I do not own the characters or locations but the ideas are my own.
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Frank Castle, the bringer of punishment to villains close to home and overseas alike, finds himself in a troubling situation. He's trapped in a warehouse by the Gotham docks as the Joker terrorizes him with the backup of two henchmen. They have more backup coming to them. Very seldom do things look this grim for Frank, as he is normally the one in control of the fight. This time however, he's the one on the wrong end of a gun barrel.
The Joker begins striking the metal banister with his gun as he slowly walks up the stairs to the office Frank is holed up in.
"You made a booboo, Franky. All alone. Trapped. Nowhere to go. I bet you're thinking, "how did I get into this mess" right about now. You are aren't you? Want to know why you're trapped in a warehouse so far from home, Franky? Because I'm too good. Did, you, honestly, expect, to come to MY city, and put an end to my shenanigans so EASILY? That's daftness bordering on madness, Franky. Unfortunately for you though, I don't share the same relationship with you that I do with our good friend Batman. That means it's time to say goodnight.. Punisher."
The Joker gets to the top of the staircase, and just at that moment Frank leaps through the doorway into the air, putting numerous rounds into the Jokers chest. The Joker falls back, thundering down the staircase. The two henchmen begin peppering away at Frank from the first floor with their sub-machine guns. Franks only cover are the thin sheets of metal that are placed around the banisters of the walkway. He runs and returns fire to the mad henchmen, narrowly missing each shot. He gets to the end of the walkway and with that runs out of bullets to fire. While one of the henchmen reloads the other fires one shot at the Punisher before running out of bullets. Just as he fires off that shot, two small, sharp projectiles fly into the warehouse disarming both henchmen. They turn to look at where the projectiles came from, and see a dark silhouette with pointed ears, a cape, and black combat armor.
"B-b-b-Batman!" says one henchman.
As the henchmen stand petrified, near wetting themselves, the dark silhouette makes a lightning fast sprint towards them. With pinpoint accuracy, the hero in black performs a devastating nerve strike on one henchmen, causing him to crumble to the ground. By the time he was done with that his other target had already made a sprint for the front door of the warehouse. As the last henchmen just nearly makes it past the door, another sharp projectile catches the fabric on the arm of his clothing while landing in the wall. The henchman is stuck. The black figure then sprints towards the henchmen before slamming his skull into the warehouse wall, knocking him out cold.
Batman just saved the Punishers life.
"Ha.. hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA," laughed what appeared to be the dead body of the Joker.
Frank stands and walks down the walkway, with his hand resting on his abdomen from being shot by the henchman. "thank god for kevlar..." He approaches the stairs. Batman makes his way over to the Jokers body.
"Come now, gentlemen. I WANTED Frank to find me, but do you really think I'd leave myself in a warehouse with him, with just two lackeys to back me up? Now THAT would be daftness bordering on madness" says Joker.
Batman crouched down to the body and picked up what appeared to be a small microphone, which is where the Jokers voice had been coming from the whole time. The deceased man was a Joker impersonator used to lure Frank and Batman to the warehouse. Frank gets to the bottom of the stairs. Him and Batman look at each other briefly, and then back to the microphone.
"Well, I really must go gentlemen. There are some tasks on my to do list I REALLY must be getting on with. You two play nice now." With that, a crack of static plays on the speaker, and then, silence. A dead silence.
"Castle."
"Batman."
"Why are yo-" Batman is interrupted by a beeping sound coming from the microphone which is getting progressively louder.
"It's a bomb!" says Frank. Both men leap out of range of the explosion.
Frank and Batman stand, appearing to be uninjured by the blast.
"I should of predicted he would pull a stunt like that," says Batman.
"Look, there isn't time to talk despite how unhappy you may be with my return. The Joker has backup on it's way now," says Frank.
"Then we wait. We will fight them together, but we're doing it my way. No killing."
"As far as I'm concerned we need each other right now, Batman, so I'll do things my way and you do things your way, or you're all by yourself."
Batman's eyes narrow upon Frank. Frank's eyes narrow back.
Batman grunts and nods. Frank takes up position on the second floor walkway, pistols pointed at the large entrance of the warehouse. Batman lingers in the shadows, ready to pounce on his first target. Just as they ready up a loud screeching sound is heard from outside. Several cars have stopped outside the warehouse. The Jokers backup step out of their vehicles and rush inside the warehouse. The first henchman is gunned down immediately by Frank. Two rounds in the chest. Military precision.
Another 3 henchmen rush in from behind guns blazing. One is shot in the head. Just as the other two take aim for Frank, two batarangs whiz past and relieve them of their firearms. Batman leaves the shadows and begins to engage the henchmen in hand-to-hand combat. Both henchmen throw strikes at Batman but he holds them off punch for punch. Meanwhile two more henchmen enter the fray.
Frank, making his approach to the stairs, let's off rounds from his pistols. One round penetrates the lower torso of one henchman, killing him. Another round grazes the arm of the other henchmen but he keeps on firing at Frank. Frank, running to the stairs while shooting, has a hail of bullets just miss him. He gets to the stairs and returns fire on the henchmen, putting several bullets through his skull. Frank gets to the bottom of the stairs and is rejoined by Batman. Frank finds himself out of bullets and pulls out a combat knife. Batman gives him a look. He reluctantly sheathes the blade. They both step outside the warehouse, and to their surprise, see the last of the henchmen making a speedy getaway in their vehicle. They drive off into the night.
"I don't know what brought you here, Castle, but this stops now. Why have you returned to Gotham?"
"The better question is why are Jokers weapon exports popping up everywhere in New York? I've been tracing all leads back to him for months. I would of thought the famous "Batman" would have a leash on this clown by now."
"Despite how satisfying it would be to see you fail at trying to do a better job, I can't allow you to. The Joker is my responsibility alone. You coming here only complicates things. You would have been killed if I wasn't here tonight. Leave the Joker to me."
"And you wouldn't have been? Your batarangs can only get you so far. We needed each other in there and you know it. Let me help you take Joker down, or get out of the way. I won't stop hunting him until I see his weapons off the streets of New York, and a bullet in his head."
"Ah, very clever, Joker. Don't you see it Castle? Joker intended for us both to be here tonight, but did you ever stop to think why that is?"
"I was a little.. preoccupied."
"Joker knew you were tracking him. He knows he can't hide from me either. He staged this meeting tonight in order for us to come face to face. His plan was to pit us against each other. He predicted us to fight over our difference in morals. It nearly worked, too."
"Now what I'm wondering is, what's next? Anyone who puts this much thought into staging a midnight brawl between the two men tracking him has to have something bigger going on."
"You're right. He needed a diversion. But what for?"
"I think I know. Take a whiff of this, but don't touch it." Frank hands Batman the vial of blue acid he found earlier that night."
"Acid," says Batman.
"Two men were meant to be delivering this to Joker here tonight. It may have something to do with whatever Joker is planning."
"Perhaps he is going to weaponize it. This is... concerning. I can tell by the stench what kind of effect this would have on human skin. If Joker can mass produce this there's no telling how much damage he could cause."
"Then what are you going to do about it? Because I'm not going to linger around warehouses waiting for Jokers henchmen to cut me down. I'm going to hunt him down and put an end to this, my way. Whether you help me or stay out of it is up to you."
"Your way is not true justice, Castle. By killing the killers you make yourself every bit of the scum they are."
"So long as they get put in the dirt, I'm okay with that. I'm warning you now, though: get in my way, and I won't hesitate to put you in the dirt too."
With that, Frank turns and walks off into the night.
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