"boy, you come roaring
like a bat out of hell,
you drive me so reckless,
you'll kill us all."
- 60 Feet Tall, The Dead Weather

╳

"You alright, ma'am?" Frank's low voice fills the silent bathroom as he watches me.

The third man picks himself up off the floor, glaring at Frank. He reaches into his jacket and starts to pull out a gun.
Frank looks him, shifting his weight a little, but mostly seems unbothered.

"Eddie!" the woman yells. "No shots."

Eddie leaves his gun and adjusts his jacket, still glaring at Frank. "Nobody mentioned a guy with her." he grumbles.

"I'm not with anyone, I don't know him." I breathe out hastily. "Sir, please just leave. This doesn't concern you." I beg and Frank's eyes are back on mine.

And with one look I can tell, he isn't going anywhere.

Damn it, Frank.

Eddie and the woman both turn to him, drawing their knives, and I watch Frank analyse my three assailants.

No..

Frank calmly removes his belt and steps towards us, wrapping it around his arm for protection.

Please just go, Frank..

"Dumbass." the woman snickers. "You're so far over your head that you can't even see the light."

Please!

Frank squares himself, looking down his nose at her. "Is that right?" he comments, far from intimidated.

The woman makes the first move, lunging for him with her knife. Frank deflects the hit, grabbing her arm and flinging her into the far wall, turning just in time to block Eddie's oncoming assault.

Frank proceeds to fight the pair off, simultaneously.

He's fantastic..

I watch him in awe, until he cops a few hits to the face and my anger starts to boil. And when I see blood drip from his nose and mouth, the switch is flipped. Any hesitations I had about fighting back are flown right out the window.

Filled with rage, I pull my eyes from Frank to the man with the knife at my throat.

I deflect his blade and punch him hard in the face and the stomach, before pinning him up against the toilet door.
Grabbing his hand that still clings to the knife, I twist and stab his blade into his chest.
He lets go of the handgrip and I hammer at it, piercing the blade deeper through him and into the wood behind.

Now pinned to the door, I glare into his eyes as I swing and punch him hard in the face, knocking him out.

Panting with exertion, my eyes widen at the man before me and his weakening heartbeat, slightly horrified by what I've just done and how easy it was.

I turn and look at Frank in time to see him send Eddie's head hard into a toilet door, before sending him back in the other direction to collide with a sink with so much force, the sink breaks in half.

Eddie's body lay still on the floor, his neck at an unusual angle as blood pools from his skull. Dead.

The man beside me, pinned up to the bathroom stall with his own knife, dead.

The only one still with a heartbeat is the woman, unconscious on the ground at Frank's feet.

Frank slowly turns and faces me with dark eyes. The happy and relaxed man I'd come to know is gone. Along with the warmth that had filled his chocolate eyes.

Frank looks at the man pinned up beside me for a moment, taking in my handy work before he looks at me.

"Why are they coming after you?" His voice is as deep and dark as his eyes, while blood seeps from his nostrils, down his lips and chin.

A shiver runs down my spine at the attractiveness of him.

With my heart pumping and adrenaline up, it takes everything I have to stop myself from crossing the room and crashing my lips onto his.

"Who are they?" he grunts.

My eyelashes flutter as I regather my thoughts, and I glance at the bodies on the floor.
"..I don't know."

"Bullshit." he says through clenched teeth.

I wonder how much pain he's in..

It makes me sick to my stomach that I've done this to him. If he'd just left when I told him to..

I need to leave before I hurt him further.

"You should've stayed outside." I narrow my eyes at him. "I didn't need rescuing." I walk around him and head for the door.

"There's more of 'em out there." Frank says and my hand hovers over the door handle.

Shit..

"Then do yourself a favour and stay here. I didn't ask for your help." I haughtily respond.

"Yeah, but I think you need it." he replies with a quiet calm.

"What, you're just the hero who couldn't stand by?" I snipe, taking angry steps towards him.

"I'm just an asshole who couldn't stay out of trouble, that's all." he whispers.

"Yeah.." I whisper back. ".. Me too."

His eyes narrow slightly, watching me curiously before turning dark again.

"..I'm gonna ask you one more time." he says, removing his belt from his arm as he steps closer. "You tell me who they are."

I drop my gaze to the floor and leave his question unanswered again.

"No? Okay.." he mutters, then heads for the door himself.

I can't let him go.

Not if there's more of them out there..

"W-Wait! Wait.."

Frank stops and gives me a side glance, keeping his grip on the door handle.

"If there's more of them.. let me go out alone. Please. No one else needs to get hurt."

He frowns, almost looking guilty. "I won't hurt anyone if I don't have-"

"I don't mean them." I interrupt. "I mean you.." My eyes flick mournfully to the blood travelling down his face. "I mean everybody else out there, just trying to have a good night." I see understanding flow into his dark irises and step closer to him. "Let me go.." I plead in a whisper. "..and I'll lead them all away."

"And what happens to you?" he asks lowly.

"Doesn't matter." I whisper, with a shake of my head. "Everybody here will be safe." I take another step closer. "You will be safe."

"And you?"

I stare up at him, leaving him unanswered once more.

The air between us is thick, with untruths, with so much unsaid, and with longing.

We don't want to leave each other. But he wants honesty and I haven't given him that. He doesn't even know my real name.

I want to reach up and caress his cheek, I want to wipe the blood from his face. But if I can't even be honest with him, I dare not touch him.

The woman was right. Frank is far over his head. He doesn't know what he's fighting for. I have to make sure he stays safe.

He's been through enough.

I gingerly reach for the door handle, carefully avoiding his hand that still grips it.

"I have to disappear." I whisper to him.

Frank exhales heavily through his nose, his intense eyes never leaving mine.

"I can't let you do that." he rasps lowly.

A/ N

references: again, adapted dialogue from episode 1 of The Punisher, Season 2, 'Roadhouse Blues.'

- K