The riots spread over a large part of the city, with criminals walking from door to door to terrify or rob scared citizens and in many cases the police shot before asking any questions. Sometimes they really had to, because a lot of them died that day. The task force was compromised at first and that means during all that chaos what the people of Hell's Kitchen had left to count on, were their local vigilantes, help from foreigners and above all each other.

Written by Karen Page

When Trish arrives back down in the street, the fighting has mostly stopped and she is greeted by an eerie silence with the occasional gunshot or scream cutting through it. She slowly walks down the seemingly deserted neighbourhood, listening hard to every sound. Matt would be able to hear exactly what people were whispering, who they were afraid of more: The police and the soldiers or the rioters.

Whenever she encounters criminals she injects them with the cure, just in case they are enhanced, makes sure with her powers that their guns don't work, ignores whatever they are saying and usually they leave her alone then. Otherwise she takes them down. As long as she's alone and confronted with a small group and she can't accidentally hurt any bystanders she's confident enough to deal with them.

"See? You've got it under control." Matt's comment would probably soothe her a little if it weren't her imagination making him up. The real Daredevil is probably right now being treated, with a still healing gut wound that she gave him in the mix. Every time that memory comes back she feels like she's getting sick. This must be what Matt's guilt-trips are like for him.

One time walking around a corner she finds a boy, who apparently was separated from his parents and then someone also stole his phone. She takes him by the hand and rings a bell at the next, least scary looking place.

"It's Hellcat!" A young voice carries over to her from one of the windows and shortly afterwards the door opens slowly.

A woman ushers her to come in looking around if someone was following her. Her paranoia makes Trish step inside the house quickly, but it's not like she planned to stay. "Do you want a coffee? Or rest a little?"

"Actually-" She was about to say something when she sees about 15 people sitting in that woman's small apartment, more or less injured. One of them uses his apparently magnetic finger to play with a kid who seems to be stealing glances at her. "Maybe one cup..?" She smiles at the boy she brought with her who is now sitting down and telling his name to a guy named Martin who's on a laptop to look for his parents' phone number.

Five of the people who took shelter in that home were in the area to register their abilities. They were fleeing from the riots when this woman, Sarah, took them in. There was no way to know if they were dangerous. But she says a lot of her friends also helped some people who were injured or lost in the streets. It warms her heart for the short time she stays, the way these people cared for others and not just their own.

Before Trish leaves she sees the boy talk to his aunt who will inform his parents that he's fine. She's trying to ignore her vision of Jessica drinking from a flask next to her. "Look at that. You didn't need those stupid powers to help that boy." She doesn't need to remind her what she decided to do with said power today. That disappointed look she gives her is enough. There were no hallucinations leading to her throwing that arrow that led to Alisa's death. It was her choice and she would probably do it again, but should she even have that responsibility? What gives her the right to decide over someone's fate like that?

Trish tries to help more people on the streets find a safe place, while the riots were still not completely over. In the fourth house she stumbles across Karen and Foggy. After a careful greeting, so nobody figures out Hellcat's identity, Trish quietly tells them that the others are fine. They were of course mostly worried about their friend with the big martyr complex and she can see how some of the tension gets lifted off their shoulders hearing that he survived the fight. "Where's Frank?"

"I don't kow..." Karen looks out the window briefly. "He went outside to deal with a group that was running wild in the street. They were coming in out direction."

"He'll turn up, I'm sure."

The blonde journalist doesn't seem convinced. "He isn't picking up the phone..."

But Foggy also tries to assure her. "Things are calming down already and he's just busy with the last idiots out there. This all could have been much worse, but everyone's keeping their shit together, just like you asked them to, in your article." Foggy grins at his friend.

He then tells Trish how they saw the people of Hell's Kitchen come together in a time like this and they already heard of cases where the drug enhanced guests were sheltered and then helped against the gangs trying to rob their hosts. Sure, a lot of people were too afraid to open their doors to anyone, but many who did had found new friends on this horrible day.

Suddenly they hear a terrifying wail from the other side of the door and the fact that they didn't hear it from afar was already a clue that they should be careful. Someone from the back of the room then quietly walks to them and grabs Trish's arm. She whispers in Hellcat's ear: "They are five. Heavily armed. I can see through the walls."

"Help! Please, open the door!" Trish makes a sign that they should stay quiet. Karen points her gun at the door while Foggy hides behind her. Everyone too weak or exhausted to fight goes to hide in the next room. Then someone rattles at the doorknob and kicks it. "I need help!" Already, it sounds less convincing.

When the shooting starts Trish expects the door to fly open, but it doesn't. It gets quiet again and the woman who told her the number of people out there earlier now frowns at her and shows three fingers. There is no more banging on the door.

After a minute Trish climbs out the window to investigate. Three windows over she finds a guy with his back to her and a weapon drawn looking around the corner in the direction of their flat and waiting. She quietly puts the safety of his gun on, thanks her luck that there aren't any hallucinations bugging her at the moment and as quickly as possible she puts an arm around the man's neck, so he can't breathe until he falls unconscious. There are two more and a third one, who was shooting at them.

Trish tries to concentrate, but her ability can only give her a vague idea where the others might be. She risks a look around the corner and sees a foot on the other side of the hall before the stairs. She then climbs out the window again and up the pipe, for once glad that she had to do so much running around rooftops with Matt. When she's one level up she quietly walks across the hall.

Trish is just about to look down when the shooting starts again. Someone must be above her and another one is returning the fire from downstairs. Shit, this is not much better. But she decides to go up, because she's hoping there's just one guy up there. Also: She has an idea who it might be.

And she's right. A couple of steps up she finds herself face to face with a smirking Fank Castle. Still kind of hoping it's not her mind playing a trick on her and showing her what she expected. She touches his arm awkwardly to make sure he's real which confuses him for a moment, but he just shakes it off. "You've become pretty good at this."

Trish ignores the comment, but she's secretly delighted. "There are just two left, I think."

"Okay, stay behind me-" Trish rolls her eyes, about to protest when he fixes her with one of his determined glares. "I know what you can do. You don't have to be close for that. If anything happens to you or Karen under my watch, Murdock will kill me."

He has a point, her powers do work from a distance, but she's been enjoying the hand to hand combat lately, because she's starting to get really good at it. With a sigh she relents. "Alright you go first. But no killing."

Mumbling some curses he carefully starts to walk down the dark stairwell. After a minute of tense silence the gunfire starts again and Trish tries to look for the other guy's weapon. She's about to step into the light which she wanted to avoid, when someone grabs her from behind and she feels a cold knife at her throat. "Stop! Or I'll kill her." Trish recognises the voice of the woman at the door.

Frank's hands move up and he turns around slowly, frowning in her direction. "Okay, so maybe I should have let you go first."

He hasn't even finished the sentence when Trish decides that her attacker is as distracted as she will be, listening to Frank and at the same trying to anticipate his next move, so she takes her chance. She throws her head back and simultaneously twists the woman's arm until she lets her knife go. There's a cling when it hits the ground and a grunt as Trish kicks her stomach. After three more punches she falls unconscious and Trish raises her eyebrows at Frank, holding her throat with one hand, because she did get a small cut in the struggle.

"Huh..." The man with the gun still aimed downstairs still watches her and Trish picks up the knife on the ground deciding she's done with it all for today. "Hey, you down there! I'm here with the Punisher and we took care of your four friends already. Maybe you just want to go home?" She shrugs at Frank's frown and two seconds later they hear someone make a run for the door.

"Fine with me." With nothing left to do the grumpy marksman is about to leave, but Trish catches his arm firmly.

"Come with me. Karen is worried."

She sees him struggling to make up his mind, but then he nods and follows her to the apartment they were hiding in. After two knocks and an assurance that it's her someone opens the lock. Karen appears behind the door and the moment she registers Frank's presence her eyes widen and she quickly throws her arms around his neck. "You were just gone and I heard all the bullets flying around..."

A little wince leaves him then and Karen lets go of the man, immediately checking for injuries. The scene is quite familiar right down to her asking him if he needs some medical help and to him assuring her that he's fine. Trish shares a knowing look with Foggy and then decides it's time for her to go and take care of her own vigilante who doesn't value his health as much as he should. Karen however doesn't let her leave without at least putting something on her cut. It's really not such a big deal. Okay, maybe she's a hypocrite. But she leaves with a bandage around her neck.

"You didn't use much of your powers when you were fighting back there." Of course, Matt is back on her mind and therefor also in her field of vision while she walks back to him and Jessica. Thinking it over she only used her quick reflexes earlier. "But you were the one who told me, that my ability made me learn and react faster. That will also be gone..."

"It's not like you'll forget everything you have already learned." False Matt is right. Maybe she won't be as useless as before she got injected with the drug. Maybe she could still go out with him...? Although it is difficult to keep up with him like this sometimes and she's not so sure he'll want to take her with him when she's weak. She's aware that he didn't fight this so much back when they first got to know each other, because her ability to move stuff from afar meant she didn't have to get too close. The possibility of her getting hurt was a lot lower this way. It will be different if she has to fight with her claws up close.

Back on the street where the others are, Trish sees the first police cars and ambulances. She sneaks into the building as quickly as possible, so nobody sees her and follows her to find her and Matt in their vigilante outfits. Then they would both get exposed. Up in the place where they treated their patients, she only sees Malcom and some boy she doesn't know. "Where is everyone...?"

"Daredevil is back there in the bathroom with Claire, so we don't see who he is. Jessica is looking for you and this is Liam by the way, he's been stalking you lately." Malcom point at the boy with dark big eyes and red hair whose face now also reddens while he waves at her.

"Jessica went out there with a gunshot wound to look for me?" After she was responsible for Alisa's death?

Malcom nods. "She didn't want for you to feel guilty. You didn't shoot her."

Trish scoffs. "Yeah... I made her completely defenseless..."

"No, you just made her less deadly to everyone in her vicinity." So apparently this Liam guy was there being invisible and all. "Trust me, many more would have died if you hadn't taken her power. I've seen it happen before."

It is nice of him to say that, but she's not convinced. "I'll just... be in there." And with that she enters the bathroom where Matt is just on his phone, telling someone - probably Jessica - that she's back. She takes in his rare relaxed smile as she says "Hi" and then leans against the door. It looks like Claire is almost done with him anyway. After a few seconds he finishes the call.

"What's on your neck?" His head is tilted in concentration. Already on her case. Shit.

"Oh, it's nothing. I met some idiots along the way, who were trying to rob nice people."

Claire glances at her. "I can do you next."

"No, really it's no big deal..."

"Trish, don't be like me." At that, Claire chuckles softly.

"Ugh... fine." Trish then stares at Matt again, or more precisely at the wound she gave him that was treated by Shuri. It looks like whatever that smart kid used on it is still holding him together. That's at least something. She really has to ask her for more of this stuff.

"Okay, I'm done. Now you." Who would dare to disobey Claire's orders?

While switching positions Matt takes her hand in both of his and then he kisses her temple briefly, before getting dressed as Daredevil again. "I need to go and finish some work. See you later at your place? You are not going back to the clinic, are you?"

Yeah... what's the point really? She also doesn't think her problems will really get solved there. "No, I'll see you home." That last word earns her another sweet Murdock smile before he vanishes behind the mask.

But she can feel his concern keeping him there. "You're really okay? Liam is right, you know? Jessica isn't really mad at you. She just needs to deal with this..."

"Don't... don't worry. I'll be alright. Do your thing. We'll talk later."

Matt sighs, then he reaches for her chin and nudges her head so he can kiss her goodbye brushing her lips with his softly and making her wish it was just the two of them in the room. "Listen to Claire." He winks and then he's gone leaving Trish feeling a bit embarrassed.

Now that they are alone together the nurse is smirking at her. "Not comfortable with public displays of affection?"

"Naaa... this was nothing against the stunt he pulled during my last interview."

Claire laughs. "Oh, I saw that!" Trish can't help giggling along. Luckily she doesn't have to get stitches, Claire just cleans the cut, which is a lot more comfortable than having a needle stuck repeatedly in your throat, even if a competent nurse uses it. "You guys make a cute couple."

"Are you serious?! We're a disaster. Jessica always calls it a sobfest in the making."

"But you enjoy it."

Trish smiles. "I do. When I'm not terrified. I'm the one who cut up his stomach accidentally. He almost died because of it."

"But he didn't."

"No. But I can't put him in more danger than he already is. I'm going to have to give up my abilities."

"If you think you have to..." Claire shrugs. "You should know, though, that the last couple of months, since you've been going with him, it helped. I didn't have to see him once after Fisk's death. Don't forget that."

Trish smiles weakly. "Thank you. For everything, Claire. And what about you? How's life?"

"I'm good. I ended it with Luke. He's been changing..."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I think it was over long before that. I just didn't accept it." Trish knows what she means. Which is why it's such a surprise that Matt is still able to make her heartbeat flutter, as irritating as he can be. "Work is good, though. Turns out all my experience with superpowers has made me unique and especially with the drug out there my services are very valuable. And you wouldn't believe how many crazy rich people are looking me up, because their stupid kids got themselves a messed up power that could get them in trouble with the law."

"Right. Malcom told us about those as well." All those rich kids trying to play super heroes probably didn't even end up in the riot. "And Liam...? You think he can be trusted now?"

Claire smiles. "He could have just watched and find out Daredevil's identity, but he reminded us of his presence and he cried when he became visible again." The nurse is done with her work and starts to put her things away. "I think he's very grateful now and I think Malcom already kind of took him under his wing."

"Yeah... those two seem to get along."

Claire then laughs. "You should have seen them before we cured him. They started making silly invisibility trick pictures with Malcom's camera, which did wonders to the mood in here. It was pretty much a doomsday atmosphere here when I arrived. It somehow felt like you guys lost someone."

"Well, we did. Jessica did." And maybe she could have done things differently.

Claire then squeezes her hand. "I heard. But don't worry. It'll be alright."

It'll be alright. That's what she's telling herself on the way home. It will all be fine. She's not gonna be responsible for any more deaths or almost deaths. When she arrives she'll put the Hellcat stuff away and then she'll use the cure and be done with it. No more agonizing over it. It has to be like that.

But things turn out differently. After she's changed into her normal clothes she decides to check on her mail when a man and a woman showing her their NYPD badges approach her. Her heart jumps into her throat. "Miss Walker, you are a difficult woman to track down. We want to question you again about your relationship with the vigilante Daredevil and we'd like you to come to the station with us and explain where you were coming from just now."

"I don't really have time at the moment... Can you come back tomorrow?"

The man then crosses his arms. "We could arrest you right now, because you knew that Maximilian Tatum died at home and you knew it was from suffocation. However, I believe you didn't murder him yourself, you just know who it was and you're going to tell us."