It took a half hour to make it through the lethal pastures, get onto another paved Road, and pick up smooth speed again.

“We’re up in normal planar reaches. We should find an off-ramp in half an hour,” Dealer breathed, and everyone cheered softly. “Congratulations on making the Ride Outta Hell, everyone.”

“Frank, I understand your family is living in San Francisco. I think the Road there is just as close as any other, you know?”

There was a moment of silence on coms. “I think I’d really appreciate that, Mick,” Frank replied softly, and so their course was set.

---------

It had been six years since he’d seen them in person. Oh, he had talked to them on the phone, occasionally on vids, and he’d kept up with their lives and what had been going on with them.

They knew he was going Down, and either he was going to kick the shit out of a Fallen Angel in Hell itself, or he wasn’t going to come home.

The Punishment Team looked pretty out of place as they rumbled up in the nice neighborhood, their vehicles so scorched and gouged and shot-up. More than a couple of the neighbors came out at the sound of such powerful engines, and when the six vehicles coasted to a stop near the Castle’s house, more than a few of them were wondering if they should call the cops.

A streak of light came down from above, just as Frank Castle was getting out of his car, and he barely had time to blink before it slammed into the building in front of him, turning the well-maintained suburban home into an exploding fireball that blew almost everyone there off their feet.

Even Dealer was shocked by the abruptness of the attack, and the fact she had no warning of it.

“No!” swore Frank Castle, ignoring the gashes on his face and arms as he stumbled to his feet, staring at the ruin of the home.

Something rose up out of the inferno, covered by a transparent sphere. A second later, Frank Castle was tugged off his feet, and went sailing into the air, drawn right into that sphere as it gained altitude.

“Frank!” “Dad!” “Daddy!” the three people inside greeted him, wrapping him up in their arms despite the fact they were enclosed in an invisible sphere hurtling through the sky along the backtrail of that missile at great speed.

Frank Castle’s heart was doing gymnastics at the emotional up and down, but even his total relief and hugging couldn’t take his mind off what had just happened. “Dynamo!” he called out, realizing that she was here at the end, as she had been at the beginning, and had saved everyone again!

A bar of black metal extended back from the flying woman’s hand into the midst of them. “All of you, grab on.” Without exception, the four instantly did so, and magic rippled and surged around them.

They all gained several inches in height and at least two hundred pounds in weight, filling out with muscle and power in shock.

Function fell apart into four pieces in their hands, growing into heavy staves in their grips.

“Frank, you’ve got the Spear. I trust the rest of you remember your stick techniques?” I asked the rest of his family.

“Yes, ma’am!” they all replied instantly, looking at one another in sharp excitement. A glowing trail was leading the way ahead of them, and seemed to be coming down only a mile or three ahead.

“You’ll be immune to small-arms fire. I assume you all have your sidearms?” I asked calmly.

Hands slapped to shoulder holsters or hips, and Frank’s smile when he saw his entire family was packing was glowing.

“They are in that warehouse ahead. How about I drop you right in through the roof?” I asked, and they all grinned, even Maria, who once would have never dreamed of harming another human being.

I let them out of the solid air bubble above the warehouse as I came down, and they dropped down onto the metal roof and right on through into whatever surprises were waiting below, while I politely zipped around to the back door where some people might try to flee, and thoughtfully just merged it shut into the rest of the building.

The shooting and pounding started like seconds later. I was sure I heard some werewolves howling, but not for very long.

Frank Castle was never going to have a safe and dull life, but his family knew it, and at least they could come along with him now.

I’d have to reclaim Function, but I’d have no problem leaving a substitute Wrecking Rod behind with them, moving the Enchantment over. After all, Karnilla had made the original.

Frank Castle was going to find out who was responsible for this, probably some Mexican clans trying to take out the Castles who had been hunting them as part of their training and Tribal army duties, and Punishment would continue.

-Hey, Dealer, I got this, everything’s square. Head them over to the safe house a mile away and give them a place to sack out. Castle’s fine.-

-Got it!- she /stated, as I flitted to the other side of the building, coming down in front of a car that was desperately trying to flee. I let it fold itself around me when I slammed down and stopped it, metal crunching and flattening loudly against me, always a unique sensation.

Frank, Jr came down right behind it, grabbed the back fender, and heaved the car and those inside it back over himself and upside down on its hood.

A werewolf, broken in half, went flying overhead as Maria hit a home run with furball, while Lisa double-tapped another one on the ground, and Frank blithely chopped the heads off two more and impaled a third in mid-leap.

Yeah, this was going to be just fine for the Castle family. A proper homecoming

============

Frank Castle, The Punisher, Road Warrior

Null Forsaken Male Human/5

Archer (Rifleman)/16; Melee/12; Scout/6, Runesmith/3, Driver/5

Strength: 17-> 28

Dexterity: 16-> 24

Constitution: 18-> 36

Intelligence: 12-> 21

Wisdom: 13-> 20

Charisma: 12-> 19

Null: 52 (62 against Curses/Dark Magic)

Notable Talents/Traits: Warrior Born; Deadeye, Warrior of Old; Foe Killer: Undead, Weres, Fiends, Constructs, Cultists; Send ‘Em Down; Wheelman, Cursebreaker; Road Warrior

*Punisher Forsaken Fulfilled Curse Characteristics: Enhanced Vitality; Enhanced Combat Awareness; Curse Resistance; Sense the Hellbound

=============

---------------------------

Time passes...

-So, they are out.-

-Yeah. Death got into a game with the Grandmaster, lost, and he ended up running the place. Totally made up a stupid competition game with the Avengers with chunks of the whole universe at stake, and then threw the game against the Arrow with some sleight of hand. Death got free, sent the Grandmaster and the Collector out of her Realm.-

DiDi sounded annoyed, which wasn’t surprising. I imagined that mission report from the Patriot had been particularly aggravating to read.

-You told Briggs already?-

-I believe they are meeting right now. Briggs has the Collector’s Dreadskull back from Castle.-

I smirked. Those would be interesting negotiations.

And now, if the Elders stepped out of line, there was going to be some true killing, and no, they wouldn’t go into Death’s sweet embrace.

Courtiers of Death. Thanos had slain billions, and wanted to slay billions more, but he hadn’t slain something immortal as yet. Could he even do so? Could he kill something so Death couldn’t take it, and wouldn’t mind not taking it?

Rumors were he was looking for the Gems of Power, not knowing what they truly were as yet. Would he track any of them to the Sol system? I was pretty sure Sama and Briggs had all of them, knew what they were and how to use them, and he had no clue, as yet.

He was going to have a damn hard time finding them, and if he tried to flex his muscle here, oh, that was not going to be nice for him.

The Black Disciples were getting together a force to assault the Sol System. As soon as they hit hyperspace, they were targets for Primus, Lantern, and me to dispose of.

It was DAMN hard for mundane forces in numbers to approach someone with working Cosmic Awareness and not be noticed. I didn’t have to watch the entirety of the universe, after all, just threads of Fate converging on Sol, and follow them back to the forces coming here and figuring out what they were and why they were coming this way.

So, when the Badoon and the Brood both started making moves in our direction, I was a bit steamed. The Skrulls also moved in a fleet a few systems over, as if waiting to see what was going to happen.

The Acanti were not a vengeful species at heart, but this wasn’t actually about hate. This was about the survival of their race. The Brood considered them nothing more than convenient transportation, and the Badoon weren’t much better, if not so aggressive about it.

I reprised my role of playing God, letting them know exactly where the Brood and Badoon allied fleets were gathering.

A thousand Acanti, all of them with Xandaran weaponry, and some of them with sleek and already populated Xandaran dermal cities in place, came out of nowhere on top of those fleets and munched them down into recyclable materials. More Broodships burned vivic, and little Acanti grew on the fine feast set out for them.

The Skrull fleet at LaLander 21185 found its location leaked to the Kree, who came upon it in a sudden ambush. The resulting bloody fleet action resulted in them losing all interest in following up on the attack on Terra, and the Skrulls withdrew quickly from the system after taking heavy losses.

A few hours after the victorious Kree pulled out of the system, the Acanti swept in, and like the extremely efficient and well-equipped scavengers they were becoming, picked up all the junk of shattered starships, vivisized the dead crews, and began to recycle everything for their own benefit. When they were done, nobody could tell there had been a fight there at all.