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One Friday evening, Peter makes the rare decision to stay home rather than go out Spider-Manning (either by himself or with one of the other vigilantes). He finds himself lying in bed, phone in hand the second the notification pops up. Peter clicks it as soon as it shows up, making excellent use of his superhuman reflexes. This also means he doesn’t get to read the title of the video.
The unique buzzing noise coupled with police sirens comes through the speakers of his phone and a swinging, flickering lightbulb appears before the title card.
Buzzfeed Unsolved – True Crime
The Curious Castle Conspiracy
“This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we’re diving into one of the most controversial conspiracies of the decade, so strap in as we get ready to explore the bizarre case of Frank Castle- or as you might better know him, The Punisher,” Ryan says as the title card disappears to reveal himself and Shane sitting at the same desk as always, its entire surface as well as the background littered with various crime-themed props.
“Oh hey, I remember this one,” Shane says. “But isn’t it, like, already solved?”
Ryan turns from Shane back to the camera and drops the smile on his face in the blink of an eye. “That’s what the government wants you to think.”
“Oh?” Shane says.
“Oh, indeed,” Ryan agrees. “Before we can get into the conspiracy though, we need to establish a background on Frank Castle.” The screen shifts to black and shows a series of images and graphics fading into each other as he begins his narration.
“In New York City on the afternoon of April 14th, 2016 shortly after 3 PM, shots erupted in the area surrounding the historic carousel in Central Park. Twenty-six members of three different Hell’s Kitchen based gangs were killed in an all-out gang war. These gangs included the Hell’s Kitchen faction of the Mexican Cartel, a biker gang called the Dogs of Hell, and the Kitchen Irish— Hell’s Kitchen faction of the Irish mafia. Strangely enough the first—and only— mention in the media of this incident wasn’t until the New York Bulletin published a page three article on it an entire week later.” Stock images of crime scenes and New York flash across the screen throughout the dialogue until a bizarre sputtering noise from Shane cues the screen to switch back to plain black.
twenty-six people died and it took a whole week before anyone reported on it at all?
no news channels, no—no In Touch articles?
nope. nothing.
well that’s sketchy as fuck.
(wheeze) oh, you just wait.
“Over the next few weeks, the bodies of members belonging to these three gangs continued piling up, but again, none of this would be reported on until much later. One night, fifteen members of the Kitchen Irish were brutally gunned down in the Burren Club on 47th and 10th in Hell’s Kitchen. Later that same night, eight members of the Mexican Cartel were found dead or dying in a warehouse in the meatpacking district, with some of the men being hung from meat hooks alongside the animal carcasses there. Shortly after that, Metro-General Hospital found itself under attack by a single gunman who witnesses say pursued two people; a woman named Karen Page, and a man later revealed to be Elliot Grote, aka “Grotto,” a member of the Kitchen Irish who had been hospitalized for a gunshot wound. This marks the first incident where the media reported on the man who had been gunning down gang members left and right all over the city; a man who later came to be known as the Punisher.”
The pictures of Karen as well as the one labeled ‘Elliot Grote’ are soon covered with a large mugshot of Frank Castle.
(sigh)
what? don’t like the Punisher?
no— just… his name. Punisher? really?
why? what’s wrong with Punisher?
it’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it? I like some—some nuance, some
pizzazz in my superhero names. Punisher though?
(scoff)
oh, shut up—you’re probably one of those people
who likes Daredevil’s old name better.
The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen has a ring to it! now that’s p—
oh my god, we are not doing this right now. moving on.
Peter can’t help but smile a little bit at the bickering; he knows that people— well, their people—poke plenty of fun at Matt for the costume; he wonders if they do the same about all of his many names.
“The next night, five more Dogs of Hell were found murdered at one location, and later that night their clubhouse was attacked. When police arrived on scene, more than twenty Dogs of Hell were found incapacitated but alive. A resident of the building told police that after hearing suspicious noises on the roof earlier that night, he discovered a man up there who went by the name Frank and matched Frank Castle’s description. On the roof, officers found the body of Elliot Grote, the man Castle had gone after at Metro-General Hospital the previous night. Strangely enough though, the Dogs of Hell all claimed that they were attacked by Daredevil—”
“The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen,” Shane says as the screen cuts back to the two men sitting at the desk and staring at each other.
“Dared—” Ryan starts, only to be interrupted by Shane again.
“The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”
The two of them stare at each other in a wordless standoff for a few more seconds.
“You know,” Ryan says, sounding supremely disappointed in Shane. “I only put that in there because I know you like Daredevil, and I thought it was cool I could include him. See if I ever do anything nice for you again.”
“Aw, Ryan—”
“Moving on once again,” Ryan says, and the graphics and text are back.
“A few nights later, Castle was apprehended and arrested at Saint Michael’s Cemetery by Police Sergeant Brett Mahoney of the fifteenth precinct.” An image of Brett appears on screen, labeled. “Castle was in critical condition and had to be rushed to Metro-General Hospital.”
Detective Mahoney, Karen, and Matt were all involved in Mr. Castle’s case? Peter has to wonder why they haven’t talked more about it. If it was interesting enough to warrant an episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved, then wouldn’t it be interesting enough to bring up in conversation at least one of the times they talked? Well, obviously not with the detective, but with Karen or Matt, surely.
ironic
that he ended up getting treated at the same hospital he shot up?
yep.
it’s gonna get even more ironic later on.
The screen changes once again, this time displaying images of official looking documents and subpoenas.
“Castle was indicted on 37 separate murder charges, as well as 98 lesser charges including, but not limited to, felony assault, reckless endangerment, burglary, and criminal possession of a weapon. Castle was expected to plead guilty to all charges, and the relatively new law firm of Nelson & Murdock even volunteered to help Castle negotiate a plea deal at no cost. Castle unexpectedly entered a plea of not guilty, and his trial date was set one week from the day he entered his plea.”
The screen cuts back to the two men as Shane chokes on his coffee and puts a hand to his mouth to keep from spitting it everywhere. Ryan is looking at with an expression somewhere between ‘are you okay?’ and ‘what the hell is wrong with you?’.
“I’m sorry,” Shane says through laughter. “But can you imagine being his lawyers? You’re just—you’re good Samaritans, you volunteer to help this guy not get completely screwed over by the law, and then he just—just does that?”
Ryan laughs as well. “You’re right. I mean—I don’t even know what I’d do in that situation.”
“Run away?” Shane suggests.
“One of his lawyers kind of did.”
“What?!”
The screen switches to show pictures of Matt Murdock, Foggy Nelson, and Karen Page, all labeled underneath.
“Of his two lawyers, Nelson & Murdock, and their legal assistant, Karen Page—”
Karen Page? isn’t that the one he tried to kill at the hospital
with uh, what’s his name- (snapping)
Grotto?
that’s it!
we’ll come back to that.
“Murdock reportedly missed nearly half of the trial, either showing up extremely late or not at all. Despite this, Nelson & Murdock seemed to be close to winning the trial when Castle took the stand and epically tanked his case. His defense was an insanity plea centered around a brain injury he sustained before he went on his infamous killing spree. When Castle took the stand, however, things took a turn for the worse. Castle said, and I quote, “I’m smack-dab in the middle of my right goddamn mind, and any scumbag, any lowlife, any maggot piece of shit that I put down, I did it because I liked it.”
Peter does faintly remember Mr. Castle yelling at Matt about missing half of his trial that first night that they met— the time when Matt got shot. Also, he knows Mr. Castle isn’t exactly the most… well-adjusted person on the planet, but he really can’t imagine why on Earth he’d go off like that in court.
“I just… wow,” Shane says.
“Yeah,” Ryan agrees. “That’s not a great thing to say.”
“No it’s not, Ryan. It’s most certainly not.”
Ryan clears his throat and resumes reading from the script.
“Castle was found guilty and sent to prison where he was placed in general population. The day he was jailed, Castle killed nine inmates, and the day after that, he escaped from prison.”
okay, I’m sorry, but what’s the body count for this case at
so far?
officially it’s thirty-seven plus nine so that’s…
forty-six. what about unofficially?
um let’s see… fifteen Irish at the club, eight Cartel at the
warehouse, five Dogs of Hell at the clubhouse, grotto, nine inmates,
and before that there were six Dogs of Hell killed in Delaware matching
Castle’s M.O., and… eighteen more gang members at various scenes also
matching his M.O. but that didn’t have enough evidence to charge him
with so that’s sixty-two.
Jesus. Christ.
and we’re not even close to done yet.
(thump) (muffled) Jesus. Christ.
(wheeze) hahahaha
“After the escape, Samantha Reyes, the district attorney who prosecuted Castle, was killed when over two hundred rounds were fired into her office. Franklin “Foggy” Nelson, one of Castle’s lawyers, was the only other one injured in this shooting despite Matthew Murdock, Karen Page, and Assistant District Attorney Blake Tower all being present in the office as well. Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Gregory Tepper, who took the stand for the Prosecution in the case of The People v. Frank Castle was also found shot dead in a similar manner.”
Peter actually remembers Matt talking about that one time, well, it was more like he was arguing with Tony than talking, but still. He clearly recalls Matt’s insistence that Mr. Castle hadn’t killed Reyes; he was insistent about there having been two shooters.
“Later that evening the apartment of Karen Page was similarly attacked, but she was, yet again, uninjured. She told police she didn’t see the shooter and could not confirm whether or not it was Castle. After being provided with a police protection detail, Page was then kidnapped by Castle and taken to a diner. A waitress at the diner said that Page gathered all of the employees of the diner and got them to hide in the kitchen shortly before shots were fired in the dining area of the restaurant. According to the police report, Castle killed two more men using a gun, a knife, and “various kitchen implements” before fleeing in Page’s stolen car.”
Okay, no way. No way would Mr. Castle try and kill Karen. She’s the friendliest of all of them with him. No way would she be that close to him if he’d tried to kill her and then kidnapped her. No way would Matt be that close with him if he’d tried to kill Karen.
“You know,” Shane says thoughtfully, “I don’t want to be murdered, but if I am, I hope I have an interesting cause of death. Like “various kitchen implements”— now that’s a way to go.”
Ryan snorts. “You know, the possibility of you getting murdered is probably a lot higher than you think it is.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Means you should watch your back,” Ryan warns, before shuffling the papers in front of him and continuing with the script.
“Before killing one of the men, Castle reportedly tortured information out of him. This information included the location of a boat at the 41st Street Pier. Page overheard this exchange and informed the police of it, but by the time they arrived on scene the boat had been blown up. All in all, twenty severely disfigured and burned bodies were found. Police reported that Castle died in the incident, and that seemingly marked the end of the Punisher’s reign of terror.”
“Now, Ryan,” Shane says, as the video once again shows the two of them sitting at the desk.
“Now, Shane,” Ryan responds.
“I’m sensing a “but” here.”
Ryan laughs and nods. “You’d be correct.”
“What’d I tell ya? My ‘but sense’ is always spot on,” Shane says, spreading his arms.
Ryan shoots a pained look at Shane and scrunches up his face. “Please don’t ever call it that again.”
“You’re just jealous you don’t have the ‘but sense’. Do tell us, Ryan What is this ‘but’ that I so magnificently sensed?”
Ryan sighs in defeat before the video cuts back to the varying graphics.
“But Frank Castle… wasn’t dead. This was revealed to the world shortly after a domestic terrorist set off three bombs in Manhattan; one at the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms field office at Wall Street Pier, one at the NYPD’s 10th precinct, and one at the federal courthouse on Foley Square. Nine people were killed and over thirty more were injured. The original suspect of the bombings was a former army infantryman named Lewis Wilson, but just a day after the bombings, Frank Castle was caught on NYPD dashcam footage fleeing the scene of where the bomber claimed to be.
“The narrative that Castle was working alongside Wilson was furthered when Castle and Wilson both were seen at the scene of the attempted assassination of Senator Stan Ori. Four private security officers were killed, and the two survivors who were in the room, Senator Ori and Karen Page, both gave wildly different accounts of what happened. Page was taken hostage by Wilson, who blew himself up, and then she was immediately taken hostage by Castle who then escaped—”
Okay, double nope. Mr. Castle did not, no way in hell, work with a terrorist or take Karen hostage. That’s a load of hot garbage.
Karen got mixed up in all this again?! Karen!
(wheeze) yeah, she has some awful luck.
being almost killed by the Punisher twice is coincidence;
being almost killed by him… five times and living? that’s
impossible. I smell something fishy.
“Castle was shortly cleared of all charges in the Wilson bombings when it became apparent that Wilson was merely a target of his. After this, Castle disappeared for another long stretch of time, only reappearing again relatively recently. He’s been spotted in a few states, but seems to stick to New York, and in particular the island of Manhattan.”
The screen cuts to the two men staring at each other.
“That was a lovely story, Ryan,” Shane says before correcting himself. “Well, no, actually that was a horrifying story full of gruesome murder and terrorism. But I still don’t see this so-called conspiracy theory you mentioned.”
Ryan grins at him. “We’re just about to get into it.”
“Jesus Christ,” Shane says. “How long is this episode going to be?”
“I mean, it’s the season finale, so it can be a long one.”
Damn, the finale already? Those always sneak up on Peter. Oh well, at least he has Unsolved: Supernatural to look forward to now— even if he doesn’t believe in ghosts.
“Well, let’s get to the unsolved part of this case, Cyber-sleuth,” Shane says, waving a hand across the screen.
“Do you remember me mentioning that Castle’s defense in his trial was an insanity plea based on a brain injury?” Ryan asks.
“Vaguely. You’ve given me a lot of information over the past few minutes,” Shane replies.
“Well the brain injury I’m referring to happened when Frank Castle was shot in the head.”
An x-ray of a skull—not just any skull, the Punisher himself’s skull—flashes on screen.
“This x-ray is what led to the Punisher’s signature look; a menacing white skull spray painted on a bulletproof vest,” Ryan continues, and an image of Castle in the aforementioned vest shows up.
you gotta admit, he has some artistic talent. can you imagine
being able to paint that?
So Peter isn’t the only one who noticed Frank’s artistic abilities.
yeah, I imagine I could.
(scoff) oh shut up, you could not
I could too!
if I had a stencil
yeah, and about thirty tries
do you wanna shut up and stop insulting me so I can tell you
how Frank Castle got shot in the head or not?
go ahead
“Castle was admitted to Metro-General Hospital as a John Doe with a gunshot wound to the head on April 14th, 2016, shortly after 3PM—the same date and time of the gang shootout in Central Park. This is the same day that Maria Castle, Frank’s wife, and Lisa Castle, his thirteen-year-old daughter, and Frank Castle Jr., his eleven-year-old son, were all killed, each one sustaining a single gunshot wound according to the Medical Examiner’s reports. A police report filed that day states that a juvenile male, juvenile female, adult woman, and adult male were shot by an unknown man who repeatedly fired a 9mm pistol into their car which was stopped at a traffic light northbound on Buellton Avenue. The two children and the adult woman were pronounced dead at the scene while the adult male sustained critical injuries and was transported to, you guessed it, Metro-General hospital. This was later revealed to be the Castle family.”
Oh. Maybe that’s why Matt and Karen haven’t ever talked about it. He kinda forgot about the whole part where Mr. Castle’s entire family was killed. The news was a lot more eager to talk about the people he killed than the ones he lost.
“Further contributing to both the oddities and the tragedy, Castle had just returned home from Afghanistan the day prior. This contributes to the strange coincidences in the fact that friends of the Castles said it was something of a tradition for the family to all go to the carousel in Central Park the day after Castle returned from his deployments—the same carousel where the gang shootout took place. This brings us into our first theory: the Castle family was killed in the Central Park Massacre, and this was covered up by the New York DA’s office.”
so in case that was a little confusing, the Castles’ were all shot,
with only Frank surviving, the same day and time as a massive gang war.
Castle was admitted to the nearest hospital to the gang shootout very shortly
after the shootout occurred. the Castles’ had plans to be at the location where
the shootout occurred, when it occurred, yet a suspicious police report places
them somewhere that they had no business being.
that’s quite the incredible coincidence. and the report does sound
strange.
yeah? what is it that makes it seem strange to you?
well, surely they wouldn’t have been unidentified considering
they were in a car that supposedly belonged to them and
Frank would be reasonably assumed to have some form of identification
like, oh i don’t know, his driver’s license? since he was driving?
(wheeze) you’re absolutely right
“Now if you’ll remember, the three gangs which participated in the shootout were the Mexican Cartel based in Hell’s Kitchen, The Dogs of Hell, and the Kitchen Irish—the same three gangs which Frank Castle massacred.”
these Hell’s Kitchen gangs have quite a strong theme with
their names.
(wheeze)
“Looking back to the hospital records,” Ryan continues, “we can learn that Castle was in a coma after being shot in the head. Within days of this, a DNR or “do not resuscitate” order was placed on Castle, and he was taken off life support. Considering all of Castle’s immediate family had just been killed, it’s unknown who could’ve placed the order on him. Regardless, whoever it was, they didn’t get their wish of Castle dying quietly, as his heart reportedly started back up by itself after being legally dead for over a minute once he was removed from life support. Castle then left the hospital and began his one-man crusade against the gangs.
“While the public still knew very little about who the man committing the paramilitary-style attacks on the gangs of Hell’s Kitchen, the DA’s office issued a press briefing in which they stated that Castle had no known relatives despite the office knowing who Castle was and having the police report of what was later revealed to be that of his family’s murder.”
that is… that’s—did the DA just think this wasn’t going to
come out? because that is way too much shit for them to just
claim incompetence.
but wait, there’s more!
(wheeze) you sound like Billy Mays—
Billy Mays here, bringing you a great deal on this horrific
murder! Only two installments of $19.99 plus shipping and
handling, and this could all be yours!
Call now for not one, not two, but three murders!
(wheeze) oh my god, we’re going to hell.
Peter cringes at the joke. Yeah, sure, they make a lot of rather tasteless jokes— it’s a show about murder and death, what other kinds of jokes can they make? That being said, that one takes it a little too far in Peter’s opinion. Then again, maybe that’s how people who knew other victims of other episodes felt the exact same then. It gives him a bit of perspective that he isn’t sure he wants.
“Frank Castle, like any person charged with a crime in America, was given a public defender. His defender’s name was Christopher Roth, and he was assigned Castle’s case by DA Reyes herself. At this point Roth had only tried one case—a domestic abuse case which he won. This was when Nelson & Murdock took over Castle’s case. Further shady things happened during the trial, most notably when the prosecution called Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Gregory Tepper to the stand. Tepper is the man who completed the autopsy reports for Castle’s family.”
“So Castle was shot once in the head,” Shane says, his chin propped up on his clasped hands.
“Yes.”
“And his wife and kids were also each shot only one time.”
“Yep.”
“Yet somehow the man who was shot once in the head got to the ER in time to be saved while his family, who presumably weren’t shot in their heads, since that isn’t specified, were declared dead on scene.”
Ryan looks at Shane like he’s a genius. “You’re right—oh my God.”
“They don’t call me Big Brain Shane for no reason,” Shane says.
“That was just supposed to be a fun little… a little tidbit for ya. We haven’t even gotten to what makes Tepper sketchy.”
“Well, do tell, Ryan.”
“According to people present during the trial, Tepper appeared nervous as soon as he entered the courtroom. Tepper is quoted as saying, “I have something I need to say. Your honor, I’m sorry, but I have to—on the record. I need to say something about what I did,” before he was even asked a single question. The gallery was then cleared as well as the jurors being ordered back to the deliberation rooms for a short while, and when people were allowed to return, Tepper’s entire testimony had been stricken from record.” An image of Tepper appears on screen, and the quote appears as Ryan reads it aloud.
so what we’re assuming he did is alter the autopsy reports
of Castle’s family to make it line up with the weird-as-shit story
the DA’s office was peddling, right?
I gotta assume so.
well, I mean, at least he felt bad about it. what do you think
got them to strike his testimony? do you think maybe the judge
was in on it?
honestly, considering it’s been a few years and nothing else
has come out about what happened, it’s a possibility.
“Just a few days later, Castle allegedly murdered Reyes and Tepper, as well as attempting to murder Karen Page- again. At least, at this point, Castle is still wanted for these crimes and no one else has been indicted for them. This all seems to lend itself to the theory that the DA’s office was somehow responsible for the deaths of Maria, Lisa, and Frank Jr. in the Central Park Massacre. Whether this was because a cop accidentally killed them during the gang shootout, or the possibility that they were in the middle of some other sort of police operation gone wrong, we’ll never know. Still, this theory has many credible points to it.”
Shane makes a humming sound. “Okay, not that I agree with it, but I understand why he might’ve killed the DA and the doctor. It makes sense that he could blame them for the death of his family, especially if we assume he knows more than we do since he was, y’know, there for it. But I just don’t see why he’d want to kill Karen. And if he really wanted to kill her, couldn’t he have done that oh, I don’t know, when he kidnapped her later that same day?”
Thank you! He’s glad they’re questioning the validity of the claims that Mr. Castle tried to kill Karen— even if they couldn’t possibly have known that the two are close.
“You make an excellent point, Shane. And with that, let’s get into our next theory,” Ryan says with a grin just before the screen switches to text which reads ‘Theory 2’.
“The second theory is somewhat simpler; it suggests that the Castles’ were actually the victims of a friend of Frank’s; a man by the name of William Russo.
“Shortly after Castle was revealed to be alive via the police dashcam footage, a man named William Russo was interviewed about it on live TV. Russo, known by friends as Billy, was a former marine who had served multiple tours with Castle. Not only did they serve together, but by all accounts Russo was Castle’s best friend. According to friends of the family, Castle’s children even referred to Russo as “Uncle Billy”. Despite their history, Russo went on to call Castle a monster during the interview.”
yikes.
in all fairness, if you killed over sixty people and were suspected of
multiple terror attacks, I’d call you a monster too.
hey!
actually, never mind. that’s fair.
“Russo was the founder of a military contracting company called Anvil, which provided training services and facilities to various government agencies both in America and overseas, as well as offering privately contracted soldiers and bodyguards. Interestingly enough, Anvil was the security service used by Senator Ori on the day he claimed Castle helped Lewis Wilson, the bomber, in an attempt to assassinate him. Russo, as well as four of his employees, were serving as Ori’s protection detail that day; Russo was the sole survivor.
“Bizarrely, police officers on scene reported seeing an armed standoff between Russo and Homeland Security Special Agent Dinah Madani, with Frank Castle standing beside Madani—Madani wasn’t just Homeland Security agent; she was the acting Special Agent in Charge for all of New York. One officer reported hearing Madani scream “You’re going to wish you shot me!” at Russo.”
(wheeze) hahaha woah! that’s uh—them’s fightin’ words.
also, you said she was the acting special agent in charge—
is that different from regular special agent in charge?
I gotta agree it was a pretty bold thing to say, and yeah, there is a
difference. the acting part means it’s a sort of temporary solution.
ah
she was the acting SAC because the regular SAC, Carson Wolf,
was found tortured and murdered in his home shortly
before all of this.
(choke) did Castle kill him too?
we’ll get to that.
“Just a few days prior, five Homeland Security agents were killed in an operation in New York—including Madani’s partner, agent Sam Stein. Four of the men who attacked the Homeland agents were killed, but one managed to escape after killing Stein. The four men who were killed by Homeland agents were all former military who had, at one point, been contracted by Anvil.
“A few days later, local news channels broadcast warnings that Russo was armed and dangerous, stating that anyone who saw him should call the police, but these reports never stated why he was considered armed and dangerous. One can assume it has something to do with the fact that seven Homeland Security agents were found dead at Russo’s apartment, which had been rigged to explode. The next day, Curtis Hoyle, a former marine and friend of both Castle and Russo, reported that Russo had broken into his apartment and shot him. Russo’s running came to an end that night.
“Russo assaulted two teenage employees of a concession stand, and took them hostage before exchanging fire with DHS Special Agent Madani. Russo was severely injured, being shot and stabbed multiple times as well as having multiple broken bones and lacerations all over his face—not to mention severe head trauma. Madani didn’t get out unscathed, though. In fact, she was shot in the head by Russo. Despite their extremely severe injuries, they both survived. Madani was in a coma for two days, and Russo was in a coma for months, with doctors unsure of whether or not he’d ever regain significant brain function.
“This being said, there are a few things about this that don’t line up. The damage done to Russo was severe, brutal, and most of it incurred in hand-to-hand style combat. Russo stood at 6’1” and weighed 190 pounds, while Madani stands at a mere 5’5” and weighs around 115 pounds. Although both received training in hand-to-hand combat, their difference in size, as well as the fact that Russo served in special forces makes it highly unlikely that Madani could’ve given Russo these injuries. Also, when police arrived on scene, Russo was unconscious with such severe head trauma that originally doctors suspected he’d never wake up from the coma he was in, and Madani had a bullet in her brain.”
Peter’s a genius at math and pretty good at fighting, and even he can’t make that equation add up.
“If Madani was shot in the head first, then she couldn’t have beaten Russo within an inch of his life—an unlikely feat anyway—and if Russo was beaten first, he couldn’t have shot Madani. To make matters even more suspicious, this entire encounter took place on the carousel in Central Park—the same place where Castle’s family is theorized to have actually been killed. It seems like there must have been a third man at the scene, and who could that man have been if not Castle himself? This being said, it makes you wonder why Castle wouldn’t have just killed Russo then and there.”
well, I have to imagine it must be pretty difficult to kill
someone who was once your best friend, even if they
did maybe murder your family
I mean, I guess. but Castle’s pretty ruthless.
in that case, maybe he thought Billy needed to suffer
and spend the rest of his life as a vegetable.
now that seems like a more likely possibility.
“Russo was charged with the murders of sixteen people, as well as the assault on the two teenagers and the attempted murder of Special Agent Madani, but even after he awoke from his coma, he was deemed unfit to stand trial. A great deal of the evidence brought against him was never released to the public due to being classified, but the evidence that was made public was credited to a man named David Lieberman. We’ll talk more about Lieberman in our third and final theory.
“Before Russo could be tried, he escaped the hospital he was receiving treatment at and went on to commit a number of other crimes, including armed robbery and several murders. He had a very public shootout with Castle, but ultimately was killed when he yet again attacked Madani and she shot him five times.”
“Way to go, Special Agent Madani!” Shane cheers, clapping his hands together. “Finally!”
“I gotta say, I would’ve liked for him to be convicted and sent to prison for the rest of his life, but there’s also something reassuring about knowing that this monster is gone for good,” Ryan agrees.
“Well Ryan, this was a very reasonable theory,” Shane says.
Peter has to agree with that. It would certainly explain why Mr. Castle never even mentions someone who used to be his best friend. Peter wouldn’t be able to talk about him at all if Ned had been the one to kill Ben.
“Thank you.”
“In fact, I found it even more reasonable than your first theory.”
“Yeah?”
“And going off of your usual patterns, this means the next theory is going to be batshit crazy.”
Ryan laughs loudly at that. “Well let’s get into it so you can decide that for yourself.”
“Our last theory is that the United States government deliberately killed Castle’s family and multiple agencies colluded to hide it.”
okay, yep. fuck you,I knew it.
(wheeze) hold your horses, partner, because this theory
actually has a little meat on its bones.
oh, pray tell, Ryan.
“Before we can really get into this theory, we’ll need to explore what it is that Castle might’ve been up to during the time that he was assumed to be dead.”
Peter had been wondering why none of what Mr. Castle might’ve been up to was mentioned.
“The night after the explosion that Castle was assumed to have been killed in, yet another person was killed: Colonel Ray Schoonover, Castle’s former commanding officer and his character witness during the trial.”
“A character witness is someone who testifies as to what kind of person the defendant was,” Ryan explains.
“I know that,” Shane says. “I watched a lot of Law and Order as a child. And in college. And now.”
“Of course you did. But maybe they,” Ryan points to the camera, “didn’t know.”
Peter smiles, because he knew that one too.
“Schoonover reportedly suffered multiple injuries consistent with a car accident, but his cause of death was a single gunshot to the head. His body was found days later in a shed on his property, after someone driving through the area discovered Schoonover’s car crashed in the road.”
wait, why would he want to kill his character witness?
we are operating on the assumption he killed the guy, right?
we are, and we’re getting to it.
“In the following weeks, two Dogs of Hell were found dead in rural Alabama, a Cartel member was murdered in Juarez, Mexico, and a member of the Kitchen Irish was found dead in a bathroom at JFK International Airport in New York. Each of these deaths marked the complete extermination of their respective gang, the gangs which were involved in the Central Park Massacre.
“A couple months later, there was an attack on the Gnucci crime family in New York, where seven men were killed in a similar manner to many of the Punisher’s victims. But, given that Castle was presumed dead at that time, the official reports state that one man killed the six others and then himself, despite the many discrepancies with that theory; including the fact that the other men were armed and killed with a gun that didn’t match any found at the scene of the crime.
“While those are less relevant, they do establish something of a timeline. Getting back to more relevant murders to this theory, the day after the attack on the Gnuccis, the DHS Special Agent in Charge for New York, Carson Wolf, was brutally tortured and murdered in his home. There are no witnesses for the murder, and although Russo was charged with this murder, he was reportedly seen with Special Agent Dinah Madani during the time the murder had to have occurred.
“Our next relevant death, also attributed to Russo, comes only a short while later when Colonel Morty Bennet was found stabbed to death in a motel room in upstate New York. Bennet worked at Fort Byron, and strangely enough, the day before Bennet’s body was found, there was an unscheduled training exercise at Fort Byron that the New York Bulletin reported on. While there is no clear line connecting Bennet to Wolf, there is an incredibly clear connection between Bennet and Schoonover; they both were stationed at the same military base in Afghanistan at the same time Castle and Russo were there. The two reportedly talked often, and many soldiers reportedly joked about Bennet being creepy, an assumption only amplified when you learn that he was in charge of the morgue.”
I don’t know about you, Ryan, but I think working in the
morgue might be kind of peaceful.
what the hell is wrong with you?
think about it! it’s probably nice and quiet. and your customers
never complain!
(wheeze) oh my god
“Yet another body to be added to the list is that of Gunner Henderson, a former United States soldier who was found shot to death in the woods surrounding his property in Western Kentucky. Rather than working alone, the local police teamed up with the Department of Homeland Security’s New York office to investigate the murder. While this murder wasn’t attributed to Russo like the others, the connection comes when we realize Henderson was assigned to the same base as Castle, Russo, Schoonover, and Bennet at the same time.”
That is… Peter has to admit, those are a lot of coincidences. Still, that doesn’t mean the theory is any more believable than the last one. It’s still pretty unbelievable. Why would the government try to kill Mr. Castle and his family?
“The final death to make note of is that of former CIA Director of Covert Operations, William Rawlins. Rawlins was found murdered in New York after being stabbed, severely beaten, and having his eyes gouged out. This is another murder Russo was charged with. In this instance, multiple Homeland Security agents reported seeing Russo standing over Rawlins’ body, but in the other cases there would be little or no evidence connecting Russo to them, if not for the testimony of one David Lieberman.
“Lieberman is a former NSA analyst who, up until he offered up this information to the Department of Homeland Security, was believed to have been killed by Carson Wolf for supposedly resisting arrest nearly a year prior. The attempted arrest was rumored to be because Lieberman was thought to be selling national secrets.”
okay, I’m sorry, but can I just say that everyone in this theory
except for Frank is absolutely terrible at killing people?
oh my god you’re right—
I mean, when they shot Frank and he didn’t die, they were
probably like “shit”
(wheeze)
but then the second time he wasn’t dead? they’re probably
saying, “well, one out of two isn’t that bad”.
but then it turns out this guy is alive too?!
“Wolf was never investigated for killing Lieberman, and many have since pointed out that if there really was someone selling national secrets, which is what Lieberman was suspected of, the last thing law enforcement would want to do is kill them; they’d be desperate to figure out everything the individual knows. This lends credence to the theory that Wolf was dirty. That raises even more questions though. If Wolf was dirty, why would Russo, who is also accused of being dirty, kill his co-conspirator? It makes much more sense if we believe that Castle was the one responsible for these murders, and the reason for killing these men may stem from the fact that they were the ones who killed his family.”
The camera cuts to Shane and Ryan looking at each other.
“I don’t know, Ryan. I mean—it wasn’t completely batshit, but you really, really have to reach for some of those conclusions. I’ve got quite the substantial wingspan,” Shane says, spreading his arms to demonstrate, his fingertips just barely remaining in frame, “and I still have trouble reaching ‘the CIA, NSA, military, and Department of Homeland Security murdered the Punisher’s family’ from the facts you gave me.”
“Well—”
“That being said,” Shane continues, “I wouldn’t be completely… gobsmacked, so to say, if it came out some day that this is indeed what happened. You just gotta wonder though, if this is true, why did they try to kill him and his family?”
“He must’ve known something that they didn’t want to get out,” Ryan replies.
“Yeah, but what? I mean, we already know about a ton of horrible shit the military does in the middle east, and clearly we don’t care enough to stop them. What could possibly be so bad that they were willing to kill a man and his family to keep it quiet?”
Ryan nods in agreement. “The mind boggles.”
“I bet it’s something awful. Like human trafficking. Wars are expensive, so maybe they do some of these “drone strikes” to cover up the fact that they kidnapped a ton of people from the area and sold them to keep funding the war.”
“You should be careful saying stuff like that,” Ryan says cautiously. “If this really is a government conspiracy, they very clearly don’t have a problem killing innocent people to hide their secrets.”
Shane shrugs. “It’s a cause I’d be willing to go out for.”
“Holy shit, dude.”
“You hear that NSA? If you’re selling people to fund your wars go ahead and kill me right now! I know you’ve had a drone strike programmed on me and Ryan ever since the Illuminati episode!”
“Shit, Shane,” Ryan says, shoving him gently.
“Now if I die anytime within the next year, you’ll have to do an episode of the show on it,” Shane replies with complete sincerity.
Ryan stares at him like he’s crazy before the screen goes black.
“Was Frank Castle’s family killed in a tragic drive by shooting like the police report says? Were they killed by someone who was once a close friend, or does the conspiracy run much, much deeper? Although we can speculate endlessly about what happened that fateful day, the truth of the matter is that this tragedy will remain unsolved.”
The video closes out with the traditional red overlay of the word “unsolved” on top of a family photo of the Castles before fading to black as the words, “What unsolved mystery do you want to see next?” appear.
Peter sets his phone down and stares up at the ceiling for a moment. Mr. Castle’s entire family was murdered right in front of him; that much Peter knows. Buzzfeed Unsolved is relatively popular, and it’s unlikely Mr. Castle wouldn’t hear about the video, whether or not any of the theories were correct. He hesitates for just a moment longer, before scrolling through his contacts to find the number he’s looking for.
It rings and rings and rings and goes to voicemail.
Peter scrolls through his contacts a little further and lands on another number.
This one rings twice before picking up.
“Hey, Peter,” Matt says conversationally. “What’s up?”
“Hey, Matt. Do you know where Mr. Castle is right now?”
There’s a slight pause as Matt processes what must seem like a very strange question. “Um, not at the moment, but if you give me a second I can figure it out. Why, what’s up?”
“I need to talk to him about something—and sooner really would be better,” Peter says, trying his best not to sound nervous.
“Alright, I got you. I’ll call you back in just a minute, okay?”
“Thanks, Matt,” he says before hanging up.
It only takes around five minutes for Matt to get back to him, but the minutes stretch on much longer in Peter’s mind. He’s so deep in his spiral of thought that the feeling of his phone buzzing in his hand startles him.
It’s Matt calling, so he answers instantly.
“I found him,” Matt says, foregoing any sort of greeting. “Is it something you can talk to him about over the phone or would you rather do it in person?”
Peter thinks about the NSA listening to him.
“I think in person would be better,” he says.
“Alright. He’s with Karen right now; I’ll text you the address.”
“Thanks, Matt,” Peter says yet again, though this time his thoughts are occupied with just how many times Mr. Castle allegedly kidnapped and/or attempted to kill Karen.
The call disconnects, and a few moments later Peter’s phone buzzes with an incoming text. It’s an address in Hell’s Kitchen, not all that far from Matt’s apartment. He could take the subway, but it’ll be easier and quicker for him to just Spider-Man his way over.
As he swings between buildings, Peter finds his mind wandering a bit. He’s always known that Ryan and Shane’s humor while talking about actual events can rub people the wrong way, but that thought isn’t really so abstract when he realizes that the humor could rub someone he knows and considers to be a friend the wrong way. Mr. Castle’s been put through so much shit, and in all honesty, Peter doesn’t think it’s fair for him to have to deal with this too.
Maybe he’s blowing it out of proportion; maybe the media circus surrounding the trial was enough to render Frank immune to loud and frequent speculation about what happened to his family. But Peter knows that if the roles were reversed and thousands of people were about to be speculating and theorizing and harassing Peter about what had happened to Ben, he’d at least want some sort of heads up about it.
He snaps out of these thoughts and drops into an alley not far from Karen’s building, pulling a hoodie and a pair of loose jeans from his backpack before pulling them on over the suit. He removes the mask and gloves and shoves them into his backpack, pulling his phone out to double check the apartment number as he heads toward the building.
The button to the buzzer for Karen’s apartment is sticky, and Peter almost breaks the little plastic dome with how hard he has to push it to try and get it working. Eventually it does, and Karen’s voice comes through the speaker.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Peter,” he answers.
There’s another buzz as the door unlocks, and Peter heads on inside. He takes the stairs two at a time to get up just a little bit faster, and as soon as he knocks on the door it’s pulled open.
Karen is standing at the door, and Frank is over on the couch with a bottle of beer in one hand and his feet kicked up on the coffee table.
It’s a nice apartment; a bit run down, but decorated nicely. As Peter scans his eyes across various shelves, two larger, decorative glass jars beside a houseplant catch his eye. They’re seemingly full of various bits of metal and, upon closer inspection, what appear to be bullets. One jar is about a quarter of the way full while the other is closer to a third thanks to a chunk of an arrow that’s been put in it. The jars are both labeled in pretty, swooping cursive; the one with the arrow has the name ‘Matt’ while the other reads ‘Frank’.
“Is this why you kept the bullet when Matt got shot?” Peter blurts out, pointing to the jar.
Frank snorts and smiles as Karen shuts the door behind Peter. “Yep. She rattles ‘em at us when she gets pissed off and needs a harmony for all her nagging.”
Karen gives Frank a scathing look, but he just smiles at her.
“Red said you needed to talk to me about something; what’s up?” he asks, taking a sip of his beer. “Finally realize you need to learn how to shoot a gun?”
“What? No—it’s just.” Peter chews his lip for a second. “Okay, so this is kinda hard to explain.”
Frank looks relatively more concerned, as does Karen, and sits forward a bit. “Take your time.”
“Okay,” Peter says after managing to gather his thoughts into the semblance of something coherent. “so there’s this show online that talks about crimes and conspiracy theories and stuff. And it’s really popular—like—millions of people watch it. Anyway, they just, as of like, an hour ago, posted a video talking about, um.” Deep breath. “About you and your family and what might’ve really happened. And I know that people are gonna start actively seeking you out to try and figure out if any of the theories are true, and there’s gonna be a spotlight on you and all of the other people they talked about in the video, so maybe you should, like, lay low for a little while? Because I know you’re still wanted by the police, and everyone in the city is gonna have their eyes out for you if the media starts talking about you again.”
“Well, shit,” Frank says, working his lower lip between his teeth for just a second. “Who else did the video talk about?”
“Um, a lot of dead people, but that’s not really relevant. They talked a lot about you, Ms. Page. And a little about Matt and Mr. Nelson. And they mentioned some guy named Curtis and umm David—Loberman, I think?”
“Lieberman,” Mr. Castle corrects in an almost offhand way before his eyes go wide. “Shit—why were they even talking about him?!”
“They talked about how he was dead and then he wasn’t and that the Homeland Security guy who ‘killed’ him might’ve been part of a government conspiracy to kill you and your family.”
Frank goes silent.
Karen goes silent.
Peter stares at them both in shocked silence because no way in hell—
“Shit. David’s outta town. I’m gonna go check on Sarah and the kids,” Mr. Castle says as he stands up and heads over to the door. He pulls a gun out of—out of somewhere (where the hell did that even come from?) and checks it before opening the door. “If anything happens, I’m killin’ whoever made the show. Thanks for the warning, kid.” And with that, he’s gone.
Peter looks over at Karen, still trying to process whatever the hell that was and whether or not he’ll be forced to hold himself accountable for the murders of Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej should anything happen.
“Did the government actually kill his family?”
Karen looks conflicted for a moment before speaking. “Can you keep a secret?”
Peter thinks for a second before nodding. Apparently the possibility of the truth getting out is big enough to warrant Mr. Castle going to make sure someone who was involved’s family doesn’t get killed—Peter can keep a secret; especially if those are the stakes.
“The CIA ran an illegal torture and assassination campaign in Afghanistan using Frank and some other elite soldiers. They funded it with heroin they were trafficking back to America in the bodies of dead soldiers. Someone videotaped one of the tortures and assassinations and sent it to the NSA. The people in charge thought it was Frank who took the video, so they killed his family and they tried to kill him.”
“Holy shit,” Peter says, but deep down he isn’t really terribly surprised. World governments almost nuked New York—what’s so surprising about the American one torturing and killing people using drug money? “Well, um, there weren’t any specifics, but that was kinda the theory… but they were kinda jokey about it and the other theories made more sense and—wait, did Mr. Castle really try and kill you and kidnap you?
Karen shakes her head and sighs. “No, not once. He never kidnapped me either. He kidnapped Matt one time though.”
“Really?”
“Well, Daredevil. He chained him to the roof and taped a gun to his hand and tried to make him kill Grotto,” Karen explains.
“And they’re friends now?”
“Matt forgave him for that, he forgave Matt for turning him into the police. They worked it out.”
Peter nods, his eyes catching a glimpse of the clock on the wall. “Right, well I should be going home—I don’t want my aunt to worry about me. Are you... are you gonna be safe here?”
Karen smiles and walks over to where her purse is sitting on the coffee table. She reaches in and pulls out a gun. “I’ll be fine. Besides, Frank is mostly just being paranoid. I’m sure the Lieberman’s are gonna be fine. Send me a link to the video, though?
“Yeah—yeah totally,” Peter says, pulling out his phone and quickly texting the link to Karen.
Her phone chimes from where it’s sitting on the table as she walks Peter to the door so that she can bolt it shut behind him.
Peter pulls the hoodie and jeans off and puts the mask and gloves back on before swinging home, thinking ‘holy shit’ the whole way there. All he can think about is what he’s going to refer to as the Castle Conspiracy.
All that he can’t talk about is the Castle Conspiracy.
Two days later, Peter’s getting lunch with MJ and Ned and abusing MJ’s charisma to wheedle as many fortune cookies as possible from the teenager at the register. As soon as they get their food, they head to the nearby park to enjoy the nice weather while they eat.
MJ and Ned being MJ and Ned, it’s only so long before the topic of the latest Buzzfeed Unsolved episode comes up in conversation.
“I’m just saying,” Ned is saying, “that I don’t buy the whole multiple government agencies conspiracy thing.”
“Well, I’m just saying that I do,” MJ answers, stealing a bite of Ned’s sweet and sour pork.
Ned makes an indignant sound and steals a piece of broccoli from her carton, before turning to Peter, who has been very deliberately not engaging in the topic of conversation.
“What do you think, Peter?” he asks, and either the profuse sweating or the look on Peter’s face gives it away.
“Holy shit,” Ned says. “Holy shit, you know.”
“Ned—”
“Oh my god, Peter!”
Peter smacks his hand over Ned’s mouth. “Keep it down, man!”
Ned stares at Peter in awe and makes the very mature decision not to lick his hand.
“Okay, yes, I know. But I really, really, really can’t talk about it,” he whispers. “Like, when I told Mr. C about the video he freaked out and went to make sure nobody was going to murder his friend’s family, because they will literally kill people to keep it quiet. Now can we please talk about anything else?”
“It kinda sounds like you’re saying the government did it,” MJ whispers.
“It kinda sounds like I’m not saying anything about who did it because the truth is dangerous and I promised I’d keep it a secret!” Peter whispers back shrilly.
The magnitude of the situation seems to have finally sunk in for MJ and Ned, so Peter finally lets himself take a breath.
“So, um,” Ned says in an attempt to change the subject, “who do you think killed JFK?”
Peter freezes.
“No way,” MJ gasps.
Yes, way.