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."

Keniuchio seemed to almost read Oliver's mind as he scanned the area, "Tengen was once a quiet, but prosperous fishing village famous for having one of the most beautiful Taoist temples in all of Japan," he said. "The beast known as Fin Fang Foom rose from the waters and began a swath of destruction headed for Tokyo. The creature was defeated above this village by Dr. Light, Rising Sun, and an American mystic named Zatana. Unfortunately, nearly all the village was destroyed in the battle. Later, the few remaining survivors claimed that the spirits of the dead still roam the land in anger, and left. I remembered reading that someone had bought all, the 'cursed land,' and tried to build a string of fancy condos, but the construction was fraught with mishaps, and soon abandoned."

Ben hunched onto his knees, surveyed the ground, and looked around him, "There were cars here lately, and multiple tracks of footprints. All seem to lead up to the temple. Whoever it was made little attempt to hide their tracks from us."

Confident that none of the other misbegotten structures held anything, or anyone, of threat, the trio made their way up a small hill to the Taoist temple. Oliver observed that there appeared to be no place for someone to hide and play sniper, so he assumed if there was any threat, they were waiting within. As they continued the ascent, Oliver examined the building's exterior. At one time, he was sure, it was a very beautiful building indeed. The colors of red, green, and gold, still streaked in faint chips along the painted walls. Intricate carvings of dragons, phoenix, and men lined the wall, chipped and missing pieces with the ware of age and loss.

As the three men climbed the hill, Oliver rubbed his temple and tried to remember how he got here. Things surely seemed to be falling apart, both professionally and personally. At work, it seemed as though SHIELD itself was working hard to drive him to the brink of madness. His ‘Alpha' agents, the supposed finest soldiers in all the world, were dropping quicker than they could be replaced. Agent Frank Castle was in prison for being a psychopathic killer, Agent Sasha Martens was in the hospital for an all-out brawl with Castle. Agent John Walker has suddenly found ‘God', and left the team to complete a ‘divine mission'. Agent Rachel Leighton has become a recluse, and the rest of the team is battered bruised, and almost demoralized. If he ever gets some free time, Oliver thinks to himself, he is really gonna have to consider giving this job to someone more patient and suited for the position.

Then again, he thought to himself, it wasn't like his personal life was any better. Oliver tried to remember the last time he did something fun, without avail. His daughter was off to college now, and the only non-agent woman he had contact with was the girl at the coffee shop who handed him his java in the morning.

Oliver swept himself out of his self-pity wining as the trio made their way to the front doors of the temple. Listening at the thick doors proved fruitless, so the three men prepared to enter and see where their fates would take them. Ben Turner pulled his pistol out with one hand, and a throwing dagger with the other. Keniuchio pulled a long sword from it's sheath and pulled it close to his lips, then whispered to it, and suddenly he was bathed in an ancient samurai armor of shining silver, and his blade glowed and crackled with radiant energy. Oliver pulled each of his pistols from his holsters and moved to the side of the door, as Keniuchio kicked the doors wide and the three men burst into the temple.

"Greetings Oliver Queen, Benjamin Turner, and Keniuchio Harada. We have been waiting for you."

Oliver looked perplexingly at the scene before him. To his left, maybe a hundred feet in front of him, were the three ladies of Birds of Prey Investigations; Jessica Drew, Barbara Morse, and Ollie's ex-wife, Colleen Wing. All three seemed to be unconscious, as shallow breathing could be seen, but they were all strung up in small cages, suspended about six feet in the air. Too their right side was their two assailants. The first, sitting in a throne style chair, was a young Japanese man. He was dressed in a very expensive Armani suit, carrying an expensive looking sword, and a very arrogant smile. The woman standing by his side wore a classic kimono, was very beautiful, except for the cybernetic hardware, which laced her face and left arm. Both of the characters were very familiar to all members of the trio.

"Lady Dragon and Shinobi Shaw," whispered Ben Turner as his grip tightened on his blade. He personally had no grudge with Shaw, but Lady Dragon was another story. She had led the Silicon Dragons when they had gone to war with Advanced Idea Mechanics over control of high-tech smuggling on the Pacific Rim. Their battled had spilled out into the streets of Seattle, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, and included the deaths of hundreds of SHIELD agents who had been aboard the SHIELD Helicraft that had been exploded over Tokyo. Ben had lost good friends and allies in that battle. In the end, The Silicon Dragons lost, hard, and they had been looking for Lady Dragon and the remaining remnants of her miserable Dragons for quite some time now. Ben also knew that Ollie and Ken had history with both villains, and could see that, by the looks in their eyes, their anger hadn't diminished with time either.

"Why kidnap innocent women?" asked Keniuchio, his disgust impossible to miss. "I thought the Silicon Dragons lived by their code of honor? I would expect such behavior from trash like Shaw, but I thought you had more honor, Lady Dragon."

Lady Dragon's eyes lower to small slits and she appeared to be ready to pounce forward, but a calming hand by Shaw prevented her from doing so. Shaw kept his arrogant smile intact as he spoke, "Times are tough ‘Silver Samurai'. The Silicon Dragons are badly depleted in funds, and our ‘employers' paid very handsomely for this scenario. How could she resist? A chance to make back some of the funds lost in that foolish skirmish with AIM, and a chance to kill several of her most hated enemies."

"Your employer?" said Ollie, somewhat shocked. "Who might that be?" When Oliver had seen the two criminals, he had suspected this was little more than a petty revenge plot, but he was apparently wrong. Someone had payed them, for whatever reason, to lure them here, maybe to kill them.

"Who knows," said Shaw nonchalantly, "and who cares? In a moment you won't. You will be dead." Shaw snapped his fingers, and suddenly, from the shadows came several dozen Silicon Dragons. Some carried swords, and other martial arts equipment. Others carried what appeared to be energy rifles and pistols.

Shaw was slightly stunned when, instead of retreating or surrendering, the three men simply stood their ground.

"You are an arrogant fool, Shinobi Shaw," said Keniuchio in a voice that dripped with anger and disgust. "Did you really think that we would walk into this silly 'trap' of yours without taking any precautions? If so, then today it is fortunate that you will probably die!"

Suddenly, from behind the trio of men, the forces of Clan Yashida filled in. The Silicon Dragons, in no desire to be caught themselves, started to fire and launch into an attack. Soon, the small temple was filled with flailing fists, clashing swords, and bolts of energy. Oliver watched as SHIELD agent Ben Turner leaped forward with the grace of a cat, sweeping the legs out from under one Dragon as his elbow crashed into the gut of another. Despite all their martial arts training, they were far from the class of the man once known as the ‘Bronze Tiger'.

Uninterested in the melee, Oliver turned to find the three women held captive, hoping to save them before a stray attack left their prone bodies lifeless. Moving quickly across the room, Oliver fired a blast into the chest of one Dragon, then twisted around to smash the butt of the pistol into another Dragon's head, smashing his nose in an explosion of blood and bone. As Oliver reached the women, he noticed that for the most part, they were being left alone and unmolested.

"Look out," Oliver heard from behind him. As he turned he saw the blade of Lady Dragon slicing the air towards his head. Suddenly, the blade was parried, and thrust away. Oliver watched, as Silver Samurai challenged Lady Dragon to a battle. As the other battle seemed to circle around them, the two combatants began a graceful dance of slashing blades. Oliver was almost mesmerized as he watched the two fighters exchange blows with equal abilities and fury.

Oliver then remembered the three women, and as he tripped a Dragon and smashed his elbow into his face, knocking him unconscious, he slowly slid the women out of harm's way. In a safely shadowed corner, he checked their health. All were alive, but appeared to have been on the losing end of a melee, and now appeared to be sedated with some drug that had them sleeping very soundly.

Oliver turned to return to the battle. He turned his attention from Keniuchio and Lady Dragon, to look for the Dragon's other ringleader, Shaw. Oliver found him standing in a corner, simply watching the battle. As a Yashida warrior made his way to battle him, he quickly dispensed of the man, breaking his neck with an audible 'crack'. Obviously, he wasn't out of the battle because he couldn't fight, he simply seemed to be choosing not to enter the fray. Oliver also noted the scowl on Shaw's face, apparently he noted that his forces were losing to Clan Yashida's superior numbers and skills, and Shaw was not accustom to the taste of defeat. Oliver watched in disgust as Shaw activated something on his wrist watch, and a single man, dressed in all white, except for a small, black circle on his chest appeared. Suspecting what was about to happen, Oliver tried to fire a shot at Shaw, but watched in distress as the man faded from view, obviously the recipient of some form of teleportation. Oliver watched in disgust as Shaw looked up to meet Ollie's eyes, and smile, silently mouthing the word "goodbye."

Oliver then turned to see Keniuchio smash his sword into Lady Dragon's, then twist around with blinding speed, and place a firm punch into her side. Her attention distracted, Dragon was no match for Silver Samurai's superior skill, and was soon on the ground, unarmed.

With one leader gone, and the other one defeated, the Dragons no longer had any fight in them, and the remaining ones either surrendered or attempted to flee.

"They are alive," said Oliver as he examined the assortment of cookies that lay before him. "Bumps and bruises mostly. Jessica has several broken fingers, and I think Colleen has a fractured collarbone. I think their pride was hurt more than anything. They are eternally grateful to both you and Keniuchio."

Yashida waved his hand in the air and shrugged, "Tell them to think nothing of it. Shaw is an upstart pup with delusions of grandeur. It was my pleasure to knock him down a peg…"

"I am very grateful for your help as well Yashida," said Oliver very earnestly.

"Ah, you are my old friend," said Yashida, in an equally honest, if somewhat playful tone, "I know that if I needed your help, you would be there for me as well. that is the difference between you and I, and fools like Shinobi Shaw. That pup doesn't know of loyalty, or of friendship, or of honor. He is no man at all."

On that last statement, Oliver simply nodded his head in agreement, then the men sipped their tea, and turned their conversations to matters of a more civilized nature.

Shinobi sighed, and shrugged his shoulders as he poured himself another glass of wine. It wasn't as if he really cared much, he hadn't really expected much from the dying Dragons anyway. Their leader, Lady Dragon, was inept at best, and bound to lead them into the ground eventually anyway. He just helped the process along. He had hoped to get lucky, and, just maybe, end up maiming or killing Oliver Queen or Silver Samurai, but apparently they were too big a group of losers to even accomplish that mission for him.

Oh well, thought Shinobi, to himself. He learned plenty of good information from this little skirmish, and he could use it later against those enemies. He had his own agenda. He had a Hellfire Club in Tokyo to conquer. He had several clans to overthrow, and finally, he had a father he would one day disgrace and kill like the dog he was. Shinobi smiled to himself. Who cares about Oliver Queen and his SHIELD anyway? From what he could tell, there was someone out there determined to take them down hard, and when it was all over, Shinobi Shaw will sit back and laugh.