The sound of distant voices pulled Jessica Jones from her staggered slumber. She was lying on an unfamiliar bed, her jacket and shirt discarded on a nearby chair. Looking down, she could see her arm wound had been recently patched and a shift in her body weight allowed her to feel the bandages on her back stretch and move.

She winced as she sat up, and looking back to the place she had once been, saw tiny traces of blood. Apparently those bandages weren't doing their job.

Reaching up to her neck, she could feel the bruise under her smooth fingers. She could feel the raised skin and imagined it to be various shades of black and blue. It made her cringe. Not the mark, but the memory of it, the memory of Wilson Fisk's hand tightly wound against her pale skin.

Jessica remembered her final thoughts before unconsciousness took hold of her - thoughts of giving up. But now she was awake again and her problems hadn't gone away. In fact, they had grown bigger. The bruise was a reminder of how she'd let Matt Murdock go without a fight.

The creak of old wood, footsteps down the hall, snapped Jessica back to the present and she began to once again scan her surroundings. The room was free of clutter. No books on the night side table, no pictures hanging on the wall, no knickknacks on the dresser. The only identifiable items were the leftover bandages and gauze sitting on the floor by the bed, along with a pair of discarded latex gloves.

Jessica groaned as she realized the team was back together again.

"You're awake," Claire said as she entered the room.

"Seems that way," Jessica replied, without a hint of surprise in her voice. Of course Claire had bandaged her up. Who else?

"How long have I been out?"

"A couple of hours," Claire told her. She picked up Jessica's shirt from the chair and moved to throw it to her before catching sight of the blood stains. For a moment Jessica wondered if she would offer her something cleaner - if there was something cleaner - but Claire just shrugged and tossed the shirt Jessica's way. Claire Temple was getting far too used to all of this.

As Jessica eased into the shirt, she tilted her head trying to see beyond Claire and into the next room where the voices had been coming from.

"Who else is out there?

"Danny and Colleen."

"And where is here?" Jessica asked, a grimace painted on her face as she finally stood. She was wobbly, and looking down Jessica could tell her ankle was swollen. Perhaps it had been broken, but with her healing powers one could never be sure.

"It's a safe house, I guess," Claire answered, making no effort to help Jessica hobble toward her boots at the end of the bed. "Danny's company owns the building."

Jessica assumed Claire's indifference was residual anger - Luke must have told her about their head-to-head fight just days before. Jessica couldn't blame her. She had her own loyal sidekick, someone who would hold her anger for her if the burden ever got too big. The problem was Jessica didn't like to relinquish it, and so her sidekick was always on the outside looking in. Even in her hour of need that sidekick was miles away. Hopefully, so far away that what happened to Matt could never happen to her - not again.

As Jessica pressed herself into her black boots, Danny came barrelling through the door.

"She's awake!" he exclaimed.

"Can't get anything past you," Jessica mumbled to herself.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like I was just pushed out a window and then punched into submission," she replied dryly.

"Well, at least you're alive," Colleen offered. She had been hot on Danny's heels.

Jessica knew they all meant well - hell, they always meant well - but the room was too small and smelled too much of blood for them to be crammed inside.

"Where's Matt?" Claire asked, and it suddenly dawned on Jessica that they had no idea he was now under Fisk's control. How could they? They weren't there.

As if a light bulb flashed on inside her mind, Jessica asked, "How did I get here?"

"Oh, it was Luke," Danny said, his voice dripping with admiration. "He carried you along Riverside, from Hell's Kitchen to Harlem."

Of course he did, Jessica thought, annoyance colouring her features.

"Where is he now?" she asked.

Before Danny could replied, Claire interrupted, "Where's Matt?"

Jessica sighed. She didn't want to answer. A small part of her didn't want them to worry, despite the dire circumstances. A much larger part of her just didn't want to talk. Every time something bad happened they needed to have a meeting about it. She could only imagine the kind of strategy sessions they would require knowing Matt wasn't Matt anymore.

Still, keeping it from them wouldn't help. She had failed him in the bar when she got him drunk. She had failed him in the apartment when she found herself on the other side of the window glass instead of by his side. And she had failed him on the street below when she allowed Fisk to walk away.

"Seriously, Jessica," Claire continued. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Fisk has Matt." She said it coolly, calmly, as if it was nothing at all, but the looks on everyone's faces only confirmed for her how horrible the situation was.

"Has him? Like he was kidnapped?" Danny asked.

"Not exactly," Jessica replied. "That thing I told you guys about, that whole Fisk has Kilgrave's mind control powers and he's going to use them to terrorize the city… you remember that, right? Well, he used them on Matt. He didn't have to kidnap him. He just asked him to get in his car and Matt obeyed."

Danny and Claire stood dumbfounded, but to Colleen's credit she only nodded in reply. Jessica appreciated that she was true to her word, that she had believed her all along.

"So what do we do now?" Luke Cage asked from the doorway.

Immediately, his presence was overpowering and Jessica watched as the other three ceded. Without Matt, Jessica wondered if Luke would step up to lead. The thought turned her stomach. She wouldn't follow another man - not again.

This time they follow me.

"Outside," Jessica said to Luke, before elbowing her way through the small crowd and into the narrow hallway. She slowly hobbled to the front door of the apartment, placing more and more weight on her ankle with every stride. When she reached it and discovered they weren't on the ground floor, she gave in to the pain and sat on the first available step in the shared hallway.

She hadn't looked back, but Luke's walk was heavy. She knew he had been behind her the whole way and when he pressed his body next to hers on the step it almost felt like old times. Almost.

"I don't want to play the apology game," she began.

"Good. I wasn't going to apologize," Luke replied.

"Great. So we both agree you're an ass and we can leave it at that."

"Geez, Jessica," Luke sighed. "Matt is gone and you want to crack wise."

Jessica shook her head. "I'm not cracking wise," she told him, hating the phrase. "I'm being honest. I've always been honest with you."

Luke arched an eyebrow.

"I've almost always been honest with you," she corrected. "And honestly, you were an ass the other day. I've taken it from you before and I was cool with it given our… history. But after Midland Circle I kinda thought we were done fucking each other over."

"My not believing you wasn't meant to drive us apart," Luke told her.

Jessica laughed. "Yeah. What did you think it was going to do?"

"Midland Circle was just one shit thing in a span of really shitty things I've had to deal with, Jess. And not all of them were about you, you know."

"So you keep reminding me."

Luke leaned forward, his head in his hands, and Jessica pressed back on her elbows. For a while they sat in silence like that. Him thinking too hard and her relaxing too much. But they were both aware Matt Murdock was out there, somewhere, experiencing the same thing they had. He was out there fighting on the inside to be heard on the outside while a madman controlled his every move.

Luke cracked first. "Let's just put a pause on this. At least until we can get Matt back."

"And stop Fisk," Jessica added.

Luke nodded in reply.

"So we pretend everything is fine."

"Well, as fine as it can be when it comes to us," Luke reminded her and Jessica couldn't help but smile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can we go over the plan again?" Danny asked, pulling at the collar of his white button up shirt.

"No, we can't," Jessica coldly replied.

Claire sighed. "All you have to do is go in there and take some pictures of this month's rentals and buys."

"We're looking for something with style. Big money. Maybe a loft or a condo," Luke reminded him.

"They're not going to just give me that information," Danny said meekly.

"For fuck's sake," Jessica growled as she stomped towards him. She reached out, and for a second Danny flinched causing her to smile. But she wasn't interested in hitting him, at least not yet. Instead she grabbed his tie and began fixing the knot. "You're rich. You own Rand Enterprises. You have buildings all over the city, as evidenced earlier today. You just want access to a list of your holdings."

"Use your charm if you have to," Luke suggested.

Jessica snorted, aggressively tightening the tie in response. "I don't care what you do, just get the real estate records for this month."

The four of them were standing on the street one block from the Real Estate Board of New York. Colleen was at City Hall looking through country records. Jessica shook her head when thinking of the fact that she didn't need an escort or a minute-by-minute rehash of the plan. Jessica had no fear Colleen would find what they were after - if it was there to find at all.

Danny, on the other hand... Jessica stopped herself. Thinking up new nicknames to describe his ineptitude would have to wait. Right now he needed support.

"You'll be fine," Jessica told him, but no one believed it, least of all her. As Danny walked away from them down the street, Luke and Claire took off in the opposite direction. Everyone was manning their stations. The plan had begun.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

From her perch high atop the building, Jessica was reminded of being in that very spot with Matt by her side, just 12 hours before. If only she had known their collective hangover and subsequent weakened abilities would have led to all of this she would have let Matt call it quits after three rounds of tequila. But she had been having fun, despite herself and despite the secretive mission she'd made him a part of. She had wanted to stay and drink and laugh and live inside a normal moment, even if it was fleeting.

Without truly realizing it, Matt had become more than a teammate, more than a friend. He had gotten inside of her head and her heart and she didn't like feeling that way. It only compounded her ever mounting guilt. Yet, there it was - real emotions where Matt Murdock was concerned.

Staring at the remnants of the scientist's burnt apartment building, the exterior walls stained black, she silently pleaded with the universe to let him return. Perhaps he didn't know his place has succumb to fire the night before. Or maybe he did, but after the sun set again he would feel compelled to come back and claim whatever was left unburnt.

Jessica knew curiosity was a strong motivator, and she hoped against hope that in this case it would force the scientist to do something stupid, something reckless, and then she'd have him.

Three hours later, Jessica finally gave in to the pain in her back and neck and shoulders and leaned back against the ledge. She stretched as only she could, her long, lean limbs spidering out in each direction, a faint yawn escaping her lips. If she had been carrying a cell phone, she was sure Luke or Danny or Claire or Colleen would have called by now to tell her of their progress. But she had lost it somewhere in the melee the night before. It had probably been beaten out of her pocket by Fisk and then snatched by someone looking for a quick buck. Jessica smiled at the thought. Her phone was a piece of shit, having been in one too many fights. That buck was going to be small.

Looking at the sky as it turned from blue to yellow to dark orange, Jessica wondered where Matt was. She remembered Fisk's promise to weaponize him, and she couldn't help but picture Matt gearing up for attack as the sun went down. Would Fisk unleash him on the city like Godzilla, running from place to place causing mayhem? Or did he have a specific plan for the Devil of Hell's Kitchen?

Either way, Jessica was sure whatever Fisk was up to it meant the end of Matt Murdock's former death. Soon people would know the devil was back. Soon that blonde Karen would know Matt was back. And soon they would all grow to fear him.

That part stung the worst for Jessica, hitting her in the gut like a punch from Luke Cage.

Matt had spent nearly two years waging battle against the scum of this city. He had saved countless people, young and old, rich and poor, men and women. He was out there night after night helping them, giving them hope. It terrified her to think all that hard work would be wiped away. It also terrified her that she cared so damn much.

When Matt awoke from the mind control - and he will - he would have nothing left to show for the promise he made his city. New York would hate him and she knew he would hate himself.

The crunch of glass broke her train of thought and Jessica looked down to the street. The scientist was walking up the front steps of his building, debris catching his shoes as he went inside. Jessica took her cue and quickly followed.

As the scientist reached the door to his apartment, Jessica grabbed him from behind and spun him around. His back landed on the wall with a loud thud.

"I've been punched, kicked, choked, shot at, and stabbed with your little needle. And I've been pretty great about the whole thing. But now you have my friend. Now I'm pissed. So tell me what I want to know or… well, you know what the or is."

The scientist squirmed, but Jessica tightened her grip. He was now off the ground, his feet dangling in the air, his back still pressed against the wall.

"I don't know where your friend is!" he shouted.

"I don't believe you," she told him, but she wasn't sure yet. Maybe he didn't know. Fisk didn't seem like the kind of guy who revealed his secrets to every lackey in the bunch. But the scientist was the one allowing him to weaponize Matt. The scientist had to know more than most.

"I really don't know. I swear. I swear!"

As an errant foot kicked her in the leg, Jessica used her free hand to slap him in the face, hard. The scientist shrieked. "No kicking," she told him.

"Okay, okay," he replied. "Please let me down. I don't know anything."

Jessica slapped him again. The crack of her hand against his skin echoed in the now abandoned building. "Let's say you have no idea where my friend is-"

"Yes! Yes! I have no idea!"

Another smack. "I wasn't done. Let's say you have no idea about that, you do know about what was going on in here. You know what was in those vials. You know why Fisk took my blood. Tell me that and I won't kill you."

The scientist smiled, then winced in pain from the sting on his cheek.

"What's so funny?"

"You won't kill me," the scientist told her. "You're a superhero."

Jessica leaned in close, her face nearly resting on his own. "You used to keep a hand in a jar. The hand of the man I killed. So don't tell me what I will or will not do, okay?"

The scientist silently nodded and Jessica released him from the wall before pushing him inside the apartment. The walls were black and the wood floor splintered in pieces. Jessica looked down and could see the apartment below in parts. She almost warned the scientist to watch his step, but then she thought if he fell she could just interrogate him one storey lower. And perhaps he would have an injury she wouldn't have to claim on her own tab.

The scientist stumbled to the couch and sat down, but immediately jumped up. It was still wet, having been sprayed down by a fireman's hose.

"Talk," Jessica ordered.

"Yes, I did experiments with your blood," he told her.

"Why?"

"Mr. Fisk said you couldn't be controlled and he needed to know why. But there is no why. I couldn't find a reason. He didn't like that so he ordered me to make a retrovirus using genetic material from the hand."

"Wait. What?" Jessica found herself losing the plot just as it started.

"Simply put, a retrovirus copies your DNA… well, as best it can. Your body doesn't know the difference and eventually accepts the virus. Once it does the virus begins to replicate like any cell would, over and over again."

"Meaning what? You put Kilgrave into Fisk?"

The scientist rubbed his head. "I don't know who Kilgrave is."

"The hand!"

"Oh, then yeah. But it didn't work."

"It didn't?"

"No. I tried and tried, but the ability wouldn't last. The virus wouldn't reproduce in Mr. Fisk's body."

"So how does he have the power in the first place? Small doses of this virus?"

The scientist shook his head from side to side. "No. When I met him, he already had the ability. That's why I left a tenured position at New York University and moved here. He made me."

Jessica's eyes narrowed. She wondered if the man before her was still under Fisk's control. There was a time Luke had forgiven her for Reva's death. To her it had been a moment of absolution. But he had been under Kilgrave's mind control. He had merely been an actor in some sick play.

Yet, from what she had witnessed and what she had heard, Jessica believed Fisk's powers were fleeting. He could have stayed that night at the warehouse and captured Matt then. In fact, she was sure he had planned to. The whole thing smacked of a trap - Fisk had even alluded to knowing Matt would rush to the rescue. But nothing happened. They escaped to fight another day. Perhaps his powers had worn off before he could enact his plan.

Jessica hoped his powers had long since run their course on the scientist.

"So you have no idea what made him this way?" Jessica asked.

"I just assumed someone else like me was working…" the word caught in the scientist's throat. "Being used by him."

"Another doctor? Another scientist?"

"Maybe."

"So each of you would have one piece of the plan."

"I don't know. I guess that's possible," the scientist replied. "He just told me what to do and I did it. I didn't ask questions."

"No, of course not," Jessica said. "So how long have you been here?"

The scientist shook his head. "A week? I'm not sure. It feels like a lifetime."

Jessica was familiar with the feeling. Time was something Kilgrave couldn't control, but he had the ability to make it feel so slow you prayed for death.

"Did Fisk every take you anywhere? Anywhere other than the warehouse?"

"No."

"Did you see him with anyone? Not the guys with guns, but maybe a business associate from his past or... Vanessa? Did you ever see him with a woman named Vanessa?"

"No."

"So all you did was make a virus that didn't work?"

"Basically, yeah."

"So you were pretty useless, if you think about it," Jessica said, chuckling. But the more she thought about it he did seem useless. Why use him? Why keep him alive? Something wasn't adding up here.

"And you're sure there are other scientists involved?"

"Like I said, I don't know. But I don't have enough equipment here to complete his plan."

Jessica's eyes flashed with confusion and the scientist caught her glare. "I thought you didn't know his whole plan."

The scientist began to sweat, his hands began to shake. It was then Jessica realized he'd been watching the door behind her the whole time.

Damn, she thought. She had been led.

The scientist was bait. Fisk knew she would return looking for him and so he served him on a platter. There was no position at NYU. Tenured professors usually don't gamble until 3AM in dirty bars in Hell's Kitchen. Especially ones supposedly under mind control.

Damn, damn, damn!

She had let her emotions for Matt cloud her judgment. She had leapt headlong into another faulty plan.

"Who's coming?" she asked the scientist.

"What?" he said nervously.

"You've been stalling me," she told him. "Who's coming? Is it Fisk?"

The scientist's eyes darted to the door once again, giving away the position of the man behind her. Jessica dodged to her left. Thankfully the man was right handed, and she moved herself away from the amber filled syringe in his hand. As she struggled to find her footing on the rotted and burnt floor, the man lunged toward her - then in an instant was pulled back again with a loud yelp. The sound of him crashing through the wall of the adjacent apartment filled the space.

Tentatively, Luke Cage stepped into the room, filling the doorway as he always did, blocking the scientist's escape.

Jessica turned to their prey, ready to unload not only more questions, but a few punches, when the scientist pressed himself back against the now glassless window.

"No, don't!" Jessica cried out, but it was too late. The scientist thrust himself backwards and out into the late afternoon air. By the time Luke and Jessica made it downstairs, his insides were already staining broken pieces of the road where Jessica had once been.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Why would he tell you all that?" Luke asked, as he and Jessica walked back to the safe house. There were only half-way there by the time she'd finished recounting the story.

"I don't know. To stall me."

"But he gave away Fisk's secrets."

"Did he?" Jessica questioned. "We don't know much more than we did before."

"Well, we know there are other scientists out there. And we know they're probably working for him of their own free will. Why would they do that?"

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "But he probably knew where Matt was. Fuck! I believed him. I believed he was just some stooge and I missed my chance to find out where they're holding Murdock."

Jessica stopped. The anger was welling up inside of her. She wanted to scream or punch something, someone.

"We'll find him," Luke said. Even if he was wrong, Jessica was comforted by the knowledge that they were working together once again.

She nodded in reply, then took a few minutes to herself, thinking, silently cursing her latest actions, before finding her stride again. "Hey," she said after a minute. "Thanks for that back there."

"You weren't back yet, so I thought something must be wrong."

"And you were right. Something was wrong. This whole thing is wrong."

Luke didn't say anything. Jessica knew there was nothing to say. She just hoped Danny and Colleen had made more progress. She hoped there was a scrap of good news waiting for her in Harlem.

"Damn," she suddenly said.

"What is it?"

"I just realized I have to thank you again," she sighed.

Luke chuckled. "For what?"

"Rescuing me last night. Twice in one day. A new record?" she asked.

"For me, yeah. For you… no. You were always good at rescuing people."

Jessica shook her head. He was remembering their past wrong on purpose. He was trying to make her feel better. It was working.

"I never asked you, but how did you know I was out on the street bleeding to death?"

Luke smiled. "Someone took a picture. It was on Instagram."

"Of course it was."