, you'll have to go through me to get them!!"

Punisher grinned determinedly, "Well said."

The man rushed forward, brandishing his knife. Spider-Man charged toward him, a plan forming in his head.

He's a short range fighter, definitely good with a blade, he thought. There's not a lot of room here to maneuver, but I'll keep my distance, web him up, and-

Suddenly, his spider sense went off as Punisher brought out a gun, a semiautomatic pistol.

What!? But I thought I webbed that thing away!! His eyes darted back towards Danny and the fallen hero, I can't put them in the line of fire. I've gotta make him aim away from them!!

Spider-Man leapt onto the wall and began to run upwards as Punisher fired his weapon. The boy shot webbing at the silencer muzzle, trying to taking this gun out of play. But Punisher narrowly avoided it, throwing his knife at him. Spider-Man went flat against the wall as the blade sailed just past the tip of his nose. Reaching upwards, he snatched the knife by the handle and threw it away, webbing it to the wall.

"The hell are ya doin' up there!?" Punisher yelled up at the Wall Crawler. "Come down and fight me like a man!"

One of Spider-Man's mask lens went slightly wider, as if quirking an eyebrow. "Umm, can you maybe come up here and fight me like a spider?" He asked cheekily.

Punisher growled and summoned a shotgun to his hands.

"Whoops! Guess not!" Spider-Man quipped, dodging blasts that were enough to destroy the brick around him. "Ok, this is getting-whoa!! Dangerous! Don't you know not to play with those things!?" He wagged his finger before dodging another blast.

"Don't you know how to shut up?" Punisher unloaded his last rounds, missing each time.

"I'm chatty, it's part of my charm!" Spider-Man retorted, thwips a web line to his enemy's chest. "What's say we take this somewhere a little less cramped?" He started to yank back on the web and pull up Punisher, but the man brought out another knife and sliced through the web.

"Wow, that's sharp! Didn't think anything could cut through my webs!" He said as Punisher landed back on the ground. Spider-Man gestured as if to shoot more web from his right wrist. But nothing came out...

Aw crap, I'm out!!! He thought nervously, Must've used up my supply getting here. The boy checked his left wrist, there was maybe a drop of fluid left in the container.

"Well this just got complicated," he said, as his spider sense went off again. "Yikes!!!"

He barely dodged a stream of bullets from the semi-auto. Ok, clearly playing the long game's not an option, Spider-Man thought.

"You're quick, I'll give ya that much," said Punisher, reloading his gun. "Most'a you guys are all talk, but you can back it up! You might be worth keeping alive."

"Saying that while you're shooting at me is sending very mixed signals!" The boy quipped, leaping away from the next volley of rounds. "So where do you get those wonderful toys? I don't think there's a Guns 'r Us nearby!!!"

"That's my secret," Punisher switched to a sniper rifle.

"The van!"

Spider-Man's head snapped back to Danny, still trying to heal himself, "He keeps his guns in the van down the alley!!!"

The man growled and aimed his rifle at the downed Danny. Acting fast, Spider-Man shot the last of his webbing at the end of the barrel, clogging it. The gun exploded in Punisher's hands, knocking him back hard against the alley wall and injuring several fingers.

So much for tying him up, he thought. Guess we're doing this the old fashioned way!

Spider-Man leapt down toward the stunned Punisher, who quickly looked up to see the red and blue clad boy coming his way. Holding his arm out, a handgun materialized in his hand as Spider-Man's lenses widened with fear. His spider sense went off like crazy, but he couldn't dodge in this position. No web, no way to maneuver from a straight on shot. This could be it...

Suddenly, a flaming chain shot out from the darkness and knocked against Punisher's hand, hitting the gun away and saving the boy's life. Spider-Man touched the ground and flipped backwards. From the end of the alley, a figure in black leather stepped from the shadows.

"Looks like I got here just in time," he said. "The second I saw those webs, I figured you were knee deep in it, Araña."

Spider-Man's eyes widened the person retracted the chain. His head burst into flames, eventually dying down to reveal the skull form with fire emerging from the eye and check holes. Robbie Reyes had joined the fight.

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Barber's Chair

• Part one of the Hero Killer battle, mostly one on ones for now. The action really amps up in the next chapter, so stay tuned!!