13166/A Hello to Arms

A Hello to Arms
Date of Scene:	24 October 2022
Location:	Long Island
Synopsis:	Hope and Frank cross paths while buying explosives and find things in common.
Cast of Characters:	Frank Castle, Hope Summers

---

Frank Castle has posed:
The Foreigner isn't the most ethical arms dealer in the world, but he certainly has a vast selection. Being an outlaw means relying on outlaws to buy weaponry, unfortunately, which is why the Punisher is here. He has his Battle Van close by, secured and locked, bulletproof class and booby traps to keep out sticky fingers.

He wears his trademark death's head under a heavy longcoat. The meet is in an abandoned big box store, the shelving removed to leave huge empty space. The dealer has multiple meets tonight scheduled and security is tight. That said, Punisher seems to have a certain amount of privilege - that or none of the henchman have the guts to try to ask Frank Castle to give up his guns.

Frank finishes a cigarette, grinding it under the heel of his heavy-soled boots while he waits his turn. Girl dealing with Foreigner's men now seems a little young to be buying that many heavy weapons. Odd.

Hope Summers has posed:
    "Oh, and add several more chalk rounds for the M32A1." The red headed girl says, as she looks down the list of her weapons and seems pleased but is now onto the 'additions' portion of her shopping spree. The girl has her red hair tied up with a bit of cloth. Same cloth that covers her shoulders and the dark green of her thin looking armor/onesie. Even in the world of heroes and villains she seems, out of place.

    "Add a crate of Green Tip 5.56 as well as 7.62 by 51." Hope requests and lowers her clipboard on the crate of guns she's ordered and then takes a moment to look up towards The Foreigner and with a glint behind her eyes, "Do you have any unique batteries. Power Cells and the like?" She asks, knowing her laser weapon from the future is still being backwards engineered by a few select people, but, she can try and source power sources for it from other people. Despite knowing that's a futile attempt.

    A glance of her green eyes towards the smoke dropping to the floor by Frank and she pauses and steps towards the grizzled man. "I'm almost done." As if she knew him, or at least wasn't put off by his grim attire.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle nods calmly. It's hard to miss the stares the henchman are giving Frank. They seem nervous, edgy. When Hope speaks to him so calmly, one of them stares at her for a moment, "Do you know the Punisher?" one of them asked in hush tones, "If you do, please, please, make sure he doesn't kill us. Boss says he agreed to a peaceful meet, but...but...he's the Punisher, y'know?"

The other attendants seem to be working to get Hope's order ready. The Foriegner himself, masked and finishing a phone call, pockets his cellphone and nods at Hope's request, "Your wire transfer has been successful, young lady. It's been a pleasure doing business. As for power cells, such things can be acquired, but can be quite pricy, depending upon the level of sophistication you require from the technology. Tony Stark isn't exactly handing them out."

Hope Summers has posed:
    "Not looking for Stark-tech. If I have to have the name brand, I need Alchemax, but I haven't even seen them traded on the nasdaq." The girl purses her lips and clicks her tongue. "Keep your ear to the track for me, and I'll pay you well for it." Hope says, taking a deep breath and then looking to the henchman who addressed her.

    The green eyes go back to Frank, and then back to the goon. "Don't be a piece of shit, and he wont kill you." She says, looking back into Frank's eyes, and almost giving off a sense of 'calmness' after looking into them. Like she sees something beyond familiar. Something familial instead.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle isn't sure what the girl's staring it. He's definitely not boyfriend material. But he supposes he shouldn't be so reductive. Women today could do anything. Even be murder-happy mercenaries. He feels that radiating calm, though, and it's odd. Because his demeanor, ever stoic, ever placid, is always just the mask he wears over the seething, roiling lava of his rage, which burns through his veins every second of every day. Even a momentary surcease of that feeling warrants a little curiosity.

"They are pieces of shit. But I won't kill them. Today." he says.

Foreigner hisses, "Mr. Castle, please, refrain from terrifying my men."

"Ain't my fault they're chickenshits."

Hope Summers has posed:
    "They are, as advertised. Chicken shits." Hope says, speaking up just after Frank towards The Foreigner. "One of them even asked me to ask him to not kill them." She says, looking over towards the one who talked to her. Then sticks her tongue out. Then raspberries. Tongue reset and re-armed back in her head, Hope looks back at Frank and nods.

    Those eyes are so similar to dad's, and yet, he's much much more sorrowful, he's lost a lot. She can feel that just in his eyes. And yet she's quiet and respectful to him. Like she was taught. "He isn't trying to scare them either, they just are. You know how the business goes."

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle nods, "She's right. I don't try to scare people. That's the guy with the pointy ears and the cape. I just make 'em dead. But I'm a man of my word and ain't nobody here with nothin' on their record that means I can't look the other way for now," he says. "Like you, Tommy Doyle," he says, nodding to the frightened one. "I looked at your rap sheet. Mostly burglary, a little assault here and there. You ain't killed nobody yet. Try to keep it that way and you won't have to worry so much."

Foreigner makes an irritated sound in his throat, "Mr. Castle your shipment is ready and I know your payment is always good. You can go ahead and get your things, we're almost done with Ms. Summers."

Hope Summers has posed:
    "Did you say assault?" Hope pauses, chin dipping into the curl of the cloth at her neck. Her green eyes lingering on Tommy Doyle as she looks him up and down. "Did he serve any sentence?" The red head asks once more, both questions aimed towards Frank. The red head's green eyes burn with a smoulder within but her attention is pulled away back to The Foreigner and she stands straight, shoulders back. Very unfeminine, "I think we're pretty much done. I'll have a van pulling up within the hour." Hope notes casually.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle cocks his head, "Six months. Some sort of bar fight."

Tommy pipes up, "Yeah, it was just a bar fight! It weren't even my fault, I swear, that judge had it in for me. Jesus, lady, you tryin' to get me killed?!?"

Frank looks quizzically at Hope. Not judging, just curious. "Yeah, lady. You tryin' to get him killed?" he says plainly as men start hauling Frank's boxes and stacking them. Boy, that's a lot of SAMs.

Hope Summers has posed:
    "No, just wondering if I had to end you myself." Hope says, looking back to Frank, and Tommy finally, "But glad to hear you're on the up and up. As far as this crowd."

    The girl does look back to Frank's order and shifts over to lean against one of her crates as she eyes the equipment. "Lots of birds in your neck of the woods?" She asks, the SAMS giving the girl the most curiosity.

Frank Castle has posed:
The Foreigner has definitely had enough, "Your orders will be placed outside to await transportation. Our business here is concluded. Thank you, as always, for your custom."

The man himself rapidly moves to the back of the building, where he'll leave in a car with tinted windows, likely armored. The henchman scurry quickly to haul out boxes as Frank starts to walk outside, gesturing for Hope to walk with him as he lights another cigarette.

"Had to deal with a guy in armor this week. Flying around. Putz. Some cape ended up nabbing him before I could put a bullet in his head. Grenade launcher worked, but didn't have enough punch."

"So. What's your deal, kid?"

Hope Summers has posed:
    "Single round or a rotary grenade launcher?" Hope asks, talking shop. The young mutant steps out as the Foreigner leaves and decides to chill next to Frank until she can get her van in order. It's in the parking lot across the street, but there's no rush. Not yet.

    "My deal? Not sure I have one. Time travelling mutant that was raised for war in a future war, now I'm here and there's not the kind of war I was readied for. Not yet." She says with a shrug of her shoulders, the cloth rustling gently. "I'd ask you yours but you remind me of my dad, and he wasn't big on talking about his deal. Always focused on the next mission, or getting ready to handle any mission."

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle "Rifle mounted."

Frank snorts, "Time travelling mutant. I should be more surprised. Used to be, sayin' something like that, I'd think you were a nutter. Now? I just figure you're being honest. Explains how you don't know nothin' about me," he says. Frank knows he'll only be remembered as a psycho. He doesn't care. His legacy is the bodies he puts in the ground.

"Kill scum. That's my deal," he says, simply enough. "There's plenty of wars going on out there. Ain't no such a thing as a good one. But a few - like mine - are necessary."

Hope Summers has posed:
    Hope nods a trio of times. Once to the rifle mounted thumper. Once to the idea that her story isn't as crazy as it once was. Lastly to the idea that there are always wars. "I wouldn't know who I was if I wasn't fighting." She says softly, like she's been doing it so long that she isn't aware of life without the sounds of combat and death. "I know it's the quiet nights I can't stand the most." Solemn and respectful towards Frank. "I might not know you Mister Castle, but I feel... safe isn't the right word, but there's a familiarity in your eyes. I know that doesn't make sense... and I'm not --- I'll shut up now." She says before moving to pull the keys to her van from her pocket as she starts to walk away.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle is almost stunned by the words. He doesn't exactly see himself as a comforting figure. Just a grim reaper. Warm and fuzzy ain't his thing. But he was also a father, once upon a time, one who lost his daughter a long, long time ago. Long before she got close to Hope's age. She didn't remind him of Lisa, exactly, but rather reminds him of the part of him that loved her and took care of her.

"Didn't tell you to shut up," he says gruffly. "I know what you mean. Been fightin' and killin' since I was younger'n you. Usually on somebody else's orders. That said, peaceful life ain't bad. I had a taste of it, just a taste of sunshine, just a couple of years of real human livin' . Before."

Hope Summers has posed:
    Hope pauses and looks over her shoulder, leaning against Frank's van, "But we both know, that life isn't in the cards for us." She says, scrunching her lips to one side. "Maybe for others out there, the nameless people we cross paths with, or the friends we might still have. But for us, no." She nods, and he might have started younger than she is, but she started long ago.

    When Cable wears a bjorn with you in, you fight as soon as you can lift your own head. And fight she has.

    She pauses, and lowers her hand back to her side, "What was it like?" She blurts. "The taste of living?" Something she'll never really know.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle didn't talk about it, generally. He tried not to think about it, too much, although his mind always went there. Mostly in dreams. He walks up to the van, popping open the driver's side and dropping in a couple of the extra side-arms he had stashed in his coat, securing them quickly in a special gun-safe installed in between driver and passenger seats. Easy access in a car chase.

"It was worth everything else I went through. They were worth everything. The only good and decent things I ever did were marry Maria and have Frank Jr. and Lisa. I never loved nobody like that before, except maybe my Ma and even that was different. Being a husband, being a dad...I thought it could make me clean and whole, even after the things I done in the service."

He looks at her then and his grey eyes are dead, cold. "But then they died, died bloody. And I couldn't do a damn thing to save them."

Hope Summers has posed:
    Then, taking a risk, and knowing she's doing so, Hope steps up to Frank and without breaking eye contact with those dead eyes. Her own without the loss he felt and endured, but hers are hard in another way. A flower that has grown without seeing the sun to begin with. A greyness there, similar but alien.

    The risk Hope takes is to reach out, and put a hand on Frank's arm. She closes her mouth and swallows at the emotions in her throat, but she does reach out. Not in an intimate sort of way, but in a way of solidarity and understanding. She's not picking up his war, nor asking him to fight in hers. But warriors of misfortune, meeting in a simple moment.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle doesn't shrug off the hand. Which is something. People who try to touch Frank usually get their hands broken. His eyes sting for a moment, almost tears, and then he grits his teeth. He's cried all he's gonna cry.

"So, how does bein' a time travellin' mutant work? You stayin' at the Holiday Inn or somethin'? You apparently got enough savvy and resources to transport heavy weapons. You got any plans for them or just savin' up for Christmas?"

Hope Summers has posed:
    "I hosted a multiversal entity during an apocolypse in my original universe, broke the timeline of my world and ended up here. So, I kinda just do whatever I need to. Not really my mutation that made the time travel happen." Hope says, taking her hand back and leaning her back against the van with a sound of sheet metal denting beneath her weight. "I got plans for them. Having a problem with some weird sort of non-demons lately. Gotta figure that crap out. Hopely the 5.56 will handle that." She lifts a gloved hand and shows two crossed fingers. "But I got a group I room with, real hush hush, can't tell ya else I'd have to kill ya." She says with a wink.

    "Now I could use a few new years fireworks if you'd like to go test out some of our munitions." Hope says, that 40mm grenade launcher is really something that scratches that itch perfectly.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle crosses his arms over his chest, the death's head looming behind his formidable forearms. "Sounds like that sucked," he says. "Non-demons? Ain't that...most everybody?" he asks.

"I ain't askin' ya to move in, kid, just makin' sure you're not sleepin' in the rain tryin' to be tough," he says. "Oh, you wanna blow some stuff up? I happen to know where there's a Russian mafia shindig tonight. They do love the Island, for whatever reason. Probably burn down a golf course while we're at it. If you're up for it."

Hope Summers has posed:
    "Non-demons. In that they are like demons, but aren't bound to the rules or examples of other demons. A new thing we think." Hope shrugs. "Maybe. It's weird."

    Her eyes widen and then light up as she is invited to a 'shindig'. "Mister Castle, are you inviting me to a ball? I don't think I'm quite dressed for the occasion." She teases and grins devilishly. "Burn down a golf course. Oh me oh my, you do know how to show a girl a good time." She grins more. "I'm up for it if you are old man." She teases once more and pushes off from the van. "Let me pack my van and we'll head out!"

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle raises an eyebrow, "Demons have rules? Ain't the whole point o' bein' a devil that you just do evil shit and break all the rules? Hell, it's been a long time since St. Michael's. I don't remember all that shit the way I used ot," he says.

"I understand the need to get out some aggression. And when I know some folks that deserve it, I ain't selfish. I just want 'em dead. Me doin' it is just a bonus."

Hope Summers has posed:
    "Then lets go. Nothing like a good round of therapy. No?" Hope asks, and gives that grin that only a red head that doesn't know what she's promising can give.