An AU where Sutton meets Frank Castle. (And in this one she's seen more of the MCU movies because reasons.)

All because I finally watches S1-2 of Daredevil.

[previously posted on tumblr]

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Sutton sat curled up in the back corner of the meat freezer she was locked in. The frigid air bit at the bruises and scratches that marred her face and legs as she continued to shiver. She was so cold. Sutton wiped tears away before they could freeze.

All it took was a couple wrong turns in Hell's Kitchen for her to be nearly knocked unconscious and dragged into a cartel base. She just wanted to find a little bakery she'd seen online, and now she was in real danger of not making it to the end of the day.

The men outside in the butcher shop were still arguing. Sutton didn't speak Spanish, but she knew enough to understand that the one who'd grabbed her recognized her in connection to Tony. She didn't have to speak Spanish to understand that the rest of his gang thought his, likely a ploy for ransom, idea was stupid since Tony was Iron Man.

But Sutton had dropped her phone when he struck her from behind and she didn't know how often Tony checked in on her location. By the time he noticed her missing, it would probably be too late.

No, no, no. She couldn't think like that. She had to believe she would make it out.

But the freezer was locked from the outside and there were cartel members standing within sight of the door.

They were discussing what to do about her now. She could feel it in her gut.

A shot rang out above their bickering; their arguing turned to yelling and the thudding of feet. Sutton's eyes cut sharply over to the freezer door. More shots went off. There was a scream cut short.

Her reactor sped up her heart rate in response as she struggled to stand but her legs were nearly frozen together. More screams managed to pierce the freezer door and she stuck in place, her eyes locked on the small window in the door.

The cartel in Hell's Kitchen, being attacked in a butcher shop. It felt familiar, but her mind was too panicked to pinpoint why.

When the screaming died down she forced herself to the freezer door. It could be another gang attacking this one, sure, but either way she wasn't in a good spot; and she'd rather take her chances outside the freezer.

The window in the door was too high and too small to be of much use to her. Sutton banged her fist on the door and hoped that someone was close enough to hear it.

"Help! Help, please! I'm- I'm locked in here!"

It felt like the vibrations from her knocking froze in the air and crashed to the ground every time she tried. She couldn't even tell how hard she was really hitting the door with how numb her hand was.

They would hear her, they would hear her, they would hear her.

They had to. Otherwise she wasn't getting out.

The door handle clicked and turned, and Sutton scrambled back. A gun barrel pushed through first followed by a man.

Her mind finished computing its earlier thought about this all being familiar.

"Frank! Oh, thank God."

Frank Castle stared at her with a stoic expression as he took her in. His gaze flickered over her bruised face and scratched limbs and he refused to lower the barrel of his gun.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Sutton Regan; those guys abducted me because I work for Tony Stark. I mean, at least, that's the gist I got. I just want to go home."

Getting the important information out would help, right? Identifying herself and her reason for being there so he wouldn't confuse her for anything other than a victim.

She shivered violently and Frank lowered his gun only marginally.

"How do you know my name?"

That stopped her. The cold made her thinking slow, slower than usual, and she blinked once as she processed the question.

She should not recognize Frank Castle.

Frank Castle probably wouldn't like that she recognized Frank Castle.

She could have said a lot of things. She could have said she read about his family in the paper or seen an article about his company's tour online. Anything remotely plausible, which still probably wouldn't have helped, but would have been a lot better than,

"I'm not part of the cartel, I swear."

Frank stared at her again, unreadable, then grunted and holstered his gun.

"You gonna try an' fight me?"

Sutton sighed and it took more coordination than it should have to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"No."

"Can you walk?"

"Not as quickly as you need to get out of here."

He grunted again and moved closer to her. Sutton didn't try to scramble away as he picked her up in a princess carry. Frank backed out of the freezer and Sutton instinctively looked to the side. She wished she wouldn't have.

The cartel members hung on meat hooks like animals and it- it was real. It wasn't something she could reassure herself was special effects. She recognized the guy on the end as the dumb one who'd grabbed her.

They were horrible, dangerous people. She had no doubt they'd killed plenty of others and probably would have killed her before the end of the day.

But she still didn't want to see their guts.

Sutton turned her face away, which inadvertently had her pressing her nose against Frank's chest. It took her body a moment to finally realize he was warm. She pressed herself closer in a desperate bid to thaw.

Frank started to head for the back exit and Sutton snapped her head up. At least her thinking was starting to thaw faster than her body.

"Wait!"

"If you're gonna beg for me to let you go, I can't do that."

"No, no. I get it. But I can be tracked."

"Excuse me?"

His tone shifted downward and Sutton peered up at him as she pulled her shirt low enough to reveal her arc reactor. Frank's brow puckered in surprise, but that was about it. His stare was piercing, calculating. Sutton had thrown a wrench in his plans and now he had to recalculate.

"Can you just, you know, do the tin foil thing?"

"You're talkin' about a Faraday cage."

"Yeah, if you cover my reactor-"

"That's not how-"

"It'll work." She said sharply. "Just, don't tell me the specifics on how a Faraday cage operates. Please, trust me. Make one around the reactor as best you can and it'll work."

"I don't know who you are," said Frank.

"And we don't have enough time for me to convince you to trust me."

He at least agreed that time was of the essence now. Frank grabbed a roll of plastic wrap and tin foil from the shop's stores and had her hold onto them as he picked her back up and left the butcher shop.

There was a car waiting parked in a back alley, and Frank put her down in the passenger seat and shut the door quickly as if she might try to make a break for it. But her legs were still mostly frozen and she wasn't stupid.

He hurried into the driver's seat then locked the doors before driving away.

An awkward silence bloomed in the car and Sutton shivered as she fiddled with the boxes in her lap. Frank glanced at her then turned up the heat and swiveled the fans in her direction.

"Thank you."

"Are you gonna start talking or am I gonna have to start asking questions?"

Sutton waggled her pointer finger at her head.

"I was in that freezer for a while. How about you ask questions."

Frank snorted lightly.

"How about you start with how you know who I am."

Sutton tried to rapidly consider her options, but every millisecond damned her. She didn't particularly want to spread the news to every main character she met that she knew who they were, their secrets, and their life trajectory. Plus, her knowing Frank's tragic past would make it easier for him to convince her to tell him everything she knew about what may come next and how he could change it.

She still wasn't sure if she cared about that anymore.

And anyway, he may not even believe her if she told him the truth. Aliens and superheroes were one thing. A girl from a world that used yours for entertainment was quite something else.

"I saw you in the, uh, paper. The newspaper." She finally said. "I, um. I remembered because it was sad."

"Uh-huh." Said Frank. "You wanna try that again with the truth?"

Sutton dropped her head in exasperation and groaned.

"Seriously? Every time?" She muttered. "If this were a running gag, it'd be getting pretty old by now."

"Well?"

"Pass?"

"Not an option."

She groaned quietly again and let her head fall back against her seat. Maybe she didn't have to tell him the entire truth. Maybe she could spin it without technically lying.

"Look. You're not going to believe me."

Frank maneuvered the car through traffic and spared her one quick glance.

"Tell me anyway."

"Fine. It's- I used to have…visions, of a sort." "Visions," Frank said flatly.

"Yes. Visions. Kind of. It was," Sutton rolled her hand in the air as she pretended to think about how to explain it. "It was like watching a scene in a movie or show," she said. "I would get snippets of people's lives. Moments. But, as you may guess, I don't exactly like sharing that with people. They get the wrong idea about what I actually know."

Frank was silent as he absorbed her explanation and Sutton hoped she was convincing. It wasn't a lie, so hopefully it would be. Enough for him to not dig for specifics at least.

"You had visions. Of me." He said. "But you don't have them anymore."

"I don't have any anymore. I, well, I lost that…ability."

The car turned into a public parking lot and Frank parked in a back corner, out of direct line of sight of the road. He turned off the car and just sat and stared at her for a moment. Sutton shifted in her seat and pulled at a loose strand of hair.

"Do you believe me?"

"Dunno. I think there's plenty you're not saying."

Sutton nodded slowly.

"Yeah."

His brow puckered again as if her cavalier answer confused him. Instead of responding or demanding further explanation, he jutted his chin at the supplies still in her lap and she passed them over.

"You wearing anything under that?"

Sutton assumed he meant her shirt and nodded. She pulled the shirt off without him asking further and sat in her cami as Frank grabbed a first aid kit from the back seat. He dug out a roll of medical tape and then set to his task.

He ripped off strips of plastic wrap and tin foil and alternated them in several layers before he ended with a last layer of tin foil, put the entire thing over her reactor, and taped it over her skin.

A Faraday cage would keep the signal from getting out and giving anyone the ability to track her, but it wouldn't interfere with its functioning. That's definitely how Faraday cages worked.

"Why did you tell me you could be tracked?"

Frank's voice broke her out of her concentration and Sutton swallowed.

"You're not supposed to be caught right-" she quickly stopped herself from adding 'now', "and, well, I don't want to mess things up for you."

He eyed her more sharply.

"You know what I'm doin', don't you? You saw what I did to those scumbags."

Sutton avoided eye contact by busying herself with putting her shirt back on. Frank looked away while she did.

"I know."

"And you don't feel like you oughta turn me in?"

It was complicated. There were still a lot of emotions churning inside her, and Sutton didn't know how to express all of them. At least, not in a way that didn't make her sound like a cold-hearted psychopath.

"They were going to kill me," she said.

And for the first time the idea really sunk in. She'd known it, on a superficial level, the entire time, but now it meant something. She shivered again despite being mostly thawed out.

She would have died today if it wasn't for Frank.

"Yeah." Frank agreed.

"You saved my life, by doing what you did. You probably saved other people that they would've hurt in the future. Why should I turn you in?"

Frank's head tipped back as he looked down at her, his expression somewhere between impressed and slightly dumbfounded. He grunted again and started the car back up.

Silence settled in the car once again, and Sutton thought it wasn't quite as heavy this time. Frank parked along a curb and once again reached into the back seat, this time pulling out a baseball cap. He held it out to her and Sutton accepted it and put it on without complaint. It was probably to try and conceal her bruised face.

He turned his head towards her before he opened his door.

"You're not going to run for it."

"That'd be pretty pointless, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's just go. Might as well happen today anyway."

Luckily she'd thawed out enough to competently walk, and she followed silently after him as he walked to a building down the block and opened a door at street level. He pushed it open and gestured for her to go in first. Sutton wasn't sure if it were due to chivalry or making sure she really didn't run.

The apartment was sparse, even in the entryway, and Sutton paused as she realized she could attempt to prove herself as being honest.

"You're taking care of a dog," she said. Frank looked down at her sharply. "It's a gray pit bull, and you took it from the Irish after you shot them up. You patched its wounds."

Frank eyed her a second longer then brushed past her and entered another room. There were radios and gear strewn over every available surface. A board with notes sat on the other end.

And there was the dog.

"The dog was in one of your visions." Frank said flatly.

The dog wagged its tail on their entrance and Sutton smiled at it and made her way over. It welcomed her in the exact way a vicious guard dog shouldn't.

She kept her eyes on the dog as she scratched behind its ears.

"It was part of one, yes."

"You're trying not to say something again." He commented. "You know, I'd appreciate not having to play games."

Sutton winced and straightened as she faced him. She considered him, her situation, and wondered how long he'd insist on keeping her here.

She didn't doubt he'd let her go before the end of the day. Frank was a man on a mission and he had bigger fish to fry than her.

But he could still get enough information from her to severely alter the future. At least for Matt Murdock and a few others.

"I know you're a no-nonsense kind of guy, and I get you want me to tell you whatever I know. But I'll be honest with you, Frank, I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Then you know something important."

She winced again and Frank tipped his head back in a gesture of victory.

"Look, it's not like I don't want to- I mean, there's plenty of ways for all this to go more cleanly, but I could also make things worse."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Frank said with a wave of his hand. "You could make things worse?"

Sutton frowned.

"Yes. By telling you what I know."

"You think what I may do with the information you have is on you? You think you're responsible for my choices?"

"In a way," Sutton argued. "Because there's a chain of events with bad things that happen and good things, and if I tell you, you're going to alter some of your choices, or try to jump ahead, and it could cause other bad things to happen."

"You don't know what I'd do."

"Maybe, but I know what a few other people have done. And they never just sit on what I know and do nothing."

Frank said nothing in response and they stared at each other before Sutton broke and looked away. The dog pressed against her leg and Sutton rubbed at its head absently.

"How long do I have to stay before you decide I can leave?"

"You know who I am, where I'm holed up, and what I'm aiming for. You can understand why I'd be reluctant, ma'am."

Sutton rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to turn you in. I already told you that."

"Because of your vision stuff?"

She shifted slightly.

"Partially, yeah."

They kept coming to stand stills and Sutton wasn't sure how to progress. If she told Frank about the Blacksmith, it could save an entire court case and quite a bit of bloodshed. It could also get Karen killed.

Unless, of course, Frank went after his former Major first.

If he even believed her.

She shook her head and rubbed at her temple. Was she even considering it? Was she open to being stupid just because Frank had a tragic backstory and saved her life?

Tony and Thor were told of future events and took advantage of them. The world hadn't collapsed and no one she knew died from it.

And wasn't that a horrible, justifying thought.

No one she knew.

"Doing some serious thinkin' over there."

"Thinking about how much trouble I'm going to be in later for not only getting abducted twice in one day, but also telling someone else I… know things."

"You get in situations like this often?"

"I wouldn't say often."

"Mhm." Frank crossed his arms over his chest and jutted his chin at her. "Well?"

Sutton squinted, crossed her own arms, twisted her lips to the side in annoyance.

"How stubborn are you?"

"Ma'am, I was in the Marines. Ninety percent of my job was to hurry up and wait."

"Dang it."

The horrible realization that she'd have to tell him the big thing, give him the name of the guy at the top, just to try and circumvent any truly heinous fallout was daunting.

Any different than Tony knowing Aldrich was his next nemesis? Any different than telling Thor Malekith was his next threat?

To be fair, she didn't think Tony or Thor would grab an AR-15 and immediately set out to cap a fool.

Well, to be really fair, Thor didn't have or need an AR-15.

"You actually believe I know something useful? You're not just waiting to see what I'll say and then halfway commit to seeing if it's true? Because, let me tell you, that could cause major, horrible, unforeseen ramifications."

"Ma'am." Frank said sternly. "You tell me something substantial and the devil himself couldn't stop me."

Sutton snorted lightly even as she steeled herself. She took a deep breath.

"Off the record," she said with an eye roll, "um, hm, I can't believe I'm doing this, but the- the gang… shooting you got caught in was supposed to be a sting to catch a main drug supplier. A guy called The Blacksmith."

Frank's gaze sharpened and he leaned forward; the intensity of eye contact made Sutton's stomach twist. He licked his bottom lip and nodded.

"Who is it? Give me his name."

Sutton grimaced.

"You have no real reason to right now, but I'm begging you to believe what I'm about to say. Because, as it is, he almost kills someone when you didn't find out until later."

Frank nodded.

"I don't actually remember his name, it's been awhile since I've seen the, uh, vision. But it's your old Major. The one who didn't listen to you when you wanted to retreat and you had to clear a way to the helicopter alone. The first man you'd think of for a good character witness."

Frank didn't move. His stare was hard.

"Ray Schoonover," he said.

"Yes."

The air turned thick. Frank turned away and rubbed at the back of his head, the pointer finger on his right hand twitched rapidly at his side. Sutton swallowed and turned her attention back to the dog. She kept her eye on Frank's pacing so she noticed when he turned back to her.

"Tell me something else." He said. "Something so I know you're real."

"One batch, two batch, penny and dime."

He looked like she'd struck him. His back was stiff and his eyes were wide as he stared down at her. His chest heaved. Sutton sighed and forced herself to not look away; it felt disrespectful to try to hide in any way after saying something he held so sacred.

"Alright. Okay."

She stood and Frank braced himself against one of the tables, his fists curled. Sutton inched closer at the growing look of violence blooming in his eyes. Tentatively, she placed her hand over his.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

This time he didn't look at her. His eyes were set ahead and he only vaguely swayed in her direction.

"That you have to go through this. That I didn't get here sooner, I guess."

He looked down at her hand and Sutton pulled away.

"Was that substantial enough?"

He swallowed.

"Yeah.

Sutton nodded and took a few steps back; Frank didn't try to stop her. She waffled in the doorway as she looked at the dog.

"Maybe I should take him."

"What?"

"The Irish are looking for you," she said, gesturing. "I never really found out what happened to him."

Frank's jaw clenched.

"Take him, then. His name is Max."

She untethered his leash and Max happily went along with her.

"Max. Did you name him?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh, fine."

That, of all things, seemed to throw Frank off enough that his rage dimmed.

"What? You got a problem with the name?"

"No, no. It's fine. It's just- you know, he feels more like a Cupcake."

Frank snorted in bewilderment.

"You're a grown woman. Do not call my damn dog Cupcake."

"Food names for animals are funny. And he's sweet. He'd be lucky."

It felt very strange to take a vigilante's dog and leave him after dropping an information bomb on him the size of the one she had. There were too many loose threads dangling that she had no control over and she knew she wouldn't be getting much sleep.

She had yet to process any part of the day.

"You gonna need a ride?"

Sutton waved dismissively and tried to smile.

"No, I'll just set off an alarm on this and Tony 'll come get me," she said, pointing to her reactor. "But, seriously, thank you, Frank. You saved my life and- and I know I probably shouldn't agree with what you're doing but-" She mulled over her words as she tried to figure out how much to reveal about her own thought process. "It's effective."

"It's nothing less than they deserved."

"Probably." She cleared her throat and feigned lightheartedness. "Well, if things feel like they're not going the right direction, just look me up. I'm on the Stark Industries website. I'll help if I can."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Good luck, Frank."

Sutton limped down the sidewalk, Max trotting at her side, and she made sure to at least be a block away from Frank's hideout before she peeled off the questionable Faraday cage. Her reactor beeped shrilly and Sutton assumed that meant Jarvis was already aware something was wrong. She leaned against a building to wait.

"You know," she said, looking down at a wagging Max, "I thought Cupcake was a perfectly good name."