Luke never thought the woman who seemed like a hurricane in human form would ever seem... uncertain. But, he realized that he wasn't all that surprised either, given what she'd dealt with. In fact, as he'd been learning today, she may have had a worse time than they did - which was definitely saying something.

She was no stranger to pain and fighting, as he well remembered - and her sitting still with barely a twitch as Claire sewed up her many large, open wounds with no anaesthetic just served to highlight that. Well, he could work with that. As Luke did his best to hide a smile, he realized that Elektra and Matt really did have many things in common - not least of which was apparently a guilt complex.

That said, he still had certain things he wanted to know. "Hey Claire," he said casually.

"Yeah?" she answered, not looking away from the careful stitching job she was doing on Elektra's right thigh.

"What happened right before Elektra here woke up?" he asked, looking at both of them curiously. "It sounded like you were surprised a few times."

This also seemed to get Elektra's attention, as she looked at Claire curiously as well. Claire sighed, and finished a careful knot before replying. Though he noticed as she did, she looked directly at Elektra to give her findings. Smart woman - help make sure Elektra felt included, and not talked around like she wasn't there.

Scratching her chin with the edge of a latex glove, Claire was silent for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "When you were brought in here, you had no heartbeat, you weren't breathing, your body's core temperature was far too low at sixty-five degrees, but your hands were reading at one hundred ten. Your wounds weren't bleeding, but they didn't seem to be healing either. It was like you were in suspended animation, or something," Claire said, her eyes narrowed as she explained.

"But then, right after Danny here lit his fist up earlier," Claire continued, looking more perplexed, "you shuddered once, and your core temperature started to rise. Every few seconds after that, your body convulsed slightly for a moment, and your core temperature increased again," she said, pausing as she pursed her lips. "Right before you woke up, your heart rate was steady, you were breathing, but your core temperature then was one hundred one even - the same as it is now."

Looking surprised, Elektra raised a single slender finger to her own neck, and her eyes widened as she felt her pulse. "I haven't had a heartbeat since..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "And, I obviously bleed properly now," she said, almost to herself.

"Look, I don't know what happened to you before," Claire said to Elektra, as she took off another pair of latex gloves. "I'd heard that you were a zombie, brought back from the dead. No heartbeat, and utterly ruthless."

Elektra took a slow, deep breath, giving Claire a small smile. "That much was true, at least."

"I don't understand what happened with you today, and I've heard people explain it three times already," Claire said, looking exasperated. "What I can say is that while your core temperature is a little high, you seem to be a living, breathing human to me," she said, raising her eyebrows for emphasis. "Not a zombie."

Looking out the front of the building, Luke recognized the thousand-yard stare on Elektra's face - he'd seen it enough when he was in the military to know. However, she looked down at her left hand, and watched as it closed into a fist. "So, this is my second resurrection, then," she said after a few moments of silence, but then she looked back at Claire with a small smile. "As resurrections go, I've had worse."

Claire snorted. "It says a hell of a lot about your life that you can judge that based on past history," she said, shaking her head as she finished taping down a bandage over each of Elektra's wounds.

"I kept all my memories this time too," Elektra said with a thoughtful smile, looking back down at her left hand. "That's definitely an improvement over last time."

"So, what was it you were throwing up?" Colleen asked. "Was that the... Substance that Bakuto and the others talked about?"

Elektra nodded soberly. "Yes. I know that I feel different now, but I don't know how much has changed."

"Well, you were faster today, even with your injuries," Danny said, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. "Faster than you were before anyway, and you were still sending people flying when you kicked them hard enough," he said, before brightening. "Are you feeling really hungry right now? I always am after I have to use my chi," he said, his stomach rumbling for emphasis.

Luke watched as a look of surprise washed over Elektra's face. "I... am, actually," she said, placing a hand over her bandaged stomach for a moment. A moment is all she seemed to give herself however, since she took a deep breath, and got to her feet, looking at the others. "I cannot thank all of you enough for what you've done for me today, especially given recent history," she said quietly, but forcefully, looking at each of them in turn. "But if you choose to help me make sure Gao is stopped for good, then you must understand that I fully plan on separating her head from her neck."

Danny opened his mouth immediately to argue, but Elektra shook her head while holding up a hand to stop him. "I understand your objections, and I even somewhat agree with them when it comes to a good portion of those in her employ. Matthew and I have had discussions and arguments along the same lines, several times - I certainly don't intend to execute every single person there with her. However," she said, a darkly determined look in her eyes, "Gao is the last remaining head of the snake. This isn't over, and will never be until her head is rolling on the floor, separate from her body."

Luke nodded slowly to this. He didn't like it, but he got where she was coming from. Nonetheless, he had his own line to draw. "Can you promise me right now that not one innocent person will die because of this?"

Tilting her head at him thoughtfully, Elektra replied to him after a moment. "I can do better than that. I can even promise to not kill anyone who attacks us with non-lethal weapons," she said, before crossing her arms, and staring into his eyes. "If they have a lethal weapon, or if it's Gao, then they're fair game, and I will not hesitate. Is that acceptable to you?"

Sighing, Luke took a deep breath before nodding once. Looking at Danny and Colleen, both nodded with a smile when he looked at them. "Alright, we're agreed, then. Do you want anyone else with us?"

Pursing her lips in thought, Elektra shook her head after a moment. "No. As much as I'd like Matthew here with us, it's my fault he's still in the hospital. As for Jessica, she's impressive, but I doubt she has a case involving Gao."

"Fair enough," Luke said. "Do you have a plan already?"

"I always do," Elektra smiled to Luke. "Let's meet at the loft I'm staying in two hours. We'll go from there to Gao's warehouse, and end this."

Luke watched as Colleen and Danny held a brief, but silent conversation before turning back, and both nodding with a smile. "Sounds good," Colleen replied.

"Definitely," Danny added with a grin. "Hey," he asked suddenly, "want us to bring food?"

Colleen slowly turned her head to look at him incredulously. Ignoring her, Danny continued. "I ask because I know the cooks from the Royal Dragon - the place is still renovating, but they'd be willing to hook us up."

"Why are you so sure cooks for a place we were involved with utterly destroying would be eager to make you food, Daniel?" Elektra asked him suspiciously. "I'm surprised any of them would be willing to listen at all, and not immediately hang up on you after the first hello. Or worse yet, give the number you're calling from to the police."

"I uh," Danny scratched the back of his head. "I paid the owners back for the entire cost of fixing up the place after that night, and I... kind of bought the building they're renting. They even said to just let them know if I wanted any food delivered. They were pretty cool about it," he added with a grin.

Elektra's left hand crept up to massage the bridge of her nose. "Of course that's what you did," she said with a sigh. "Very well. Have them bring an assortment by in an hour, then - that should give us enough time to properly have a meal, and plan the attack."

"Sounds good," said Colleen. "I can take you home then, whenever you're ready."

Looking briefly surprised before the look disappeared, Elektra nodded once to Colleen. "I'm ready now. You have my thanks."

"No problem," Colleen said to her with a smile. "Want me to grab that for you?" she asked, pointing to the cardboard box. "Carrying that probably wouldn't be fun with your shoulders messed up," she asked with a smile.

"Yes, thank you," Elektra said, with a small smile to her in return. "I'll be along in a moment."

"Take your time," Colleen replied with a smile, before walking over to the large cardboard box. Glaring at her, Danny darted over to it first, and picked it up instead. Rolling her eyes, Colleen walked out the now-ruined front of the shop with him to her car.

Looking like she was having an internal struggle for a moment, Elektra closed her eyes, took a breath, and then looked back at Luke and Claire directly. "Thank you," she said quietly. "To both of you. I know this whole thing isn't finished yet, and that there's more that will have to be dealt with properly. Even so," she said, taking another breath. "Thank you."

"That looked painful," Claire replied to her with a smile. "But, you're welcome. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're not a zombie."

"For what it's worth in return, so am I," Elektra replied with a small smile of her own.

"I'm glad to be working with you, and for a good cause, than against you," Luke told her meaningfully. "I'll see you in an hour."

Smiling in return, Elektra walked out the front of the building to Colleen's car.

Waiting for the car to leave, Claire then bonelessly collapsed onto Luke's chest and groaned. Chuckling, he wrapped his arms around her, and held her close.