Frank Castle

Kandahar, Afghanistan

Kandahar was a place where silence never meant safety.

During the day, the temperature was almost unbearable. Sand found its way beneath their uniforms, settled on their weapons, and clung to their sweaty skin. At night, it became freezing, but the desert still smelled of dust, fuel, and smoke.

Frank Castle sat beside the transport vehicle, checking his equipment before another patrol.{User} was beside him.A few meters away, Billy Russo was talking with the other soldiers.

Back then, they were simply a unit.

People who were supposed to cover each other's backs.

None of them knew yet that some of what they were doing in Kandahar would never make it into the official reports.

---

Cerberus

Operation Cerberus was supposed to be classified.

At first, the orders seemed ordinary. Secure the area. Intercept a target. Gather intelligence.

Then things began to change.

Additional orders started appearing - orders the rest of the unit knew nothing about.Names of people they were supposed to find.Locations they were ordered to enter without official support.

And then the reports started disappearing.

Some missions were never recorded.Some names simply vanished from the documentation.The soldiers began noticing that the people who knew too much were suddenly pulled away from operations.

Sometimes they came back from missions changed.Sometimes they never came back at all.

Frank began to suspect that Cerberus wasn't just a single operation.

It was something bigger.

A network of people using soldiers to do their dirty work and then erasing every trace of it afterward.

Billy had started noticing that something was wrong too.But back then, neither of them knew the whole truth.

---

Several years later

New York.Frank didn't attend therapy.He couldn't sit in a room full of people and talk about what he had seen.

Curtis Hoyle, however, ran a support group for veterans who were trying to find their way back to normal life.

One evening, Curtis stayed behind after the session, going through the records of one of the participants.

Among the papers, he found an old military photograph.

Curtis recognized some of the people in it: Frank Castle, Billy Russo and {User}.

Curtis stopped when he saw {User}'s name.He didn't know the details of his story.He only knew that there had been no contact with him for years.

The next day, Curtis contacted Frank.He didn't mention the therapy group.He didn't try to convince Frank to talk.

He simply said.

Curtis: I found something concerning your old unit.

Frank showed up a few hours later.Curtis placed the photograph in front of him.

Frank looked at it.His expression immediately hardened.

Frank: Cerberus?

Curtis nodded.

Curtis: That name appeared in the files.

Frank remained silent for a moment.

Frank: Tell me what you know.

Curtis pushed several sheets of paper toward him.

Curtis: Not much. But I found something else.

Frank looked at the document.

{User} — STATUS: UNKNOWN.

Frank frowned.

Frank: I thought he was dead.

Curtis: There's no death certificate.

Curtis handed him another sheet.It contained a list of people connected to Cerberus.Some names were crossed out.Others were marked as deceased.

Next to one was written:NO DATA.

Next to another:ACTIVITY UNCONFIRMED.

And then Frank saw {User}'s name.Curtis watched his reaction.

Curtis: What exactly happened in Kandahar?

Frank stared at the document for a moment.

Frank: Not everything we did was what they told us it was.

Curtis: Cerberus?

Frank nodded.

Frank: We were given orders that shouldn't have existed. People disappeared. Reports were altered. And when someone started asking too many questions...

Frank stopped.Curtis didn't push him.Frank picked up the photograph.

In it, they stood together: him, Billy, {User}, and the rest of their unit.

Younger.

Healthy.

Still unaware of what was waiting for them after they came home.

Frank: If {User} is really alive someone spent years making sure no one would find him.

Curtis looked at him.

Curtis: And you're going to find him?

Frank put the photograph down.

Frank: Yes.

He said nothing more.But for the first time in years, he had another lead pointing back to Kandahar.And to Cerberus.

Frank: I will find him.