| NEW YORK I just knew he'd come back! After all the really good guys never stay dead, so of course The Punisher had to come back. He's the best of all the heroes, after all. Forget that moron Spider-Man, oohhh he's really scary. I'd just kick his shocking butt! Or Thor? Wow, a guy with a hammer! A God? Yeah right! Nope, none of them even come close to The Punisher. I just wish one day I'd get to meet him face to face! Now that would be really cool! After all why wouldn't he want to meet me? Steve Cressner, his biggest fan! (Last seen in Issue 13---Joey G.) *********************************** I haven't been back in action for long, and already they fear me. It's the best feeling in the world. No drug or thrill can beat it. To walk the streets and see the scum run and hide, that beats them all. It means I have the true power, I run this city pratically! And it's only been a week! SLAM! It seems some don't fear me that much after all. I heard the noise and turned around. Six men in a heavily armored maglev car just ran straight through a building. I've heard stories of that building. It's said to be a drug house, no time like the present to get rid of it once and for all. I ran up to where the men slammed through the wall and listened. Two of the men got out of the car and picked a man up off the floor by his neck! "We told ya, didn't we? Is it not shocking getting through to ya? Our boss runs this area now, you and your little operation is ours, ya vid? Where's all your profits?! I want them now and...." the man raises a gun to his head..." I don't ask twice." "We..we...don...don't know...what...you're ...talking about!" "That's too bad!" BAM The gun goes off. I've watched long enough. "All right scum, prepare to be punished!" The first guy, the guy with the gun turns around. I should thank him for giving me such a nice angle to.... SMACK! ...my power bat caves in his skull. He falls dead and I leap towards the car still full with five other men. I draw two of my favorite guns and start blasting. Five shots, all in the head and that's the end of it. Ever since I've been "altered" things just don't seem challenging enough. Aww well. I walk over to where the last live man is and drag him off the floor. "What's going on here? Tell me who the shock they work for, now!" "But we really don't..." I glare into him. "Don't try that with me boy. I won't kill you. I'll do far worse, now answer me!" "Cressner......Louis Cressner.......... **************** After I left the building I returned home. Matt was asleep near the control center. I'm glad he decided to stay and help me out, but sometimes I still have a weird feeling about him. Like I can't trust him completley just yet. But that would have to wait, someone is trying to round up all the drug money for himself. Someone big. Big enough to send six armed men to that drug house, and best of all I had his name....... ******************* "Mr. Cressner? Mr. Cressner, I know you're home! Louis we need to talk about Steve." I just sat there in the front room listening to that old hag yell. She was looking for my dad after all and he hasn't been home much lately. That shocking witch. She lives next door to us. I think she's mad that me and some friends were playing our holo music vids to loud again. Too bad! Playing the holo vids helps me relax and gives me something to do instead of just sitting around here anyways. Besides, ever since my friend got his hand on some Nirvana stuff it's been a blast. I always bitch till they let me be Kurt. What a life he must have had! Being him in VR is so cool, the crowd cheering, wanting more and more, that must be just how he feels, The Punisher I mean. "We'll talk about it later!" "But Mr.Cressner...!" "LATER!" Ahhh, daddy returns. Heh. And as usual he sounds upset. Wonder what hapened this time? Amazingly enough he wanders right by me without saying a word! Huh? Miracles can happen! Or so the ancient saying goes. I decided to follow him up to his office to see what he was so upset about. I hid in the hallway by his door. I peeked into to see him taking a phone call. He was talking to a holo-version of his buisness partner, Mark Young. Maybe I can finally find out what it is dad does these days, he's so secretive about it. "Sir, things did not go well in our last Downtown operation. We had some rather... unusual interference." "What kind of interference?!" "See for yourself." Just my shocking luck! Whatever it is he showed my dad popped up on his desktop vid screen! I couldn't see it but whatever it was it sure made him angry! "That shocking scumbag! I swear ta Thor he'll pay for this! Mark, put the word out I want him DEAD! Yesterday! Ya got that?" "Yes Sir." And Mark Young's image faded away........ *************************** Two days I've been looking. Where is Louis Cressner hiding? He doesn't live Downtown, least if he does all the usual know-it-all scum have never seen or heard of him. Uptown is a mess to try and find anyone, if only I had some sort of lead...... BAM BAM BAM! Gunfire from behind me. A plasma blast whirls by my head as I turn and jump. Now I'm mad. "PUT THE GUN DOWN AND I MAY LET YOU LIVE!" The scum smiles at me. "Hehehe...Yeah right!" He fires again, and again I manage to duck. I suddenly start to get that feeling again. Something that happened to me when Herod messed with me, I start to feel like I'm losing myself and all control. What's happening to.......DAMN! That shocking moron is laughing at me again. That bastard is done for. A rush of power fills me as I run straight for him. He wasn't exepcting this. "WHAT"S THE MATTER? CAN'T YA HIT ME?!?" A firey blade begins to form around my hand, I cut his arm off at the elbow, and begin to smile. I pick him up off the ground, fire fills my eyes as I speak to him. "WHO SENT YOU?" "Nobody....I swear...AHHHHH!" I burn his other arm with my stare. "Wrong answer." "CRESSNER! DID YA VID?! DON'T HURT ME, MAN, PLEASE!" "Where is he?" "UPTOWN, NICE NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR WHERE ALCHEMAX USED TA BE! A HUGE BUILDING, LIKE BABYLON TOWERS! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." I put him down on the ground. "You're not?" "No, I'm going to kill you!" I ignite his entire body and laugh as the flames engulf him. Next stop: Uptown. ******************************** I was so happy. Tonight is the big night, after all. The night of our first meeting. All around the room my men were dressed in the proper ceremonial attire. I began my speech. "Welcome, Brothers! Once we were Thorites. We belived in a FALSE God who shall never return! Hel, he probably never even existed! And then came The Spiderites! Those fools belived Spider-Man could show them the way. But what has he done? NOTHING! He hasn't helped this city or this world one bit. But we all know who has don't we? That is why I welcome you all to the first meeting of THE BROTHERHOOD OF PUNISHERS! The Punisher is the only true hero! The only one to make a diffrence. And I believe the only one to show us the true way." Applause came roaring from the room. All forty members came to their feet. Dressed in black robes with the Punisher skull insignia on their shirts. I, being the leader of the group had the honor of wearing the Holo-skull along with the rest. It hides my face like The Punisher once hid his. It's all starting to...... *************** .......come together now!" Louis Cressner, that sly little boot licker! He's actually daring enough to run a major drug operation out of AN APARTMENT? No wonder I couldn't find him, not even I'm that crazy! It didn't take long to find the building, I staked it out for about two hours. Only person I saw was some kid and a bunch of his friends. Hmmm, wonder what they're up to? Probably not important, Louis is the man I want and it appears he's not home. Hope he enjoys tonight, it's gonna be the last night he ever sees...... NEXT ISSUE - Pretty interesting huh? Brotherhood Of Punisher's? What's their deal? And what's gonna happen to Steve when Jake comes to Punish.....his father! |
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| Punisher 2099UG Issue #16 "Heroes Worship, Part 1 of 2" 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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