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| Punisher 2099UG Issue #7 Written by Joey Guerra |
| The 2099 Underground is a project whereby a group of fans are putting together a series of stories continuing from Marvel's fantastic futuristic 2099! Ignoring the ignoble and inaccurate "2099: World of Tomorrow", we're exploring what we feel is the true spirit of 2099 as envisioned by then Editor-in-Chief Joey Cavalieri. Participation is open to all. Comments about this issue should be sent to the author. Or you can visit our message board and post your thoughts on the issue. Anyone wishing to join the mailing list should do so by signing up at Yahoo! Groups. It's free and easy! Simply type in the keyword "Ghostworks" and you're good to go. |
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| My name is John daSilva, and just moments ago my world came crashing down with fatal results. I sit in the middle of the devastation mere seconds after it happened. Nothing around me but smoke, and fire, and of course the body. A familiar friend's voice screams at me through my comunicator, but I pay no attention. For now is my time of mourning for one of the few friends I've had in this hard lifetime. "Who?" you may be asking yourself. Well to understand it all we must start at the beginning...... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last night's when we got in deep, me and my partner Vendetta. The Punisher, that is. After our last confrontation with our newest villain, Combustion, we were heading home to Matt, Combustion's next target. I was still visibly shaken by the events that occurred at Bill Smith's house. "I killed an innocent man, Punisher." Vendetta was in no mood for my whining and simply tried to put an end to it. "It WASN'T you shockin' fault, okay? You were knocked out and when you came to you went after Combustion and started blasting. How were you to know he had Bill with him?" How indeed. Still how could I have reacted any other way? Her words gave me little comfort in my actions. If only I would have thought about it more, Bill would still be alive! I do know one thing for sure, if Jake Gallows had been there that night things would have gone diffrently. Maybe that's part of my problem. In trying to keep Jake's dream alive I second guess myself too much. How would Jake have done this, stuff like that, a mistake I'm sure one day will cost me even more than what I've lost today. Somehow I managed to put away my feelings of guilt as we pulled into our headquarters. I was just praying that Matt wasn't dead. We raced into the control room, and came upon our friend who was hysterical- "Punisher, John, I know what's going on, I figured it out, I..." Vendetta moved closer to Matt and put her hand on his shoulder. "Whoa, slow down Matt, has anyone been in here tonight?" "No, I'm fine and I finally think I have the answer!" I was of course interested in what Matt had to say, after all we had been hunting down Combustion for four days now, and we still couldn't discover what his motive was. The only thing we knew for sure was he was killing some of Matt's old friends. "It should have hit me before! See, a few years back me and Jenny helped design security systems! I helped out with Alchemax, and Jenny with Stark-Fuji! This Combustion guy must want to get into these buildings to take them over!" Vendetta frowned at Matt. "But what about your other friends that died, what about Bill?" "They both had access to certain top secret areas of both Corps. Don't you see, Combustion must think if he can take the two big Corps, then he can take New York!" It seemed we were finally on to something. Vendetta, Matt, and I talked it over and decided that this most be Combustion's motive. But in our haste to listen to Matt we forgot about something. The fact that Combustion was on his way, and that Matt was his next target! As I sat back in a chair taking in our conversation I heard a deafining sound. Combustion had arrived! "Matt Axel you hold the last piece of information I desire, give it to me and die quickly and painlessly!" He was upon us quicker than I had figured and the explosion that he used to make an entrance had knocked out Vendetta. I made a desperate attempt to stop him from harming Matt. "MATT GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!" I yelled and Matt did run. But no sooner had I gotten in front of Combustion he blasted me with a burst of his energy, and I flew into a wall, smacking my head and blacking out. The last thing I saw was Combustion reaching for Matt's computer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "John! John, wake up!" The voice was Vendetta's, she had apparently awoken sooner than me. I quickly scanned the room, fearing I would see Matt's lifeless body, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen! "What happened to Matt?" "He's fine, John, he ran out of the house and hid until Combustion had gone." Matt walked into the room, giving me a short feeling of joy, short because I knew Combustion was still out there. "He'll be going to the Alchemax building." Matt told us with a smile across his face. "What's so funny Matt?" "Did you really think I'd leave the security specs of The A-max building on my computer? What he got was a bunch of fake info!" "Good job!" But I was still worried, and with good reason. What would Combustion do when he found out the security specs were bogus? From our experience he might well blow up the Alchemax building, killing hundreds of innocent workers, and people anywhere near the area! We couldn't let that happen, so we suited up and headed for our target. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As we reached the building I could see Combustion outside of the Alchemax building. He had apparently discovered the plans were fake and was becoming enraged. The sight of us only made matters much worse. "You two, you and Axel did this, you gave me the wrong info! I should destroy this whole shocking city for this, you pusbags!" Me and The Punisher couldn't let him do this. Even as we started to pull our guns Combustion began to glow, a fire-orange glow. We didn't even have the time to fire a round before it happened. I had seen him do this before when I almost died so I knew what to do. But Vendetta was less experienced with Combustion's abilities, and how he used them. As I activated my protective shield, I saw Combustion's energy aura start to release and I knew the inevitable explosion was coming. I tried to look over at Vendetta but I never got the chance, I just wanted to make sure her shield was on. BOOM! The explosion shot me at least thirty feet from where I had been. Smoke and ash flew in every direction, and I could hear Combustion's sick laugh. When it all started to clear I lowered my shield, and took in a lung full of smoke. Coughing uncontrollably, and with my eyes watering, I saw him run to shock knows where. I ran for the A-max building, but to my surprise it was untouched, as if Combustion had just meant for me and Vendetta to feel his explosion. Vendetta? I hadn't even thought about her until I looked and saw her lying on her back. I thought that she was just perhaps unconscious from the fall, but as I moved closer the scene became more grisly. She was on her back, uniform tattered, scrapes and cuts on her body, as I got closer she coughed up some blood, and I knew what was coming. "J..John..." Her voice was weak and sickly, barely even loud enough for me to here. "I'm here." I knelt down beside her, holding her in my arms. "Di...Did you get him?" I couldn't lie to her no matter how much I wanted to. "No..he got away." "That's too sho..shockin' b..bad, huh?" A smile started to cross her face and tears began to fill my eyes. "Please, be still, I'm sure I can get you help.." "N...No! It's...okay John. Ju..Just don't let J...Jake's dream di..die....and don..don't feel bad fo..for me..just promise...the.. P..Punisher will live...on." "I promise." The tears started to stream down my face, stinging a cut on my cheek. But I didn't care, I just wanted it to all go away. "Thank..you J..John...for being there..a..and for being a..fri..friend...." As Vendetta spoke those words the life left her body. My tears came faster now falling onto her head. I couldn't believe this was happening. I had no one in my life. I haven't in so long, and Vendetta was becoming like a sister to me. I truly felt a part of me had died. I sat holding her body as Matt's voice came screaming at me through my comunicator, but I didn't answer. I sat for five minutes until I finally moved. And only one thought filled my mind, and only that thought. And as I stood I yelled that thought out loud- "COMBUSTION! YOU ARE SHOCKING MINE! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPILOGUE-"The Fall of Alchemax" descends on one of our cast members- He flees from a dying building. Jim Craig, like every other Alchemax employee is making a run for it. He tries desperatly to find Mary, but she seems to already be gone. He himself has only a few more areas to go until he's out of this place. But as Jim Craig runs for the nearest exit he comes across something. A man who was apparently being held for something has broken free and is now staring at him. "What the shock are you looking at, pus bag?" "Nothing." "Yeah well when you look at Kron Stone like that you must want something punk..." Something he said, it keeps playing over and over in his mind. "Kron Stone." "Krone Stone." And then it happens. His memories come flying back to him. It's almost as painful as he grabs the sides of his head and falls to his knees! His family, his job, his life, he remembers it all! And with that realization he rises back to his feet and stares Kron in the eyes. "Thanks a lot, Kron, you just helped me get my memory back! Unfortunately, it's going to be your worst nightmare!"........ N E X T I S S U E-- John desperately hunts Vendetta's killer, Combustion, who's fled Downtown!! Last time he was here the locals nearly killed him, how will John deal with Downtown this time?? PLUS- Our first full-blown "FALL OF ALCHEMAX" Crossover!!!! It's Jim Craig, and Kron Stone! Why is Jim upset with Kron? Just what memories did he get back? Find out soon!!! |