The Punisher - Escalation

Written by Demond Jones

Art by Demond Jones and Andy Bonesteel

This story is fan fiction based on characters owned by Marvel Comics and is solely intended for entertainment.

Following up on a lead about an arms dealer selling high-tech weaponry to the mafia, Frank Castle, "The Punisher," tracks down the latest deal going down at an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn. He arrives at the scene in the middle of the exchange and initiates an attack with a barrage of gun fire. As the criminals wildly disperse in search of shelter, the punisher is stunned by the arrival of the supervillain team, "The Wrecking Crew." Abruptly overwhelmed and cornered by the crew, Frank ignites the explosives that he had previously set up around the warehouse. After the dust had settled from the explosion, he found himself buried in debris. Frank’s broken body is then suddenly ripped from the wreckage by crew member "Pile Driver." As he begins to finish the Punisher off, he and his crew are brutally fired upon by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Pile Driver drops Punisher, and The Wrecking Crew attacks the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. After the agents leave Frank to fight, he is pulled into a car by a teenager that the arms dealers brought with them, who bravely escaped during the battle.

Frank wakes up in an abandoned house with the same kid leaning over him. The kid tells Frank that he’s a hacker named "Reaper," and the arms dealer, "The Hood," forced him to work for them - gathering information by hacking through any systems that he could get his hands on. Reaper tells Frank that while he was getting him to safety, the Wrecking Crew fought S.H.I.E.L.D. in a battle that resulted in the deaths of fourteen civilians. Then, he told Frank that the Hood was holding his family hostage and would kill them unless he helps set them free. Frank tells Reaper he’ll help him, but they’re going to need special gear to take on the Hood. Reaper informs him that the Hood has a deal with a rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who kidnapped a scientist named Dr. John Kassin. He told him the agent uses Dr. Kassin to recreate confiscated advanced weaponry from a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. armory. Frank began to formulate a plan.

The Punisher and Eulogy find Hyde in a cartel kingpin’s mansion in Brazil. After poisonous gas kills all the soldiers on the property, Mr. Hyde comes charging out. He's then struck with a Vibranium tipped dart containing the antidote to the Hyde formula. As he lay helpless, Eulogy and the Punisher walk up to deliver the kill shot when suddenly, Eulogy is hit with a tranquilizer dart. When the Punisher turns around, he finds the "Winter Soldier" standing there. After Winter Soldier reveals he’s there to arrest him on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., he and Punisher exchange a barrage of gunfire. During the fire fight, Mr. Hyde uses the distraction to take another dose of his formula. After transforming, Hyde takes Punisher and Winter Soldier by surprise, heaving a pickup truck at them. With him and Winter Soldier pinned behind the truck as Hyde barrels towards them, the Punisher pops a cocktail pill of Hyde’s formula with a dose of Gamma chemicals that transforms him into a grey, hulking MONSTROSITY. The Monstrosity then rips the truck apart and lunges towards Hyde, with fury in his eyes. After trading exhausting powerful blows, Hyde is overcome by Monstrosity's power, and is brutally beaten to death. Knowing he has to act fast, Winter Soldier fires a missile launcher at Monstrosity before he has time to react. With smoke everywhere from the explosion, the soldier tries to spot the Punisher, when a giant grey hand reaches through the smoke and rips off his robotic arm. Then, just as Monstrosity continues his attack, he suddenly transforms and reverts back to the Punisher. Eulogy finally comes to and gathers the recovering Punisher to make their escape.

After regrouping a week later, it is time for the final target, the Hood. With an army protecting his Bronx compound, the Hood laid waiting for the Punisher. Just then the Punisher blatantly walks up to the front gate of the army, alone, holding a single rifle. As the soldiers laugh, the Punisher activates his "Pym Particles" and suddenly grows into "Giant Man" size. Holding the now giant sized shot gun, he begins to fire on the soldiers. with each impact colliding like a tank blast. With his army now destroyed, the Hood emerges from the building BLASTING the giant Punisher with his mystical guns. The burst instantly reverts the Punisher back to normal size and the Hood descends upon him - ready to finish the job. The Punisher fires off a final shot with his shot gun, with no effect on the Hood. In response, the Hood starts to laugh and gloat about the Punisher’s failure when suddenly, Eulogy Bodyslides in behind the Hood and decapitates him with the Black Knight’s Ebony Blade, eliminating his condescending cackle.

With their mission accomplished, Punisher and Eulogy try to activate the Bodyslide back to base, but find that their device is jammed. They then notice Cable and "Deadpool" body slide in front of them. Eulogy immediately gives the Punisher the plasma cannons she brought with her and they engage Cable and Deadpool in battle! After a ferocious sword fight with Deadpool, Eulogy finally impales Deadpool with her sword; but to Eulogy’s surprise, he was only playing dead and took the opportunity to shoot her. Incapacitated, Eulogy is out of the game. As Cable and Punisher continue to exchange gun fire, Cable suddenly throws a small device at Punisher that emits a powerful energy that deactivates Punisher’s plasma cannons. Cable then shoots the, now defenseless, Punisher, ending the battle, once and for all. As Punisher laid on the ground losing consciousness, he spots a blurry "Nick Fury" strolling towards him, then blacks out.

When Frank wakes up, he finds himself back in his graveyard headquarters with Nick Fury standing in front of him. Fury then gets straight to the point and tells Frank that he will allow him to continue his operations, using all of his stolen advanced weaponry, but he secretly works for him now. The catch was that Fury would provide the targets and if the Punisher is captured on a mission, or if innocent people are hurt, he would be disavowed and subject to prosecution by law enforcement. In exchange, the Punisher would be allowed to go after his regular targets, which would also be a cover for Fury’s agenda. Frank accepted the generous offer and he and his team became the new secret assassins of supervillains around the world.