“Come on,” Tommy said as he struggled with his handcuffed wrist. Martin Soap had attached him to the coffee table before going off to find the Punisher in an effort to keep Tommy safe. But the love of Tommy’s life was at stake, not to mention his sister. Anna had been revealed to be the new Elite, but she was Tommy’s only family. Even if she was a murderer, he couldn’t let her die. There had to be a way to get through to her, make her see the light.

The young man looked around for something to try to pick the lock of the cuffs. That’s when he smacked himself in the forehead. He simply lifted up the leg of the coffee table and slid the handcuff out from under it.

NO TURNING BACK

By Tobias Christopher

Frank Castle had survived virtually everything in his lifetime. He’d been shot, stabbed, mutilated, tortured, his limbs broken, his mind mentally tormented and everything else in between. But this, the scene he was staring at in this very moment, this was the one thing that even the Punisher could not withstand.

In front of him were over two dozen men, women, and children. The children all had a striking resemblance to his own children, who like all these people laying in front of him, had just been gunned down in cold blood. Their murderers were standing on a catwalk high above, showing no remorse for the slaughter.

The carnage had been orchestrated by the daughter of a vigilante named Elite, whom the Punisher had killed many years ago for trying to emulate the Punisher himself. Along with this new Elite stood Bob and Doug Hanson, a pair of conjoined twins with the smaller twin that was hanging from the top of his brother’s skull being the one in charge; The Jester, a former actor turned villain, and Bob. The less said about Bob, the better.

Elite just smiled, seeing the tortured look on the Punisher’s face as she took out a sawed-off shotgun, aiming it at the Punisher’s kneecap while he was distracted. It was then that the Punisher’s partner, Chip, rushed in and looked up.

“Frank!” Chip shouted as he rammed the Punisher out of the way, taking the shotgun blast in his left shoulder. The two hit the ground as the older man saw his partner was bleeding. Chip’s rescue had temporarily snapped him out of his trance as he looked up at the catwalk. “Chip…”

“Go!” Chip said, seething with pain. “I’ll live.”

The Punisher stood up, his hatred and rage now fully consuming him. Not only were dozens of people dead, including many innocent children, but now his partner was bleeding from a bullet meant for him. There were no words as he headed toward the catwalk.

“He looks pretty pissed,” Jester said.

“I didn’t cause any of this to make him feel good,” Elite said. “Take him down!”

Doug marched his brother’s body toward the Punisher as he made his way up the stairs.

“Alright, asshole, good luck taking me on. I can’t feel my brother’s pain, so wail on this body all you want because-”

BLAM!

A single shotgun blast struck Doug, causing the baby-sized twin to explode in a bloody mess. Frankly walked past and simply pushed Glen’s body over the railing. His eyes were on Elite, not even noticing Bob rush in and stab him in the side.

“Not so fast, friend!” Bob said with a smile as Frank looked up at the man, feeling like he was going to be sick upon seeing the sight of this new enemy. Bob held his bloody knife as he stood over Frank, wearing a casual suit made up of aborted baby fetuses. “Do you like my suit? 100% baby skin.”

Bob kicked Frank in the face, sending him flying onto his back. He went to stomp Frank’s face in when he rolled and pulled out his gun, firing at Bob, but missing.

“Gonna have to try better than that, friend!” Bob said with his hideous smile as Frank grabbed him by the leg and swinging him across the catwalk. Frank held his side as he got to his feet and reached into his jacket for a grenade.

“Ready for round two?” Bob asked as Frank grabbed the man, forcing a hand grenade into his mouth and down his throat after pulling the pin. He shoved the man over the catwalk, with a large explosion taking place just before Bob hit the ground.

After having seen the Hanson brothers and Bob be slaughtered, the Jester thought it would be best if he got the hell out of Dodge before the Punisher set his sights on him. He was okay with murder, but seeing all of those dead children slaughtered was too much. He decided maybe it was time to give up being the Jester for a while until things died down.

As he snuck out the back, he ran right into Martin Soap, who had arrived to help.

“Oh, for a minute there I thought I was in trouble,” Jester laughed as he got ready to take Soap out. “I remember you from the papers, the incompetent former officer who’s always good for a laugh.”

Jester went to punch him as Soap ducked and shoved his fist into the Jester’s stomach. Soap’s knee then jutted into the villain’s groin, causing him to double over in pain as Soap kicked him onto his back.

“Laugh that off, motherfucker,” Soap said bitterly.

The Punisher saw Elite standing at the end of the catwalk, her tommy gun in hand.

“Looks like it’s just the two of us,” Elite said as she smiled under her mask. “Did you like my little gift?”

“You murdered all those innocent people,” Frank said through gritted teeth.

“Innocent?” Elite asked. “I killed sinners, blasphemers. Alcoholics who’ve gone out of their way to take the lives of others through abuse or drunken driving. And the sinful gays, who were headed to hell one way or another.”

“That means he never told you,” Frank said with a slight laugh.

“What are you talking about?” Elite asked.

Downstairs, Chip was leaning against the wall, trying to stop the bleeding. Tommy ran in and saw the horror all around him, then saw Chip.

“Oh my God,” Tommy said as he went to help. “Hang on, Chip. I’ll get you to a hospital.”

“What are you doing here?” Chip asked as he moaned in pain.

“I’m here to save you, idiot,” Tommy told him as he pulled off his jacket and held it to the wound as he tried to find something around to make a tourniquet out of.

“Tommy, your sister–”

“I love her, but I love you more,” Tommy said as he pushed his lips against Chip’s.

Up on the catwalk, Frank saw Tommy helping Chip. Elite stared down to look at what had caught the Punisher’s attention, just in time to see Tommy and Chip in the middle of a kiss.

“No,” Elite said, getting distracted enough for Frank to grab her, tossing the gun away. “NO!”

The two began struggling before they fell over the railing, being cushioned by the dead bodies below. Elite recovered first, kicking Frank in the face before he could stand up. Elite grabbed the nearest gun she saw on the ground and rushed toward the couple.

“Anna?” Tommy asked as he stood up. “It’s true. You are Elite.”

“Tell me that you’re not gay, Tommy,” Elite said. “Tell me that you’re not one of them. Tell me you’re not a queer.”

A tear fell down Tommy’s face as he stared at her. “Anna, I’m gay. It’s who I am. I wanted to tell you for so long, but I was scared you’d reject me.”

“I’m not rejecting you, I’m sending you to hell. You’re dead to me,” Elite said. She got ready to pull the trigger just as Frank tackled her, sending both to the ground.

“Get Chip out of here!” Frank shouted. “NOW!”

“Come on, kid,” Soap said as he grabbed Tommy by the arm. “Let’s go!” Soap shouted as he dragged Tommy over to where was Chip was still on the ground, both men carrying him out the door.

“This ends now,” Frank said as he ended up on top of Elite.

“It’ll never end as long as freaks like Tommy are out there,” Elite started laughing. That’s when Frank noticed the remote control in her hand with the flashing red light.

“What did you do?”

“Blowing all of us up. This whole place will go up in thirty seconds!”

Frank got to his feet and pulled out his .38, shooting Elite in both kneecaps to make sure she didn’t escape from the explosion. There was a mixture of laughter and pain coming from her as Frank walked out of the building just as it exploded in a fireball behind him.

Across the street, the Jester had been handcuffed and stuffed in the trunk. Chip and Tommy were in the backseat as Tommy was trying to dress Chip’s wound the best he could while Soap was sitting on the passenger side of the car, looking emotionless as Frank approached him.

“Is she–”

“She’s not walking away from this one,” Frank said as he got into the driver’s seat of the car. He looked back at Chip, who was trying to keep from passing out. He could see the look of love and fear in Tommy’s eyes as he tried to help Chip. It was the same look that his own wife used to give him whenever Frank came home wounded.

Frank had taken Chip to a doctor he knew in New York who specialized in helping those who couldn’t just walk into a hospital due to their past times. While Chip was getting fixed up, Frank had taken Soap back to his apartment after Soap had convinced him to let the police take the Jester in to at least make sure that Tommy wasn’t connected to Elite’s murders. Jonathon Powers was all too happy to tell that Anna was the mastermind if it helped him get a reduced sentence.

“What will you do now?” Frank asked Soap.

“Maybe I’ll see about rejoining the force,” Soap told him. “I kind of miss being a part of the solution rather than ignoring it. Plus it never hurts you to have a man on the inside, right?”

“I suppose not,” Frank told him with a sigh. “I’m sorry about you hooking up with a psychotic murderer.”

“I loved her, Frank,” Soap said. “She was my world, and now I have nothing. At least you’ve got Chip to keep you company.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Frank said. “I think I’ll leave town before Chip is released. This is his chance for a better life with Tommy. I can’t let him give that up.”

“Are you sure?” Soap asked. “Don’t you still need him to help find your kid?”

“I’ll find Benji, even it means killing every mobster and low life criminal from here to California. A war has been started, and a lot of people are going to die before it’s finished.”

“I’ll see if I can dig up anything my old connections,” Soap said as he turned on the t.v. to see the news on the warehouse explosion to make sure that Elite was really was gone.

“And so far police have identified the bodies of most of the shooting victims. Still unaccounted for is the vigilante known as Elite. Firefighters had found a charred mask belonging to the mass murderer, but the body has yet to be located.”

“Frank?” Soap asked. “I’m not worried about me, I can handle myself if she comes calling, but Tommy? She wants his head now that he’s out of the closet.”

Chip’s left arm was in a sling as he worked on his laptop while sitting outside of the old abandoned factory where the doctor had just released him. Tommy walked up to him with a bag of food for them since Tommy was sure that Chip was starving. He sat down next to Chip as the two sat in silence.

“She’s not dead, Tommy,” Chip said in a barely a whisper. “She got away. I’ve been following the police reports all morning. Elite’s still out there, recovering. She’s coming for you, you know that, right?”

Tommy’s face turned pale as he started breathing heavily. “We can run. You and me. We can go somewhere and–”

“I can’t go with you,” Chip said with a sadness in his voice. “Frank’s son is still out there, and I can’t rest until that kid is brought home safe. And you can’t be a part of that fight, Tommy. I love you too much to let you die in this.”

“Then what–”

Chip handed him an envelope.

“What’s this?”

“New social security number, name, bank account with enough money to set yourself up in a new place, the works. It was my B-plan for us just in case we were able to get away from all of this. But… I can’t go with you, Tommy. And with Elite still out there, you’re not safe. You need to go before she recuperates and comes gunning for you.”

“Chip, I can’t do this. Not alone.”

“You can, Tommy,” Chip said as he tried to smile. “You are so much stronger than you realize. And I need you to stay safe because right now, knowing you’re alive is what’s keeping me alive. I am the only person on this planet who will be able to find you now. And maybe someday… I will. But for right now, we’re on two different roads.”

“I’m going to miss you,”

“You’d better go,” Chip said. “Go buy yourself a nice little place somewhere with wide open spaces and fresh air. A place where you can be who you want to be.”

Tommy gave him a gentle kiss as he stood up and walked out of Chip’s life. The young man just hung his head down and wept for a little while until he found the strength to stand up and find his partner.

Frank had picked up some last minute supplies and sat down in the car, getting ready to leave the city as Chip popped up from the back seat.

“You’re not leaving without me, are you?” Chip asked as he climbed up front.

“I’ve blown people’s heads off for doing that,” Frank said. “Where’s Tommy?”

“I sent him away. Elite’s alive and she’ll be out looking for him,” Chip told him. “I set him up with a new identity and drained my accounts to give him a new start somewhere else.”

“You loved this kid enough to bankrupt yourself?” Frank asked as he started the car.

“It’s only money, there’s more where that came from,” Chip said as he looked out the window. “Besides, there’s a little boy out there who needs saving. So let’s get our asses in gear already. I might have found us a lead. It’s a longshot, but it kind of makes sense. A few weeks ago, a busload of convicts mysteriously vanished while en route to a high-security prison. They found the prison bus abandoned in Nevada.”

“How does that help us?”

“Looking at the route the bus disappeared on and the location where it was abandoned, it looks like they were headed up to the Northern States. I searched through every traffic cam I could along that route, and found this.”

Chip showed Frank a surveillance photo of Barracuda driving the bus while flipping off the security camera.

“The bus was abandoned not too long after that picture was taken.”

“And what made you connect those convicts with Benji?”

“12 of the world’s deadliest non-superpowered criminals just vanishing into thin air just seemed kind of… odd. I was desperate for any lead to check out. Once you put Barracuda into the location and the timing of Benji disappearing…”

“Can you figure out where they were headed?”

“13 deadly criminals in one place? Shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, I’ll know by the time we get to the city limits,” Chip told him as he got to work. “You think they really have Benji?”

“If he is, then I’ll go through every man there to save him,” Frank said as he pulled out onto the road. “Let’s go get my son.”

The sign on the road said “Now Leaving Nevada” as the car sped through the state limits as fast as it could. The driver behind the wheel was now in a race against time, having exhausted every lead to get to this point. There was a child who needed saving and several hours of driving left to go.

And Anya wasn’t going to rest until the town ran red with the blood of her nephew’s kidnappers…

To be continued…