"you better run, run, run boy.
one of these nights,
one of these days,
i'm gonna get you good boy."
- Run Boy, Madalen Duke

╳

Starting off at Dinah's building, I travel through the city until I'm outside a small apartment building I don't recognise.

I don't think I've even been down this street before.

Stepping inside this building, however, has my unease sky rocketing. Only three stories high, I take the stairs, checking each level for her scent.

It's strong on the third floor.

And so is Billy's.

Walking down the hall, my eyes dart between all the apartment doors. But then my blood runs cold at the sound of a woman's scream. Dinah's scream.

I sprint for the door at the end of the hall and burst straight into the apartment.

Before me, Dinah sends a hard punch into another woman's face. A woman who has a large kitchen knife in her grip, the tip of the blade red with blood. Dinah's blood, fresh from a cut on her face.

Dinah and the woman do not break their tussle, fighting one another for dominance, their cries and grunts leaving my entrance unnoticed. A shrieking teapot coming from the kitchen has me wincing as I step into the apartment.

Their tussle moves from the hallway into the lounge room and I run to them, picking up speed as both women head towards the apartment window.

Panic enters the other woman's eyes, her fight with Dinah forgotten as Dinah pushes her straight into the glass. The window pane shatters and the woman's fear has her clinging to Dinah for dear life, pulling them both out.

I reach Dinah just in time, wrapping my left arm around her waist and punching my right clawed fist into the wall by the window, bearing my teeth at the strain. My claws anchor us as the woman's grip slips from Dinah, and she falls to the pavement below.

Dinah regains her footing on the windowsill and I pull her back inside. She stumbles back and hits the floor.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I pull my claws from the drywall.

Apart from her panting, Dinah's quiet as she stares up at me with confusion before she assesses herself.

"..I'm fine." she finally answers.

"Great." I move past her and head for the kitchen to stop the awful shrill of the kettle on the stove top. "Who the hell was that?" I ask, snatching a tea towel before heading back to Dinah.

"..His therapist" she replies between heavy breaths. "Billy Russo's.. She's been hiding him here.." she elaborates, eyes on the gaping windowless hole in the wall that she nearly fell from.

That explains his scent.

I squat down beside her and press the towel to her cheek. She flinches at the unexpected contact before slowly reaching up to hold the towel herself. Then she frowns up at me, giving me a once over. "What are doing here?"

"I tracked you."

"Right. Of course.." she mumbles with a flash of her brows. "I forget you're.. enhanced." she adds.

"I would've come with you, you know? All you had to do was ask." I say to her. "It's okay to ask for help."

Dinah drops the towel from her cheek and looks around the apartment.

"..Can you grab me my jacket?" she asks, pointing to her jacket on the back of a dining chair.

"See how easy that was?" I smile, before retrieving her jacket.

I hand it over and she pulls her phone from the pocket to make a call.

She rings Mahoney, asking for an ambulance for the doctor laying out on the street, before telling him to come with a unit.

I help Dinah up into an armchair and grab her a glass of water while we wait.

The curtains over the now nonexistent window wisp around as a cool breezes flows into the apartment. My body tenses at one scent in particular that enters with the wind.

My hair is blown from my face as I move into the opening, glass crunching under my shoes. I look down to the street below, my eyes searching through the crowd forming around the doctor, who lays flat on her stomach, her body still, surrounded by shards of glass. I find who I'm searching for, a growl sitting low in my throat at the sight of him.

Billy stands at the front of the crowd, flowers in hand, staring down at his beloved doctor, whose heart is in fact still beating.

My muscles tense even more, and I'm ready to launch myself from the building. I'd be down there already if it wasn't for the crowd.

Billy drops his flowers, as he stares at his doctor in shock. Slowly, he lifts his head and looks up at me, his pale face dimly illuminated by the nearest street lamp.

Sirens begin to echo up the street and Billy looks over his shoulder at the approaching red and blue flashing lights. He looks at his doctor, and then back up at me. He balls his fist, waging an internal war on which direction to take.

But as the sirens close in, he flees the scene, blending into the crowd and disappearing down the street.

Dinah lets out an exhausted sigh, blissfully unaware of Billy's presence below.

I head back to the kitchen and grab an ice pack from the doctor's freezer. I hand it to Dinah and she wraps the ice pack in her tea towel.

"Thank you." she says quietly, pressing it back to her cheek.

"You're welcome."

The sirens below turn off but the red and blue lights continue flashing. I hear the paramedics talking to the doctor, and instructing each other on transporting the woman.

"..And thanks, for the flowers." Dinah adds, bringing my attention back. "I never did thank you for those."

I smile, laughing under my breath as I sit on the floor by her chair. I'd forgotten about them.

"Least I could do." I reply. "Thank you for the hospitality."

"Hospitality?" she scoffs. "I didn't want you there, and then I kicked you both out."

"Yes." I laugh. "But you still allowed me to be there. You had every right not to."

"Yeah, well, I needed Frank. And you were a package deal." she replies.

I smile, secretly chuffed at her words. Package deal. I very much like the sound of that.

"I'm sure it definitely wasn't the package you thought you were getting." I comment.

"Understatement of the year." she mumbles and I'm chuckling.

"Well hey, you got a friend out of it, so it's not all bad." I tell her, tilting of my head.

"Is that what we are now? Friends?"

"I'd like to think so. No offence, but looks like you could use one." I say with a smile.

I can hear the paramedics loading the stretcher into their ambulance.

"While we're at it, thank you for covering up Stryker and his building. Think I might need to buy out a whole florist to thank you for that one.." I add. Dinah laughs meekly.

More cars arrive on the scene downstairs and there's a chorus of car doors. I can hear Mahoney on the street, moving civilians out of the way.

"It's certainly exceptional circumstances. There's no handbook on mutant experimentation, so.. I'm accepting the situation and ending it how I deem fit, with a solution I can live with." Dinah says to me. "Because you were right. The law did fail you."

I smile up at her, ignoring the sudden excess of moisture in my eyes from her words. "Thank you."

"Your 'thank you' will suffice." her tired voice tells me. "But hey, if you feel like you want to buy me more flowers, I won't stop you."

I chuckle quietly as the elevator doors open.

"Agent Madani?" Mahoney calls from the open front door.

"In here!" I call out.

He enters the apartment and finds us in the lounge room, followed by a medic and two other officers.

"He was here with the doctor the whole time." he states as he makes his way over to us.

Dinah nods and releases a sigh. "Is she alive?" she asks.

"Yeah." Mahoney and I reply at the same time. He looks at me, arching a brow and I drop my gaze to the floor. "..But she might wish she wasn't." he continues. "Dr. Dumont looks like someone who got thrown out of a third-story window."

Dinah closes her tired eyes while she continues icing her cheek.

Mahoney waves the female medic over and she crouches in front of the armchair to assess Dinah.

"Do you know where Billy is now?" Mahoney asks her while the medic cleans the cut on her cheek.

"He just left." I answer and they both look at me.

"What?" Dinah enunciates.

"Billy was just down there, bunch of flowers in his hand.." I inform them, and feel them both becoming tense. "He took off when the sirens came."

"You saw him?" Dinah questions.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asks, eyes wide.

"I didn't need to." I tell her.

"You know, you and I need to stop meeting like this.." Mahoney comments. He looks me up and down, resting a hand on his handcuffs.

"What do you know? We agree on something." I reply lightly. "You're looking well, by the way, considering the last time we ran into each other."

He nods, looking thoughtful and narrowing his eyes at my reminder. "..You and Castle, you got me out, saved my life. I acknowledge that. It doesn't extenuate what he or you have done, but it does make it a bit harder to come after you." he says, before looking at Dinah. "You too, Madani. Risking your life, going after someone who's not even your case.. You trying to get back in my good graces?"

She laughs humourlessly, and Mahoney squats down in front of her chair.

"I found these on the ground on my way in. Thought you might want 'em back." he says, offering Dinah her badge and gun.

She looks at them for a moment before giving a subtle shake of her head. "..I think I'm done with those." she quietly states.

Mahoney looks as shocked as I am by her words.

"Alright.. at least promise me you'll go to the hospital from here." he replies.

"..Okay." she concedes.

"Once I get a handle on this scene, I'll take you there myself." he says. Then he looks at me. "As for you," he starts. "I don't know what your deal is.. but you slip outside now, I'll let you go, just this once."

I look into his eyes and see that he's serious. A small smile forms on my face.

"Just once. I see you again.." he insinuates.

"Aw, you mean I can't even hit you up for a beer?" I tease.

"Just get out of here, before I change my mind." he states bluntly.

"Thank you, Brett." I smile and we both stand up.

"I mean it, Howlett. I see you again, I'll bring you in. War hero or not." he says. It wipes the smile from my face. I stare at him unblinking. "That's right, I know how you are now." he adds. "What I don't know is how you're alive or how you got back from Afghanistan."

"Mahoney.." Dinah interrupts. "Maybe it's time you start listening to me again." she suggests. She takes in the look of worry on my face. "He's one of the good ones. I think he needs to know."

I look at Mahoney for a moment, as he flicks confused glances between Dinah and I. Then I look back to Dinah, and give her a nod.

"I'll see you 'round." I say to her, before glancing at Mahoney. "Not you." I add.

He gives me a nod, and I turn to leave.

"Don't worry about Billy Russo, Madani. We'll get him." he says to her. I stop and look over my shoulder.

"Yeah, we will." I comment, before sending Dinah a wink.

She gives me a thankful nod.

Because she knows, the 'we' won't be Mahoney and the police.

I slip out, grateful for Mahoney's grace. Grateful that Dinah is okay. And grateful to be on my way, heading home to Frank.

A/ N

Only two more chapters to go!
Crazy.

Speaking of crazy.. We're 12 weeks away from Daredevil Reborn's release and the lack of promo is driving me mad. Marvel, gimme some Frank alreadyyyy. I'm dying here. 😩

references:
- adapted dialogue from "The Whirlwind," episode 13 of The Punisher, Season 2.

Much love to you all.
- K