Chapter 47: The Principled Punisher
"Fuck you, you transvestite kid! If you can let me go, I'll kill you!" Shocker yelled furiously.
Snap!
Peter Parker sealed his mouth shut with spider silk.
"I'll greet you after my dear Spider-Man catches your accomplice."
With that, Peter dropped down from above.
As soon as Shocker's partner saw him get captured, he immediately realized he was being targeted by an invincible force - probably the Avengers! Decisively, he chose to abandon his teammates and stepped on the gas pedal, preparing to flee.
At that moment, there was a heavy 'thud' from the roof of the car. Immediately after, a metal baton smashed through the window and jabbed directly into the steering wheel. The extended portion precisely pinned the driver's feet to the floor, trapping him in the driver's seat, immobile.
"I surrender, I surrender!" He took his hands off the wheel and hugged his head, his movements so practiced it was almost pitiful - he'd clearly been arrested many times before.
Daredevil, kneeling on the roof, was momentarily stunned by the man's swift compliance.
"Get out of the car, hands on your head, and squat beside it," Daredevil calmly ordered, retracting his baton.
"Okay, okay," the man compliantly exited as instructed.
When Peter descended, he witnessed this very scene. Unaware of the context, he assumed Daredevil's interrogation skills were simply that formidable to make a villain surrender so quickly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several gunshots rang out nearby.
Soon after, the fleeing Hell's Kitchen gang members' vehicle careened drunkenly toward the river before finally plunging into the vast waters.
"It seems the Punisher has taken care of those men. If you don't want these two killed indiscriminately by him, you'd best extract useful information quickly," Daredevil seemed to caution Peter, but really applied pressure on the now-captured Shocker's accomplice.
Daredevil could sense this man was utterly "horrified."
With those words and gunshots, the captive's panic only escalated further - the perfect time for interrogation.
Peter, having learned investigative skills from Spider-Man Noir, naturally picked up some interrogation techniques too.
"Tell me your name!"
"M-My name is Herman."
"Your full name!"
"Herman Schultz."
"What about that guy?"
"His name is Jackson Brice."
"Who do you work for?"
Herman hesitated. Peter pointed toward the other side. "You know that guy? His name is the Punisher, and he hates evil with a vengeance. The three major Hell's Kitchen gangs and the former Kingpin all fell to him! He kills ruthlessly and has a pathological hatred of evil - at least hundreds of gangsters have died by his hand!"
"If he comes over and sees you, what do you think will happen?"
Herman trembled upon hearing this. "Then, then...if I confess everything, will you let me go?"
Peter shook his head. "No, but I'll send you to the police station. As long as you're not a heinous criminal, you'll be released after some time inside."
Herman fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, you win, Spider-Man. I work for Adrian Toomes, and our factory address is..."
He quickly relayed all the information he knew. Peter listened intently, taking notes. When Herman finished, Peter glanced at Daredevil.
The Night's Human Lie Detector nodded, confirming the man spoke truthfully.
Then, in a mischievous move, Peter took Herman's cell phone and dialed the NYPD's number, holding it to the man's ear.
Herman glanced at him speechlessly, then begrudgingly reported his own crime and requested arrest.
The operator initially didn't believe him until Herman repeatedly insisted, finally agreeing to dispatch a squad car with skepticism.
Peter then scooped both men up, leaping high to rejoin Shocker before webbing them together hanging from the bridge.
Next, he sealed Herman's mouth and prepared to interrogate Jackson Brice similarly. But this one seemed arrogantly defiant - or perhaps just unstable.
No matter how Peter pressed, he couldn't uncover Brice's motives. He grew so frustrated, he nearly considered taking the man down to let the Punisher execute him.
From the fleeing Hell's Kitchen members' own mouths, Peter learned that Jackson, emboldened by his high-tech gauntlet, frequently abused his power - with lethal results.
The only difference between him and the utterly vicious gangsters was that his victims were indebted weapon-buyers - other gangsters - while those thugs victimized innocent civilians. In a sense, one could view it as eliminating societal harm.
However, unlike Peter as a "semi-official" hero, or the Punisher with his unique jurisdiction, Jackson had no such authority. His killings, regardless of targets, remained illegal in this era.
At that moment, Daredevil called out from below. Peter descended to him.
"What is it, Mr. Daredevil?" Peter asked.
"Just after you went up, a phone rang inside the car. It likely belonged to Mr. Shocker."
"Who was calling?"
Daredevil gestured to his eyes and handed Peter a phone. "You'll have to see for yourself."
Peter smiled awkwardly, always forgetting Daredevil's blindness despite his mannerisms.
Taking the offered phone, he checked the caller ID, which indeed displayed "Toomes."
"It's their boss, Adrian Toomes."
"Then I suggest you head there promptly. If you don't answer here, Toomes may suspect something. If he evacuates, your plan fails," Daredevil astutely analyzed.
Peter nodded, uncertain. "But these two..."
Daredevil gave a slight smile. "Leave them to me. I'll wait until the police collect them before departing. Besides, Frank Castle has already left, so you needn't worry about him killing them."
"Ah, Mr. Castle is gone?"
"Yes, his goal was achieved. As for those two, he said they're your prey, and he lacks evidence of their specific crimes - so he's uninterested for now."
"I see. It seems Mr. Castle is quite a principled man as well," Peter's impression of the Punisher improved somewhat.
Daredevil chuckled lightly.
After thanking Daredevil for his aid, Peter hurried toward Toomes' weapons processing factory, leaving the webbed-up duo behind.
(End of chapter)