𝐏𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑

He's not kidding. There's a dull crack as Copperhead realigns his lower jaw, snapping it back into place after a punch or three had dislocated it. A quick yawn ensures nothing had been permanently damaged but he does not attempt to bite the man again. Had Copperhead been born an ordinary human, he had no trouble believing he'd be nursing a broken jaw right about now, and understood this was no ordinary foe he was dealing with. "So I can imagine. You must be the one they call the Punisher." He responds calmly, eyeing the iconic skull emblazoned across the other man's chest. Copperhead supposes he should be grateful all he's gotten so far is a punch to the face - the things he'd heard about this man and what he did to his enemies could turn anybody's blood cold. Still, that didn't mean he'd simply give in. Copperhead had a job to do and couldn't afford to waste precious time and energy playing cat and mouse with the vigilante when a contract was still alive. The end of his tail gropes around blindly, slitted eyes fixated on that of his foe's while the end of his tail slowly wraps around the leg of a nearby wooden chair.

Damn the lack of an eye. To think being in Gotham would be a good thing. The place was an absolute shithole and needed a clean up anyway. His teeth bore as he spoke.

"You hitmen are a dime a dozen. If I had a quarter for every one I ran into. I'd be fucking rich!" He yelled as he would take a whiskey bottle. He was out of ammo by that point. Leaping ontop of Copperhead with the full intent to kill him. Wrapping his arm around his neck while the free one would blindly and brutally inflict damage with the blunt object.

New York was one cesspool. Filled with gangs, super villains and heroes alike. But this place was a whole new bag of beans to pull from. The villains weren't killed. They were shoved back in prison to where they escape again. A repeat process.

"Hitmen always perfering money over their worthless lives." He was pissed. He was seething. Tired. Angry, disgusted, incoherently wrathful. He broke his jaw with that first punch that much he knew. But it healed. Then he would gladly hit the thing harder until he left lasting damage on it.

Steve had been trapped in this dimension for over a year. He’d been angry at first when the interdimensional elevator exploded and left him stranded far from anything he’d ever known, in a world where Mother HYDRA didn’t rule. He’d been forced to seek them in the shadows, allied with weaker powers who failed to see their true potential. It was clear he’d gone back in time as well, while HYDRA was still caught up in its pointless genocides. They had no proper appreciation for an organization that had been around for millennia, its primary goal to bring Hive back to Earth to rule. To be fair, Steve had never seen any evidence in his world that Hive still existed, but there was no room for doubt in him. HYDRA would make the world ready for him. And he would help to prepare this one.

He’d spent a lifetime studying the Captain America of his Earth and the last several months studying this one. He didn’t feel any empathy for him, no connection to the man with whom he shared a face and a genetic makeup, although he had learned to imitate him quite well. There were differences in their histories here, obviously. HYDRA already had a foothold in his world when Steve Rogers was growing up, and they’d already gone public, their ideology spreading. He knew very little about the Frank Castle of his world and only slightly more about this one. He'd read up on all of Rogers' supposed allies, even the dubious ones like the Punisher. Steve admired his efficiency. He would have been glorious working for HYDRA.

The shift in his eye color made his punch stop mere inches from his cheek. His expression however was unmoved. His eye narrowed. Suspecting this was a trick or not was difficult.

"Rodgers?" His single eye studying the captain. He himself had yet to be struggled away from. No attempt at getting back at him. No sneak attack yet. Nothing. Just a staredown that seemed to last ages.

After a mental choice was made he let him go. His iron grip on Steve's collar loosened to the point his fabric slipped freely from his fingers. His cold eye watching him like a diligent hawk.

"I've been through their shit before cap." He stated coolly. Helping him to his feet to set him down on a pile of bricks in the construction yard. Not much of a comfy place to rest a man who just had the shit beaten out of him. He was no better. He had bruised and bloody knuckles. He was sure his arm was broken or dislocated somewhere. Ribs broken but still managed to refrain from sharing the pain he was experiencing. No satisfaction to go off on if your enemy doesn't share how he physically feels. But it was easy to mentally say that the sensation of working with a broken arm hurt like a bitch.

The muscle straining and scraping against bone fragment within the flesh. His eye twitched as he himself let out an audible groan of pain. Dammit don't slip up now.. to where he had to sit down himself. Instead of sitting on the brick stack with him he gripped his upper arm and let out a shaken breath. He felt free to express his weakness around Rodgers. Too bad he was doing it with the wrong Captain. He always saw respect for him. So when the fighting stopped he was discombobulated and tired. Coughing up a bit of blood from a possible punctured lung.

Send my muse “What would you do if...” scenarios.

You’re late.

He had to deliver a baby. And no, I’m not making that up.

The assuring claim is lost upon the Spider at first, a positive sentiment that found competition in the battle for his immediate attention. Soon, a pained snarl would reveal a winner, crown awarded to a searing discomfort that, as a tentative palm probes the injury, comes away damp to the touch. Not good.

"What made you... change your mind?" Finding the strength to retort, he's quick to pay for the verbal jab as a new wave of blistering agony proves enough to topple the towering Miguel, causing him to collapse against the wall he'd been attempting to lean against. Zapped of energy, reduced to a pile near the vigilante's feet, a cough rises in his throat as he just about manages to turn over onto his rear, revealing for the first time a notable amount of crimson darkening the navy-blue sheen of his suit beneath his palm. Something had seemingly caught the futuristic webslinger off-guard, grounding him.

"Did Miles put you up to this?" The notion occurred to him suddenly, a plea to give aid that he wouldn't put past Morales for thinking of. Only, where it should've come as a comfort, knowing that help had arrived, it did nothing for Miguel but stir awake a prevailing bitterness he had been holding onto. A feeling, approaching pride, that would see him refuse to accept any assistance-- especially the kind dispatched by the kid.

"Who the hell is Miles?" He asked. Genuinely curious as he would prop him up against a pile of cinderblocks set up behind them. Damned villains. They always do a number to try and kill. Try. But always fail. Unless they managed to get lucky. In this Spidy's case he was a lucky one that time. And he was lucky he was there to help him.

"Forget it. Just because I kill thoes who harm the innocent. I don't do the whole 'leave heroes behind' thing. That's the villains job, not mine." Reaching into a pouch he pulled out a cigar and lit it. But not before crushing the tobacco in his hand and patting it on the spider's wound. Lighting it which caused the tabacco to burn. But temporarily seal the wound. One wound that looked visibly bigger than the others.

"It's nothing like you know. Sometimes when you break a deal with one. You can become one yourself." He stated with a slight flare of his nostrils as the cigar smoke would exit from them. A stress reliever. He had indeed seen this thing's kind. He's spoken to optimus a few times. Where their own interests would cross paths with one another. He'd help them with the help of tech of course.

"Despite my size I've..'scrapped' a few of your former allys." He had to start making his way up to a catwalk. He was tired of it. "Tell me. Do you ever get tired of this?" He wondered if his kind even did get tired of their war. He know he had days where he got tired of his. Life was known to be a very unforgiving thing. Even to these things.

Starscream gave him that, one would be privy to the wars on their own planet, yet humans tend to have poor communication systems. the seeker just assumed most humans didn't get news of conflict fast enough to get involved.

orange optics watch curiously as the man takes a breath from his … he didn't know what that was. the closest thing he knew that was similar was a cy-gar; but he didn't think a human would willingly take poison… maybe their version was more benign? Starscream shakes his helm slightly to being him back to the current conversation, arms going to hang at his sides,

" I wouldn't say I've become one. If anything, I joined the right side of this war, if a little late. " he states, wings rattling as he shifts his weight from one ped to the other. his digits twitch at the mention of his former allies, but he says nothing about it. they never respected him anyways, why would he care what happened to them after his defection?

the seeker watches the human move to a higher platform, the exhaustion clearly visible in the man's movements. the next question has Starscream's help canting to one side; was he tired of war? he owed his existence to this war, nothing but a foot soldier that somehow made it past his first battle. there's a long pause before the seeker speaks,

A nod coming from his head as he thought." I used to think the same thing." A mutter. A cold unfeeling, almost stoic tone as he smirked slightly to it. To think he felt the same way. It was strange as much as he wouldn't admit it. They were both the same in some ways.

He knew these things went by names that were based off of certain aspects or jobs they had. Ratchet the one being a healer." Thoes around here call me the Punisher."

A final puff of his cigar left him tossing it carelessly off the catwalk onto the ground below. A good twenty foot drop or so." I'm no stranger to war. Taking sides and fighting battles that are deemed pointless." He said as he looked aside. A gun was Leaning at the end of the catwalk as he picked it up to examine the scope." Mine revolves around exterminating insects called criminals. Think of them as the decepticons with many different factions." He explained. He fought for country. Land. With his own blood sweat and tears." To call me a stranger to your plight..I can't say I'm not. Many told me my war was pointless. Last I checked it was one last dead innocent person laying dead on the street." He frowned upon studying him. Overlooking his body.

@punishmentsdue: "Break a deal with the devil. You become something better than what you were before, tin head."

The Seeker's optics focus on the human speaking to him, vaguely surprised at the casual manner the other was addressing him. not many humans tended to see a Cybertronian like himself and not freak out, but maybe this man had seen his people before. Starscream let a long sigh escape his vents, helm tilting to the side,

"It's nothing like you know. Sometimes when you break a deal with one. You can become one yourself." He stated with a slight flare of his nostrils as the cigar smoke would exit from them. A stress reliever. He had indeed seen this thing's kind. He's spoken to optimus a few times. Where their own interests would cross paths with one another. He'd help them with the help of tech of course.

"Despite my size I've..'scrapped' a few of your former allys." He had to start making his way up to a catwalk. He was tired of it. "Tell me. Do you ever get tired of this?" He wondered if his kind even did get tired of their war. He know he had days where he got tired of his. Life was known to be a very unforgiving thing. Even to these things.

❛ I'm sorry for your loss, your...your losses, rather. ❜

❛ Nobody gets away with anything. Not really. ❜

❛ Don't lecture me about family values. You're just as shit in that department as I am. ❜

❛ That day was the last day we were all in the same place. Alive. ❜

❛ They will love you because I love you, and the only thing stronger than love is how scared they are of getting cut out of the will. ❜

❛ And most people go their whole, wasted, stupid lives without one minute of true resolution. Not me though. ❜

❛ You know what a resolution is? It's a deal you make with the future. ❜

❛ The people in charge of making us healthy make us sick. We cheat the dying. We fleece the poor. Promote the racist. Let the demons run amok. This world needs changing. ❜

❛ You're supposed to be shadowing me. Shadows don't fucking talk. ❜

❛ This is beneath you. And you're going to kill it. But you're better than all of this. And the minute you figure that out, you're going to be unstoppable. ❜

❛ There's no such thing as a step back. You go forward. If you hit a brick wall, you don't go back, you go through. ❜

❛ Nearly realized is the sweetest. It's better, I promise, in the moment just before than in the moment after. ❜

❛ You are consequence. And tonight, you are consequential. ❜

❛ You are a pretty, pretty little thing. ❜

❛ You wonder why people hate us. This is why. ❜

❛ Everybody knows that edible arrangements are what you send to people you hate. ❜

❛ If you start thinking this is reality, you'll just slip into the abyss. ❜

❛ We can talk about it after because I've had a shit day and I really just wanna starfish and forget the world. ❜

❛ Don't talk to me until I've come at least twice. ❜

❛ I love how deliciously, pointlessly mean you lot can be. ❜

❛ You still didn't need to come here though. It could have happened quiet. Peaceful. In bed. But I guess it's got to happen like this. ❜

❛ It's amazing how far you can get on denial. You know why so many people use denial to get by? Because it really fucking works. ❜

❛ You can't enhance this image? You see it all the time on TV. They hit a button, it enhances it. ❜

❛ I don't even own anything funeral black. ❜

❛ Satin is silk for poor people, no one should wear it to a funeral, unless they died in it. ❜

❛ Nobody knows they're the fall guy until they're falling.❜

❛ Women are the natural leaders of the species. Ancient Egypt had it right. ❜

❛ Okay, just because the door's open doesn't necessarily guarantee you a seat at the table. ❜

❛ You're not who I thought you were. ❜

❛ I really didn't want to think it, but...you're all fucking monsters. ❜

❛ Watching you shit on your principles would have been worth every fucking penny. ❜

❛ The mind of guilt is full of scorpions. And I wouldn't wish their sting on anyone. ❜

❛ Don't have to be smart to be dangerous. I'm not scared of rattlesnakes 'cause they're so smart. ❜

❛ You're so out of touch with your human side...you can't even listen to anything outside your own head. ❜

❛ I haven't seen you sleep in like...I mean, it's been a fucking long time. Like, horror movie long. ❜

❛ Life is insane. It is madness. The sooner you understand that, the better off you'll be. ❜

❛ The world might not be safe but listen to me, and listen carefully. I won't let anything happen to you. ❜

❛ All these terrible things and I thought, that's when people come together. But we've never been further apart. ❜

❛ Tell me it's worth it. Tell me you know the risk and I'll be there with you. I'll back you up. Just tell me. ❜

❛ Shut your mouth, get your shit together. The fuck is wrong with you? ❜

❛ Men, when they think they're immortal, all they want to do is fuck. When they figure out they're going to die, all they want to do is fuck. ❜

❛ It just makes you think, you know, life is so fucking short. ❜

❛ You don't have to be a tyrant, but if you don't want to be consistently cruel, then you have to be sufficiently brutal at least once to establish authority. ❜

❛ I thought it was an act. I figured you just played the housewife so you could keep a roof over your head. Spread your legs or suck his dick twice a week and you're set. You never have to work a day in your life. And I thought, "Good for her, she found her angle," but...this is really you. Isn't it? ❜

❛ Words got us into this, words can get us out. ❜

❛ You're a collection of impeccable, elaborate masks in orbit of a stunted heart. ❜

❛ There are certain things one shouldn't have to face in life. Time enough for self-reflection after. ❜

❛ I don't normally like to get my hands this dirty, but honey, you earned it. ❜

❛ I see you now. I look at you and I see... You. The poverty of you. ❜

❛ The real world is Darwinian. Survival, chaos, power. Leverage. ❜

❛ You feel it. In the air. We're sitting outside of time and space. ❜

❛ This is the moment luck meets opportunity. ❜

❛ In the ancient world, we'd seal this with blood, or spit. And then later, papyrus. But, a deal's a deal all over the world. ❜

❛ We're a... virus, I think. People, I mean. ❜

❛ But everyone loves something. And in that love there's collateral. ❜

❛ I say this with love. Let it go. Let it all go. ❜

❛ So I say, we stand tall and proud. Bill's come due. Let's not hide here in the basement like we've got something to be ashamed of. No. Not us. You and me against the world. ❜

❛ It may not have been perfect, but you can't say we didn't change the world. How many people can say that at the end? ❜

❛ I knew I would climb to the top of the tower on a pile of corpses. ❜