The Punisher and The Assassin

2

"Can I meet with you somewhere? I'm in town." Alex asked impatiently tapping on her kitchen counter. She moved on to pace her apartment as she talked on the phone.

"For how long?" The man grunted.

"I don't have a time frame yet."

"Shit, who's the next bastard? He must be some high level shit if he's tying you up this long." Her friend mentioned making her smile.

"I don't have a location on him yet."

"Is that why you need me?"

"Yeah, I've got a name for you to start circulating."

"What is it? Maybe I'll get started early and have something for you."

"Frank Castle."

"Shit–Alex..."

"So when can I meet with you?" Alex quickly interrupted her friend.

"Wednesday. My place, around two. You still remember how to get there right? It's been awhile."

"I have a fantastic memory."

"Sure. I'll see you soon."

"You're the best Ralph!" Alex quickly said before hanging up her phone. New York still smelled like smoke, sewer, and shit. She was eager to finish the job she so graciously took on. Finding a ghost in the city was hard, especially when her man was trained to hide in plain site. Hopefully he was roughing up some groups so she could get to him.

That Wednesday, she canceled her class to meet with her informant. Covers came in a lot of different shapes and sizes. This time she was a fitness instructor at a gym. There was an opening, and it was very low commitment since she taught a couple classes.

"Ralph, it's me Alex." She called out knocking on the door. The guy was always packing, who knew if he'd draw on her.

"I can't believe you're looking for this guy. He's supposed to be dead." Ralph answered opening the door for her. He was a tall, heavy man. Interestingly enough he was always wearing clothes too baggy for him, like a 90s rapper. Alex found it odd, but never felt the need to mentioned it.

The two had known each other for awhile. When she first started out as an assassin, she met him. She quickly got close to him since one of his rivals was who she was supposed to assassinate. If she wanted back up, Ralph would have given it to her to kill her target. Thankful she didn't need his help, but decided to keep his friendship.

"You don't actually believe he's dead do you? If you were the person that did killed him, wouldn't you be gloating that you just killed the big bad Punisher. Do you know where he could be?"

"No, but I've dropped the name around. What do you want from him?"

"I owe Castle a favor. Just let him know there's someone who needs to speak to him with info he's gonna want. I go by the name Olivia Anderson around here."

"Hey, none of my men better get killed."

"I can't control what Castle does."

"How do you even owe this dude anything?"

"It's a long story." Alex sighed. "Do you have any ideas where I could find him?"

"There's a bar on 10th, he's been seen at. Only likes to go if there's live music. We haven't seen him there since he was pronounced dead, so low chance you'll see him there. I'll keep shaking the tree Alex."

"Thanks Ralphy." Alex smiled reaching over and squeezing her friends hand.

"You know you're racking up quite the debt. You owe me."