Payton Protection Program
When Payton woke up she was covered with a scratchy blanket that smelled like smoke and metal. Wrinkling her nose at the overwhelming smell, she shifted in discomfort. She didn’t remember owning a blanket this uncomfortable. With a yawn, she tried to open her eyes, bringing her hands up to try and rub the blurriness out of them. For some reason she was still bone tired, and her body protested every move she made. Her efforts to open her eyes failed, and she gave into her exhaustion, curling herself deeper into the weighty blanket, doing her best to ignore how it poked and itched and was an overall nuisance to her senses.
Her senses were still dulled from sleep, so it came as a surprise when she started hearing heavy footsteps approaching her. Oddly, they didn’t sound like they were landing on wood floors. Soon enough, the footsteps slowed as they neared her bed, and clothes shuffled as they knelt down. A heavy, large hand settled on her shoulder, and Payton tried to shuffle under the blanket some more.
“Five more minutes.” She mumbled into the covering.
Her Uncle Ben chuffed. “Time to get up kid, we gotta talk.”
Wait
That wasn’t Uncle Ben.
Adrenaline flooded Payton’s body as her eyes shot open, and she found herself face to face, well, face to chest with Frank Castle. All the memories from the previous night began to make themselves known and Payton let out a very brave yell that definitely was not a terrified scream as she shot out of the cot that she mistook for a bed. Payton launched herself backwards into the wall, her hands and feet sticking and carrying her in a reverse scuttle all the way into a dark, musty ceiling corner, her chest heaving.
“What the fuck ?” She heard Castle exclaim as the man began walking over to the corner she was hiding in.
Looking around, Payton realized she was in a decrepit warehouse of some kind with multiple collapsed interior walls, rusting rafters, and a wall absolutely covered in firearms and explosives. A black van was parked near the weapons, and the center of the room had a massive computer station set up, with multiple monitors and a police scanner that was quietly broadcasting. She was in the Punisher’s Hideout . If she was terrified out of her mind at this moment, she might have found that cool. Seeing as she was terrified, she instead found her eyes drifting back down to the mass murderer below her, the man looking back with an exasperated look of disbelief.
“Get down here. I’m not going to hurt you.” Castle spoke up, though she heard him mutter under his breath “Of course she’s fucking enhanced.”
“You’re the Punisher…” She replied lamely, refusing to move from her perch.
He scoffed. “No shit. And I don’t hurt kids, if I wanted to, do you think I would have let you sleep for the past twelve hours?”
He had a point. One helped along by the fact that her senses weren’t screaming “DANGER” at her for simply being on the same city block as him, much less the same room. “Okay… Okay.” She repeated, relaxing her arms and legs and sliding down the wall a ways before dropping to the floor softly. “I’m down… what now?”
“Come on, you need to eat.” The Punisher led her over to a small kitchen that had been hidden from her previous scan of the room, roughly pulling out a couple packets of honest to god MREs. The boxes that housed the meals were dusty, showing just how long they’ve been sitting in that cabinet.
Warily, Payton lowered herself onto a little folding chair that was present in the kitchen, pointedly ignoring the dark brown stains that were scattered across the concrete. Her powers might not have been telling her she was in danger, but she was still in the same room as a mass murderer, convicted of dozens of murders and wanted for dozens more. As such, she didn’t so much sit on the chair as she did perch, keeping on her toes in case that she needed to bolt out of there. Clearly she wasn’t very subtle about it however, as Castle just looked at her once, scoffed, and then continued prepping food, grabbing some juice out of the beaten up fridge.
Swaying awkwardly on her chair, silence took hold between the two, each eating their own meals and lost in their own thoughts. Payton had no idea what the Punisher was thinking, probably something along the lines of ‘oh great I saved a demon teen’ or something. On her own end of the spectrum, she was doing everything in her power to not think about what happened the night before. If she didn’t think about it, it couldn’t hurt her.
Eventually, she couldn’t take the silence anymore though, her patience (and silence allowance) worn out. “Why am I here?”
“Hmm?” Castle hummed through his own food, not even looking up at her.
“It's just, I mean, um.” She stuttered. “You saved me from those guys last night, but why not take me to the police? Or a hospital?” She asked him, putting her own food down despite her stomach rumbling for more.
“I tried.” The Punisher eventually supplied, putting his own food down, the MRE empty, unlike her own. “Eat up kid, I can hear your stomach from here.”
Picking up the MRE again, Payton forced down a few more bites. “What do you mean ‘you tried’?”
A sigh. “After you passed out I called an… acquaintance of mine who works at a nearby hospital, told her about you. Said I found a girl who’d been chased by some masked lunatic but got away, only to get ambushed again-“
“Wait wait wait, you know about that guy who attacked my family?!” Payton cut in, leaning over the table now.
“Yeah, I heard reports about shots fired and a chase happening in Queens, figured I’d take a look. Caught the tail end of it when you managed to give the guy the slip. Followed you from there.” He answered with a shrug, causing Payton’s mouth to gape open in shock. She’d had no idea she was followed after the chase too.
“Anyway, my acquaintance told me about a couple of shooting victims who’d been admitted to the hospital. One to the morgue, the other to the ICU. She went on to say that their niece was missing, and a couple of shady looking guys in suits arrived and seemed to be waiting for any word.” Frank’s face as he told the story was apologetic, but she’d heard nothing beyond the fact that one of the victims was still alive.
“ICU!? I thought they both died!” She cried out, launching herself out of her chair to look for shoes.
“Your Aunt is still- what the hell are you doing!?” The Punisher started to respond, but was cut off by her frantic searching.
“May’s alive! I have to go see her!” Payton called back, finding her shoes, but feeling a hand clamp down on her shoulder roughly.
“Were you not listening!?” Castle scolded as he turned her around. “People are still out there looking for you. Only reason they haven’t finished the job on your Aunt is probably because she serves as bait to draw you in! She’s in critical condition anyway, a coma. You wouldn’t be able to see her even if you made it into the hospital without getting snatched.”
Despite her excitement, she knew he was right. With tears welling up behind her eyes, Payton grit her teeth and put her shoes back down. “Okay. I just, I thought they were both gone, and to hear May is still alive… I was just happy that I got one of them back.” She explained.
“I get it. I do. But whoever is looking for you has friends in high enough places to get guards placed on your Aunt in the hospital, we can’t risk any official help without the chance of some corrupt asshole sneaking through the cracks.” Castle’s voice calmed down a bit. “But if I am going to be able to help you, I need answers. The ‘why’ I think I already know. You’re enhanced. But the ‘who’ is a mystery.”
Payton listened carefully, forcing Ben and May faces into the back of her mind again. If Ben was to be avenged, and May made safe, she had to work with Castle against whoever these guys were. “I’ve got no idea. The only one of them I saw was skull-face, and I spent our time together running, not asking who he worked for.”
“Alright, do you have any idea as to why someone would’ve sent a guy like that to kidnap you?”
Their conversation slowly drifted back towards the kitchen, Castle walking behind her like she was going to bolt again. “No clue.” She shrugged, sitting back down in her chair. “May’s a nurse, Ben is…was, a firefighter, and I’m just a teen from Queens.”
“An enhanced teen that can outrun grown men and climb up walls.” Castle deadpanned.
“Fair point. But how would they even know !? I didn’t even get these powers until the past couple days!” Payton asked, words slightly muffled by the food she had shoved into her mouth.
“Wait. You just got these powers? How?”
Payton shrugged. “Got bit by a spider on a field trip to Oscorp. Spent a few days feeling like I was going to die, then woke up with superpowers.”
If looks could kill, the one Castle was giving her right now would have made kidnapping her lowest concern. “You got bit by a spider at Oscorp , one of the shadiest companies in New York, and you don’t think they are involved in this!?”
“The spider was in the bathroom! Not a lab!” Payton protested. “Besides, if Norman Osborn wanted to see me all he’d have to do is tell Harry to invite me over.”
“You know Harry Osborn?” Castle asked her, incredulous.
“Yeah, we met at a summer science camp a few months ago. He’s a friend. I’ve had dinner with Mr. Osborn more than once.” She explained with a shrug.
Across from her, Castle was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Well, I imagine that Osborn probably wouldn’t want to have his name anywhere near your disappearance, so it's possible he’s involved.”
Payton frowned, but didn’t object. It made sense, in a pragmatic sort of way. The rest of their meal was spent in silence, Payton eating the rest of the MRE, as well as the second one that Castle passed over when her stomach rumbled loudly. She spent that time thinking about what her friends must be thinking, seeing her at school yesterday, and then her being officially missing today. If she’d still had her phone she could have called them, but then again if she had her phone then whoever was after her could still track her.
“So what now Mister Castle?” She asked quietly, not liking the silence they had fallen into.
“Now, you stay here where you are safe. I am going to go out and figure out who wants to make you disappear.” He replied, standing from the table and making his way to the makeshift armory next to the van.
“Woah woah woah” Payton protested, following the guy across the room. “You’re just going to leave me here ?”
“Yes. Safer for you here.” Castle began to arm himself.
“What… what if you don’t come back? Do I just sit here forever?” She asked quietly, making Castle pause for a moment.
“I’ll be back by eight tonight.” He answered before taking an old flip phone out of a box that had been gathering dust beneath the workbench. “This is a burner phone, it's got my number, and a friend of mine’s number. I’ll call if I get delayed, and if you don’t hear from me before midnight, call the other number.”
Payton eyed the phone excitedly. “Like in the movies!” She exclaimed, taking the phone from Castle’s hand.
“Sure, kid. Like the movies.” Castle conceded, shaking his head at her. “Any other questions?”
“Ummmm. Yeah actually! Who’s the friend?”
“Daredevil.”
Payton’s eyebrows shot up. “Daredevil!? You have Daredevil’s phone number!? Dude! That's totally awesome! Do you guys team up a lcot? Do you have a cool team name? Wait. I thought Daredevil didn’t kill? Does he kill?” She rambled, the word vomit catching Castle off guard.
“Slow down!” He ordered, and her jaw closed with a loud ‘ clomp ’. “I’ll take those one at a time. Yes I do, no we don’t, fuck no, and no he doesn’t.”
“If you guys don’t team up, why do you have his number?” Payton tilted her head curiously.
Castle scoffed. “We don’t team up a lot , Red is too sanctimonious for that. Every now and again he’ll ask for my help with something in the kitchen, and he calls me. Even that is usually a last resort. We have an… agreement of sorts. If I’m helping him in the kitchen, I play by his rules. His end of the bargain is that he doesn’t get in my way anywhere else in the city.”
“Okayyyy. And what do I tell him if I have to call him?”
“The truth. He’ll come get you and bring you somewhere safe. And don’t try to lie to him, he’ll know.”
“Yes sir!” She saluted.
“Wrong hand kid.” Castle corrected as he climbed into the driver’s seat of the van, turning the vehicle on, and reversing out of the building.
And thus, Payton was alone, her enhanced hearing letting her listen to the van until it got too far away. As she looked around the hideout, she realized that there didn’t seem to be anything to entertain her for the rest of the day. Castle said 8pm, and it was currently… 9am. Gross. Wandering over to the computer station that dominated the middle of the room, Payton sat in the chair and spun in a circle, idly listening to the police scanner. After about ten minutes she found a pen and began toying with it, still spinning slowly.
She survIved this way for about an hour before she couldn’t stand it anymore. She was used to having things to do throughout the day. Sue her. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, Payton decided to instead walk around the building, get used to the layout as she was likely going to be here for a while. Wandering through the halls of the (mostly) abandoned building, Payton grew more and more concerned by the number of bullet holes she found embedded in the walls, and the dark stains on the ground. Clearly this place had some sort of firefight before, but was that before or after the Punisher made it his base of operations? And if it was after, what was stopping others from just waltzing in for revenge when Castle wasn’t even home?
It wasn’t a pleasant train of thought, and Payton quickly found herself wandering back to the main living area, deciding that safety in ignorance was the better bet in regards to whatever happened here. She spent more time passively poking through different drawers, trying to get a feel for where all the supplies were. One such cabinet she backed away from quickly reminded her quite a bit of the supply closet for the chemistry classroom back at school. Shelves filled with different chemicals and beakers sat within, and she didn’t want to risk damaging anything in there. Nor did she want to know what the Punisher liked to do with chemicals like that.
Before long, Payton was just pacing the room, taking advantage of her powers to walk on the ceilings and walls as well. The next few hours were spent this way, Payton walking around the hard floors until her legs were tired and her feet sore. She really just wanted to prevent herself from actually thinking . If she started to think about what was happening, she would remember that-that Ben was dead, and May was in the hospital. Alone. And dammit, she started thinking about it.
Sniffling and fighting back tears, Payton dropped down from the ceiling. She needed a real distraction. Something that required actual mental effort. And out of everything she found in this place, there was only one cabinet that contained something like that. But she needed safety equipment first. She was not going to go playing with chemicals without gloves or glasses. Making that mistake once in chemistry class was more than enough for her. Luckily, her earlier poking around showed her just where she could find the things she needed.
Moving over to the armory, Payton pulled open the drawers containing spare gloves for the Punisher, while not rubber, the leather would at least protect her own hands long enough to realize she spilled something. Secondly, she found one of Castle’s gas masks. Which, in terms of safety from chemicals, Payton didn’t think she could get much better. Finally she grabbed an empty notebook and pencil from the computer area and brought all of her collected supplies to the closest workbench to the chemical cabinet. Despite her earlier desire to not damage anything, Payton much preferred changing her mind over the constant boredom.
Finally finding something real to do for the rest of the day, Payton started with taking inventory of what she had to work with, her natural knack for chemistry coming in handy as she jotted down notes, and began to reorganize the chemicals into like-groups. She wasn’t one-hundred percent sure on what her end goal with this little project was, but it kept her busy so she carried on, marking down everything she remembered about each chemical and their properties, as well as brainstorming potential uses (civilian ones, she still didn’t want to ponder what kind of things Mister Castle got up to with them).
Losing herself in her brainstorming, Payton began to lose track of time, the hours passing by as she filled page after page with chemical formulas. She was finally brought back to awareness as her ears picked up the sounds of a car entering the warehouse. Before long, the matte black van rumbled back to the armory, pulling up next to the worktable she sat at. The engine turned off, as as the car door opened, Payton’s nose was assaulted with a powerful stench of gunpowder and blood. Looking at her watch, Payton saw that the time was just 6pm. Castle returned a few hours early.
“What are you doing?” The man himself asked, rounding the front of the van and disarming himself.
“Science.” She shrugged.
“...Science. Why?”
“I was bored. You left me here with nothing to do all day, and walking in circles only kept me entertained for like, thirty minutes.” Payton explained, still jotting down ideas for formulas that popped into her head.
Castle scoffed. “What are you? Some kind of Einstein?”
Payton couldn’t help the way she violently flinched, dropping her pencil and slamming the bottom of the table with her knees, rattling the beakers and glasses she had been organizing. “Don’t call me that!”
Thankfully, Castle took a slow step back. “...Right.” He replied slowly, his voice far softer than she heard it before.
Payton’s cheeks began to heat up in embarrassment. “Sorry. It's just…” She trailed off.
“I get it. Bad memories.”
“... Thanks.”
An awkward silence grew between the two as Payton leaned to the floor to collect her pencil, and Castle stood a comfortable distance away, removing his frankly absurd amount of weapons from his person, as well as the skull-painted vest. Which, as far as Payton could see from the corner of her eye, sported at least two bullet impacts in the center. After a few minutes, Castle came over and looked over her shoulder to her notebook.
“You doing anything specific?”
“Not really. Just toying with different compounds that these chemicals could make. I’ve always been into the sciences, bio, chemistry, physics, you know?” She sighed. “Lots of these chemicals, if mixed properly, could make some insane adhesives, though if you mix a couple others they could become toxic gasses, acids,...explosives. I just find it fun to brainstorm what exactly I could make with it, and it lets me avoid thinking about recent events so that's a plus.” Payton rambled on, flipping through her pages of notes.
Castle laughed slightly. “Yeah, I used lots of them to help set traps around this place earlier this year, a bit before that Avengers fiasco in Sokovia.”
She snorted. “I spent all day trying to avoid thinking about what you actually did with this stuff… so thanks for that I guess.”
“Uh huh.”
Setting down her pencil, Payton turned towards the Punisher “Did you get any information from the people you uh ‘encountered’ today?”
Castle raised an eyebrow at her. “And how do you know I ‘encountered’ anyone?”
“I can smell the blood on you.” She explained with a grimace.
“You can do that?” He incredulously asked.
“YeP” She answered, popping the ‘p’.
“What exactly can you do with these powers of yours?” Castle requested, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Payton shrugged. “Well, beyond being sticky and fast, I have really good hearing, sight, and smell. My senses in general have been turned to eleven. Got a lot of sensory overload at school yesterday because of it. Too much input you know?”
“What the hell did Oscorp do to that spider?” Castle mumbled, causing Payton to chuckle.
“That’s what I’m wondering! Two weeks ago I was an asthmatic who needed glasses and had a tendency to trip over her own feet. Now glasses are useless, the asthma is gone, and I randomly have abs.” She laughed, just waving a hand over herself as she went through the changes.
“Speaking of changes, I imagine all these powers require more food to run, so I grabbed us some chinese while I was out. Plus you’ve been stuck here all day.” Castle changed topics, reaching into the van and pulling out a sealed bag of food that Payton was genuinely surprised she hadn’t smelled. The chemicals, gunpowder, and blood must have been messing with her nose a bit. But now that the food was in the open, it smelled heavenly.
The two of them took the food to the small kitchen and ate quietly, enjoying the food. Of course, Payton couldn’t just let silence reign for long, so she looked up to Castle while slurping down some noodles. “So… is the plan for me to just stay here for eternity until you find answers? Cause today was sooooo boring. Like, I felt I was actually dying for a bit.” She complained dramatically, though her words were muffled by the food in her mouth.
Castle sighed. “To answer your earlier question; no. I didn’t get any answers. Tracked down some suspected traffickers and none of them knew a thing about it. I plan to go out again later this evening, and if I still can’t get a lead, I’ll call in a friend.”
Payton perked up. “Daredevil?” She asked hopefully.
“Nah, I ain’t bringing Red into this yet. He doesn’t leave the Kitchen anyway. The guy I’ll call helped me avenge my family, good guy, a real pain in the ass though.” The vigilante answered simply, a small chuckle escaping him as he explained his friend.
“The news didn’t mention you working with anyone?”
“Yeah, he was more of a…behind the scenes guy. Used those computers back there to do all the stuff I’m no good at.” Castle continued, understanding what Payton had been asking.
“Oh! He’s your guy in the chair!” She exclaimed happily.
“My what ?”
“You know? The ‘guy in the chair’? Like in the movies!” Payton exclaimed. “The hacker friend who uses the cameras and computers and says ‘I’m in’ after a really unrealistic hacking scene!? My friend Ned loves those guys in movies! He’s a huge computer geek, and so much better with computers than I am.” She continued on, a happy smile on her face as she explained what she had been talking about.
Clearly Castle got the message, and the man gave a light hearted scoff. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Had a cool codename too. ‘Micro’.”
“ Micro ?! That’s an awesome codename!” Payton responded, practically bouncing in her chair. “Why haven’t you called him already?”
“I don’t want to bother him. He helped me out because it helped him get back to his family. He’s back where he wants to be and I’m not eager to drag him back into this world.” Was the answer she received.
“Oh, but you are willing to do so anyway? Do you think he’ll say yes if you ask?” Some of her excitement had died down with Castle’s words, though her hopes remained high as Castle nodded.
“Yeah, he’ll help. As I said, he’s a good man and he’ll help you get back to your family if I ask him to, I’m just hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
She didn’t really have much to say after that, instead ducking her head down and eating her food, forcing herself to be quiet for the time being. The rest of dinner was spent that way, before Castle went to the little beat-up couch that was stuck against one wall, and began to read a book. It was a bit more domestic than anything Payton would have imagined the Punisher being capable of. She’d have thought he spent his free time sharpening knives, or just brooding.
Deciding to not focus on the Punisher’s chosen passtime, Payton went back to her own chemistry table, looking over her formulas again. She realized that an adhesive might actually be super useful. If the skull-mask guy found her again, if she had some sort of sticky trap or bomb or something that could stop him from chasing her, it would make getting away far easier. As such, she slipped the gas mask and gloves back on and got to work, moving from note taking, to actual experiments. Working slowly over the next few hours, Payton began to mix chemicals together, tweaking formulas around every now and again depending on the results.
Finally, as her eyes began to grow heavy later in the night, Payton tested the most recent batch she made, sticking a glass stir rod into the beaker and twirling it around. When she pulled it out, the compound stuck to the glass, being pulled along with the rod in small strands. It took Payton using a lot of force to separate the glass from the mixture, the strands being far more adhesive than she had anticipated. Now that she had something that could work, she needed a way to utilize it. She couldn’t just wait for the guy to walk up to her and dump it on him. But that would be a question for tomorrow, as a yawn forced its way from her chest and she knew she needed to sleep. Another glance at her watch told her it was nearing midnight, and she knew Castle would be leaving again in an hour or two whenever he woke up to go…do what he does.
Finding a plug to match the beaker, Payton sealed it, keeping the adhesive fluid trapped inside, and separated from the air. Stretching her back, Payton lazily meandered back to the cot she slept on the night before, collapsing onto the makeshift bed and pulling the scratchy blanket back over her shoulders. It wasn’t long before sleep managed to claim her.
“You’ve been a naughty girl”
“May, Payton… RUN!”
*BANG*
…
*BANG*
Payton awoke with a scream, tears streaming down her face as her chest heaved, desperately trying to suck in air. The room was dark, and a quick glance revealed that Castle was gone. Alone, Payton sobbed on the cot, recent events finally catching up to her. She had managed to avoid thinking about it for the most part during the day, but she should have known that she wouldn’t be free from them in her sleep. Payton tried to curl deeper into the blanket and fall back asleep, but the tears wouldn’t stop, her brain playing the gunshots on repeat, the sight of May and Ben hitting the ground ingrained in her mind, constantly seen any time she attempted to close her eyes.
Releasing a frustrated yell, Payton threw the blanket off of her, stalking back over to her personally claimed worktable, collapsing into the folding chair she had been using. The cold from the concrete seeped into her feet, providing only a minor distraction from her own grief. Had it been two weeks ago she probably wouldn’t have even felt it, but now, ever since the field trip, the cold hit her much worse she’d found. The trip to school just two days ago had been distinctly uncomfortable, the cold weather of October biting straight to her bones.
Tipping her head back, Payton’s eyes locked onto a spider that was spinning a web in a nearby corner. Wiping away the tears, her lips curved upwards in a very slight smile. She had always enjoyed spiders, doing her best to never kill any, even if they found their way into her room. It made an interesting coincidence that her powers had been given to her by one of them. The minutes passed as Payton passively watched the arachnid make itself a new home, spinnerets releasing more silk as it worked. If she had spinnerets she wouldn’t have needed to create her own traps for the skull-faced man, but alas, here she was. But watching the spider did give her an idea.
Sitting upright, Payton looked to the sealed beaker in front of her, brain happy to have a new distraction from her nightmares. With only a few sniffles remaining as a sign of her previous breakdown, Payton opened her notebook to a blank page. She already made an adhesive that could (theoretically) work as webs so, if her webs were artificial, couldn’t her spinnerets be so as well? Plan in mind, Payton began to work once again, ignoring her own exhaustion as she jotted down notes and drew up sketches for possible designs. She would not be caught unprepared. Not again.
Never again.