Three months later

A bus pulled up at the corner of Convent and 128th, setting foot on the streets of New York for the first time in far too long.

With a relaxed smile, Luke ran a hand over his bald head, closing his eyes and tilting his head up toward the sky. The sun beat down on his face, and he took a much-needed breath of fresh air.

Felt good. He chuckled to himself as he started to walk along the sidewalk, tucking his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

"Hey, stranger."

Luke stopped in his tracks to look up at the beautiful woman waiting for him there.

Her eyes dropped from his face to his chest, and she grinned shamelessly. "Should we get that coffee?"

They exchanged a glance, and Luke chuckled at her. "Heh. Been too long since I saw that smile of yours." He stepped down to put them on even footing.

Claire wrapped her arms around him, and they kissed fiercely- making up for almost half a year without seeing each other.

"Yo! Yo! LC!"

Luke pulled away with a laugh as someone shouted at the two of them from across the street. He raised a hand in greeting, and the culprit- a teenager in a grey hoodie- hurried across the street up to meet with them.

Luke laughed and covered one face with his hand, embarrassed. "Jesse…"

"That's what I like to see, man," the teenager exclaimed, taking Luke's hand and patting him on the back. "Luke-freakin' Cage. I thought you was in lockup or something!"

"I was."

"Oh?" He tucked his hands into his pockets. "How long you been back in Harlem?"

"Uh." Luke looked back over his shoulder at the bus stop. "Five minutes, maybe?"

Claire snickered at that and crossed her arms, watching Jesse with amusement.

"No shit…?" Jesse widened his eyes, turning to Claire and shrinking slightly with embarrassment. "…Uh… sorry, ma'am, I didn't mean to interrupt or nothing; I was just kinda surprised to see Luke out here and all. It's good to see."

She waved him off with a toothy grin, leaning against Luke. "Ah. You're not the only one that feels that way."

"Yeah." Jesse turned to Luke with a grin. "Everyone's been wondering if and when Luke Cage is coming back. Things ain't the same without you."

Luke chuckled at that. "How's your sister?"

"Great! She's graduating this month. Going to med school."

"You don't say?" Claire smiled enthusiastically. "I like her already."

"I'm glad to hear she's doing okay. She's a good kid."

"Geez, Luke. Do you know everyone?"

Jesse grinned. "He's got good reason to know her. Saved her damn life."

"Is that so?" hummed Claire.

He patted one hand against Luke's shoulder. "Last year, Cottonmouth's guys tried to shake down my pop's shop while she was working there. Luke rolls up, takes care of all of 'em and even gets the one in charge to pay for the window he tossed their sorry asses through. He hadn't've been there, God knows where she'd be right now."

"Sure sounds like him."

Luke snickered, head lowered with embarrassment.

Looking back and forth between Luke and Claire, Jesse pulled his hands out of his pockets, clasping them together eagerly. "Alright, alright. I don't want to hold you up. But hey. Stop by the shop sometime. Seriously." He held up his fist.

Luke bumped it. "Will do, Jesse."

"Keep it real, Cage."

Raising one hand to the two of them, Jesse set off across the street again. Looking after him, Luke allowed himself a long sigh, taking hold of Claire's hand as she leaned against him.

"I missed Harlem," said Luke.

"It missed you." Claire stood on her toes to kiss him again. "And so did I."

"Well." He held both her arms, looking her right in the eye. "I would love to get re-acquainted."

The afternoon sun beat down through the windows of the Temples' apartment, blanketing the living room in a cool yellow. With his eyes half-open, Luke pressed his bare back against the bottom of an overturned table, basking in the sun.

One of the table legs was cracked near the bottom was cracked along the bottom. Luke pressed two fingers to it, and it gave way, almost breaking off. He winced at the sight.

"Claire," he called out, "this, uh, table might not stand so well."

Her voice called out from the kitchen. "It was just fine when I left the house this morning."

He clenched his teeth, eyes closed. "Yeah, uh… my bad."

With a groan, Luke stood, adjusting his disheveled jeans. As he did, he spotted Claire, who leaned against the entrance to the kitchen dressed in nothing but an oversized sweatshirt.

"You always break the furniture when you go to bed with a woman?" she hummed, turning back to enter the kitchen again.

He followed her inside with a chuckle. "Only with the ones I really like."

Claire stood over the counter and shook her hair out, handling a pot of coffee in one hand and a mug in the other.

Luke rested both hands on the counter and rested against it, watching her with a smile. "I thought coffee was a euphemism."

"I'm tired!" She took a sip from her mug and cupped it with both hands, raising an eyebrow at him. "You telling me you're not?"

He scrunched his nose. "…Actually, pour me some, too."

Claire smirked victoriously as she turned back to the counter to reach for the pot again.

"So…" she said slowly, handing him the mug, "…what's next for Luke Cage? Have you given any thought to… I mean, you were concerned about…"

"Jessica. Yeah." Luke took a sip of coffee, expression turning serious. "I think I'm gonna take a trip to Hell's Kitchen tonight."

"Tonight? So soon?"

"Sooner, if I can manage it." He nodded once, stepping out of the kitchen to dig through his clothes from the pile on the floor. "The more time I wait, the more time people are in danger."

Claire leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. "It's been three months, Luke. You know you don't have to…"

Setting his mug aside, Luke pulled a yellow t-shirt around his shoulders, shooting her an irritable frown. "What, are you saying I shouldn't try to help?"

She sighed. "No. I'm saying you shouldn't feel like you have to take on this responsibility all by yourself."

Luke picked up his mug again, turning to face her and leaning back against the couch. "Look, Claire. I've seen what Kilgrave can do up close. If I'm right, and he's still out there, the best thing is for nobody else to get involved."

"And what if you're wrong?"

"Then I'll be the first one to celebrate. But I owe it-" Luke stopped himself, lowering his steaming mug from his face as he considered. "…I owe it to Jessica, at least. I need to set things right between us."

"I understand." Claire studied his stern face, a little sad. "You… you should know. There might be more to this Kilgrave story. When I talked to Foggy about taking your case, he told me he was worried about the same thing as you. He was worried that Kilgrave might be the reason that Matt stopped taking your calls."

"Murdock?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "But why would Kilgrave have been tied up with him?"

They exchanged a glance, and Claire shrugged. "It seems like you're not the only one suspicious that there's something the police reports didn't tell us."

Luke narrowed his eyes at the vague response, drumming his fingers against the mug in his hand. "This just gets stranger by the second…"

"And- let me guess- more urgent, too, huh?" Claire took a few steps closer, one hand on her hip.

With a wry chuckle, Luke looked at the floor, apologetic. "I'm sorry I have to leave you so early, Claire. I just won't be comfortable until I know what's going on, one way or the other."

"What?" Claire scoffed. "Leave me? Uh, no. Nuh-uh. You are not leaving me behind. Wherever you are going tonight, I am right behind you."

"It could be dangerous."

"Yeah, 'cause I've never seen dangerous before."

Claire watched him expectantly, her expression resolute.

Naturally, he caved. "Fine. But promise me you'll stay behind if things get too bad. I don't want you caught in the crossfire if bullets start flying."

"Yeah… I think we can both agree that that's your strong suit, not mine."

"Tsch."

Luke watched her with a small smile as she wandered across the apartment, making her way to the bedroom to put some clothes on.

"I'm just surprised you didn't want to check on how things are in Harlem before getting out of the neighborhood," Claire called out from the other room.

Luke took another sip of coffee before lowering it to his lap. "I wish I could be in two places at once. It's just… history. I've gotta take things one step at a time."

"Yeah. Even if that means you don't get to take any time to take care of yourself." Claire stepped out of the bedroom with an amused smile, now dressed. "I know the drill. Someone's got to be the hero."

She leaned over Luke to kiss him, and he narrowed his eyes as she did, considering.

The elevator in Jessica Jones's apartment rattled to a stop, and Luke and Claire stepped out side-by-side. The whole place was alarmingly quiet, and they seemed to be the only two in the building making any noise at all.

Luke looked up at the ceiling with a frown as the two of them approached the door at the other end of the hall, which had a strip of cardboard taped up in place of a glass pane.

"Classy," Claire mumbled. "Still not repaired."

"At least the damage is covered," Luke added, knocking on the door a few times.

Nobody responded right away, and Claire leaned against the wall with crossed arms, looking Luke up and down. "So what's the plan here, Luke? What if she isn't home?"

He paused. "Then we'll see where she went."

He knocked on the door again, and again, nobody responded. Lowering his hand to the knob, he tried the door, which wouldn't budge.

"What, then?" Claire leaned her head against the wall, rolling her eyes. "Don't tell me you're planning to break in. I don't think she would appreciate a broken-"

Without hesitating, Luke peeled back the cardboard and reached an arm to the other side of the door, unlocking it from the inside.

"…Right," she finished.

The door creaked open, and Claire followed Luke into the shady apartment, dust swirling around in the center of the room.

"Jessica…?" Luke called out quietly. "Anyone home…?"

One hand on Luke's shoulder, Claire looked around in all directions, scoffing with disbelief.

"Jesus, there's still bullet holes in the wall…" she mumbled. "This place looks exactly the same as it did the last time I was here… that can't be a good sign, right?"

"I wouldn't think so," he replied gruffly, making his way to the desk.

On it lay a laptop on a stack of old papers, strewn about haphazardly as though someone had sifted through them in a hurry.

Luke held up one of the papers with one hand, eyes scanning the document suspiciously. "Old case files. Nothing recent."

"Bed's unmade," Claire called out from the hall, peering into the bedroom. "We can't just go through her stuff, Luke. I mean, I know you and she were close, but…" She trailed off as she stepped into the office again, gaze fixing over Luke as he stared at the floor. "What is it? Something wrong?"

"Phone is unplugged." He knelt down to hold the cord, twiddling it between two fingers.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be bothered?"

"Then she must not want to pay her rent, considering she works out of this office." He stood, putting his hands on his hips. "Worked…"

Claire sighed, resting a hand on the desk. "Luke…"

He looked her in the eye, tapping two fingers against the papers on the desk. "Look at these. They're months old. She…" He brushed the papers on the top out of the way, eyes fixing on a familiar face in one of the photos on a page near the bottom of the stack. "Ay…"

"Gina," said Claire, reading over his shoulder. "What, you know her?"

"I, uh. I did. A while back." He pursed his lips, drumming his fingers along the desk. "Jessica must have closed this case at least a year ago."

"So these are her old files?"

"Yeah, but…" He murmured under his breath as he sifted through papers. "…Nothing on Kilgrave. Mostly stuff that should be later than this. Nothing on that girl that Kilgrave got… Hope…"

"Nothing on you," Claire added. "You think Kilgrave might have cleared the place out?"

"Would explain the phone."

"And the fact that everything is still busted up to shit?"

"Eh. Jessica may have just left it like that either way." Luke opened the top drawer of the desk, spotting a mostly-full bottle of whiskey. "Wouldn't expect her to leave behind her valuables, though."

"Could Kilgrave have gotten to her? I thought Jessica was immune to his… abilities. Whatever they are."

"She was. But… he was trying to get around it." Luke shut the drawer and walked around to the other side of the desk. "He was with his father, a- a doctor, or scientist or something… he was trying to increase his powers. He wanted to control Jessica again."

"And if it worked…"

"Maybe he just tried to destroy the evidence that he was ever here. Took her with him. Or…"

Luke scratched his chin, expression grim.

"Hey. Hey, hold on," said Claire, touching his arm. "Let's not jump to the worst case scenario here. This is hardly a dead end, right? I met her neighbor; he seemed pretty close with Jessica."

"Malcolm," Luke replied.

"Yeah. Maybe he can be our next step. He can tell us what he knows."

"If he knows anything. Kilgrave would have taken the steps to cover it up if he… got to Jessica. He's not sloppy…"

"Got a better suggestion?"

After a resigned shake of Luke's head, Claire made her way to the front door again, pausing as she opened it at the sight in the hallway. Luke joined her shortly after, hovering in the doorway.

In the center of the hall, just in front of another open apartment door, stood a middle-aged man in a long jacket, both hands hanging in his side. He stared with disbelief at the sight of the pair in Jessica's doorway, fingers twitching uncertainly at his side.

"Uh… hello? You're not Malcolm," Claire said slowly, taking a few steps closer as she exited the apartment. "Do you know Jessica…?"

The man murmured to himself as he took another step into the hallway, staring with disbelief. "Her apartment… you were in… her… apartment…" All of a sudden, and with his eyes wide with shock, he reached into his jacket, drawing a pistol from the interior pocket.

"Oh, shit!" Claire shouted in surprise, taking a step back as Luke moved forward to guard her with outstretched arms.

The man blinked once, the gun shaking in his hand, and Luke raised a hand in front of him as he took a step closer.

"Relax. Relax." Luke made intense eye contact with the man, hand still raised defensively. "Nobody is threatening you; we don't have to-"

A gunshot rang out as soon as Luke's foot touched the ground, and a bullet-sized hole burst open in the center of his t-shirt.

Luke narrowed his eyes sadly at him. "Okay, then…"

"I- wh- what?" Hand shaking fiercely on the handgun, the man shot Luke a fearful look. "You… you…"

With a frown, he jabbed the gun in Luke's direction again and fired. A bullet collided with Luke's outstretched hand, and the shell clattered harmlessly on the floor of the hallway. The man tapped the trigger of the gun, and the entire clip of the gun unloaded onto Luke's bulletproof chest as he lumbered forward, closing the distance.

The gun clicked uselessly as the two of them met face-to-face, and Luke grabbed the gun out of his hand, effortlessly crumpling it up and dropping it on the floor.

Terrified, the man looked up at Luke, wild-eyed. "You were… in her apartment… you were supposed to… to…"

"Supposed to die? Because we were in Jessica's apartment?" Luke grabbed the man by the collar with one hand, grimacing. "Is that it? Did Kilgrave tell you to do this?"

He shot Luke a panicked frown, unsure of how to respond. "Wh- what? Who?"

"Kilgrave."

Claire touched a hand to Luke's shoulder, uncomfortable. "Luke, I don't think he…"

Luke shook his head. "He probably can't give Kilgrave up. It would have been an order."

"Look. Look!" the man said loudly, struggling with both hands to loosen Luke's grip from his collar. "I- I don't know any Kilgrave. Honest. I never met the guy in charge. But that ain't him."

With a long breath, Luke turned to the side, shoving the man back into his own apartment with one hand. As the man stumbled over onto the floor, Luke and Claire followed him inside, surrounding him on both sides.

"Please!" the man pleaded. "I- I have a little girl. They have her address."

"'They'? Who's 'they'?" demanded Claire.

"I- uh, they're…" With a gulp, the man struggled to his feet, pressing one hand against the back wall as the pair approached him. "Look. I can't. Do what you gotta do to me. But these people, they can't be reasoned with…"

"I don't need reason," Luke said firmly. "Listen. Whoever these people are. I can take care of them. You have my word on that." He ran a hand over his bullet hole-riddled shirt. "But I need to know so that I have a place to start. If you can just give me a name…"

The man thought for a while, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall. "…Okay, okay, I just… look, I didn't want any part in this. It was right when I moved in. This crowd of guys. Armed thugs. Working for someone named 'Hogman'- I've never met him, I swear. But they told me that since I was living here, I had to look after that apartment… the woman that lived there before, I never met her, but apparently she was important for some reason. Maybe someone their boss knew? I'm not sure. But… I wasn't- I wasn't supposed to let anybody go in or out of the apartment…"

"Or they'd go after your daughter…?" mumbled Claire.

"Yeah. That's right…"

"Jesus…"

"Nobody will know we were here," said Luke. With a frown, he backed away from the man, making his way to the entrance of the apartment to grab the crumpled-up gun from the floor. "And I promise you that nobody will know that we got any information from you."

He held out his arm, and Claire took the gun out of his hands, admiring Luke's handiwork with mild astonishment.

"I can make you this promise at the very least," Luke continued. "You are never going to have to see us again. Not after this."

"What? After wh-?"

With a sigh, Luke tapped his palm against the side of the man's head, and, unconscious, he slumped over against the back wall.

Claire peered over the man with a slight frown. "Geez, Luke, was that really necessary?"

"He did try to kill us."

"Fair enough." She peered down at the crumpled gun in her hands again. "So… now you have a name. Still think Kilgrave is involved here somehow?"

"Hard to say. I won't know until I look into it personally. But either way…" Luke ran a hand over his head, sighing quietly. "…You're probably going to want to stay behind for this next part."