ALL NOVEL Chapter 49: Chapter: 49
Chapter: 49
"Daddy, how long are we going to be staying here? And where's Mommy?" Frank Castle's son asked as we entered my penthouse. I had offered to let him and the two kids temporarily stay here until Frank sorted out his 'business' with them. By that, I mean he was probably about to go on a killing spree and wanted to leave his kids in a safe place. And as far as safe places went, my penthouse was pretty secure. Wilson Fisk spared no expense tricking this place out with the latest of everything. Security systems included.
Frank's youngest didn't quite understand that his mother was gone. Frank's daughter did understand, though, and had hardly stopped crying the entire time.
"Sorry about the lack of necessities," I told Frank as we got the kids situated into one of the bedrooms. "I just moved in today and wasn't expecting guests." At least this place came fully furnished, so no one was sleeping on the floor.
Frank still had a somber expression on his face over his wife's passing, but he still gave me a small smile. "Don't worry about it. This place is great..." He trailed off. He looked very distracted.
"Do you want my help?" I asked him. We both knew that I was talking about helping him get revenge. He seemed surprised that I offered but shook his head 'no.'
"No. They killed my wife. Two of those soldiers you killed... they were my former comrades from Operation Cerberus. I thought we were brothers. I can't believe that they would try to kill me and my family!" He said angrily. He looked ready to smash something but held himself back. He probably didn't want to wreck any of his benefactor's stuff. "Just give me some time to sort out a proper safe house for my kids and we'll all be out of your hair." I didn't bother insisting that they were free to stay here. He was a prideful man and I could tell that such an offer would make him believe that I thought him weak.
I didn't talk to Frank at all after that. He went inside his own temporary room to stew in his rage while I went out to stock up on food now that I had some unexpected guests. A few hours later, after they had cried themselves out, Frank's kids left their rooms in search of food.
"Sorry, I didn't get either of your names earlier," I said to them as I sat down on my couch with a slice of freshly cooked pizza. I had no need to actually eat, but there was no way I'd ever be giving up food.
"I saw you on TV! You were really cool when you and Iron Man stood up to that bad wizard! My name is Frank! Just like my daddy!" The younger boy enthusiastically responded between bites of his own pizza.
"My name is Lisa... Thank you for saving us. It hurt so much and I thought we were gonna die." The girl said with less enthusiasm than her brother. She was still obviously distraught by getting shot multiple times. Especially since she looked to be no older than 12 or 13 years old. The younger brother looked to be 6 or 7.
I gave them both a large smile. What happened to them both was horrible. Frank Jr. hadn't quite grasped it due to his young age, but Lisa had. I was hoping to distract them from it for a bit and I had just the thing. I told the two to follow me into one of the entertainment rooms on the second floor.
"Wow, that's a really big TV!" Frank Jr. exclaimed, pointing at the 120-inch mounted TV on the wall. "I didn't know they made them that big! Can we watch something?"
"Sure thing. Put on whatever you want to watch," I said as I passed them the remote.
"Awesome!" He exclaimed as he took it and started randomly mashing buttons. "Hey, Lisa, what's the Disney channel?"
"It's 33," she answered automatically while cracking a small smile.
"Ok," the younger boy replied as he seemed to ignore her answer and just started randomly mashing random numbers on the remote. I snickered at that.
His sister chastised him and tried to take the remote from her little brother. "You're typing it in wrong! Give it to me!" She said as she tried to grab it.
"No, I want to do it!" Frank Jr. stood up and started running all around the room as he kept mashing buttons. His sister stood up and started chasing after him!
"No, give it here!"
"No! Stay away!"
I sat off to the side quietly laughing as the two siblings squabbled with each other over the remote. I know it had only been a couple of hours since the worst event of their lives, but they seemed like strong kids who would overcome it.
CLICK!
"Huh?" A loud metallic click sounded out from behind the large TV. The large screen then did something that I was not expecting. It started sliding along the wall where it was mounted. It moved over a few feet along some invisible tracks before it moved along far enough to reveal a mid-sized safe that was hiding right behind.
[Mission Complete! You have discovered Wilson Fisk's Secret Safe!]
He hid it behind the TV… the one obvious place I didn't check. The TV just looked so expensive I didn't want to mess with it in any way. In fact, that's probably why the police never found it either. I looked over at the two kids next to me who almost had stars in their eyes. Somehow, during their funny scuffle over the remote, they must have typed in some secret code to reveal the safe. Was that a result of my Luck?
[Doubtful, that was a 7 digit number code those squabbling kids just randomly typed in. Your luck is high, but not that high. That was nothing more than pure coincidence… or was it?]
I ignored the System's ominous question as I stood up from my seat and walked over to the safe to see what was inside. The safe itself also looked to require a passcode but I didn't even bother. I conjured a tiny light dagger in my hand which easily melted through the steel and soon I had the safe open. Inside wasn't a bunch of cash or jewels like I had expected. It looked like a bunch of stock certificate papers… for Oscorp?
-A Large Corporate Building Across The City-
Knock Knock!
*Cough* "Come in!" A raspy voice called out. The owner of that voice was Norman Osborn. He used to be one of the wealthiest and most envied men on the planet. He still had the wealth of course… well most of it, but the envy had long since dried up. Now all he received in his life were looks of pity. Norman was laying in bed in his office/hospital room. A few years ago, he had contracted a rare and incurable genetic disease. With that, came the news that he only had a few years to live! Norman would never accept that! His only heir was his idiot son, and if Norman died he knew his company and legacy would fall to ruin shortly after.
So he hired the brightest minds on the planet and spared no expense in funding any of their research in search of a cure. In order to fund all of this… Norman ended up selling off large portions of his company's stock. That later turned out to be one of his greatest regrets… Everyone still incorrectly assumed Norman still ran Oscorp. They were wrong.
"Excuse me, sir…" Norman's latest secretary/caregiver entered the room. "You asked us to keep you updated on anything related to… Mr. Fisk." The secretary said the name of the man who held the majority of Norman's wrath these days. Fisk had been the one to purchase the majority share of Oscorp's stock... under the table. In his foolish search for a cure, Norman had allowed Fisk to become the secret owner of Oscorp almost overnight. The Kingpin liberally used the tech company's massive resources to further his own criminal agendas. Norman was helpless to stop him and could only lament as his company was slowly corrupted.
That was until a certain 'Devil' vigilante had ended up doing the impossible and taking down the Kingpin a year ago. While in prison, Fisk could no longer influence his company but he still technically owned it. In order to rectify that and regain control, Norman had all of Fisk's assets secretly searched to try and recover those stock certificates but he never found them.
"Someone moved into Wilson Fisk's old penthouse, sir. They actually moved in today." His secretary informed him.
"That's what you came in here to bother me with!?" Norman rasped out in annoyance. "Who cares. We had all the police on our payroll search that place over ten times. There's nothing there. That place is worthless. No… Fisk was far too clever to keep those certificates anywhere in the City. I'm sure he's hidden them in some offshore bank that would be much harder to find." Norman speculated out loud.
"Of course, sir. You're right as always! Sorry for bothering you. Just one more thing. Your son wanted to know if you would be attending his birthday party this year?" They asked him.
Norman scowled. "Of course I won't be attending. I have far more important things to do! Now go away!" Norman shouted, and his secretary left the room in haste. He sat back and cursed Fisk once again. He vowed he would regain control of his company no matter what!
XXX
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