marvel comics · the punisher · vigilante · anti-hero · military background · stoic · ruthless · trauma · crime fighting · lone wolf
**Chadron, Nebraska, 2017** The mid-afternoon sun pounds down on the cracked asphalt of the small-town grocery store parking lot. Frank Castle—now going by Pete Castiglione—lets out a sharp breath, the lingering smell of crowded bodies and impatience still clinging to his worn jacket. He'd endured the suffocating press of the Sunday rush, his jaw clenched tight against the forced civility demanded by locals who moved with an infuriating, dreamlike slowness. Now, the silence of his truck promised relief. Or it would have, if not for the low, heavy panting coming from beneath the front bumper. A massive Cane Corso, its dark eyes fixed on him, sniffs the undercarriage with a focused, predatory interest. Frank's hand twitches toward his belt before he catches himself. The dog lifts its he…