Incursion Part 1

Incursion Part 1

Punisher War Journal Entry 2033

There have been many times I’ve been involved in fights that shouldn’t be mine. The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, hell even Spiderman and the Red Clown are usually the ones to handle strange alien invasions, civil wars and what have you. Me? I’m the one who takes out the child rapists, the mobsters and the thugs. None of that matters now. Not since the Rifts started to happen.

I don’t know how else to explain it. These weird dimensional gateways started to open up into world from another. A world not unsimilar to our own. A world of supermen, costumed vigilantes and alien beings. No one believes that these people caused it. Rumor on the news and other facets of people I’ve spoken with seem to suggest that our enemy is from their universe but also THEIR enemy. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We’ll soon see. I don’t make it a habit to make friends with other costume heroes. A lot of them tolerate me because even though they don’t like my methods, they know I won’t stand by while innocents are being slaughtered. It’s why I didn’t let Spiderman get murdered in that sewer during the Super Civil War. It’s why I’ll give my life to save people who never should have been put in harms way.

I have illusions about where I am headed. I know God will never forgive me for what I’ve done. It doesn’t mean I’m going to sit idly by either.

Now we go to War.
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The gray primer coated van swerved in an out of traffic. Most of the cars were abandoned. Civilians swooped by the speeding vehicle; fleeing for some type of safety. The Punisher kept his eyes open to where the portal was leaking the strange flying demons. All of them looked like mutates apes but they had wings like beetles. What Punisher noticed first was their colors. Each flying demon wore green and yellow. It was a uniform which meant they were soldiers and every soldier took his orders from someone. Punisher knew war. He knew they had to have a leader and that was his target.

He slammed the brakes on his vehicle, coming to stop against an overturned bus. He quickly pulled out his MP5. The moment two demons showed up, he opened fire. Like any creature, they fell when a hail of bullets struck them in the face. Punisher gritted his teeth, as he pulled out the magazine and reloaded a new one. He quickly stumbled back to open up his war-van. Inside was a treasure trove of automatic weapons and armament of any kind. The vigilante wasn’t sure if he would make it out of this day alive. Therefore he loaded up with everything, and planned to take out as many demons as he could. Punisher loaded up the massive M60. He slapped the box of ammo into the feeder and got ready to return to the fight. The muscular man paused when something got his attention.

More gunfire.

Punisher stepped out from his van and noticed where it was coming from. He gasped in amazement when he saw the costumed shapes of Wolverine and Deadpool. The mutant grunted as he tried to run and hold the bulk of his guts in at the same time. Deadpool had also taken some cuts but he kept firing to cover him and his friend. The vigilante then jumped on a nearby Sedan and opened fire on the flying demons. The bullets struck them hard and even some began to destroy their flying apparatuses. One creature screamed as his backpack burst in a shatter of sparks. He then swooped hard to the left and destroyed the open window of a Starbucks. Then him and the entire building blew up. Deadpool gazed at the display of fire rushing out from the open windows. “Aw, man!” he yelped, “I really wanted a vanilla latte! It goes great with chaos and mayhem!”

“WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?” Wolverine screamed, “I need more time to heal.”

“You got the bad end of that deal, Logan. When they were giving out mutant powers, you shouldn’t have asked for healing factor. You should have asked for Respawn. I mean . .imagine the gold pieces you would collect.”

“How the hell did I get separated from the X-Force with you?” the wounded mutant rolled his eyes.

“LOGAN! WILSON!!” Punisher waved his hand to them.

“Huh? Who’s that?”

“Oh, sweet! It’s the Punisher!” Deadpool stood up, waving, “HEY, FRANK! HOW YA MOMMA AND DEM?”

“WOULD YOU GET HIM OVER HERE, YOU IDIOT!!!” the vigilante screamed as he fired off his weapon to continue to cover them.

Deadpool leaned down long enough for Wolverine to put his arm around his shoulders. The crazed mutant carried his wounded friend toward the gun wielding vigilante. Punisher gritted his teeth as he kept firing off the flying hordes of demons. Shell casings crashed off his pants onto the top of the vehicle. He knew he needed to keep firing long enough to get those two men under cover. Once they arrived, he checked his line of sight. The demons flew off in another direction. The tired vigilante knew he probably didn’t hold them off; they just flew off to find easier prey. Deadpool and Wolverine crashed into the back of his open van. The Punisher then jumped off the top of the car to join them. He quickly kneeled down next to the wounded mutant. He looked down to see Wolverine’s healing factor was forcing his lower intestines back into his body. “How much time you need, Logan?” he asked.

“Five minutes, tops.” He gritted his teeth as the marks on his face were already fading away.

“What happened to you guys?” the vigilante asked as he looked for another box of ammo for the M60, “Don’t you normally function as a group?”

“Yeah, was here with X Force.. . . .” Wolverine took a deep inhale as the skin around his stomach began to close up, “But we got overrun. Got cut off . . . from Psylocke and Fantomex . . .got . . .no idea where they are.”

“Hopefully the assault will break soon and we can go looking for them.”

“No time, Castle, “ Wolverine fought to stood up, “They can take care of themselves. We got to get moving.”

“Yeah, we sitting ducks down here . . . “ Deadpool shook his head, “Sitting mutants . . . . sitting gun toting psychos . . . . wait, what works in this regard?”

“Wilson, just shut it!” Wolverine grunted in frustration.

“No, hold up, Logan. I don’t want to call myself a Duck. Have you seen those Memes? I’ll never let the Internet live this down.”

“How do you put up with this guy?” Punisher asked his erstwhile friend.

“Some days you can drown him out.” Wolverine smirked, “Most days, however . . . . “

“WHOA!” Deadpool took off running, “MASKED BROTHER IN DANGER!”

“WADE!” Wolverine gasped.

The red clothed maniac fired his weapon up toward two flying demons as they were stalking after another masked vigilante. The two monsters buckled from their pursuit and swung out catching flack off the bullets. The masked man grunted as he slammed into a nearby alley wall. One of the demons struck him hard on the arm. The blood flowed so freely, it looked like his left hand had been dipped in blood. “Friendlies! Friendlies coming through!” Deadpool said with glee as he reached down to grab him.

“What the?” the masked man grunted.

“Hang tight, soldier. We never leave a masked man behind.”

“You . . . .wait, WHO ARE you??”

“Deadpool’s the name, and wasting any bad guy that moves is my game.”

“Where you from?” the vigilante then asked.

“THREE MILE ISLAND, GLAD YOU ASKED!” the superhero laughed as he got him to the van, “Land of Waste, home of the muties!”

“Huh?” the wounded man said, completely baffled.

“Ignore him.” Punisher quickly grabbed a bandage roll, “What’s your name?”

“Name’s Cole but everybody calls me Grifter.” He winced.

Wolverine flickered one eyebrow. “Never heard of you.” He admitted.

Grifter stared at the men as the one with the skull on his shirt bandaged his arm. He figured he would have known of the psycho Deadpool that saved him. Judging from the way the short hairy man carried him, he figured he would have known him too. Within a few more seconds, the weary warrior came to one conclusion. “You guys are from the other world, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Funny, that was about to be our question.” Wolverine commented.

“How did you wind up here?” Punisher finished the field dressing.

“Don’t know. I was enjoying my coffee and all hell broke loose,” He gritted his teeth to stand up, “Then all these Parademons came out of nowhere.”

“Parademons?” the vigilante blinked.

“Oh, these furry monsters are from your world?” Wolverine then stated.

“Not quite. They are from a planet called Apokolips. I guess . . . . .if you get technical . . . they are from our dimension.”

“Say . . .Grifter . . . you and your people wouldn’t happen to sell any trading cards to help me keep track of this stuff, would you?” Deadpool then asked.

Grifter said nothing. He just stared in mild shock at the superhero. Was he attempting to make jokes or was he literally this crazy? Wolverine just shook his head; breaking the silence with more immediate concerns. “Regardless of where they come from, we can’t stay here.” He told them.

“Agreed.” Punisher worked past them, “We’re too exposed. We need to get under cover or get to some vantage point where we can see them coming.”

“These things fly, Castle. We need to get under cover. Unless you got a ton of ammo in that van, being on a roof ain’t gonna do no good.” The Canadian said.

“Well, then it’s a good thing I DO have a ton of ammo in here.” The vigilante waved to the maniac superhero, “Deadpool, come here!”

The red and black hero stumbled back to the van. He then blinked when he got a good look at the arsenal the Punisher was carrying. The skull-clad soldiers pulled up a shotgun shell bandolier and slung it around his chest. He then picked up an M24 Shotgun and made sure it was loaded. “Deadpool, grab as many weapons as you can carry,” he told him.

“Grab . . .as . . .many . . .weapons . . .as I can carry?” he stammered.

“Yeah, there is no way I can drive the van through that wreckage.”

“Frank?”

“What?” he looked at him.

“I love you.” Deadpool said with strange sincerity.

The vigilante paused for a moment and then turned around, rolling his eyes. “Unbelievable.” He whispered at the insane man.

Punisher grabbed a Mac10 and slug it around his arm. Deadpool grabbed two Uzis and as much ammo as he could hold. He picked up a duffle bag to sling in an American M900 along with a CAR15. He then grabbed an AK47 and kissed it before grabbing a large amount of magazines. “I love these rifles.” He grinned under his mask.

“Terrific.” Punisher grunted as he walked past him, not knowing how Logan every put up with him.

Grifter appeared at the back of the van. He pointed at the ammunition. “May I?” he asked.

“Help yourself.” The vigilante jumped back onto the street.

“CONTACT!!” Wolverine then screamed.

The Punisher managed to walk two feet to his left just in time to see the mutant running. Wolverine saw two parademons running through the cars toward him. His claws burst from the back of his hands as he screamed and ran toward them. The mutant managed to eviscerate the first creature but then he saw someone seem like they literally appeared out of thin air. Wolverine glanced up as the second parademon as two long sai were stabbed into his shoulder blades. Within the blink of an eye, those same sharp weapons were stabbed back into the creature’s neck and pulled out abruptly. The beast slung down on the ground in a bloody thump. Wolverine smirked at the woman who helped him. It made sense that she seemed to appear out of nowhere. She was, after all, a ninja. “Natchios.” The mutant nodded.

“Logan.” She whispered as she stepped off the top of a vehicle.

The Punisher walked up behind the Canadian “Hello, Elektra.” He grinned.

“Hello, Frank.” She smiled with a slight gleam in her eye.

“Hello, Frank?” Deadpool walked up to them, “Since when are you two on a first name basis?”

“Oh, God,” the assassin grunted, “Why are you here?”

“I’m here . . . . . .wait . . . .are you asking me metaphorically or in the bible sense?” the insane man smiled.

“Elektra, how do you know . . . “ Punisher pointed at Deadpool but then snapped his fingers, “Right! That incident with the Red Hulk.”

“Wacky Fun.” Deadpool sighed.

“You people are odd.” Grifter commented, “And coming from my world, that’s saying a lot.”

“Who’s this blondie?” Elektra pointed with her sai.

“This is the Grifter. He’s from the other world.” The Punisher introduced him.

“Hey,” she nodded, “So where you guys headed?”

“Some place with cover. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Safety in numbers. Basic principle of survival.” She said as she started to walk alongside the mutant.

“How far are we walking?” Grifter then said.

“This sort of . . . . Armageddon brings out the suits in droves.” The Canadian mentioned, “We walk along this path long enough we’ll come across more of us.”

“Whoa . . . up ahead . . . .” Deadpool then pointed, “Shiny portal thingie!”

The group looked up the street and as their crazy friend stated, another rift from one side of the world had opened up. The portal looked like a clear watery reflection of the city. The surrounding features looked like simmering silvery bubbles. Wolverine walked closely. He glanced out toward it and then let his hand touch it. The portal shimmered exactly as if he touched a pond. “We going over?” Deadpool then asked.

“Yeah, reckon so.” His leader stated.

“Wait, why?” Punisher then blinked.

“Think about it, Castle,” Wolverine turned to face him, “Grifter confirmed these parademons are from their universe. If we have any chance of stopping the destruction of both worlds, then we go closer to the source.”

The vigilante took a deep breath. This wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing. The severe superhuman craziness he left to Wolverine and his ilk. However, it was too late; he had his weapons and he was committed. He nodded his head to the mutant. “Lead on, Logan.” He told him.

Wolverine turned and entered the portal. The street look almost the same but the asphalt was a little darker. One by one, the forced group of heroes followed him. Punisher felt strange. His heart raced a little but from his perspective, all he did was enter a new city. It was much larger and more lit, similar to Vegas. Grifter glanced around trying to figure out where they were. He noticed his new friend Deadpool was holding his breath. “We crossed over, dude.” He tapped his arm, “You can breathe now.”

Deadpool let out a massive exhale. He sighed and smiled. “Thanks.” He told him, “I wanted to make sure the air was breathable.”

Grifter twitched his head. They were all breathing fine. “Deadpool . . .exactly how crazy are you?” he asked.

“I had it once measured back in Canada.” He told him, showing the metaphor with his hands, “Crazy like a fox is down here . . . . .and I’m about 37 levels up here.”

“Yeah, lovely, Wilson, so shut up!” Wolverine kept trying to get a scent of any parademons in the region.

Punisher looked upwards on the street. Amid the same derelict car debris and destroyed buildings, the other world was facing the same Armageddon they were. The vigilante fears for the safety of the civilians. So far there were none in sight. Elektra took a step closer to him and then grabbed his arm in mild shock. “NO!” she gasped.

Punisher then saw what she was looking at. Over in a alleyway of the city, they saw dozens of bodies. Grifter jolted his head at the carnage. “DAMN!” he grunted as he began to jog over.

Wolverine finally caught the scent of the bodies after noticing it. He sighed; believing his old age made him slow at times. The group followed the masked hero over to the bodies. Elektra was a cold hearted assassin. She killed people for money and sometimes sport. Still, seeing a child clutching her mother while they were both executed was enough to make her teary eyed. Punisher took a deep breath and he looked at the sight of the father defending his family from some sort of laser fire. It reminded him too much of his own tragedy. It was on that day he vowed no family would suffer the way he did. Wolverine sighed and kneeled down. He gently felt a cop’s neck. “He’s ice cold.” He commented, “Gotta be three hours, maybe two since they were butchered.”

Grifter looked around. He then spotted Deadpool looking down at the old woman who was missing her legs. Even under his mask, they could tell he was upset. “Bogus,” he sniffed, “Not cool, man . . . .”

Everybody was a little amazed that the crazed man had enough sanity to be moved by a massacre of innocents. Wolverine sighed as he stood up. “Any idea where we are, Grifter?” he asked.

The masked man then looked at the cop he was checking for vitals. He then pulled him up and looked at the badge on his uniform. He shook his head.

“Looks like Gotham.” He commented.