"Tell me, Billy, what's your full name? What do you do?"
Just moments ago, Billy had a gun pointed at Bucky.
Now, their roles were reversed. Bucky stood as calmly as before, while Billy was bound to a chair with thick ropes, coil after coil.
"You don't know who I am?"
Billy's initial anger, vigilance, and suspicion instantly turned into utter bewilderment after hearing Bucky's question.
You don't even know who I am, yet you tracked me all this way, started a fight without a word, and then kidnapped me here?
Are you a Cyber Psychosis patient?
Yes, I was once Night City's seventeenth Cyber Psychosis patient… Understanding Billy's gaze, Bucky silently mocked himself.
"It's a long night, and I can't sleep. Let's chat, Billy, what's your full name?"
"No comment. Why are you bothering me? How did I offend you?"
"It seems if I don't give you a taste of your own medicine, you won't realize the seriousness of the situation."
"Pah! Bring it on!"
Facing Bucky's threat, Billy's expression was one of disdain—without even decent torture tools, who are you trying to scare with your bare hands?
Bucky glared at him, thinking, you're looking down on me, aren't you? If I don't show you something truly impressive, you won't know why Cyber is Punk!
However, with a grim face, he dragged the chair over, not to hit him, but to turn it around, sit down, and rest his hands on the backrest, his expression changing like magic into a grinning one:
"Just kidding. With such a handsome face, how could I bear to hit you?"
Billy was stunned, and subconsciously, he was about to say, "Pah! Disgusting!" when—
Swish!
He saw the other party draw a field knife from his waist, skillfully twirl it a few times, grasp the hilt, and place the cold blade against his meticulously maintained face.
"How about I help you peel off your entire face, preserve it nicely, and then when I hit you, it won't get damaged? How does that sound? Don't worry, my hands are steady, and the knife is fast. Your face will still be just as beautiful."
"You!"
As the field knife's blade scraped across Billy's face like a razor, his disdainful, contemptuous, and disgusted gaze instantly turned to terror, and he desperately craned his head backward.
"No! Stop!"
"Hmm, don't stop, I understand."
Bucky was still smiling, but in Billy's eyes, it was a devilish grin. His hand movements suddenly sped up!
Swish swish swish!
Billy only saw flashes of dark light in front of his eyes, and a chilling sensation on his face, again and again. His composure instantly broke!
"Stop! You stop it! Bastard! Don't touch my face!"
Bucky ignored him, concentrating on shaving his beard until all the stubble on his face was gone, then he nodded in satisfaction.
And Billy was already like a fresh young man who had been played with by eighteen muscle-bound men in a fairy game.
"Bastard! I'm going to kill you! I must kill you!"
"...What the heck, he actually cried!?"
Bucky truly hadn't expected that just scaring this guy would have such a good effect.
"Hey, I heard that some people who haven't truly recognized their orientation subconsciously reject or even discriminate against it. Were you perhaps enraged out of embarrassment earlier?"
Seeing Billy's behavior, Bucky himself felt a bit of goosebumps, and he returned the "Pah, disgusting" expression in full.
"If you have the guts, kill me! Just kill me!"
"Now that I know you care so much about your face, you wouldn't be so naive as to think I'd let you off so easily, would you? You'd better accept reality and confess honestly."
Billy cursed for a while, vented enough, and then glared at Bucky with extreme malice, asking sinisterly, "What do you want to know?"
"Cough!"
This wasn't Bucky clearing his throat to ask a question; it was a light cough from behind Bucky.
"One moment."
Bucky made a wait gesture. Billy just let out a sigh of relief when he suddenly felt intense pain all over his body. An electric arc flashed across him, and he started foaming at the mouth and convulsing.
"Any results?"
The one who coughed was Maria Hill. She had already removed her makeup and changed into her S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent uniform, holding a fax in her hand.
"Yes, this person is Billy Russo. He was once a Marine Corps Master Sergeant. After leaving the military, he opened a security company called Anvil, but he actually took on mercenary jobs, mostly grey or black operations… By the way, Phil asked me to tell you that this person was once Frank Castle's comrade-in-arms?"
So, hmm, it really is him.
As soon as Bucky heard Billy Russo, he immediately reacted. No wonder this guy cared so much about his face. Isn't this the "pretty boy Billy" from the Punisher TV series he watched a few episodes of before his Crossing?
Frank Castle's former comrade-in-arms, due to some mishap in an operation following CIA orders, caused Frank to retire. Bucky wasn't entirely clear on the specific reasons as he hadn't watched the show closely.
But he knew that Billy had a significant connection to that mishap. He seemed to be Frank's friend but was eventually revealed to be the villainous boss, causing Frank immense suffering, and ultimately, Frank disfigured his face with broken glass.
What a coincidence, this guy actually fell into his hands like this?
"Then why did Billy bring so many gunmen to New York?"
"It's not entirely clear yet. We only know he arrived more than half a year ago and quickly took over half of New York's 'laundry powder' market. His security company is just a front, maintaining a large number of gunmen just to protect his real business. What about you, did you find out anything?"
"Well, he cares a lot about his handsome face; even a small scratch makes him explode."
What kind of news is this… Uh, it actually seems somewhat useful? Hill subconsciously wanted to express her exasperation at Bucky's unreliability again, but then she thought, this is a weakness that can be exploited.
"So you'll continue the interrogation?"
Bucky waved his hand: "No need. Prepare."
"Prepare for what?"
"Battle preparations. He actually has a tracker on him. Someone should be coming to rescue him soon."
Hill frowned upon hearing this: "Where? I clearly searched him."
Bucky shrugged: "His shoe heel, underwear, teeth, under the skin—all possible, right?"
Hill was a little angry: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"No need. If the tracker isn't on, how can we see who it draws out?"
"You're trying to bait them? You should have told me earlier."
"It's not too late to say it now. Go prepare."
...
Five SUVs stopped on a highway outside a small orchard in rural New Jersey.
One by one, soldiers in combat fatigues, wearing night vision goggles, fully armed and well-trained, disembarked from the vehicles.
Seventeen or eighteen soldiers moved silently towards the two-story detached house next to the orchard.
They, however, were unaware that within the house and within the orchard, two pairs of eyes had already spotted them the moment they arrived.
This was not them surrounding the house, but rather the people inside the house quietly closing the net…
ADVANCE CHAPTER AVAILABLE IN PATREON
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