13439/Roll the Dice

Roll the Dice
Date of Scene:	25 November 2022
Location:	An abandoned railyard, New York City.
Synopsis:	A potential kidnapping turns into a new alliance.
Cast of Characters:	Frank Castle, Neena Thurman

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Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle has a lot of prices on his head, most of them for his head in a bag. This one was different, they wanted him alive. Apparently he had killed the father of a particularly bratty Mexican druglord (his father, of course, being the previous druglord). He had sworn to skin Frank alive himself. Not that he told Domino this, merely that he wanted to interrogate Frank about something. Not that Neena would probably care.

Frank took a while to find. He's good and he's been avoiding cops and assassins for years. But luck, as usual, goes Domino's way: Frank makes a big noise taking down a Jamaican crime boss - the execution got videotaped and uploaded onto the internet and people went wild about it. Which meant he was laying low, but she knew where he'd been now and an experienced operative knows the procedures and the techniques you use to evade detection. A little guessing, a little luck and voila.

Frank is walking through a trainyard, abandoned railcars all around, empty tankers, storage bins, animal pens, that sort of thing. Everything tagged with graffiti. He has on a heavy jacket with a hood, along with a black beanie to cover his black hair. His hands are in his pockets. He stops just short of the light spilling from an overhead lamp, just outside of the pool of gold it lays in the darkness. "You can come out now. I know you're there," he says to the woman tailing him.

Neena Thurman has posed:
The black and white mercenary took a while to find this character, but Domino had a sudden lucky break (go figure) with a tip off to where a target was hiding out. As she followed up on her tip, she began to wonder if her luck was TOO GOOD, and if that was even possible? It seemed very convenient to her but then again, maybe it was just her lucky streak kicking in. It wouldn't be the first time, right? She stands in the shadows of the abandoned rail yard thinking about this situation.

The abandoned rail yard is shadowy and she's there using the dark to her advantage. She has not been tailing this dubious character for very long and she ducks behind some construction equipment when he turns toward a big lamp illuminating the area nearby. Luckily, she makes it out of sight, and pauses there as if thinking about something.

She peeks her eyes above the stack of beams and metal pieces, "Let me ask you a question: you ever question your own luck?" she asks out loud.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle pushes back his hood and steps a little into the light. He keeps his hands in his pockets, though. He certainly isn't surrendering. Just offering opportunity.

"You're not any pro I know personally," he says. "So who's the client? What part you supposed to take back? My head? My hand? My dick?"

He's partly into the frame of lighting now and the white death's head on his chest almost gleams, his belt lined with a few pouches, the mark of his Swiss army knife easy to pick out. "How much? Maybe I can just pay you more. You wouldn't be the first."

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino smirks a bit at his comments and now has her handgun out in her hand, laying her arm across the set of beams, as she aims at him, "My client Mister Zee wants you neat and not dead," she explains sarcastically, "So I guess he can offer you to the highest bidder. Kind of a money thing, I guess," she tells him, not holding much facts back. Why should she anyway?

"And I get a percentage," she adds, "Amazing deal, right?" she asks, as if insinuating that it could be a bad deal after all.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle rolls his neck for a moment, "Mister Zee. Huh. Can't say I'm surprised. But I doubt he has any interest in selling me. He hates my guts, has done ever since I doused his old man in gasoline and lit his ass on fire on the lawn of the family mansion in Florida. He burned real good and long and I know Zee watched the whole thing through the window. And didn't do a god damn thing. Because he's hateful and vengeful and mean and downright evil, but he's also a fucking coward."

"Gonna draw my hand out, real slow. I ain't drawin'. I just want a cigarette. You want one, come on down and ask."

He reaches in carefully and, provided he doesn't get shot, draws out his cigarettes, pulling one out with his lips and then, after putting back the pack, drawing out his lighter with the same careful, measured pace. Could he draw a weapon that fast. At his age?

Yeah. Probably.

"He just wants to skin me alive," Frank said. "To use his exact quote. But he knows I'll kill him if he tries. So he hires you to come truss me up for him like a spring hog." No idea why Frank uses so many rural metaphors - the man's from Brooklyn.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino squints at all the rural metaphors, "What a guy," she mutters, thinking about how much of an asshole Mister Zee really is. She stands up from behind the metal beams, the moonlight behind her probably giving away her position but she keeps her aim on him as he reaches down for some cigarettes, "I think if those are exploding smokes, your luck won't turn out too good," she reminds him helpfully.

"You know, I think you've got it right. Except I had a second tip to find you in this shithole. Guess maybe you shouldn't blab your hiding spots to your pals, huh?" she wonders. She surprisingly walks on down almost under the lamp where Frank is standing but not too close. He could still be trying to trick her.

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle looks at her for a long moment before he steps properly into the light. "Exploding smokes? What am I, Yosemite Fucking Sam?" he asks. "Cause if I were, that varmint would be dead by now."

Is that a joke from the Punisher?

"Well, that's the thing, the places I tell them are only a couple of them and I make sure I only go by those decoys when I'm expecting to pick up a tail. Which I did. But don't get me wrong, you were good. If I hadn't have been alert, cause I always am after I leave that cache, I probably wouldn't have spotted ya."

"Tell you what: how about you help me take down Zee -and- we take down the supervillain auction together. They'll all have their cash there to bid on me anyway or at the very least their offshore bank codes. Give me a little bit, I'll put together a little hit squad and we can clear up a lot of bad apples in one fell swoop - and make their bosses a lot poorer in the process."

Neena Thurman has posed:
Pointing her gun at the sky casually, Domino thinks over the comments Frank has made, "Yup I agree, I'm really good," she states flatly as if that's a fact, "But my contact made it easy and I still don't know why," she adds with a conspiracy rolling in her brain.

She listens to his plan and then says, "Be careful, that sounds like a good thing," and she sounds amused, probably thinking he doesn't do good things like taking down supervillains very often. "Alright, let's do it," she adds with a nod, agreeing with his plan, "You've obviously led a hit squad before, so you can let me know when it's put together."

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank Castle takes a long draw on his cigarette. Yeah, they might kill him, but he figures he'll be long dead before he gets cancer. Starting late helps. He didn't have a cigarette until after his family died. He just wanted a little bit of the death he deserved in his body. And hey, they pass the fucking time.

"I've been looking to widen my impact. I'm always gonna take down skells, but these fucks seem to multiply, just more and more scumbags crawling out from under the floor. Like cockroaches," he says. "I think it's time to start exterminating," he says. He reaches in his pocket and hands her a burner phone, "I'll be in touch. You can call me Frank."

Neena Thurman has posed:
Walking to him, Domino reaches out and takes his burner phone from him, "I'm Domino," she says as she looks at the little phone, "I'd like to find out what's really going on here," she tells him. She puts the phone into one of her Liefeld pouches, then reaches out, her fingers snatching the smoke from his mouth so she can have a puff. She puffpuffs and smiles wickedly, then puts the cigrette back, "Thanks," she tells him, "Take care," she adds flatly. She turns to walk off.