ONE LAST SHOT
“What’s takin’ so long, kid?” the Punisher asked, his patience starting to wear thin.
“Sorry,” Moon Girl replied. “There was a bit of drama down in research and development that needed my attention. But I think everything’s under control now…”
“Thought you were s’posed to be recalibratin’ that machine Richards built,” the Punisher said. “Whatever the hell it is…”
“It’s a Timestream Reintegration Device,” Moon Girl replied. “It was designed to get all of the fractured realities in the Chronoverse back into alignment.”
“Like by sendin’ this tower back to 2099 where it belongs,” the Punisher said.
“Exactly!” Moon Girls exclaimed. “Alchemax HQ isn’t supposed to be in the Lower Manhattan of this era… and its presence here is causing all sorts of chronal disruptions. Once we send it back home, we can patch up the damage it caused and start to heal both timelines.”
“Still don’t understand why we needed to bring that contraption here, into enemy territory,” the Punisher said.
“Because it was easier to bring the TRD to my lab then it would’ve been to bring my lab to the TRD,” Moon Girl said with a shrug. “That, plus the fact that we’re using Alchemax’s proprietary brand of Chronovium to power it up. Trust me, there was no way we were gonna be able to smuggle that stuff outta here alive!”
“GRAAOOO!” Devil Dinosaur bellowed as he gently nudged his partner with his giant red snoot.
“Yeah, I know, Dev,” Moon Girl said. “I don’t wanna hang around this place any longer than I have to either. But believe it or not, most of the folks who work for Alchemax aren’t actually evil. They’re just doing their jobs. If I’m gonna send ‘em home, I wanna do it the right way. No one needs to get hurt, right?”
“Right…” the Punisher replied awkwardly as Devil gave him an uncomfortable sideways glance.
What Moon Girl didn’t realize was that plenty of people had already been hurt. Together, the Punisher and Devil Dinosaur had gone on a ruthless rampage through the building in search of Moon Girl, taking down all of the soldiers on Alchemax’s payroll who dared to stand in their way. For Devil, it was all about liberating his long lost partner-in-crime-fighting. For the Punisher, this mission was personal for totally different reasons.
Before he became a one man war against crime, Frank Castle was more than just a soldier. He was a father. One who failed to save his children from getting caught in the crossfire and losing their lives far too soon. When he learned that Moon Girl had been taken captive by a group of corrupt corporate security officers, he volunteered to take point on her rescue without hesitation. He wasn’t about to stand idly by and watch another child suffer the same fate as his own.
Maybe that’s why he and Moon Girl’s pet dinosaur had found a common bond. They both were willing to do whatever it took, no matter how brutal, to complete the operation and save the girl. She never needed to know the details about what they had done to get to her. She was safe now. And that was all that mattered.
As he stood there watching Moon Girl work, the Punisher couldn’t help but wonder what his own daughter might’ve done to help save the world… if she’d only had the chance…
“You all right, Mr. Castle?” Moon Girl asked, noticing that the Punisher’s stoic expression had begun to crack ever-so-slightly.
“Yeah, kid…” the Punisher said, collecting himself. “All good. How’s that machine comin’ along?”
“Actually,” Moon Girl said, “I could use your help.”
“You’d be better off callin’ Stark,” Punisher said, “or even Squirrel Girl. I’m no genius.”
“Oh, I’ve got that part covered,” Moon Girl said confidently. “I need you for a little brute strength.”
“That, I can prob’ly handle,” the Punisher said with a smirk. “But to be fair, I think your dino has me beat in that department.”
“Double-D is strong, sure,” Moon Girl said, “but this task requires the kinda precision that doesn’t come with arms as tiny as his.”
“RRROHHH…” Devil groaned, embarrassed.
“We all have our specialties,” the Punisher said, giving Devil a supportive pat on the head. “Tell me what you need me to do, kid.”
“I need you to carefully lift the TRD off the workbench and connect it to that console over there,” Moon Girl directed.
“This one here?” the Punisher asked, gesturing at a high-tech display.
“No!” Moon Girl yelled. “If you connect it to that, it’ll blow us all up! It has to get plugged into the one next to it!”
“Of course,” Punisher said, rolling his eyes almost playfully. “How silly of me.”
As the Punisher lifted the heavy device and carried it toward the correct console, he remembered the games he used to play with his own children, following their orders as they made him move furniture around to build forts and imaginary rocket ships. It felt like a dozen lifetimes ago… but he missed those days more than he cared to let himself remember.
“That should do it,” Moon Girl said as the TRD clicked into place. “Now I should be able to juice it up with Chronovium!”
“And then?” the Punisher asked.
“Then, we get out of this stupid building and send it back to the stupid future forever!” Moon Girl said, excited to finally be setting things right.
“Yeah…” the Punisher said. “About that…”
“Oh,” Moon Girl said sheepishly. “I forgot. You’re from that future, aren’t you?”
“Uh huh,” the Punisher nodded.
“Sorry I called it stupid,” Moon Girl said.
“You’re not wrong,” the Punisher said, chuckling. “It’s kinda the worst. Between Alchemax, the Public Eye, and punks like the Yashidas, I don’t get a day’s rest.”
“Then stay here,” Moon Girl said. “Dev seems to trust you. And any friend of his is a friend of mine. We could clean up the Lower East Side together.”
“I have a feelin’ our methods aren’t exactly aligned…” the Punisher mused. “Besides, Captain America said that stickin’ around in a timeline that ain’t our own is the wrong thing to do. And I’ve never been one to disagree with Old Glory.”
“So… you’re going back…?” Moon Girl asked, a tinge of sadness in her voice.
“For now, yeah,” the Punisher said. “But don’t worry, kid. I’m sure I’ll be back here again soon enough. And even if I’m not… I promise I won’t forget ya.”
“I dunno…” Moon Girl said. “You’re the Punisher, and I’m just some kid…”
“Some kids are worth rememberin’,” the Punisher said, reaching down into a pouch on his belt and removing a pendant. He handed it over to Moon Girl, who opened it to see what was inside.
“Who are they?” she asked, looking at the pictures inside of the pendant. “This thing is pretty busted up. I can’t make out their faces.”
“Those are my kids,” the Punisher said before correcting himself. “Or, they were…”
“I… I’m so sorry…” Moon Girl said, studying the damaged keepsake. “And this pendant… it’s all you had left to remember them by?”
“The only physical thing,” the Punisher said. “But thankfully, I’ve still got memories. Good ones.”
“It got broken when you were trying to save me, didn’t it?” Moon Girl asked knowingly.
The Punisher didn’t respond, but he could see that his allies weren’t lying when that said Moon Girl was one of the smartest people alive.
“I think I can repair this!” Moon Girl said, her sadness suddenly giving way to excitement. “I need a way to test the TRD, and this’ll make the perfect trial run. I can just rewind its temporal signature by, like, twenty minutes or so. That should restore its physical condition to before it was damaged. It’ll be good as new!”
“You would do that for me?” the Punisher asked.
“It’s the least I could do after everything you did for me,” Moon Girl said. “Now, hold tight. This should only take a second.”
Moon Girl placed the damaged pendant on the workbench in front of her. With the touch of a few buttons, the Timestream Reintegration Device released a small pulse of red energy in its direction. When the glow faded, The Punisher reached over and picked up his treasured memento, examining it closely.
“You fixed it,” he said, his eyes beginning to well up as he saw the faces of his children smiling back at him once more.
“Of course I did!” Moon Girl said proudly.
“Must be that ‘Moon Girl Magic’ I’ve been hearin’ so much about,” the Punisher said.
“You’d better believe it!” Moon Girl replied. “And not only is your pendant fixed, but it also means the TRD is ready to go!”
“Then that’s your cue to roll out,” the Punisher ordered. “Just show me which button to hit, and I’ll activate your machine once I know you’re clear from the tower.”
“You sure?” Moon Girl asked, reluctantly pointing at the TRD’s activation switch. “Maybe I should stick around, too… y’know, just to be certain it works. I mean, you said it yourself: You’re no genius. And I guess 2099 wasn’t all that bad…”
The Punisher nodded at Devil Dinosaur, who reached down and grabbed ahold of Moon Girl’s belt with his enormous teeth, hoisting her into the air.
“Hey! Put me down, Dev!” Moon Girl yelled in protest. But for once, Devil didn’t listen to his BFF.
“Get her somewhere safe, pal,” the Punisher said to Devil. “I’ll take it from here.”
The dinosaur snorted a solemn goodbye to the Punisher, turning to exit the lab with Moon Girl still dangling from his jaws.
“Thanks again for the help, Mr. Castle!” Moon Girl hollered as she was forcefully removed from Alchemax HQ by her prehistoric partner. “I won’t forget this!”
“Thank you, kid,” the Punisher said, gazing down at the faces of his children once again. “Neither will I…”