"yeah, my baby,
i got a monster in my head,
look out."
- God's Machete, Dope Lemon

╳

"You look like shit." a woman, wearing a bullet proof vest sporting the letters DHS, tells Frank.

He laughs under his breath. "Yeah, it's been a rough couple days." Frank looks the woman up and down. "You changed your mind, huh?"

It's safe to assume this is who was on the other end of Frank's phone call.

"Someone changed it for me." she says. She steps closer and lowers her voice. But I still hear her. "Billy Russo broke out of the hospital."

Frank visibly tenses.

He shifts in his seat for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

The woman turns to the sheriff.

"Sheriff, Mr. Castiglione here is part of a very sensitive Homeland Security investigation. I would like it if he was never here, officially." she states, her voice laced with a no-nonsense authority.

Her and the sheriff get things sorted while Officer Murphy uncuffs Frank, and then me. 

"Get your things, I'll wait outside." the DHS woman tells Frank.

With a wave of his hand, Frank motions for me to follow him, and I make my way to his side.

Guess I'm one of his things.

The sheriff hands Frank his bag back, informing him that the guns have been confiscated, but everything else is accounted for. Frank politely thanks him and we finally leave the precinct.

Miss DHS climbs out of her helicopter and looks at me, disapprovingly.

"Frank.." she groans, using his real name.

"She comes, or I don't, Madani" he states.

Madani looks between Frank and I for a moment, while my heart pathetically flutters at his little ultimatum.

"I don't wanna know." she declares and climbs back inside the helicopter.

My heart flutters once more as Frank gives me a hand up into the aircraft. Then we get strapped in to our seats.

"Where are we going?" I ask him.

"New York."

Oh, perfect.

I give him a nod, then turn my head to stare blankly out of the helicopter as it lifts off the ground.

I'm so glad I spent three weeks putting as much distance as I could between myself and the city that never sleeps.

╳

"We'll talk about Russo when I get back." Madani tells Frank.

I stand next to the island bench of Madani's kitchen, looking at Frank, who stands by her lounge room window, staring down at the city.

"You can decide on living arrangements between yourselves. I'll go to a hotel." Madani continues. "Do not leave, Frank. For anything." she insists.

Frank continues to gaze out the window, silently.

"Frank."

"Yeah." he finally mutters in response.

"Okay.." Madani says, a hint of doubt in her eyes. She sends me a quick look and then disappears out her front door.

I turn my eyes back to Frank. He's looking awfully broody. And he seems unhappy to be back in the city.

That makes two of us.

"..A homeland security chopper is an interesting form of Uber." I comment lightly.

If I couldn't hear the beat of his heart, he could almost pass as a statue.

Madani got him out of Larkville, because she needs his help with some unfinished business regarding a Billy Russo.

That is all I know.

And I do not want to add to his plate.  

"If you need to help her, I'll leave. We can go our seperate ways." I offer. "It'll make things easier for you."

Frank sighs and finally moves, sitting down on Madani's couch. "You're gonna take the bedroom." he says. "I'll take the couch."

He doesn't want to talk. That's fine, I can take a hint. It has been a trying couple of days, for both of us.

Frank reaches for the tv remote and leans back into the couch while I turn and head for the bedroom. The tv changes from sports, to animal documentaries as Frank switches channels. He settles on a news broadcast as I close the bedroom door.

"Police are searching for Billy Russo, who has escaped from a secure hospital facility, and is suspected of several murders." the news reader reports. I listen in from behind the bedroom door. "NYPD says Russo is dangerous and should not be approached. Russo was last seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt around 7:00pm.."

I tune out the rest while I think.

Several murders?

Frank told me his family was taken from him.. Could they have been taken by Billy Russo?

It's certainly possible.

Frank has seemed quite woeful since Madani gave him the news of Billy Russo's escape.

Whatever it is, I have no right to question him on it, seeing as I haven't given him all my truths yet.

I look around Madani's bright and clean bedroom, everything very neat and tidy. It's definitely the most beautiful room I've seen for a long while.

I duck into the bathroom and have a quick shower.

Then I pull my underwear back on, before soaking and scrubbing at my jacket and top, trying to clean off the blood stains and the smell they carry. The aroma seems all the more obvious here in Madani's sterile home.

I hang my clothes about the bathroom to dry, and wander back into the bedroom. Curiosity getting the better of me, I open Madani's closet doors for a peak.

Everything is neatly hung, and there's multiple dress shirts that look the same.

Madani is a very organised person.

I spot a navy blue silk robe and slip it off its hanger. Sliding my arms into the sleeves of smooth material, I tie the silk belt around my waist.

I try to lay back on her bed for a moment, but it's just too soft. So I move myself to the familiar hardness of the floor.

Lying in the quiet and normal setting of this bedroom, of this apartment.. I finally feel I can relax. For now, at least.

Staring up at the white ceiling, I finally come to terms with the fact that my family is dead. And the fact that, if not for me, they'd still be alive.

Silent tears stream down my face and I curl into a fetal position, and begin to drift in and out of light sleep.

╳

"Okay, so you wanna fill me in?" I hear Madani ask Frank.

The sound of her front door opening and closing woke me from my poor excuse for rest.

"I don't think you wanna know." Frank replies.

"No? No, I've probably flushed my career down the toilet for you already, so.."

"For me?" Frank scoffs. "You're so full of shit, Madani. I called you when I needed you, and you didn't do a goddamn thing. But now I'm here because you need me to deal with Billy. It must mean that, officially, you're not allowed to, right?"

Damn, Frank's attitude's even hotter when it's not directed at me.

"Okay.." Madani says. "They thought Billy would die. He was in a coma for six weeks. Major surgery where you stabbed him. Fed through a tube. Bag on his hip. Brain injury, facial reconstruction. And then he woke up. But they never thought he would walk, talk, take a shit or function again. And he did all those things. Okay, Frank? Russo dragged himself back from hell."

Jesus, what the fuck happened between these three?

I slip into the bathroom to check my drying clothes and when I come back out, they're still arguing.

"I trusted him, just like you." Madani says. "Maybe that's why you couldn't kill him either." Her footsteps move past the bedroom door.

"Excuse me?" Frank warns.

"Maybe that's why you couldn't kill him either!" Madani repeats, raising her voice.

"No, killing him would have been too easy." Frank states angrily.

"Yeah, or too hard." Madani sneers.

"That why I'm here, Madani? To take the shot that you couldn't?"

My hand hovers over the door handle, while I debate whether to interrupt or not. 

".. Just give me names." Madani pleas, her tone softer now. "Names, places, anything. Anything I can use to find him."

"You know, I would have thought you knew better by now, Madani.. This shit never ends." Frank states quietly. "Trust me."

They both fall silent and Madani leaves her apartment.

I gingerly pull the bedroom door open and step out. Sitting over on the couch, Frank frowns up at me.

"..Everything okay?" I ask quietly.

His eyes soften ever so slightly at my question. "Fine." he mumbles under his breath.

My eyes fall to a black bullet proof vest on the coffee table in front of him. Underneath all the dried blood that covers it, is a white painted skull.

A symbol I recognise.

The Punisher.

I remember seeing it, and hearing about the vigilante in passing, when Stryker brought me to New York. The Punisher went after criminals. Castle, his name was. Fr-

Oh.

I lock my eyes onto his dark stare.

Frank Castle.

The look in his eyes, he knows I know.

"Afraid of me now?" Frank asks lowly, his tone lightly laced with something like trepidation.

I shake my head with confidence.

"What makes you so sure?" Frank asks.

I pout and give a little shrug. "I'm not afraid of anything I can kill." I state matter-of-factly.

My response leaves Frank looking perplexed, and I feel him watching me as I head into the kitchen for a glass of water.

I grab an apple from Madani's fruit bowl and disappear back into the bedroom.

Sitting at the window, I look down at the busy city while I munch away on my apple, wondering how long it will take before I'm found again.

Something has to be done about my situation. I don't know what, but I do know I have to keep Frank safe. Madani, too.

Soon enough, night begins to fall. The sky darkens and the skyscrapers illuminate.

A jiggle of the bedroom door knob signals I'm being locked in. I get up and move quietly to the door. On the other side, Frank tests the handle to make sure it's locked. Then he leaves the apartment.

Seriously? The one rule Madani gave you, Frank, was to not leave..

I breathe out a sigh, annoyed he's locked me in, and throw myself onto the bed. I know I could easily get myself out, but I'd rather not have to explain the damage.

I lay about, trying to get myself used to the comfy softness of the mattress, but don't allow myself to fall asleep until I finally hear Frank return.

And then I regret succumbing to sleep when I'm jolted awake from a nightmare, a traumatic scream erupting from me, filling the small space of what I now can see is Madani's bedroom, and not my mother's kitchen.

Wracked with heavy breaths, I realise I've fallen from the bed to the floor, and my eyes fall upon my fully extended claws ready to attack the bad men from my nightmare.

The lock on the bedroom door jiggles, giving me a seconds warning before Frank bursts in, gun in hand.

A/ N

references; adapted dialogue from "Scar Tissue," episode 4 of The Punisher, Season 2.