15:15
The Stark Tower is located in the Theater District of Midtown which neighbors Hell’s Kitchen on the east side. It stands tall with an open air section where giant lettering for ‘STARK’ hangs. There was the helicopter pad that Masters landed on.
“Wow, Tony Stark, hey have you guys gotten to team up with him yet?” Spider-Man asked as they jumped to the ground first. The two then walked out of the landing pad and over to the living room. “Of course you haven’t. Oh shit-” he said as the helicopter almost landed on him.
Frank and Blackbolt walked into the sliding door but then a chubby man appeared from behind the kitchen counter. “Hold up there,” he put on a breathing mask. “Who are you? Frank Castle!?”
“Look at that, he answered his own question,” Frank said, making Blackbolt smile. Frank then lounged on the couch and picked up the open Playboy magazine. “Hey you like this stuff big guy?”
“Uh…no, that’s for my boss.”
“Tell him to get a wife,” Frank incinerated the magazine with his lighter. Blackbolt silently took a seat on the reclining chair. He pulled the lever and took a heavy sigh.
Then the voice of Jarvis surprised the visitors as he informed, “Happy, these two are with Spider-Man outside. They came riding the helicopter of a Dinah Madani.” Frank flashed a wide smile at Happy before resting his boots on the coffee table.
“Jarvis! But whatever, I’m watching you two,” then Happy walked over holding his gun toward the two. He walked over to the sliding door that the others walked through now, “Watch out Natasha, I know you used sleep gas on me but I’m prepared this time.”
“Aw, see I told you not to do that,” Masters said to Nat. She shrugged, arguing that it was funny.
“Who invited the calvary?” Hawkeye asked, pointing to Frank.
“That was me,” Spider-Man said, jumping behind him.
“Spider-Man,” Nat exclaimed, “when did you get here?” She also met him beforehand.
“With you guys. You didn’t feel anything weighing down the helicopter?”
“Oh my gosh, what is going on?” Karen asked. Madani shook her head upon spotting Frank.
While the agents and Spider-Man talked, Madani stomped over to Frank. From behind, she whispered in his ear, “you decided to join up with an official superhero again.”
“The bug? He’s infectious, I can’t help it.”
“Well I guess your help would be appreciated.”
“You’re about to see.”
Madani walked away to ask Happy for the bathroom. “Uh Frank,” Karen said nervously. “Wh-so much has just happened.” She fell onto the couch next to him.
“You good?”
“No. I- uh, was just at the prison and everyone was murdered by the Hellcat including my friend Ben. And then this fast guy finished Misty and Colleen but wait- you don’t know them. You’re probably just worried for your own life.”
“Never have been. I feel bad for you Karen. Why don’t you go home and keep your lawyers happy?”
“Yeah but I’m also so tired,” She rested her head on his shoulder, almost falling asleep.
Then Spider-Man exclaimed, “Luke Cage was killed by a new Deadpool ally. They’re probably super strong too.” Karen woke back up in shock.
Then Jarvis announced, “please, everyone, remain calm, the man of the hour arrives.”
They quieted and turned to the elevator which opened to Tony Stark in his business suit. He wore a gold and red striped tie and underneath that one could see the blue of his energy core. He wore red shades and an annoyed face. “So who was the wise guy that decided to host a soup kitchen in my living room? Happy, I know it wasn’t you,” he said as Happy was about to protest.
“Is that soup kitchen for souper heroes or just like regular soup?” Spider-Man asked.
“I don’t want to hear anything from you. Frank freaking Castle is sitting on my couch with a babe like it’s Christmas. Where’s my present?”
“Tony, we already agreed on using this place. They just wanna help,” Masters said.
“Don’t you need clearance for alliances like this?” Stark asked.
“Yup, hey Barton, call Nick, he would like this in your voice.” Over at HQ, Nick facepalmed.
“Cool. Hey Jarvis, give us that entertainment. You guys can all sit. Martinis, anyone?”
“Just a Bud light, Buzz light,” Frank ordered.
“You know, I haven’t even been to space. Yet.”
So on the tv screen Jarvis showed everyone a quick video showcasing the exploits of Deadpool over his last 3 years of mercenary service. Jarvis confirmed he was a Canadian civilian with the real name Wade Wilson who seemed to have been cleared of cancer 1 year ago. Most of his activities were in Japan. Jarvis then moved to talking about Bullseye’s appearances in New York for the past 2 years, including a suspected appearance in Egypt 5 years ago. Finally Jarvis confirmed the deaths of Danny Rand, Jessica Jones, Colleen Wing, Mercedes Knight, and Luke Cage. Jarvis did show one blurred picture of the speedster Spider-Man fought from a street cam. A second picture of him was verified in Lincoln Square. It was a bit clearer so while staring at it Karen exclaimed, “he killed Misty! And Colleen!”
“So there are three,” Masters said.
Then Jarvis continued showing them documents just sent to him by Madani in the bathroom. She came out saying, “I couldn’t help but overhear and sent these to your little computer. Why does he have access to the bathroom, by the way?”
“Couldn’t have been me who programmed that,” Stark responded. “What are these?”
“Documents about Operation Cerberus.”
“Oh cool war history,” Spider-Man said, “is this about the guy you told me and BB about, Punisher?” Frank scoffed in response. Karen dropped her jaw. The Shield agents were intrigued by this new information.
Madani spoke while Jarvis showed pics. “Five years ago, the United States government wanted to remove “Shadow King” Farouk bin Muhammed Ali from the Eternal Caliphate of Egypt. In his long life, the mad king powered by dark magic slowly expanded Egypt’s borders although never in a way that truly insulted world relations. But there were plans discovered to unite all Islamic states under his new caliphate and this would be a fearsome world power the US did not want to deal with after so recently overcoming the Soviet Union. The US saw a chance when there were two revolts in the Nile region. One was made up of the so-called Kemetic Revolution in the southern Nile where the participants believed in Ancient Egyptian gods and wanted to recreate that state. They supposedly unlocked those gods becoming their idols. The second was a socialist revolt in Cairo that wanted to create a communist caliphate. So the US had to take out three heads; Farouk, Kemetics, and communists. A cerberus.” Stark and Spider clapped. “So a team of mercenaries and American black ops were created by now dead Agent Orange who ran the CIA at the time. The American black ops were Frank “the Punisher” Castle who earned that name during the Gulf War. His partner was his orphan best friend, Billy “the Beaut” Russo who also earned that name during the Gulf War for his…’tactics’. Their task was to assassinate the sultan as they were the best marines for such a job. At the same time; mercenaries Marc Spector, Raul Bushman, and “Frenchie” Jean-Paul Duchamp were after the Kemetics. Marc Spector would be the only agent to die in this operation although they were successful. Also simultaneously; mercenaries Bullseye, Crossbones, and Silver Sable were sent to kill the communists. Now these were pure mercenaries, who didn’t care about the political reasoning but it is unknown how Orange contacted them or who their real personalities are. We do know Silver Sable now operates in East Europe and, according to Mahomey, Bullseye takes ass beating lessons from Daredevil here in New York.”
“Wow, a whole super team of killers,” Stark commented.
Spider chimed in, “Wait, I met Silver Sable! She’s actually tried to kill me-”
“Who hasn’t wanted to?” Frank asked.
“Seconded,” Stark said. Spider-Man put his arms up in a shrug.
Masters then said very loudly to his agents, “looks like we were even here. Shield didn’t know about this Operation and the US did not know that I have already captured Crossbones for what he did in Greece”.
Madani raised an eyebrow. Then she finished saying, “you all are the only ones who know the true details of what was reported as the Egyptian Revolution where Kemetics and Socialists simultaneously killed Farouk and each other. Now the country, as you know, are the republics of Egypt, Sudan, and Syria. So if Bullseye and Deadpool have any new friends, it could be from here.”
“You sure?” Nat asked. “Where is Frenchie, Bushman, and Billy?”
“Billy has been killed by Frank.”
Then Jarvis said, “I found visa records for Frenchie and Bushman from last year but they have expired by now. They entered the country via Manhattan of course. Now I found a police report by Detective Flint. It seems they were both a part of the ‘Committee’ but Frenchie helped in the arrest and then killing of Bushman along with the Moon Knight who turned on the Committee. No other data on Duchamp.”
“Well there we have it, Frenchie is on the team,” Barton joked.
Stark took to the tv screen which became a white board. He brought the mask of Deadpool and Bullseye to the screen and then he drew a bad picture of Quicksilver. Karen redrew a better version. Spider-Man drew his interpretation of Namor without the goblin mask. Then Frank said, “there’s two more, none being Frenchie. He wouldn’t get involved in stuff like this. He was on the Kemet team specifically because he said ‘money is good when stolen from evil’. The Kemets were pillaging entire towns and were explicit on Arab genocide. He wouldn’t kill the superheroes.” So Stark erased the French flag.
“Why two more, Francis?”
“It would’ve been a team of five but Bullseye is a tag along. Two have kept quiet and somehow killed Luke when everyone’s attention was somewhere else. One with the ability to induce comas, cuz Claire’s strong and seen worse. The other with metal strong enough to cut Luke Cage.”
“Vibranium,” Stark started and then he said, “wait no, Adamantium.”
“Whatever the fuck.”
Blackbolt raised his hand and asked, “what?”
Stark answered, “Vibranium is space rock my dad found in Africa. Element 119. Super tough stuff with the unique quality of storing kinetic energy. Then there’s Adamantium, a super alloy of like five things, that my dad used to make Captain America’s shield. Super hard to make. More information on that, Shield? US agent lady?”
“Agent Madani sir,” Jarvis corrected.
Madani shook her head. Masters said, “well the US military uses Adamantium for tanks and fighter planes now. Of course, Shield has a secret rival that you guys can’t tell others about; Weapons Plus.” Fury slammed his desk. “They farm super humans including one with an Adamantium skeleton. He’s the Canadian superhero and wilderness protector Wolverine.”
“Wolvie!” Spider-Man shouted.
“Uh that guy fought the Hulk. And lost,” Stark pointed out.
But Barton added, “Wolverine only appears in Canada. He wouldn’t just cross the border to kill other superheroes.”
“Spider-boy,” Nat started, “where did you meet Wolverine? Masters here fought him once in Manitoba for recon.”
“I had to chase Kraven one time which led me to Toronto and we took him down together. He’s rough like Frank. I also don’t think he would just start killing us.”
“So evil Wolverine is a maybe,” Stark says. “Then, the last member might be a lady, just to make it fantastic.”
So the team would plan on surveying the city and attacking these mercenaries. Most also agreed on arresting Deadpool with the reasoning that he’d get the death penalty anyway. Karen listened to all of this until 5:30 when she realized she was left the boys alone. Spider-Man swung her over to Matt’s apartment in Hell’s Kitchen and then he himself returned to Stark Tower.
tdwriter 