SUNSHINE [Frank Castle]

CHAPTER NINE - EXECUTIONER

Charlotte pulled up to the building and turned her music down low. She killed the engine and stepped out, deciding to go to the side entrance. She walked inside and through a hallway until she saw light. She turned the corner to see David Lieberman tied to a chair with Frank Castle sitting across from him.

Charlotte walked over to them, and when she got a few feet away she finally looked up and around. The place was full of computers and kinds of tech that a guy like Lieberman certainly shouldn't have. "Holy shit."

Both men looked up at her, Lieberman even having the audacity to smile at her stunned expression. Frank was not so impressed. He'd been in the middle of talking to his captive, and she interrupted him.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?"

Before Frank could reply, Lieberman did. "I was just talking to Frank about Kandahar."

Charlotte glanced from Lieberman to Frank, her eyes asking him before her mouth did. "What's Kandahar, Frank?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Frank." Not wanting to fight in front of Lieberman, she only made her voice more stern. "What is Kandahar? Other than a city."

"Later," he said, then silently to her: 'I promise.'

"Okay." She nodded, backing off. She looked around the room again and commented, "I pictured more of an evil lair type of thing, you know? Not something that resembles a video game freak's basement. If the video game freak had access to more advanced tech."

"Thank you?" Lieberman replied, unsure what the correct response would be.

Frank didn't really care. He changed the subject back to the one they'd been discussing previously. "Keep talking, Lieberman. You said you're supposed to be dead."

Lieberman went on to explain the whole thing. A cell phone in his pocket saved his life. Federal agents began smearing his name, made him seem like a traitor.

"Your wife still thinks you're a good guy," Frank commented in the middle of it.

"That doesn't seem to count for much right now, does it?" He paused only for a moment before speaking again. "But I don't think you're going to kill me, Frank. You're a good man."

"You don't know shit."

Charlotte stood near the computers, examining. From this place she commented, half distracted. "Wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."

"You won't kill me either, Charlotte."

She lowered her voice as she replied this time. "You seem to know everything about me, Mr. Lieberman. How much are you willing to bet that I won't kill you?"

"Oh, I have no doubt that you're capable. I just know that you won't."

Her back to him, she closed her eyes. He was right, and she hated it. She wouldn't— couldn't— kill him. She couldn't kill anyone anymore.

Madame B.'s voice echoed in her head. Weak. I was wrong about you, Sashenka. I thought you were our best. But you are weak, and you are a failure.

Then her own voice, begging. Please, no, I can do better. I can do it, I promise. Give me another chance.

She remembered the events that followed vividly. Madame B. had a man with a bag over his head dragged into the room as everyone watched. If you want to prove yourself, then kill him.

She removed the bag from the man's head and moved away. Charlotte walked forward, toward the man, and stopped right in front of him. They had not given her any weapons.

She did not need one. She was the weapon.

She remembered the way he begged before she snapped his neck. How he told her of his wife and children, how they would be without a husband, a father. He begged her, the same pleading words leaving his mouth over and over again, as if he was so afraid that he couldn't think of anything else to say.

She cut him off halfway through naming his children. She remembered their names, his wife's, too. Tatiana, Nadia, Vladimir, Sasha.

She remembered the way his neck felt in her hands when she snapped it, and the thunk sound when his body hit the floor. She remembered the emotionless expression on everyone's faces, including hers. She remembered blocking out her emotions until she could no longer feel them.

She remembered the countless other men Madame B. brought in, and how she killed them all without complaint.

It was her greatest weakness, her past. And David Lieberman knew all about it. If he decided to tell Frank about it. . . she wasn't sure what she'd do then.

But, instead of showing him that it affected her, she turned to face him and flashed her signature deadly smirk. "Are you willing to put that to the test? You think you know everything about me? Then you should know that I will not hesitate."

She saw him shiver, and considered her job well done. She glanced toward Frank, then gestured toward Lieberman. "Continue."

Frank began speaking to him as she kept inspecting the tech. When she heard Lieberman's next words, she stopped dead. "Your operation was totally off the books. Do you know what that means? They turned you into a hitman, Frank. I don't care if we trust each other or not. I don't want to be blood brothers. That stuff is for kids in tree houses, but you and me, we want the same thing right now. So work with me."

Frank paused, and Charlotte turned to see his expression. "One condition."

"Yeah, name it."

"They die. Every single one of them. No trials, no bullshit. They die."

Lieberman considered it for no more than a few seconds. "Yeah, I can live with that."

Frank looked back at her, silently asking if she was with him. She nodded. "Yeah."

Frank let Lieberman up from the chair and he stretched, stiff from sitting so long. Frank stood and walked so that he was standing right next to her, speaking quietly. "Look, I know this isn't the best option—"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, it's good. Just fill me in, alright?"

So he did. He told her everything. About Operation Cerberus, about Ahmad Zubair, and the video that Lieberman had of it.

By the end of the explanation, Charlotte only said two quiet words. "Show me."

"Charlotte—" Frank was shaking his head, preparing how he would say no.

"Show me," she repeated. "I want to see it."

Frank looked toward Lieberman, who was already staring in their direction. "Play it," he said, reluctantly

Lieberman nodded and sat back down, queueing the video up. Charlotte walked over and stood just behind him. He pressed play.

Ahmad Zubair was strung up, and a masked man was torturing him. This went on for a while, before he ordered another man in a mask to kill him. A single gunshot was fired into Zubair's head, and the video ended.

"That was you, that killed him?" She asked Frank, without turning to look at him.

"Yeah."

She let out a shaky breath, turned, and wrapped her arms around him. He didn't reciprocate for a while, but eventually his arms closed around her.

When she let go, she told him her story.

A/N: So. . . what do you guys think of this one? I changed up how this episode went just a bit, and gave some more backstory. I think I like this one quite a bit. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it :)