Jessica was getting closer. She could feel it. After weeks of no leads and less patience, she'd finally found a theory worth testing. And judging by the few paltry clues she'd managed to piece together, tonight was her best chance.

Gao used to get her shipments on the piers so maybe her lackies were still using the old routes. Danny'd been shutting down all the Handies he could find but Jess knew things the kid didn't. Like shell corps. Like the power of a profit. And if psycho bitch and Matt had somehow survived Midland Circle, then the wrinkled old cow and the Jackie Chan asshole must have too. Find them, and she'd finally have a concrete line on Elektra. She just had to find the right pier.

Jessica had to admit this case had caught her interest. Maybe because she had a personal reason to want to find (and by 'find' she meant 'punch into oblivion') Elektra, but she felt more invested in this than she had since Hope. Besides, Matt was paying her well. And, if she knew anything about trauma, he was still having the nightmares, and maybe finding out how he came to be in that hellhole would help.

Or so she told herself.

She fiddled with her camera as she skulked through the silent streets. Matt had gotten it for her a few weeks ago. Bashful idiot. Said he felt bad about smashing her last one and now she had a new DSLR worth more than twice the last one. Jess chewed her lip to keep the smile away as she remembered the exchange. How mortified he'd looked when she'd made him explain the five-figure camera he'd just left on her doorstep. Did the guy pay for all the windows he broke and drywall he dented as the Devil too? Talk about a do-gooder.

But it was a good camera. And her back up one sucked. So she kept it.

For business.

Shut up.

The lap of lazy waves against concrete was weirdly melodic. Might be comforting too, if she didn't associate the sound with jumping in the slimy water to rip her old neighbour's head off.

Jessica gave a shudder that had nothing to do with the chill air.

She moved quietly, placing her feet carefully through the puddles, her boots far stealthier than they looked. Voices drew her attention. Definitely speaking Chinese. Or Japanese. Whatever, one of the Hand languages, just on the other side of a building-sized stack of freighters. Sticking her camera back in its bag – which she was using because it was an expensive fucker, not because of where it came from, shut up – she bent her knees and leapt. Her hair flew back and her jacket lapels slapped against her shoulders and before you could say 'impressive' she landed, with only a slight stumble, on the topmost line of freighters.

Yup. Definitely illegal shit going on there. About a dozen guys, all wearing typical bad-guy black, were scurrying around, loading boxes of something Misty would love to confiscate from a barge into one of three mid-sized vans, all bearing different logos. Jess pulled the camera free and crouched down to get the shots, snapping the logos and reg plates of the vans and as many unsmiling faces and unmarked boxes as she could. She was just turning her attention to the serial number just visible above the waterline on the barge when icy dread prickled along her spine.

She wasn't alone.

She froze, her index finger poised over the shutter button. Waiting. Listening. Thinking how handy superhearing would be right now.

The slick, shivering note of steel ringing against steel wove into the night, right behind her. Ignoring the worn-out (but nevertheless effective) intimidation technique, Jess carefully strapped the camera back into its padded bag, hoping it would survive the ass whooping she was about to give.

That Mura-hoody guy owed her a few good kicks.

She straightened up and turned around, pulling her hair out of her mouth and readying her most indifferent scowl.

It wasn't the Mura-hoody guy. It was the psycho zombie bitch.

Well. Shit.

"You shouldn't be here," Elektra said, her accented voice smooth and casual, carrying a smile that a lesser woman would've found chilling.

"You can talk," Jess shot back. "Shouldn't you be dead? Like, twice?"

Elektra's smile broadened and she stepped forward, her black cloak billowing in the sea-swept wind. Two gleaming sai swords spun in her hands as she adjusted her grip.

Jessica didn't move. She just pulled the camera bag over her head and set it gently on the freighter by her foot and smiled right back. A deep, hot, powerful rage was burning higher and higher in her chest. For once she wanted to fight. She wanted this smirking asshole to come at her, full throttle. It didn't matter she'd kicked Jess's ass in the past. It didn't matter Jess wasn't bulletproof, wasn't a black belt in karate, didn't matter she was slower and untrained and mildly hungover.

Elektra was responsible for Matt being held in a cage for months. She was the reason he'd almost died in that damn cave. It was her fault he'd needed to feel someone's heartbeat to believe he was free from all that horror. This bitch was the reason Matt still held that place in his eyes, still looked haunted, like a dog beaten past all memory of mercy.

Elektra was hers.

"I've been looking for you," she said quietly, her tone losing its casual lilt. Elektra paused, one questioning eyebrow quirking upwards. She was still smirking. Still looking like some hunter about to play with her food.

Well. Let her try.

"For me? Do I know you?"

Jessica snorted and took a casual step forward. "You should. I'm the asshole who's apartment you got covered in John Raymond's brains. I'm the girl who beat you under Midland Circle.

"I'm the one who's going to make you pay for Matt."

Elektra frowned and straightened out of her battle crouch. Jessica hesitated.

"Matthew? Isn't he back yet?"

"What?"

Elektra let her sai swords fall to her sides in exasperation. "Well it's hardly my fault if Matthew didn't want to get back in touch with some –" she gestured loosely to Jessica with one of the knives – "homeless woman after St Agnes. Sorry to break it to you, dear, but Matthew's alive and well, and frankly if he's not shared that with you then don't take it out on me. I'm the one who saved him, after all. You're the one who left him to die."

Elektra smiled, innocent as ever, and for one heartbeat the two women stared at each other, silent save the whispers of the wind through the pier and the rev of three engines as the vans started. Then, faster than Jess could track on a completely sober day, Elektra lashed out, running forward with anime speed and before Jessica could do more than gasp, a red hot pain sliced across her arm. She spun away, sending ont fist after the red and black blur but the cut had thrown her off balance and she stumbled.

"Son of a –"

"You really shouldn't have followed me," Elektra said conversationally from behind her. Jess whipped around just in time to see the flash of silver and she grunted, putting a hand to her temple and backing away. "I left you all alone after the Circle fell. You should've appreciated that gift."

Okay, maybe this wasn't gonna be some Inigo Montoya moment. Normal people definitely didn't move that fast. Ow.

"You didn't save him," Jessica spat back, taking her bloodied hand away and ducking another blow. "You sold him to those monsters, you utter bitch!"

Moving quickly, Jessica punched into the top of the freighter on which she stood, grabbed hold of the thick, corrugated steel and pulled. With an ear-splitting shriek, the metal screamed free and she brought it up just in time to parry a double-bladed attack. One of the sais stuck in the makeshift shield, its point quivering inches from Jessica's nose and she twisted the steel hard, breaking Elektra's grip and walloping her mercilessly. Jessica was pretty sure she heard the crunch of bone.

Elektra let out a furious snarl and whirled around, too quickly for Jessica to move the unwieldly metal, and kicked it viciously from Jess's hands. It clattered over the far edge and before Jessica had time to think, Elektra was right in front of her and here was a blistering pain in her side. Instinct sent Jess's fist powering into Elektra's face and she gasped as the force of her punch pulled the sai out of her, leaving a ribbon of dark blood falling, as though in slow motion, to splash against the freighters.

She didn't hear Elektra's graceless landing several feet away. Didn't register that a punch like that should've killed her. She looked down at her right side, the blood oozing thick and sluggish over her shirt.

Shouldn't that hurt more? She pressed her hand into it, frowning slightly as a dull but intense burn flared against her palm. I must be deep. That was a lot of blood ruining her favourite jeans. Footsteps made her look up. She was on her knees. When did that happen?

Elektra stood above her, her cheekbone fractured, blood stark and ugly against her dark skin. Her remaining blade was held ready at her side and her face was contorted in fury. Jessica knew she should be more scared, but she felt curiously numb. Like she'd been drugged or something. Her headwound wasn't that bad, was it?

"Those monsters are what saved him," Elektra hissed above her and Jessica looked up, dazed. "Without them, he would be gone. Without me he would have died!"

"You're such a bitch," Jessica murmured, slurring slightly. "You never deserved him. He should've let you die alone."

Elektra's jaw tightened and she raised her blade. Jessica's grin widened.

"He never broke, you know," she whispered, burying a wince. "Never. Not even when they fucked up so bad he couldn't see."

Elektra hesitated, her rage flickering into confusion.

"He was always too strong for you," Jess said so quietly, the words were almost lost to the night. Elektra leaned forward despite herself, curiosity and something that might even have been fear overcoming her bleeding face. "Too strong for IGH. His only mistake was thinking he could save you."

"What are you talking about?" Elektra whispered, leaning forward with dark eyes alight with a pain that had nothing to do with spilled blood.

Jessica sucked in a breath and gritted her teeth, knowing this was gonna hurt like a bitch, and surged upwards, fists first, side screaming, boots scraping against steel. Both fists powered into Elektra's chest and she felt bones break against her knuckles. With a grunt, Elektra flew backwards into the night, over the full length of the stack of freighters and into the river with a splash that was lost to the head-ringing clatter as Jessica collapsed against the cold steel.

Panting, grimacing, she slowly rolled herself onto her side, keeping one arm pressed against the hot blood oozing resolutely from her. Shit. The pain was starting to register and it was really registering. Shit. Ow. Shit. She tried to reach for her phone but a scorching warning ripped along her side and she gasped, the air icy against her throat.

Damnit. How could it be burning this bad? It was like her blood had been turned to acid. This was bad. And the night was getting darker, too, which was weird, like the streetlights were all going off at once, but that should mean the sun was rising, right? She needed to call someone. She needed to move.

But the blackness was deepening. Strengthening. The chill air was biting colder than ever and Jessica frowned, her eyes barely open. She really should've taken Trish up on those offers for Krav Maga lessons. Damn, if she died Trish was gonna be so mad. Malcolm too. God, she felt heavy. And tired. The stiff ridges of freezing steel pressing into her were almost comfortable.

She just had time to hope Matt wasn't on patrol tonight. She didn't want him to see this. Stupid idiot would just blame himself. Then her arm went slack at her side, the last of the light left the night, and her mind slipped into silence.