"What was that thing?" The Punisher asked himself that same question after he saw what happened at the Marvel Burger last night.* "It looked like it wasn't human at all, and it can't be a mutant like the X-Men. Whatever killed those two Black Scorpion members last night at the Marvel Burger must have been doing this type of thing for years now." He was in his storehouse getting enough firepower to take out on the Candyman and the Black Scorpions. "Right now, I've got some scorpions to sting."

( *Check last issue for details - Dino ) As he loaded his ammo into his van, Frank Castle remembered Jane and the Red Dogs, hoping not to make the same mistake like last time.*

( *Go back and read issue #7 for more on the Red Dogs - Dino )

{{"Last night four more bodies where found; three being members of the Black Scorpions at a Marvel Burger and one being a lone robber at a mini-mart. In an interview with Detective Charlotte Jones, she says that these killing at not linked to the vigilante know as the Punisher, due to that this isn't his style of justice by taking the bloody skulls and spines of his victims. CBNC News will have more info on these killings as so as possible. This is Trish Tilby reporting."}}

Peter Parker shut off the TV after he heard the news story. "I know the Punisher isn't behind those killings," he said.

"Turn the TV back on, Peter, I don't want to miss Invader Zim," said Peter's roommate, Randy Robertson, son of Daily Bugle's Joe "Robbie" Robertson. "Besides, how do you know about the Punisher?"

"I heard it on the Internet," Peter lied not to let Randy know that he had worked with the Punisher in the past as Spider-Man.

Randy chewed on some popcorn while he turned the TV back on. "You want to watch Zim with me, Pete?"

"Not today, Randy," Peter said as he put on his jacket and grabbed his camera off the table. "I'm going to take pictures for Jameson."

"I'll tape the show for you while you're gone," said Randy.

But Peter was gone like a bullet.

Candyman was puffing on a fresh Cuban cigar when he heard the news about what happened last night with his men at the Marvel Burger and their run in with the Punisher.

"I sent you for food and you come back with nothing because of the damn Punisher," he said to the remaining members of his gang who went to the Marvel Burger. "Three of my men killed by that son of a bitch. Explain why any of you didn't you kill that bastard when you had guns to shoot him with?"

"The Punisher wasn't the only one there, Candyman," said one of the Black Scorpion members. "Someone else killed Jimmy and sliced of Tony's hand."

"Did you see who it was that killed Jimmy?" Candyman gave a stern look at their faces.

"A laser came out of nowhere and blew Jimmy's head into ground chuck," said another member.

"I'm losing men here thanks to some invisible man shooting lasers," Candyman was being sarcastic after hearing what he just heard. "My boss is coming in a few hours and I don't want this bull crap happening when the new guns come in. If the Punisher does have an ally helping him clean the streets of my men, we might as well bring them both here for the boss to blow their brains out." Candyman took a long drag from his cigar. "The next time the Punisher shows up, lead him to me and I'll do the rest."

"You're the boss, Candyman," said yet another member.

It was almost night when the Punisher was looking for the Black Scorpions or the mysterious killer while driving his van. He didn't want to get caught by the police without clearing his name in case people think he's the one behind these recent killings. Suddenly, he felt a thud hit the roof of his van. It may be the killer, he thought as he drove the his van into Central Park hoping that there were no people around to get in the way of his fight. When he got out of the van, he took out his shotgun and pointed to a familiar person on top of the van's roof.

"You!?" Frank was shocked to see a certain red-blue costumed hero instead of his true enemy. "What the hell are you doing here, Spider-Man?"

"Put the gun down, Punisher, they're people going to look at us acting like idiots," said Spider-Man.

"Did the police send you to capture me?" the Punisher asked the wall-crawler.

"If I did, gunhead, would they be following me?" Spidey asked.

"Good point."

The Punisher lowered his shotgun as Spider-Man jumped down to the ground.

"I know you didn't do those murders, Punisher," said Spider-Man. "That's why I came looking for you to prove your innocence."

"Thanks, webhead," the Punisher said back. "I'm sorry about what I did to you a few months back when Norman Osborn hired me to hunt you down for the murder of Joey Z and the kidnapping of his grandson."

"That was in the past, Punny," said Spider-Man. "Who you after this time? The Backstreet Boys?"

"Have you ever heard of a gang named the Black Scorpions?" Frank asked.

"The only Black Scorpion I could think of is that female superhero on the Sci-Fi Channel," Spidey answered in his sarcastic way.

The Punisher gave Spider-Man a stern dark look at him. "The Black Scorpions is that new gang that took over where the Red Dogs left off, and they have this boss calling himself the Candyman. Plus, there's this creature that's killing not only Black Scorpion members but other criminal scum as well."

Spider-Man just shrugged. "Must be your imagination."

"I saw it with my own eyes, dammit!" the Punisher barked. "I saw it pull the skull and spine from one of the Black Scorpions last night! If you stop fighting the Green Goblin and Venom for one minute and believe me for once!"

"I believe you didn't commit those murders, but I don't believe some creature would be behind the deaths," said Spider-Man.

"HELP!" the voice of a woman can be heard as the two heroes stopped arguing to hear the scream for help.

Both of them ran to where the woman's scream came from as they saw four men attacking a woman. The Punisher looked at the men closely only to find out that they were the same men from the Marvel Burger attack last night.

"It's them," he said as he took out his shotgun.

"Who?" Spider-Man asked.

"The Black Scorpions from last night," the Punisher said as he ran towards the attackers with his shotgun.

"No bloodshed!" Spider-Man shouted.

The Punisher ran towards the thugs and whacked one of then with his shotgun and he landed on the ground.

"When are you jackasses going to get it through your thick skulls that crime doesn't pay?" Punisher pointed his blood covered gun at the remaining three members then turned to the woman. "Get out of here, lady."

The lady ran as far away as she could away from what the Punisher was going to do next.

"Listen up," Punisher said to the thugs while pointing his gun at them. "You three are going to take me to Candyman so I can kick his ass."

"What if we don't?" a Black Scorpion member said.

"Then I'll blow all three of your brains out right here in Central Park," The Punisher smirked.

The abandoned Exner warehouse was once filled with crates full of toys for kids, now the Candyman and the Black Scorpions have taken over and replaced them with guns and drugs.

"Where are they?" Candyman said as he looked over his crates. "They should have the Punisher here by now."

"They'll get the job done, Candyman," a woman's voice is heard from behind him. "You told them to mug someone in Central Park to get that trigger happy idiot's attention."

"I know. It's just that want to break the Punisher's spine in two when he comes."

The woman came out of the shadows reveling herself wearing white furry boots, blue suit coat, white vest with pocket watch, pink bow tie, her face in white makeup, and rabbit ears on her head. She is the White Rabbit.

"You can have the Punisher, but I want these guns shipped to Hong Kong in two days," she said to Candyman. "I don't want any screw ups."

HONK! HONK!

"They're back," said Candyman. "I hope the Punisher is following them."

Two men opened the doors as a van drove inside as Candyman and White Rabbit greeted it. Both of them looked around to see if the Punisher was behind them or not.

"Where's the Punisher?" Candyman asked the driver.

The driver had a scared look to his face. "He's coming."

"When?" White Rabbit asked.

"How about now, bimbo," said a voice from the van.

The side door of the van opened as the Punisher came out armed.

"KILL HIM!" White Rabbit roared to the Black Scorpions to open fire at the Punisher.

Guns fired at the Punisher fired back killing seven men in the process. Frank has dealt with these types before in his years as the Punisher, but what if that thing he saw at the Marvel Burger showed up to make this gunfight more interesting. The Punisher didn't need any help to take on these goons.

As the White Rabbit pointed her umbrella gun at the Punisher, a string of webbing shot out of nowhere the struck the umbrella and was pulled away. The White Rabbit turned to see Spider-Man on top of the ceiling.

"Nice to see you again, you Playboy Bunny reject," Spider-Man said as the landed on the floor. "When did you decided to become a Kingpin wannabe?"

"That is none of your business, wall-crawler," she said as she ordered some Black Scorpion members to attack Spider-Man. "Kill this web menace!"

But it was not to be as two razor sharp disc sliced the heads off the three thugs that were going to kill Spider-Man. Both the web slinger and the White Rabbit were shocked at what just happened.

"It's here!" Punisher said as he shot four more thugs to the ground. "Shoot at the shimmer!"

It was too late as the remaining members of the Black Scorpions had either escaped or got killed by the creature. Gunfire was still heard as the Candyman struck the Punihser with a hard blow in the chest.

"You and Spider-Man sent that invisible killer after me," Candyman said as the struck a few more blows to the Punisher. "Now I'm going to break you in half for this."

The Punisher punched back at the Candyman. "I didn't invite Spider-Man or that thing to join me in kicking your ass."

Two Black Scorpion members fired at the shimmer as the creature became visible to them and stabbed one of them with a metal spear. The other member ran as fast as he could, but the creature threw a net at him that pinned him to the wall and pieced his flesh.

"I'm getting out of here," said the Candyman as he began to run. "That thing ain't human."

"Not until I blow your damn brains out first," Punisher fired a shot into one of Candyman's kneecaps. He walked up to the fallen villain and pointed his gun to his forehead. "Say goodbye, you Kingpin reject."

Before he fired at the Candyman, the creature lunged at the Punisher as they both landed on the floor. Frank struggled to get his gun and fired at the creature's arm as green blood began gushing out. The creature screamed, as it became invisible again.

The sounds of police sirens can be heard as Spider-Man webbed up the White Rabbit and the remaining Black Scorpion members for them to pick up. He soon turned to the Punisher as he got up from his battle with the creature pointing his gun at the wounded Candyman.

"You're going to rot in prison, Candyman," Punisher said. "I would have blown your brains out, but Spider-Man's here and the police are coming to haul your ass to jail."

"I'll be out by tomorrow afternoon," smirked Candyman. "While you're at it, you might as well find that thing that attacked my men."

The Punisher whacked Candyman in the head with his gun. "I'll get that son of a bitch, but I'm not doing it for you. I shot that thing and it bleeds. If it bleeds, I can kill it."

NEXT ISSUE: Punisher vs Predator! 'Nuff said!!

SKULLS AND BULLETS

First off I like to give apologies to Mike Exner III for using the Black Cat for last issue. I looked in the Dibs list and I didn't see her being used by no one else. Originally I was going to use Daredevil, but he was used in Defenders.

Second, I wanted to see a Spidey/Punsher team-up happen, not as much. Spider-Man's role in this issue takes place between M2K's Amazing Spider-Man # 18 and 19.

Third and finally, thanks to Dino, Cory, and Mike III for the good reviews of last issue. I try and post those reviews up in next issue.