14018/Hunting the Little Fish

Hunting the Little Fish
Date of Scene:	02 February 2023
Location:	<text>
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Caleb Dykstra, Frank Castle, Phoebe Beacon

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Caleb Dykstra has posed:
NY-Gotham highway, evening.

Family. When you have it, you do everything for it.

Caleb indulged on his sister's request earlier today, that she wanted to go ice-skating; she had been bugging him for a while now. And finally, he had some time off, even if that's a relative term on his reluctant line of work. Also, getting out of Gotham for a while could do his sister some good, for a change. You need to be connected to Gotham's criminal underworld - whether you want to or not - to appreciate that NY is mild by comparison.

And so they went, by car, and both siblings had fun. And now they were coming back home.

Caleb looked at his sister, asleep in the passenger's seat, smiling to himself over a good day spent.

And, unbeknownst to him, someone who had locked eyes with him before at a homelesss shelter, that had caught him selling to the 'needy', had found him again, and was now tailing him...

He looks over the rearview mirror. There's a car, speeding up... Getting too close?

He checks his seatbelt...

Frank Castle has posed:
Frank didn't see the kid. None of it would've happened if he'd seen the kid. He knew this dealer eyeballed him at the homeless shelter. He'd been trailing the kid ever since. Dealer knew he was hunted, you could see it in his shoulders. He knew punishment was comin'. Just didn't know when.

Frank assumed a lowlife would be a bad brother. Stereotyping. Everybody's got their soft spots. Except Frank. Frank only goes hard.

The Punisher's black panel van swerves a little bit, gave himself away. Stupid slush. State highways weren't worth a shit anymore, every one of 'em gutted to hell. Frank grits his teeth and keeps on the path but he can see from that flicker-tick of brakelight, he's been spotted. Shit. Probably need to call it off. Unless something goes wrong...

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Gotham, the City of the Dark Knight and a whole lot of bird-themed young heroes.

    Phoebe happens to be a bird name, but at night she's Balm. She's armored up and on patrol, shifting to a different beat to finish up her night as she zips up an onramp onto the highway from where she had rounded a riverside parkway, the roar of the batcycle as the heavy tread tires catch the road, and there's an immediate alert coming up on her domino mask's HUD.

    Danger.

    May need to intercede.

    The bike comes in closer to investigate, the heavy duty helmet with its full face shield hiding her expression, though her muscles tense. The capeless, armored individual definitely not looking like your normal late-night rider.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
Caleb Dykstra considers nudging his sister awake, but maybe he's wrong. Or maybe he's not. Still, the feeling is too big to ignore, and those headlights are coming awfully fast on him. No police lights, check. His speed was well within highway limits, check. Headlights and car silhouette don't match the current police records, either.

No, this guy has purpose. But who is he?

So, he now nudges his sister, "Sheila, sweetie... Wake up, I need you to hold on tight. Remember what I told you you should do in case of an emergency?"

She silently nods, snses going from numb to high alert in the blink of an eye.

"Get ready", Caleb says as he takes a deep breath, like when you jump into the water - or you're about to go into a battlefield. "One... Two..."

The car veers immediately into the adjacent, ongoing lane, as the brake is immediately stepped on, gear is shifted in reverse. The end result: the car is now going in reverse, giving Caleb a clear view of whomever is driving the other car.

Eyes may even lock as they look to the side....