Archive of Our Own

William J Rawlins was not an easily intimidated man.

No, he kept his cool. A calm, collected man, an educated man of great renown. A hero to the country.

People sing his praises over victories won in wars paid by tax dollars but it’s for a necessary evil. If one bug lives they’ll bring more, but Rawlins believes in just killing in infestation before it gets out of hand.

That being said; Frank Castle is one bug he can’t seem to kill.

Neither is Peyton Castle.

Seems killing the infestation didn’t work in this case.

When he handed the Castle girl to Pierce, Rawlins expected her death. She was suffering a head wound, and then made to go under experiments that had killed five before her.

He didn’t expect for her to be Hydra’s best agent.

He’s heard her tales; an assassin who’s stronger than ten marines, faster than any person, smarter than Tony Stark, with strange abilities that mimic a spider.

The Winter Spider.

A ghost story, something soldiers whisper around you to scare rookies but Rawlins knows better.

He knows what she does to the people Hydra sic’s their Spider on.

When Hydra fell with Pierce, he thought they’d simply kill her; get rid of their dirty laundry but then they lost their true master piece.

Rawlins didn’t expect to get saddled with the girl.

“We heard you had a problem” a man he never learned the name of had said to him “we’ve come with a gift.”

And Peyton fucking Castle stepped through his door.

And now she sits by his desk despite not being there when he left in the morning and was not supposed to be there at all.

No, William J Rawlins was not an easily intimidated man but Peyton Castle scared him to death.

Rawlins stared at the girl at his table, her face nearly hidden in the darkness.

“I have a job for you” he begins, the girl unflinching as he pours himself a scotch.

Jesus, did this girl ever blink?

“A man named Frank Castle is rearing his head and causing problems” Rawlins explains and that seems to have her shifting in her seat, a crack of her neck as if shaking something from her mind.

He’ll remind them to wipe her after every mission.

“I want him found and extracted, alive is preferable but executed if necessary” Rawlins says and suddenly she’s standing.

“утвердительный” of course she speaks Russian, why would she speak anything else?

He moves to look out his window, opening his mouth to tell the girl to bring the body back with her only for the glass to crack.

A circle in his forehead.

Then the alarms began to blare and the girl pulled her gun, Rawlins turned and nodded and she shot off like a bullet.

God help whoever was there.

There’s always tomorrow.

That’s a mantra that had kept Frank going while he was overseas. There's always tomorrow, another day, another month, another year.

Tomorrow was something he could always count on.

Until it wasn’t.

Until “we’ll do it tomorrow, baby” didn’t work anymore and tomorrow never came.

Peyton would never be a scientist, Lisa would never dig for dinosaurs and Frankie would never protect their girls.

Maria would never kiss him good morning, never flick her towel at him in the kitchen or, on many occasions, chase him and Peyton out.

She’d never read her books or play the piano, her passion, she’d never kiss her children goodnight, she’d never fall asleep next to her husband.

Because someone stole their tomorrow.

That someone stared back at Frank through one busted eye, through a window, through his scope.

Agent Orange.

Frank took off, grabbing his rifle and hauling it back to the van.

Steps were approaching and fast and soon bullets flew through the air, just barely missing him.

He’s only a few feet from the van when the rifle is suddenly ripped from his hands, a white piece of string?

Suddenly the rifle disappears into the darkness.

Fuck, he’s gotta get out of here.

Frank’s heard of people like this; enhanced people with abilities.

Hell he’s been a Captain America fan since he was a kid but he’s never seen one up close before.

And now Rawlins has one in his pocket.

This just got a whole lot harder.

Frank yanked the van door, flying inside without the bother of buckling. 

“Drive!” Frank yelled “fucking drive, right now!” David kick started the van with panic quickly as they went hundred miles.

“What the fuck happened?!” David demands, eye flicking back and forth between the road and Frank who kept looking behind them.

“Orange!” Frank huffed “his glass is reinforced, he knows we’re here and he’s got some agent after us! Some enhanced man—!”

The van shook as something landed on top of it.

“Jesus!” David cried, swerving just enough to stay on the road but enough that should get whatever was on their roof off.

Should.

Only it didn’t and then the footsteps began.

“Is that a fucking person?!” David cried.

“I don’t know!” Frank snarls, trying to see just who was after them.

“Hold on!” David yelled, giving Frank just enough time to take hold of the handle on his door before hitting the breaks hard.

The person goes flying but they seem to flip, their hand hitting concrete and seeming to stick to it, throwing their body forward and landing back on their feet.

They straighten and it’s then Frank notices it’s a woman; her hair was long, braided in two Dutch braids. Her mouth was covered by a guard and her eyes covered by safety goggles.

Military grade, meant to protect the mouth and eyes from debris.

“What the fuck….” David breathes, white knuckles clutching the steering wheel.

The woman began rushing forward, their gun raised and aimed at their van but David hit the gas and shot forward.

The woman didn’t run but instead threw herself over the van and landed behind it.

As they drove off, she stayed in their review; her hand raised to her ear, listening to whatever was fed to her before stalking off.

“Who the hell was that?” David gasped after a few seconds of just silence.

“I dunno…” Frank confessed “but I don’t like it.”

It didn’t take long for David to find him with the image from the scope.

“Holy shit…”

Agent Orange, or William J Rawlins apparently, stared back at Frank.

“He’s the director of covert operations for the CIA now it makes sense; this is no rogue field agent but some rich asshole pulling strings but let me pick your brain for a moment” David explains.

“‘Injured in the line of—‘ that’s bullshit, that’s from me smashing his eye in! He used that to climb the ladder!” Frank snarls, still reading Rawlins file.

“Nah, he built the ladder, Frank” David mumbles, still moving through files.

He moves to another monitor and begins to type “now, back in like mid September, an undercover agency named SHIELD had been compromised by a terrorist organization and had their entire data servers breached and all their dirty laundry was let out” David continues, pulling up a second report.

“I thought it was a long shot to run his code name, Agent Orange, but I got a hit.”

A file was pulled up, at the very top read;

PROJECT ARACHNE.

“What is this?” Frank rumbled, leaning down to read the pulled up file.

“A lot of it is redacted and all names are coded but he—,” David pointed to Rawlins “is mentioned as “supplier of subject””

“Subject? Like an experiment?” Frank questions and David nods.

“Human experiments, a girl by the looks of it but here’s the kicker; look at the date” David points to the top of the page.

APRIL 12th 2015

“Seven days after the attack on your family” David claps and gives a ‘this is it’ gesture, his arms wide.

“He orchestrates the attack on my family and then dabbles in human experiments with a terrorist group?” Frank asks, sitting back in his chair.

“Who knows but this man is like royalty; this family is old money like the Starks. Who knows what else he has his hands in so are human experiments really off the board for him?” David says.

Then his face seems to fall, horror seeping into his expression as he drops his hands into his hair “for all we know this is what he was waiting for” David breathed “for someone to look just a bit deeper! I’ve probably fucked us-!”

Frank began to shake his head “no no, that’s not true, think about it.”

David turns to listen, panic still evident in his face.

“So there’s nothing about Kentucky or heroin in Kandahar, or Bennett, so he wants his shit off books” Frank summarizes and David nods along.

Frank stands and points to the photo “he’s shitting bricks right now knowing someone is out there who knows what he’s done and this—,” He points to the SHIELD file “is the one thing he does not want out under any circumstances; Kentucky, Kandahar, Bennett, has nothing on this.”

David shrugs, his panic fading away “your right, drug smuggling in the Middle East is one thing but willingly handing over a girl for what is essentially torture is another fucking field.”

Frank sighs and runs a hand down his face, taking time to pace the floor.

Jesus, this man is fucked once he gets his hands on him.

A girl, a small girl, handed over like some piece of real estate to some terrorists. Yeah he’s gonna kill this man.

He sees Lisa in that girl's place, he sees Peyton.

Arachne, Spider.

“David” Frank started, making the man look back at him “Arachne, that means spider right?”

David nods “well it’s Greek, the literal meaning means spider but it also has a story—,”

“Oh Jesus..”

“Nope, you’re gonna listen. Arachne was a mortal woman who was known for her amazing weaving work and was often complimented by people who said she must be blessed by Athena; the goddess of crafts.”

David pulled up photos of a woman, she sat weaving at a board.

“She was extremely proud of her work and refused Athena’s help, even daring her to a weaving challenge. Athena made a display that honored her fellow gods while Arachne depicted one showing their flaws.”

He clicked another photo which showed two tapestries side by side.

“Athena grew enraged and ripped the woman’s tapestry to pieces. Well Arachne was so upset that she hung herself in shame, however, instead of allowing Arachne to die; Athena turned her into a spider as a way of saying “you love weaving so much you can do it forever.””

Another photo; a woman in horrid agony as her body began to morph and change.

Frank stared at the woman.

“So obviously it’s got something to do with spiders” Frank grumbles “just how..”

“Who knows,” David sighs “these people are crazy, no point in rationalizing their thinking.”

Maybe.

But Frank knows there’s more than that.

“I’ll try to redact as much as I can but I’ll keep my eye out for anything connecting to it” David says and Frank nods before stalking off.

330….331….332….333…

Hands on her arm, pulling her hand out to look at her finger tips; once cut up and bloody now only scrapes.

The road cut her fingers pretty badly but it only took a few hours to close and clot.

How they transport the chair, Spider will never fully understand. She knows they have to when she’s in one place for an extended period.

Castle…Spider couldn’t help but twitch at the name. Like she could place it somewhere but that somewhere is just out of reach.

Whenever the Spider was placed undercover her name always ended in Parker until eventually, the Spider just began to say her name was Penny Parker.

Penny Parker was sweet and loving, a girl with her whole life built up. She has an Aunt in New York and she wants to study to be a geneticist at MIT. She’s a sophomore in High school.

Penny is an intern at Stark industries science division.

Penny Parker is not real.

Spider rolls her neck with a grimace.

She goes back to counting.

334….335….336….337….338….33-

Steps move in, nicely polished shoes step into her view of the floor.

“How is it?”

“Non-hostile, calm, but seems to have developed tic of some kind.”

“A tic?”

“Rolling its neck, nothing to be worried about sir.”

The man hummed for a moment before his hand came down and lifted her face up.

He’s the man Spider saw early, with the messed up eye.

“Wipe it, recalibrate, we have a bug to catch.”

Her body goes cold as hand begins to push her down, the seats open and lock around her arms.

“Central.”

Her teeth clenched around the teeth guard they shoved in her mouth and the seat leaned back.

“Longshot.”

Her breathing picked up.

The head piece fitted around her head and her body jerked up, electric fire broke through her body.

“Homecoming.”

It hurt so bad. Like someone dumped nails lit by electricity on top of her.

The only way Spider knows she’s even screaming is the pain in her lungs. It's one she knows intimately.

“Fourteen.”

Spider knows what she looks like, she watched her soldier sit through it a thousand times.

She wonders if it’s terrifying.

“Dawn.”

It slips from her almost like water.

“Corasuel.”

340….341…

“Summit.”

….342…346…356…

“Bury.”

…56..7..

“Five.”

…….

“Spider.”

Ready to comply.

That shit kicker kid Lewis is lucky Frank can’t get to him.

Using bombs is a weak fucking move and if you’re going to kill someone you look them in the eye as you do.

Tying a bomb to Curtis of all people was something else entirely.

Lewis believed that Frank would join him, that they believed in the same ideals. No, no he is wrong.

Frank believed in justice. Justice for people who can’t stand up for themselves.

Women, children, men down on their luck.

These criminals will do their crimes over and over; never stopping, never ending. Whatever bullshit Red likes the spew is wrong.

People like Lewis like the violence.

Frank can’t help but hate people like him.

He held his hands up as Lewis walked backwards; holding Karen in a headlock with the bombs remote out.

“Just let her go…you don’t need her..” Frank rumbled, his voice soft and calm. Mostly for Karen’s sake.

She looked terrified, her own hand held out to stop Frank from getting any closer. Her eyes were red rimmed and teary but held a sign of determination.

She’s strong and that’s what he loves about her.

Even though he’s got a bomb to her back, Karen wouldn’t want Lewis dead.

Lewis shot around to the ANVIL people approaching “stay back!”

“He’s wired-!”

“No, stop!”

“Put your weapons down!”

So many people were screaming all at once. Yelling to stand down and keep away. Lewis kept backing up with his back to the elevator.

“I will blow us to hell, do not tempt me!” he cried, jerking Karen with his forearm almost crushing her throat.

He began to step into the elevator, his hand still outstretched with the remote and soon the door closed.

Soon it was only ANVIL.

Meanwhile, the Spider stepped into the lobby of the hotel, three other agents at her side.

“Найди его” Her voice was low and soft “Приведите его ко мне.”

The agents nodded and began to move through the wades of evacuating people, guns raised as they scoured the building.

They know the Spider is not one to be ordered around on missions. She knows her objective and what to do, they are here to follow her lead unless instructed by someone higher than her.

Castle is here, Spider knows he is.

As Spider moved through the lobby, her eyes caught sight of a woman in a red shirt. Locking eyes with her when she stared in very obvious confusion.

Spider followed one of her agents into the stairwell “Я поднимусь, а ты спускайся” He nods and began to move down the stairs while she started up.

Just above them was movement, people in the stairs but not moving up or down them. Just standing and shouting.

“—we want the same thing; these people killed your family right? Your wife, your son, your daughters, What would Peyton say?”

The spider cracks her neck.

“You don’t get to talk about my Peyton-!” Castle huffed a breath, cutting himself off before his step began again.

A bullet hit wood.

And for a moment there’s nothing but silence before a quiet “okay…” and Castle moved up.

As Spider grew closer, her eyes caught the red blouse of the woman in the lobby.

A liability. A witness.

Another to eliminate.

The two began to argue, and Spider couldn’t give less of a shit about whatever lovers spat they’re in; she needs an open shot.

Just as Castle began to go down again, a bullet collided with his head. She could hear the bullet hit his skull but he’s alive, barely grazing him.

Another person?

The spider moved faster.

The woman and the new man began arguing, something about if Castle was going to shoot her.

“—stand down! Or I’ll charge you with obstruction!”

The man, now known as Russo—Spider cracks her neck— says nothing; continuing to aim his gun at the woman.

“Why are you still aiming at me?!”

“I’m trying to save both of your lives!”

“I am a federal agent ordering you to drop your weapon!”

“No need for anyone else to get hurt!” The man Russo calls “we can do this together, bring Rawlins down but we need him alive!”

Castle stepped away from where he had been kneeling to look up at Russo.

She aimed and fired; the gunshot breaking the silence as it collided with the wall behind him just barely missing his shoulder; he got lucky to dodge just before.

Soon all three sets of eyes and two guns were trained on her; hers still raised and continued to fire.

“Drop your weapon-!”

“Drop it-!”

The spider ignored them and began to run up the stairs; shooting a web and yanking down, Russo yelped as his gun was forced from his hand.

“What the hell-!?”

Frank’s eyes tracked the quickly moving girl and began to quickly move backwards.

“Christ, who is that?!” Billy yelled “why is she so fast!?”

“I dunno but she’s after me—!” Frank grunted as the girl rounded the corner, aiming a punch at his face which he swiftly blocked.

“Who does she work for!?” Madani yelled, her weapon still aimed, quickly moving up the stairs.

“Rawlins!” Frank yelled, side lining another shot to his abdomen. He took his elbow and brought it down against her arm but she showed no sign of pain.

“He sent some crazy assassin girl after you?” Bill yelled, moving quicker up the stairs with Madani on his heels.

Frank didn’t get a chance to answer because the girl caught his arm. She’s freakishly strong because she actually manages to throw him over her shoulder and the railing itself by kicking his foot out from underneath him and almost kicking him upwards.

Frank had just enough time to grab the emergency fire hose so he didn’t just die on impact.

She watched him go down and began to climb the railing after him.

“Stop right there!” Madani yelled, her gun trained on the girl who had one leg over the railing.

Slowly the girl lifted her head, black eye makeup covered her eyes as she narrowed them at the two.

She steps back over the railing to stand on her two feet before Billy begins pulling at arm.

“Dinah, this is not a good idea!” He hissed “she’s ninety pounds soaking wet and just threw a grown man over her shoulder like he was nothing! If Rawlins sent her then there’s nothing good involved!”

“We have to stop her” Madani snarls “it’s our job-.”

The girl began to climb the stairs and Billy yanked Madani out the stairwell door, dragging her down the hallway.

“What are you doing!?” Dinah huffed, but continued to follow Billy.

“Let’s lead her away!” Billy counters “she’s after Frank right? Well I bet she’s not one for witnesses!”

The stairwell door slammed open with two new armed men following the girl, one handed an FN 15 to the girl.

It was huge at her chest but she aimed anyway and began to fire, making them both duck behind another hallway.

“Jesus, who are these people!? Where did Rawlins get them!?” Madani demands, to no one who would logically have an answer.

“The guys got pockets so deep they reach the floor” Billy huffs, out of breath as they reach an elevator. Almost falling inside before insistently tapping the button “so Assassins is not a crazy thing for him to have.”

The girl stood at the doors just before they shut and Billy gave a mocking wave.

Spider stared at the two as the elevator doors closed, her eyes narrowed in rage.

That man…

The spider cracks her neck.

“Найди их! Найди их быстро!” Spider hissed to her men who nodded “Устрани их обоих, а я найду Касла.”

The men jogged down the staircase while the Spider threw herself over the railing, landing softly on her feet.

This mission will not fail.

The Spider will bring order to the world and freedom through HYDRA’s means.

That is her purpose.

Karen watched Lewis warily, her shaking hands outstretched as he paced, his fingers fidgeting with the trigger.

“What do we do here, Lewis? What’s the plan?” Karen asked between breaths.

Lewis only mumbled to himself, an old rhyme Karen assumed.

She tried to talk to him, to convince him that no one else needed to get hurt but he only held the trigger out.

Huffing between breaths he began “remember its ruin to run from a fight. So take open order, lie down, and sit tight and wait for support like a soldier. Wait, wait, wait like a soldier.”

He breathed out a laugh “our sergeant used to drill us and I learned it till it was all I could hear. In a fire fight it was the one thing that kept me sane…”

It wasn’t helping much now, Karen mused.

“It’s over, Lewis..” Karen softly admits “you know it is…”

“My letters were supposed to make you understand— why can’t you understand!?” Lewis cried, still holding the trigger “I thought you were different, I thought Frank was different.”

“I’m sorry..” Karen gasped, her breath quick and picking up “I’m sorry, Lewis, please help me…help me understand..”

Lewis ran a hand down his teary face.

“Then we’ll tell everybody else, so they understand too…we just can’t do that if we’re dead” she tried but Lewis shook his head.

“As long as I have you and this bomb..” he breathes “I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t need it” Karen fights “you don’t need to—,”

Her voice is suddenly cut off by the sounds of someone coming down the hall and soon, she’s yanked back against the bomb; Lewis’s arm crushing her throat.

Frank comes stumbling through the door, his head bleeding and he limps just sideways.

“I’m unarmed!”

“I’ll do it-!”

“I’m unarmed, I swear!”

Lewis stopped, his breath heavy in Karen’s ear as he stared at Frank.

“Listen Lewis, shit just got very real, very fast” Frank began “there is another person in the building looking for me, she’s a hired gun.”

Karen gave a look of confusion but Frank only nodded, he was being serious.

A hired gun? Like an assassin? How do you hire an assassin? Honestly, she thought that stuff was fake.

Hiring an assassin is some movie villain bullshit, no one actually hires assassins, right?

“What..?” Lewis breathed, just as confused as Karen.

“She is not afraid to put down witnesses” Frank explained “she’s not scared to take a shot and does not care who is standing in front of her; women, kids, federal agents,” Frank gestured to the bomb “Hell, she’d shoot you just to make the bomb go off; killing three birds with one stone and all that.”

To be honest, Frank was bullshitting here. He didn’t know shit about this girl but if he had to guess she probably would put down witnesses.

He’s trying to scare Lewis, sure the kid is probably shitting bricks without the information of an assassin but this might get him to drop the bomb and let Karen go.

“If you let Karen go and drop the bomb, we can get outta here with our heads intact” Frank says, stepping closer but Lewis shook the trigger.

“Stay back! Stay back…” Lewis cried “you’re fucking lying! Who the fuck hires a gun?!”

Frank stared at the kid before watching his feet.

“You know I think you’re right, Lewis” Frank chuckles “we are the same.”

Lewis said nothing, only staring back at Frank.

“Maybe it’s supposed to be this way, to end it here. You and me, you, me and a bomb” Frank coughs “c’mon! Come on, let's do it! Fuckin’ do it!”

Lewis jerked his arm back, hitting Karen in her throat and making her gasp.

“You told me to pull that white wire with Curtis, that was the right thing, kid” he tried “you can do it again; let her go.”

The kitchen was silent before Frank took another step only to Lewis to demand he stay back.

He jerked Karen back, hitting her shoulder against the wall making her yelp in pain.

“Goddamnit, kid!” Frank hissed “didn’t your father ever tell you to never hurt a woman!?”

That got something “my dad has nothing to do with this!”

Frank watched the kid before huffing out a laugh.

Seriously?

This kid just got his father killed. Maybe not physically but socially. The man with the terrorist son?

He’ll be alone, until he dies, that's what he’ll be known for. His son’s mistakes.

And Lewis is the one to put that on him. He did that. Not anyone else.

“The second you started this made him a part of it” Frank rumbles “one day, sooner rather than later, he’s gonna wake up to his car spray painted terrorist on the side.”

Lewis wrapped the trigger around Karen’s waist.

Slowly she reached down to feel the wires.

The white wire, that’s what Frank said.

“He’s gonna get so much hate and death threats to the point he just gives up!” Frank’s rough voice echoes in Lewis’s ears, his eyes cutting down to Karen’s hands.

“His friends, his family, they will never understand and his phone will never ring— you brought loneliness to your father! He will only suffer!”

Lewis jerked back again, making Karen yell one more and Frank to put a hand out.

“Listen, your father? His life…is ruined…”

His arm wrapped back around Karen and she reached again, feeling one wide but got a shake of Frank’s head.

“You know what that’s like….me and you…”

Another wire, another no.

“We want to pretend we’re doing something for someone. Brothers in arms? That shit is a joke.”

Another wire, another no.

“We live in habit, Lewis, the same thing every day we’re wired for it.”

Another wire and finally a nod, a yes to the ending of this nightmare.

Karen clutched it but didn’t pull it.

“Just women and their bags, after everything the goddamn bag survived, I bet Ms Page can tell you everything she has in that bag, right Ms Page?” Frank raised an eyebrow.

Karen understood so she nodded “yes, I can…”

Slowly but surely, she reached the hand not clutching the wire into her hand bag where her pistol was, her hand coming to unlock the safety and point it down; right where Lewis had his foot.

Frank turned back to Lewis “you’re a creature of habit, Lewis…”

He cut his eyes back to Karen “now Karen!”

Lewis held out his hand and squeezed but nothing happened, his arm squeezing her so tightly that Karen yelled out in pain.

Karen yanked the wire and fired, the bullet ripping through the bag into Lewis’s foot; causing him to scream and almost throw her to the floor.

Frank caught her just in time as Lewis stood there; still clutching the bomb.

It could still go off, Frank still needed careful planning.

Lewis began to sob, clutching the trigger, he could see his dad.

He loved him so much.

He’s so sorry.

“When you're wounded…” Lewis sobbed “and left on Afghanistan’s plains and the women came out to cut up what remains…” he swallowed harshly “just roll your rifle…and blow out your brains…”

Frank stared at Lewis, if he was gonna die he’s gonna die here.

“An’ go to your god…like a soldier…go…”

A spider crawled along the wall.

“….go…”

It stepped out of the vent, just far enough from sight but a clear open view of the kid.

“Go…”

It took aim.

“…..like a soldier…”

Fire.

Lewis’s head exploded as a bullet ripped through him.

The woman screamed and Castle’s head whipped to see her, eyes wide as they locked with her narrowed ones.

Frank grabbed Karen and took off, just as the bullet hit the bomb.

It knocked the both to the floor. Ears ringing as they laid among the debris, Frank brought his hand around to cup her head.

“Are you okay..?” Frank whispered and got a nod.

Then, a red laser cut through the air and Frank grabbed Karen, pulling up her wrist and pushing her down behind a wall.

He held a finger to his mouth when she tried to speak, to ask what was happening.

“She can hear us…”

It was a conclusion that Frank had come up with after falling like seven stories.

They were in the stairwell for a good thirty minutes but the girl had known they were there; she had shot from seven stories down.

The only explanation is that she could hear them all the way down there.

And if she could hear them seven stories down then she could definitely hear them now.

The laser moved over their head and Frank moved them, darting across the room using the dust as cover.

But then the laser was gone and footsteps moved quickly out with the far door opening and slamming shut, fast and far away from them.

A few moments of just silence goes by before Karen stands.

“She’s gone…” Karen breathed before turning to the door “there’s cops outside, Frank, what do we do?”

It ends with a gun to her throat.

Her idea, Karen knows they’ll never let Frank leave so if there is a hostage then he can get out.

It ends in an elevator, a silent moment forehead pressed against each other before he’s gone.

And so is that girl.

Karen’s mind races back to her, she caught only a glimpse but she seemed young.

A tiny thing compared to her weapons, she’s young, too young to be doing whatever it is she’s doing.

Karen hopes she can find some sort of help.

“Hey, uh, I did a little more research into Arachne…”

David was sitting on their currently shared toilet, sewing Frank’s arm together.

“Was going around some old forums, and..” he ripped the string with his teeth “I think I got a name? For our mystery girl?”

“Oh yeah?” Frank mumbled, needle between his teeth.

“Yeah, in the intelligence community there was a ghost story about an assassin named The Winter Soldier? Well, apparently he’s got a side kick named The Winter Spider.”

“Arachne” Frank says, mostly to himself but David nodded in agreement.

“Yep” he rips another thread “a soldier who’s faster, stronger, smarter than any other agent. The Spider, as they call them, is credited with twenty dozen assassination’s in the last two years alone.”

David drops the needle in the sink, and turns it on; the water turns pink as it runs down the sink.

“And you think this is our mystery girl?” Frank asks, standing even with the pain in his joints.

“Yes, we have the Arachne files with Rawlins’ code name inside and now we have stories of an assassin literally called The Spider? Yeah if I had to guess” David chuckles “they’re a little on the nose about it.”

David sighs and flicks his hands into the sink “I just wish I knew why they call her that.”

Frank pulled his shirt over his head, grunting a bit in pain as he did so.

“Well, her hearing’s the shit” he grunts, his shoulder was screaming at him as he tried to tie his boot laces “her sight is good too, she can shoot extreme distances. She’s extremely fast, and ran up seven flights of stairs in under a minute.”

“And she was able to stay atop of our moving van” David supplies “either she has amazing core strength or—,”

“She stuck to it” Frank finishes, making David look at him in confusion and he sighs.

“When she fell from the van she fell chest first, but she stuck her hand onto the ground; instead of dragging across the road like she should have, her hand stayed in one place and her body flipped,” Frank explained.

He moved out of the bathroom and back into their shared living space to pour a well deserved coffee.

“So she’s fast, strong, she can stick to things, shoot webbing?”

“Think about it; spiders are fast, they stick and crawl up walls, it takes a couple hits before they actually die, they make webs” Frank recites “they turned her into a literal spider.”

David shuddered, “That's…horrific.”

He sat down in his chair and began to dig through files before pulling one out and handing it to Frank.

“This is everything we have on Arachne” David admits “it’s everything I’ve managed to unredact.”

Frank flipped through the file and began to read

“‘ 4/16/2015 Parker has shown the ability to survive the bite, alive but unstable; high temperatures, high blood pressure with reads of 190/120, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms, tachypnea, and seizure activity. She is currently on a ventilator after a four minute grand mal seizure—,’ Jesus what the fuck…”

David nods, a grim look on his face “yeah, that’s fucking terrible, it’s a human rights violation for sure. Shit, not even Guantanamo Bay would do this shit!” He ends it with a depressing laugh “go back a page.”

Frank flipped the page and began to read once again.

“‘ 4/12/2015; Subject is fourteen years old, GSW to the right temple but otherwise healthy. The subject supplier is Agent Orange who reassured us that the subject had no family or anyone who would otherwise look for them.’ What in the fuck” Frank finished

David nods once more, taking the file that was then pushed to him. He could feel the anger in the wave that came from Frank.

 “‘ 4/25/2015; the Spider has survived its transformation and is now in the transition phase into its training. The abilities include; advanced healing, adhesive climbing, heightened hearing and sight, its body can create an organic webbing like substance from its wrists, it also has a sixth sense ability that warns them of incoming danger.

It will surpass even the Winter Soldier.’”

Frank throws his chair and stomps off.

A little girl. The same age as Peyton when she died. They subjected a little girl to those inhumane things, turned into some machine only meant for killing.

He needs to get with Madani and Bill, they’re in danger now with the Spider. If she can find him with limited information then she can definitely find them.

But first, he needs a new vest.

Smack!

The hand collided with her face so hard it knocked her face to the left but even as the stinging set in Spider says nothing.

She doesn’t cry or demand what it was for or even show that her face hurts.

The man’s huffing breath is hot against her face.

“You can’t kill one person!?” He screams at her “one person, that’s your struggle!?”

This mission makes her head hurt, she doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. Her neck hurts from how much she’s been rolling it, emptying her head of the conflicting weight.

That man, Castle, his face hurts to look at. Like her nerve endings stand on a constant edge and her head hurts like looking at the sun too long.

She knows him.

Knows him like she knows her Soldier— what’s his name? She knows her Soldier’s name— but can’t place his face.

Everytime Spider looks at him, her vision blurs and shakes and she’s terrified.

She’s never missed before, because of her sight it gives her an advantage over her enemies but Castle?

Staring at that man from seven stories down, her vision blurred and her throat tightened.

Something is wrong with the Spider.

The man continues to yell at her, spitting right in her face but Spider does nothing.

This isn’t some goon she can put on their ass; this man is like Director Pierce.

“I knew him…” her voice is horse, and her English is very slightly accented with her years spent in deep Russia “his face…”

Smack!

Her head slams to the right.

The man continues to huff, his finger now pointed right in her face “he…” the man whispered “is nothing, just as you are nothing. He’s an old weapon with no use and, like the dog he is, he must be put down.”

You don’t have to take this.

Her eyes burned.

You can end it here.

The spider's throat began to tighten.

Kill him.

“Oh…” the man cooed, his voice only mocking her with an overextended pout “are you gonna cry? Is that your plan? Cry like a little girl?”

Isn’t she? A little girl?

No, no she’s a weapon. Better than The Black Widow, better than The Winter Soldier.

“Get it done…” he whispered once more, finally stepping out of her space “and stop that crying! It’s unprofessional.”

He reached over his desk and grabbed a file, smacking it into her chest and forcing her to hold it.

“Castle is working with David Liebermann, a spook we thought was dead, I want his family; do you understand?” 

She nods.

He stomped from the office they stood in, Spider still standing in the middle of room; her head ducked in submission, silent tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared at her boots.

The Spider didn’t know she was capable of crying anymore.

After so much training she thought that had been beaten out of her.

Castle….he’s doing something to her.

She needs to get rid of him and fast.

The Spider abducts the Liebermanns.

Frank rewatched the footage backwards as Sarah answered the door, a police man stepped inside and attacked the family.

Sarah managed to get a knife from the kitchen but The Spider stepped through the back; gun to Zach’s head.

David let out a wounded sound as Zach cried, gun held under his chin; the girl just as emotionless as ever.

Leo managed to escape the girl and her goons, thank god, but now they have to find Leo before that girl does and Rawlins is on his way.

“Leo? Honey?”

“Pete, they took Mom and Zach…” Leo’s soft voice sobbed “I dunno what to do!”

“Yeah, I know what they did. Did that girl see you? The one who had Zach?”

Leo had a shuddering breath, but he had to know. The Spider was dangerous, capable of finding anyone; hell if she was close enough she could find Leo by her hearing alone.

“Yeah…she did, but she let me go.”

What?

“Huh?” David whispered, eyes going wide.

“What, sweetheart?”

“She—she came through my window, when mom was talking to that man. She looked right at me, Pete, she grabbed me” Leo began to cry again “but she didn’t take me, not like Zach and Mom. She stuck me in a closet; and put her finger over her mouth.”

So The Spider spared Leo? Why Leo?

Thinking back now, the Spider could have killed them all; Frank, Billy, Dinah but she didn’t. Why? For how she was trained she was probably told to not take hostages or witnesses.

“She probably got away with hiding Leo” Frank muttered as the phone call ended “but she had to take Zach.”

“Why!?” David demanded “why spare Leo?”

“Even terrible people have their moral lines.”

It was decided that David would go get Leo and go to Madani and Billy while Frank stayed to deal with Rawlins.

This was ending, finally after years of pain and suffering, it was ending.

The Spider didn’t show when the men stormed their base which meant she was probably with Sarah and Zach.

The man was huffing in pain as Frank pointed a gun at his head “where’s the Spider?”

“I don’t know!” The man wails “it—it didn’t come with us!”

“It?”

“Yeah, that’s what they called it; not by name or anything but I assume it’s female!”

The more Frank learns about this girl, the more angry he gets.

He gets a bullet to the knee.

“She is a girl, and I want to know where she is,” Frank demands, adding another bullet into the wailing man.

“I don’t know!” The man cried “Rawlins! Rawlins, he-he keeps her under lock and key, I dunno where she stays when not on missions, I dunno her name, okay?! I don't even know what she looks like! She always has this muzzle thing on!”

“And the woman? The kid? Where are they?”

“I don’t know! They don’t tell us shit! I just followed what she told us!”

His head smacked against the concrete with the force of the bullet.

The night ends in a Homeland office, Frank and Billy retelling their mission and actions in Kandahar. A mission funded by heroin smuggling in the Middle East.

“And who was the young woman who attacked us at the hotel? You said she was with Rawlins.”

“The Winter Spider” Frank supplied “from what I can gather, after the mission in Kandahar; Rawlins owed a man named Alexander Pierce a favor—,”

“Wait, Alexander Pierce?” Dinah stopped, her eyes growing wide “like that dirty senator who ended up being a terrorist?”

“Yeah” Frank nods, “well, Rawlins owed him a favor and he repaid it by—,” he turned to look directly into the camera. “Willingly and knowingly handing a teenage girl over for human experimentation and trafficking.”

Dinah’s mouth dropped open.

She stuttered to say something but nothing could come out so Frank continued.

“It was called Project Arachne. In the documents we found, Rawlins used the same code name as Kandahar; Agent Orange. He was described as “supplier of subject” in the project. From our understanding is that the girl was placed under extreme experiments that gave her the abilities of a spider. 

It’s why she was so strong, so fast, it’s how she was able to find us in the stairwell; her hearing and sight is amplified which makes her an excellent shot. That white string? Webbing. She can stick to things like cars and walls and god knows what else.”

Dinah was stunned, her eyes wide as she stared down Castle before very slowly placing her hands onto the table and leaning in.

“Are you saying that Rawlins willingly and knowingly participated in human trafficking and had connections to the terrorist organization known as HYDRA?” She whispered and Frank shrugged.

“If that’s what they’re called” he chuckled “I never got that far, those files, Madani? I’ve done some horrible things but what they did to that girl? Kandahar has nothing on it.”

“Do you know who she is? Her name?”

Frank shook her head “no, no, her name was basically scrubbed from any database that had anything on Arachne. They called her Spider or Parker sometimes.”

Madani repeats the name, her hand covering her mouth.

“Could that be her real name?”

Frank shook his head again “doubt it, if her first name is scrubbed why would they keep her last? It’s probably just the name they used as a place holder” then he snapped his fingers as if remembering something.

“There was mention of a Dr Parker in the files, he was head of the whole thing. So what if they just gave her his name?”

“And when HYDRA fell…” Madani began “they gave her over to Rawlins.”

“Look…” Frank sighed “she is dangerous but she is not in control of her actions, it’s all Rawlins or Hydra or whoever you wanna blame but that girl?”

He waved his hand “she’s nothing but another victim in all this and Rawlins. Is. Behind. It.”

Madani shook her head “if she had Hydra training then she’s not just an assassin, Frank, she’s a spy. Who knows how many pies she has her fingers in.”

The plan came down to this; David and Frank were going to wear wires as they met to get Sarah and Zach Liebermann back; Dinah is on standby with Homeland and Billy is on sniper.

A red van pulled up and masked men yanked Sarah and Zach out, on their backs were gas cans.

The Spider followed them out, knife in hand.

She roughly grabbed Sarah’s shoulder and stabbed the can; doing the same to Zach so the gas would leak out.

She sheathed her knife and lifted her lit zippo lighter.

Even as she stood next to Sarah, the older woman still stood taller than her. That’s how small she was.

“Oh god…” David moaned from behind him, his hand covering his mouth.

“It’s for show, David" Frank reassured “she hasn’t killed anyone yet, remember? This is Rawlins. Remember what they did to her, this is him.”

A man handed a phone to the girl and Frank’s own began to ring.

“Hello?”

“Castle?”

It’s almost jarring to hear the girl's voice for the first time, it’s American but slightly accented; Russian maybe?

It’s soft, almost quiet and a bit muffled from, what Frank now knows, her muzzle.

A goddamn muzzle. They stuck a muzzle on a little girl.

But the voice hits something inside of him, deep inside like he should remember it but just can’t seem to place it.

“This is he, nice to finally meet you.”

“You and Liebermann are to get into the van, anything else and the two go up.”

She’s very blunt, straight to the point.

“What do I call you? I mean, I’ve been calling you ‘the girl’ and ‘the spider’, hell some have called you Parker but what do you want me to call you?”

The line goes silent and if it wasn’t for the fact Frank could see her, he might’ve thought she had hung up but in a very small, very quiet voice she said;

“….Penny. You can call me Penny.”

“Penny Parker, huh?” He chuckles, “That's your real name?”

“No.”

BEEP BEEP BEEP—

Frank pockets his phone and begins to walk.

Zach and Sarah were getting closer now, so close that Sarah was able to pull on David’s arm; begging and pleading his name but David continued on.

Police sirens sounded in the air as Homeland arrived and the shoot out began.

The spider, or Penny, threw the lighter and climbed into the van. The last thing Frank heard was David yelling and Sarah’s screaming.

Then everything goes black.

Their song was playing.

Her hands were warm against his chest and she’s so beautiful.

Her white gown twirling as he spinned her, his face close to hers as they shared this moment. She smelt like raspberries.

He could hear giggling. Peyton. She was six months when they got married, he can’t see her; he can only assume she’s with his mom.

His hand was flat against her back as his face came to rest in the crook of her neck.

God, he loves her, loves his girls.

He never wants this to end—

Frank comes up with a cough, Jesus that smelt awful.

He looked down at the zip ties that held him down and to the room he was being held in. The basement, the computers, everything.

Penny stood in front of him.

“Hello.”

“…hi.”

Silence grew between them. A woman sat at their computers, typing away at the desk.

“Sorry about the place. I know it isn’t the best but I thought it looked better with Rawlins men scattered about” Frank chuckled, Penny did not.

In fact, she continued to say nothing. Instead taking a seat on an overturned bucket.

“This isn’t on you, Penny” Frank started “I read those files about you, what did they do? Huh? What did they do to you?”

She didn’t respond, simply watching him, the muzzle still fixed on her face.

“Those experiments, the things they did, it was evil” Frank whispered “you’re a little girl, trafficked and sold over country lines, that’s not your fault.”

Penny rolled her neck, the bones cracking under the pressure.

“The fever, the high blood pressure, the—the seizures, all that pain” Frank continued “why, so they could turn a little girl into a one man death squad?”

“She won’t say anything to you” a new voice echoed through the basement.

William J Rawlins stepped inside and Penny stood; suddenly standing at attention.

“I was wondering when you’d show up!” Frank says loudly, not taking his eyes off the now stiff Penny.

Rawlins stepped out in front of him, Penny moving behind him “yeah, you come out here to order around a little girl, huh? You a tough man, right? Like making machines outta little girls?”

Rawlins pulled on gloves.

“You trust this piece of shit, Pen?”

She flinched, just slightly but Frank caught it anyway. He’s getting to her, breaking down that icy resolve.

She’s in there, whoever she is.

“How about The Winter Soldier? You think the Winter Soldier trusted him?”

Penny shot up then, her gun pulled and aimed at his head. Yeah, he’s getting there.

From her files, Penny was trained under this ghost story so, and it was a bit of a reach, it’s possible she grew close to him.

And he was right.

Rawlins placed a hand on her wrist and pushed it down “no, not yet” he said calmly before turning to Frank “what benefits me benefits her” was all he said but Frank scoffs.

“Benefits her? What does she get? More pain? More suffering? Some Russian bunker so they can run experiments on her?” Frank rants.

Rawlins says nothing as he continues to fiddle with his gloves.

“You like beating on little girls, Rawlins?” He taunts “can’t take a man in a fight so you beat up girls half your size? Makes you feel tough with your stupid fucking gloves?”

“These…” he began “are special, made just for you.”

His hand collided with Frank’s face.

Frank turned and spit blood, his chest heaving. His eyes caught Penny who had fallen back into attention.

Rawlins threw another punch, then another till Frank spit teeth instead of blood.

Rawlins was seething but Frank could only laugh “you hit like a bitch, Rawlins..” he spat around blood “Penny hit me harder than that.”

“Penny? Is that what you call her?” Rawlins huffed.

“It’s what she told me.”

Rawlins turned to her before stomping over “hey wait-!”

His gloved hand found Penny’s pinned up hair and yanked, her eyes gleaming with pain as she’s suddenly brought to her knees.

“Are you selling secrets now?” Rawlins demanded, and Penny frantically shook her head.

“Let her go!” Frank roared, trying to break the zip ties.

Why isn’t she fighting back? Penny threw him over her shoulder like Frank weighed nothing, she could lay Rawlins out on his ass.

Rawlins punched her cheek and she fell properly when he let go of her hair, sitting on her knees with her hands braced on the ground; coughing around her muzzle.

“Let her go! Stop it-!” A punch to his nose lands him with Maria again.

Another brings him back.

They just keep coming, and coming, and coming and Frank can hear Penny still coughing on the floor but it no longer sounds muffled like that horrible muzzle is gone.

Then that darkness started and finally encapsulates everything.

He came back to a rag being rubbed down his face.

His eyes crack open to find Penny, wet rag in her hand while she gently cleans his face off— well as gently as she can; Frank doesn’t think she understands gentleness so it is still pretty painful.

Her muzzle is back which means he can’t see her face. There’s a bruise from where Rawlins had punched her, peaking out.

Her muzzle was off before but her face was down, he couldn’t see her.

Who are you, little girl? What did they do to you?

He sees Peyton in her. Her face is often being replaced by his eldest.

Frank couldn’t protect Maria, or his kids, or David, or Gunner but he can fight for Penny. Get revenge for her, for everyone he’s wronged.

“I’m ready…” Frank whispered, knowing Penny’s heightened hearing picked it up and her hand stopped 

“I’m ready, Penny, I’ll tell you” their eyes lock and being this close made him truly see her brown eyes, another thing Peyton shared “just make my death swift? Promise me?”

For a moment she does nothing, as if the question startled her but then she nods, a tiny thing but a nod none the less.

Penny stands and gives a whistle which makes two men join her side, she gives a command in Russian and soon, they’re picking up his chair.

“Move” Penny demands to the girl sitting at the desk, she rushes out so Frank can take her place.

Huh, Penny really does scare the shit outta people.

“What’s happening!?” Rawlins comes marching back in, making Penny turn to him.

“Agreement” is all she says before turning back to Frank, kneeling at his side to cut his right hand off the chair.

“I found your gun, Castle” she whispers “no funny business, please.”

Frank nods and types the passcode in; the computer blinking green before leaning in and letting his eye scan.

“That’s it…”

And the computers click on, downloading everything.

“It’s done..”

And if Penny heard the knife being quietly pulled from under Castle’s chair and she took a few steps back?

That’s not her problem.

Rawlins placed his hands on Castle’s shoulders “you know I’m actually a little disappointed in you, Castle…”

Then, with a roar, Frank slammed the knife into Rawlin’s chest.

And Penny did nothing.

Frank reached up and pulled him down, burying his teeth into his neck as he stared at Penny who just watched.

They both fell, Frank’s teeth still buried deep until something hit his back and pulled him off the man.

Rawlins stood, smacking Penny’s hand away as she tried to help him up. Enraged, he kicked Frank in the face; returning him to Maria.

“Hey sleepyhead…”

Frank jerked away, Maria flinching back with a smile as he ran a hand down his face.

“Hey..what time is it?”

“10:30” Maria giggled, and Frank swore “you needed the sleep. Got plenty of time now that you’re home.”

“Where are the babies?” He asked, his voice rough with sleep.

“Bothering Peyton,” Maria smiled, “she’s trying to keep them away so you can sleep.”

“Aw, poor girl..”Frank chuckled and soon silence fell between them before Maria sighed once again.

“This is always the hardest part, you’re here but not really. More and more of you stay there” she began to cry “where’s home?”

“Stop it…” Frank said quietly.

“Is it here or is it there? I wanna hear you say it.”

Frank stares at her for a long moment, his hand coming to take hers. Is it here? With Peyton and Frankie and Lisa? Or with the men he shared showers with?

“It’s here. It's with you, always. You know that.”

“I don’t know that..”

“Look..”Frank put his hands on her shoulders “let’s hit the park today, painted ponies, bad food, you know?”

“Yeah” she chuckles

“I’m not….” Frank began after another moment of silence “I’m not going back, I can’t. I’m gonna stay here, I’m done, yeah.”

She begins to cry.

“I’m gonna stay with you, I’m gonna stay home” Frank presses a kiss to her forehead.

“Dad? Are you up?”

That voice…Penny? It sounds like her but why is she here? That little Russian tilt is gone…

“Dad, come on!”

Then Peyton stands in his door.

The woman typed quickly into the computer, the Spider— Penny?— standing over her “we were never getting in here without the code, I’m kinda impressed; I’d like to meet him.”

“He’s dead” Spider said plainly “so will you if I discover you spoke to anyone about this.”

“And I’m destroying it all” the woman replied, pained grunts filled the air.

Spider moved back to where Rawlins was yelling at Castle; something about his country needed him and that Castle ruined everything for him.

“Did they take your pension…away?” Castle spat but got a punch to the ribs for the comment.

“You are nothing but a grunt!” Rawlins screamed “you will not be the one who takes me down!”

Castle locked eyes with Spider, and oddly enough, recognition found his face; not the I-know-you kind but like Castle was finally seeing someone he hasn’t.

Like Spider was someone new.

“You are gonna beg!”

“Blood loss makes you weak!”

“You will know pain and you will know fear!”

And on and on he continues, mocking and taunting the dying man.

Somehow, somehow he manages a sentence “Is she…is she…”

“Is she what!?” Rawlins already knew who he was talking about.

“Peyton..?”

Her neck cracks and her mind goes blank.

Frank stared up at Rawlins who began to laugh and that was confirmation enough.

“You know…” Rawlins sighed, a manic smile on his face “she’s just like you, Castle, way to fucking stubborn to die!”

He marches over and almost ripped the muzzle from Penny’s blank face and his Peyton stared back.

It’s her.

Really, truly her.

After months of staring at pictures of her it’s like she’s jumped right out.

There’s a bruise on her cheek from Rawlins, her nose was bloody too but it’s her.

It’s her.

Oh god, those files, Arachne, that girl, it was her. The whole time; it was Peyton.

—on a ventilator for a four minute Grand Mal seizure—

—training under the winter soldier—

“Seven days after the attack on your family.”

“You know, when I got my hands on her…I really thought she would just die, the four others before her did” Rawlins rambled “but she persevered and I handed her over to Pierce. She became something that not even I can understand!”

“What….” Frank gasped, tears finally falling “what did you do to her!?”

“They wiped her clean, Castle” Rawlins laughed “you, your family, her life, her name, all of it is gone. She is nothing more than a walking corpse designed only to kill.”

He turned and punched her across the face but unlike last time she did nothing, even as her face whipped to the side she only brought it back to where she stood.

“I’m gonna kill you!” Frank roared, “I’m gonna kill you, do you understand me! I’m gonna make it long, and painful and you will suffer!”

Fuck guns, fuck knives, bombs, all that shit is out the window.

No, no when he gets his hands on Rawlins Frank is using toothpicks.

He sold his daughter, his baby, his little girl to a mad man. He allowed people to experiment on his baby, send her into a medically induced coma, forced her body to change and crack under pressure.

He’ll get her to remember.

The zip ties had a tear.

Peyton.

She must have nicked one when she cleaned his face.

Rawlins came stomping back over and yanking his hair “wake up, Castle, you owe me an eye.”

“It’s time, Frank, let’s go home.”

Maria held out her hand, letting Frank grasp it.

Rawlins held the knife over his eye, a manic look in his face “you’re a dead man, you just don’t know it yet.”

The zip ties ripped.

Their hands slipped away.

“I can’t, I have to help Peyton.”

“Save our baby, Frank.”

I will.

I’ll chase her to the end of the world until she’s home again.

Frank lifted his arm and blocked Rawlins' raised one, knocking him clean off his feet.

Peyton stared unblinking at the man before reaching down and fixing her muzzle back over her mouth.

It’s me, Peyton. It’s Daddy.

I’m home.

Don’t you remember me, my baby?

Frank stood, towering over Rawlins. A punch landed in his gut but he didn’t care. He grabbed Rawlins by the neck and threw him onto the concrete.

He picked up the knife Rawlins had tossed when he fell.

Peyton walked up the steps, grabbed her gun from the table and watched. Her finger firmly on the trigger.

Frank sat over the screaming man “you’re wrong” he growled, raising the knife and stabbing it right into Rawlin’s side.

He tried to bring his hand up but Frank held him down, slamming the knife over and over into his chest as he choked on his own blood.

“I’m a reminder.”

He twists the knife.

Frank tosses the knife and lands blow after blow, even when his hands bleed and crack. He does not stop.

This is for Maria, for Frankie and Lisa but more importantly.

“This…” Frank snarled “is for Peyton!”

It’s not about Kandahar, or Kentucky, or the Liebermanns, no, it’s about her. Just her.

This is for you, baby. My apology to you, for not trying hard enough, for not believing in you.

That doctor said he falsified records, I didn’t think he meant you too.

I’ll give you an eye, a tongue, his heart, his head, whatever will make you happy. Whatever will bring you back to me.

Spider stared at the bloody mess of the floor before turning and walking out the door.

Her head hurt.

For her troubles she received a bullet to the arm as the authorities pulled up. She managed to get out with only a bum arm.

“Peyton! Peyton, look,  it's Daddy!”

Whose Peyton?

She needs a drink, or a mind wipe. Maybe both.

Frank stared at the money in hand, it was a ton, more than likely stolen by David when hunting down rich, dirty, assholes.

Enough to make it out of the city and never look back.

“If you had money like this, why did we live in that shithole?” He grouched and David smiled and nodded.

“Use it, escape” He says instead “get out while you have the chance.”

Peyton’s face stared back.

“I gotta finish this, David…” Frank whispered.

He had to, Rawlins is dead now there’s only these Hydra people who have Peyton. This won’t end until Peyton is back.

Frank hasn’t said anything about Peyton. Not to David, or Billy, or Madani. Nobody.

They’d want to be involved, to try and help but this is something Frank has to do on his own. He’s gotten under her skin, she won’t kill him but he can’t promise she won’t kill anyone else.

“David…” Frank started “if I tell you this…I need your word you won’t tell anyone else.”

“What are we, twelve year old girls?” David chuckles “you know you can trust me.”

He simply stared at his feet, not bothering to say anything.

He wants her, to hold her, to love her, to kiss her head and tell her that everything will be alright. That no one will hurt her ever again.

Because Dad’s home, and he’s here to protect her, to fight for her.

Frank will never stop fighting for his baby.

“The Spider….” Frank began, suddenly choking up “Rawlins, uh, when he was hitting me I passed out. I saw Maria…”

“Aw, Frank…”

“Let me—,” Frank interrupts. “Let me finish. It was the last time I saw my wife but someone else was there, my eldest; Peyton but her voice, I hadn’t heard it for so long I guess I forgot what she sounded like…”

“Frank…” David frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“The Spider, she’s American but her voice had a Russian tilt to it and when she came to me? Peyton? I didn’t think it was her, I thought it was the spider until she stood in front of me.”

David shook his head “it was just a dream, man, you were delirious and in pain. You just  mixed them up—.”

“No, no that’s not it” Frank sucked in a breath “I asked him.”

“Who?” The question is quiet.

“Rawlins!” The admission came with a sob “I asked him, if-if that girl was Peyton” he took another shuddering breath.

He finally looked up at David “it was her, David, my baby girl. It’s her.”

But his friend only shook his head “Frank, that’s not possible…”

“He bragged about it, how he gave her to Pierce because he wanted her to die, what they did to her” Frank choked out “how she was too stubborn to die— I saw her face, David!”

David’s face began to grow in horror, and Frank nodded “oh my god…”

“I saw her face…” he repeats “Rawlins, he said they did something to her; to make her forget. Everything before two years ago is gone…”

But David shook his head frantically “no, no that’s not true. If it was, she would have just killed you but she didn’t. Something stopped her.”

“Maybe…” Frank stood then “but I have to find her.”

David nodded “of course, I’ll help in anyway—,” Frank shook his head.

“No, I can’t ask you to do that” Frank says “stay with your family.”

Frank picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder “I gotta go save the rest of mine.”

The deal with Madani was that Frank was meant to leave the city and if she should see Frank again after he leaves she will kill him.

But he can’t leave, not yet. Not until Peyton is safe.

“So, you think Peyton is not dead and is this assassin out to kill you?”

Curtis placed the coffee mug in front of Frank, and another in front of Billy, who sat with his head in his hands.

Peyton was close with her Uncle Billy, she was seven when he started coming around and had latched on like a little koala bear.

He loved her, he taught her to skateboard when he was at their house and they watched Star Wars together.

“I don’t think, I know” Frank counters “I saw her face, it was Peyton.”

“That doctor did say he falsified records, in the trial?” Billy said quietly, making the two look at him “it’s more than likely Rawlins had him falsify Peyton’s.”

Billy stood, pacing the floor. He had read the files Frank had brought with him. Sure they tortured a few Afghans in their time but this is shit was horrible, something Billy wouldn’t wish on anyone; much less his fourteen year old niece.

Curtis refused to read it, all the medical mumbo jumbo made no sense to them but they understood it was bad.

Curtis? He’d understand and he didn’t want to.

Billy could remember that girl from the hotel, shooting that stuff that yanked his gun from his hands, throwing Frank over her shoulder, running so fast that Billy barely saw her.

That was Peyton? The sweet, funny girl who liked it when Billy would ride the carousel with them even if it made him sick?

She always thought that was funny; an army man getting sick on a carousel.

Curtis lifted the mug of coffee to him once more only for the window to shatter and a bullet break the mug.

All three men dove, all taking cover away from the windows.

“Shit!” Billy cried, clutching his hand that now had glass embedded inside, he ducked directly under the window with Curtis falling behind the counter and Frank diving to the right wall out of the shooter's range.

Billy pulled his knife, one he always tried to keep on him, and held it up to the window only to get a shot to the window sill.

Maybe he should admit defeat? Dying by Peyton’s hand doesn’t sound too bad.

“Fuck, it’s her” Frank grunts, still in pain from his very recent torture session as he pushed up against the wall.

“This is her!?” Billy yelled, sounding stunned.

“Yeah! She’s an amazing shot!” Bragging about his daughter even now, some shit never changes.

“We can tell!” Curtis shouts from behind the counter.

“Everyone’s good?” Frank called “no one is hit?”

He gets two sounds of agreement, no one was hit. Then Frank’s phone began to ring.

“Wanna take a guess on who that is?” Billy snarked and Frank threw a fallen fork at him “ow.” He lifted the phone to his ear.

“Castle.”

“Peyton.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“It’s you, that’s your name. You can end this, no one else needs to get hurt.”

“I will, when you and all my witnesses are dead. I will not return to failure.”

Frank’s hand tightened around the phone “you aren’t going back there, baby. I won’t let you.”

“You don’t get to decide that, Castle.”

He sucked in a breath “I’m not leaving without you, Peyton, I’ll never let you go. Just let Uncle Curtis and Uncle Billy leave, and it’ll be me and you, that’s it.”

Then, Peyton gave out a dry giggle that shot needles into his heart “I’m no stranger to the waiting game, Castle. I’ve pulled out my own hair, my own teeth, I’ve eaten only moldy bread and drank only dirty water for weeks straight because I’m patient in getting what I want.”

Frank couldn’t help the tears that ran tracks down his face.

He wants to throw the phone, to march out there and gather her up in his arms like he did when she was small.

When he held her in the rocking chair of her nursery and read her “love you forever” and cried the entire night.

I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living; my baby you’ll be.

That will never change, even if she never remembers him or the life she had before or all the moments they shared and memories they made, it will be okay.

Because he’s there to remember her, because she’s alive.

As long as you’re living; your Daddy I’ll be.

“It doesn’t always have to be that way, Peyton—,”

“Stop calling me that, I don’t know who that is!”

“Come on, sweetheart, let’s finish it, just you and me.”

The line goes silent before a very quiet “okay” comes through “I’ll trust you.”

“You just gotta put your rifle down, eject the magazine and the bullet.”

The line goes quiet again except for the sound of the mag being ejected and a bullet hitting the concrete.

Then Frank stood, despite the rapid callings of his friends and stood directly at the window.

“Carousel, midnight. I don't know what it means but it’s pissing me off.”

Then the line went dead.

Round and round they go, Peyton and Lisa waving back at their parents.

“They’re gonna be too old for this” Maria mused but Frank shook his head “Nah, look, Peyton’s having fun!”

They came around again and her smiling face came by.

Maria laughed, “That's because she likes seeing Lisa happy. They’re growing up fast.”

“Yeah, Peyton is almost a freshman now, she told me she got into a fancy school in midtown for science” Frank boasts proudly.

“Oh yeah” Maria agreed “she’s super excited.”

“Yo! Yo!” Billy’s voice echoed behind them which had them turning to see him and Frankie holding their food, Billy lightly shoving Frankie “c’mon! Before it gets cold!”

“Look at these two” Maria mused and Frank nodded “two peas in a pod.”

They shared a kiss and the Carousel slowed, allowing their daughters off, Maria taking Peyton’s hand while Frank had his arm around Lisa.

“We should get a real horse!” Lisa says but Peyton shook her head.

“No way, you can’t get a horse till I get my Leica Microsystems microscope” Peyton argued “that has way more uses than a horse.”

“It’s ‘cause you're a nerd” Lisa stuck her tongue out while Frank laughed.

“I’m just saying, little Frank, your dad has a very small imagination” Billy teased “your dad he’s a good guy but he could’ve named you something different.”

They all came around the table, Billy bringing a hand up to ruffle Peyton’s hair as she sat next to him.

“You hear Uncle Billy, Dad?”

“It’s very hard to not hear your uncle Billy, Kid, he talks very loud and very often.”

The table was full of laughter and jokes, poking fun at one another.

It was supposed to stay that way, why did it have to end?

There’s giggling in the back, two teenagers; older than her. Kissing in the back of the shop.

They didn’t even notice her.

“Excuse me?” The two looked up and found a gun pointed right at them.

“I’ll need your help with something.”

Getting them tied to the carousel was an easy task, even if both were screaming and crying. Spider had hit them both with the butt of her gun and used her webbing to tie their hands to the poles.

Their mouths were covered in webbing too, muffling their sobs.

Then she kicked it on.

Frank watched the carousel sing and go around and round.

Jesus , his nightmares come to life, again.

As he moves closer and closer, he can see the two tied to the carousel, screaming and sobbing in fear as they go in circles.

Would Peyton really take hostages?

Then his phone rang.

“Peyton?”

“They’re bleeding out, Castle, better get here quick.”

“Let them go, it’s you and me, they’ve got nothing to do with this.”

“I don’t care.”

“You spared Leo, you can spare them.”

The line dies and Frank stalks off, he’s not here to kill her, he’ll take this nice and slow.

As he walked through the gate, Peyton stood; gun raised and muzzle gone and he could properly see her face.

It’s almost like she never aged. Her face is still perfectly preserved from the photos and memories of her.

That bruise is gone so the super healing is true.

If anything, she looked confused, and scared.

“Peyton” Frank said loudly “you don’t have to do this.”

“Stop calling me that” her voice is rough and she’s not really using her left arm “you don’t understand.”

“I do, trust me, I do” he’s getting closer, his hands raised “it’s me, baby, it’s Dad.”

She rolls her neck with a grimace before firing.

Frank dove under the bullet fire, not daring to let one go himself in case he really did hit her.

One of her bullets hit him in his upper thigh, and he had to be quick to make a bind to stop the bleeding.

Her bullets continued to rain as she shot closer until that fatal click of an empty mag, Peyton pulled her knife.

He got up on one knee only to be kicked from behind and landing right on his chest. If he didn’t have his vest on then his back might’ve broken from the sheer force.

She dove with her knife but Frank managed to grab and twist her arm only for her to drop it into her other hand and slice his side, making him hiss in pain.

Frank managed to pull his good leg up, and stuck it firmly against her middle and kicked; knocking her clean off of him causing her to roll.

He scrambled to stand “Don’t make me do this-!” Frank huffed as she almost flew back at him, aiming punch after punch, with him dodging. 

He managed to lean back to dodge her knife before stumbling back.

“It’s me, Peyton!” He yells “it’s Dad, you know me!”

“No I don’t!” She threw a trash can at him, it came at him with record speed but he managed to jump onto the carousel where the two kids were still screaming.

The lights and noise seemed to be overwhelming her, if her hand at her ear and her squinting eyes was any evidence.

She was growing more and more angry as she stomped around the carousel. Angry, overwhelmed, confused and scared.

What a horribly potent mix.

Peyton was having trouble finding him, unable to hear him over the screaming of the kids, the music of the carousel.

Then the music cut out, she must’ve stopped it to hear better.

The Spider marched over to the crying kids, both still bleeding from cuts she made on their wrists.

Very unkindly, she ripped the webbing from both of their mouths before holding a knife to the boy's throat.

“I want you to beg!” She yelled, loud enough for Castle to hear “beg for your life from this man! Tell him to come and save you, right now!”

Beg like I did when they let that spider crawl all over me.

Scream, and cry, and beg to be let go like I had to when they forced me into the chair for the first time.

Beg like I did for my Dad to save me.

The Spider shook her head, making the ever growing pounding worse.

When all they did was cry, she got closer “Beg!” Her fangs almost cut her lips.

“Please!” The girl sobbed “please just do what she says!”

“Please, for the love of god! She’s gonna kill us..!” The boy cried.

If she ever cried like this, the Spider would have been beaten for her troubles. Such weakness would never live in Hydra.

Then Castle rounded the corner, hands raised, face calm and collected.

“Stop, Peyton—,”

Her grip tightened “that is not my name!” The knife leans in and the boy’s throat gives a small streak of blood along with a whimper.

“It is” Castle argues, his face turning into something desperate, as if pleading for Spider to understand “I gave you that name, when I held you for the first time.”

She was so tiny. Prematurely born, a month long NICU stay but she was there. She was real. 

Just as real as she is now.

“Throw your weapon” Spider ordered, and having a brief hesitation and a knife being pressed further into a crying boy's neck, he threw it; gun and knife.

“Peyton…” Frank whispered “just let them go.”

Finally, she lowered the knife only to grab a gun that was hiding in her waist band; closest to her back.

She raised it right at Frank.

“Love is weakness” Peyton whispered, Frank fell backwards into a horse as a bullet hit his vest “it’s the first thing you learn in Hydra.”

Another bullet.

“I never had anyone.”

She thought her soldier loved her, cared about her but he’d rather go off gallivanting with the avengers than stay with her.

She trusted him, and he threw her away like garbage.

“You did…” Frank gasped, attempting to gather air back into his lungs “they stole that from you..”

Just like they stole everything else from her.

“You had me, you had your mother and your brother and your sister. You had Billy and Curtis—,” another bullet.

“The Punisher?” She spit the name like acid, and Frank could see fangs glinting in the rainbow lights.

“A fucking joke.” Another bullet and he’s toppling over.

They were only hitting his vest, she wasn’t doing this to kill him just to hurt him; to show she can.

Slowly, almost animalistic, she slithers over to stand just above him; her gun pointed right between his eyes.

“Nothing but another mission for me to put into the ground.”

“Drop your weapon!”

She turned so fast and fired, her bullet grazing Madani’s temple and knocking her clean to the floor.

“No!” Frank took this chance to run up and tackle Peyton.

If he could just get her to listen! To truly hear what he’s saying then maybe it will get through and something will surface.

And unfortunately, Peyton has really good core strength so instead of falling her back just slams into the pole behind her.

She tried to fire her gun but Frank only pushed her arm as far as possible, her ammo running out quickly and he knocked it from her hand.

Then, she threw her head back and slammed it against his face; sending him stumbling backwards.

How is she still standing? You’d think she’d be in pain right now but she’s marching forward like it doesn’t even bother her.

Adrenaline or just her training?

Frank threw a punch, only for Peyton to sideswipe and throw his face into a pole.

She tossed him to the ground before kicking his back in.

“I’m so fucking sick of you!” Peyton screamed, throwing her empty gun at him.

When Frank was finally able to focus his eyes and truly see her again, he noticed she was crying.

“Why can’t you just die like the rest of them!?” Peyton demands, her knife back in her hands. Frank scrambled to stand but webbing trapped his feet to the floor.

“All of them! They just rolled over, like dogs! Ready to be put down” she cried, getting closer “but you? No, you bite back! I'm used to that…” her voice dimmed, choking up “people biting back at me, spiders…”

Spiders….the bite.

— Parker has shown ability to survive the bite —

“The bite” Frank bit out, pushing up on his shaking hands and spit blood “A spider, huh? That’s what they used? A spider?”

Peyton didn’t answer him, her eyes shining with tears as she watched him.

“Finish it.”

And….

She freezes.

She could do it, right here, right now. Finally ended this nightmare mission with a single slice of her knife like she had always been taught.

Hesitate and you will die.

Think fast, think carefully, be quick like the spider you are, for that will save your life.

She’s lived by that for so long and now? It was finally failing her.

She’s hesitating.

And it's the easy decision that scares her the most.

______

Three days in the hospital but he’s alive.

And Peyton is gone.

Madani managed to survive her shot to the head even if it left her with two black eyes and those two kids lived too!

Frank didn’t tell anyone about Peyton. Not when he didn’t know who to trust, if anyone got their hands on Peyton; a superpowered assassin now out on her own? It wouldn’t end well.

The official story was that a rogue agent who was loyal to Rawlins kidnapped two carousel workers to lure out Frank Castle.

Of course there was the question of why Frank let that agent go but he only shrugged and they took it at that.

They also let him go; under the guise of the country owing him not only a huge debt but a huge apology. If they had caught Rawlins sooner then this never would’ve happened, his family would still be here.

Peyton wouldn’t be out in the wind.

So he found himself here; the cemetery.

He’s stood here so many times, just watching the headstones like they’d change. It’s a bit jarring staring at a headstone with your name on it.

It’s even worse when you’re staring at your daughter’s headstone knowing it’s an empty casket below.

It was better when Frank didn’t know. When he had the cold comfort that she was somewhere better, with her mom and siblings to love her.

It was a idiotic dream now, especially when he had to watch her leave.

“Finish it.”

Frank closed his eyes, and accepted it.

Closing his eyes and just accepting it was better than staring back into the eyes that his wife passed down.

Do you remember, little girl?

And he’s happy she doesn’t remember him, it comes hand in hand with no guilty feelings of his death.

But the knife never comes.

Then, he felt it. Droplets hit against his cheeks and when he opens his eyes; he sees why.

She’s crying.

Her knife still held at her side as her teary eyes stared down at him; her tears falling like waves.

Then, she’s collapsing beside him; her arms shaking to hold her weight, one hand coming up to scrub at her face like a child would.

She's hysterically crying, unable to catch her breath. Like everything had finally caught up with her and she’s finally broken.

They must make quite a sight together.

Slowly but surely, Frank pushed himself up into a sitting position. His eyes locked on the sobbing girl.

His hand moved slowly, not daring to fully incase her hand with his but instead simply locking their fingers together.

Hopefully, a quiet comfort. There truly isn’t much else he can do, not when she could still end his life with one wrong move.

He hates to doubt her, to be distrustful of her.

It’s Peyton for god's sake.

But is it really?

Then, she’s gone; seeming to collect herself with record speed and standing.

And Frank watched her leave, stepping off the carousel and shooting a web to swing away.

He’ll find her.

He’ll turn over every stone, leave no corner untouched, no person involved alive until his daughter is safe.

And maybe that means she never remembers him, and lives out her life peaceful and free and away from all the pain he brings.

He can only hope he has a chance to say goodbye.

________

“You said she just…handed herself in? Willingly?”

“Yes, we were as surprised as you are. I mean, a Hydra agent willingly handing themselves over to us instead of just biting that cyanide pill?”

Tony Stark stared at the young girl sitting on the floor of this…cell? Holding room? Whatever this room was, she was tucked into the corner; her legs pulled up to her chest.

They stripped her of whatever suit she came in with and dressed her in an old shield shirt and black shorts.

Her hair is long and brown with wispy bangs that stick to her forehead from, what Tony can guess, blood staining her skin.

“Do we know her name?” Tony asked “anything about her?”

“Yep, her name is Peyton Maria Castle; if her DNA is reading correctly.”

She handed over the data for Tony to see when his face turned to surprise “Castle? Like..?”

“The Punisher? Yeah, that was my reaction too” Hill chuckled.

Tony remembered that case, it was everywhere; the biggest court case of the century. Every channel was doing networking on it.

He never paid too much attention to it, but Tony did have to say he agreed on some of Castle’s ideas.

Sometimes you have to make the necessary decisions, the hard, difficult ones no else is willing to make.

Did Tony approve of killing everyone that commits crimes? No, not at all. Giving a guy the chair for a parking ticket is extreme.

But when it comes down to it and the only choice is kill the one evil guy and save everyone or let said evil guy live with the hope that he changes and potentially get everyone killed?

Yeah he’ll just cut the wire before it snaps and curls around everyone.

Screw Rogers and his sacrifice play. Why kill youself to save everyone when the logical answer is right there?

“She's enhanced, in her wrists are what we have identified as spinnerets.”

“Spinnerets? Like a spider?” He looked back up at the girl.

“Yeah, from her DNA readings she is mixed with spider DNA and a high radiation dose” Hill explained “who knows what she’s capable of.”

That’s what Tony is here to figure out.

Tony punched in the door code, waiting for the buzzer sound before stepping inside.

The girl, Peyton, didn’t bother looking up; even as Tony came to sit on the bench next to her.

“So, you flipped sides, kid?”

She didn’t answer him but Tony didn’t expect her to.

He only sighed and folded his hands “don’t blame you, kid. Hydra is rough but making that choice to get help is worse.”

It is true. Places like Hydra or the Red Room are hard to escape from in general; they’re not ones for just letting their agents go if they somehow manage to escape their “programming.”

Abuse is the word Tony likes to use.

But it’s that decision. The one that makes or breaks people.

Stay or leave?

Yes, Hydra are abusive assholes who do not care for the sacrifice of their victims but it’s become predictable and routine. Kids like Peyton learn what to expect in their lives when they’re stuck in an endless loop.

And then, suddenly thrust into something completely new where your obedience doesn’t equal out life or death?

Where you’re allowed to make choices and have your own thoughts without a gun to your head?

Some people go back, more scared of an unpredictable world than what they might face in Hydra, they know what they’ll get in Hydra; death.

Sometimes freedom is more scary than blind obedience.

Tony understands being someone’s puppet, maybe not like Barnes does or like Natasha or even little Peyton; but he understands, in his own way.

So, Tony will sit here; this tiny girl at his feet until she’s ready to talk back because sometimes that’s all you need.

Someone to be there.

Currently, at least, but they can get to that later.

An hour had passed by then when she finally answered him.

“So what do I call you? I was told your name is Peyton Castle but if you want to be called something else I won’t judge.”

She remains quiet for so long that Tony doesn’t think she’ll answer but then, a soft voice that cracks breaks the silence that Tony had been desperately trying to fill.

“Parker” she croaked “Peyton Parker.”

Tony smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Peyton Parker.”