A Favor from a Friend

[Wolverine]

Logan left the alley behind and walked the several blocks over to grab his Harley. He wanted to be able to split town and head back to Xavier's as soon as he could. It was only a hunch but it was a good one, he thought he might be able to get another set of eyes out on the streets looking for Sabretooth, and he was pretty sure he knew where to find them. There was only one person he trusted enough to follow someone to the ends of the earth and as a creature of habit, as most predators are, he figured to find him at the same watering hole he always went to on a Monday Night.

Pulling up out front he parked his bike up alongside the others, and grabbing his hat from out of his saddle bag he walked into McKlusky's. It was dark inside and had a smell to it, cigars and cigarettes that should have never been lit but to hell with the law - they didn't call it Hell's Kitchen for nothing, and underneath it all a dank reek of old beer and piss. It was the way a good self respecting bar should smell. He didn't need to say a word as he walked through the milling groups of people, they were all wolves themselves but next to him they knew their place as sheep, they stepped aside to give him a wide berth.

There he is.. good man

[PUNISHER]

In war there are no rules. Two hundred years ago, the British Army learned this fact that hard way. All thanks to a bunch of guys that picked up their guns, ran into the bush, and blew their pale tea sippin' asses right out of the water. Right now, there a whole new kind of war upon them, and was not going away any time soon. It was a long day, and about to be an even longer night for Frank Castle, known to few by his actual name but known to all as THE PUNISHER. The murder of the girl had been on his mind for since the night it occurred. When kids got caught up in the insanity of the war, especially girls, well that had Frank reach a new sort of boiling point. He spent most of the weekend doing some of his own investigating on the case that caught such attention.

It had nothing to do with the damn Major's vow to clean up that area of the city, though Frank found the idea as a whole laughable. There was only one clean up crew to get rid of the scumbags, and that was him. The major was too busy collecting money from the big businesses to leave them out of investigations. So while the news media begged the public for help, Frank helped himself and got the copies of the reports through his contact in the police department. Almost all of them thought that the whole thing was gang-related, like the Almighty King and Queen Nation that were in the area or the Los Vatos Locos. He knew right away it wasn't any of them. He wiped out more than half the chapter of the Almighty King and Queen Nation two weeks ago and Los Vatos Locos stuck to Queens.

He had been pacing and waiting for the chance to investigate the crime scene properly. Yea he caught a glimpse of it at night, but it was nothing but violence and depravity in it's purest form. The scene looked far too animal-like to have been done by a human, which means either another monster made it's way into his city under Frank's radar, or this was a whole new ballgame that wasn't gonna end well. He had been asking around on the streets, grabbing scums and demanding they tell him all they know about the girl. Turned out the girl was an artist, and a damn good one. She had a lot of friends, good student, and was very close with her family. Just before he came to this dive, he had a nice little 'chat' with the girl's boyfriend. Colombian scumbag was 22 years old and dating that sweet girl, and he had prospect ink for the DDP gang on his arm. Frank broke the little shit's arm and let him off that if he ever found him with those Domincan pieces of shit, that will be the last time he sees him will be the last time the kid sees anyone.

Right then, Frank was biding his time. He was going to go back on the streets and find out what happened and who was stupid enough to do it. When kids got hurt on Frank's streets, those responsible never lived long after that. It bothered him because everyone in the city knew how it worked, which meant it could only be an outsider. His musings and deep thought were cut short though, because while he finished his second rum on the rocks, he felt eyes on him, his predatory instincts honed by years of war alerting him instantly. One wouldn't be able to tell, but Frank was very aware of his surroundings despite his calm nature. His Beretta 92FS INOX converted into full auto was right in his jacket pocket, and as his hand inched toward it, he knew could have it out before anyone even knew what hit him.

[Wolverine]

Times are tough Logan thought but not tough enough to drink that rotgut I smell in Castle's glass. "What the hell's that yer drinkin?" He said with a slap to the back of the only guy he would trust to do the dirty work he didn't have time to do himself. "Was hopin to find ya in here. Buy ya a beer?"

"Hell of a sight, huh... you know what I'm talkin bout right?" The steady silence from his longtime friend told Logan the former Marine at his side knew exactly what he was referring to. "The sight and the smell match up, it's Creed's handywork alright, but that ain't the worst part." He reached over to pick up his beer and pull a swallow from the bottle. "It's just a hunch, but I think one o'the kids from the school put him up to it, but even that ain't the worst part neither.."

He took another pull on his beer as he sat down, he didn't know how to go about saying all he needed to. There was a thing that Logan just couldn't put his finger on... something he was missing, and he didn't want to send Castle off into the fray without enough intell. That wouldn't help at all.

"Worst part is that girl looks just like another girl.. one at the school.. one I know well," he raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Frank. "And the kid? He's one a Emma's Hellions, by the name a Van Alstyne. You might know the bloodline? Somethin ain't addin up though. Maybe I'm too close to it. Ah HELL- I need ya Castle, I need a fresh perspective on this." For his love, his Angel Eyes, he would swallow his pride. For her he would cut to the quick and ask for help.

[PUNISHER]

Frank looked up at what was perhaps his only true friend over the past decade. The only one he more often fought alongside with rather than against, a rare feat for the man known as the Punisher. He lived by his code of ethics and no one else's, which served to be a problem for many of the costumed heroes. That was probably why a friendship forged between the two men, both in many retrospects were outcasts from the community because of their nature. Logan and him had a deep understanding and allies, more often than not being the first the other would go to when a situation went out of their reach.

He finished the rest of the rum on the rocks and brought his hand up to indicate to the bartender that he wanted a refill. "Creed makes sense. Police think it's gang work, but I knew it couldn't be. Wiped out more than half the local chapter a couple of weeks back, the rest in the area are laying low for now." He took the police report out of his jacket and slid it over to Logan, taking the glass from the bartender when he came around. "Did some investigating on the girl too. Good kid, poor family but did good for herself. Was the local artist, had her name in the paper for winning some statewide contest. Worse thing about her was she was dating some DDP prospect scum, but I took care of him. The girl was at some food joint eight blocks away with her friends, stepped out to make a phone call and disappeared into thin air. No one saw her, I asked around and some said she went into the alley on the side of the place to take the call."

Taking a long swallow of the burning liquor, Frank placed the glass on the table and turned to look at his long time friend. "Van Alstyne kid huh? Must be old enough to at least get access to the family money. Creed don't come cheap. Half the mobs, police department and most of the damn government is on their payroll, that family is damn near untouchable. Why would he pay Creed off to waste some kid that looks like some girl you know? You want a fresh outlook, you better fill me in on what you're not telling me. The kid didn't deserve to die like that, and this here is my area. Daredevil patrols it, but I keep these streets clean. Something like this happens on my watch, I want to get every last scumbag that had anything to do with it." He raised his glass with Logan and threw his head back to swallow the last of the drink with his long time friend. Frank slammed the glass down on the table and looked over at Logan again. "If this has anything to do with the big name families, I need all the details I can get. I don't do my work without as much answers as I can get."

[Wolverine]

.

"It's a good practice.. I shouldn't mess with ya for it, I do the same when I can. On toppa all that I'm gonna owe ya bigtime for this... plus, don't I still owe ya for that thing in Nicaragua?" His grin curled up as he looked to the side at his drinking buddy. "Ah, alright it's a long story but here's the down and dirty version. This girl, she's amazin.. and you know she'd have to be for me to be.. well" he thought about the crap he would get and the implications of telling his feelings, but he didn't care anymore about what anyone said and on top of it all he needed Frank to understand how important she was to him "in love with her."

He looked hard at the vigilante in anticipation of the backlash sure to come. It wouldn't be fair if Castle said anything about the age difference, hell almost everyone alive was younger than Logan and they both knew that. "Yea, I said it.. now you know what she means to me, and I don't wanna hear about her bein a kid. The problem is this Van Alstyne runt is infatuated with her. The punk's one sick bastard. Power is to move earth, so Emma named him Rumble. Rumor is he caused all those West Coast tremors in the early nineties. Psychopath killed what, like over fifty people. Probably born that way, but you know Emma, she had to've cultivated it in him like it was some prize squash at the county fair."

"Now month's a gone by since my girl fought her way through Hell to come and get me, and I ain't gonna bore you with the details. Rumble ain't stupid, he connected the dots and he's been pushin both our buttons ever since.. so, fast forward to this past week. I guess the way she threw him through a wall and the way I tossed him out a second story window of the school confirmed his suspicions, so this weekend he musta got busy. Contacted Creed, chose the target himself to look just like my Angel Eyes, and set him out on his mission. Thing is.. he cornered my girl, told her in not so many words.. he claimed it without actually sayin he did it. Then he let her know his ultimatum. Either she gives herself fully to him or more girls like that one pay the ultimate price." He drained his beer and waved the bartender back over. "Another round Mac." he looked over at Frank "You did want another, yea?"

"Anyway, when she told me what he'd said and showed it to me on the news it looked too much like Creed's signature to not get a closer look, so I did. I didn't smell the Hellion's scent anywhere in that alley, so there ain't gonna be any trace the cop's will find and I gotta get back to the school. I can only guess what she might be doing thinkin I'm in trouble... she's amazing like I said. I never had anybody ever love me enough to come rescue me, let alone come lookin for me in LIMBO, so I know she wont stay put for long. Look there's somethin missing here and I ain't got time right now to hunt down Creed, figure it all out AND get back before my firebrand comes lookin for me. I know it's a rough sketch but the nearest I can figure is Creed's on the kid's payroll now, and he's waitin on word to kill again. I wish I had a picture to show ya my girl, but I swear the girl in the alley could be her sister, her twin sister. She's got the same features, gypsy blooded, chocolate eyes... beautiful."

The last word he spoke in little more than a whisper, more to himself than to Castle. His mind and his worries were on where things would go and how far they would progress before he would have to put his claws through Rumble's skull and end it. He could do it now, but without a legitimate reason to end Brock's life, his own would become a mess beyond salvation and the life of his love, the school, and everyone in it would be ruined. "Van Alstyne money's nothing to mess with but there's things beyond money, connections to be considered.. senators make laws and registration was bad enough, I don't want to be the reason things get worse. I miss the old days. It oughta be easy... just end things quick and bloody, eye for an eye and all that. I got too many ties. They bind me to the people in my life, people I don't want harm coming to, and by my own actions I will bring them to ruin. You could learn a thing or two from this son, stay alone, disconnected.. as long as you want to keep doing what you do. It just makes things easier when you only gotta worry about yerself."

He took another swallow of beer "Me? ..I ain't got that luxury anymore."

[PUNISHER]

"I always hated that damn family," Frank said after taking a swallow of his drink and mulling over everything that Logan said. This was bigger than he imagined, and he had to think through how to get this done efficiently. It was rare that Logan asked him for a favor, and even more scare was it that it had to do with something potentially as big as this could unravel into. There was a lot at stake and he knew that this whole thing could get uglier than it already did. "That is one sick kid if I ever heard of one. Kid got enough power and money to do whatever the hell he wants and on top of that he can turn the damn city into Atlantis's new neighbor. That's comforting." The sarcastic tone was evident as he thought out loud, already making a game plan in his head. "If Creed is anywhere in the state, I'll find him. I got some loose ends around here that can wait. Creed never stays in one place for too long when he's on a job, and that son of a bitch knew what he was getting into when he killed in my neighborhood."

Frank stared at his newly filled glass, deep in thought. That's what he did, he thought and planned and then he grabbed his guns and finished the source of whatever problem needed to be solved. The issue that his old friend presented to him was not something he could just rush into, it was something for him to seriously think about. Any issue that had to do with the big named families were something he had to thread on carefully. As much as he wanted to waste every single one of those corrupt bastards, but that would cause more harm than good. He still had too much to do, too many other scums to cleanse the Earth from. And when all was said and done there would be one more bullet left in his gun with his name on it. Until then, he had to play it smart.

"I'll have bank statements from the Van Alstyne account drawn up through my contact, see if your hunch is right. Creed's an animal enough to kill a girl without pay, but he wouldn't do it here knowing I'd be after him. And we ain't exactly on friendly terms." The last time Frank saw Victor Creed was a deadly encounter out in Vermont, that ended for Frank having a broken arm and Creed missing half his face and looked like swiss cheese. A couple of good well aimed shots in the face was all that he needed to slow that sadistic animal down. "I'll head out tonight, he had two whole days to get ahead, but if he's anywhere in the area I'll find him. If something ain't done about that Van Alstyne kid, I'll do it myself. Killing a girl that was barely sixteen right in my neighborhood isn't going to go unpunished."

As odd as it was for him to imagine Logan with some kid, but the old son of a bitch wasn't all that fond of kids to begin with so he had to for his own peace of mind the girl was at least legal. Otherwise he may have to smack him for getting with a god damn teenager. "I'll find you something, and this will be taken care of. You go back to the girl, keep an eye on her cause I don't know if it's smart to leave her so close to Van Alstyne, but if she can handle your charming self, I'm sure she'll be fine." A ghost of a smirk came on Frank's face as he clapped Logan on the shoulder. "I'll keep in touch, probably have something be tomorrow." He downed the rest of his glass and looked over at Logan. "You still here? Get your ass outta here and go get your girl."