Echo

Chapter 33

Quinn's POV three days later

Checking over her shoulder one more time Quinn double checked that she was unobserved before ducking into the woods. No one could follow her, least of all Steve. Picking up her pace she followed the lightly walked trail that would lead her to the spot that she'd told Frank to meet her. She hated keeping secrets from her boyfriend, but this was for her safety and his peace of mind. As much as Steve wouldn't like it she had to do this. Silently picking her way over fallen logs and through thick underbrush Quinn finally found herself in the small clearing on the edge of the woods near the road that led up to the Compound. If she strained her ears she could faintly hear the passing traffic of cars coming and going. Just like she could hear Frankie before she saw him.

Leaning with her shoulder against a large tree Quinn smirked at how she had once again gotten the drop on the hyperaware former soldier. Checking him over she smirked. He was going for assassin chic today dressed head to toe in his usual black on black. Black t-shirt tucked into black jeans tucked into black military boots, although she saw he had a dark blue jacket folded neatly on top of his backpack. Wow, some actual color, she was impressed. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

At the sound of her softly spoken voice Frank's head snapped up from where he was seated on a stump sharpening one of his wickedly sharp bowie knives. Gifted with a crooked grin from his scruffy face Quinn rushed over to give her friend a hug as he stabbed the blade of his knife into the wood he was using as a seat. "So you're gettin' hitched to the Boy Scout, huh." It sounded like a question, but was more of a statement. She could tell he was happy for her even if his smile looked more like a grimace.

Letting her go he watched as she moved to sit against the base of the tree next to his stump. She waffled her head as she shrugged. "Yes and no. The guy who put me into the hospital and wiped my memories is after me. This is my way of flushing him out." She said simply.

"Elaborate." Sitting back down Frankie leaned forward bracing his forearms on his knees, tilted his high and tight shaved head in that way he did as he pinned her with a steady stare of his whiskey colored eyes. Picking up his knife he rotated his wrist at her that said, explain in double time, darlin'. Always so impatient, she thought to herself. "How would gettin' hitched to Blondie get Frenchie to come to you?" He might make fun of Steve, but she knew Frank respected him greatly for his role in the War, for taking down Hydra and all of his continued work to stop corruption around the world.

Picking up the wet stone he got back to sharpening his knife giving her a doubtful look. "You're gonna be squared up in a secure building surrounded by dozens of enhanced mercs and assassins. There's no way this Richelieu prick is dumb enough to waltz in and snatch you no matter how attractive a prize you are."

Tell me how you really feel about my plan, Frankie, she rolls her eyes at him as she uses a stick to draw random designs into the dirt.

"That's very true, but he's not gonna come for me at the engagement party. No, Henri is gonna bide his time and wait for when things are a little more calmly chaotic." Knowing exactly what she meant because he was the one who taught her all about that crazy term, he nods.

When Quinn had run into Frank Castle a few years back she'd nearly killed him and he almost killed her. It was only once it was firmly established via Matthew Murdock that neither was technically on the bad guys side they'd teamed up. Seeing as he was going after the guys her and Wade were, they'd briefly teamed up when she won the broody former soldier over with her impeccable wit and charm. It had been like sailing at sea during a hurricane trying to keep Frank from blowing Wade up by the end of the first day. He'd sort of given up when she'd told him Wade couldn't die so he'd just be wasting bullets and C4. Every now and then they'd meet up for a few days at a time if they knew the other would be a good backup option. It was over the course of these years of Quinn knowing Frank that he'd taken her under his wing and taught her everything he knew.