Punisher Hammers New York Gangs

The fugitive Frank Castle exploded into action just two days after escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D in England, this time in a massive gun battle in the middle of New York Cities Bronx district.
Castle was still being hunted in the forest of Dean by a S.H.I.E.L.D task force and British special forces when he suddenly burst into action, killing ten and seriously wounding five more of New York's most dangerous criminals. The battle he fought took more than ten minutes to complete and raged from the internal setup of a clothes warehouse, out onto the open roads of the area and then finally finished in a pizza parlor where Castle delivered the killing blow to Mob boss Charlie 'Drive-by' Tonioli with a garden spade.
Solomon Hurt, the man in charge of the S.H.I.E.L.D hunt for Castle, was unable to avoid the obvious embarrassment that he had led S.H.I.E.L.D into.
'I cant sit here and tell you I'm pleased that Castle has managed to pull the wool over my eyes so easily. I wont tell you that i knew he was escaping the country or that he had the means to get to New York so quickly. I have to tell you the truth, this is not how S.H.I.E.L.D is used to being seen. We are a tight group that share our intel well, we have agents in most countries and we keep tabs on literally millions of people all around the world,' began Hurt at the inevitably akward press conference. 'This is an a-typical case, totally out of the ordinary for us. So we have to do several things, we have to find out how he managed to get out of the country, who helped him, how he managed to get tooled up so quickly in the states and how his intel foxed ours so completely.
That is why myself and a select group of agents will be setting up a semi permanent base in Britain, looking at the Castle case of course but also we want to see if we can make an impact on other issues plaguing the British Isles. We aim to pursue the N.M.A and the Triad, look at ways to improve the early warning systems for security forces and see if we can make a move towards opening a line of communication between S.H.I.E.L.D and the Bow Street Runners and The Crusaders.
I'd like to thank the British Government who have agreed to allow us to stay and maybe try and get some of this egg of our faces and put some boots on some asses to make amends.'
Solomon Hurt is charismatic, focused and well aware of his almost comedic likeliness to ex S.H.E.I.L.D director Nick Fury.
'We have the same badge and that really is about as close as the likeness gets, though my eyesight ain't that good so I'll have to take your word for it kid,' he told one reporter as he left the press conference.
Can S.H.I.E.L.D repair a gap in their ability this wide? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain, Castle had help escaping from their grips, help leaving the country and help in New York, the burning question should really be; Who is pulling the strings here, and what do they want?
Verity Luce