Frank remained cautious to control his breathing as he crept down the corridor. Ivan didn't have any kind of firearms in the interrogation room or in the other rooms Frank had cleared. That sucked. All that he could find was a couple of knives and some other hardware items used in standard torture methods. Amateur stuff too. Items like pliers, corkscrews, syringes, hammers. Stuff like that.
"What the hell kind of movies these guys been watching?" Frank thought.
All this meant was that he was gonna have to do this the old fashioned way.
Room by room, Frank inspected and cleared. Being sure to carefully examine the rooms for any clues as to his location and if there was anything useful he could utilize in his escape. He'd been fortunate so far. Only ran into 2 other guards here. Nothing he couldn't handle. Especially with the element of surprise. As far as they were concerned…he was secured and being put thru some excruciating pain at the moment. This meant they weren't really on high alert. That lull in situational awareness suited Frank just fine since they weren't on the lookout to prevent their necks getting snapped.
Castle finally found a stairwell. It looked to be that he was about 4 levels down. Down from where though? Only way to answer that was to go up.
Frank got to the top of the stairwell without any resistance. When he opened the door he was blinded. The sun from the outside overwhelmed his eyes and for a brief moment he was blind.
In that brief moment of blindness, Frank felt a sharp pull in his left shoulder. He knew what it was immediately. Wasn't the first time a bullet jerked his body back. He dropped to the ground and rolled behind the wall. His eyes were adjusting to the light and he could see his surroundings. Several more bullets hit the wall he was hiding behind. He knew they couldn't see him, so right off the bat he knew this was merely suppressive fire. Meant to pin him down while someone else flanked him.
Frank crept around to the other side of the wall. More bullets from where he was crouched.
"Suppressive fire---third set of rounds too…" Frank thought. "That means the other should be coming 'round the bend…..right……about……NOW!"
As Frank finished the last word he whipped around the corner and surprised the other guard with chop to the neck as he pushed the gun down towards the ground. The guard fell to the ground instantly as Frank disarmed him took his gun. He fired 3 shots into the guard and then took cover again. The other shots had ceased so Frank knew that the guard was on his way to investigate. Frank grabbed the dead body at his feet and threw him around the corner. The anxious guard quickly fired several shots into his former comrade.
"Rank amateurs. How the hell did they capture me? But now I know where you're at…now I just gotta get to you." Frank asked aloud.
Frank leaned against the wall and quickly ran thru scenarios in his mind. It only took him about 5 seconds to pick a plan. He figured that if the guards were that inexperienced to try and trap him with that lame flanking move---which the guard would expect him to double around and attack him from the corner the guard himself just came around. Frank opted to just come around the corner he was at already and catch him off-guard.
His plan worked. He caught the guard by surprise and fired 3 more shots into the guard. Frank was in the clear now. The only problem was that he now had no clue as to where the hell he was.
Triskelion
"ConOps---report! What's the status of Punisher?" asked Fury.
"Sir---still no update." replied the operator.
"What do you mean no update? Did you activate the GP Molar?" Fury snipped back.
"Yes sir. Still nothing. Maybe Richard's tech is broken?"
"Negative---we're talking about some GPS equipment from a kid who killed Gah Lak Tus and created a helmet that turns thoughts into reality. There's no way his stuff is broken." Fury responded.
"Yes sir." Replied the operator.
"Tell SatImage that I want playback from his last known location and 15 mile radius coverage. There's no way he could've disappeared without leaving some kinda trace. And tell them Nick Fury wanted it yesterday!"
"And who should we contact to inform them that you've started referring to yourself in 3rd person, sir?"
"What did you just say soldier?"
"Sorry sir. It's just that we've been searching for Agent Castle for the last 15 hours and we're all feeling a bit tired and irritated. My apologies….I was outta line." the operator tech responded humbly.
"Just mind what you say from now on. And where the hell is my SatImage?!?!?"
Tazmir, Russia
"Nikolai, when was the last time we've heard from Ivan and his status with the SHIELD agent?"
"It's been 3 days General Pavalof. And we've not been able to contact him or any of his cell members." said Capt Ditkvo.
"Hmmm…this is most worrisome. Most worrisome indeed. Without word from Ivan, we are not certain of SHIELD's awareness of our plans. Any word from our other comrades?" General Pavalof inquired.
"Our contacts in China have suggested that we move up the plans and execute early. The members in the Middle East agree as well. According to our mole in SHIELD---they are still no more aware of our plans than they were before. My advice General, is that we comply and give the word to proceed with the attack early and mobilize now."
"Normally I'd decline…but our plans could be compromised and the element of surprise would be lost should we wait any longer. Have the Chinese address the tissue deterioration problem with the powers suits?" Pavalof responded.
"They have made progress but not much. The suit's power heats the body core up too rapidly. Once the suit is activated we're only looking at 5 hours max usage. After that the body will begin to decompose and they'll be of no use to us."
"Very well. They were expendable anyways. They will die knowing they changed the world for the better. Tell our contacts to deploy now. They need to be in position by 0900 tomorrow. The attack will commence 5 minutes after all the pieces are in place."
"Yes General!"
"It is time they learned their lesson. America falls tomorrow."
Unknown Location
Frank dragged himself down the road. His body was racked. He'd been traveling for 4 days without any real sign of where he was. At least he knew he was in America still. That counted for something.
4 days of dragging his broken body thru the wilderness. Bullet hole in his shoulder, hurt knee that was working on borrowed time, broken ribs poking his lung with each breath, gaping wound in his side from where the chair pierced him. It wasn't until earlier this morning that he found a road. Follow a road long enough and it'll lead you somewhere.
After what seemed to be an eternity, Frank finally came across a small town.
As he walked down the street several people ran in fear of his bloodied body. All of a sudden a cop car came up on him.
"Hey buddy…you need some assistance?" the cop asked.
"No…I like to walk down the road with a broken body for fun. You guys got Laser Tag here?" Frank replied.
"Ok fella…I'm not big on lip here. So you're gonna have to come with me." the cop snidely responded.
"My name is Special Agent Frank Castle. I'm an agent of SHIELD. You heard of them before?"
"That's them Captain America boys ain't it?"
"Yeah…that's them. Listen…my badge and ID has been stolen. Take me to your station and let me use your phone. I can get someone who can verify who I am." Frank said.
"Ok…but you're gonna have to ride in the back of the car." the cop muttered.
"Whatever. Just do it."
A couple hours later….
A helicopter descended on the open field. The giant blades blew debris everywhere.
The sheriff along with some bystanders looked on in awe.
"I take it you boys are from SHIELD? You're here for the big fella back at HQ?" the sheriff inquired.
"Sir, Agent Campbell. SHIELD. Where is Agent Castle?"
"Told ya…back at HQ."
"Take me to him. Now."
At the HQ Station…
"Agent Castle…Agent Campbell. We're here to med-evac you back to Triskellion. Your family is there waiting to see you as well."
"It about time Jr. Get me home." Frank replied.
He sighed deeply.
Back at Triskellion Medical Quarters, Castle lay there in the bed. The IV drip in his arm made him forget all about the pain in his side.
"Agent Castle?" a voice rang out thru the haziness.
"Yeah?" Frank responded.
"Sir…I'm Dr.Turincs. I'll be your physician during the duration of your stay here."
"My family? My wife?" Frank asked.
"They were here earlier. We had some security agents escort them home to grab a few comforts. They'll be back here as soon as possible." Dr.Turincs explained.
"Good. So what's the damage report on me? What's busted and how long will it take to fix?"
"Well…anyone else might've been dead by now. I gotta say…I'm impressed. Your conditioning has paid off. The nurse will be by later when your family gets back to go over your injuries and what they can do to help with recovery. We don't expect you to be out of commission for any longer than 3 months."
"Ugh…downtime. My kryptonite." Frank said disgusted.
"Well…given what you've been thru…I'd think a vacation was due. Don't worry---we've got plenty of physical thera---"
KZZZZZZT! The building hummed a low buzz as the power died.
"Uh…Doc…why'd the power just go out?"
"I'm not sure. But why'd it get so dark all of a sudden?" Dr.Turincs responded.
Frank turned his head and looked out the window. A giant shadow engulfed the view.
"Dear God…" Frank exclaimed.
End.
