The cops had stormed Harlem, but the criminals were nowhere to be found. Matt scanned as far as his senses would take him. And he found nothing.
He knew, from the outset, that their search was a fruitless one. And the ground troops realized just as quickly. Because of John's abilities, it was likely that the three of them were nowhere near Harlem. No perimeter was going to stop or catch them. And if they didn't want to be found, which did appear to be the case for the moment, then there was nothing any of them could do.
The street where this had started lay bare. Even the officers weren't particularly interested in it. Matt stopped by to grab his dropped baton. And after that his attention was drawn to a rooftop several blocks away. He smelled blood. Still fresh. He climbed back onto the rooftops and found the one that was most solid, and went towards that.
Spilled blood. Gunpowder residue. Lingering metallic traces. This was probably where Colleen had been injured. But even with the confused, jumbled read he was getting, still surrounded by distortion, it didn't seem like there were any clues up here.
There was, however, an object sitting near the ledge. Matt hadn't noticed it at first. That was Colleen's sword. With the sheath and harness close by.
Matt picked up the blade and sheathed it, and slung it over his shoulder. She would probably want this back. But until then...
Jessica was floating out and in. Out and in. Like a bad bender, with the headache included. And she fully understood in the moment that when she woke up for real she probably wouldn't remember this.
Out.
In.
Her arm was slung over somebody's shoulder. There was an automatic response somewhere in her body still, to prop herself up and take the steps to walk forward, but it was doing an absolute shit job. Whoever was carrying her was doing most the work.
The police barricade was in sight. And then it was right in front of her. One of the officers put up a hand to stop them. He was talking faster the normal.
"I need both of you to stay with us. Does she need emergency services?"
"I'm just trying to get her home." That was Kara. She was being carried off by Kara. "Can't you please just let us pass?"
"Uh – yes ma'am." The officer quickly stepped to the side and let the two of them hobble on.
Out.
In.
The two of them were on the subway. Jessica's head was propped up on the side of the bench. It seemed oddly empty. Only a dozen other people in the car with them.
She didn't have the energy to look over at Kara sitting next to her. Her eyes just slid to the side and she managed to catch a look. Kara was on her phone. Headphones in. This might've been Jessica's only chance. Reach over, grab her by the face, like her dad. With how strong she was, it would have been so easy. Before this went any further. Before she was trapped with her.
Of course that was a distant fantasy at best. She couldn't even tilt her head, let alone lift her arms. And what little brainpower Jessica had left was horrified at the desire to murder a kid like that.
Out.
In.
They were back to hobbling, Jessica's arm on Kara's shoulder. Down a street. Outside of Manhattan it looked like. The sun was bright, at that afternoon annoyance point where it was right in her eyes all the time. She wanted it to go away. She really just wanted to sleep.
Kara led the two of them over to the side entrance of a building. Pulled her wallet (on a chain) out with her free hand and put it to the scanner on the door. Light went green, lock clicked open. The two went inside and moved towards the elevator.
Out.
Jessica shot up. Heavy breathing. Immediately she was looking around to try and figure out where she was. Dark room. Single dim bulb hanging above her. Chair opposite to her.
So great, she was in some kind of torture chamber. That was reassuring. As she fidgeted in her seat, there was a sharp, scratching noise. Metal on metal. She looked down and saw an excessive length of steel cable wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her side and her legs to the plastic chair underneath her.
"Jesus, you don't stay down long, do you?" Kara said from behind her.
Jessica started craning her neck, left and right and back to try and see, but Kara must've been right behind her.
"You little fuck." Jessica pulled and arched and jumped. She couldn't break the cabling, but the chair wasn't bolted down. "When I get out of here, I'm going to-"
"Calm down, Jones."
Jessica's panic disappeared. She settled down in the chair, the cord kept biting into her skin but she couldn't care if she wanted to.
She really wanted to.
Kara walked around to Jessica's front and took a seat in the chair opposite her. Just stared at Jones. That carefree, childish smiling was gone now. Now Kara was staring into Jessica's eyes with a soft scowl. A resting bitch face if you will.
"What do you want from me here," Jessica said.
"I hate you."
Jessica blinked. "That doesn't answer my question."
"You know why I hate you Jones? Do you want to know?"
A smile creeped up the corner of Jessica's mouth. Somehow she knew it would come to this. And after all this headache, after getting so far away from it and him and her, it all came back around. She couldn't help but laugh, even though she probably shouldn't. Maybe it was because she was feeling weirdly calm at the moment.
"...Is it cause I killed your dad."
"You killed my dad!" Kara burst to her feet. "You killed him!"
"Of course. Of course! Kara, your dad was a mass murderer and a serial rapist. He had it coming."
"Just because you don't like him-"
"Fuck you."
"What do you want me to say here, huh Jones! Like- Like you keep saying he was this horrible person but I knew him too. I knew him my whole childhood and he was never- never bad to me. I never saw him do any of this shit. And you just want me to believe you? To believe that I didn't know my dad as well as- as someone who he just, slept with?"
"Yes. I do. Because either you're lying to me and yourself or you're in the dark. If you defend that man for one second then you obviously have no idea what kind of creature he was."
"No! I don't! I don't and I'll never get to know! I'll never get to see him again, I'll never get to see what kind of man he became after he left and it's your fault!"
"Kilgrave wasn't just some shitty dad, okay. He was a monster!"
"Shut up! Shut up!" Jessica's lips went tight. "You don't know shit! You're the monster, you're the one who killed him!"
Jessica didn't say anything. She couldn't.
Kara ran her fingers through her curly hair. Took a few deep breaths and calmed herself.
"I'm- Well, I'm not sorry. I – Look, I – I know that he was a bad person. I get it, okay. But – why? Why do you- why did you get to decide that he couldn't get any better? That I would never get to know?"
Because Jessica had tried that already. She'd tried everything. But she couldn't exactly say that.
Kara took another deep breath. Her gaze hardened.
"You can speak again. But look, I want you to only tell me the absolute, complete truth. I already know all about you, Jones. I know what you've done, and I know what's been done to you, and you know exactly where I'm coming from on this. I know you've been where I am before. So say it."
Jessica tried to keep her trap shut. Force the teeth back together. But they pried apart against her will anyways. "...Yes."
"Say it."
"When... When my mom... When Trish..."
"She killed your mom. It was the right thing to do, wasn't it? She was a monster, after all."
Jessica couldn't help but nod. All that pain she'd tried to numb was coming back to her. Her chest was on fire. Her eyes were almost squeezed shut.
"And how did you feel about that?"
Jessica swallowed. She was about to say it. She couldn't stop. "...I hated her."
"Exactly."
Jess took a deep breath, now that she'd done what she was asked. "...How the hell do you know about any of that. The news said that I-"
"Well, you hero types know what a good team up can do for you, don't you." She walked over to the door and banged on it. "She's all yours."
The door burst open. A light shined in from behind it, from some other room. The guy silhouetted in the doorframe was pretty bulky. But all that bulk wasn't natural. Big shoulderpads, a big helmet, a wide cape, masking the form of his body.
Jessica's eyes narrowed. She knew what the silhouette looked like. But that shouldn't have been possible. But at the same time, this was the kind of shit these people loved to pull.
He stepped into the light. Same emerald suit. Same golden clips. Same fishbowl helmet. A distinct lack of a crimson stain across his chest.
"Jessica Jones, I've been expecting you."
"...You're dead."
He chuckled. And then laughed. "And you are naive. You call yourself an investigator, falling for such a simple trick like that."
Ugh... "So what do you want with me. How far up this chain do I have to work."
"I," he dramatically flourished a hand towards his chest. Jessica already hated this guy. "Want to know what you know. You're an investigator, what have you turned up in your investigation?"
"You didn't need to kidnap me to find that out."
"That's what I am here for, my associate however," he gestured towards Kara. "She's after a little more from you. And I respect that."
Jess looked between the two of them. "...Daniel Berkhart, Hollywood failure, frequenter of superhero conspiracy websites. I liked your work in the Cap docu-series though."
A pause. She couldn't see his face, so it was a pause that was hard to read. But hopefully that was something good.
Another chuckle. He reached up and lifted the helmet off of his head.
Jessica studied his face. It was him alright. Sharp cheekbones, wide nose, that jaw that was just a bit too long. The image of the corpse was burned into her mind, but now that she saw him when he wasn't lying dead, she could compare it to the production pictures she'd found looking him up. He had been clean shaven back then, with his black hair kept in a close cropped bowl cut. A bit of stubble had grown in sense then. His hair was still bowl-shaped but now it was messier, unkempt. He obviously had a couple of blip years on him. A couple extra lines around his eyes, at the corners of his mouth. A couple stray gray hairs in his beard.
"So the corpse was-"
"A brilliant fake? I admit I didn't lean on my training in movie magic to accomplish that, but I'm still well aware of New York's vibrant underground. A special anesthetic that can render the user catatonic. An anesthetic that brings on hallucinations that I spent many a month training to overcome. And you and your partner bought it, hook line and sinker."
"...I was going to say planned."
"Ah-hah." He popped the helmet back on and placed that hand back on his chest. Jess sighed. "Well, I knew as soon as I prepared to clash blades with the great Jessica Jones, exactly who I was clashing blades with. I knew you would find my hideout sooner or later – and you delivered on finding it much, much sooner. I needed the time, the time to finish the next step, the time to find my new base of operations."
"...And that next step was..."
"Oh hoh hoh hoh, Ms. Jones," god please shut the fuck up, "you can't expect everything to be that easy, can you? After all, I still don't know everything you've already learned about me."
Jessica smirked. "I know quite a bit. You're not very good at covering your tracks."
"Ms. Kilgrave, if you would."
"Tell the truth, Jones," Kara said.
Shit. Jess grit her teeth. "I know that... Daniel Berkhart orchestrated the super attacks... I know that he somehow rigged a bunch of properties to be under the name of Quentin Beck... and I know that someone," her eyes slid over to Kara. Kara shot back with the bird. "Blew up one of those properties and now the police have reclaimed them. They're going to be auctioned off in a few days, so good luck with that."
"I thank you for your kind concerns, Jessica Jones. And unfortunately, you're quite on the money. However, as someone once taught me, a good director never puts all his eggs in one basket. For any given scene."
"Big talk for a guy who never made it past daytime television."
"Laugh while you can, Jessica Jones. We'll see how long you last." He turned back for the door.
"What's with your goons swarming the city again. Feeling frustrated on your properties getting busted, decide to just torch a lower class neighborhood to feel better."
"If that's what you choose to believe."
Jessica squirmed in her bindings. "You're incompetent. You're impotent. You're a failure no matter what you try, Berkhart. Ask me you already have."
"But I didn't ask you, Jessica Jones. Now would you please continue rotting in peace and excuse me."
"You're-"
The door slammed shut behind him.
Jessica sighed and looked to Kara. "You can do so much better than working with that douchebag."
Kara looked at her. Firm scowl still, with arms crossed. Eventually she said, "Don't go anywhere" and left as well.
And then Jessica was left in a dark room, tied to a chair, in the hands of two people who hated her guts. How did this keep happening to her?
Colleen Wing stared up at a massive wall mural, painted on top of featureless concrete. A picture of a flying, coiled dragon, Japanese style. With scales crimson red and whiskers yellow as the sun. It had eyes that seemed to follow Colleen no matter where she went. Eyes that burned like coals. It snorted smoke into Colleen's face, acrid and smoky and rough. A deep growl bellowed from its throat. It coiled and twisted as it approached Colleen, all the while those burning eyes never moving off of her. And then it lunged and tore its massive teeth into Colleen's forearm. Set to tear off the Iron Fist insignia itself, and whatever else of her came with it.
Colleen's eyes flashed open. Her breathing was heavy. She wanted to sit up but there was a dull pain wracking her entire body that put a stop to that. So she just kept laying down.
Bed was comfortable at least. Smelled like hand sanitizer but it wasn't bad. She pushed herself to more of a sitting position at least. So she could look around. She was in the hospital. Clean white walls and tiny, less than comfortable chairs, and sheets just everywhere. There was a clamp on her finger hooked up to a vitals machine.
"Hey." Luke Cage was sitting on the side of the bed next to hers. "You're awake."
"Yeah, but I might be regretting it." She was sore all over, painful but dull, in that 'pumped full of painkillers' kind of way. "I'm guessing we got our shit kicked in?"
Luke let out a snort. "Yeah. Just a bit."
"What's the situation? Are people okay?"
"Well, after..." he sighed through grit teeth. "After things went south, Misty and her people stepped in."
"They get em?"
"No. They didn't."
"So... what's happening?"
He shrugged. "They disappeared. Those guys, the supers, they hopped right into a portal and vanished."
"Wait, wait, they just – left? Just gone? What, why?"
"I don't know. But those holes around Harlem, they're still there. Whatever the plan here was, I don't think it's over yet."
"So let's go." Colleen pushed herself up and winced in pain.
"Woah woah woah." Luke walked over and gently pushed her back down. "I'm going. They're releasing me today, I'm in tip top shape. I'll go, I'll find them, and I'll take care of it. You, on the other hand, need to rest. And heal."
Colleen groaned and sunk back into the mattress. "What about Matt and Jess?"
Luke sighed. He was avoiding looking at her. "They're MIA."
"They're what?" Colleen sat back up.
"Look, I saw Matt run back in after you guys saved me. You know how he is, you know how seriously he takes this kind of thing, he's probably hitting the streets right now, doing exactly what you and I want to be out there doing."
"Okay but Jessica clearly doesn't. What about her, is she okay?"
"Jessica's... tough."
"Luke."
"I don't know, okay? I don't know." He ran a hand over his head. "I haven't seen her since we got separated. I'm worried. I'm freaking out. But there's nothing you can do right now, let me handle this. I'll find her. I promise."
Colleen frowned. She wanted to be out there helping, not stuck in bed. But... her shoulder and gut were starting to burn again. She couldn't fight worth shit like this. Was just gonna get hurt worse. She knew that.
"...Fine. Go. Go ahead."
"You gonna be alright?"
"I'll join up with you as soon as I can."
He nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
"And I'm sure Harlem will be glad to see you're okay."
"Yeah, better go break the news." He walked over to the door. Stopped in its frame and looked back. "Oh, and Colleen?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for saving my life."
Colleen looked up at him. Blinked a couple times as she took in the words. "Yeah- Yeah. No problem."
"I'll catch you later."
"Yeah, later."
He left. Colleen was left alone in the room.
She raised her fist up in front of her face. Steadied her breathing and gathered her chi and funneled it all into her hand.
Nothing.
Luke was happy to see Harlem again. Harlem wasn't happy to see Luke. He'd only made it a few blocks before an entire mob had crowded around him. Brothers and sisters all demanding answers and solutions, and all at once too.
"What are you gonna do about this Luke?" "I can't get to work there's holes in the road." "You gotta do something Luke." "Man, did you go soft from the blip? Or was it running that nightclub?"
"Hey hey hey," Luke yelled. "Uncalled for."
"Yo you did get that ass beat though."
"Alright. Okay. I got it, thanks. Look, I'm not gonna rest until I get this thing done with, okay? I haven't forgotten where I come from, and this neighborhood is still important to me. Now, look, alright I lost round 2. It happens. I'm holding that L. But you all forgot that I took round 1 no problem. This ain't over, and I don't stay down. Now clear out, go home, stay safe."
There was a mass grumbling but they seemed content with that answer. Slowly the crowd dispersed. A couple stuck around, but they were just watching Luke, see what he'd do.
One kid stayed behind.
Couldn't be older than 17. Black kid with some scraggly hair, kept close. Bit of peach fuzz on his lip. He rubbed the back of his head and walked up to Luke like he was tempted to turn around and run with every step.
"Can I help you?" Luke asked.
"Hey, yeah, Luke, man," the kid said. "I – I mean- Look, you can- you're gonna stop this, right?"
"Of course."
"I mean... soon? Fast-like?"
"... I can try. You okay? Is there something you know?"
"Nah, man, it's just like – ya know – the struggle, man."
"The struggle. Yeah I know that."
"Nah it's just – my moms, she doesn't like New York anymore. With the aliens and the – the shit with everyone coming back. We had to fight hard to get our apartment back and now we ain't even safe here man. She wants to move back to Arkansas. But man this is my city, man. My neighborhood. You gotta do something, man."
"I will. This is my city too." He gave him a firm clap on the shoulder. "And that means standing firm and fighting when it's in trouble."
"Yeah, cool." He brushed the hand off and backed away a couple steps. "Just – makin sure you're doing your job. Ya know?"
"I'm relying on you to keep me honest here."
"Yeah. Yeah! Yeah. Aight cool." And then he turned the corner and was off.
Luke Cage huffed. Now that he was locked into doing this thing... where to start?
It had been 10 hours since the invasion of Harlem. Matt Murdock had spent 10 hours in a tumble dryer that somehow never moved. Every step he took the images of Harlem slid around him, slid over each other, until he was no longer sure where he was. Or which of the dozens of Matt Murdocks shambling through the city was actually him and which were wayward reflections.
Police swarmed through Harlem like an angry beehive. They had quickly figured out what Matt had quickly figured out. The criminals who had done this, Berkhart's men, they weren't hanging around here, and their base camp could be anywhere. Literally anywhere, depending on how far John could reach. The police were already investigating elsewhere, across Manhattan and deeper into the Bronx and Queens than Matt could hear. But they couldn't abandon their presence in Harlem, for the exact same reason Matt couldn't.
Every two hours there was an attack. It wasn't on the dot. Once it was only an hour forty-seven. Another time it took two hours and eighteen minutes. But every two hours one of Berkhart's muscle, either Shappe or Burbank, would pop out of one of those holes and do something. Shappe would snatch a purse, or a wallet. He left 67-year old Shelly Curtis with a deep scar across her side to get the 32 dollars she had on her. Or Burbank would appear, knock someone to the ground, strong enough to give them a concussion, fire into the air and send everyone on the street scattering. They were meaningless crimes, meant to incite fear, meant to show the simple fact that they could get away with it. Despite Matt running as fast as he could, he could only ever make it to the scene once they were gone. And the police only just after.
But now he was under the cover of night. He'd done too much work recently in broad daylight. Where he could be seen. Now it was time for him to push his advantages. The next attack was coming. Everyone was on their toes, just waiting for it to happen.
There were hundreds of footsteps in the surrounding blocks. That was low for this part of the city. People were staying home. Staying indoors. It still sounded like a cacophony to Matt, reflected onto him hundreds of times.
One set stood out in the crowd. The fact that it was just one tipped Matt off before anything else. But the heavy clomping of metal made it clear what was coming next. Matt took off. Leaping, vaulting, rolling across rooftops to get there as quick as he could, before he could get away again.
There was that burst of air again. Shappe crashed into an alleyway. There was already a shout. There was a man there, factory worker from the smell of him. On instinct he backed up, but that just put himself deeper into an alley with no exit. Shappe pulled himself out of the wall and shook his head clear.
Matt was a block away. He slid down the side of a fire escape and landed on ground level and kept running.
"Hey buddy," Shappe said. "Ain't ya heard, there's a new tax for living round these parts. So what you got to pay me with."
"Hey man back off, I'm serious."
The worker was going for his back pocket. There was a switchblade back there. He might reach it in time. But he might not. Matt was at the mouth of the alley now, he rolled across to the wall closest to Shappe. Keep to the shadows. Keep out of sight until the time to strike.
"Really sorry mate, you know I'm only doing my job, but we got a no exception policy." He brandished the chipped kitchen knives in either hand. "With a strict penalty."
The worker had his hand in his back pocket, wrapped around the handle of the knife. Matt could hear their muscles tensing, both ready to spring forward.
Close quarters. Some distortions, but not enough to throw Matt off. He was sure about this.
There was a burst of air. Sooner than Matt had expected. He had no choice but to make his move now.
There were two attacks and Matt needed to divert both of them. The katana slid from its sheath, and Matt braced it against Shappe's knives, the metal screeched off of one another, but Shappe and Matt skid to a stop before either touched the worker. Then he pulled his knife, and the hand that wasn't holding the katana shot back to hold his arm back. Matt stood between the two of them, neither had seen him coming. Both were surprised. That was good. He kicked Shappe in the stomach.
Shappe stumbled back. Matt sheathed the katana again and laid into his face, right hook, right hook, shove. He hit the ground. Matt straddled his chest, pinned his arms to the ground, and started waling. Matt could smell the narcotics in his blood as it splashed across the walls. But this guy, he was numb to the pain something fierce. He refused to go down.
Something- Someone crashed into Matt's side. Knocked him off of Shappe and sent him tumbling. The altitude changed. He was tumbling onto a rooftop. He couldn't find Shappe or the worker anymore.
John got to his feet and cracked his neck. "My, you are an intense fellow, aren't you. Ah, but, perhaps overconfident. Maybe? Yes, probably."
Matt got up to one knee, fist on the concrete to keep him up.
"The shadows are the ally of the man with no eyes. But, and, perhaps this is a new experience for you, but you aren't the only one of those anymore."
John liked to talk. That gave Matt enough time to catch his breath. He got himself back to his feet, got his hands back up.
"Ah, no, you misunderstand." John also put his hands up, in surrender. "You've already proven yourself well enough. No, see, ah, I do not mind if you continue on, doing what it is you do. Stop crimes, punch bad guys, but, I cannot allow you to take these men out of commission. Not yet, at least, perhaps have some patience. Go home. Sleep it off. You'll feel better in the morning. But then again, you are something of a night owl aren't you. I apologize, I-"
Matt threw one of his batons. It pinged off of John's temple. He recoiled and grabbed at the spot. Matt was already rushing him. John looked up, he had no pithy remark or rambling statement, he just took two steps back and the space in front of him distorted and he was gone. Matt barreled straight through the distortion.
Sound. A wall of sound from every direction. Matt flinched back and covered his ears. What was that? Where was he?
Asphalt below him, dry paint, heartbeats surrounding him, mechanical thrumming, burning.
The middle of the street. It was a car horn.
He was surrounded by these distortions, and so he wasn't sure where the car actually was, or how to move away from it. He felt around blindly, like he often pretended to do, touched a hand down on the car's hood which prompted more honking, which made him wince. A few more steps and his foot touched down on concrete, raised, the sidewalk. Matt steadied himself against a brick wall and caught his breath. Caught his bearings. Tried to figure out what was real and what wasn't again.
Two more hours until his next chance.
Jessica had spent the first couple hours struggling and squirming, looking for a method through which she could break her bindings even though she knew she couldn't go anywhere if she did. And after that the bruising and soreness in her body overtook her and she got tired. And she fell to a weird state of sitting on the edge of unconsciousness but never quite teetering over into passing out. Or, maybe she did. The two were inseparable as she was.
Now that she thought about it, she probably had a concussion.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed. It was a shitton. Jessica was sitting by herself in the dark for what felt like forever.
The door opposite her opened and light flooded into the room. Jessica had to squinch her eyes shut to avoid being blinded.
"Lunchtime," said Kara. She dropped a McDonalds bag at Jessica's feet. "I'm gonna untie you for a bit. Don't attack me. Don't try to leave this room. Okay?"
"If you're expecting a thank you, please, hold your breath."
"I don't have to feed you at all you know."
"Common human decency would push you to, but maybe that got thrown out the window about the time you bought the steel cables."
"Whatever, just eat."
The cables fell from Jessica and she groaned and swore and rubbed the spots where they had been digging into her skin.
She dug into the bag. A plain-ass regular hamburger. That was it.
"Really. Couldn't even spring for the meal. Or at least a big mac or something. I know you didn't pay for this."
"Take it as an insult. That's what it's supposed to be."
Jessica wanted to complain more but she was really fucking hungry. She actually had to hold herself back tearing the wrapper open and scarfing the sandwich down. When she finished she was actually panting a little.
Kara moved to tie her back up.
"What are you doing Kara."
"What's it look like?"
"What are you doing working with Berkhart. He's a superhero fetishist, he only cares about you for your powers."
"I know. It's a working relationship. Sure you know all about that."
"Then what are you getting out of this."
"He promised some cash, which is nice."
"Is it. You don't pay for anything."
"Mostly though, what I'm getting out of this is you."
"What do you want from me Kara. I've been tied up here for a full fucking day now and you haven't said or done thing one to me. Get it fucking over with for Christ's sake."
Kara took a deep breath, through her nose. "You'll see. Soon enough."
"Fucking hell."
Kara tightened the cable around her arms again and went for the door.
"Kara, wait."
"Nah."
"Please." The word burned in her throat, or maybe that was the dehydration. "However you felt about... about him, be reasonable about this-"
Kara spun at her. "I don't want to!" Fists clenched at her side. "I know this isn't reasonable, I'm not stupid, Jones! I know what the news said my dad did! I know why you did it! I fucking get it, but – but being reasonable about feels like shit! Trying to talk myself down and consider everyone's side feels like shit! I don't want to be reasonable about it! You killed my dad! Why should I be reasonable about that? I don't want to!"
"You-"
"Shut up!"
Jessica shut her mouth. She had nothing she wanted to say anymore.
Kara stormed out, and slammed the door behind her.
So Jessica was left in the room again. Alone in the dark, with nothing but her thoughts and the warm embrace of passing out for the next forever.
There was a special technique one could use with the iron fist, Danny had used it on Colleen, where chi could be channeled to a wound to heal it faster and burn away impurities. Obviously Colleen had tried to do that as soon as she could.
She sat up in her hospital bad and channeled chi down into her arm and-
A sharp pain shot through her mind. For a second an image of that dragon flashed through her vision again.
Not that, then. Colleen was frustrated.
Her chi was off balance. That much was obvious. But she didn't know what to do to rebalance it again. And this all, this was the worst time for it to happen.
She shifted uncomfortably. The pain in her head only compounded the pain in her shoulder, and her stomach. Despite all of the horse tranqs they had her on here, everything still hurt.
But what she needed right now was meditation. Meditation would help her center herself, it would clean her system and help her heal faster. Something that Bakuto had taught her, was the key to meditating while in pain was not to try and fight through the pain but to accept it as a fact of one's existence in the moment. Don't dwell on it, but don't deny it, and it will lessen and allow one to see clearly.
Colleen closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. She let the pain flow into and through her. Let the pain become a part of her. And then let the pain go.
It wasn't until the tears started rolling down her cheeks that she realized how much pain she had.
The wounds hurt, but, the frustration. The anxiety. Being stuck in a hospital bed while New York was under siege and she was supposed to protect it, Danny had given her this power so that she could protect it in his stead. She felt impotent. She felt like a failure.
But she had to let that pass.
She sniffed, and wiped her nose on her hospital gown. Meditate, let the pain pass, and so too will the wounds.
Matt was not great with time. He lost track of it easily when he got absorbed into his work. It was worse for him since, he didn't have the sun or the moon to tell him even approximately when it was. His own natural cycles were pretty good at telling the difference between night and day, but that kind of went out the window after 24 straight hours. And with his senses going haywire as they were.
As best as he could tell, he was coming up on the end of the third day since they had arrived. With an attack every 2 hours.
Matt couldn't fool himself into thinking he wasn't needed. Several of these attacks would have gone south if he hadn't been there. No one else could respond fast enough. He had to keep going, for as long as it would take.
He was in the middle of stopping one right now. Back room of a grocery store. Full on kidnapping. Young man, scared out of his mind, chained up to a pole. Carl Burbank was fiddling with the ammunition in his arm.
Matt was paranoid. Every step was cautious. He didn't want this one to get away. Especially this one. Didn't want to put the kid's life in danger. Didn't want to alert anyone. Didn't want John to notice him. One false move and they would both get spirited away to where Matt couldn't follow. His breathing was kept steady, shallow, and silent. He could barely pick up his own movements. He didn't take the risk to speak, not to anyone. He kept in mind the exact position of every distortion that might be in his potential area and stuck away from them. The shadows wouldn't help him, he had to stay truly out of sight.
While he worked his way towards the Employee's Only section, he heard Burbank talking. Monologuing.
"You know, people don't believe me when I say I do this for the art. Guess it makes sense. MO doesn't exactly line up. Obviously I mostly just do it for the money, but clients don't like it when you just say that. And people think, all the artists in the murder world use knives and such, something up and close and personal." He flicked his arm closed and flipped it around to the pistol. "I've been in the army long enough to know that there's a beauty in what's left behind from a .45."
Matt slipped through the loose Employee's Only door barely leaving behind a rustle in his wake. He could smell the sweat rolling down the kid's forehead. Just a little bit closer. Just a little bit closer and he could take out one of Berkhart's legs.
"I don't get to share this with many people. Suffer for your art and all that, I suppose. It makes a good cover, and I don't want the authorities to actually know. But you're lucky, you get to know. You weren't just some paycheck. You will be something beautiful."
The door burst open and Luke Cage charged in. Matt stopped and turned his attention. So did Burbank. Even the kid was shocked.
Burbank turned back to the kid and aimed his gun. Matt tossed one of his batons. Burbank's hand was knocked aside and he fired into the ground.
Matt rushed behind him and laid into the soft flesh of his back. Striking as hard as he could with the time that he had, bashing into his spine with his steel batons. Carl only barely buckled. He turned and swung an arm into Matt's gut. He was launched back into a stack of ramen, that crunched and crumpled beneath him. Burbank aimed with his sub-machine gun arm. Matt ducked and rolled underneath the spray and drew the katana, reverse grip, and slashed across Burbank's stomach. The taste of blood filled the air.
The hammer of Burbank's pistol knocked back. He hadn't noticed it pointed at him.
Luke's hand wrapped around the barrel. The explosion was muffled by his skin. The bullet clanged off of his palm.
There was a burst of air. Shappe slammed into Luke's side. He turned back and took a swipe, but Shappe was already gone. They both turned back to Burbank. He was gone too.
The kid was still there. Matt sighed.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Same as you, looks like." Luke walked over to the kid. Took the chain in his hand and crunched it to powder. Let it fall loose. The kid shook the chains off and yanked the gag from his mouth. He didn't have anything to say though, just took deep gulps of air.
"I almost had him."
"I could see that." He gave the kid a pat on the back, told him he'd walk him home. The kid nodded, but barely heard him. He shuffled out to the front of the store. "Were you going to kill him?"
"I was going to injure him."
"Put him in the hospital? Break his legs? Break his back?"
"You telling me I shouldn't?"
"Matt." Luke put a hand on his shoulder. "We're worried about you. You've been at this for days. Straight. Your judgement is clouded. Not to mention your skills, you almost got shot back there."
"Yeah. Thanks for the save. I'm going to keep working."
"Matt. Take a break. You're not the only 'superhero' in Manhattan."
"You can't get there as fast as me. I take a break and people get hurt."
"You're gonna get hurt if you keep this up."
"I can take it."
"Here's an idea, when you hear or sense something or whatever, why don't you call the police instead of rushing in yourself."
"Can't take the risk." Matt shook his head. "John can see everything, and hear everything, through his portals. I can't make noise or they get away again. I can't- I have to be as perfect as possible, or they get away again."
"You're never going to do that going on 4 days without sleep. Let us, me, and Colleen, and Misty, let us handle this."
"Colleen huh. How is she. Out of the hospital yet."
Luke huffed. "Whatever." He shoved Matt away. "Get yourself killed. See how many people you help then."
Luke walked back towards the door. Turned back over his shoulder. Matt was already gone. Making his way onto the roof.
He pushed all the stuff Luke said out of his mind. He couldn't afford to focus on that right now. His thoughts were instead on something he had said himself.
John could see and hear through his portals. But, that was an advantage that they shared.
The shadows were the ally of the man with no eyes. So too, was blackness.
Luke recognized the kid. It was the kid who came up to him a few days ago, and asked him to settle this soon. He couldn't help but feel he'd let the kid down by now. Still, the least he could do was make sure he got home safe. Or at least, feeling safe. Wouldn't want to send him back to walk the streets at night after what just happened.
He was quiet for most of the walk. Luke at least got his name, Demitri. Demitri was jumpy, always looking over his shoulder. Luke stayed calm for him. Eyes ahead. He already had a strong feeling that Berkhart's men wouldn't show up again, not for a bit at least.
They got to Demitri's apartment without issue. Without even a bump. Demitri was just staring at his shoes. Luke knocked on the door.
There was quiet shuffling on the other side. A short pause. And then quick fumbling. The door opened and, the woman Luke could only assume was Demitri's mom stood there.
"Demitri? Oh my God!" She pulled him in close. "Oh my God, Demitri. Demitri are you okay?"
He didn't say anything. Luke could see his face scrunching, trying to force everything back down.
"He's alright," Luke said. "Just a little shaken."
"You saved him?"
Luke struggled to say yes, but, "I just want to help any way I can. Things are... crazy right now."
"Oh my God." She was starting to break down as well. "Oh my God, thank you so much. I cannot, I can't thank you enough. Thank you."
Luke nodded. He didn't know what he ought to be feeling right now. This woman was in tears thanking him, he'd just saved this kid's life. But even after all this, it was weird to think of himself as a guy who 'saved' people. And there was still so much more to worry about past these two.
"Go inside Demitri," his mom said. "Go – Go get packed up. We're leaving. Tonight."
He pulled back. Didn't move from his spot in the doorway but looked at her.
"Go, Demitri. Now."
He took a few deep gulps of air. Sniffed the snot back into his nose. "But-"
"No buts. You could've been hurt, we're not staying around this another minute."
He turned to Luke. Took another second to steel himself. "M- Man. Why didn't you do somethin'! You- You said you were gonna fix this!"
"Demitri! Do not yell at the man who just saved your life!"
"You told me you were going to fix this!"
"Get inside, now!"
He trudged in. Tears were already streaming down his cheeks. His mom stepped out and closed the door behind her.
"I'm so sorry about that," she said.
"No, it's – it's fine. I did, tell him that."
"Do not be so hard on yourself, Mr. Cage. You've done more than enough, if you weren't there, he- my son-" She swallowed hard.
"I know." He took a deep breath. "Listen. Take care of him. I – I can't exactly tell you not to move out, like this. I can't disagree with that decision."
"We don't have a choice right now. With Harlem turning into a warzone like this, worst that it's been since the aliens invaded."
"Which time?" He chuckled. Then sighed. "I just – I wish I could do more."
"Trust me, we all do. Not a second that goes by I don't think of, pounding that crackhead that stabbed Mrs. Curtis. But you're the strongest of all of us, and even then, you're just one man. We all have our limits."
"Thanks for trying to comfort me. I know it can't be easy."
"It's not. I know what Demitri's going through. But I'd rather him be pained and angry and still with us."
"He's going to need your help to get through this."
"Don't I know it. You keep doing what you're doing, Mr. Cage."
He nodded. "Same to you."
She gave one last smile and slipped through the door behind her. Luke sighed, ran a hand over his head, and went back out.
Matt dropped from a rooftop. Burbank was back. Shame. He wanted Shappe.
His foot splashed in a puddle at the alley's mouth. Immediately Burbank's head went up. That was fine. Stealth wasn't on his mind right now.
"Run."
Burbank turned and ran. Matt chased after him.
His sub-machine gun arm whipped behind him. Rapid fire sparks, explosions, bullets flew. Matt jumped onto a dumpster, flipped over the stream of fire, pushed off the wall, tackled Burbank to the ground.
His batons were already in his hands. He swung down. Felt the metal impact into his spine, right between the shoulder blades. He swung again, Burbank rolled, Matt hit the ground. Burbank got his right hand up, still a hand, blocked Matt's next swing. Sparks flew. The metal on metal screeched into Matt's ears. Too loud, too shrill, too sharp to block out. Burbank kicked into his stomach, Matt couldn't do anything but take it and stagger back a few steps.
Burbank hopped back towards a distortion. This was the part Matt was interested in. He followed, walking, fast enough to strike some fear in his heart.
The distortion shifted, and through it was somewhere else entirely. And Matt focused as hard as he could on what he could find on the other side of that rift.
It opened out onto a street. The asphalt had been replaced some time in the last three months. It was still well worn. Imperceptible tire tracks lined it, up and down, and had already caused a few dents and dips. On one side of the street, Matt could smell lamb, and bread, gyro place. Next to it was, metal. Circuits. Computer repair store. On the other side of the street was an apartment complex. Not many conversations going on. A few switched on TVs. One man, despite it being the small hours of the morning by now, answered his phone. "Jackson Consultation, can I-"
And the distortion closed. That was all Matt could get, for now. He hopped up a fire escape, climbed back onto the familiar rooftop, sighed, and pulled out his phone.
Colleen sat on her hospital bed, doped up on painkillers, and watching Judge Judy. Something in her brain recognized that she was imbibing completely substanceless trash, but on the other hand, that Judy sure knew how to put a no good cheater in his place.
She jumped when her phone went off. Nearly jumped again when she saw it was Matt who was calling.
"Matt?" she answered. "Matt are you okay?"
There was a moment of silence. Then Matt said "I need your help."
He didn't sound like he was dying at least. "What- What's going on, what do you need?"
"Do you have a laptop with you?"
"Uh, yeah. I got mine right here." She pulled it onto her lap.
"I've got a lead on where they might be based. But I only managed to get a few details."
"Oh. Yeah- Yeah sure, let me hear them and I'll see what I can find."
"Jackson Consultation. Run out of an apartment. Across the street from a gyro restaurant and a computer repair shop. Roads repaved in the last few months."
"Okay let me..." it took a minute for the computer to turn on. She pulled up Google Maps while holding the phone with her shoulder, and started plugging in information.
"Yeah I'm finding a couple places with that name. But uh, nothing matching the description in Manhattan. Or Long Island."
Matt patiently waited for her in silence. Made the whole process a lot more awkward.
There were a handful of Jackson Consultations across New York. Nothing that matched the description Matt game. She kept scrolling out and out, the farther she went the more unsure she was about what she would find. Until she found Meadow Hills Luxury Apartments. Right across the street from Gyros 2 Go Halal and Laptop Computer Repair.
"Wait, hold on, I think I got something. Maybe. There's a place in Jersey." She went to his website. "Yeah. Yeah it is in an apartment complex."
"Text me the address."
"Hold on. Let me get ready, I can call Luke, and we can meet you there."
"I can do it faster on my own. And you're still hurt."
"Not too hurt for this." She had already pushed herself out of bed and was pulling the IV out of her arm.
"Colleen-"
"I have the address. You don't. We're helping."
Matt paused. "Fine."
"I'll send you the address and we can meet up there."
"Fine." She could tell he wasn't happy about this. But also she didn't care.
"See you then." She hung up, pulled her hospital gown off and started pulling her clothes on. Had to pause when one of her stitches was pulled. Don't bend that way, got it. And she reached for her sword, before realizing that she didn't have it.
Oh yeah. She'd have to get that back at some point.
Jessica Jones had spent most of her recent time unconscious. She didn't know how long she'd been here. It'd been, probably more than a day since the last "lunchtime", maybe two, so the promise of consistent food was out.
The thought had crossed her mind, more than once, that she might die here. Along with hazy dreams and hallucinations in the dark.
She was tired, sore, hungry, fried, her mouth felt like cotton and tasted like sand, her eyelids felt glued shut. She should've struggled more against these bindings when she had a chance, now she barely had the muscle left to lift her head.
When the door opened, the flood of light made Jessica flinch so hard she almost started crying. It took – a while, more than a few seconds, more than a dozen even, for her eyes to adjust.
Kara stood in the doorway. No McD's bag, so that was a disappointment.
She didn't do anything. Didn't say anything, didn't walk in, just stood there, staring at her.
"Can I help you," Jessica croaked out.
Kara huffed.
"No questions. Comments. Threats."
She took a step inside and closed the door behind her.
Jessica sighed. "I know what you want Kara. I know why you're here. And why I'm here."
That got a reaction at least. Her brow scrunched. "What do you know?"
"I know that Berkhart wasn't the one who decided to kidnap me. You were. This is your 'payment' for helping out with the plan. If he wanted something from me, he'd have worked harder for it by now, this is all you."
"So what if I-"
"You want to kill me."
The words died in Kara's throat. Jessica could see her swallow from across the dark room.
"You want to kill me. But you don't have the nerve. So you've got me tied up, in a dark room, while you wait to muster up the courage."
Jessica stretched in her bindings. This was the most she'd done in god knows how many hours. And she leaned forward to look at Kara. Dead on.
"You know it would be easy, you know because that's how your dad did it. All you'd have to do is say the word. But you're scared, you're scared that you might have something so horrible in you. You're trying to figure out what I deserve, cause you hold all the power and you don't know what to do with that yet."
Kara's teeth were grit. They were chattering. "You don't know me," she shook her head, "you don't know me."
Jessica pulled. The chair shifted forward and scraped across the ground. Kara jumped.
"You're not your father, Kara. You're not the monster he was. I know that much because if you were then I'd be dead and so would Berkhart and his lackies and like 10 other people probably. I'm tied up talking to a mind controller, I've been here before, I know what you can do and I know how this ends so the only thing I can do right now is beg. Be better than him. Don't become the next person that someone feels like they have to- to kill in order to be free."
"Shut- You- ...Just..." Kara was breathing heavily now. She kept looking down. Kept closing her eyes. Kept swallowing and looking back up.
It was coming. It was coming.
Jessica held her breath.
Colleen jogged up to the bright entrance of Meadow Hills. A high rise on main street. Even this late at night, the center of the city was bustling. Luke had to push through the crowds to keep up with her.
Two things were notable about Meadow Hills. One was that it was super high end, floodlights illuminated the glass front, and behind the doors was a concierge. That might be a problem.
The second was that Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer, was loitering off to the side.
"Matt? Matt!" Colleen ran up to him.
He gave her a stern nod, then turned right back towards the building.
"Hey," Luke ran up, a little out of breath. "I appreciate you waiting up for us and all, but aren't you worried about giving away your secret?"
"The apartment's on the 30th floor." Matt spoke just softly enough to be heard. "No way to get in without going through the lobby. And everyone we're going to be meeting upstairs already knows."
"Geez," Colleen said. "How about some good news."
"...They have Jessica."
"You serious?" Luke asked. "Is she okay?"
"She's not doing great. Vitals are still pumping away, but she's still, and she's quiet."
"That's not a good sign," Colleen said. "Not for her at least."
"I can't get any more of a read from this distance."
"Who's waiting for us?"
"There are a few portals in the apartment. So be prepared for backup at any point. There's only two people in the apartment right now thought. Burbank, still recovering, and someone I don't recognize."
"That's probably Kilgrave's kid," said Luke. "Hit her first."
"We're going to have to go in fast and hard. Take out the operation while we have the chance."
"Priority one should be getting Jessica out. It's been days, we can't leave her with them."
Matt was quiet for a moment. Staring at nothing in particular. It made him hard to read. "Right. But the second we burst in, John's going to see and he's going to get backup."
"You said Burbank's recovering right? He's gonna be slow on the uptake. Knock the girl out first, get her quiet as soon as possible, then we focus on Burbank and rush him before he can get prepared. Knock him out, grab Jessica, get out of there before anyone realizes what happened."
"Just one more problem," Colleen said. "How do we get up there?"
"Past the doorman? What's she gonna do, stop us?"
"If she calls up before we can get there, it's going to be worse than just having to deal with backup," said Matt. "If they book it, and take Jessica with them, then we lose our lead, and the element of surprise. Don't think John would be so sloppy as to make this mistake twice."
"Great." Luke threw up his hands. "So what's the plan then."
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't have a plan for getting in."
"We're just winging it? With Jess's life on the line?"
"Guys," Colleen said. "Let's just sneak around the back. Still gotta go through the lobby but maybe reception won't notice us."
"No," Matt said. "There's ID scanners in the elevators. We need the concierge to take us up."
"Well." Colleen picked at her teeth with her tongue. "Shit."
"Wanna be a delivery guy?" Luke asked.
"If I wanted to go in by myself I could've kept the suit on and slipped through the 4th floor," said Matt.
"Okay, what if you do that,"
"And what?" asked Colleen. "I hide on your back?"
"Just say you're with me."
"Why would the person carpooling with you come in for the delivery?"
"I don't know, it's just an idea!"
Matt walked past the two of them towards the front door.
"Matt! Wait!" Colleen hissed until she was in view of the front desk after which she tried to look as natural and un-suspicious as possible.
Looks like they were going for it. With or without anyone being ready.
The three of them walked through the doors. Luke stepped forward and took Matt's arm to guide him. Or pretend to at least.
"Hi," he said. "We're here for the, uh, party. In uh..."
"30207," said Matt. "With Kara."
"Alright," the concierge eyed them up, like she didn't quite believe them. "I'll just call up and tell her then."
"Oh," Colleen butt in. "There's no need, we're- She's expecting us so-" The more Colleen talked, the more suspicious the concierge got of them.
"No," Matt said. "No, it's fine. Tell her that Daniel Berkhart and company are here."
Colleen's blood went cold in her veins. Jessica was about to die, and it was all her fault. Well, no, it was probably Matt's. But still, if that message got up to Kara, she'd know something was up, right? Berkhart was dead, and- wait, no, did Kara know that? No but it'd been like a week now she had to know something was up. But the other guys working for him hadn't figured anything out yet. Hadn't they?
"Alright, you're good to go. Just follow me." She stepped out from behind the desk.
Colleen had to stop from letting her jaw hit the ground. Had to force herself back into the moment so she didn't just stand in the middle of the lobby staring while the rest of them went up. The three followed the concierge to the elevator. She swiped her card against the card reader, hit floor 30, and then stepped back to let the doors close.
All three of them let out of the breath they were collectively holding.
"Oh my god," Colleen said. "Holy shit."
"What the hell man," Luke said. "Could've run that one by us before just going in with it."
"We don't exactly have a lot of time on our hands," Matt said. "I don't want to let Burbank get away."
"We're trying to help you here."
"Guys," Colleen said. "We're in. We're set. Let's just do this." Even if she could still feel the sweat on her brow from that stunt.
Luke gave a huff, but dropped it. They waited in awkward silence for another minute.
"Oh," Matt said. "Almost forgot."
He reached into his jacket and messed around with something on his shoulder. Then somehow pulled Colleen's katana out from underneath and tossed it to her.
"How were you even hiding that?"
"Concealed weaponry was one of the first lessons I learned."
Colleen looked at him. Kept looking at him as she slung the sword over her shoulder.
The elevator went ding and the doors opened.
The apartments up here were pretty spaced out. This wasn't exactly the penthouse, but Colleen imagined that these apartments would still run you a pretty penny. And she couldn't even see inside them.
Matt stopped in front of a door. 30207. He turned back towards Colleen and Luke and pointed through the wall.
'Burbank,' he mouthed. Then he pointed a little farther to the side. 'Kara. Through door.' He mimed opening a door.
Luke nodded. Colleen saw him and nodded as well. He then motioned to Luke and stepped away from the door.
Alright, this was it then. Better act fast.
Luke kicked the door in.
The apartment plan was very open, with the foyer, living room, and kitchen bleeding into the same shape. Kitchen on the left, with a countertop on the far wall and an island in front of it. And next to the island was a big black spot floating in the middle of the air. In the middle was a small hallway with two doors down it. Living room on the right, with a green sofa and coffee table facing a 75 inch plasma. Burbank was lounging on the couch and jumped at the noise.
Colleen rushed him, vaulted over the back of the couch and hit his chin with roundhouse. His head went through the coffee table. Matt rolled to the hallway, popped one of the doors open and threw his walking stick in then closed the door again. Burbank was getting to his feet. Luke slipped in behind him, got his arms under his pits and threw him to the ground. Gave his head another kick while he was down.
Burbank went limp. The three of them, breathing a little, looked at each other.
"Was that it?" Luke asked. "We good?"
"That went better than expected," Colleen said.
Jessica's eyes left Kara. There was a commotion outside.
"What the-" Kara turned back towards the door, just in time for a tiny, dark object to fly through and smack her in the head.
Kara hit the ground. And didn't get back up.
"Christ."
A couple more loud sounds from outside. Then the door opened.
"Jess?" Luke asked.
For the first time in a while, Jessica felt a flood of relief wash over her. "About time you guys showed up."
Luke was silhouetted against the doorway, so she couldn't see what his face was doing. For some reason though, she felt like he'd let out a chuckle.
"You sound like hell, you know that?" he said. "Give me a second, let me find the-"
A lightswitch clicked. And a bunch of lights came on overhead, actually lighting up the room. Jess squinted against it.
She was stashed inside a closet. With a lamp positioned above her.
Well, it was the shape and size of a closet, but it wasn't being used as a closet. Everything had been cleared out, except for the lamp and the chair Jess was tied to.
Instead the walls were filled, edge to edge, floor to ceiling, with papers. Printed out papers. As she looked closer, she recognized the layout. These were printed out threads from . She saw threads about her, about Jessica Jones and Kilgrave and Alisa Jones and Trish Walker and IGH. She saw threads about Carl Lucas and Willis Stryker and Seagate Prison and Reva Connors. Saw threads about Daniel Rand and the city of K'un-Lun and Colleen Wing and Harold Meachum and the Hand. And taking up the entire right wall, threads dedicated solely to one figure: The Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
Every aspect of Daredevil's activities and appearance had been catalogued and compared to dozens and dozens of individuals. Just from a preliminary scan, someone would bring up someone who was trained in martial arts, and disappeared during the blip, and lives near the same areas as his frequent activities, and then that idea would get shot down because his chin was the wrong shape. And someone else would get brought up, and their figure would be wrong. And someone else would get brought up, but they had an alibi during one of Daredevil's escapades.
Halfway through Matt Murdock was brought up as a joke. Blipped, right figure, right jaw, right location, no contradicting alibis, seen often in court with bruises and cuts. A few people laughed it off and moved on, but the farther the thread went the more Matt came back up. Posters were in disbelief. He's blind. Medically blind. He couldn't have faked it, could he? Then someone managed to track down a medical record of a child, Matthew Murdock, blinded by a chemical spill. Said it sounded like a superhero origin story. The entire thread was on board now. There was no other explanation that fit as neatly. Matt Murdock was Daredevil.
"Huh."
Colleen tapped her foot impatiently. Then after about 3 seconds she poked her head into the room.
"What's taking so long?"
Jessica was tied to a chair by steel cabling, which went behind her and latched onto a hook on the wall.
"This knot's a little," Luke grunted from where he was kneeled behind Jessica.
"I'm working as fast as I can here," said Jess.
"There. Got it."
The cord went slack. Jessica said "Fuck!" and started rubbing where it had been pinching her.
"Alright come on," Colleen said. "Reinforcements could be here any second."
"Yeah, let me just," Jessica took a step forward and stumbled to one knee.
"I gotcha." Luke pulled her back up and slung her arm over his shoulder. "Alright. Let's go."
Colleen and Matt ran, Luke and Jessica walked, out of the apartment. Colleen was already at the elevators mashing the button. She looked back. Luke and Jess were coming.
Matt wasn't.
He stood, fists clenched, facing back towards the apartment.
"Matt, come on!" she yelled.
He looked back to her. Then turned away. "Go on. I'll catch up."
Colleen cursed under her breath and ran back to him. Past Luke and Jessica. She took him by the shoulder and spun him around.
"Matt, we need to go. Now."
"This is my chance. I can end this."
"Matt you're beat to shit and running on empty, I'm not leaving you behind."
"If I don't take this opportunity now, it may never come again. I need to do something."
"You won't be able to do anything for anyone if you're dead!"
"There's only two left, I can handle this."
He stepped forward. Colleen grabbed him by the back of his jacket.
He slipped out of it. Spun around and swung a fist at Colleen. She ducked it and stepped in and nailed his ribs with an elbow, stepped forward and planted a palm into his chest, stepped forward and had a hand around his throat. His back was to the wall.
"Matt. You're sloppy. You're tired. You need to run. Just this once, just run from a fight. I promise you we'll figure something out, but right now if you go back in there you're going to die."
Matt stood, staring at nothing and sputtering. He brought a hand up to break her grip. She slapped it back down.
"Matt!"
A few more quick breaths. "Okay. Okay."
She let go of his neck. He gave it a quick massage.
There was a burst of air from behind them.
"Alright let's go!" Matt turned and ran for the elevators. Colleen fell just behind.
There was another burst of air and the crunch of drywall. Colleen looked back. Shappe was pulling himself out of a hole he'd torn down into someone else's apartment.
"We're not gonna hold this elevator forever," Jess called out. Despite what she was saying Luke kept his hand against the side.
The second Matt and Colleen were through, he drew his hand back and started mashing the close door button. Shappe shook his head clear, spotted the closing elevator, and there was a burst of air.
A massive, man-sized dent appeared in the elevator door. All four of the flinched back. And then after a moment the elevator started going down.
They all stood there, staring at the dent, heavy breaths. Letting the adrenaline fall off and relax.
"Guys," Jessica said. "I don't mean to put you out anymore. But I could really use something to eat."