Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2016 8:08:32 GMT -7
Everything that had happened in New York, how quickly everything degenerated and crumpled on itself, everyone was surprised of it. They did not see it coming, never experienced something like that, not in a civilized area such as New York City. But Frank did see this coming, he was expecting for something to go horribly wrong, even if he did not know how terribly it would go. Not because of the top of the notch intelligence, not because he's been living and breathing with the city for decades, but because all of this had already happened before. It was far away from the States, in a distant land of horrors called Vietnam, in a little artillery base known as valley Forge. Many have read the books, out of historical interest or because many tie the birth of the Punisher to the tragic events that brought the artillery base to fall under the weight of the North Vietnamese army, but what many don't know is that the terrible massacre could have been avoided. It was like find a diagnosis for a cancer and ignore the symptoms. Several caravans carrying weaponry in the jungle, so many that not even Castle's patrol managed to intercept them, enough weapons to ready a whole army once that they made it to their destination. And they did, and so the army marched upon the artillery base and when the dawn came and napalm rained down from the sky all that was left among the pile of burnt bodies was a single man with a broken M16 in his hands. Sometimes, at night, Frank still dreams of that time as if it just happened. Now even more so, as he once more managed to witness the symptoms but could do nothing from stopping the weapons coming. Just one man, too many went trough, and the inevitable occurred taking down ten thousand innocent souls with it. Frank knew that there was only one thing he could do, something that did not need the skull of the Punisher, something that only a former Marine's Captain could do.
«How many?» The room is mostly dark, a single table at the center with a large map and so many symbols and notes on it that most could not even read trough it without getting an headache. But for Frank Castle that was the fulcrum of careful planning and unwanted sacrifices. «Six, sir. But we got the supplies, as planned.» At first it should have been simple, he saved those eh could and sent them somewhere safe, hoping that the storm would pass quickly at the heroes would rain from the sky and clean the city. But the bomb, the damned bomb, it made everything worst. The city was locked and the people in it slowly began to see in Frank Castle a saviour as he kept fetching them and sending them to any safe spot available. But he could not protect them for long, he was just one man and he worked alone. He needed much more to change the situation, and when he found a group of Marines who were left behind during the evacuation, that something resounded clear in his mind as the explosion of a Claymore. He had to find them and lead them, he had to use all that he knew to establishment a safe perimeter and expand it. Not on the surface where everyone would have been vulnerable to flying freaks and artillery, but rather below, in the sewers that he knew as well as his own home. Policemen, soldiers and even members of private forces who were left behind to die. Found or freed, he collected them and did not go easy on making the situation clear to them. He picked the weakest foe, Hood, and sneaked below him while the Inner Demons of Negative continued to devastate the surface. Almost all of the tunnels leading to risky areas were sealed with explosions, covered with the strife up above while medics and scientists collected what was found during the night patrols to create fortune hospitals, arranged gardening and whatever was possible to give the survivors even the slightest hope. Areas divided and handled to Sergeants and Captains alike, all in contact with him and only with him, to avoid the risk of an intrusion or a betrayal. But if there is something that such desperate times do into man is bring out that spark of humanity that helps them to do the right thing, and so the safe area below grew in size and numbers. At least two thousand between civilians and troops now stood under the watch of Frank Castle, the veterans training the youth to use a gun in case something went wrong, they were doing something of horrible and necessary. Because the only truth there was the being silent and let the mighty four above massacre each-others was the only way to keep them safe, that if someone else excluding the Hood had turned it's attention to the underground settlement all the tactical planning wouldn't have done much to save the thousands from getting slaughtered. And there was nothing that Frank Could have done more, all he could do is lead patrols in the surface during the night to salvage and find anything valuable, even attacking depots held by criminal forces and cleaning them off if needed be. Medicines, food, weapons, plenty of the last but few of the latter.
«The scouts found odd movement in the north area, tell them to reinforce the perimeter and booby-trap the tunnels. If anything non-human shows up you have to seal them off. Don't waste lives on a battle that you cannot win, the Inner Demons are beyond your capabilities.» In the territory of the Hood and unable to hit him, because he was the shield that kept Negative occupied. if only he could find a way to defeat them both or redirect Negative's attention elsewhere, he could have struck and defeated hood, claim back a whole piece of the city along with much more resources and space. All of that however had to be timed with proper help from the only safe area left in new York. Hell's Kitchen, where the heroes ganged up together in order to forma common front. He knew about the, but they did not know about him. he needed a contact. «Understood, sir. I'll inform the rest of the troops. Jericho out.»The radio fell silent on the table, Castle sunk back into the chair and joined his hand in thought. Not in prayer, there was no god or devil that could have solved that situation, that's something that he had to handle himself. He needed to contact the heroes, tell them to intercept Negative and even defeat him if they were capable. To do so he had to move, alone, leave the command to the few trusted ones and run a considerable risk of returning only to find massacred civilians and dead soldiers, with a single super human villain finding out about his absence and cleaning off everything and everyone in there. In silent contemplation he stares at the flickering light of the lamp, down at the map, at all the red marks present on it. Lost patrols, lost resources, failed operations. There were none, all that he had planned that far was successful, but the bodies left behind and the grieving mothers and fathers, there was nothing he could do to prevent that. But if he defeated Hood and the heroes took down Negative, then there was a chance. The possibility to create a truly safe area, well guarded, well provisioned, where to gather as many civilians as possible. To give them a hope, even if coming from a man such as himself. But the Punisher, he's someone who can handle a war against criminals. What was happening now had nothing to do with crime. It was a war, just that, on the very ground of one of America's greatest cities. It was his war, and this time he had to win it, for there was something more at stake than a hundred soldier and some artillery pieces on a mud-covered hill.
«How many?» The room is mostly dark, a single table at the center with a large map and so many symbols and notes on it that most could not even read trough it without getting an headache. But for Frank Castle that was the fulcrum of careful planning and unwanted sacrifices. «Six, sir. But we got the supplies, as planned.» At first it should have been simple, he saved those eh could and sent them somewhere safe, hoping that the storm would pass quickly at the heroes would rain from the sky and clean the city. But the bomb, the damned bomb, it made everything worst. The city was locked and the people in it slowly began to see in Frank Castle a saviour as he kept fetching them and sending them to any safe spot available. But he could not protect them for long, he was just one man and he worked alone. He needed much more to change the situation, and when he found a group of Marines who were left behind during the evacuation, that something resounded clear in his mind as the explosion of a Claymore. He had to find them and lead them, he had to use all that he knew to establishment a safe perimeter and expand it. Not on the surface where everyone would have been vulnerable to flying freaks and artillery, but rather below, in the sewers that he knew as well as his own home. Policemen, soldiers and even members of private forces who were left behind to die. Found or freed, he collected them and did not go easy on making the situation clear to them. He picked the weakest foe, Hood, and sneaked below him while the Inner Demons of Negative continued to devastate the surface. Almost all of the tunnels leading to risky areas were sealed with explosions, covered with the strife up above while medics and scientists collected what was found during the night patrols to create fortune hospitals, arranged gardening and whatever was possible to give the survivors even the slightest hope. Areas divided and handled to Sergeants and Captains alike, all in contact with him and only with him, to avoid the risk of an intrusion or a betrayal. But if there is something that such desperate times do into man is bring out that spark of humanity that helps them to do the right thing, and so the safe area below grew in size and numbers. At least two thousand between civilians and troops now stood under the watch of Frank Castle, the veterans training the youth to use a gun in case something went wrong, they were doing something of horrible and necessary. Because the only truth there was the being silent and let the mighty four above massacre each-others was the only way to keep them safe, that if someone else excluding the Hood had turned it's attention to the underground settlement all the tactical planning wouldn't have done much to save the thousands from getting slaughtered. And there was nothing that Frank Could have done more, all he could do is lead patrols in the surface during the night to salvage and find anything valuable, even attacking depots held by criminal forces and cleaning them off if needed be. Medicines, food, weapons, plenty of the last but few of the latter.
«The scouts found odd movement in the north area, tell them to reinforce the perimeter and booby-trap the tunnels. If anything non-human shows up you have to seal them off. Don't waste lives on a battle that you cannot win, the Inner Demons are beyond your capabilities.» In the territory of the Hood and unable to hit him, because he was the shield that kept Negative occupied. if only he could find a way to defeat them both or redirect Negative's attention elsewhere, he could have struck and defeated hood, claim back a whole piece of the city along with much more resources and space. All of that however had to be timed with proper help from the only safe area left in new York. Hell's Kitchen, where the heroes ganged up together in order to forma common front. He knew about the, but they did not know about him. he needed a contact. «Understood, sir. I'll inform the rest of the troops. Jericho out.»The radio fell silent on the table, Castle sunk back into the chair and joined his hand in thought. Not in prayer, there was no god or devil that could have solved that situation, that's something that he had to handle himself. He needed to contact the heroes, tell them to intercept Negative and even defeat him if they were capable. To do so he had to move, alone, leave the command to the few trusted ones and run a considerable risk of returning only to find massacred civilians and dead soldiers, with a single super human villain finding out about his absence and cleaning off everything and everyone in there. In silent contemplation he stares at the flickering light of the lamp, down at the map, at all the red marks present on it. Lost patrols, lost resources, failed operations. There were none, all that he had planned that far was successful, but the bodies left behind and the grieving mothers and fathers, there was nothing he could do to prevent that. But if he defeated Hood and the heroes took down Negative, then there was a chance. The possibility to create a truly safe area, well guarded, well provisioned, where to gather as many civilians as possible. To give them a hope, even if coming from a man such as himself. But the Punisher, he's someone who can handle a war against criminals. What was happening now had nothing to do with crime. It was a war, just that, on the very ground of one of America's greatest cities. It was his war, and this time he had to win it, for there was something more at stake than a hundred soldier and some artillery pieces on a mud-covered hill.