Chapter Twelve
“So, you're from another dimension?”
Frank had seated himself on an empty crate and watched the woman slowly examine the inside of the tarnished tech. When she began to work Matt had gone out to guard the building for cops and Frank asked if she needed any help. After seeing her “glitch” as she put it, he got protective and antsy, wanting to do what he could to keep her from harm's way.
“Sure am.”
“And what’s your name?”
She didn’t look away from her work to answer his interrogation. “Jitterbug.”
He raised a brow. “Certainly leaning into the gimmick, aren’t ya?”
She snorted and dropped the tools in her hand. “Oh I’m sorry. I should have picked something way more subtle, like The Punisher.” The man fell silent and she sent him a smug grin over her shoulder. “Nice vest by the way. Really gets your hot topic aesthetic across.”
Frank cracked a smile. He had a pretty smile, it reminded her of when her Frank would have his kids stop by the precinct.
She ignored the way the term Her Frank made her stomach twist into knots.
“I guess you got me there mam.” A silence lulled over the two as she worked. The Stark-tech was salvageable enough and if she worked hard then maybe she could get home. But the real question was whether she had time before her body disappeared into a scattered pile of molecules.
“So youre the uh, Spider-Man in your universe? What’s with the color scheme, somebody already snag up red and blue?” She could hear him smile at his dumb joke.
“Says the guy wearing all black.”
“Touche.”
Frank left his spot and walked over to her, sitting on the edge of the table as she worked.
“Red told me you're real fast.”
“That’s an understatement but okay.”
He chuckled at her boast. She was certainly confident. “Alright then, so why aren’t you using that spider-speed right now?”
“Going fast can be..too much sometimes.” She never took her eyes off of her work as she spoke, her hands moved fluidly along the machinery. Frank was impressed. “It can cause me to miss things, and right now there's zero margin for error.”
“Well, anything I can do?” She looked over and saw the concern on his face. She couldn’t help but laugh.
Frank scrunched up his brows. “What’s got you gigglin’?”
“Nothing I just-” She remembered her Frank having the same look on his face whenever she charged off to save the day. Granted his was accompanied by pulling his hair and shouting after her, but it was the same look of “Please don’t die” that she had learned to appreciate. “I can’t believe how different you two are, but still so damn similar.” She went back to her work. “It’s crazy.”
“Who, me and Red?”
“No. You and my Frank.”
The vigilante raised a brow. “Your Frank?”
“Yeah.” She paused for a moment and realized what her words meant. “I mean Frank from my dimension! Not my Frank as in my my Frank. Just, the Frank I know. You know?”
“Uh hu.”
“Stop that.” He laughed from behind her.
“Stop what?”
“You’re smug, I can hear it.”
He leaned against the table and shrugged. “Naw, just curious is all.”
“Curious of what exactly?”
She should be working. She really should. But seeing his cocky stance and taunting smirk, she couldn’t help but humour him.
It was almost like talking to her Frank-the Frank from her universe. Constantly snipping at one another but knowing that if shit hit the fan, they had each other's backs.
“What I’m like.” He explained. “Am I super hero like you? Spandex and all?”
She snorted into her hand. “God no! You hate heroes. Barely tolerate me to begin with.”
“That so Bug?”
She smiled. Even in a different username she still had that stupid nickname.
“You're a cop, actually.”
Frank scoffed pushed himself off of the table. “Get outta here.”
“No really! You're a real good one too, leader of the special crimes task force and everything. Bit of a hard-ass though.” She didn’t tell him that she and Gwen secretly called him Captain Tight-ass behind his back. Or the fact that she thought he actually had a pretty nice ass.
That little tidbit would just stay with her.
“Me as a cop?” He shook his head and smiled. “Hm, yeah that’ll be the day.”
She turned back to her work with a shrug. Thank God for whatever all powerful being was watching over her, because she had all the right tech laid in front of her to get it done. “Your kids really seem to get a kick out of it.”
Frank’s head shot up like he had been slapped. “What?”
“Yeah. I've seen ‘em visit you at the precinct before. It’s real cute.”
“My kids are alive?”
Jitterbug froze. “Of course they are. Why wouldn’t-” She turned to the man and what she saw shattered her heart. The once big and harsh hero turned small. His eyes wide and teary, broad shoulders sunk in and he just stared at her in shock. She didn’t know anything about this Frank Castle besides his use of guns and odd attire, she had been completely in the dark that his family had been massacred until that very moment. “Oh, fuck. Frank- I. I didn’t know I’m so sorry.”
“My wife.” His hand shot out and gripped her wrist, tugging her close. “My wife alive?”
“Yeah.” Jitterbug assured him. “Your entire family is. You-you had two kids, right?” Jitterbug prayed to God he did. She couldn’t just get his hopes up like that.
“That’s right. I did, little Lisa and-and Frank Jr.” He smiled through the tears and laughed.”My precious babies are alive?”
Jitterbug bit back her own tears. “Yeah, they're all alive Frank but,” She remembered overhearing some cop talking about their captain and the divorce he was going through. It had been a civil affair from what she heard. That they worked better as friends than lovers, and stayed family with no bad blood. But she didn’t think he’d understand that.
“But what?” His grip on her hand turned iron hard. “They hurt?”
“No!” She laid her hand on his chest in reassurance. “They're safe but, not,” She couldn’t look him in the eyes. To let him know his entire family was alive, but not happily married would surely break him.“-Not with you, Frank.”
He frowned. “The hell does that mean? Not with me? They-they missin’ Jitterbug? Is that what you're telling me? You tellin’ me that-”
“You got a divorce, Frank.”
He let go of her and fell back into his chair.
She took a cautious step toward the silent vigilante.
“Listen, it’s not that bad I-”
She jumped in surprise as he began to laugh. A loud, howling, belly-shaking laugh.
“Frank.” Her voice was a meak whisper, “It’s okay I-”
“Even when they're alive,” She could see the tears streaming down his face as he laughed at the bitter irony of it all. “I can’t be with them. Fuckin’ christ! Show me the irony in that, right?” His laughter slowly melted into silent sobs, each shaking his body as he mourned a new loss of his family. A sick twisted joke by God no doubt.
Frank Castle. A man destined to be alone, no matter what dimension or universe.
Jitterbug’s one way home was forgotten as she wrapped her arms around the larger man. He didn’t push her attempt of comfort away, he just stood still as she laid her head on his.
“If it’s any comfort. They really do love you.” It was a weak attempt to help him, but she honestly had no idea what to do in this situation. Her Frank never showed any emotion besides annoyance and concern.
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah thanks.”
“No really. You uh, you take them for rides in your car. Pick ‘em up from school like that and everything.” She smiled at the memory. She just stopped a robbery when she saw captain tightass himself drive up to a middle school in his squad car, loudly announcing for Lisa and Frank castle Jr. to come out with their hands up ready for a hug.
“They like it?”
She snorted. “God no! Theyre thirteen year olds, they get all red and embarrassed and pretend you don’t exist.”
“Yeah. I can see that.” He chuckled at the image. Surely Frank Jr. would stomp right by him into the car, grumbling about how he was the worst. Lisa would be embarrassed as well, but her smile would break through at the sight of her dad.
“You're such a dork.” She’d huff as he gave her a big hug.
“You know it sweetheart.”
“They really love you frank.” He looked at Jitterbug. She was kneeled in front of him, hands on his shoulder as she looked into his eyes. Her eyes were big and brown, filled with worry.
For a moment she looked like Maria.
“They're safe, Frank. Safe and happy and loved.” He blinked the image away. Christ, even her voice. So soft and cautious, like speaking to a frightened deer. It was just how his wife spoke when he first got home, nervous but caring. “That’s all you could want for them man. Believe me.”
This wasn’t Maria. She isn’t Maria. This was a completely different woman. One with a head of thick curls and the ability to shoot webs from her goddamn wrists. One from another universe, no connection to his loving wife and kids besides knowing his police officer counterpart.
Nonetheless. She had the ability to calm the caged beast, something he hadn’t felt since his wife’s sweet voice would anchor him to reality in his worst moments. Before it all turned to shit.
The moment was broken up when Matt walked into the building and cleared his throat. “Am I interrupting something?”
Jitterbug looked at him, then back at Frank. Surely it seemed...intimate. She cleared her throat and got up, groaning as she did. She always did have bad knees.
“Just swappin’ stories Devil-Dude. What’s up?”
“We got people coming, cops from the sound of it.”
“But I need more time.” She was nowhere near done and still had to test it to even see if it would work.
Frank gripped her arm. “It won’t be done at all if the cops catch us at the scene of the crime.”
“But what if-” She fell into his chest as she glitched once more, gripping his vest and shouting out in pain before she stabilized again. “Son of a bitch that smarts!”
He looked toward Daredevil, worry evident on his face. “Red we gotta get her out of here. Don’t think cops will see being from another dimension as a good alibi.”
She pushed herself away from Frank, pacing back and forth before groaning. “Fine!” Jitterbug webbed up her work from the last hour into a little white cocoon. She pointed a finger at Matt. “We’ll meet back up at your house and pray I can get this technological jigsaw puzzle working before my atoms start sizzling like an egg in a goddamn frying pan!” She shot a web to the ceiling, pulling her up and swinging out of an open window and sailing into the night sky.
A police siren alerted the two men to the cops presence, sending them sprinting out the back door and down an alley.
“You keep some weird company red.”
“I’ve started to notice.”