SUNSHINE [Frank Castle]

CHAPTER SIX - FRANK CASTLE'S LAWYER

"Mr. Castle, my name is Charlotte Romanoff, and these are my associates, Matthew Murdock, Franklin Nelson and Karen Page. We'd like to help you." Charlotte introduced herself to the man who already knew her.

She didn't expect him to play along. But he did. "Why's that?"

"Because I've looked over your case, because I know what you do and have done and I don't think you deserve to die or get a life sentence," Charlotte explained. "Now, the question is, are you going to cooperate and do as we say?"

Frank looked up at her, bruised and broken, and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. We'll see you back here later so that you can tell the judge how you plead."

Charlotte, Matt, Foggy and Karen began to leave. Charlotte was last, and was about to leave the room when Frank's voice stopped her.

"Hey."

"What?" She turned back only a fraction of the way, still halfway out of the door.

"Can you stay? Please."

She sighed, then poked her head out of the door. "Hey! I've got some things to ask him. I'll see you guys back here later."

"You sure you wanna be alone with him?" Foggy asked. Matt didn't so much as glance back at her.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. He's strapped down, right?"

"Right. I'll see you later then." There was still concern in her friend's eyes, and she shook her head.

"I'll be fine, Foggy. You worry too much. I'll see you later." She fully reentered the room and closed the door, then pulled a chair up to Frank's bed. "So, why am I still here?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Helping you? It's just like I said. I don't think you deserve what the DA wants to give you." Her eyes stayed on him, locked with his as she spoke in her calm, cool tone. "And, I don't think that what you did was wrong, necessarily."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You only kill the bad ones, right? Murderers, abusers, rapists? I support that. I don't think it's wrong to want to get rid of them."

Frank seemed to consider her for a moment, as if wondering if she was telling the truth. "Your friend Red know you think that?"

Red. That was what he called Matt when he was Daredevil. "Yes, he does. We aren't partners anymore."

"Why's that?"

"Differing moral standards. In short, he now thinks I'm a monster for saying you might be a decent man."

"Yeah, well you took the wrong side of that, Sunshine."

"Is that so?" She eyed him, looking over each part of the broken man as if she could see through the hard, bruised exterior to see what lay inside his heart. "Because I think that's bullshit."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I think the big, bad Punisher exterior is bullshit. Don't get me wrong, you are intimidating as shit, but I don't think you're nearly as scary as you think you are, and I think you care a lot more than you want to let on. You want to do good things for this city, to get rid of the bad people to save the good. I think that you might just be a good man, Frank Castle."

"You a shrink or a lawyer?" She could've sworn she saw a ghost of a smile from him then.

"Diverting. Nice." She stood from her chair and walked toward the door. "You aren't a psycho murderer, Frank. I know that, I can see it. Soon, so will everyone else. I'll make sure of it."

"You must be one hell of a damn lawyer."

"Oh, I am," she assured him, a smirk playing on her lips. "I'll see you later today with a judge."
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"The trial of the People of New York V. Frank Castle is now in session. Has the defence prepared their opening statement?"

Charlotte stood and nodded. "Yes, Your Honour."

The judge motioned for her to come to the front and begin, and so she did. She turned to the jury and addressed them directly. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I want you to imagine something. Imagine that you have just come home from the hell of war, from serving your country, to your family. Now, all you want to do is to be with them. Your spouse and children. And so the day after you get home, you take your kids to the park to play, because that's what families do, and you desperately want to feel like you are normal and have a normal family life again.

"So you go, and your kids want to go on the carousel. So of course, you do. The four of you get on, and as you're going around and around, having fun— bang!" The jury jumped a little at her sudden interruption of her own words. "Your family is gone. Every one of them. And no justice comes for them. The whole thing gets covered up. Can you imagine it? I bet you can't. I bet you can't even fathom something so horrible happening to you.

"But it happened to Frank Castle. And so this isn't about him, this is about the justice system failing a grieving father who wants nothing more than justice for his family. The justice system failed Frank Castle. They covered it up instead of getting to the bottom of it and bringing the murderers to prison, where they belong. And they're still trying to cover it up, by putting Frank Castle in prison to silence him."

The door to the courtroom opened and out of the corner of her eye she saw Matt enter. She tensed, but forced herself to continue.

"So please, I ask you all, throughout this trial, try to imagine what exactly it is to be Frank Castle." She turned to the judge and nodded. "That will be all, Your Honour."

She returned to their table and sat down beside Frank, who raised an eyebrow at her. "That was a pretty thick slice of bullshit there, Sunshine."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's your ass if it wasn't thick enough."

God, she hoped it was.