6204/Funeral Entrapment

Funeral Entrapment
Date of Scene:	13 May 2021
Location:	Brooklyn
Synopsis:	April meets the Punisher in the middle of an explosive ambush in a funeral home. 'Rescued' from it, she gets a bit of 'interview' time with Frank himself. And a new phone.
Cast of Characters:	Frank Castle, April O'Neil

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Frank Castle has posed:
It's as quiet as New York typically gets without some sort of superheroic thing going on. As April moves through the city, there's even a funeral going on at a facility she's passing by.

Just as she's gone past it, the outer doors of the home is flung open as a series of explosions rocks the interior... and a couple bodies fly out of it.

April O'Neil has posed:
Aprilw as on her bike, riding back toward her apartment in Brooklyn when she saw the funeral going on. She skidded to a halt on her bike and took a moment to observe. She considered getting out her camera for some amateur photography, but felt better of it and gave the funeral its peace.

Othersi don't seem so inclined to do that though, and when the blast goes off the Reporter is sent reflexifely ducking down and dismounting her bike. She ducks behind cover and looks out from behind it with a terrified expression upon her youthful looking face.

Frank Castle has posed:
People begin to flood out of the funeral home. Most are injured. The numbers are about what you'd expect after small explosions doing the damage they did inside. Since the structure itself is still intact, it wasn't /that/ bad.

Then, the shooting starts. A machine gun, by the sound of it. It isn't just being fired without care, either, April can hear bursts of bullets... and see the remaining bits of windows that weren't shattered in the explosions getting hit, flinging glass debris to add to the debris already all over.

Suddenly, there's a half dozen people rushing towards the entry, pulling out pistols and shotguns on their own... beefy, enforcer types. "What the fuck is going on!?" Shouts one.

The answer is a sustained stream of bullets as they try to enter the building, and the wall opposite on the street suddenly beginning to crumble under the constant assault of lead.

April O'Neil has posed:
Boy oh boy, when people call April a trouble magnet, they are spot on right...

She's still got her black and white bike helmet on her head, her long auburn hair is flowing around her shoulders over the yellow leather jacket she has on over a tshirt. Her messenger bag is slung over her shoulder and torso and she's quickly reaching to open the flap to pull out a camera to record this.

"Jesus Christ." April says softly as the gunfire starts to bellow out from the building. She raises her camera up and starts to record, sending the footage straight to her cloud server back her place.

The camera has multi functions too and she starts snapping still photos of people holding guns that she can SEE while she starts to crouch and move toward better cover, leaving her bike on the sidewalk where its tipped ov er now.

Her camera comes up again and she keeps filming / recording and watc hing, while trying to stay out of the range of BULLETS!

Frank Castle has posed:
Then, almost as suddenly, the rain of bullets stops. All is quiet in the world.

Those who were kept out of the funeral home try to get peeks inside the windows... and none of them get shot at. "Who was that?" One asks as he starts climbing in.

One by one, the group of thugs gets inside, despite the fires.

A few seconds after the thugs are inside, another series of smaller explosions can be heard inside. Not nearly as heavy, but the sounds of screams can be heard... then, pistols firing.

Lots of pistols.

April O'Neil has posed:
April isn't interested in getting herself shot or killed, but she is interested in getting the story and as much footage of this situation as she can...
She observes as much as she's able, discerning it's some kind of gang fight... so it appears. Once she sees the armed men infiltrating the building she sneaks up to where she can lift her camera up to focus it inside one of the windows...

She keeps her head down though and looks up at the screen ont he back of the camera to watchw hat is happening inside the place.

"What is this, the O K Corale? April asks herself, as she peaks around the corner to look at the front doors of the place while holding her camera up..

Frank Castle has posed:
Most of the thugs are dead, but a couple are behind overturned or ruined benches, firing... up? Up at an angle, anyway.

Up in the roof, there's a hole into the second floor, and occasionally peeking out is a man. It's so suddenly that April has a difficult time actually knowing who it is with all the smoke and fire in the way.

At least, she did, until the man stopped firing back... and she can hear the sudden sound of another window breaking above her. Out of it comes the man as he drops to the ground a dozen feet or so away, and she can get a good look at him... in all his trenchcoat, skull vest, and armed to the teeth gear web visage.

As a reporter, she knows this infamous individual; The Punisher... and almost like he didn't just drop out of a second story, he immediately stands up, spins around, and fires two rounds from two pistols into the thugs flanks.

Both are perfect headshots. "Get outta here if you want to live, kid." The Punisher growls at April as he fires.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Holy shit..." April is muttering as she watches one of the gangsters crawling out of the building bleeding profusely out of his chest and shoulder, he's going to die soon and she can tell.

Her eyes go back to the building though as she catches sight of movement within. Who are they fighting? She can't figure that out as of yet, and realizes she's only seen one side of tthis major gunfight.

It's only moments later that the emerging figure makes himself seen, and drops down a short distance from her. His attire, his gruff demeanor, yeah she knows who he is.

"Frank Castle." April says, not using his street name, becasue she knows a bit about his sactual story being that she runs a podcast that talks about that kind of thing...

She is about to say something else when a bullet bounces off of a brick wall near to her which makes her yelp in fear and duck back behind cover.

But she's soon to look up again. "I'm a Reporter, with Channel Six out of Manhattan." Like he cares. "Whatever's going on here, I have to showcase it." Which is logic he probably doesn't understand, but he's probably also seen some crazy field reporters in his day too... she doesn't really look like one of those though, she looks like a pampered NYC type...

Frank Castle has posed:
"Micro, bring the van around for a pickup." The Punisher barks into his commlink as he ducks for cover. "Perfectly executed funeral ambush, and I get the lunatic reporter tonight." He holsters one of his Berettas and pulls a grenade from the bandolier under the trenchcoat -a custom job, by the looks of it- and simply drops it at his feet.

Within moments, the other Beretta is holstered... and April is both blinded by sudden smoke... AND grabbed up and carried under Frank's armpit, like a log. He's clearly extremely strong, with the way he doesn't even grunt or slow down with the effort.

A black non-descript van drives by... and as Frank nears it, it slows down, and the back doors open, allowing him to jump inside and the doors to close on their own as the van speeds off... April with the Punisher in his Battle Van. And her phone suddenly yanked away and tossed out the back.

The inside is part ridiculously stocked armory, part computer station, and April is deposited inside on the floor, before Frank wordlessly begins to unload his gear onto a small table.

April O'Neil has posed:
April has seen a lot of crazy stuff in her short career as a street reporter, but she's not quite seen this much firepower and explosives all going off at once! She's been through some stuff, sure, Harley Quinn is her freakin' roommate after all, but nothing QUITE like this.

She's recoiling in shock from the grenade when she's suddenly grabbed up by the hulking man and carried like luggage by him. It's true, she doesn't weigh very much, and he's carried far heavier things around before, for sure.

So he gets her to the van quite easily and once she's dumped inside she's landing on her back and rolling over to her side with a grunt and a groan. Her bike helmet is still on, and it bounces off of something in the van, protecting her head which is great! right?!

She sits up in time to see him throw her phone out the back and just ... she squints her eyes and quickly looks around the interior of the van.

"What the hell is going on?" April says finally, trying to sit up better inside of the thing, but its speeding along now which makes it hard for her to do that!

Frank Castle has posed:
"This is me getting you out of one of my ambush operations before I finished it." The Punisher casually informs April as he finishes removing all his gear; he even had a sawn off double barrel under there.

"I killed one of their people and he was respected enough that they called for a funeral with most of the big names in the family. I took the opportunity to clean up some of the trash in one go."

He turns to look at her, his gear web empty, but his trenchcoat and skull vest on. That isn't what catches attention though...

It's the eyes. Those cold, icy eyes of someone who didn't survive the gauntlet of war mentally.

Only one phrase can come to mind for someone like April; broken, and holding it together by willpower.

He's been doing this for over a decade since he escaped prison? No wonder he's never stopped. He probably doesn't know how to.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is pushing herself up on to her elbows at first as he begins to speak to her, but by the time he finishes saying all of that she's up on her butt on the floor of the van and just staring at him with her blue eyes locked on his.

"Mister Castle." April says softly. "You killed like a dozen people back there..." She trails her voice off for a second before she shakes her head side to side. "I know that you're... well that people say you're out there killing the 'bad ones' but how can you really judge each of those people in a matter of seconds like that?"

She softly shakes her head back and forth. "Any one of them could've just been trying to protect, their, their family."

She may be naive about who he was just fighting, but how could she not be?

Her eyes start to roam over the interior of the van then, taking in the sight of how its basically some kind of mobile war machine... Donatello would love it.

Frank Castle has posed:
"I do my research when I plan my operations." The Punisher informs her, matter of factly. "There were no innocents at that funeral, and I specifically used explosives that only hit localized benches inside. If I wanted to kill innocents, I would have bombed the whole damned home."

As April looks around, she also notices a couple things tucked up against the walls; a mounted minigun in the rooftop with the ammo belt exposed, and a set of mini-rocket pods to each side of the van.

This is, is all seriousness, a light tank masquerading as a normal van. Donatello would have a field day in here.

April O'Neil has posed:
April sits up a little straighter, as much as she can anyway, and reaches up to pull the bike helmet off of her head, leaving her dark hair a bit more messy over her head and face. She strokes some of the hair out of her eyes then and holds the helmet in her lap.

"Fair..." She says, skeptically of course, before her eyes go back to him after looking the van over more. "But why?" She asks. "If you're this resourceful, and you're sure that they're guilty of something, like enough to prove it? Why not just, give the proof to the authorities and let them go in and take care of things? You know, like... Well, that's what Batman does, isn't it?" Is she joking? Doesn't sound like a joke..

Or does it!?

April clears her throat then and looks him over in his long coat and skull emblem adorned shirt. "What is your end game here, Mister Castle?" She then asks.

Frank Castle has posed:
"I take care of the trash the 'justice system' can't or won't deal with." He turns around and heads for the front cabin, now. "Any proof I find isn't admissable in court. I'm the safety valve that makes sure that the nepotism, cronies, and the kickbacks that organized crime loves to give out don't ruin innocent lives." He stops, then looks back over his shoulder at April, "Batman is a lunatic who seems to think his obsession with 'justice' justifies allowing innocents to die. He hits them, and they just keep going." He brings up a fist... and there's a loud SMASH as a fist fits the side panel.

"I hit them, and they stay down, so they don't kill anyone else. There's no half measures. People like Batman would let my family die to prove their obsessive point. They're trying, but they let people die for their obsession. Any smart mob bosses laugh at Batman... but they don't laugh at me."

Punisher shakes his head, then. "We're just about in the clear. You can get out in about a minute."

April O'Neil has posed:
The insights of Frank Castle, and April doesn't have a recording device on her to do anything about saving it... that entire monologue he just gave could be internet gold...

Damn damn.

As he moves to go toward the front of the van, April raises up and tries to stand up inside of the vehicle, looking for stability with her hands to keep her upright while doing so. She doesn't have a lot to directly say to him then as she looks him over again.

"Were you injured?" She asks him, unable to tell with his heavy clothing on.

"Why are you doing the things you do, Mister Castle?" She asks then, voice calm considering what they just went through. "What do /you/ get out of this kind of lifestyle? I mean, if you're not a cereal killer, then what is your motivation here? Just... punishing the wicked? You're gonna end up ... like those guys back there, at some point."

The young reporter looks out the window to where he must be dropping her off then. "I left my bike back there..." She mutters, as if he cares.

Frank Castle has posed:
"I'm a monster." He stops just before the drivers cabin, "I'm the monster Samantha Reyes and the mob of New York made. I'm the monster that makes sure the other monsters are dealt with." He steps into the cabin. "I'm saving the last bullet for myself."

It's around this time that the van stops, and the back doors open, "I'll send you the money for another phone by tomorrow."

April O'Neil has posed:
April watches him after he says those bleak and grim things to her. She doesn't have a lot she /can/ say to something like that. She knwos some of Frank's story. He's a decorated war hero, having done things in the military that only soldiers could ever dream of, in the regards of helping other members of their unit survive...

When the doors ot the van open up and he says that about her phone, April turns to look at him but she moves toward the doors, able to get the hint.

"I've heard the stories, about who you are, what you did for your fellow soldiers." She says as she steps down out of the van and on to the street beside it. "I don't believe you're a monster. And I think you've seen enough bullets get fired for ten life times."

The wind outside has her long dark hair blowing around her shoulders now that she's outside, her eyes squinting to look inside the van as she steps back. "Don't worry about the phone, I lose them all the time." She states with a smirk then beofre she turns to step on to the side walk.