"I don't like this," Trish Walker told her best friend, her sister, Jessica Jones. Her eyes were pleading with Jessica, asking her let me stay.
Jessica exhaled, a long release of anguish, before replying, "I can't focus on Fisk and worry about you."
Trish nodded, knowing she was right, but still hating the circumstances. "But there's no guarantee sending me away means he won't find me."
"I know," Jessica said, hoping with everything she had that Trish was wrong. "But this is the only option we have."
Trish opened the passenger side door of the black van and slide inside.
"Watch the blood," Foggy Nelson told her, referring to Trish's arm wound. It was still wrapped in a torn piece of Jessica's plaid shirt, but the oozing had long since stopped. "My mom will kill me if I get blood in her car."
Trish gave a half smile, her mouth sore from the gag that had been tightly tied around her face just a few hours before. "I'll try my best."
Jessica leaned into the open window and whispered to Trish. Trish nodded in reply.
With that, Foggy stepped on the gas and the van began speeding out of view.
"Thanks," Jessica said to Matt Murdock, who had been silently watching the exchange from just behind her left shoulder.
"You're welcome," he replied, wondering how long they would have to watch the place Trish had once been, how long it would be before they could seek shelter themselves.
The van finally made a sharp left, turning out of Hell's Kitchen, making its way far from New York City.
"You had to do it," Matt told her, as if reading her mind, feeling the uncertainty that washed over Jessica.
Fuck, he's right. She hated that.
"Let's go see about a superhero," Jessica finally cracked, turning to face Matt. He smiled.
XXXXXXX
Colleen's dojo was nothing to write home about, save for the immense amount of light that always seemed to pour through it's grimy windows. Jessica Jones suspected the light somehow made what they were practising less bleak; everything was when washed in an orange glow.
Jessica knew the skills learned and relearned within those four walls were too often put to use against bad men in the shadows of Hell's Kitchen. She knew Danny was keeping his promise to protect Matt's city.
She had seen him a few times, crouched on the edge of a building, peering into the night, searching for someone to save. But without the aid of Matt Murdock's special skills Danny had to rely on his eyes. He could only help those he could see and on some nights Jessica could tell he wasn't seeing much at all.
Maybe he didn't want to, not really, because the real danger wasn't on some crumbling rooftop but down in the alleys or out on the stoops or inside the bars Jessica called home. She'd broken up a fight or two since Matt's death. Sometimes it felt like her duty to a fallen friend, but more often than not she just wanted to hit something.
"Iron Tool," Jessica quipped as she and Matt entered the dojo. "You up for a fight?"
Eager as always, Danny Rand leapt from his lotus pose on the floor and nearly barrelled into Jessica's arms. She promptly pushed him away.
"Oh my god," Danny said, his heart tapping rapidly in his chest, perking Matt's ears. "Colleen and I were so worried about you guys."
Matt knew he was telling the truth.
"About us?" Jessica asked, her emphasis on the last part, the part that insinuated they were a duo, a team, a couple.
"You guys dropped off the grid days ago," he told her. "Luke went to your place and it was trashed. I went to yours and it was the same."
"Yeah, well it's been a rough ride," Jessica replied, "But we need your help."
The words tasted salty in her mouth.
Danny smiled, big, bright, and sincere. Jessica wished Matt could really see it.
"We figured you would," Danny said, walking over to a chest in the far corner of the room. "So I made sure to grab this."
As Danny opened the lid, the creak of ancient wood echoing in the air, he revealed the Devil mask sitting atop a mound of red rubber.
"My suit," Matt said. Jessica still hadn't grasped the complexities of what Matt could and could not see, how he was able to analyze the world around him, but in her mind she imagined him sniffing out the sweat and dried blood that surely penetrating the suit. She imagined him smell testing his way through life.
"Yeah," Danny replied. "I just couldn't leave it there."
"Thank you," Matt told him. "Really."
Before Matt could move out of arm's reach, Danny hugged him. He could hear Jessica sigh.
XXXXXXXXX
After sharing the pizza Luke Cage had brought when he arrived and watching Jessica finish a six pack of cheap beer, the group settled into old routines: cruel quips at Danny's expense, endless questions about what each could and could not do, and a general distrust of anyone's plan of action. Everything had to be talked out. Everything had to be analyzed.
It had been torture on Jessica the first time around. Perhaps things should have been different now, after going through so much together, after defeating The Hand. But it was all the same.
Skepticism tinged with respect and fear marked by a call to action. The contradictions would make anyone else's head spin, but during her second serving Jessica found it all oddly comforting. Tipping the last can of beer, hoping a few errant drops would pelt her tongue, she felt at ease among the men around her. Despite herself, she liked being a member of a team. Sometimes.
"Had enough?" Luke asked her as she easily crushed the can in her hand.
Ugh, she immediately thought. This wasn't one of those times.
"I just don't get it," Danny said, ignoring any conflict between Luke and Jessica that may have been brewing on the other side of the room.
"What don't you understand?" Matt asked patiently.
"Well, actually there are a lot of things I don't get," Danny continued.
"Surprise, surprise," Jessica whispered. Matt smiled.
"But let's just start with this Kilgrave guy. Is he dead or not?" Danny questioned.
Jessica shifted uncomfortably, her boots digging into the hardwood floor. "He's dead."
"Are you sure?" Danny asked.
"I'm sure," she shot back, the look on her face serious enough to silence Danny.
"He's dead, man," Luke offered. "Besides, the way you guys explained it, it doesn't seem like Wilson Fisk is really pulling a Kilgrave after all."
"Pulling a Kilgrave?" Matt chuckled.
"You know, doing all that mind control crap," Luke explained, not catching the mocking tone in Matt's voice. "It sounds to me like he's just trying to make you think that."
"Yeah, I agree," Danny said, but when Jessica glanced his way again, he immediately regretted opening his mouth.
"I saw it with my own eyes," Jessica told them both. "His men are blindly following him."
"Jess, I've been working over guys in Harlem for months now and each one is just a lackey, someone working for an even bigger drug dealer or ams smuggler or human trafficker," Luke told her. "There's always a group ready to blindly follow as long as someone is willing to lead. And from what I've heard and read, Wilson Fisk is a leader."
"Rand Enterprises changed all their background and security protocols once he was arrested. It seems we did business with him," Danny added. "Which means if a sociopathic killer can make billion dollar deals with the leaders of finance he can definitely convince a few petty thieves to follow orders."
Jessica sighed. She felt as if that's all she'd done since arriving. "Firstly, they were not just following orders. Like I told you before," she said, pointing to Matt, unsure if he could tell, "They couldn't help it. I know what that looks like. Secondly, the leaders of finance have never been very particular in who they do business with, so I wouldn't use that as an example of Fisk's considerable sway over people."
"That's my parent's business!" Danny yelled protectively.
"Last I checked, they weren't there," she replied.
"Okay, now," Luke interjected. Matt could tell he was worried a fight a could erupt at a moment's notice.
"What?" Jessica questioned. "That wasn't a dig at your loss, Iron Ass. I was trying to say maybe the people who run their company now aren't as discerning as your parents would have been."
"Fine," Danny said, "But that apology would have sounded a lot better if you hadn't called me Iron Ass."
"Maybe, but it wasn't an apology."
"Okay, let's all just take a step back," Luke cautioned. "I don't want us to argue because I think there's a strong possibility that whatever we're dealing with here is about power not magic."
Jessica laughed. "What makes you think it's not one in the same?"
"Jess," Luke started, but she kept talking, plowing through his skepticism.
"Magic is just another word for power. It's just like Fisk said. We never even thought to investigate that old lady who could pick up concrete boulders. We never thought to question why she or The Hand were they way they were."
"Well, I did," Danny told her. "I mean, Matt and I tried to explain it to you."
"I honestly don't remember that," she replied. Matt smiled, but he could feel the others were not amused by Jessica's selective memory.
"Jesus, Jess," Luke scoffed. "Only paying attention when it matters to you, huh?"
"Whoa," she snapped, surprised by Luke's honest assessment, by his sharp jab. "I'm the one who came back that first night we all met. The one with the damn SUV in her hands to save your sorry asses. So don't even think about giving me a speech about being a team player."
"That's not what I was-"
"Yeah, it was," Jessica told Luke. "I'm listen and I care and I am a member of this shitty team, whether you like it or not. And I'm telling you this is real. The same way you knew Electra was Electra, the same way you knew you were the key to The Hand's plan, and the same way you knew it all connected to those kids in Harlem. I trusted all of you and found myself on the end of a near apocalypse. And now when I need you to trust me where are you?"
"We're here, Jess, it's just-" Luke began, but Jessica had already pulled herself off her spot on the floor and exited the dojo, being sure to toss the crushed beer can behind her. It clanked on the soft wood, as the door slammed in her wake.
"What was that?" Danny asked, standing to retrieve Jessica's waste.
"She's been through a lot recently," Matt replied sheepishly.
Danny grabbed the beer can from the floor and tossed it into the corner garbage. "We've all been through a lot. I'm out every night, doing what I thought you would do," he told Matt. "And Luke's still working on his neighbourhood, still purging crime from the streets day after day."
"I hate to say it," Luke said, "But Jessica's in the wrong here. Sometimes she just gets it in her head that it's all about her. And, well, this time it's not."
"The man who controlled her for over a year, who raped her, who made her kill might be back," Matt told them. Before Luke could interject, he continued. "And I know, as well as you do, that it's not him. But the thought that it could be, just the thought, is killing her. And I don't think any of us have the right to tell her not to be scared."
"Scared," Danny said, chuckling.
"Yeah, scared, Matt replied incredulously. "That's what this is. She's terrified. Can't you tell?"
Luke shook his head, dejected. "I didn't realize. I've never really seen her that way."
Danny found his spot on the floor again, settling back into lotus pose. "Maybe she and Matt are closer," he said, not really understanding the weight of his observation.
Matt could feel Luke's eye on him, but ignored them. There was nothing he could do to assure Jessica's former lover that he wasn't close to her, because Danny was right. Matt knew he and Jessica shared a deep connection, a connection he couldn't really explain. And he knew he had almost jeopardized it and her life when he let her walk away from him, let her pursue Trish and her abductors without him.
Fuck, I'm an idiot, he thought.
"Excuse me for a minute," Matt said, standing and exiting the training room in search of Jessica.
"Not cool, man," Luke told an oblivious Danny once Matt was gone. "Not cool."
XXXXXXXXX
Matt found Jessica outside, leaning against the building, her arms crossed, her head down. It was a position he'd found her in many times before. He loved it, loved the knowledge that he could slide in beside her and share the wall with her.
"Are they talking about me?" Jessica asked as Matt approached.
"Would you care if they were?"
"Only if they were deciding not to pursue this Fisk\Kilgrave thing," she told him seriously.
"I don't know-" he began, but she cut him off.
"I need you to believe me on this one," she said, the sincerity in her voice permeating any objections Matt was ready to make. "It sound ridiculous, I know, but I'm sure that Fisk has Kilgrave's abilities. That's why he took Trish. To lure me out, to make sure I would let them take my blood, so they could-"
"They took your blood!" Matt exclaimed, grasping her hand instinctively.
Jessica let her arms falls at her sides, her hand still clinched in his own, and turned to face him. "It didn't hurt," she told him, smiling.
"I wouldn't think so," he replied. "But I'm more concerned with the why."
"To make an antidote," she told him, as if that was the most logical thing someone could say.
Matt chuckled despite himself, his mind finally succumbing to how insane everything was beginning to sound. "That can't be why."
"Because it seems crazy? So does a woman who can bench lift a plane or a blind lawyer who jumps from building to building fighting crime. And don't get me started on The Hand. Everything about his is crazy, but so are our lives, Murdock. This is just one more thing."
"An antidote to whatever mind control abilities Fisk now has," Matt said aloud, as if hearing it in his own voice would make it real.
"I'm the only one who could withstand Kilgrave's control. And from what little I've seen, I think Fisk's abilities are limited where I'm concerned too."
"So he takes your blood to create an antidote?" Matt asked, knowing the puzzles pieces were not fitting quite right.
"Not an antidote," Luke said, as he and Danny approached.
Jessica released Matt's hand quickly, returning herself to a crossed arm pose.
"If this is what you say it is," Luke began, "Then Fisk wouldn't want to create something to dilute or even stop his power. So he's not making an antidote."
"He's right," Matt said. "It's got to be something else."
"Well, if there was only one person in the world who could resist my control, it stands to reason that discovering how that's possible could lead to greater power. Maybe if Fisk can figure out what makes you immune to his mind control, he can make sure no one else is. It's not an antidote to him, but an antidote to whatever it is that makes you resistant."
Matt, Jessica, and Luke slowly turned to look at Danny.
"Yeah, I have my moments," he said.
XXXXXXXX
The once light infused dojo found itself surrounded by darkness after the sun had set. Jessica drank it in, happy to be able to close her eyes for the first time in almost two days. She was laying on the floor, a comforter that smelled of tea tree oil and potpourri crumpled beneath her, her own leather jacket draped over her torso for warmth.
Danny and Colleen slept in the other room, a makeshift apartment clad only in paintings of K'un-Lun and a pullout couch. Each time Danny moved in his sleep, the worn springs creaked, keeping Jessica firmly awake. She wondered how Colleen managed, how she was able to relax beside someone who was obviously having nightmares. Perhaps she had grown accustomed to how conflicted Danny was. Or perhaps she was conflicted too. Maybe that was the secret, finding someone just as scared and just as stubborn to sleep beside you.
Matt made his way quietly through the window. He had been on the roof, scanning the night for danger or clearing his head, Jessica wasn't sure. Creeping across the wood floor, he found his spot next to Jessica, sharing the remaining edge of comforter.
"Are you cold?" he asked, feeling her shiver beside him.
"No," she lied, hugging herself tighter under the leather jacket.
He exhaled loudly, louder than he had wanted to and in an instant he could feel Jessica's eyes on him. It was now or never. "I'm sorry," he told her.
"For what?" she asked. The question made him wonder if there were more things to be sorry for, if in her mind the list of his guilt was long and varied.
"For not coming with you when you went searching for Trish," he replied. "I should have and I'm sorry."
After what felt like an eternity, she simply replied, "Okay."
Wanting to be sure she was okay, be sure she had truly forgiven him, Matt stated, "Are you sure I can't ask Danny if he has more blankets?"
"I'm fine," she told him. "Besides, he's having a nightmare."
"How can you tell?" Matt asked.
Jessica didn't respond and Matt knew why. He could tell as well, he could hear it from the roof. Danny was turning in his sleep, lightly moaning, his fists clenched, his teeth grinding. Matt could hear his heart beating wildly, the thumps pulsating out of control. It felt so loud to him he wondered for a moment if Jessica could hear it too.
Eventually, Matt found his own sweet spot on the floor. He arms behind his head, his feet crossed over one another. Jessica knew he wasn't readying himself for sleep but rather another vigile. Together they listened to Danny as his nightmare painfully passed and his breathing finally grew rhythmic and calm.
"When I wake up, will you be here?" Jessica suddenly asked, catching Matt off guard.
"I'm usually not the one that runs away," he reminded her, his voice low, almost a whisper.
"Fair. Not completely accurate, but fair," she told him.
Even in the dark she could see him smile.