Hugo Maximum Security Base, Colorado

Frank Castle listened in the dark as he heard the prison guard shuffle along the cells, checking to make sure all the inmates were safely tucked into their beds. Frank listened intently, because he noticed that the walk was different than usual tonight, evidently the normal night guard, a tall, skinny man named Elroy Murray, must have had the evening off. This person had a much bouncier step, very different from the sound of the slow, scuffing step that always accompanied Elroy's walk down the hall.

Castle squinted his eyes and pretended to sleep as the flashlight crossed his cell and came to rest on his face. Frank was momentarily perplexed, because he thought for sure before the light struck his face that it was indeed the form of Elroy Murray standing outside his cell. Frank figured Elroy had finally got his wife to give him a little something, as he was always complaining about his lack of sex life.

"You there Frank?" said a voice that seemed to indicate that it was indeed Elroy Murray.

"Yeah Elroy, I'm trying ta sleep here, what do ya want?" said Frank in a puzzled tone. While Frank had had several conversations with Elroy in the past, none of them had been in the middle of the night, during check-up rounds.

Then Frank got an even bigger shock as the magnetic doors which held his cell locked clicked open with a swoosh and Elroy stepped into the cell. Frank was at a loss, unsure of what was to come next. Frank knew he was more than capable of out-powering and even killing the man, but he knew that Elroy knew that as well, and couldn't understand why the man would be doing this.

Elroy then spoke in a very quiet voice, "I need you to follow me Frank Castle. Do so, and without incident, and it might just be your ticket outta incarceration."

Now Frank's curiosity was peaked to the limits. Frank had spent enough time talking to Elroy to know he was a poor, white trash country boy, and words like incident and incarceration were just a little to big for him. Whoever this person was, this wasn't Elroy Murray. Frank decided that he was curious enough to find out what was going on, but was still suspicious enough to grab the steel shank he had purchased off a fellow inmate for a carton of Marlboro Reds.

Frank let himself be led by "Elroy" to a meeting room that he had never been in before. As he sat into a chair across from a large screen television an image appeared on the screen. Frank Castle recognized the man. He was known as Sarge Steel, head of the United States Governmental Agency, TaskforceX.

Sarge smiled warmly as he spoke on the screen, "Hello Frank, seems you got yourself into quite a predicament here. What out of Hugo before they gas you? Let me tell you about Suicide Squad…"

END INTERLUDE

It was in front of one of these buildings, The Phoenix Mountain Dancing Room, the BMW finally came to a screeching halt. Oliver was glad, and he could tell by the single bead of perspiration rolling down Ben's forehead, that he wasn't the only one.

As the three men entered the establishment, the business seemed to live up to all of Ollie's expectations. The establishment was little more than a strip club, complete with loud Japanese rock music, half-dressed dancing girls, and plenty of drunken Japanese businessmen with fistfuls of yen. Oliver felt quite uncomfortable as many in the all-Japanese establishment turned their attention his way and scowled in apparent disapproval.

Keniuchio seemed completely oblivious to the patrons' unpleasant scowls and they made their way across the building's interior to a door that seemed to be barely viable against a far wall. Keniuchio knocked loudly, which resulted in an eyeslit opening and a pair of squinting eyes staring from behind the door.

"I have come to see Tashiro Mifune." Stated Keniuchio in a very serious, business-like tone.

"He is a very busy man, you come back later…" said the hidden man in a very annoyed tone.

Keniuchio seemed to take great insult from the man's comment, and Oliver could see him momentarily bite his lip in annoyance, then put his hand on the sword which was sheathed beneath his long coat. He then spoke in a very angered tone, "You tell Tashiro that it is Keniuchio Harada on official business of Clan Yashida, and that if he doesn't give me council in the next few minutes I will personally shut down every operation he has, then gut both him and you and feed you to the buzzards."

At the mention of Keniuchio's name, the man's tone seemed to change drastically, and the men could hear a variety of locks being undone on the other side. As the door swung open, a greasy looking, overweight Japanese man graciously bowed several times. Oliver noticed that the man was sweating a great deal and seemed as jittery as Ollie's daughter after a six pack of Mountain Dew. As the man apologized constantly, an act that seemed to annoy Keniuchio even more, he beckoned them to follow him down a long, poorly lit corridor. Both Oliver and Ben tensed as it seemed as the perfect place for an attack, but again Keniuchio seemed oblivious to such danger. Oliver wondered sometimes how much of the man's confidence was in fact arrogance.

On the other side of the corridor was what appeared to be an illegal fighting pit, surrounded by dozens of spectators, and Oliver noted that many were dressed in expensive suits, and most had at least one scantily-dressed girl at their side. Oliver chuckled, and now understood Keniuchio's original apprehension, leading the Field Director of SHIELD into one of the Yakuza's illegal fighting pits. Oliver wondered if it was a matter of trust or if Yashida was testing him.

The fat, sweating man led the three to a young, very sleazy looking individual. His hair was a dark green, and his face was filled with more piercings than Oliver had ever seen on one man. His shirt had no sleeves, and his arms were filled with tatoos of dragons and kanji and naked women. On each side of him sat a pair of scantily-clad dancing girls which looked as though their days of beauty and youth had long since past them. The fat man bent over and whispered in the sleazy one's ear, as Keniuchio made a gesture which quickly made all the girls stand up and make themselves scarce.

"How can I help you Silver Samurai?" said the sleazy man, obviously Tashiro Mifune, in a slow, gutteral voice. It was obvious from Keniuchio's actions and face that he found this man quite detestable, and loathed to even sit next to him. Regardless of his dislike, Keniuchio did sit down, and then proceeded to get uncomfortable close to Tashiro.

Keniuchio then began to speak in a very quite, serious tone, "Three American women, all in their thirties, showed up in Tokyo last week. They were a blonde, a brunette, and a red head. They are all private investigators searching for a woman and a child. They were staying at the Grand Plaza Tokyo. Now they aren't around and my father wants to know what happened to them."

"What makes you think that I.." began Tashiro, but it was obvious that Keniuchio was in no mood to play around, as he grabbed the man discreetly by the wrist and twist in an uncomfortable direction. "Alright," said Tashiro, obviously in pain, "There were three white women, asking a lot of questions amongst the rabble several days ago. They were in Tagi's territory and he sent a few boys to discourage their curiosity, and apparently they beat the crap out of Tagi's men and sent them back to their leader scurrying like dogs. Later they got the information they seemed to want, and left town, and that is the last I have heard of them."

"And what was this information?" asked Keniuchio, as he twisted the wrist a little harder.

"I'm not sure, but someone payed handsomely to direct them to the small village of Tengen, you know the one with the Taoist shrine, and I swear that is all I know." Cried Tashiro.

"It had better be Tashiro…" said Keniuchio with an angry scowl on his brow, "or after we return from Tengen I will make all the threats I leveled at your sniveling worm lackey seem like a happy dream."

To Be Continued…