...and one time Matt was scared as hell

CHAPTER SIX: MISTER FEAR

Matt Murdock had never run so fast in his life. Ten steps, cross the roof. God. Please.

There was an HVAC system in his way. Matt leapt over it, two fingers maybe touched the top as he vaulted it, then sprinted across the tar paper and gravel.

Every one of his sense was on fire. Adrenaline coursed through him like ice water. His heart pounded, lungs begged him for a breather, but Matt didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

The screams on the video haunted him, still echoed in his ears. Karen. Foggy. Please. How many Hail Marys, how many prayers, could he possibly get out in the next few minutes? His time was running out. Matt's foot clipped the edge of a roof and almost sent him careening to the alley below, but his fingers caught a fire escape at the last minute and he hauled himself up. Pushed harder. Please, God.

Just a few more rooftops. Just a few more, and he was going to tear into whoever had decided to kidnap his two best friends and torture them on a rooftop. Grappling hook, launch, catch, swing, retract. Matt's heart pounded. Over a skylight-Matt heard it crack as the heel of his boot connected just a little too hard- across the roof-

Stop.

Matt's feet skidded to a stop in the pebbles on the roof.

Two heartbeats, beating faster than his. The gentle swishing back and forth of water in a rooftop tank. Matt zeroed in on the water tower, walked toward it. All senses on fire. On alert. Heartbeats were good.

The coppery scent of blood on the air, not as much. The muffled groans and strains…Matt reached up, felt Karen's hair, ran a gloved finger down the side of her face. "Karen. Are you-"

The muffled warning on his left came from Foggy. Matt ducked as something came flying at him, embedding itself in the wooden tower leg just above Karen's head. Karen screamed.

Matt rolled underneath the tower, came up behind Foggy. Duct tape secured his friend's hands behind him. Easy enough to break, if-

Someone came up behind him. Something hard cracked him in the back of the head. If it hadn't been for the cowl, it would have definitely been a concussion- or worse. The force knocked Matt to his knees,dazed, and whoever was behind him hauled him up, dragged him across the rooftop. Strong hands pulled his arms behind him, secured them with what felt like zip ties, and forced him to his knees.

"Nice of you to join the party, Red," a familiar voice said.

Hands tugged Matt's cowl from his head and tossed it over the side of the building. Matt struggled against whoever held him.

"Oh, Matthew. It's not like you don't like being tied up," another voice whispered in his ear.

Someone yanked his billy club from his holster. "Holy hell, I wonder what I can nail from here with this. How much cable you think is in that thing?"

Matt shivered, heart threatening to pulse right through the latex and Kevlar armor. "Let them go," he pleaded. "This is between all of you and me. They-they've got nothing to do with this!"

Something bounced off the cement edging around the roof, and Matt heard a thud as it impacted a body. There was a scream of pain. Foggy. "No!" Matt tried to wrest himself off his knees, but he felt the combat boot belonging to Frank Castle crash into the back of his calf.

"Stay down, Red," Castle advised.

"Newsflash, Murdock," Ben Poindexter said dryly. "This does concern them. You brought 'em into it."

Matt's pulse raced. "And here I thought I was the only one who could get your pulse to race like that," Elektra Natchios purred next to his ear. Matt jerked his head away from her, and she laughed lightly.

"Hey, now that the guest of honor is here, can I start the party?" Poindexter questioned. He looked at Elektra. "He seriously can't see any of this?"

"Oh he can," Elektra replied, "Just not in the way that you or I do. He'll know what's going on. Every. Single. Bit."

Poindexter grinned. Matt heard the clink of a switchblade being opened. "No. Leave them alone!"

"How many times can you ping that off somethin' and hit the target?" Castle wondered.

Poindexter grinned. "Good a night as any to find out." He flipped the knife over in his hand-Matt heard it hit his palm- then flicked his hand. The switchblade bounced off a patch of tar paper.

Matt heard Karen scream. "No! God, leave them alone!' He struggled, but Castle and Elektra put him on the ground, Castle digging a knee into his back.

"God?" Frank mused. "That's interesting. Don't think God is listening, Red."

Fear, anger, adrenaline, mostly fear surged through Matt, and he thrashed on the ground. Karen was crying. Foggy was swearing. The scent of blood was on the air. Matt wanted to throw up.

A hand reached for his face, cupped his chin. Matt yanked his chin away. "Oh, Matt," Elektra tsked.

"Oh, Matt." Karen was the first to reach him. She reached for his hand, duct taped to the chair, and tore at it with her fingernails. Foggy was by her side a second later after calling 911 to get to their office as soon as they could.

"Matt!" Foggy shook his friend, yanking the oxygen mask that was over his friend's mouth and nose off him, throwing it to the floor. "Jesus. Who did this to him?" He looked at the setup. Matt, tied to one of their office chairs, forearms and ankles heavily wrapped in duct tape. The oxygen mask. The hose trailing around to a cylinder on the back of the chair. Foggy didn't know what was in it, and he sure as hell didn't want to find out. He ripped it off the chair and threw it and the mask across the room.

Karen had freed one of Matt's hands and took it in hers, rubbing the back of it. She held it to the side of her face. "Matt. Matt please, wake up."

His whole body seized, tensed. "Matt!" Foggy yelled. He reached up and loosened Matt's tie, just in case, and then untied his ankles. "Matt. Come on, man. What the hell is going on," he muttered. "Hey, help me get him on the floor," he told Karen.

Karen pulled the tape off Matt's other arm, and the two of them guided him to the floor. "Let's get him out of this room," Foggy said. "Maybe getting him away from the air in this room. It's freaking me out, whatever it is. We should move. We should move now."

"Hell, yes," Karen agreed, her hands shaking. She stuck her arms under his armpits and Foggy grabbed his ankles, and they moved him from his office out into the center reception room. Foggy slammed the office door behind him, and instantly felt his nerves start to calm.

He looked at Matt, hoping it wouldn't be much longer until his friend was the same. He reached up and took Matt's other hand. "Come on, buddy. Snap out of it."

The two of them waited anxiously. Two minutes. Three minutes passed.

Matt's eyes snapped open, and his body jerked. "Matt! Matt, it's okay!" Karen reassured him.

"Hey, buddy, you're okay. We got you," Foggy added.

"Karen?" Matt's unfocused eyes tried desperately to focus in on his friends. "Foggy. You-you're alive?"

Foggy glanced at Karen, confused. "Yeah, man. We're good. We're, uh, we're safe."

"Where are we?"

"The office," Karen said. "You were supposed to meet us at Josie's. You didn't show, so we thought we'd better come check on you."

Matt's eyes closed, and his body finally, finally, relaxed. They're okay. We're okay. "Thank God," he breathed, leaning into Karen's side. He gripped Foggy's hand tight.

"Who the hell did this to you?" Foggy asked, after he explained the condition they'd found Matt in.

Matt shook his head. "I don't know."

"You've got a hell of a knot on the back of your head," Karen noted, running her fingers gingerly though his hair. "I'm not surprised."

"But we'll get him," Matt added. He looked at each of them in turn. "We'll get him. Together."

Foggy grinned. "Well I don't know about the two of you, but if I was that person, I'd be scared as hell that Nelson and Murdock are comin' after him."

Karen coughed. "And Page!" Foggy amended, earning a pained laugh from Matt.