Frank Castle (June 1983)

As the weeks progressed there had been no sign of Frank Castle and he had officially been presumed dead by the authorities. Isabella and her team had been working tirelessly to uncover information that would explain why the CIA had put them on the case but also seemed to not really want to know the truth. She had found a bug in her office and others of her team had talked her out of going to Lauren until they had something more to work with.

His family were laid to rest and Isabella had decided to attend the funeral and burial. It was a rainy day and there were several people there from the family. Everyone she had interviewed had said the same thing about Frank. They couldn't believe what the police and the news had said about him. He loved his wife and his son dearly and he’d never do what they say he did.

As the priest began and she looked around she saw someone, a large man standing in amongst the headstones a good distance away. He had a dark, hooded jacket up onto his head. He just stood there watching the proceedings as the rain came down.

Isabella was extremely frustrated by this case. She knew that a cover up was happening, but uncovering the real truth was proving far more difficult than she had initially thought. When she found a bug in her office she started to become paranoid and actually began to fear for the safety of herself and her team. She didn't know if the CIA was also involved in this cover up, but she was starting to suspect that they possibly were.

Finally, Frank's wife and son were going to be buried. Isabella decided to attend the funeral and talk to as many people as possible about Frank. Everyone there told her the same thing. They couldn't believe that he would have done this. She stood back a little ways from the family as the funeral began. It was raining and she had an umbrella open. Suddenly, someone caught her eye. She spotted a man standing amongst the headstones far apart from everyone else. He was wearing a dark, hooded jacket with the hood pulled up around his head. He was clearly there for the funeral, but also didn't want to be noticed. Isabella's heart began to beat faster in her chest as she began to suspect he was Frank Castle.

She slowly stepped away from everyone else and walked around so that she came up behind him. She didn't want him seeing her walking towards him, otherwise he might flee. She wanted to talk to him.

"Mr. Castle?" she said softly. When he turned to look at her she quickly continued on. "My name is Isabella Corsetti. I work for the CIA and am on a team investigating your case. I knew you weren't dead...I also know that you didn't kill your wife and son."

“I know who you are Mrs. Corsetti, if I didnt we wouldnt be having this conversation. And no I didnt kill my wife nor my boy,” he said harshly. “You need to take a look at Alan Hickman. He was the commanding officer for for my unit in Afghanistan. We did some really naaty shit and yes I did go along with it. But those werr my sins, mine! Not my families. And im going to find everyone whose responsible and kill them,” he said. “Ive done some work for you,” he said then listed the five other members of his team. “They’re all dead except for me,” he said.

She’d know that Alan Hickman was running for the US Senate and that he was a former high level CIA Officer. Far above Laurens rank.

Isabella listened to what Frank had to say. She knew the name Alan Hickman. He was running for the US Senate and was a former CIA officer. Well this just got even more complicated.

“So, he doesn’t want word of what happened in Afghanistan to get out. I’m assuming he was looking for you in your house and your wife and child got in the way.”

Frank chuckled.”nothing you’ll be able to prove. I let you approach me because I wanted to tell you to stay out of my fucking way. Im going to kill people, alot of people, maybe some you know,” he said as he drew out his pistol. “Know now that coming in is not an option for me, I doubt it ever was,” he said. If she looked around she’d see two men in suits coming toward them from the direction that she had come.

“Draw your weapon Agent Corsetti,” he said and as she did Frank stepped forward and brutally struck her in the face with a hard left cross. When she came to no one was near her and she was completely drenched from the rain. There was no sign of Frank or the two she saw coming toward them.

When she stood she saw that she had several missed calls from Noah. When she called him he answered.

“Izzy, what the fuck is going on? We were just raided by the FBI. They even have a court order accusing us of insider trading,” he said frantically. “We’re an honest outfit Izzy, you know that!” He said extremely upset. “No one is saying anything, their just taking everything,” he said.

Isabella’s eyes widened when she heard what Noah said. Now she and Noah were being targeted and she assumed Alan Hickman was behind it. Her face still hurt from where Frank had hit her, but she would be alright.

She stepped away to where she wouldn’t be overheard. “I can’t talk to you over the phone,” she said. She feared even her cell phone might be bugged. “Can we meet at our place?” By that she meant their favorite restaurant. She didn’t trust that their apartment wasn’t bugged too.

Noah met her at their favorite italian restaurant. He even tipped the hostess for their usual table. He was extremely upset at this latest developement but the last few weeks of her late nights and working around the clock had also taken its toll upon him. He stood when she arrived and noticed the bruise on her cheek almost immediately and waited for her to sit before he sat.

“So you have an explanation why the FBI has decided to harass me? Me, my friends, everyone I work with? What the hell have you been doing Izzy? Your barely home before 11 and your gone most mornings before I lm even up,” he said barely able to contain his anger and frustration. Noah was probably the most patient man she knew and right now he was completely unhinged.

Isabella walked in and took a seat across from Noah at their usual table. She was still wet and a bruise was forming on her cheek from where Frank had hit her. She hated that Noah was being dragged into this. She couldn’t tell him exactly what was going on but she could tell him a few things.

“I’m involved in an investigation where there appears to be a huge cover up and now I’ve found out that a man running for office is involved in this whole thing.”

Noah’s eyes bulged and he gave her his cloth napkin to help dry off. He didn't respond immediately because he didnt really know what to say. This was what she had been training for. But was it really? He doubted someone so new would get something this loaded unless someone wanted her investigation to fail. Noah never doubted her before but he felt it now and he took up her hand in his.

“Izzy...is this really worth it? What if ‘they’ decide that going after just my business isn't enough? Are you going to drop this, because ive seen that look before,” he said and pointed at her face. “You dont come home and when you are home your still working. I know you fought hard to get where your at but do you think your going to really accomplish anything if they dont want you to? Why do you think they selected ‘you’ for this anyway?” He said before he realized what he said. He was very upset and actually frightened.

Isabella sighed as she looked at Noah. She understood what he was saying but she was in now and wasn’t prepared to back off.

“I can’t back off now Noah. This is too important. I understand what you are saying but my conscience can’t let me walk away. I know that I’m being used but I know what’s going on.”

Not one word about what she was putting him through. Nothing. “Isabella I love you but I didnt sign up for this. I had plans for us. Real plans but I wont watch as you dig a deeper ditch for yourself. So go ahead,” he said as he stood up and began to put his coat on. “Put your career ahead of me, ahead of us. When you come home I may not be there waiting for you this time,” he said and paused for her to say something more.

Isabella looked at Noah in surprise. Was he really doing this? Yes, things were a little stressful right now but it wasn’t always going to be that way. She just shook her head as he stood up. “I thought things had changed this time between us Noah. I thought this time that you were truly going to support me in what I was doing but I guess I was wrong about that. Things are not always going to be like this, but you can’t see past what’s going on right now. If I walk away from this right now I won’t be able to live with myself or look myself in the mirror.”

“See past…” Noah began and had a look of disbelief in his eyes. “Izzy, I’ve never asked you for anything. I’ve always been there, always waiting, always sitting back while you did what you needed to do. This  thing, this ‘fight’ doesn’t have a winner, only losers. You could do what you do anywhere but I’m here being hurt by what you’re doing and you can’t even say you’re sorry,” he said as tears welled up into his eyes. “I think maybe you should look at yourself in the mirror. You’re not that woman I fell in love with, you’re someone else racing toward oblivion and you don’t even care who you take with you,” he said as she shook his head and left her standing there. That night he didn’t come back to the apartment and he did not pick up his phone.

The next morning Lauren called her to her office. When she arrived Renee was there and she looked as if she had just been in a prize fight and not on the winning side. Lauren closed her door and lowered the blinds. She moved up to her desk and then opened up a small device then activated it.

Lauren was about 5’9”, about 125#, long, blonde wavy hair and bright blue eyes. She wasnt busty at all and had an athletic look. She had sacrificed two marriages for her job and had fought long and hard to be where she was now. A woman clearly in a man’s world. “We’re clean to speak private here,” he said then moved and sat in her large, brown leather chair behind her massive, mahogany desk. She wore a white and salmon pant suit and her sidearm belt hung on the coat hanger near the bookshelf behind her.

“I implore your initiative Agent Corsetti but you should have come to me alot sooner than now. If I had known what was happening I would have jerked you off this case so fast your head would have spun. Renee has filled me in though she had little choice,” She said. Renee looked disheveled and her eyes had a hunted, fearful look in them. "Two men were in her apartment waiting for her. I won’t go into what they did to her,” Lauren said dryly and her face had a serious, almost angry look to it.

“Tell me all that you’ve discovered. God I had thought this an open and shut case from what I was told,” She said as she waited.

Isabella was angry, upset, and frustrated after her talk with Noah. She wanted to argue with him that he had not always been there for her as he had said. He broke up with her when she went into the graduate program at the CIA and when she was in a serious car wreck he had never come to see her and make sure she was alright. While she would admit to most of the blame for what was happening between them now, she would not accept it all. However, that did not stop her heartache over losing him again. She had thought that this time it would end happily. She had been envisioning them getting married and having children, but that was not to be now.

The following morning she found herself in Lauren's office with Renee. She was shocked by Renee's appearance and knew that the time had come to reveal what they knew. She sighed and sat down. "I would have come to you sooner, but to be perfectly honest I wasn't sure who I could trust."

For the next hour she revealed everything that she and her team had uncovered. She spoke about having encountered Frank Castle alive in the cemetery and what he had told her. She gave all the evidence they had gathered and even revealed what had happened to Noah.

Lauren took in what Isabella sId and what she showed her. Lauren ofcourse knew who Alan Hickman was and who he was going to be.

“Most of this is just you and your agents opinions but I think I believe you. It takes high level connections to sick the feds on someone like that. And who’d hire a couple of thugs to rape a CIA agent?” She said and began to pace. What she was also concerned about was her own hide and her position.

“I will tell this to you straight, I was told to put you on this case. I didn't know why at first but I think we both know why now. They wanted a rookie, someone who they thought would either fuck it all up or run for the hills. Or just go with what evidence was provided for you,” she said a d chuckled. “Boy I gotta hand it to those brass monkeys they got up on the 9th floor. They picked the wrong woman didnt they,” she aid and laughed. She then moved to her desk, opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a bottle of single malt scotch and 3 small glasses. She filled them about a finger then recapped the bottle. She handed one to each of the other women.

“What we need is Frank Castle himself and willing to testify...well lets just get him in first right?” She said. “But thats a tall order if his military record is any judge,” she said. “Will you seek him out and bring him in Isabella, or do you think your...opinions of the evidence is enough?” She asked then sipped on her scotch.

Isabella took the glass of scotch and shot it down. She put the glass down on the table and let the scotch warm her mouth, throat, and stomach. She had been so happy to have been made the lead of this investigation but now she knew that she had only been thought of as a scapegoat. Her intelligence and talent had not been the reason. That caused her stomach to tie itself into knots. She had worked too hard for this.

She sighed when Lauren told her that they needed Frank Castle. She rubbed her head and ran her hand through her hair. "No, I doubt my opinions and evidence would be enough. Not after what you've told me. We need Frank, but I'm not sure where he is or how to find him." She then paused a moment as she thought about something he had said. "He did say he was going to kill everyone involved in the deaths of his wife and son. He is going to go after Alan Hickman. If we monitor him we should find Frank."

Renee downed hers as well. “Well I don't want to give up either. They killed his wife and son and commited crimes that we could only guess about “ she said as she stood. She looked at Isabella and she had tears in her eyes. “They wont scare me away Isabella. I want to help find Frank Castle,” she said defiantly.

—————-

1 week later…..

Isabella and her team were dispatched to an Italian restaurant at 2am. 8 men were killed by small arms fire and one of the men was a high level mobster just arrived from Italy. Andrea Fachin was one of the most notorious gangsters in New York thus this was a CIA matter though the FBI had tried to muscle in on the case. On the wall was a painted skull and the security cameras had been hacked before the murders.

As her people began the investigation Isabella did a check of the area around the restaurant. She found a liquor store across the street that had a video camera that pointed toward the restaurant. She asked for the tapes and they gave them to her once she flashed her badge. When she returned to the scene Renee began to document how each person was killed. After several hours Renee determined that one man with several different weapons killed them all, one after another. The gangsters returned fire but they still died.

Isabella was grateful to know that she would have Renee's help. She knew she was going to need it in order to find Frank Castle. Unfortunately, in addition to dealing with this case, she also had to move out of Noah's apartment. Thankfully, she had managed to find a new apartment pretty quickly with a decent rent. Her parents were disappointed in the breakup, especially her mother, but Isabella did not let it bother her.

Isabella had been asleep at her new place when she had gotten the call about the murders at the Italian restaurant. She got up and quickly got dressed and headed out to Little Italy where she was met by Renee. She thoroughly examined the crime scene but she wanted more evidence. Unfortunately, the security cameras in the restaurant had been tampered with, but she spotted an exterior camera on the liquor store across the street and after showing her badge she got the tapes.

Once they had collected all the evidence at the scene, they headed back to her office to review the tapes she had gotten from liquor store.

Renee ran the playback for Isabella. For the most part it was just a series of people coming and going. Renee ran it in fast forward and they slowed it down when they saw someone. However when a large man with some kind of body armor moved into view she paused it, played it back then ran it in real time. Frank stood with his back to the camera and on his back were several weapons. He pulled out a lighter than turned and faced the camera as he lit his cigar. When he did so the bloom of light from his lighter illuminated his face and it was as if he was looking right at her. Right at Isabella as if he knew she’d be the one looking at this tape. On the front of his body armor she saw the painted white skull.

“There’s no question now...what do we do? Everyone thinks Frank is dead,” Renee said. “He must have known who they were but I could find no connection to Alan Hickman. Do you think he’s also just going around punishing bad men?” She asked.

Isabella was trying to stay awake. She hadn't been getting very much sleep these past few weeks and it was now close to 5 a.m. Suddenly, she spotted something...or rather someone that caused her to fully wake up. She held her breath as she watched the man on the screen. She knew who it was before he even turned around. She saw the weapons on his back and had no doubt in her mind that he was the one who killed those men in the restaurant. As Frank finally turned around and looked up at the camera she felt as if he was looking directly at her. She saw the painted white skull on the front of his body armor and remembered the same symbol having been painted inside the restaurant.

She sighed and turned off the tape and got up and began to slowly pace. "Yes, I think he's become some kind of vigilante. Those men he killed at the restaurant were not connected to Alan Hickman but they had done some pretty bad stuff. However, that doesn't make what he's doing right. He clearly knows that I'm looking for him. I doubt he's going to let me get near him."

“You saw what he did to those men. While I know that they were criminals Isabella, what he’s doing is wrong. I think this is just a beginning for him. A man that is unwilling to negotiate is dangerous. He showed up intending to kill them all and he cleared out the restaurant safe. If he was able to hack into the camera system then we have to worry about that as well. However I feel that if we keep his identity a secret, for now, it gives us more of a chance of approaching him without a fight. If we put out an all points bulletin for his arrest, then he will know it was us and where we stand.” she said as she gestured toward the screen. “What do we do?” She asked concernedly.

Isabella sighed as she listened to Renee and then rubbed her face and eyes. Her exhaustion was starting to take a toll on her and she knew she was going to need to get some rest soon. She finally walked over to the window in her office and looked out. It was still dark out, but it was never fully dark in New York City. There were always lights on somewhere and those lights looked like stars in the night sky.

"We keep his identity a secret and hope we can find him and approach him. I'm worried about his mental state at this point and I'm not sure if he will listen to us, but we can at least try."

Renee noticed how tired Isabella was. She was about to say more and then just moved up to her and began to rub her shoulders. “I think maybe if you don’t get some sleep you won’t be able to find anybody, you’re so tense,” she said as she kneaded the muscles of her shoulders. Renee was still healing from the assault and she really didn’t want to go home right then. Well, not alone anyways. She knew that Isabella was into men. She had never met Noah West but she certainly heard about him. There was a reason Renee never had boyfriends, a fact that she had to hide if she intended on being a CIA agent. She knew she was attracted to Isabella the moment she saw her but up until now she wouldn’t have dared speak up about how she felt about her. The problem was it had only been a month since her breakup.

“I...I don’t want to be alone tonight Isabella,” Renee said softly and paused in what she was doing with her shoulders. Being fair of skin she barely had anymore bruises on her face but her cheeks seemed to take on a slight pinkish hue to them. When Isabella turned her head to face Renee. Renee would shift slightly as if she were going to move in to kiss her right then and there.

Isabella was surprised by what she realized Renee was doing and she gently pulled her face away and then took a step away from Renee. She had had no idea of Renee's sexuality, nor that she was attracted to her. She knew that she needed to handle this situation very delicately. She considered Renee to be a friend and didn't want to lose that friendship.

"Renee...I'm sorry but I can't give you what you want," she said gently. There was no judgement in her voice or in her eyes. "Please...let me just be your friend. I want to be your friend. We can go back to my place. I have a spare bedroom you can sleep in. That way neither of us are alone."